September 8th
The Quiet Girl
Thirteen Lives (Streaming on Amazon Prime)
Beneath Clouds (Streaming on Netflix)
Rurangi (streaming on SBS On Demand)
I haven't caught much new on the big screen this week, so bring you a selection of top films to enjoy on your streaming services. The one cinema film I have seen comes with a huge recommendation and is one of the best things I've seen in ages.
The Quiet Girl
Dir: Colm Bairead
Length: 94 mins
 |
© Madman - delicate and powerful storytelling
|
The setting is rural Ireland in 1981. Cait (Catherine Clinch) comes from a dysfunctional family with unaffectionate parents and a level of neglect. Ma is expecting another baby so Cait is sent away for several weeks to stay with distant family - an older couple, Eibhlin (Carrie Crowley) and husband Sean (Andrew Bennett). The contrast between the two homes is instantly apparent, with Eibhlin taking the child to her heart immediately. Eibhlin is at pains to tell Cait there are no secrets in this home. However, as time goes on, and Cait blossoms under the warmth and loving care of her new "parents", she learns there is a very deep and tragic secret in the family. This delicate film is nothing less than exquisite in so many ways. Young Clinch's performance is breathtaking, and while this is a very modest plot, the depth and breadth of emotion it encomapsses is massive, all the time avoiding mawkish sentimentality. Magnificent cinematography and a superb score add to the whole, in a film that has deservedly won countless awards in Ireland and in major European festivals.4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended
Thirteen Lives
Dir: Ron Howard
Length: 147 mins
Streaming on Amazon Prime
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© Prime Video - gripping, and superbly
filmed and acted |
According to the "trusty" internet, no fewer than six films are being made (or have been) on the dramatic rescue of a Thai soccer team from a flooded cave. I reviewed an excellent semi-doco (The Rescue) on the subject last year, and now I've watched the latest feature film offering from esteemed director Ron Howard. In short, despite my knowing the outcome, I find the film rivetting, tense and extremely well made. Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton play three of the key divers who help to rescue the twelve young boys and their slightly older coach, who became trapped deep within a cave system, as early monsoonal rains cause havoc. The guys play their parts superbly well. Everything about the film feels authentic; where required it is in the Thai language, the actors trained hard to do some of the diving themselves, the cinematography is superb within the narrow spaces, and all the young kids playing the team are so believable. Best of all, being one of the good news stories of its time, it is really uplifting and inspiring. The true meaning of hero for me is not found within football teams, but in the fearless bravery of the many people who gave their all to this rescue effort.4 - highly recommended
Beneath Clouds
2002
Dir: Ivan Sen
Length: 90 mins
Streaming on Netflix
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© Netflix - almost timeless in its depiction
of the tragedy of indigenous lives |
Light-skinned Lena (Danielle Hall) is the daughter of an Irish father and an Aboriginal mother. Leaving home due to her mother's neglect, and the lack of prospects in her hometown, she heads for Sydney hoping to find her dad. Along the way she hooks up with Vaughan (Damian Pitt) who has escaped from a youth detention facility. Vaughan thinks Lena is a whitefella, (she's in denial about her indigenous heritage). Gradually she gets in touch with her identity, and the softer side of Vaughan. This low key film is short on dialogue but big on mood - the feel of the vast landscape the kids hitchhike through, and the mood of unremitting hostility from the white community and the police towards indigenous people, as well as a sense of futility in the lives of many of the Aboriginal people. There is something tragic, poignant and beautiful about the film, which won some hefty awards back in 2002 at the Berlin Film Festival. And of course the really sad thing is that not enough has changed since then for our First Nations people. Great to see a film that holds up so well after 20 years.4 - highly recommended
Rurangi
Dir: Oliver Page
Length: 96mins
Streaming on SBS On Demand
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| © MQFF - strong, compassionate film-making |
One of my top picks from the latest Melboune Queer Film Festival, this is a subtle, compassionate, beautiful film, set in the farming countryside of New Zealand. Transgender activist Kaz (Elz Carrad) returns to the small town he left as a girl before transitioning. He hopes to reconnect with his estranged father, who is now passionately involved in environmental issues. Having fled a community he believes would never accept him, Kaz now meets again people from his past. This is one of the best features on transgender issues that I've seen and is a must for anyone wanting to better understand the subject, and the emotional trauma for young people questioning their identity. But it is also a most human story of parental bonds, friendship bonds, and acceptance of self and others. Moving and beautifully scripted, with powerful performances by all.
4 - highly recommended
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