LA PREMIERE
14/11/2014 new movies short reviews by Natasha and Alex
MY OLD LADY NEW
RATE: 10/10
media preview: kind courtesy of eOne
website
this movie is the best we have seen n the lats month! the theater inside the movie: powerful performance of three main characters, long interesting, philosophical dialogues on the themes of family, loyalty, love, betrayal and care...
it was so breathlessly quite on this preview - people capturing every word every remark pronounced every move made by the actors that I could hear the cinema curtains breathing quietly...
astonishing acting of Maggie Smith, captivating - of Kevin Kline and graceful as ever - of Kristin Scott Thomas...
I am still finding myself under the influence of this movie by Israel Horovitz - not one un needed word, everything including small dialogues with the real estate agent Monsieur Lefebvre (by Dominique Pinon had a significant meaning to the whole plot...
witty and dramatic at the same time you watch it and feel it is all about you and your reflection in the mirror... we are all that Old Lady or should I say: Madam? I did not care about her at the beginning of the movie as she was always on the way of the plot developing: look, you old bag, here we are trying to live in Paris in an expensive apartment with the garden in the centre of Paris... why are you even here? you are disturbing! Then I started hating the old madam's guts - she (oh well with the help of her lover) destroyed so many lives: her husband's, her daughter's, her lover's wife (who finally commit suicide after years of suffering), and finally the son of her lover... They I relasied that she is not the one to hate; we, people always find someone to blame for our own issues... actually there is no one to hate there... They are people trying to find the best working way to live... and to die... We are the only ones responsible for our happiness and for our present.
As the very emotional storyline progresses so the characters get developed beautifully. They find their family secrets bit by bit, no matter how bitter or sweet they are - everything gets revealed... suddenly to you understand why you are in Paris, and why you do not want to go anywhere else: it is not the city and its cozy and gorgeous boulevard-charms, it is not the big money,that usually separate not unite us , it is not about the apartment - not at all , it is not the language that you just tend to forget since your childhood... every place on earth secret gets revealed for you: you are here because your heart is here... there are no any other reasons for being here...
Are the relationship sophisticated in this story - yes, they should be! there is nothing more sophisticated in life than the relationship... There is good lessons to learn through this movie: never to play with your faith especially when you can hurt ad destroy some one else's family. The family is god created unit and the people inside this unit need to understand why this particular experience was given to them, they should care, love and cherish one another.... not find something that can heal their own wounds on the side... Good, warm and strong message.
I adore the real estate agent character - by Dominique Pinon, whom we usually see in so many charming French movies... even such a small role he plays beautifully! Viager - French system of buying the property in France....something new to learn about the system...
There are lots of very funny remarks, funny actions in the movie - very gracefully and tenderly done indeed! But also : be prepared to drop some tears... it is moving, moving and very much so moving...
This is the movie I would watch twice. It has an expected ending but it does not diminish the beauty of the story...
RATE: 10/10
media preview: kind courtesy of eOne
website
this movie is the best we have seen n the lats month! the theater inside the movie: powerful performance of three main characters, long interesting, philosophical dialogues on the themes of family, loyalty, love, betrayal and care...
it was so breathlessly quite on this preview - people capturing every word every remark pronounced every move made by the actors that I could hear the cinema curtains breathing quietly...
astonishing acting of Maggie Smith, captivating - of Kevin Kline and graceful as ever - of Kristin Scott Thomas...
I am still finding myself under the influence of this movie by Israel Horovitz - not one un needed word, everything including small dialogues with the real estate agent Monsieur Lefebvre (by Dominique Pinon had a significant meaning to the whole plot...
witty and dramatic at the same time you watch it and feel it is all about you and your reflection in the mirror... we are all that Old Lady or should I say: Madam? I did not care about her at the beginning of the movie as she was always on the way of the plot developing: look, you old bag, here we are trying to live in Paris in an expensive apartment with the garden in the centre of Paris... why are you even here? you are disturbing! Then I started hating the old madam's guts - she (oh well with the help of her lover) destroyed so many lives: her husband's, her daughter's, her lover's wife (who finally commit suicide after years of suffering), and finally the son of her lover... They I relasied that she is not the one to hate; we, people always find someone to blame for our own issues... actually there is no one to hate there... They are people trying to find the best working way to live... and to die... We are the only ones responsible for our happiness and for our present.
