Hursto's five minute films: June 2020

Sunday, 28 June 2020

June 29th
Master Cheng
Romantic Road
Love Sarah
The Taverna
More from Melbourne Documentary Film Festival - online June 30 - July 15th

This week I'm a one-eyed reviewer thanks to being forced to lie horizontally for five days following emergency retinal surgery. A word of warning, especially to older readers: floaters in the eye - the internet says they are common, and not serious. Eye surgeons say yes, they are common, but ALWAYS check them out, as they can be a precursor to retinal detachment, as was the case for me. So, that dealt with, it seems many more films are now being released, quite a few for enjoyment on the big cinema screen, for those happy to go. So here are some I've seen; find them where you can, as who knows what will and won't be opening or staying open!! I'm recommending them all, with my pick of the week Master Cheng.

Master Cheng
Dir: Mika Kaurismaki
Length: 114 mins

After the death of his wife in Shanghai, master chef Cheng (Pak Hon Chu) heads off with his small son Niu-Niu to Finland, hoping to track down and repay a Finnish man who has helped him out of trouble. Ending up in a remote town, and unable to locate the man, he finds a cafe run by Sirkka (Anna Maija Tuokko), and an unlikely alliance forms. This is delightful, uplifting and warm-hearted story telling, understated, witty, moving and a joy to watch. Local old fogeys Romppainen and Vippula add to the rich mix of characters, as they fall in love with Cheng's unfamiliar cuisine. As well as giving a strong lesson in cross-cultural understanding, this film is seductively charming in so many ways. (Don't go to the cinema hungry!)

Romantic Road
Dir: Oliver McGarvey
Length: 80 mins

Eccentric London lawyer Rupert Grey heads off on a six-month adventure with Jan, his wife of 35 years. (Factoid: Rupert is the great grandson of former British PM Earl Grey, after whom the tea is named.) The couple take Rupert's beloved 1936 Rolls Royce and depart from Mumbai, hoping to arrive in Dakha, Bangladesh for the Chobi Mela photographic festival. This fun and informative documentary highlights English quirkiness at its best. The film is a feast of amazing adventures and perils, as they meet maharajahs, tea-wallahs, curious locals, and much needed car mechanics. As hard as it was for Rupert and Jan, I can only imagine how the camera crew battled all the challenges along the way. The film is also a lovely testament to an enduring relationship and the value of taking time out together to create unforgettable memories.

Love Sarah
Dir: Eliza Schroeder
Length: 97 mins

Aspiring baker Sarah is killed in a bicycle accident just as she is about to open her shop with best friend Isabella (Shelley Conn). Sarah's daughter Clarissa (Shannon Tarbet) enlists the help of estranged grand mother Mimi (an excellent Celie Imrie) to make the dream a reality. Sarah's old flame Matthew (Rupert Penry Jones) turns up to lend his expert baking hand, and to explore another agenda on his mind. This film is very sweet, very predictable and somewhat formulaic. However, in these fraught times I think it is exactly what the doctor ordered to pick up one's spirits, and make for a salivating distraction that is a celebration of mending estranged families and of female friendships (not to mention of fabulous cakes and diabetes-inducing sugar highs!)

The Taverna
Dir: Alkinos Tsilimidos
Length: 86 mins
To screen at select Palace Cinemas, plus Classic, Lido and Cameo

Kostas (Vangelis Mourikis) runs a popular suburban Greek taverna. When belly dancer Jamila (Rachel Kamath) refuses to dance after spotting her ex at a table with his older lover, waitress Sally (Emily O'Brien-Brown) decides to step into the breach. Throw into the mix sleazy groping customers, an impromptu kidnapping, rampaging possums, and Kostas's drug-addict son having an accident, and you have a recipe for an absolutely chaotic night. After directing such serious films as Every Night . . .Every Night and Tom White, Tsilimidos turns his hands to a black comedy inspired by his own Greek/Aussie experiences, and shot at White Village Tavern (round the corner from where I live!) As a Hellenophile, I really relate to the sensibility of this film - Mourikis nails his role, while Turkish actor Senol Mat as chef Omer is a hoot (if totally morally questionable!) Notable too is screen debut of popular singer Emanuela Costaras as waitress Katerina.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
Online 30th June - 15th July

For ticketing and synopses of films visit: mdff.org.au
Streaming via https://watch.eventive.org/mdff

So, last edition I reviewed four films from this excellent festival which includes Melbourne stories, Aussie stories, international stories, biographies, docos focusing on music and art and way more. MDFF is about to start so make your selections and get into some seriously good doco watching!

