Film No. 8 THE ZONE OF INTEREST (2024). 29th Jan.

 

Film No. 8 (2024)  January 29th.  8:00 PM SOMERVILLE Outdoor U.W.A.                       

"A Brilliant examination of Human Complexity" (A critic's immediate response to Glazer's film immediately on their first viewing at Cannes).

WINNER: Grand Prize of the festival (Jonathan Glazer) Cannes. Nominee: Best Feature (Jonathan Glazer) Academy, Oscars.

As far as cinematic memorials go, will THE ZONE OF INTEREST become a classic as a remembrance piece in honour of those who suffered because of the Holocaust? I hope so! It deserves to.

Rudolf Hoss is an ambitious middle aged executive. He is an engaged family man who provides a comfortable life for them to thrive in. He is keen to show the executives he answers to that he has the ability to climb the promotional ladder. The fact that his role is to command Auschwitz during WWII shines a new light on this ambitious man. THE ZONE OF INTEREST gives us the man, his wife, their family and their servants in a domesticity that makes what is happening over their back wall all the more horrible. This is a horror film, make no mistake, and it will poke your senses.

 

British born director Jonathan Glazer (SEXY BEAST, UNDER THE SKIN) serves up unnerving characters, images, atmospheres and backdrops in all his films. All with a different style. This is his Tour deforce.    11GUMS.           

 

Film No. 6 RICEBOY SLEEPS (2024). 27th Jan.

 

Film No. 6  (2024)  January 26th.  11:00 AM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 1, Leederville.

 

"Mom, do you think I'm funny looking?" (Child Dong-Hyun needs reassurance he doesn't look different to other kids).

NOMINEE: Best Feature Film (Anthony Shim) Cleveland Film Society.

Has there been a more touching pair of combined South Korean/Canadian productions in the last year than PAST LIVES and RICEBOY SLEEPS? No definitely not. Please, keep them coming.

So while PAST LIVES is the slicker film, RICEBOY SLEEPS touches more of our emotional, sensory buttons. Themes of racism, loyalty, courage, grief and longing are explored with precision, by second time feature director Anthony Shim. Shim is exploring aspects of his own early life here. He plays a key character and conducts his original screenplay with precision.

The beauty from both within and without of Choi-Seung-yoon's, So-young will have you transfixed. Her courage in living a life to honour the gifts of life and love bestowed upon her, on her terms, in an adopted country, is inspiring. She demands we should not pity her. Shim's wonderful soundscape never fails us.  10GUMS.

         

Film No. 5 MAY DECEMBER (2024). 20th Jan.

 

Film No. 5  (2024)  January 20th.  11:00 AM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 5, Leederville.

 

"I want to find a character who, on the surface, is hard to understand. We they born or were they made." (Elizabeth talks about her task as an actor to a group of college students).

NOMINEE: Best Original Screenplay (Samy Burch, Alex Mechanik) Oscars.

Is it good to have Todd Haynes back making films for the big screen? Most definitely!

MAY DECEMBER is based loosely (very loosely) on the case of Mary Kay Letourneau, a teacher who seduced a sixth grader and went to gaol for it. Haynes decides to explore the idea of what makes a predatory person like Gracie (Julianne Moore) tick, via actor Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) becoming a part of Gracie's life. It's a neat idea. How does a second rate actor interpret someone like Gracie for a likely streaming network film or series? 

Moore and Portman are brilliant. The film is rich, layered and it unravels in a way that will have you thinking for days afterwards. I loved CAROL. I thought Todd H had out done himself. That he couldn't do better. Well, in MAY DECEMBER he has proved me wrong.  11GUMS.

Film No. 4 PRISCILLA (2024). 12th Jan.

 

Film No. 4  (2024)  January 18th.  1:30 PM  EVENT CINEMAS, Cine 9,  Innaloo.

"I need a woman who's going to understand these things might happen. Are you that woman?" (Elvis asks Priscilla if what the tabloids print is going to effect her judgements of him).

NOMMINEE: Best Performance by a Lead Actress (Cailee Spaeny) Gotham Film Critics Awards.

Does Baz Luhrmann (ELVIS, 2022) or Sophia Coppola do the better job of depicting the real Elvis? Neither; they each have created very different films. But they reinforce the fact Elvis was a naïve, complex character. 