As the very emotional storyline progresses so the characters get developed beautifully. They find their family secrets bit by bit, no matter how bitter or sweet they are - everything gets revealed... suddenly to you understand why you are in Paris, and why you do not want to go anywhere else: it is not the city and its cozy and gorgeous boulevard-charms, it is not the big money,that usually separate not unite us , it is not about the apartment - not at all , it is not the language that you just tend to forget since your childhood... every place on earth secret gets revealed for you: you are here because your heart is here... there are no any other reasons for being here...
Are the relationship sophisticated in this story - yes, they should be! there is nothing more sophisticated in life than the relationship... There is good lessons to learn through this movie: never to play with your faith especially when you can hurt ad destroy some one else's family. The family is god created unit and the people inside this unit need to understand why this particular experience was given to them, they should care, love and cherish one another.... not find something that can heal their own wounds on the side... Good, warm and strong message.
I adore the real estate agent character - by Dominique Pinon, whom we usually see in so many charming French movies... even such a small role he plays beautifully! Viager - French system of buying the property in France....something new to learn about the system...
There are lots of very funny remarks, funny actions in the movie - very gracefully and tenderly done indeed! But also : be prepared to drop some tears... it is moving, moving and very much so moving...
This is the movie I would watch twice. It has an expected ending but it does not diminish the beauty of the story...
THE CAPTIVE NEW
RATE: 8/10
website
it is very honestly done movie about a very important topic in life: a family missing its daughter due to abduction and what mother and father go through. it is almost a detective story but we would call it psychological drama. there are many parts of the story line that come together to a logical end. it is also a story we all have to learn from: what to do and what not do to in order to save our precious children. the story will keep on a high alert through out the whole movie, you will be more than nervous... you will be disgusted about some of its parts, about some comments, about some characters... you will also be surprised about the police actions but you will not be discouraged by their high professionalism. you will feel sorry, you will be scared, you will live all little bits of the movie together with its characters... there is only one emotion you will not feel: disappointment... this is the movie we will stand by no matter the how we rated it - it should be rated much higher!
RATE: 8/10
website
it is very honestly done movie about a very important topic in life: a family missing its daughter due to abduction and what mother and father go through. it is almost a detective story but we would call it psychological drama. there are many parts of the story line that come together to a logical end. it is also a story we all have to learn from: what to do and what not do to in order to save our precious children. the story will keep on a high alert through out the whole movie, you will be more than nervous... you will be disgusted about some of its parts, about some comments, about some characters... you will also be surprised about the police actions but you will not be discouraged by their high professionalism. you will feel sorry, you will be scared, you will live all little bits of the movie together with its characters... there is only one emotion you will not feel: disappointment... this is the movie we will stand by no matter the how we rated it - it should be rated much higher!
KILL THE MESSENGER NEW
RATE: 9/10
website
"...some stories are just too true to tell"
"I have done some tings in my life that I am not proud of but I never stopped loving you..."
Based on the True story of Journalist Gary Webb.
They are the main two thoughts the movie is based upon: it is about the journalist who is given a very sensitive information that he can not not share with the world. He will see how his family, his colleagues and the whole world will take him breaking the news. You will also see how will never doubt any other way of going about these news.
Did he shake the system? possibly yes, but the price of it is to expensive from our point of view. Would you do the same? I doubt that I would... When you have too many attachments in this life like family, our jobs, our reputation and integrity and our own safety and security it is way too hard to make the truthful choices. When you play alone and you do not have anything to loose this is a different story.... This story is mainly made to question your truth and to shake your world...
"Natural security and crack cocaine in the same sentence, does that not sound strange to you?"
RATE: 9/10
website
"...some stories are just too true to tell"
"I have done some tings in my life that I am not proud of but I never stopped loving you..."
Based on the True story of Journalist Gary Webb.
