Hursto's five minute films: February 2022

Thursday, 24 February 2022

February 24th

Cyrano

Hive

Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

Dance of the 41 (streaming on Netflix)

Reminder: Japanese FF online and Europa! Europa FF continue until this Sunday 27 Feb. Transitions FF is ongoing.

My first wholeheartedly recommended for the year! All the films this week come with flowing recommendations from me. Prejudice and patriarchy feature front and centre.

Cyrano
Dir:Joe Wright
Length: 124 mins
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e8apSFDXsQ
© Universal - moving, gorgeous, with a
to-die-for perf from Dinklage
In 1897 Edmond Rostand wrote a play, Cyrano de Bergerac, set in Paris in 1640 and broadly based upon a real-life character who, despite being a soldier, had a gift for magnificent poetic outpourings. The play has been churned out umpteen times over the years, and more than 20 film versions have been made. It was even a Broadway musical in the 1970s. Now a new musical version, adapted by Erica Schmidt, hits our screens, with Peter Dinklage (husband to Schmidt) in the role he performed on stage in 2019. Opposite him is his theatrical co-star Haley Bennett as Roxanne. You probably know the basis of the plot: Cyrano loves Roxanne, but he is unable to tell her, feeling too self-conscious of his physical shortcomings. When Roxanne falls for Cyrano's fellow soldier Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jnr), Cyrano helps the inarticulate youth to pen flowery love letters, which totally win Roxanne over. Meantime the sleazy nobleman de Guiche (Ben Mendelssohn), is also trying to win Roxanne's heart. Enough of background! Should you see yet another version of this story? YES, YES and YES! Everything about this film enchanted me. The sets and costumes exquisitely recreate an era, and at times the cinematographer shoots the scenes scenes to look like perfect pastel-palette paintings from the era. The songs (criticised by some emotionally tone-deaf critics!) have a modern sensibility to them, and careful attention to the words rewards one with an emotional flood of romanticism, melancholy and introspection. Bennett is translucent as the feisty but delicate Roxanne, for whom words from a lover define the depth of that love. But it is Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones), who gives a performance that made me swoon - as a physically challenged man full of pride, sorrow, passion, kindness and talent, who cannot believe the woman he loves could ever love him. No, there's nothing new in the film-making style, but the film has so overwhelmed I have to give it my first for the year . . .
5 - unmissable

Hive

Dir: Blerta Basholi

Length: 84 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wnrC671pZc

Fahrije (Yllka Gashi) assumes her missing husband is among the men murdered in her village during the Kosovo war in 1998. She lives with her son, daughter and infirm father-in-law, battling to get enough money from the honey she harvests to keep the family going. When she and a group of local women decide to set up a cooperative making ajvar (roasted capsicum sauce), the patriarchal men of the town make her life a living hell. With many wins to its name at various festivals world wide, this is a good companion piece to Aida Quo Vadis? (reviewed last week). While this true story is not so directly about the conflict, it examines the aftermath, the deep-seated grief left after a village of men has been wiped out. Gashi plays Fahrije with a stoicism that masks her grief, and the depth and nuance of her performance is to be much admired. Whereas Aida had a lot of thrilling tension and pace, this is a slower and quietly sadder film, but no less gripping, as we see what a battle it is for women in these misogynistic cultures.

4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended

Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

Dir: Lili Horvat

Length: 95 mins

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

Marta Vizy (Natasa Stork) is a 40-ish, highly talented neurosurgeon originally from Hungary and living and working in New Jersey. When she meets fellow medico Janos Drexler (Viktor Bodo) at a conference she is instantly smitten by him and the couple make a promise to meet one month later in Budapest. But Janos doesn't turn up and when Marta tracks him down, he denies all memory of having ever met her. Heading into an obsessive mental state, Marta gives up her career in America, and moves to Budapest, renting a grungy apartment but securing a good surgical position at a hospital (despite clashes with patriarchal male doctors). Gradually she and Janos come into contact, while at the same time much younger medical student Alex (Benett Vilmanyi) falls for her. What transpires makes for a puzzling and mesmerising psychological study, in which we see Marta's strange unravelling, and never quite know what is true and what is the result of her fervent desire for reality to pan out as she wants it to. The film is marked by outstanding performances, especially from Stork who maintains an icy persona over a chaotic inner turmoil. The cinematography and editing carefully and beautifully add to the uncertain reality and create a brooding atmosphere that keeps the viewer constantly on edge. With so many possible interpretations, along with a romanticism and yearning, the film makes for wonderful viewing.

