April 27th 2025

National Theatre Live: Doctor Strangelove

Fantastic Film Festival - Mr K

This week I'm sticking to my initial mission statement of "five minute reviews" - namely short! My reviews just seem to be getting longer. Steve Coogan, so good in last week's The Penguin Lessons, stars again, this time in four roles in the one film! And the Fantastic Film Festival is back for another year of bizarre and outrageous films. 

Fantastic Film Festival Australia (FFFA)

Now until 16th May

Lido Hawthorn and Thornbury Picture Theatre

For all info visit https://www.fantasticfilmfestival.com.au/

For adventurous movie-goers, the festival presents 27 movies that push the boundaries of cinema. If you want provocative, mind-bending and bizarre, I suggest you check out the website and make your choices. I've previewed one film, which certainly fits that bill, yet is strangely compelling and intriguing.

Mr K

Dir:  Tallulah Hazekamp Schwab

Length: 170 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl-hewRJ0QYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl-hewRJ0QY

© a weird Kafka-esque nightmare

Crispin Glover plays Mr K, a travelling magician who checks into a hotel for the night. As he prepares to leave next day he is confronted with a series of never-ending corridors that lead nowhere. Like in the song Hotel California,  "you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave". This is an excellent piece of mega-disturbing and surreal film-making: extraordinary sets with walls that crawl with wormlike, intestinal lifeforms, strange marching bands invading the corridors, eccentric long-term residents who see Mr K as a possible savior, and an ending that still has me baffled. 

Lovers of the weird and wonderful, get along to this festival!  

Dr Strangelove (National Theatre Live)

Dir:  Sean Foley

Length: 170 mins

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALXh9rOvzfs

© Sharmill - Steve Coogan shines

Fans of the original 1964 Stanley Kubrick masterpiece starring Peter Sellers may be disappointed in this filmed stage production of the classic. It comes across as somewhat anachronistic in its style and at times overly histrionic. But there's no denying the stage effects are excellent, with the war room being imposing and the recreation of pilots barrelling towards annihilation in their bomber cleverly crafted. Ultimately maybe some things are simply too iconic to be recreated, but fans of  Steve Coogan, who plays four roles, should get along and see him display his acting chops. 

One for fans of Coogan, rather than Kubrick!