Let's Talk About Sex (75 mins): Your guide to all things sexy is Julia Sloane, who starts off chatting with her parents, and reflecting upon her very conservative upbringing. She then takes audiences on an enlightening and entertaining sex tour. She interviews folks on the street about their attitudes to sex, visits a massage parlour specialising in bondage and discipline, takes us on a tour of a sex toys shop, meets a guy who designs 3D virtual sex experiences, and attends a pole-dancing class. It's all very open and a lot of fun and could possibly revive anyone's flagging sex life.

The Boys Who Said No (90 mins): People called them draft dodgers, but these young men were the face of youth with conscience, refusing to be drafted to fight in a war they didn't believe in, the controversial Vietam War. Back in the 1960s America was a hot-bed of protest and social change. This fabulous doco traces that era, with riveting archival footage including activist/singer Joan Baez, Martin Luther King, and the protesters then, along with interviews with them now. It's extraordinarily timely given the upsurge again in protest movements.

Man on the Bus (83 mins): Melbourne producer/director Eve Ash gets curious about some old home movies after her mother's death. They show an unknown man looking lovingly into the camera, and Eve as a girl playing with a little boy. She starts researching, and what she unearths about her mother's secret life will turn everyone's lives upside down. This is intriguing, shocking, funny in parts, and basically compelling entertainment on an intensely personal scale. I refuse to tell you too much since the film plays out like a good detective story; just know that the fabulous old recreations of the North Rd Brighton bus hold the key to a story that perhaps is not so far removed from many families' skeletons in the closet!

Descent (62 mins): Kiki Bosch is one of the world's only professional ice free-divers - that is, she dives without a wetsuit or scuba kit in the most freezing waters in the world. This has helped her get over debilitating sexual trauma, and has created a determination and resilience seen in few humans. She helps train others to use her techniques for their own self-development. Inspirational, scary and fascinating viewing. (If you missed it at Sydney FF, here's another chance!)

The World's Best Film (89 mins): At age 24, aspiring film-maker Joshua Belinfante was told he didn't have long to live, thanks to a massive tumour. After his recovery he set off to visit 10 countries over 5 years, meeting 13 individuals all over the world, each one of whom is "the best" at whatever they do. So we meet people who are "the best" at dog sitting, cigarette bumming, being a granddad, running London toilet tours and much more. Whether these people are or are not the best is irrelevant; ultimately the film is an affirmation of life, self esteem and the philosophy that you can do whatever you want if you really set your mind to it, as the director has proven with his sweet and uplifting film.

Thursday, 18 June 2020

June 19th
Monos
The Assistant
Melbourne Documentary Film Festival - coming soon - June 30 - July 15th
Cinema Nova Carlton plus Classic, Lido and Cameo to re-open Monday 22 June

Well, the time has come at last. Cinema Nova in Carlton re-opens on Monday 22nd June, as do the Classic, Lido and Cameo. Palace Cinemas will follow on 2nd July, with others to come. New release films, some of which have been available for streaming, are finally coming onto the big screen. Re-runs of some absolutely top films are also on Nova's schedule. Meantime the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival is around the virtual corner, so it's time to peruse the program and start choosing your online must-sees.

Monos
Dir: Alejandro Landes
Length: 103 mins

Colombian director and co-writer Landes has created an extraordinary film in Monos, which has already received more than 25 festival awards. Audiences are pitched blindly into an unspecified location, with no context, somewhere in a jungle in Latin America. A group of teen soldiers are training under an older commander, while guarding an American hostage they call Doctora. We never find out who is fighting whom, or why. Inspired by the director's experience of civil war in Colombia, he envisages amorphous guerrilla organisations, changing allegiances and breakdowns that can happen within a group and warring factions. With the remote setting, almost removed from time, a frightening world is created, with its characters caught somewhere between being simply teenagers, and aspiring to being something more sinister. As in Lord of the Flies, the veneer of civilisation is thin, and the whole story moves in a dreamlike, surreal world of violence, fear, oppression, and an occasional compassionate moment. This is brave film-making, exquisitely shot, with a wonderful musical score, and top-class performances from all the young actors, not to mention an unimaginably fearless perf from an emaciated Julianne Nicholson as Doctora.

