January 7th 

Don't Look Up (Netflix) 

Swan Song

I'm Wanita

Happy New Year to you all, dear movie lovers! We may have been taking it easy over the festive period, but movies never sleep! Relentless, continuous, more and more of them, inundating our streaming channels and bursting off the big screens. However, I only have three for you this week, all worthy contenders - yet again.  I've pretty much decided it's not worth wasting time watching or writing about crappy films - hence the constant high scores for those I do see (perhaps too high, when I look back over 2021!)

Don't Look Up

Dir: Adam McKay

Length: 138 mins

Streaming on Netflix

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL9aJcqrtnw

© Netflix - a real hoot - if it weren't 
so close to reality! 

McKay (director of The Big Short and Vice) has succeeded again with this witty satire, that is a nothing like what you expect when you start watching. Astronomy student Kate (Jennifer Lawrence) makes a startling discovery that a giant comet is on track to hit earth, creating an extinction event. When she informs her professor, Dr Mindy (Leonardo Di Caprio), the two take it to the highest office in the land, President Orlean (Meryl Streep). What you imagine could be yet another apocalyptic disaster movie, quickly turns into a biting satire, full of wit and out-loud laughs. Streep's Trump-esque president is another winning turn from the brilliant actor, while Jonah Hill as her son, installed in a high (nepotistic) position plays dumb really well. Added star power like Timothee Chalamet, Mark Rylance and an almost unrecognisable Cate Blanchett, all blitz in their roles. Social media along with TV talk shows get a lampooning, but what is really scary is the way that government and big business team up to find an economic and political advantage to something that threatens to wipe out the planet. But hey . . aren't we used to this by now!!??

4 - wholeheartedly recommended

Swan Song

Dir: Todd Stephens

Length: 105 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heN0JtJu4pE

© Icon - Udo Kier is a revelation
in this unaccustomed role

Once a prominent hairdresser in the town of Sandusky, Ohio, Pat Pitsenbarger (Udo Kier) ekes out his days in a retirement home, folding serviettes, sneaking cigars and giving up on life. Then the lawyer to prominent socialite Rita Parker Sloane (Linda Evans) tells him that his former client is dead and her will requests that Pat style her hair for the funeral. Exiting the home, he embarks upon an adventure that takes him to the places of his youth and causes him to confront people from his past (rival hairdresser Dee Dee, played by Jennifer Coolidge). Gradually a passion for a life he thought was long gone is revived. Kier is a 76-year-old German actor with almost 300 acting credits to his name, and a face you remember, but are not sure from where. But here he is unforgettable as a man who was a beacon of flamboyant queer culture in his local town. The thing is that Mr Pat was a real-life character who left a big mark upon the director's young life. Kier totally inhabits his character, capturing humour along with a deep poignancy and vulnerability. Pat's performance in the local drag bar crowns a film that is enchanting, funny and deeply moving.

4 - wholeheartedly recommended

I'm Wanita

Dir: Matthew Walker

Length: 88 mins

Trailer: https://www.facebook.com/WanitatheMovie/videos/1054899058599790/

© Label - aspiring country singer who is 
larger than life

Wanita Bahtiyah grew up in NSW, listening to country music greats like Loretta Lynn and Hank Williams and dreaming of stardom. Moving to Tamworth, she gained limited local success and so decides to head to the mecca of country music, Nashville, and record there. This highly original doco showcases a one-of-a kind hard-living, hard-drinking, kind-hearted and driven woman who has never got the recognition she deserves. Wanita has a wonderful voice, but her in-your-face style makes her sometimes her own worst enemy. She announces that she is autistic and a sex worker and we discover she is, through very odd circumstances,  married to a much older Turkish immigrant, Baba. But her defining image is as the self-proclaimed "Queen of Honky Tonk". Walker spent five years filming Wanita's quest, accompanied by fellow musos Archer and Gleny Rae Virus, also Wanita's long-suffering manager. The film has already garnered well-deserved awards at various festivals, no doubt for its refreshingly creative style plus the director's ability to let the star of the whole shebang just be herself and run the show, just like she does in life.

4 - wholeheartedly recommended