June 17th 2023

You Hurt My Feelings

The Last Daughter

Spanish Film Festival

From a funny and biting relationship film, to a moving cross-cultural documentary, and a great selection from the vibrant Spanish Film Festival, there is, yet again, some strong movies up for your delectation this week. 

You Hurt My Feelings

Dir: Nicole Holofcener

Length: 93 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20GWk5cWPBs

© Roadshow - funny and very true to
many people's experiences

Beth (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is working on her second book, a novel, after the moderately succesful publication of her memoir. Her husband Don (Tobias Menzies) is a psychiatrist, none too successful, as the wonderful opening scene of an arguing couple in his office testifies. Beth's sister Sarah (Michaela Watkins) is an interior design advisor, while her husband Mark (Arian Moayed) is an aspiring actor. All have their personal dramas and crises of self-confidence, but for Beth it is almost a deal breaker when she overhears Don talking to Mark about her latest book. He declares how much he dislikes it, having told Beth he loves it. Don defends himself, saying he wanted to be supportive and not hurt her feelings. Meantime the sisters must tend to sharp-tongued mother Georgia (Jeannie Berlin), while Don and Beth have to handle the aspirations and heartaches of their son Elliot (Owen Teague). Director Holofcener always has a sharp eye for the details of human relationships, which is what makes this marriage and all the characters' dilemmas feel so authentic. There's a lovely balance between comedy and intimate personal small tragedies, with Dreyfus (forever Elaine in Seinfeld) a wonderful comic foil to her very serious husband. The film, although small in scope, manages to be highly entertaining while bringing up many relatable issues that will no doubt start lots of heated conversations over coffee afterwards.

3.5 - well recommended 

The Last Daughter

Dir: Brenda Matthews, Nathaniel Schmidt

Length: 90 mins

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/774508782

© Bonsai - the hunt for identity and 
a lost family

Brenda Matthews was only three in 1973 when she was handed over to a white family who were happy to foster a little indigenous child. There were few explanations from the Aboriginal Welfare people other than the assertion that Brenda's parents were unfit, and all seven children had been taken away and fostered out. Brenda settled happily into her new loving family, and adored her little white sister. Then, shockingly, about seven years later, the white parents were informed that Brenda was to be returned to her family of origin. Never knowing quite where she belonged, Brenda later married her white husband, Mark. Forty years after being returned to her family of origin, she goes in search of her white family and answers to how such a thing could have happened. What she uncovers is a web of lies and deep grief from the parents in both her families. Using the real people, plus moving reenactments, this is yet another extraordinary damning story of Stolen Generations, at a time when the practice was supposedly abolished. It is also about reconciliation and how one woman learns to walk between two worlds, the sort of connection that could well be a model for overcoming the divisiveness that exists between white Australia and its First Nations people. There is a lot of compassion for the two families involved, and moving testimonies from all concerned.

4 - highly recommended 

HSBC Spanish Film Festival

Melbourne Now until July 12

Cinemas: Palace throughout Melbourne

For other states, session times, film details, visit www.spanishfilmfestival.com.au

The festival celebrates its 25th birthday this year, with a bumper lineup of the best of modern Spanish cinema, and a selection of films from Latin America. This year's festival has several different emphases: one focus will be on Argentina, with six films from that country. For music lovers there is a retrospective on  the great director Carlos Saura whose 1983 version of Carmen, with plenty of flamenco dance, is memorable. Women directors are also in the spotlight with seven films coming from the female perspective. Lucky me, as usual, has previewed a handful of strong offerings.

Cork: Winner of the critics prize at San Sebastian FF 2022, this is the story of Elena and Ivan, who leave the Barcelona big smoke and head to a country property which abuts a 1200-acre cork forest. As they begin working with the locals to harvest the cork, it soons become apparent that the couple have a lot of conflict in every area, from how to live on the land through to who wields the most power in their relationship. When young Moroccan. Karim. joins the crew this leads to further marital strains and racism among the workers. There is a constant sense of tension and almost menace in this intriguing feature,  inspired by the director's own work in a cork plantation.

Prison 77: Another winner of umpteen awards, this powerful film centres around the shocking prison conditions in Spain in 1977 as it transitioned from the Franco era to democracy. Manuel is awaiting trial for a white collar crime. The guards are brutal, the system is corrupt, so he and cellmate Pino start up a group to fight for prisoners rights and to fundamentally change the penitentiary system. Based around true events and shot in Barcelona's Modelo prison, this is gripping, hard-hitting and tense story telling, which also celebrates resilience, friendship and determination. 

Greg Mortimer: In 2020 the cruise ship Greg Mortimer set off for the Antarctic, just as the Covid pandemic was declared. Everyone thought they were heading for the safest spot on earth, until a passenger fell ill and Covid rampaged through the ship. But as it turned back, the Greg Mortimer found no country was willing to allow it to dock until Uruguay stepped in with a compassionate and audacious plot to repatriate the passengers and crew back to their starting points. The film features many compelling interviews from surviving passengers, and is often very gripping, even though we know the outcome. It is an inspiring tale of a country stepping up, in the face of fear, to do the right and humanitarian thing.   

Carmen (1983): Part of the Carlos Saura retrospective, this much-awarded film is a must-see for lovers of Spanish flamenco dance and music. It is the story of Antonio (actual flamenco dancer Antonio Gades) who is choreographing a production of Bizet's Carmen. He hires a young sultry dancer named Carmen (Laura del Sol) for the lead role. Gradually the lives of  the modern dance troupe start to look a lot like the dramatic plot they are performing, with all its passion and jealousy. This film is vibrant, energetic, and simply enthralling. It features some of the best flamence dance scenes up on the big screen, and with the actual numero uno flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia as Paco, you get to experience the best of Spanish song and dance, and human passions.