No. 97. (2019) Official Secrets. October 28th.

Film No 97 (2019) October. 28th.  6:30 PM  LUNA PALACE Windsor, Nedlands . 

"We will be conceding that no one can tell the people when their government is lying" (Gun makes an emotional plea to her lawyers,stating that taking a plea bargain would be a lame concession).

Most of us suspected there was no truth to the propaganda being spread, mainly by the U.S. and the Brits in the early 2000's, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction at his disposal. Bush and Blair continually whipped up hysteria. 

Katharine Gun, solidly played by Keira Knightley, is the subject of Official Secrets and it was Gun who risked everything dear to her by leaking an email to the media (U.K. Observer) in her position as a translator for a U.K. intelligence hub. The leaked email revealed the extent the U.S. was prepared to stoop to, to convince the U.N. that their vote to endorse the US/UK commitment for conflict with Iraq was the only course of action.

Gavin Hood (Eye In The Sky, Tsotsi) has directed a tense and important film. Gun is a gutsy patriot who has never gained the recognition she deserved. Her government treated her deplorably and because the Iraq conflict is such old news this film won't whip up the public outrage it likely should. To Hood's credit at least Gun is immortalized in a well made film.

If you enjoyed Red Joan and Eye In The Sky in recent years, well in my humble view Official Secrets is better than both. Oh, and watching Ralph Fiennes (Gun's defence lawyer) play a good guy for once was a pleasure. His line to close the film is priceless. 10GUMS.

  

   

No. 96. (2019) Promised. October 27th.

Film No. 96 (2019) October 27th.  3:40 PM  PALACE CINEMAS  Northbridge. 

"I can't make you happy Robert. Marriage isn't some sort of business arrangement" (Angela pleads with Robert to see reason as to why an arranged marriage is a ridiculous notion).

No pun intended, but for a film that promised so much (trailer and promotions) Promised is a pretty lame contribution to the Australian drama/romance genre of cinema. 

It's as though the film has been financed by an Italian connection, no strings, for a group of young film-makers to tell a story, a one layered legendary story handed down through the Melbourne Italian community. The story is of Robert (Daniel Berini) and Angela (Antoniette Iessue) who at a young age are promised in marriage to one another by their fathers. Fast forward to the 1970's and life is not quite that simple, especially for Angela, who is in-love with Tony (Santo Tripodi). So what happens? Well, if you really want to know, try to catch a screening. Firstly, you may need to reside in Australia because there seems to be a distinct lack of international distribution interest.

The performances are okay. The script  is second level soap standard and the soundtrack is either lift background sounds or a supermarket playlist. The soundtrack is extremely distracting. I can only think that the U.S. Hallmark channel will pick it up cheaply for international television viewing in a few months. 4GUMS.       

No. 95. (2019) Dosed. October 26th.

Film No 95 (2019) Oct. 26th.  11:00 AM  LUNA PALACE Leederville. 

"All of a sudden that soul has a new set of eyes to see through" (A psychedelics medication believer talks about what it's like for someone at the end of this treatment of detoxification).

Could this be one of the most important films in modern times revealing an alternative, and in most countries illegal, method of detoxification for chronically drug addicted people? I have no idea, but for the 84 minutes I spent with Canadian addict, Adrianne, I was convinced that the underground method, using hallucinogenic treatment, may be the real light at the end of the tunnel for those wanting to get off methadone/morphine which is currently presented as the only possible treatment. 

In Tyler Chandler's first feature length documentary we become active observers. He empowers us to be active participants in this journey with Adrianne. I imagine this would be an excruciating watch for parents or loved ones who have experienced life with an addict, but I am one of the lucky ones who has not experienced this, so Dosed gave me insight. An insight I'd prefer never to experience first hand but an insight which made me sad (some of Adrianne's choices),angry (methadone dividends collected by pharmaceutical companies), flabbergasted (extent of Adrianne's lies) and finally exhilarated. 

Considering psychedelics have been a medicine used by tribes for centuries I couldn't help but wonder why law making and administrative processes have forced this medicine underground. But then again there is Methadone!! There are pharmaceutical companies! There are shareholders! Say no more. 

If you are keen to experience film-making depicting real people and the true power of the human spirit, please don't miss Dosed. 11GUMS. 

           

     

No. 93. (2019) Hustlers. October 20th.

Film No 93 (2019) October 20th.  1.10 PM  PALACE CINEMAS Raine Square,  Perth City . 

"I just want to take care of my grandma, maybe go shopping once and a while". (Destiny explains why she'd like to earn a little more as a rookie at Scores strip joint).

