October 15th 2026
Sense and Sensibility
La Bola Negra
JIFF - Jewish International Film Festival - begins 18th October
More excellent films: a new Jane Austen remake, an award-winning Spanish epic, and the Jewish Film Festival with copious marvellous movies. What's not to love!?
Sense and Sensibility
Dir: Georgie Oakley
Length: 131 min
 |
© Universal - loving sisters, navigating
the world of men and emotion |
Unfortunately some people will be unable to resist comparing this film to Ang Lee's 1995 version of the Jane Austen classic. That film won the Golden Bear at Berlin and garnered numerous awards and nominations (including an Oscar for Best Screenplay). But you know me - I like to judge a film on a stand-alone basis, and using those criteria this one scrubs up very nicely. Granted it doesn't have the trademark Austen irony and incisive social commentary, but it is a gorgeous period romance, with a visual richness and terrific performances from all concerned. Daisy Edgar Jones is Elinor Dashwood, Esme Creed Miles her sister Marianne. The sisters, together with mother Mrs Dashwood (Catriona Balfe, of Outlander fame) are outsted from their family home when Mrs D's stepson John is left the inheritance from her deceased husband. Relocating to a small cottage, the Dashwood girls attract the attention (of course) of various men. Edward Ferrars (George McKay) is smitten with Elinor, while the serious Colonel Brandon (Herbert Nordrum) has his eye on Marianne but she is besotted with cad and bounder Willoughby (Frank Dillane). The two sisters are chalk and cheese, Elinor serious and sensible while outspoken Marianne gives over to her emotions. They are not the prim, proper young women we expect of the era, but wild and at times almost scruffy, which adds a very relateable feel to their characters. A lovely light touch comes from stalwart actor Fiona Shaw as Mrs Jennings, a widow and gossip, who enlivens the proceedings at every appearance. With its romantic longings, social snobbery, stunning visuals and a lovely score, along with colorful characters to love and hate, this is most enjoyable viewing. 3.5 - well recommended
La Bola Negra
Dir: Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo
Length: 160 min
 |
© Rialto / Moving Story - Pen Cruz is almost
unrecognisable in her small but startling role |
It's worth it to learn a little about Federico Garcia Lorca, and Spain in the 1930s to fully follow the plot of this complex and excellent film. Lorca was a famed playwright and poet, who was executed by the fascists in 1936, because of his left-wing leanings and his homosexuality. The film has three major strands which interweave and time-jump. In 1932 Carlos (Milos Quifes), young son of a wealthy family, is rejected for membershp into a casino, due to rumors of his homosexuality. (The decision is made via colored balls, hence the film's title). In 1937 the Spanish civil war has broken out. Trumpeter Sebastian (Guitarricadelafuente) is forced into the fascist army, and charged with guarding a young prisoner, Rafael (Miguel Bernardeau) from the Rebel army. Love blossoms between the two. In the modern era, gay historian Alberto (Carlos Gonzales) receives a package from a grandfather he never knew. The strands and connections gradually fall into place. Meantime Penelope Cruz dazzles in a small cameo as Nene Romero, a cabaret-style singer, entertaining soldiers. Glenn Close also makes an impressive appearance as a scholar of Lorca's work. As a study of queer repression, longing, desire, and war, as well as a homage to Lorca, whose unfinished script La Bola Negra inspires the movie, this is a sweeping and moving film, totally worth immersing in. It won Best Director at Cannes FF 2026.4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended
JIFF - Jewish International Film Festival
Melbourne: 18 Oct - 25 November - check website for Sydney and Perth
Classic and Lido Cinemas
With 52 new features and documentaries from around the world, as well as a seven-film Mel Brooks retrospective, there's much to choose from in this year's JIFF. There's also a special screening of the 1979 film The Tin Drum, which won a Palme D'or at Cannes, and a Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. I've started my previewing, and bring you four reviews this week, with more to come over the course of the festival.
Where To?: A worthy winner of this year's Best Film at the Jerusalem FF, this gentle, introspective and deeply thought-provoking film is a panacea to the many ills and misunderstandings in today's world. Uber driver Hassan (Hassan Kiwan) is working in Berlin and sending money back to his family stuck in Palestine. He picks up Amir (Ido Tako) , a young Jewish man from Tel Aviv who has followed a boyfriend to Berlin. As Amir repeatedly turns up in Hassan's car, the two form a tentative friendship, gradually learning about each other's pasts, and hopes for the future. There seems more to bind them than divide them. Kiwan would be the ultimate "face actor" - the minutiae of his every facial movement conveys so much more than any words could. The delicate original soundtrack also encompasses both cultures, adding to the deeply moving and quiet story that must surely cast a ray of hope in this divided world. My favorite of those films I've previewed so far!
The Choice: Psychiatrist Edith Eger is a Holocaust survivor and author of the book The Choice. Iris Haim is a bereaved mother whose son Yotam was taken hostage on October 7th, and subsequently killed mistakenly by the IDF. This deeply moving documentary traces the journey of both women, who ultimately meet up, so that Edith can help Iris through her grief, and explain to her how choosing forgiveness can help one to move forward in life. This is powerful stuff, with a message that everyone can take into thir own lives.
Find Me Okay: Another doco centred around the October 7th catastrophe, this one has been filmed over two years, and features the Yerushalmi family. Two of the three sisters were at the Nova music festival when the Hamas terrorists attacked. One managed to escape to safety, but the other, Eden, was kidnapped. We follow the family's journey which goes from hope, perseverance, and ultimately grief, followed by the attempts to rebuild their lives. Warning: there is some very disturbing footage that was taken on iphones at the very moment of the attacks.
Block 10: Just when you think you've seen it all, along comes another lesser known aspect of the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. This feature film, based upon survivor testimonies and court records, tells of the brutal treatment of women in Auschwitz, as Nazi doctors experimented on them, trying to find efficient sterilisation methods. This is an incredibly well-made film . . . but it is so harrowing to watch, it will not be for some viewers. Jewish gynacologist Dr Samuel goes along with the program, hoping to buy his daughter's life, while other woman are forced into complicity in the procedures, upon threat of death. The sheer brutality and disregard for human life by the Nazis is horrific, yet the tiny moments of compassion between the women, and even from misguided Dr Samuel, give small moments of humanity amid the nightmare.
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