The Assistant
Dir: Kelly Green
Length: 87 mins

Video on Demand available from: Google Play, iTunes, Fetch TV, Telstra Bigpond, Sony (Playstation Network), Microsoft & Quickflix

And on the big screen from 22 June at Classic Elsternwick, Cinema Nova, Lido Hawthorn and Belgrave Cameo.

College grad Jane (Julia Garner) is an aspiring movie producer who starts work as an assistant to a movie mogul. The movie follows a typical day - booking flights, preparing coffees, photocopying - the menial humdrum of office work. The men around her are all stand-offish in a colluding sort of way, and exude a strong sense of their sense of superiority. When a very young new girl arrives and Jane decides to report what she thinks are shifty goings-on to the HR manager, she starts to realise just what sort of a misogynistic organisation she works for. Very different from the recent high-powered Bombshell, this is nevertheless a strong, slow-burn look at the insidious way women are treated in many industries. Garner's performance is powerful, and Matthew McFadyen gives an almost creepily stunning turn as the HR dude who only pretends to listen, but is in cahoots with the rest of the guys.

Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
Online 30th June - 15th July

For ticketing and synopses of films visit: mdff.org.au
Streaming via https://watch.eventive.org/mdff

Melbourne stories, Aussie stories, international stories, biographies, docos focusing on music and art - expect all this and way more in this year's MDFF, waiting for you online from June 30th. I've previewed a few, and will review some this week and some next so you have plenty of time to research and start making your choices.

Small Island, Big Song (90 mins): This is a must-see for lovers of music and features more than 100 musicians from 16 island nations over the Pacific region. As environmental challenges threaten many of these places, the song goes on, and we are treated to a wealth of uplifting beautiful music, featuring unusual instruments, and the joy of the island inhabitants. In certain scenes, the director has employed a technique of overlapping concurrent rhythms and performances from different places, lending a sense of unity to the region, and stressing a unique but also shared culture. An insightful, important, and unforgettable musical journey with an underlying critical environmental message.

Save the Reef- Act Now (80 mins): If you've ever swum on the Great Barrier Reef you'll know what a tragedy is unfolding, as climate change causes coral bleaching and mass destruction of this magnificent area. Experts from Australia, Japan and China discuss international efforts to save not only our reef, but Japanese reefs in Okinawa. Scientists, coral farmers, divers - all have ideas on what we can do, if we act together now. Informative and absolutely beautiful to look at.

Leaving Allen Street: (70 mins): This tender-hearted doco looks at a facility that ran for years in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh, providing institutionalised residential care for intellectually challenged adults. Finally the group are moving to new accommodation, where they will be able to live more independent lives, with more dignity and sense of worth. This is a real heart-strings grabber, with a varied group of people who are fun to get to know, and a group of dedicated, selfless carers who are going over and beyond to enhance the lives of their charges. A film like this is a really enjoyable experience, helping to give us greater understanding of people who are so often marginalised.

Forman vs Forman (77mins): Iconic Czech New Wave director Milos Forman first came to international notice with his 1967 film The Fireman's Ball. He later left oppressive, communist-run Czechoslovakia and headed to America, where he directed such successful films as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Hair, Ragtime, Amadeus and more. This fabulous doco traces his career and private life, employing archival movie clips, and film from his rich personal life. This is a treat for movie lovers, and a wonderful chance to be reacquainted with Forman's legacy of work.

Cinema Nova reopens
Lygon Street, Carlton
Cinema Nova reopens on Monday June 22. Monday’s standard discount rates will apply on opening day, with tickets priced at $7 before 4pm and $10 after 4pm. Tickets for opening day will be available from Friday June 12.
Cinema Nova has effected a number of health and safety measures including social distancing in all cinemas and common spaces, rigorous sanitising and cleaning including in-cinema between sessions, online ticketing for faster contact tracing, cashless payments at service points, staff temperature checks pre-shift, and hand sanitisers available throughout.
“The health of customers and staff is our top priority and we will provide a safe place for Melbourne movie lovers to return to Carlton”, said Cinema Nova’s CEO Kristian Connelly.
So there it is from the CEO himself, and no doubt the place will be bustling with its usual cinephiles. The planned program is an impressive mix of some latest releases, some golden oldies and reruns of recent popular films.
The Trip to Greece (reviewed here on May 26th), Monos, The Assistant, plus some fine retrospective films such as Blade Runner final cut, Jojo Rabbit, the Korean long-running smash hit Parasite, Aussie classic Animal Kingdom, recently streamed Hearts and Bones, are just a few from Nova's extensive list.
Head to https://www.cinemanova.com.au/ to check out all the details.