They are the main two thoughts the movie is based upon: it is about the journalist who is given a very sensitive information that he can not not share with the world. He will see how his family, his colleagues and the whole world will take him breaking the news. You will also see how will never doubt any other way of going about these news.
Did he shake the system? possibly yes, but the price of it is to expensive from our point of view. Would you do the same? I doubt that I would... When you have too many attachments in this life like family, our jobs, our reputation and integrity and our own safety and security it is way too hard to make the truthful choices. When you play alone and you do not have anything to loose this is a different story.... This story is mainly made to question your truth and to shake your world...
"Natural security and crack cocaine in the same sentence, does that not sound strange to you?"
WENTWORTH SEASON 2 NEW
RATE: N/A
DVD preview - kind courtesy of Roadshow Entertainment
website
review by Max Davine
I'm shocked. I'm speechless. My humble pie tastes of hat and shoe. More on that in a minute...I have to write an article. First I'll have to hook you in with an introduction:
Television serials. The telling of a long and often complicated tale, broken into weekly slots about which some people set their clocks, which seldom have endings. They've never appealed to me. Despite my love of stories and storytelling, the idea of dedicating an hour each week, in a predesignated time slot, just to catching the next chapter, irks me. I like stories on my own time. I like stories which have a beginning, middle and end, told without the premise that there will be more. I'm not alone, but in my belief I am most certainly, and welcomely, opposed.
Now when one slots the words 'never appealed' and 'television' together, many people both here and abroad often subconsciously add the word 'Australian' in the appropriate space. Television has always fallen short of a good movie, in many an opinion, but of television, Australian drama, with it's reams of expository dialogue, repetitive establishing shots looped between scenes (oh, there's that gate closing again, and some feet walking again – why?), slow motion, musical montages of people walking, clocking off work or thinking, plethora of unnecessary cutaways, every single character's incremental inability to interrupt or talk over another, cheesy, soap-opera performances, pop-up sex scenes that seem like some form of rape and, most infuriatingly; terrible, abhorrent advertising campaigns, rules the English-speaking world in the field of mediocrity.
What Wentworth, or Wentworth Prison in some areas, is not shed the skin of some of it's cultural traits. What it does do, however, and which is extremely different, is capture some performances the likes of which have never been created on these shores before. A remake of the Australian adult-soap opera Prisoner: Cell Block H, the show is set almost entirely in a woman's prison. Now this could go either one of two ways; they could have pulled the standard Australian nonsense of a loose, melodramatic plot line thrown together for the sake of showing an unusually beautiful assortment of inmates sans fatigues. Of they could do what, thanks to creator Reg Watson, they did do; create an intricate plot, wind it through a truly mix and match assortment of interesting, if not always true to life, characters, and open the doors to an infinite stockpile of Australian actors which otherwise might have gone tragically and unjustly ignored forever.
It's to this I take my hat off and bow deeply. For the first time in my lifetime at least, physically attractive actors who might otherwise have squandered their abilities in bad cop shows and relationship dramas are given parts which present them opportunities to show their true power, and actors who are not so societally-deemed to be billboard worthy are given their just place on our screens, at long last. The result is nothing short of astonishing.
The story revolves around inmate Bea Smith (Danielle Cormak), a convicted murderess with a burning desire to avenge the death of her daughter at the hands of drug mule Brayden Holt (Reef Ireland). Standing in her way, aside from the formidable prison walls, are a growing and ever-more complicated assortment of obstacles, most notably her unwanted rivalry with prison 'dope dog' Franky Doyle (Nicole da Silva – turning it all the way up to a twitchy, slouching, teeth-licking eleven) and her top henchwoman Sue “Boomer” Jenkins (Katrina Milosevic – a standout performance). Having previously murdered the mother of her daughter's killer, fellow inmate Jacqueline Holt, Smith kicks of season 2 in solitary confinement, leaving Doyle to reign supreme, but things take a dramatic turn when Prisoner archvillainess Governor Joan Fergason (Pamela Rabe) takes over control of the prison, and immediately starts playing both prisoners and staff against each other in a brutal, debilitating series of manipulations and outright acts of wickedness which twist, turn and culminate in powerful shocks and surprises which will enrapture fans of the television serial.
