An Education (Review)

In Lone Scherfig’s coming-of-age film An Education, Jenny (newcomer Carey Mulligan) is an exceptionally bright schoolgirl in 1960s London with a penchant for all things French. She is swept off into a world of art and intellectual conversation by the ever charming David (Peter Sarsgaard). Away from her parents Majorie and Jack (Cara Seymour and Alfred Molina), who never seem to leave the confines of their middle class suburban home, Jenny is suddenly thrust into the world she had been [...]

Paper Soldier (Review)

I chose this film for perusal at this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival simply because I had heard the (Venice Film Festival award-winning) cinematography was well worth the price of admission on its own. Call it seeking out inspiration for an upcoming filmic project. In this regard, I was not disappointed. Neither, did Paper Soldier fail to live up to the warning I had received before the screening, “EXPECT TARKOVSKY!”

For those not in the know [...]

The Girlfriend Experience (Review)

My my Steven…how interesting you are.

The Steven I refer to is none other than Steven Soderbergh, truly one of those ever-reliable filmmakers. I guess at times I take this seemingly effortlessly slick, stylish filmmaker’s skill for granted, but he really is one of those ever-reliable directors (do I go as far as to call him an auteur? Perhaps not.) that continually makes film after solid, substantial film. The Girlfriend Experience is no exception.

An Englishman in New York (Review)

Right off the bat, I admit to having literally no prior knowledge of Quentin Crisp before turning up for my first screening of this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. In fact, it failed to register that it was a film based on the life of a real person when I had read the blurb in the MIFF programme, failed to register as I thought, “Ooh! This sounds intriguing! Book les tix!”

Upon having now seen An Englishman in New York [...]

MIFF Madness, are you ready?

What does an unemployed film student staring down the barrel of their last ever semester, with a short film to get off the ground in less than a month do when faced with the prospect of spending money they don’t have to watch at least a film a day for about two weeks?

I can’t speak for the countless other unemployed students in Melbourne, but I do know this: as I stood in line at the [...]

Fanboys (Review)

Of the various adjectives and nouns I would use to describe myself, without a doubt two of the largest looming in my mind would be, “cinephile”, and an as-yet unconfirmed word that encapsulates “obsessive and sad Star Wars fan”. Which is why, when so many people I know groaned upon viewing the trailer for Fanboys, I leapt for the moon and planets in my nerdish joy. While this fact may make me a somewhat unreliable reviewer in this [...]