Wednesday, 10 June 2020

June 10th
Resistance
Sydney Film Festival
St Kilda Film Festival
Citizen Jane - DocPlay
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes - Netflix series

Wow, cinemas are getting geared up to open again. Maybe that's for the young and brave. Meantime I've been previewing countless films from two festivals online as of today, and stay tuned next week for the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, also coming online. The overriding theme in many of today's reviews seems to be a mix of fighting oppression and racism, war and empowerment of women. Is it a sign of the times?

Resistance
Dir: Jonathan Jakubowicz
Length: 120 mins

11 June – 11 July – Available to rent from Foxtel Store

22 June - Select cinema release in Melbourne with other states to follow

29 July – Available to rent from iTunes, Google Play, Sony (Playstation Network)

Microsoft (Xbox Network), Foxtel PPV, Bigpond, Fetch & Quickflix

Before he was a world-famous mime artist, Marcel Mangel (Jessie Eisenberg), was a struggling performer, doing Chaplin imitations in cabarets in Strasbourg, France. After the Germans invaded in WW2, he joined the French Resistance and helped save the lives of many Jewish orphans. This is an inspirational story, totally worth telling. It is about bravery, dedication and selflessness, as well as the genesis of an artist who became possibly the best mime the world has ever known: Marcel Marceau. Eisenberg has studied hard to capture the archetypical Marceau moves and he does it well. Matthias Schweighofer is a stand-out as the sadistic Gestapo Chief, Klaus Barbie. One of the most tense scenes in the film is where the Resistance fighters, orphans in tow on a train, are confronted by Barbie. It's a brilliantly directed scene, but a shame that the entire film doesn't measure up to this scene. Overall the film tends towards formulaic, sentimental, and is clunkily framed by an American General (an Ed Harris cameo) introducing Marceau to his men. As a story, Resistance is unmissable, and while the film could have been more creative, it's nevertheless well worth watching and comes recommended.

Sydney Film Festival
June 10-21
For program and ticket purchasing, visit sff.org.au

This year is the 67th Sydney Film Festival, and it's online. Whatever package you purchase, from the smallest to the entire festival, you are free to watch at your leisure, on demand. Films are grouped into various strands. I've previewed a few.
Documentaries

Descent: Kiki Bosch is one of the world's only professional ice free-divers - that is, she dives without a wetsuit or scuba kit in freezing waters. This has helped her get over debilitating sexual trauma, and has created a determination and resilience seen in few humans. She helps train others to use her techniques for their own self-development. Inspirational, scary and fascinating viewing.

The Skin of Others: Tom Murray has researched and directed a beautiful documentary, that works on so many levels. It is the story of Douglas Grant, adopted as a toddler by Scottish parents. Grant later served in World War 1. Straddling two worlds, upon his return, he gradually felt less and less accepted by white society. Murray made the film with indigenous actor Balang Lewis reenacting scenes from Grant's life. Several commentators add insight into the history and the legends surrounding Grant. With the current movement #blacklivesmatter, this and Our Law, are such important and timely documentaries.

Our Law: Though only 27 minutes long, it has so many answers to the currently raging issue of police brutalisation of colored people, world-wide. In the remote town of Warakurna in the WA outback is Australia's only indigenous run police station. Police officers Wendy and Revis learn to speak to locals in language, and give kindness, advice and gentle warnings rather than brutality. The doco is an insightful look at alternatives, and into the culture of remote dwellers. (Proudly supported by NITV).
Europe: Voices of Women in Film.