In late 2015 journalist Jessica Pressler wrote a deep, well researched article for the New York magazine titled, The Hustlers at Scores. Film maker Lorene Scafaria (The Meddler) read the piece and immediately latched onto the undeniable friendship theme which permeated Presslers prose. Scafaria has directed a mesmerising, if slightly elongated film about four ladies who preyed on any number of men who were seeking a night of drink, drugs and maybe sex. They fleeced their victims credit cards after lacing their drinks, all in the pursuit of material wealth. To read the article is to follow the factual analysis of the film. Constance Wu plays Destiny, the focus of Pressler's writing, with Julia Stiles playing Pressler (who goes by the name of Elizabeth) as we skip backwards and forwards between the years 2011 to 2016. The friendship between Destiny and Jennifer Lopez's, Ramona forms the foundation of the crime and the eventual outcome. We don't condone the behaviour of our subjects but we are fascinated with the chemistry generated between the characters. Not seen since Out Of Sight, Lopez thrives as Ramona and the soundtrack is a winner. 9GUMS.

 

   

No. 94. (2019) Happy Sad Man. October 22nd.

Film No 94 (2019) Oct. 22nd.  6:30 PM  LUNA PALACE Leederville. 

"That's a good question for anyone, isn't it. Would you hang out with yourself?" (John reacts to a question from director Bailey asking if he happened to meet himself, would he be happy to hangout with that person?).

Any film bringing to the fore issues related to a better understanding of men's mental health can't be all bad. The more society gains and maintains tolerance and compassion for the silent illnesses of anti-social behaviour, bipolar disorder and manic depression, the more people will engage and pay attention. Genevieve Bailey (I Am Eleven) uses five characters to highlight the reality of their struggles. John is her favourite subject, a self confessed hippy (Australia's first in his words) who has many regrets about his life due to his depressive behaviour and the effect it has had on his family. All of Bailey's subjects have a unique appeal, ranging from surfer Grant who has created a world-wide charity to David a comedian and artist with a unique range of Dog Perfume to maybe the least featured but most interesting, for me, Ivan who travels his home state of Victoria just listening to blokes.  These characters give Happy Sad Man a lasting depth. The film does rambling at times, is sometimes disjointed but if it pricks the conscience and motivates action in just one viewer then Bailey will be ecstatic. I'm betting Happy Sad Man will indeed prick a conscience or two. 9GUMS.         

   

No. 92. (2019) Fisherman's Friends. October 16th.

Film No. 92 (2019) October 17th.  6:40 PM  PALACE CINEMAS  Northbridge. 

"The bottom line is, you've got a unique sound and we believe we can help you get it released by a major label" (Danny puts it to the shanty singers that they may have a future in getting their sound to a world wide audience. They react with raucous laughter).

All froth and bubble, that's Fisherman's Friends but it  uses the perfect bait to reel in the audience it aims to please. A dreary Sunday afternoon in the cinema with this inspirational singing troupe will be as perfectly inoffensive a use of 90 minutes as could be spent. 

Based on the true story of a group of 10 Cornish fisherman from the quaint coastal village of Port Isaac receiving an offer of a $1 million contract in 2009 for a one off album, it's a story worth telling. But most of the film's content is "guff". The fluff comes in the form of an unlikely love story, coughing up a fictional London music promoter Danny (Daniel Mays) who on a bucks trip to Port Isaac is dared by his toffy mates, for no particular reason, to sign the shanty singing fishermen to a record deal. In Local Hero fashion Danny becomes addicted to the seaside village life and falls for the daughter of one of the shanty singers, Tamsyn (Meadow Nebrega). The love story overrides the narrative. The script is crap, the set up is naff and the actual shanty singing is less than breathtaking. It just "nails" the crowd pleaser effect. Sometimes magic happens!

Don't read the real story of the shanty singers before sitting in the cinema with this version. Read it afterwards. Given the events which really occurred post the signing of their contract and the touring they did; it occured to me that is where the real film lies. A story of human spirit, endurance and determination. 8GUMS.

   

      

No. 91. (2019) Working Woman. October 15th.

Film No. 91 (2019) October 15th.  10:20 AM PALACE CINEMAS Kino Collins St. Melb.

                        

"Orna is an asset for anyone who wants to hire her." The statement Orna reads from her CV (which she wrote herself) that she  now requires her boss Benny to sign, as reinforcement to all she committed to his business.