But, true to convention but thankfully so, the Smith-Doyle-Fergason battle is not the only drama unfolding within the prison walls, and it's in the interlooping side-stories that Wentworth, and it's most astounding actors, truly shine:
Celia Ireland plays Liz Birdsworth, an older prisoner set for release, conflicted over reconnecting with her children after a long and silent stretch inside and a crisis of conscience over her friendship with an ever-more paranoid, violent and out of control Doyle, give a remarkable performance. So real, so subtle, so true she almost feels like the lovely old dear you last shared a seat on the bus with. Kate Atkinson is Ferguson's second in command, dealing with her issues of inadequacy, her ailing mother and mounting pressure from both her superior officer and a violent rivalry between two of her coworkers, is tense, taut and powerful. Palema Rabe's Joan Ferguson is the softly spoken viper, laying in waiting. Again, a subtle, intimidating, powerful performance. Shareena Clanton's performance as aboriginal inmate Doreen Anderson is a beautiful piece of work. So level headed and together for a time, but slowly unraveled and brutalised after she falls pregnant to a male inmate of another prison who'd come to help with some construction work. Her love for him and the struggle to keep her pregnancy secret is utterly honest and beautiful to watch.
Added to the cast are two new inmates, and in both instances the performances are equally breathtaking and beautifully orchestrated by powerful, sensitive, genuine and complex performances: Socrates Otto plays transgender inmate Maxine Conway with absolute truth, and Georgia Chara creates a truly stunning masterwork of art in Jess Warner that will be remembered long after the next show has begun; without flamboyance, without flagrant mannerisms, without excessive motion, voice or physicality, Chara weaves the symphony of a frighteningly troubled soul that you'll never once see the seams or strings of. Like the others mentioned above, but unique in Warner's troubling nature in contrast to the other, more sympathetic characters, Chara has given something to Australian television something it has never had before; in Warner's case it's genuine, disturbing fright, all without saying a word of playing a movement.
Wentworth has opened the door to a new generation of Australian television drama, suffice to say it has not entirely stepped through it, but the performances and direction by such talent as Dee McLachlan, light the way to something far grander and more beautiful than we have ever been able to pull off before. For that, it should be forever remembered, and fondly.
It's not up to our industry to follow up, and keep following the path which Wentworth's cast and creators and shone the way to.
RATE: N/A
DVD preview - kind courtesy of Roadshow Entertainment
website
review by Max Davine
I'm shocked. I'm speechless. My humble pie tastes of hat and shoe. More on that in a minute...I have to write an article. First I'll have to hook you in with an introduction:
Television serials. The telling of a long and often complicated tale, broken into weekly slots about which some people set their clocks, which seldom have endings. They've never appealed to me. Despite my love of stories and storytelling, the idea of dedicating an hour each week, in a predesignated time slot, just to catching the next chapter, irks me. I like stories on my own time. I like stories which have a beginning, middle and end, told without the premise that there will be more. I'm not alone, but in my belief I am most certainly, and welcomely, opposed.
Now when one slots the words 'never appealed' and 'television' together, many people both here and abroad often subconsciously add the word 'Australian' in the appropriate space. Television has always fallen short of a good movie, in many an opinion, but of television, Australian drama, with it's reams of expository dialogue, repetitive establishing shots looped between scenes (oh, there's that gate closing again, and some feet walking again – why?), slow motion, musical montages of people walking, clocking off work or thinking, plethora of unnecessary cutaways, every single character's incremental inability to interrupt or talk over another, cheesy, soap-opera performances, pop-up sex scenes that seem like some form of rape and, most infuriatingly; terrible, abhorrent advertising campaigns, rules the English-speaking world in the field of mediocrity.