4 - highly recommended

Dance of the Forty-one

Dir: David Pablos

Length: 99 mins

Streaming on Netflix

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

Ignacio de la Torre (Alfonso Herrerra) was a businessman and rising politician in Mexico in the late 1800s. He is married off to Amada Diaz (Mabel Cadina), the beautiful daughter of the country's President and an indigenous mother. But the marriage is doomed from the get-go, as Ignacio leads a double life, frequenting an exclusive men's only club, where all the members have a secret to hide from a conservative, condemnatory society. This is a beautifully made film on so many levels. Its production values in set design and costume are sumptuous, while the story itself, though based upon an actual person, fictionalises certain aspects. Ignacio's friend Evaristo Rivas (Emiliano Zurita) brings a vulnerabilty to his role, while Cadina is a scene-stealer as the unhappy wife desperate to conceive a child. In a world where we take all sexual orientations in our stride, it is still shocking to see what people had to endure in days gone by, in the form of forced marriages, hypocrisy and criminal persecution. Another Netflix hidden gem.

4 - highly recommended

Wednesday, 16 February 2022

February 17th

Quo Vadis, Aida

Beyond the Wasteland

Flee

A Stitch in Time

Aline

Transitions Film Festival - five films reviewed

Reminder: Japanese FF online is ongoing - Europa! Europa FF is ongoing

It's full steam ahead with some wonderful new releases, festivals ongoing and starting, and generally more films than one can shake a stick at. This week's selection should definitely have something to please everyone. Why not see them all?

Quo Vadis Aida

Dir: Jasmila Zbanic

Length: 101 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErLD8P4VUjY

An Oscar nominee for Best International Feature from 2021, this powerhouse film revisits the Bosnian conflict, at a specific time when thousands of refugees, under threat from the Serbs in their home town of Szrebenica, converged on the United Nations base, a so-called "safe zone". Meantime the Serbian forces pressed forwards, finally deporting people from their home town, and killing 8000 of the local men. Aida (Jasna Djuricic) is a translator for the UN, and seeks frantically to get her two sons and husband onto "the list", knowing if they are not sent away on the buses they will no doubt be killed. It's one thing to read about far-flung conflicts in the newspaper; it's another when a film captures so viscerally the feel of what things must be like for people when their lives fall apart, and they are treated as little more than animals. The UN come across as toothless tigers. Djuricic's performance captures the frantic determination of a woman to save her family, while the film as a whole keeps up a breakneck pace that only underscores the urgency of the situation for the victims. This is such important viewing to remind us of the horrors of prejudice, persecution and futile war.

4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended

Beyond the Wasteland

Dir: Eddy Beyrouthy

Length: 93 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5ThaWpzsOE

Mad Max fans get ready for your dream come true. This wild ride of a doco follows groups of Mad Max fans from all over the world, tracing their obsessions, their passion and their coming together at various locations and events to celebrate the films and their hero. Several of the cast of the first two films are here, including eccentric Frenchman Bertrand Cadart, who starred in the first film then became a mayor in Tasmania! Other cast members reflect upon their roles, but the real focus is the community of "Wastelanders" who dress and live to honour the films. Some have devoted decades to building replica Interceptor cars, and wild motorbikes. Shot in Australia, Germany, Italy, France, Japan and the USA, this is a total hoot of a movie, but with a serious side: the importance for people to feel a sense of belonging to a group. Of course it's also a celebration of and homage to an iconic Aussie film that has become a cult. BTW: For true devotees, Aussie outback town Silverton now features a Mad Max museum:

https://www.facebook.com/MadMaxMuseum/

4 - highly recommended

Flee

Dir: Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Length: 89 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzUVeuX1u04

As a youngster, Danish director Rasmussen met refugee Amin , who had fled Afghanistan with his family. In adult life, the filmmaker decided to make a docudrama/animation telling Amin's story. As Rasmussen interviews Amin, the narrative toggles between past and present. The movie is intensely personal, and I've never felt so engaged and connected with a drawn character (even if he is the animated version of a real human). Amin describes how, being gay, he could never be his authentic self back in Afghanistan, recounts the ghastly years lived in drab Russia searching for a home, then being separated from his family, smuggled to Denmark and finally meeting his partner Kasper, who he is about to marry. This is told with imagination, creativity, compassion, and insight, and with a few insertions of archival footage it reminds us of the truth of an ongoing, never-resolving situation for the unfortunate people of that war-torn country. The film already has umpteen wins at previous festivals, and now is a nominee for Best Documentary Feature, Best Animated Feature, and Best Feature Film - wow! what accolades.