In Priscilla, Coppola  proves how adept she is at shining a sympathetic light on young women who are either drowning, or nearly so, as they make their path in life. But she does it with Priscilla's permission, via her 1985 memoir ELVIS AND ME. Priscilla P has said on numerous occasions that the movie was true to her. Daughter Lisa Marie who only read the script before sadly passing in early '23 described Coppola as vengeful in the depiction of her father. 

Cailee Spaeny gives us a little girl who, at age 14, got swept up in a life,  she had no control over. Did her loving parents, really have a choice? Coppola's lavish sets and art work create a fairy-tale of loneliness. We are lonely with this sweet young girl. You draw your own conclusions.

Coppola does make some judgements. That's what film makers do. And make no mistake, Coppola is a good film maker. She is neither vengeful or scathing of Elvis, in my opinion.   10GUMS.

Film No. 3 THE HOLDOVERS (2024). 12th Jan.

 

Film No. 3  (2023)  January 12th.  12:30 PM  PALACE Raine Sq, Cinema 9, Perth City.

"Being here with you is already onr big detention." (Angus gives his nemesis, Hunham, a piece of his mind).

NOMINEE  Best Original Screenplay (David Hemingson) Boston Film Society (2023). NOMINEE  Best Motion Picture of the Year (Alexander Payne) Oscars.

How does Alexander Payne (SIDEWAYS, THE DESCENTANTS) take concepts of friendship, loyalty and goodness with such gentle care to the big screen for audiences to be both entertained and challenged? I'm not sure, but he's good at it.

 

Go see THE HOLDOVERS and you'll see what I mean. Giamatti steals the show but feature newcomer Dominic Sessa adds the special ingredient that lifts PG's performance. A Golden Globe is already with PG, I'm sure he's grateful.

 For me, this is Payne's best.  10GUMS.

Film No. 2 DREAM SCENARIO (2024). 7th Jan.

 

Film No. 2  (2024)  January 7th.  3:30 PM  EVENT CINEMAS, Cine 9,  Innaloo.

"Paul, you've been on my mind recently. You keep popping up in my dreams. You don't do anything. You're just there." (An old friend stops Matthews in the street).

WINNER: Best Body of Work (Nicholas Cage) San Diego Film Society.

 

Why is Nick Cage fast becoming the most interesting performer to watch on the big screen right now? Most likely because he can do the lot. 

Comedy, Drama, Thriller, Horror, Action, you name it! DREAM SCENARIO teams him with a director who always has something to say (SICK OF MYSELF). Cage, keen for a challenge, came to Kristoffer Borgli to bring "nobody" Paul Matthews to life. He comes to life in a way that poses the question, "what if your new found infamy, stems from appearing in people's dreams?" 

Matthews needs to be warned ... "be careful what you wish for, Paul!"   10GUMS

Film No. 1 FERRARI (2024). 6th Jan.

 

Film No. 1  (2024)  January 6th.  3:00 PM  EVENT CINEMAS, Cine 16,  Innaloo.

"What do you want me to say? I want to ask my wife for permission?" (Enjo asks wife Laura in a fit of rage what he needs to do for a bank guarantee).

WINNER: Icon and Tribute Creator (Michael Mann) Gotham Film awatds. NOMMINEE: Best Actress (Penelope Cruz) Film Critics Awards.

High octane performances of A Type personalities Enzo and Laura Ferrari by a brilliant Penelope Cruz and a charismatic Adam Driver, highlight FERRARI.

 
At a sprightly 80 years of age, Michael Mann (HEAT, THE INSIDER) finally creates the film he's most wanted to create in the last decade. From deceased  U.K. script writer Troy Kennedy Martin, Ferrari focuses on the summer of 1957. A time when Ferrari was on its knees, in debt and seemingly destined to dissolve. 

Mann takes us into the world of the Ferraris' and the reasons for the turmoil. Driver and Cruz give us the essence of what power the Ferrari's held in both the world car industry and in Italy itself. There was no reining in of Enzo. But his match was Laura.

A handsome, rich film worth ruminating on. Even if there is some discomfort with actors speaking English with dodgy Italian accents. It's a flaw!  9GUMS.

A Sliver of Film as seen on LETTERBOXD.