What Wentworth, or Wentworth Prison in some areas, is not shed the skin of some of it's cultural traits. What it does do, however, and which is extremely different, is capture some performances the likes of which have never been created on these shores before. A remake of the Australian adult-soap opera Prisoner: Cell Block H, the show is set almost entirely in a woman's prison. Now this could go either one of two ways; they could have pulled the standard Australian nonsense of a loose, melodramatic plot line thrown together for the sake of showing an unusually beautiful assortment of inmates sans fatigues. Of they could do what, thanks to creator Reg Watson, they did do; create an intricate plot, wind it through a truly mix and match assortment of interesting, if not always true to life, characters, and open the doors to an infinite stockpile of Australian actors which otherwise might have gone tragically and unjustly ignored forever.
It's to this I take my hat off and bow deeply. For the first time in my lifetime at least, physically attractive actors who might otherwise have squandered their abilities in bad cop shows and relationship dramas are given parts which present them opportunities to show their true power, and actors who are not so societally-deemed to be billboard worthy are given their just place on our screens, at long last. The result is nothing short of astonishing.
The story revolves around inmate Bea Smith (Danielle Cormak), a convicted murderess with a burning desire to avenge the death of her daughter at the hands of drug mule Brayden Holt (Reef Ireland). Standing in her way, aside from the formidable prison walls, are a growing and ever-more complicated assortment of obstacles, most notably her unwanted rivalry with prison 'dope dog' Franky Doyle (Nicole da Silva – turning it all the way up to a twitchy, slouching, teeth-licking eleven) and her top henchwoman Sue “Boomer” Jenkins (Katrina Milosevic – a standout performance). Having previously murdered the mother of her daughter's killer, fellow inmate Jacqueline Holt, Smith kicks of season 2 in solitary confinement, leaving Doyle to reign supreme, but things take a dramatic turn when Prisoner archvillainess Governor Joan Fergason (Pamela Rabe) takes over control of the prison, and immediately starts playing both prisoners and staff against each other in a brutal, debilitating series of manipulations and outright acts of wickedness which twist, turn and culminate in powerful shocks and surprises which will enrapture fans of the television serial.
But, true to convention but thankfully so, the Smith-Doyle-Fergason battle is not the only drama unfolding within the prison walls, and it's in the interlooping side-stories that Wentworth, and it's most astounding actors, truly shine:
Celia Ireland plays Liz Birdsworth, an older prisoner set for release, conflicted over reconnecting with her children after a long and silent stretch inside and a crisis of conscience over her friendship with an ever-more paranoid, violent and out of control Doyle, give a remarkable performance. So real, so subtle, so true she almost feels like the lovely old dear you last shared a seat on the bus with. Kate Atkinson is Ferguson's second in command, dealing with her issues of inadequacy, her ailing mother and mounting pressure from both her superior officer and a violent rivalry between two of her coworkers, is tense, taut and powerful. Palema Rabe's Joan Ferguson is the softly spoken viper, laying in waiting. Again, a subtle, intimidating, powerful performance. Shareena Clanton's performance as aboriginal inmate Doreen Anderson is a beautiful piece of work. So level headed and together for a time, but slowly unraveled and brutalised after she falls pregnant to a male inmate of another prison who'd come to help with some construction work. Her love for him and the struggle to keep her pregnancy secret is utterly honest and beautiful to watch.
Added to the cast are two new inmates, and in both instances the performances are equally breathtaking and beautifully orchestrated by powerful, sensitive, genuine and complex performances: Socrates Otto plays transgender inmate Maxine Conway with absolute truth, and Georgia Chara creates a truly stunning masterwork of art in Jess Warner that will be remembered long after the next show has begun; without flamboyance, without flagrant mannerisms, without excessive motion, voice or physicality, Chara weaves the symphony of a frighteningly troubled soul that you'll never once see the seams or strings of. Like the others mentioned above, but unique in Warner's troubling nature in contrast to the other, more sympathetic characters, Chara has given something to Australian television something it has never had before; in Warner's case it's genuine, disturbing fright, all without saying a word of playing a movement.
Wentworth has opened the door to a new generation of Australian television drama, suffice to say it has not entirely stepped through it, but the performances and direction by such talent as Dee McLachlan, light the way to something far grander and more beautiful than we have ever been able to pull off before. For that, it should be forever remembered, and fondly.
