September 18th 2026

The Weight

St Ali Italian Film Festival

Godzilla Minus One (streaming on Netflix)

The much-loved Italian Film Festival is back with a cornucopia of excellent films. For those looking for a thrilling adventure tale, check out the latest Ethan Hawke film. Couch dwellers and monster lovers get out your popcorn for the latest, surprisingly impressive, Godzilla flick. 

The Weight

Dir: Padraic McKinley

Length: 115 min

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YpuMymmiJ8&t=3s

© Rialto - a thrillling tale, of danger, bravery
and human treachery

In Oregon in 1933, widowed father Samuel (Ethan Hawke) runs foul of a bunch of crooked cops and is sent to prison working with a hard-laboring gang. His beloved little daughter Penny (a cute and feisty Ava Berry) is to be adopted out, so Samuel is desperate to do anything to shorten his sentence. Work gang overseer Clancy (Russell Crowe) suggests Samuel be co-opted, along with a couple of other inmates, to smuggle gold bullion across the wilderness, before the goverment (which is confiscating gold to combat the Great Depression) can get its hands on it. So begins a treacherous trek through the Oregon wilderness. While at first the greatest threat is from the dangerous terrain, soon greed and mistrust within the motley band of prisoners and their two armed guards surfaces. What a joy to see the brilliant Ethan Hawke front and centre of such an engrossing film, that has echoes of the sort of adventure movies of yesteryear. His character Samuel is a wonderful hero: brave, self-assured, and with a solid moral compass and plenty of smarts. The setting of the regon wilderness makes for a visual spectacle, and the many action sequences had me gasping from the tension. The three convicts accompanying Samual are all well-fleshed out characters, no stereotypes here, and it's also great that a strong central female character features. Indigenous woman, Anna (Julia Jones), is escaping the gold mining camp and manages to save several dire situations from total catastrophe. This is cinematic entertainment at the top of its game.

4 - highly recommended

St Ali Italian Film Festival

Melbourne 18 Sept - 15 Oct

Palace Cinemas

For other states, regional screenings, synopses and all you need, visit: 

https://www.palacecinemas.com.au/festivals/st-ali-italian-film-festival

What can one say about this fabulously popular film festival that hasn't already been said? It's the largest showing of Italian films at a festival outside of Italy, and, as always features the latest and greatest of Italian cinema. This year also showcases three films on Italian fashion and its icons, as well as a small retrospective on the actress Anna Magnani. Always fortunate, I've previewed a few.

Gioia Mia (Sweetheart): This much awarded film from Sicily is a gentle story that features old age and youth, and shows us that the gap can be bridged. Nico (Marco Fiore), a young boy from the city, welded to his mobile phone, is sent to spend the summer with his aunt Gela (a Donatello Best Actress performance from Aurora Quatrocchi). Her crumbling home has none of the mod-cons, and she hangs out with the old women from the village, adhering to tradition and and believing in ghosts and spirits. As expected, Nico's summer with his aunt will radically change them both. The film is slow paced, but absorbing, celebrating both youth and old age, tradition and modernity. It's always good to see films that remind one that the elderly were once young, and had a past, and that the young and old can learn from each other. 

A Brief Affair: This is my favorite of those I've previewed. In fact, I loved this film, that gives the romance/affair genre a deliciously wicked twist. Rocco (Adriano Giannini), a middle-aged seismologist, is married to Cecilia (Valeria Golino), a psychiatrist. After a strenuous chess-boxing match (yes it is a thing - look it up!), Rocco goes drinking, and at the bar encounters much younger Lea (Pilar Fogliati). Despite Rocco's protestations, an affair begins, and their liaisons are passionate and relatively simple at the outset. But things soon turn dark as Lea starts to infiltrate Rocco's private life, "accidentally" turning up where Cecilia is. As her agenda, motivated by troubles with her celebrity partner Andrea (Andrea Carpenzano), is revealed, things start to reach a tense climax. It's always a joy to see iconic actor Golino in action, but every performance is powerful and persuasive, and the dialogue is whip-smart. The final denouement is handled so well; both unexpected, thrilling, yet funny, in a warped way! 

Life is Life (La Vita va Cosi): This film is inspired by a true story - one of those David vs Goliath sagas. In gorgeous Sardinia, an 80-year-old cowherd Efisio grazes his small flock on the beach near the home his family has always lived in. When a wealthy property developer from Milan comes wanting to construct a multi-million dollar resort, Efisio digs his heels in and says he isn't budging. The money the conglomerate offer him goes up, and up and up, but the old man remains firm. The townsfolk all try to persuade him, saying they desperately need the work such a tourist enterprise would bring in. This is seriously important subject matter - the battle of tradition and ecological preservation versus progress and employment for dying communities. The film has many positives, especially the wonderful performance of Guiseppe Ignacio Loi, real-life Sardinian shepherd, which gives the film its authenticity. And of course the stunnning setting, and depiction of traditional Sardinian lifestyle is so appealing. Where it disappoints me is in its excessive runtime with much repetition, and the attempts at humour, which I know is loved in Italian films, but for me grated with the potential for true emotional power. (BTW, the Italian title means "That's how life goes" - an infinitely preferable title to the one it's been given.)

Godzilla Minus One

Dir: Takashi Yamazaki

Length: 124 mins

Streaming on Netflix - 2023

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAYKaslCXPc&t=4s

© Madman/Netflix - a monster movie with
surprising depth

Big confession from me: I'd never seen a Godzilla movie until now. So, with trepidation and cynicism I settle into this latest incarnation of the classic story, to be pleasantly surprised and actually very impressed! The film opens in wartime with kamikaze pilot Koichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) landing his plane for supposed repairs, when actually he's fearful to do his job, which is to die! When a giant monster emerges from the sea, Koichi is ordered by the mechanics to shoot, but again fear overwhelms him. Everyone, except Koichi, is killed by the great beast, Godzilla. Post-war, Koichi returns home to find everything in ruins, his parents dead, and Japan traumatised by all that has happened. He takes in a young woman Sumiko (Suriko Ando) with an orphaned child Noriko. After a small interval of peace, in which Tokyo is slowly recovering from the devastation of war, the dreaded monster reappears, its sights set on bustling Ginza, in the capital. Viewers can choose to simply enjoy this as an exciting creature-feature, or perhaps delve a little deeper into the symbolism and themes, of which there are many. Godzilla's radioactive death rays serve as a symbol of the horrific nuclear devastation of Japan, as well as the ongoing American nuclear testing. Koichi embodies survivor's guilt and PTSD, while there is an underlying sense of deep criticism of the Japanese wartime ethos of complete disregard for human life and the expectation of self-sacrifice aligned with honor. This is now a more human side of Japan, respecting individuals, and elevating the idea of communities banding together in the face of threat. The movie garnered a massive 44 wins and 62 nominations, including Best Achievement in Visual Effects at the 2024 Oscars.  

4 - highly recommended