A sterile but effective Israeli cinematic contribution to the #MeToo phenomenon. Orna (Liron Ben-Shlush)needs to return to the workforce because the lack of turnover in the restaurant she and her husband, Ofer (Oshri Cohen), opened is financially crippling them. Orna can hardly believe her good fortune as Benny (Mesashe Noy), her new boss, showers bonuses and a promotion upon her as she proves herself to be an astute international sales executive for his upmarket apartment complex. Or is Benny just infatuated with Orna's professional demeanor, accentuated by her good looks? He simply won't take no for an answer as he continually makes advances on Orna, seemingly during her most vulnerable moments. Directed by Michal Aviad (Invisible) Working Woman hardly wastes a scene and in 93 minutes she makes her point and reminds the world that real equality in every workplace is something we should all strive for. 9GUMS.

            

No. 90. (2019) Ad Astra. October 13th.

Film No. 90 (2019) October 13th.  12:45 PM PALACE CINEMAS Kino, Collins St. Melb.

                        

"He was a hero. He gave his life in the pursuit of knowledge" (Roy responds to a question relating to the legacy that remained of his father's deeds).

Another intergalactic indulgence right up there with Interstellar and Gravity, but this time with old fashioned mystery and a hero only Brad Pitt could bring to life with legitimacy. 

Pitt plays Roy McBride, an astronaut with a distinguished career who is currently in command of a unit working from a structure rising from earth into the stratosphere. (Jack and the Beanstalk was before it's time!). The opening scenes are stunning. Atmospheric power surges are killing hundreds of people and threatening intergalactic progress. Evidence is uncovered; McBride's father H.Clifford (Tommy Lee Jones), a legendary space hero (thought lost 16 years earlier) is operating a rogue vessel off Neptune and initiating the surges. Roy is sent on a billion mile trek to uncover the mystery and save earth, so to speak.

It all sounds simplistic, and it is, but the power of the images and the atmospheric sound track along with Pitt's film star poise, propel Ad Astra into a stratosphere of its own.  9GUMS.

          

No. 89. (2019) Judy. October 9th.

Film No. 89 (2019) October 9th.  6:45 PM EVENT CINEMAS Innaloo.                        

"Do you mean I have to leave my children to make enough money to be with with them?" (Judy weighs up her options after being offered a lucrative deal to sing for 5 weeks at The Top of The Town night club in London).

Judy is an interesting take on the phenomenon that was Judy Garland. Renee Zellweger plays the diva to absolute perfection as stage director Rupert Goold (MacBeth) turns his hand to film and pays a fitting tribute to an icon who is more remembered for her unfortunate demise than for her talent and pure love of her children. Goold and screenwriter Tom Edge give Judy a real stage flavour spending 70% of the film capturing the 5 week stint, her second last major public appearances, performing at Top of The Town night club in London during 1968. Zellweger gives us a Garland we all want to love. Her skill in mixing unhinged pill-popping, unabated devotion to her children Lorna (Bella Ramsey) and Joey (Lewin Lloyd) with performing with a voice of pure velvet will definitely secure many major awards. It is widely reported that the greatest pleasure Renee has gained from this project came from delivering a wonderful tribute to a diva worth remembering. 

There is background, somewhat cliched, as to why Garland had such emotional instability. These flashbacks refer to her studio contract under the care of Louis B Mayer in the 40's. The Mayer family will undoubtedly have less glowing accolades for the film! There must, however, be some truth in the depictions. Also the scene bringing Garland and daughter Liza Minnelli together is necessary and sweet  but fleeting, it forms an interesting side-track. 

The talented Irish rose, Jessie Buckley (Wild Rose) appears but unfortunately does not sing this time. Her role as Judy's London chaperone does not lead to her grabbing a mic, unfortunately. Buckley does have a fetching screen persona and adds plenty to the scenes she has with the unpredictable Judy. It is however Zellweger's film; an entertaining and most of all compassionate monument to the great Judy Garland. 9GUMS. 

                  

No. 88. (2019) Joker. October 7th.

Film No 88 (2019) Oct. 7th.  7:00 PM  EVENT CINEMAS Gold Class, Whitfords. 

"People expect you to behave as if you don't" (One of Joker's scribbled jottings in his often referred to notebook).