4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended

A Stitch in Time

Dir: Sasha Hadden

Length: 98 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqtzp_m4N7s

Liebe (Maggie Blinco) is a Holocaust survivor, who was sent away from Germany as a child. In Australia she has spent 50 years living with partner Duncan (Glenn Shorrock), now an unpleasant-natured has-been musician, still dreaming of making it big. Visiting a local market, Liebe meets Chinese fashion designer Hamish (Hoa Xuande), who reignites in her the passion she once had for dress-making. Duncan is unsupportive, so if Liebe is to pursue her dreams a few things need to change radically. This film is very naturalistic in its style, so much so it can seem a touch naive at first, but the acting has a compelling authenticity which adds to the film's charm - real people conducting real lives. As the story builds and Liebe rediscovers and reinvents herself, it emerges as a heart-warming and moving narrative involving a theme that is not seen enough in life these days - friendship and respect between the very young and very old, along with some great cross-cultural interactions.

4 - highly recommended

Aline

Dir: Valerie Lemercier

Length: 128 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KqpF-VUyB4

Aline Dieu (played by director Lemercier) is the youngest of 14 children born in Quebec in the 1960s. Already having a prodigious talent at age 5, she soon becomes a singing sensation, urged on by her parents, and manager Guy Claude Kamar (Sylvain Marcel). This is the unofficial biopic of the singer with the BIG VOICE - Celine Dion. Lemercier plays Aline from age 5 until the film's conclusion, making the early scenes totally bizarre (a child with a digitally shrunk child's size but an adult face - hmmm!) But as the adult Aline she is wonderful, looking so much like Dion. Victoria Sio does the vocals and her voice is a near dead spit for the actual singer. Aline's life reads like a soapie, in love with her much older manager since she was a kid, and getting a world-wide hit with the love theme, My Heart Will Go On, from the film Titanic. She becomes one of the biggest selling artists worldwide. Her glitzy singing and dancing shows and her Las Vegas performances are vibrantly rendered, and overall the film is a terrific entertainment, and an absolute homage to the real Celine. I was sure entertained!

3.5 - well recommended

Transitions Film Festival

18th Feb - 13th March

Streaming on demand

For all information and tickets: www.transitionsfilmfestival.com

In the words of the film's publicists: The Transitions Film Festival returns this February with an enthralling program of world-changing documentaries about the existential challenges, creative innovations and heroic pioneers helping us to envision a better world. The program features over 20 virtual sessions available online, nationwide, as well as a small selection of screenings in Melbourne. With an emphasis on the greatest threats facing humanity and the solutions to our collective challenges, this year’s festival features a huge line-up of films about climate change, activism, biodiversity, plastics, economics, and innovation.

Transitions Film Festival needs to be seen by lots and lots of people so it is not preaching to the converted. The issues the films deal with are both inspiring and critical for whether life on this planet can go forward with any quality.

As always I've previewed several and they are all excellent.

The Ants and the Grasshopper: Malawian woman Anita has a gift - she can get things growing in her impoverished soil in Africa, and convince some men in her village to get off their lazy bums and out of their cultural convictions and help with the "women's work". When she travels to the USA her mission is even larger - to convince American farmers than climate change is real, and how changing their farming practices can have world-wide good effects. This is the story of a courageous woman, and of course the message she carries is critical.

To Which we Belong: Regenerative agriculture is such an important concept in a world of degraded soils and destructive farming practices.In this doco we meet ranchers/farmers in Montana, Nebraska, Connecticut and Kenya. All are championing alternative farming (on land and sea) methods that regenerate the soil, and keep an ecological balance. An inspiring doco bringing hope and solutions.

Food for the Rest of Us: Four different groups of people are trying to get back to the land. An indigenous group of young folks in Hawaii are running an organic farm, an African-American man in Kansas city is growing food on an old carpark site, in Colorado a young woman is defying gender stereotypes and teaching the art of kosher butchery to an interested group, and in a remote Inuit community, locals are growing fresh fruit and veggies under a geodesic dome. This is an inspirational doco, helping us to understand the importance of connectedness to the food we eat, and it also touches upon how this all relates to black history, gender equality and climate change.

