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
 |
© Madman - thought-provoking vision of war,
teenagers, and power |
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.
 |
| © Rialto - misogyny off the leash - yet again! |
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
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.
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