A Perfectly Normal Family: Based upon the director's own childhood experience, this Danish film focuses upon loving father Thomas, who is divorcing from Helle, because he has decided to transition to become a woman. Daughters Emma and Caroline cope (or don't) in their own ways. This is a stand-out film, told with sensitivity, compassion, and delicacy. Mikkel Boe Folsgaard is perfectly cast as Thomas/Agnete, and the two youngsters playing his daughters nail their roles. It's a powerful argument for acceptance, compassion, and the enduring love between parents and children.
Charter: This disturbing and sad Swedish film explores a mother's mental state, as she abducts her two kids to take them on holiday, while in the middle of a custody battle. There are many nuanced layers here and no simple moral stance can be taken. Underpinned by terrific performances all round, this is serious Euro-cinema for fans of relationship/parental drama.

They Call me Babu: A babu was a nanny working for Dutch families in the Dutch East Indies. The doco is based upon the testimonies of countless babus, and is narrated from the viewpoint of a composite fictional nanny. Visuals are archival footage from the Netherlands and Japan, and the whole gives voice to the experience of so many of these forgotten women. The film also goes as far as the occupation of Indonesia by the Japanese during WW2, and the country's subsequent independence from the Dutch. This is a gently told, yet powerful story, in which the old black and white footage, along with the elegaic soundtrack, pay exquisite homage to so many women who suffered oppression.
Australian Short Films
There are also many excellent short films to choose from. See the program (website above) for ideas.

St Kilda Film Festival
June 12-20
FREE to watch online at https://www.stkildafilmfestival.com.au/

Now in its 37th year, the St Kilda FF is also online this year, and it's FREE! As a foremost showcase for short film, it gives audiences a chance to become acquainted with a style of film-making they may not be so familiar with. Many of Australia's top directors got their start at this festival. Some of the viewing sessions will focus on specific themes, for example Forming Jane Campion will showcase five of the iconic director's early works. Philips Noyce's 1977 one-hour short feature film, Backroads can also be viewed. Other sessions feature animation, film-makers under 21, gender-based films, and so much more. International shorts get a guernsey, along with the top 100 Aussie short films. To pique your interest, the film Ring is shot from the viewpoint of an automated video doorbell, which records a crime going on at the other end of the corridor. Totally innovative, and surprisingly engaging for a mere 11 minutes. Or After the Away - a poignant 15-minute story of a friendship between two young boys. Open your mind to the possibility of short film having as much to say as a feature film; just in another way.

Citizen Jane: the Battle for the City
Director: Matt Tyrnauer
Streaming on DOCPlay

Activist and author Jane Jacobs wrote "The Death and Life of Great American Cities". In the 1960s she organised many grassroots movements against ruthless developer Robert Moses, who bulldozed many urban slums and built public housing (the projects), which took away the sense of community for locals, leading to crime and other social problems. Jacobs successfully stopped the building of a freeway which would have seen Little Italy, Lower Manhattan and SoHo devastated. In an era when so much of the history of our cities is being obliterated to make way for modern development, this is an especially important documentary. It goes to show what individuals and community movements can achieve when taking on "the big boys".

Conversations with a Killer:
The Ted Bundy Tapes
Director: Joe Berlinger
4 part series on Netflix

Confession: I'm a closet Dexter fan. I loved that series about the Miami serial killer, who only ever killed the bad guys who had escaped the long arm of the law. This particular killer, Ted Bundy, was no Dexter, as this grisly mini-series proves. The director draws meticulously on more than 100 hours of archival footage and interviews with police, friends, family members. The taped conversations with Bundy in jail are interspersed with the historical retelling. They are testament to the warped psychopathic mind of a well-spoken, handsome man who presented to society as just your average guy, and with a degree in psychology to boot. He used his charms to lure more than 30 young girls to their gruesome ends, and the details are certainly disturbing. For fans of crime series, this should prove compulsive viewing.

Friday, 5 June 2020

June 6th
Burden - new digital release feature
Proxima - new digital release feature
Extraordinary - new digital release feature
Unorthodox - Netflix series
Agave: The Spirit of a Nation - documentary DocPlay

Releases are hotting up - more coming out . . . plus film festivals scheduled for online release (not to mention murmurs about cinemas opening). This week I look at three excellent new feature films, an intoxicating doco on tequila, plus a series that you've probably seen but which is new to me. Stay tuned next week for a sneak peek into the forthcoming online Sydney Film Festival and the St Kilda Film Festival.