The Forest for the Trees: The director, a ex war photographer, spends four years in British Columbia with tree planters. The young folks return year after year to do backbreaking work of reforestation, at the same time grappling with issues in their own lives and getting in touch with the earth and themselves. This is an intriguing doco that becomes almost like a meditation, while showing us the importance of taking time to immerse and figure what matters in life. The people we meet are easy to like and their journey shows us the healing power of nature.

70/30: In 2019 Danish activists took to the streets demanding political action on climate change. This doco tracks the intersection between politics with the interests of economics and big business, vs public opinion and the critical need for change before it's too late. Denmark eventually made a commitment to dramatically reduce emissions by 70% , but soon found the actuality of change at odds with the economy. Though there is a lot of political debate and talking heads, viewers should find the youngsters inspirational, and retain a healthy scepticism towards the politicians!

Again in the words of the festival organisers:

The Transitions Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing inspirational documentaries about the social and technological innovations, revolutionary ideas and trailblazing change-makers that are leading the way to a better world.

Thursday, 10 February 2022

February 11th

Nightmare Alley

Drive My Car

Belfast

Benedetta

Simple Passion

FREE!!! Japanese Film Festival online - from 14th February

I've caught up with a couple I missed earlier, and they are terrific. With Oscar nominations now out, there is plenty of buzz and excitement, and three of the films I've reviewed this week are on the list with plenty of nominations each! And of course how can you go past a FREE film festival, with plenty of excellent Japanese films headed for your living room.

Nightmare Alley

Dir: Guillermo del Toro

Length: 150 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q81Yf46Oj3s

Stanton Carlisle (Bradley Cooper) dumps a body, sets a house on fire and gets himself a job with a travelling carnival run by Clem (Willem Dafoe). There he learns psychic tricks from Zeena (Toni Collette) and her husband Pete (David Strathairn, while wooing another performer, sweet-natured Molly (Rooney Mara). When Molly and Stan leave the show, and set up their own mentalist act they run into manipulative psychiatrist Lillith Ritter (Cate Blanchett), who decides to seduce and use Stan to make them some money, doing psychic readings for very rich men. This remake of a 1947 film noir has received a nomination in just about every possible category at various festivals, and now has four major Oscar nominations. As a total entertainment it is an absolute winner: a top shelf cast, evocative sets, glorious cinematography, and some memorably horrific scenes. Plus it's just a damn good thriller - a tale told chillingly and captivatingly and depicting the worst in human beings - exploitative, greedy, deceptive and brutal. The final twist is a real winner, and if you can grit your teeth through a couple of very disturbing scenes, it will reward you richly with old-fashioned entertainment.

4 - highly recommended

Drive My Car

Dir: Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Length: 179 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lagauhb5GyY

This film is the winner at Cannes 2021 for Best Screenplay, FIPRESCI (international critics) Prize, Ecumenical Jury prize and the coveted Palme D'or. Not to mention another 45 assorted wins, and Barack Obama's top choice of film for the year. Now it has four Oscar nominations. Phew!! That doesn't mean this three hour film will be for everyone. Theatre director Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) has had his share of trauma - death of a small daughter, his wife's affair and then her sudden death. Two years later he is offered a residency at a theatre company in Hiroshima, to direct the play Uncle Vanya, a multi-lingual, inclusive production, in Japanese, Mandarin and sign language. A condition of employment is he must be driven (in his own car) by Misaki (Toko Miura), a 25-year-old woman who is taciturn, but hiding traumatic secrets from her own past. The film feels like three stories in one - a prologue for half an hour in which we meet Yusuke's wife and try to understand her motivations; the story of Yusuke and the gradual bonding with his driver; and the (lengthy) episodes involving the rehearsals for Uncle Vanya. I would have liked the film to be shorter - the rehearsals for the play were difficult for me, not being a Chekhov buff. However one cannot deny the emotional power that builds up as regret, guilt, self-reflection and deeply wounding emotions bubble up, slowly culminating in an extremely moving scene.

