Film No. 19. IO CAPITANO (2024). 19th March.

 

Film No. 19  (2024)  March 19th.  6:30 PM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 1, Leederville.

 

"Think about becoming a big star. White people will be wanting your autograph." (Seydo wants friend Moussa to focus on the big picture as to why they need to head to Europe).

NOMINEE: Best International Feature (Matteo Garrone) The Oscars 2024.

Is this the sort of film that should be shown to teenage boys who are about to embark on their own coming of age adventures? Why not! It wouldn't do any harm. It might get a conversion or two started.

The Senegalese boys Seydou (Seydo Starr) and Moussa (Moustapha Fall)  live full, happy, third world lives in Dakar. They are friends with a love of creating their own music and they harbour dreams of making it big in The West. They have hard earned money saved, and a burning will to flee to Europe. So they do. IO CAPITANO is their epic tale of ambition, love, resilience, pain, fear, dishonesty, loyalty, friendship, achievement and finally becoming men. This is one epic journey with a smattering of delusional wonderment. I liked IO CAPITANO, a lot. 

Director Matteo Garrone's is not trying to make a compassionate plea on behalf of refugees fleeing repression. This is a coming of age tale, with the only Hollywood trope being how much of a superhero Seydou will become in our eyes by the final close-up!  10GUMS. 

    

Film No. 18. FOUR DAUGHTERS (2024). 17th March.

 

Film No. 18  (2024)  March 17th.  10:30 AM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 8, Leederville.

 

"I'm like the character of Rose in Titanic. She tells her story with the help of actors. So I am Rose." (The actor playing daughter Rahma tries to explain her plight).

WINNER: The Golden Eye (Kaouther Ben Hania) Cannes FF 2023. NOMINEE: Best Feature Documentary (Kaouther Ben Hania) The Academy.

Have we ever seen a documentary where re-enactment becomes the mode of  narrative to try and seek the truth? Yes, there have been many, but I'm not sure I have seen a more intimate example than FOUR DAUGHTERS (F D).

Olfa Hamrouni, a divorced Tunisian woman made headlines 8 years ago when two of her four daughters became disengaged from the unique family bond they had forged, and then one, then the other, disappeared. They turned up as fighters for Islamic State in Syria. It broke the hearts of Olfa and the young sisters they left behind. The mystery behind their defection not only shocked those close to them, but much of the western world. F D goes a way to uncover some answers, but we are still left with many questions. 

Director K Ben Hania employs two actors to replace the sisters. Scenes are played out with the help and permission of Olfa, Eya and Tayssir, in the hope of uncovering some truth. It is a unique take. It's a unique film; experimental by nature. Documentary aficionados are going to take to F D.  9GUMS.    

   

Film No. 17. WICKED LITTLE LETTERS (2024). 9th March.

 

Film No. 17  (2024)  March 9th.  11:00 AM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 1, Leederville.

 

"Rose Gooding, "allegedly" harassed a pretty, young, Christian woman" (The judge announces a description of an incident that occurred between Edith and Rose).

NOMINATED: Anticipated Film (Thea Sharrock) Toronto IFF.

What was the best choice, when it came to casting, in this outrageous comedy? Olivia Colman as Edith Swann or Jessie Buckley playing Rose Gooding? Neither! Both  are  great, but newcomer Anjana Vasan (as Police Officer Gladys Moss) steals the show.

The Ealing comedy trope, meets Guy Ritchie, meets Agatha Christie could be a description of what WICKED LITTLE LETTERS (W L L) brings to the screen here. The silliness of the script is surprising when we learn the story is based around an actual Littlehampton feud from the early twenties. Truth being stranger than fiction, is indeed true here. Director Thea Sharrock (ME BEFORE YOU) and first time feature writer, Jonny Sweet blaspheme their way to cheap laughs using modern slang in this 1920's setting.

The theme bubbling away at the base of this handsome production, is the strong will of formerly repressed women, post WW I. Gladys Moss pushes aside the cliched males surrounding her to form her own posse to solve this puzzle. You'll fall in love with Vasan as Moss.  8GUMS. 

    

  

Film No. 16. LOVE LIES BLEEDING (2024). 2nd March.

 

Film No. 16  (2024)  March 2nd.  11:00 AM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 1, Leederville.

 

"Yeah, I've never been anywhere but here" (Lou confesses some of her limitations to new love, Daisy).

NOMINEE: Best Feature (Rose Glass) Berlin FF 2024.

Is LOVE LIES BLEEDING (L L B) so unique in its B Grade skin, there are few films it could easily be compared with? Possibly, nothing comes to mind immediately. 