Todd Phillips has created a disturbing interpretation of The Joker's (Batman antagonist) back story. I say disturbing because while there is much hype about the film, the underlying theme, mental illness in modern society, is a serious theme indeed. The hype is aligned to the entertainment value of Joker but I found it far from a fun experience. Joaquin Pheonix, as Joker, in close-up for the main, occupies every scene as an unhinged loner carrying the weight of all the burdens society can heap on him. Dreams sequences take us on sub-plots that have us wondering whether we are in fact in real time. We soon learn that his fantasies and the unique mental condition (pseudobulbar effect) he endures, take him to the edge. So while the film gives Phillips' a platform to interpret the origins of one of Batman's antagonists, it is more an insight into an illness of the mind and how society's ambivalence to those who suffer may  mean we pays a price. There is so much more to Joker, and my interpretation may well be off the mark in the eyes of many. Maybe that is what makes Joker so brilliant, but I didn't like the way it made me feel. 10GUMS.

        

No. 87. (2019) The Portal. October 5th.

Film No 87 (2019) Oct. 5th.  11:00 AM  LUNA PALACE Leederville. 

"What would happen if 7 billion people all meditated? Could it shift the trajectory of the planet?" (The question asked on the posters of The Portal to promote a film that tests it's audience's psyche).

Mindfulness is a buzzword in modern society at the moment. The Portal encourages rather than educates it's audience in the practical advantages in taking care of oneself psychologically in relation to living a less stressful life. Six people (including an artificial intelligence robot) become the vehicles for these lofty aims. All of the human subjects have experienced different but stressful events in their lives and each has dealt with those stresses using similar methods. Taking time out to go within (psychologically), then in more practical terms reaching out to others to do good is a common behaviour. While this first feature by Jacqui Fifer has a big heart I'm not sure there is a plethora of new material, after all Buddhism is a life choice so many of the world's population has already adopted. The one fascination however was "Sophia the Robot" who was programmed to only exude love and goodwill. Unfortunately it was the subject least explored in The Portal. The film does serve as a healthy life-lesson reminder to the limited audience this film is likely to reach. 8GUMS.       

No. 86. (2019) Slam. September 30th.

Film No 86 (2019) Sept. 30th.  6:45 PM  LUNA PALACE Leederville. 

"Muslim girls just don't go missing" (A throw away line from a nameless detective discussing the disappearance of Ameena Nasser).

A drama with an ironic twist which asks questions about western prejudices when a missing person report is made but the missing person is a first generation Australian of Islamic decent with a propensity to talk publicly (Slam) about her beliefs. Slam quintessentially defines the meaning of the term Islamophobia. And to good effect, might I say. Our focus is with Ricky Nasser (Adam Bakri) as he learns from his frantic mother, that his sister Ameena is missing. Ameena is an articulate advocate for her faith and gaining equality in her society. Ricky is thrown into a nightmare of emotions. He's frantic for the health of his sister but in these times of threats to national security and the sensationalization of media outpourings, he is the definition of "man in a mess" because of his conflicting loyalties. Excellent performances, from the very talented Rachel Blake (Lantana) as a compassionate police officer dealing with her own demons and Rebecca Breeds (3 Summers) as Ricky's devoted wife, give Slam polish. I really hope Partho Sen-Gupta gets the audience, internationally, he totally deserves for this break-out film. 10GUMS.

       

 

 

   

No. 85. (2019) Ride Like A Girl. September 21st.

Film No 85 (2019) Sept. 21st.  11:00 AM  LUNA PALACE Leederville. 

"It's such a chauvinistic sport, a lot of the owners wanted to kick me off. Everyone else can get stuffed who think women aren't good enough " (Michelle Payne talks to cameras immediately after becoming the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup).

One of the great feel good stories from Australia's rich, rich sporting past. Actor Rachel Griffiths became so inspired immediately after watching the running of the Melbourne Cup 2015 when jockey Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win the 150 plus year old race she, rang prospective producers, from the race course, in a determined effort to bring Michelle's inspirational story to screen. 4 years on, Ride Like A Girl is screening all over Australia to warm applause. Griffiths set out to create a film that would bring a tear to the eye of men who, rarely sit in a cinema (her words). So far she is succeeding in her quest. 

Like so many true stories brought to screen, if you didn't actually know the tale of Michelle Payne it might be scoffed at as too far-fetched. So while there is a short-cut or two to embellish matters, Griffiths had Michelle and brother Stephen (who plays himself) by her side throughout the production. Teresa Palmer plays Payne perfectly, as does Sam Neill as her legendary horseman father. Stephen steals scene after scene and there is hardly a moment the three are not featured. There is nothing new in this recipe for feel-good screen drama. We know where it's going, it's riddled with cliches, and the script is clunky; but try ripping your eyes from the screen. Payne and Griffiths dare you. I couldn't, and yes I had a lump in my throat as the titles rolled. Ride Like A Girl is a rollicking good yarn. 9GUMS.