4 - highly recommended

Belfast

Dir: Kenneth Branagh

Length: 98 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja3PPOnJQ2k

With a mighty 37 wins and 211 nominations in other festivals, Belfast has a mighty seven nominations for this year's Academy Awards. Nine-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill) lives with his Ma (Caitriona Balfe) and brother, while Pa (Jamie Dornan)works over in England. Riots start up in 1969, with Catholics attacking Buddy's Protestant neighborhood. When Pa returns home he finds himself under attack from a local Protestant hoodlum and so-called mate, but Pa has no wish to be part of the sectarian rioting. If you take no part in the hostilities, you are perceived as being against the cause. Ultimately the family must decide whether to move from their beloved city for the safety of their two sons. Inspired by Branagh's own childhood, Belfast captures not only a critical moment in Ireland's troubled history, but it is also a tale of familial love, between the parents, for the children, and also for the grandparents, impressively played by Judy Dench and Ciaran Hinds. As a childhood reminiscence, more about family than politics, Branagh highlights the positives in Buddy's life (some call it sentimental), but I find it moving and thoroughly engaging. With mostly black and white cinematography, Branagh recreates time and place, when a simple life became complicated. Young Hill gives a transcendent performance, while Dornan and Bale (famous as Claire in Outlander) are perfect in their roles. I'd hardly expect anything less than this assured directorial hand from such a mighty craftsman as Branagh. The Van Morrison soundtrack is the cherry on top.

4 - highly recommended

Benedetta

Dir: Paul Verhoeven

Length: 131 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-31QJXV3iA

You don't often hear a film touted as a "lesbian nun thriller", but this one, based upon a true story, is just that. In the early 1600s, a time of plague, nine-year-old Benedetta (Virginie Efira) is sent to a convent, where, by the time she is in her early twenties she is causing quite a stir. She reports experiencing miracles, having visions, seeing Jesus naked, and then seems to develop stigmata along with scratches on her forehead. Fellow nun Bartolomea (Daphne Patakia) is sent to watch over her, but the two soon develop a passionate sexual relationship. The abbess of the convent (Charlotte Rampling) finally loses her position to Benedetta. Eventually various enquiries are held to examine the authenticity of Benedetta's claims, and a papal nuncio (Lambert Wilson) is sent to investigate (bring in the men to sort out the women!) How much of the minutiae of the story is or isn't true I have no idea; but it does make for an intriguing insight into life in a convent, and a worthy addition to the religious history and lesbian catalogue of films. The film was a nominee for the top award at Cannes, 2021.

3.5 - well recommended

Simple Passion

Dir: Danielle Arbid

Length: 99 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVgtakJvX3A

Helene (Laetitia Dosch) is a lecturer, researcher, and divorced mother. When she meets Alexandre (Sergei Polunin), a mysterious, married younger man, who hails from Moscow, she falls into a passionate love affair. Soon her obsession with him threatens to derail her entire life. I'm somewhat torn about this film. On the one hand it depicts really well the totally irrational state people can go into when they fall heavily in lust with one another, and Dosch embodies this state of madness superbly. However that is not enough to carry an entire plot. So much of the film is devoted to depicting the couples' lovemaking, and very little to exploring their inner feelings and motivations. Even Helene's mental deterioration takes a constant backseat to her endless waiting and yearning. Polunin (a famous ballet dancer in his own right) looks the part - handsome, full of lustful longing, yet withdrawn and arrogant. The film is well enough made, nicely shot, and yet without greater insight into why such an intelligent woman would allow herself to fall prey to this opportunistic guy is beyond me, and so colors my overall view. Not to mention the voice-over ending, which seems a cop-out way of tying it all up. Nevertheless as a study in self-defeating behaviour, it works well and many women will no doubt be able to relate to it.

3 - recommended

Japanese Film Festival

February 14-27 - FREE online

For all the info go to https://jff.jpf.go.jp/watch/jffonline2022/film-lineup/

The 2022 Festival presented by The Japan Foundation, Sydney will screen 17 films nation-wide for free, including feature films and documentaries. Some are as old and classic such as the 1950 film Rashomon, and others are the latest in Japanese cinema. Having visited Japan (and loved it), for me this is a great chance to catch up on a country and its culture that are truly intriguing, distinctive and captivating. More to come hopefully as I watch further once the festival starts.

Sumodo: If, like me, you always thought sumo wrestling was just about super fat guys pushing each other about, this highly-acclaimed doco should set you straight on the skill and tradition behind Japan's national sport. The film follows the lives of two particular wrestlers, tracking their gruelling training regime and the many contests they enter, until they face each other in the ring. The ancient sport has much ritual and elements of Shinto religion in it, and the wrestlers are revered. The film is an intriguing insight into a way of life and the finer details of the sport (not to mention what they have to eat to achieve those bodies!)