The outlandishness of yet another sexy, queer romp in L L B brings to mind the recent DRIVE AWAY DOLLS, but they are very different films. Kirsten Stewart (Lou) gets the chance to dive back into aspects of her THE RUNAWAYS (2010) mould. She is wonderfully magnetic here but Anna Barryshnikov playing Lou's love interest, Daisy, is equally as mesmerising. Ed Harris (Lou Sr) is the B Grade essential ingredient, much like flour is to bread. And then there is the chaotic, surprising, concluding turn of events. It detracts for some, it seems, but not for me. 

LOVE LIES BLEEDING is arthouse, B Grade, high velocity entertainment. This type of film is rarely made these days. For those of us who saw SAINT MAUD, (2019) it should have alerted us that Rose Glass is a seriously good film-maker.  10GUMS.  

 

Film No. 15. CLUB ZERO (2024). 28th Feb.

 

Film No. 15  (2024)  February 28th.  6:30 PM  LUNA LEEDERVILLE,  Cine 1, Leederville.

 

"Conscious eating strengthens and purifies our bodies." (Ms Novak introduces her class to her key philosophy for healthy nutrition).

NOMINEE: Palme d'Or (Jessica Hausner) Cannes 2023.

Is CLUB ZERO (C Z) disturbing in a way that might encourage young people to think twice about falling for influential sub-cultures? Maybe, and that would be one positive to come from the film ?

So, you are a wealthy parent. You can send your child to a prestigious school secure in the knowledge that this will be a set and forget exercise. Your child will be taught by the best, and achieve to the max. But - what if one of your child's teachers is a charismatic, mistress of manipulation? The subject she teaches is nutrition and her message is that food will only poison the mind and body. Her classes can best be described as being in the realms of evangelical brain washing.

It may well be that C Z is the best made film, I've least enjoyed in a while. The dystopian style, set against a colourful but disturbing pallet, and highlighted by Mia Wasikowska's beguiling Ms Novak, add up to a competently made film. But a film I didn't care for much.    7GUMS.

   

 

Film No. 14. LA CHIMERA (2024). 26th Feb.

 

Film No. 14 (2024)  January 26th.  8:00 PM SOMERVILLE Outdoor U.W.A.                       

"Arthur, we've found you a job. A proper job." (Flora, hopes her news will lift Arthur's spirits, but is not surprised by his reaction).

NOMINEE: Palme d'Or (Alice Rohrwacher) Cannes. NOMINEE: Best Feature (Alice Rohrwacher) Golden Rooster.

Is LA CHIMERA (L C) based on the legend of an Englishman, who once came to Italy to raid tombs of the past of artefacts for profit? Maybe, but based on the tin shack he lives in, you'd have to question the profit motive. 

There is much to think about in L C. Arthur (Josh O'Connor) is a very complicated tomb-raider, who has an addiction to stealing valuable relics, like that a smoker has for cigarettes. But because of the complications caused by his continual flashbacks, (figments of his imagination perhaps) I got lost in the jigsaw puzzle that formed the narrative. Would the tombs he raided, have their ultimate revenge? Audiences are finding L C either intriguing or boring. There is not a lot of middle ground. 

If you liked Rohrwacher's earlier film, HAPPY AS LAZZARO,  you'll love this. If you love Italian cinema, Alice has a good eye for her country. All of her images have something to say.  8GUMS. 

Film No. 13. DRIVE AWAY DOLLS (2024). 25th Feb.

 

Film No. 13  (2024)  February 25th.  7:10 PM  EVENT CINEMAS, Cine 10,  Innaloo.

"I don't believe it is relevant to the twentieth century lesbian!" (Jamie, exasperated with her love life, describes her feelings to friend Marian).

Is the official trailer for DRIVE AWAY DOLLS (D A D) misleading? Maybe, but there is nothing in the trailer that isn't in the film.

The fact is, Ethan Cohen and wife Tricia Cooke began writing D A D in the early 2000's based loosely on an experience Cooke had in her youth. It's a love story, ultimately, of an explicit variety. If you keep in mind the time is 1999, when sex scenes like these would never make the big screen. So Jamie (Margaret Qualley) and  Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) need to consummate their brooding relationship, and they do it on the road, in a Drive Away, delivery car that wasn't intended for them, carrying valuable goods that aren't theirs, and being hotly pursued by a couple of bumbling fools. Trouble is just around the corner, Cohen style.

D A D is fun. It's silly. It's forgettable. It's less sexy, more raunchy. It's another notch in the Margaret Qualley belt. It's good entertainment of the queer variety. 9GUMS.