Sept 26th
The Dig (streaming on Netflix)
The Mustang (streaming on Netflix)
Worth (streaming on Netflix)
The Physician (streaming on Netflix)
Obama: In Search of the More Perfect Union (streaming on Foxtel)
Farmageddon (streaming on Foxtel)
I'm continuing to binge on streaming offerings, and mighty fine they are. As you emerge from footy fever, I've got a lot of recommendations for you, hopefully easy to access and easing the pain of continuing lockdown. There's even something here to amuse the littlies, if they haven't seen it yet.
Dir: Simon Stone
Length: 112 mins
Streaming on Netflix
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© Netflix - Fiennes and Mulligan -
two of Britain's stalwarts |
Wealthy widow Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) decides to investigate some earth mounds on her property in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, and hires taciturn excavator Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes). What they unearth will have museum curators jumping up and down in excitement. This interesting and quite lovely historical film is inspired by the true discovery of an ancient ship containing fabulous treasure, part of a 6th-7th century Anglo-Saxon burial site considered to be one of the most intact in medieval Europe. The film's style is archetypically British, with restrained characters who hide their feelings, and yet, thanks to Fiennes' and Mulligan's fine performances, we can read a lot more into their characters. Period settings and production values are flawless, the archaeological dig is expertly recreated, and the expected stoush between Basil and museum archaeologist Charles Phillips (Ken Stott), brings a goodly dollop of class conflict/social justice into play. There are also several tear-jerking moments around the relationship between Edith's young son Robert with his mother and with Basil, whom the boy adores. Solid watching in this much-awarded film.4 - highly recommended
Dir: Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre
Length: 96 mins
Streaming on Netflix
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| © Netflix - nothing like a good horse story |
Roman Coleman (Mattthias Schoenarts) has just emerged from solitary isolation in a Nevada prison. He is chosen for a program in which inmates are teamed up with wild mustang horses, with the aim of breaking in the animals then auctioning them off - a win-win for the prisoner (who gets a sense of pride and purpose) and horse (which avoids being part of the annual cull). This much-awarded film is a total surprise - intense, moving, engaging, understated and really well executed in all respects. Schoenarts is compelling as a man one would hardly expect to develop empathy for (but we do), and as his backstory is only slowly revealed, we become progressively engaged with his outcome. Bruce Dern is notable as Myles, the crusty old-timer responsible for the prisoner-horse program; he's perfect for the role. For a film with so little dialogue, it delivers a powerful viewing experience, along with a couple of totally sublime horse moments. 4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended
Dir: Sarah Colangelo
Length: 118 mins
Streaming on Netflix
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| © Netflix - bureaucracy and human grief collide |
After the tragedy of 9/11, the US government set up a Victim Compensation Fund. Kenneth Feinberg, played by Michael Keaton, was appointed to head up the team whose unenviable job was to decide exactly the amount of compensation for each life that was lost. At first he operates totally within the guidelines, but after meeting Charles Wolf (Stanley Tucci), a man spearheading a victims' group, Ken starts to understand the human scale of the loss, and develops true compassion. The film steers away from playing into heavy emotion, but delivers a really solid exploration of the post 9/11 mood, and the issue of bureaucracy vs human emotion and loss. Keaton is excellent in his role, and Tucci, as always, shines, both getting solid support from Amy Ryan as Feinberg's legal partner, Camille Biros. With the world continually mired in issues where a dollar value must be put on things that can't be quantified, this makes for provocative and thoughtful viewing.4 - highly recommended
Dir: Philipp Stolzl
Length: 155 mins
Streaming on Netflix
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| © Netflix - the epic is back! |
I first caught this film at the Jewish Film Festival some years back, and am delighted to see it get a Netflix berth. At two and a half hours, this engaging and epic historical tale takes us from eleventh century London to Persia, hub of learning. Young Christian orphan Rob Cole (Tom Payne) teams up with a local amateur healer, but then travels, disguised as a Jew, to Persia where he studies medicine under the legendary healer Avicenna (Ben Kingsley). The film is gloriously shot, bringing to vivid life the grime and ignorance of medieval London compared to the exoticness and intellectualism of ancient Persia. It also portrays some of the early discoveries that paved the way for modern medicine. This is thoroughly entertaining, great narrative film-making and a visual feast.4 - highly recommended
Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union
Dir: Peter W Kunhardt
Length: 3 episodes - all up 5 hours
Streaming on Foxdocos- Foxtel
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| © Foxtel - I couldn't get enough of this story |
My forte has never been the analysis of political films, but this doco speaks to me in a way many political bios never have (maybe because I'm a card-carrying Obama fan!) The three-part series traces Barack Obama's career from his youth, through his early days as a lawyer, up to his attainment of the highest office in the USA. Countless interesting players in the Obama story come on to give their slant on it, from chief campaign strategist David Axelrod, to various black pastors, writers, journalists and many more. I find the film-making thorough, the old clips of early Obama speeches (even back when he was a student) enlightening and inspiring, and the overall depiction of the arc of his journey quite rivetting. Using the fraught backdrop of race in America, the doco also explores the difficult line the man had to walk, never pleasing blacks or whites, but always maintaining dignity, compassion, and presenting a statesmanlike face to the world (so unlike his antecedent!) A real insight. 4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended
A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon
Dir: Will Becher, Richard Phelan
Length: 86 mins
Streaming on Foxtel
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| © Foxtel - as expected: clever, crazy fun |
In the town of Mossingham in rural England a spaceship lands, and a strange but incredibly cute alien called Lu-Lu emerges. Curious Shaun, ever up for an adventure, befriends Lu-Lu and the pair devise a plan to get the alien back to her family on a far planet. Unbeknown to them an alien-hunting government agency, headed by a fearsome woman called Red, is also on their tail, while the farmer who owns Shaun and his flock sees a major opportunity to install a money making space theme park on his land. Lovers of films from Aardman studios (Chicken Run, the Wallace & Gromit films), will love this follow up to 2015's Shaun the Sheep. In the inimitable signature style of the studio, the characters are again stop-motion claymation puppets, and, despite their simplicity, every tiny nuance of a gesture tells a whole story. This one takes elements from many of our favourite sci-fi films, from Close Encounters, to ET, along with references from the X-Files and more, and cobbles the whole into a fun-packed crazy caper, that has enough sly references to amuse adults while the kids are wallowing in moments of slapstick and general lunacy.
4 - highly recommended
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