Her Love Boils Bath Water: This is my favorite so far. It tells of Fukuba, a young mother, whose husband has left her a year before. When she finds out she is terminally ill, she decides to put many of her affairs in order: restart the family bathhouse business, get her husband back into her life, and tell her teenage daughter Azumi some confronting facts about the family history. I haven't cried so much for quite a while in a film. Is that a good or bad thing - truly moving or emotionally manipulative? I'll go for the former. There are so many surprises and unexpected plot points in this sweet, funny, poignant and ultimately uplifting film. Despite upsetting revelations from the past, this family finds a way to handle it all. These are movie characters I totally enjoyed spending time with.

Mio's Cookbook: Best childhood friends Mio and Noe are separated and orphaned on the night on the great flood in Osaka in 1801. Mio ends up as a cook's apprentice in Edo (now Tokyo), and eventually becomes a fine chef in her own right. The fate of Noe becomes evident as the plot moves along. This is a film to delight foodies, and lovers of all things traditionally Japanese. With geisha houses, handsome samurai warriors, pretty kimonos, and of course some mouth-watering dishes, there's much to enjoy in this sentimental, but touching story, which is beautifully shot with great production values.

Wednesday, 2 February 2022

February 3rd

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

Europa! Europa - a brand new film festival - opening tomorrow, Fri 4 Feb

India: Sweets and Spices

The big excitement this week is that a new film festival hits town, featuring the cream of arthouse Euro cinema. Also there's an almost unmissable doco on the history of Sesame Street, along with a fun Indian tale of family secrets and ghastly snobbishness.

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

Dir: Marilyn Agrelo

Length: 107 mins

Street Gang is in selected cinemas and out on digital now

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQEFS6aKXCU

Sesame Street has been around since the 1960s, and is probably one of the most enduring and endearing TV shows, delighting children worldwide, and having that elusive ingredient that also appeals to many adults. This broad-ranging doco traces how Children's Television Workshop (CTW) came up with the idea of "selling the alphabet to kids" - a radical concept back then - and how they went about creating a show that was fun, educational and racially inclusive. With serious insights into the changing culture of America, this is not only a piece of social history but also television history. The doco provides behind the scenes (often hilarious) looks at the puppeteers and how the script-writing team works, and also provides us with fascinating commentary and reminiscences from those who worked the show and are still alive today. What really strikes me most is the heart and total commitment that has gone into Sesame Street and the joy its creators have had in being a part of something so ground-breaking. There are many amusing scenes of ad-libbing, along with eye-opening episodes where iconically famous people come onto the show to perform with Muppets and young wide-eyed kids. Think James Taylor, Dizzy Gillespie, Paul Simon, BB King and Johnny Cash. Surely this is testament to the universal appeal and importance of the program. Some episodes are so intensely poignant and meaningful (such as explaining to Big Bird what death means), that I felt deeply moved.

4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended

Europa! Europa

February 4-27

Melbourne: Classic and Lido

Sydney: Ritz

For all you need to know visit: europafilmfestival.com.au

A brand new film festival has arrived. In the words of its artistic director Thomas Caldwell: “From the countries who have defined arthouse and world cinema, to regions where the film industry is still small and emerging, European cinema is so incredibly rich and diverse.  Europa! Europa will present a selection of dynamic films that represent the entire continent in all its complexity and wonder to Australian audiences.”

Be prepared for film that is not part of the multiplex, popcorn brigade mainstream milieu, but movies that are deep, rich, complex, and subtle. Films from 27 different countries are represented, and it's a fabulous opportunity to catch movies you might never otherwise come across: think Latvia, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Slovenia, as well as festival favorites such as Germany, France, the UK and more. Many of the films have already won prestigious awards or are their country's submission for the Academy Awards. As always I'm lucky to have previewed several and they all come wholeheartedly recommended. I'll update you over the next week or so if I catch any more.

