Festivals: MIFF Reviews
Melbourne 2022 Review: MILLIE LIES LOW, Bad Deceptive Decisions and Cringe Comedy
Millie Lies Low is a dryly funny deadpan character study of the titular deeply troubled sociopath, and her faux journey to a New York architecture firm Internship placement. Having recently beaten her best friend (Jillian Nguyen) and fellow classmate for...
Melbourne 2022 Short Review + Q&A: VICTIM Resonates Well After viewing
An ominous voice-over, scenes of suburban decay, dour grey skies and desolate exterior shots. This is how Director Robin Summons' latest short Victim is introduced; a moody landscape to paint the equally stormy relationship between a mother and son. The...
Melbourne 2021 Review: THE GIRL AND THE SPIDER, Purposely Pretentious Chamber Piece Still Captivates
The second film in a loosely planned trilogy about 'human togetherness', The Girl and the Spider begins with the literal construction of a contemporary chamber piece, a very busy apartment move-out and later a similar apartment's move-in. The first film...
Melbourne 2020 Review: BLACK BEAR, a Gaslight Meta Nightmare
Black Bear could be a Hitchcock inspired-indie thriller that opens with actor--director-writer Allison (Aubrey Plaza), collecting her towel from a lake’s small dock, making her way inside a cabin where she sits, notebook and pen at the ready; a title...
Melbourne 2020 Review: SHIVA BABY, a Self-serving Schmear of Awkwardness
This acerbic feature, adapted from the short of the same name expands on the original with further complications, but the aesthetic of this chamber-piece remains equally grounded and squeamishly uncomfortable over the course of a socially excruciating afternoon. Uncomfortable in...
Melbourne 2020 Review: WET SEASON, Intricate Drama in the Monsoons
Singapore Director Anthony Chen returns after six years with his sophomore feature Wet Season. His first film Ilo Ilo (2013) is a tender masterfully shot race-class drama set during the 90s Asian recession. It follows a Malaysian native maid and...
Melbourne 2020 Review: Allison Chhorn's THE PLASTIC HOUSE, Experimental Meditations of Loss and Loneliness
There are no specifics on the where or when of it, and yet Director Allison Chhorn’s personal doco-fiction hybrid film The Plastic House remains confident of its place. The Plastic House is a quiet ode to an immigrant family-owned farming...
Melbourne 2019 Review: MATTHIAS ET MAXIME, Xavier Dolan's Intimate Epic
French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan (there is no other word to describe him) has had a busy year. He has two films releasing in 2019, The Death and Life of John F. Donovan with a top-billed cast, and this far more...
Melbourne 2019 Review: NINA WU, A Clumsy #MeToo Psychological Drama
It would be a disservice to decent thrillers everywhere to give this Taiwanese Cannes entry the same genre label. It is a drama at best, and a very dour one that is devoid of any kind of spark, or thrill....
Melbourne 2018 Review: TRANSIT Disorients and Compels as Unique Wartime Noir
Director Christian Petzold’s (Phoenix) unique adaptation of the same name brilliantly twists the time and place of World War II events. The decision to depict a War narrative in this way disorients the viewer as there is no exposition to...
Melbourne 2018 Review: GIRLS ALWAYS HAPPY, Yang Mingming's Biting Dysfunctional Family Film Debut
Girls Always Happy proves anything but in Yang Mingming’s feature film debut. She both directs and stars as Wu, the troubled daughter and one-half of the powerfully dysfunctional family dynamic that anchors the film. The other half is her mother...
Melbourne 2018 Review: PIERCING, Sharp, Sweet and To The Point
From the same deranged brilliant mind behind Japanese horror novel Audition comes Ryu Murakami's latest adaptation from page to film. The short novel Piercing has been given a smart and frantically fun screenplay by Nicolas Pesce, who has a unique take...
Melbourne 2018 Review: WRATH OF SILENCE Violently Twists and Turns an Epic Tragedy
Genre influenced festival fare from China keeps on impressing, and Wrath of Silence may be the best, and most commercially friendly of recent efforts yet. This is the kind of film that grips you, and long after seeing it, parts...
Melbourne 2018 Review: HOLIDAY Will Get Under your Skin
Holiday is an extremely unpleasant film, and yet it is stunningly bright, vibrant and set in a Riviera. This strange contradiction is also reflected in young mob moll Sascha (Victoria Carmen Sonne). Its opening stretch emphasizes the sun-soaked surroundings, but...
Melbourne 2017 Review: PERSON TO PERSON, A Wonderfully Expansive New York Narrative
Expanded from the quirky short of the same name, Person to Person is an effortless riff on a specific indie vibe. Crafted lovingly and naturally by director Dustin Guy Defa, Person to Person moves from his initial concept, following the quest...
Melbourne 2017 Review: INGRID GOES WEST, Hashtag Essential Satire
Truly great films that exist for the moment tackle relevant and contemporary themes, acting at times as a mirror into our own lives and critically picking apart what makes society function. It is refreshing, then, that Matt Spicer’s Ingrid Goes...
Melbourne 2017 Review: RABBIT Falls Down a Meandering Yet Mesmerizing Hole
Luke’s Shanahan’s twisted twin sci-fi thriller Rabbit is a bold and confident debut feature with wonderfully detailed small moments and plot twists that recall some of the best in psychological horror. The film has a focused idea of how it...
Melbourne 2016 Review: OUR HUFF AND PUFF JOURNEY, Cathartic Kawaii
Daigo Matsui’s latest bubble gum pop nightmare is thankfully a more restrained but no less creative effort from the director with a music video background. Comparable to the loose Wonderful World End, this relatively linear road-trip narrative is brought to...
Melbourne 2016 Review: 11 MINUTES Stylishly and Confidently Embraces its Concept
A new film from Polish master Jerzy Skolimowski, this 78 year old auteur shows no signs that he has slowed down in his latest thrilling venture. It is nearing 5:00 p.m. on an austere but sunny day in Warsaw, Poland...
Melbourne 2016 Review: WHAT'S IN THE DARKNESS Reveals Deeply Ambiguous Nostalgia
What's in the Darkness is a murder mystery, a coming-of-age film and a directorial debut for Wang Yichun. Unfortunately, its poor direction and muddled plot uses far too many metaphors for what is really going on. This deeply nostalgic film is...