Burden
Director: Andrew Heckler
Length: 117 min
Available to rent now via Foxtel Store until 4 July

a moving story

In a small Carolina town, a redneck group of Klu Klux Klansmen set up a museum of Klan history. Reverend Kennedy (Forest Whitaker) organises protests to try to close it down. Mike Burden (Garett Hedlund) is a Klansman with a blossoming relationship with single mum Judy (Andrea Riseborough), whose little son plays with a local black kid. Torn between Judy and his Klan affiliation, Mike must make some tough choices. This film seems to have divided critics, but viewers love it, giving it the Sundance audience award. I'm squarely in the camp of those who recommend this film, despite its worthy themes sometimes being a little obviously drawn. The physicality of Hedlund's performance is a revelation, Tom Wilkinson as the local Klan leader is scarily evil, and Riseborough is flawlessly believable as Judy, hating Klan beliefs yet loving Mike. Furthermore, the story is based upon true events, and it carries the torch for redemption, grace and forgiveness, much needed in today's world. Not to mention its absolute relevance to the #blacklivesmatter movement, in a world still riddled with hatred and prejudice.
Highly recommended

Proxima
Director: Alice Winocour
Length: 107 min
June 3rd digital release from Madman Entertainment: https://www.madmanfilms.com.au/

French woman Sarah (Eva Green) is a divorced mother, and the only woman astronaut in training for a mission to the International Space Station. As the training hots up, time spent away from her young daughter Stella (Zélie Boulant-Lemesle) becomes more disturbing for Sarah, caught between maternal ties and her own career aspirations. This is a beautifully made film, with a Cesar Best Actress nomination for Green's thoughtful performance. Any mother-daughter saccharine sweetness is carefully avoided, and themes of gender bias are well handled without beating the drum too loudly. Matt Dillon is terrific as one of Sarah's two co-astronauts, and the insights into what is involved in the rigorous training are instructive and fascinating. With the SpaceX mission having just landed at the ISS, it's another very timely story.
Highly recommended

The Extraordinary
(AKA The Specials on IMDB)
Director: Olivier Nakache, Eric toledano
Length: 116 min
June 3rd digital release from Madman Entertainment: https://www.madmanfilms.com.au/

Winning the audience award at the San Sebastian FF, and with a swag of other nominations, this film grew on me as it went along. The story is inspired by two real-life charitable organisations and their dedicated staff who deal with profoundly autistic kids that other places won't take. From the start it is very confronting, as unmanageable and disturbed teens act out violently. Vincent Cassel plays Bruno, the Jewish head of one organisation, with Reda Kateb as Malek, the Muslim head of the other. The two men, and their helpers are selfless, compassionate, and patient beyond belief. The trouble is that this group has not been "certified" by government authorities, and are constantly torn between the knowledge of being the last resort for their charges, and the threat of being shut down. The film is a disturbing insight into a world many of us only hear about, and pays homage to those people among us who rise above the ordinary to help others.
Highly recommended

Unorthodox
Director: Anna Winger
4 part series on Netflix

Many people I've spoken to have already seen this, so I may be preaching to the converted (no puns intended.) Esther is a young woman growing up in an intensely orthodox Hasidic Jewish community in Williamsburg New York. Expectations upon women are to have as many kids as soon as possible after marriage. The gossipy community is closed and rigid and Esther feels she has no choice but to run from it - all the way to Berlin where her own mother, long estranged from the community, lives. This series, based upon a biography, is magnificent viewing, superbly scripted, toggling constantly from the lead-up of what happened in Esty's past to her present plight. Beautifully acted, it is a portrayal of a world many of us will never get to see, and a reminder of how orthodoxy of any form can be totally detrimental to individuality, despite tradition and culture creating strong bonds.
Unmissable

Agave: The Spirit of a Nation
Length: 79 min
Streaming on DOCPlay: https://www.docplay.com

DocPlay throws me into decision crisis - so many magnificent docos to choose from - where does one begin? I hadn't initially intended to choose this one, but found it totally absorbing viewing. Expressively shot, it takes us to three distilleries in Mexico, where people pursue the family tradition of distilling the agave plant into both mescal and tequila (BTW: mescal can be made from all agave plants, tequila from only the blue agave). Again, the story has resonance for so much that troubles today's world - the destruction of ecosystems by over-farming, struggles of small producers against big corporations, and the constant battle to preserve indigenous cultures and customs. It's also an uplifting glimpse into the joyousness of Mexican cultural practices, and their strong family bonds. Pour yourself a shot, and savour this terrific doco.
Highly recommended