Europa: This gripping, gruelling film from Iraqi-Italian filmmaker Haider Rashid is based upon the true stories of refugees desperate to get to safety, crossing from Turkey along the Balkan Route. Although only 72 minutes long, the film will have you on the edge of your seat as young Iraqi man Kamal attempts to enter Europe on foot, but is nearly caught by authorities. He goes on the run, evading ruthless "migrant hunters", but gets hopelessly lost in a Bulgarian forest, terrified and alone. Employing close-up camera work, homing in on the face of the young man, and taking time with each scene, the director captures all the terror and panic of his situation, as he is wounded yet does everything within his strength to attempt to get to safety. The couple of locals he meets are testament to the prejudice Europeans feel towards the refugees. Stunningly filmed and acted, but fittingly disturbing.

Fear: There are copious well-deserved awards and nominations for this stunning Bulgarian film, again set near the Turkish border, where refugees are constantly attempting to enter the country. Seemingly tough and independent widow Svetla lives alone, a teacher who has lost her job, surrounded by boorish and prejudiced locals. When she befriends African refugee Bamba, she creates a storm in the local town. Shot in black and white, the film's cinematography is evocative and visually striking, lending a heightened edge to the story, which delicately balances moments of dry humour with an incisive and relevant story. Svetlana Yanchova and Michal Flemming conjure up perfect synergy in their lead roles.At times there is an almost stylised fairy tale feel to the film, at odds with the harsh reality of the reprehensible townsfolk.

The Pit: Ten-year-old Markuss lives with his grandma in a rural town some distance from Riga, Latvia's capital. He incurs the wrath of the neighborhood when he abandons his young friend Emily, who falls into a pit while they are in the forest. This film is based upon three separate short stories, and it is replete with various plot lines: domestic violence in the form of Robert, Markuss's vile wife-beating uncle; gender identity in the form of Sailor, a fellow who makes stained glass windows and is also a part of Grandma's past; forgiveness and redemption in the form of Emily's mother who wants revenge upon Markuss; the theme of childhood isolation, as Markuss struggles with his tragic parental past and feelings of rejection, and a plot thread about creativity, as Markuss discovers his own talents. Despite the density of the plot, the whole comes together in a sad but engaging coming-of-age story, that is both dark and ultimately redemptive.

The White Fortress: Set in Sarajevo, Bosnia, The White Fortress tells the story of Faruk, (another orphan living with Grandma), who dabbles in petty crime and spends his time fairly aimlessly. Then he meets Mona who comes from a rich but corrupt family. There is obvious attraction between the two and as the friendship moves towards romance, like Romeo and Juliet, the whole thing is doomed. Fortresses of many kinds exist here - the fortress of privilege, of social divide, the actual fortress that overlooks the city, and the big opulent house in which Mona lives, so at odds with the bleak state-run housing where Faruk lives. This is a sad film, highlighting the inequality that has deeply divided Bosnia, but some redemption lies in the innocence of the teens' relationship, and Faruk's kind character, belying the nasty world he is being constantly drawn into.

Shelter (Foscadh): Irish films are more than likely to be about "the troubles", but this is an intensely personal story of a young man, John, somewhat child-like and possibly autistic, who is bequeathed his family home after his overly protective mother dies. He must learn a rapid lesson in navigating the world, including bullies, friendship and romance. After he is savagely beaten by local thugs, he meets hospital nurse Siobhan and sexist roommate Dave. The incredible lead performance anchors this film, which is bleak and at times quite troubling. It's hard to like John, but we cannot help but sympathise with his awkward attempts to live a "normal" life. Unusually, the entire film is in the Irish language. The cinematography is impressive - reflecting both the austerity of the land itself and John's emotional landscape.

India: Sweets and Spices

Dir: Geeta Malik

Length: 101 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqtVoCj1sQk

Alia Kapur (Sophie Ali) returns to her Newark home for the college holidays. She is thrust once more into the bosom of her Indian-American family and their wealthy community, all obsessed with partying, gossip and arranging the next possible marriage. She meets, and is attracted to, Varun (Rish Shah), a young man working at the local Indian shop, but when she invites Varun and his family to one of her parents' parties, the true depth of snobbery in the local community emerges. However, Alia soon discovers there are copious secrets in her own family - both from her parents' pasts and in the present. While we have seen plenty of films of this nature, this one makes for a delightful entertainment, partly because of the character of the two romantic leads - both self-assured and intelligent. The film also reflects well upon the age-old issue of not being too quick to pass judgment on others. Everything about the movie is vibrant and colorful, with gorgeous costumes and settings. Despite elements of predictability, there are enough strong moments of deep emotional resonance.

3.5 - well recommended