October 24th 2025
Irish Film Festival - this weekend only in Melbourne
Familiar Touch
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
National Theatre Live: Mrs Warren's Profession
An excellent weekend for great films. From the intimate story of the challenges of aging, to a searing look at the creative process of an iconic musician, to a wonderful rendition of theatre on film, there's plenty to enjoy!
Reminder: the Irish Film Festival is on this weekend in Melbourne. It's well worth catching. If you didn't already make plans for it, revisit my review from a couple of weeks ago:
Familiar Touch
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© Potential - delicate and heartbreaking -
how to cope with a new life in old age |
Ruth (Kathleen Chalfant) is 80 and still living by herself, but small, once familiar activities are becoming challenging. She is unable to recognise her son Steve (H Jon Benjamin), mistaking him for her date. After a last meal together at home, Steve delivers her to an assisted living home, one she had chosen some time before. Initially Ruth finds herself adrift, then gradually settles in to the routine, finding warmth and friendship amongst the staff there. The subject of ageing and dementia is often a disturbing one, and something society easily turns away from. But this gentle and quite sublime film puts a compassionate spin on the story of a woman who refuses to be defined by what is happening to her. Chalfant's astonishing performance embodies both the witty, clever, charming Ruth she once was, and the now often confused and troubled woman she is becoming, but still with a strong sense of self. Director Friedland manages to inject warmth and humor into the sadness we inevitably feel for someone whose mind is betraying them. Many of the staff and residents are playing themselves, but notable are nurse Vanessa (Carolyn Mitchell) and wellness director Brian (Andy McQueen), whose many heart-breaking yet uplifting scenes with Ruth are memorable. This small but utterly relevant film is deserving of the 11 wins to its name, incuding best debut film at Venice Film Festival.4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere
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© 20th Century Fox - White captures the
essence of the Boss |
Being a huge fan of Jeremy Allen White in the series The Bear, I couldn't wait to see what he would do with the role of Bruce Springsteen. I'm not disappointed, in fact I'm blown away by his performance, which appears to inhabit the singer, not simply impersonate him. This is very much the story of the journey, and agonies, of a songwriter, not merely a by-the-numbers biopic of a famous person. The film alternates time frame, revisiting Bruce's childhood in Nebraska, in the late '50s, with a loving mother and a drunken bullying father (Stephen Graham). The "current day" is 1982, when Bruce is writing the songs for his album Nebraska, inspired by his troubled childhood, and also recording Born to Run, the song that propelled him to worldwide stardom. There are several excellent reneactments of concerts, with sweat-riddled bravura performances (and White doing his own singing!), scenes of in-studio recording sessions, along with many moments of tortured introspection, capturing Bruce's intense need to express himself with this album, not merely create hits to please the record company. Jeremy Strong as Bruce's manager Jon Landau - a true friend who understands the singer's need to express himself - is equally compelling in his role. It's a sensitive protrayal of deep male bonding. When it comes to Bruce's relationship with girlfriend Fay (Odessa Young) and her young daughter, things get a bit formulaic, with a few too many tropes, but aside from that minor criticism, the film pays worthy tribute to one of the great modern singer-songwriters, giving us a deeply authentic and moving insight into his demons, and his genius.4 - highly recommended
National Theatre Live: Mrs. Warren's Profession
Dir: Dominic Cooke
Length: 120 mins
Limited sessions over weekend - check Palace site, Classic, and Sun Yarraville for session times
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© Sharmill - new lfe and relevance in an old play
with stunning mother/daughter performances |
For 16 years now National Theatre Live has been filming theatrical productions, featuring the cream of British acting talent, and giving audiences a new up-close and personal experience, via film, of those actor's performances. So, comments upon these films are in many ways more about the performances and staging than about film per se. George Bernard Shaw wrote this play in 1893, yet amazingly it still feels very relevant today. Vivie Warren (Bessie Carter) is a young women striving for independence, and aiming to move into the field of actuarial mathematics. She has a reunion with her estranged mother Mrs Warren (Imelda Staunton), and gradually some home truths abut Mrs Warren's past life surface. I'll avoid spoilers, but let's just say the story has much to say abut the role of women, men's expectations of women, societal attitudes to sex work, and the expectations a mother and daughter have of each other. Beautifully staged initially in a minimalistic garden setting, then indoors, this features stand-out performances from Carter and Staunton (a real mother-daughter team). All the men acquit themselves wonderfully too - a real role-call of engaging characters from rich financial backers, to a dubious reverend, and a couple of potential suitors for Vivie. Watching Staunton is a master-class in acting, and I found myself totally captured and impressed by this excellent film.4 - highly recommended
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