It's not up to our industry to follow up, and keep following the path which Wentworth's cast and creators and shone the way to.
ROCK THE CASBAH NEW
RATE: 6/10
media preview - kind invite by Pinnacle Films
website
NM thoughts:
Every family has its secrets as every person does. But as the proverb says: "Sooner or later the secrets will become clear". The movie describes a couple of days when the family get together to say the last good buy to a passed away old man, husband, father and grandfather. He left more than secrets behind: he left a mess...
The events take place in Morocco. The family secrets get revealed slowly as the plot develops. The are many family problems as we find out soon: between three sisters, between mother and daughter, between a maid and the mother, between the daughters and maid's son, etc etc , there are still even some bitter words said addressing the just passed away father. It looks like the family will never find the common language to talk in. But as we say: the family is unhappy when there are no arguments... the family is functional and happy when the arguments are firing - it keeps the senses sharp, it keeps the life interesting and not monotonous as the river must flow and as the ocean should have waves to get oxygen in it blood... The truth is born through arguments and the best solutions are made...
So did he really left a real mess behind? .. or may be on the contrary: he actually put everything in place... and only the harsh tests will prove what the family bonds are made of?
Love can bind everything and everyone together and the mess can become a happy life accepting each other as this is about those who are living not those who are dead...
Add to this: the acting is fabulous and the directing is also spot on... was a bit predictable for our taste and a bit plain, not troubling so to speak...
AA thoughts:
There are so called "key" events in every family, they are working like triggers that let the avalanche to go down... there are many ways out: the family can survive by digging its way out from the layers of snow on the top, or it can re-arrange its life and adapt to new conditions; it can also fall apart and never get back together. The main idea of the movie is this "key" test for the family...
There is one more thought: each family has its so called "a skeleton in the wardrobe" - meaning a ghost that can come out one day and that can start frightening the family members. The skeleton in the wardrobe can have many form - this is just an allegory of course...
The two ideas that are mentioned above are beautifully connected in this movie by a director's talent in the way that the movie turns into almost a detective story: one of the daughter's suicide was triggered by such "skeleton" . Some family members knew the reason of this horrible incident, some did not. Although the tragedy of this event is more than obvious the director softens it a bit in a different form turning the tears in drama into a physical fight...
he director shows also the good sides of this story as the father now got a son no one knew about who inherits the wealth... The comical and the tragical live close: shoulder to shoulder: there are so many sad stories we here that contain a funny side too... Example: funerals and morning people and hot plastic surgeon that did boobs transplants for one of the sisters (narcissian character type)
The humor comes unexpectedly: a dog pissing sinfully on the old man's grave and lots of funny comments through out the movie...
RATE: 6/10
media preview - kind invite by Pinnacle Films
website
NM thoughts:
Every family has its secrets as every person does. But as the proverb says: "Sooner or later the secrets will become clear". The movie describes a couple of days when the family get together to say the last good buy to a passed away old man, husband, father and grandfather. He left more than secrets behind: he left a mess...
The events take place in Morocco. The family secrets get revealed slowly as the plot develops. The are many family problems as we find out soon: between three sisters, between mother and daughter, between a maid and the mother, between the daughters and maid's son, etc etc , there are still even some bitter words said addressing the just passed away father. It looks like the family will never find the common language to talk in. But as we say: the family is unhappy when there are no arguments... the family is functional and happy when the arguments are firing - it keeps the senses sharp, it keeps the life interesting and not monotonous as the river must flow and as the ocean should have waves to get oxygen in it blood... The truth is born through arguments and the best solutions are made...
So did he really left a real mess behind? .. or may be on the contrary: he actually put everything in place... and only the harsh tests will prove what the family bonds are made of?
Love can bind everything and everyone together and the mess can become a happy life accepting each other as this is about those who are living not those who are dead...
Add to this: the acting is fabulous and the directing is also spot on... was a bit predictable for our taste and a bit plain, not troubling so to speak...
AA thoughts:
There are so called "key" events in every family, they are working like triggers that let the avalanche to go down... there are many ways out: the family can survive by digging its way out from the layers of snow on the top, or it can re-arrange its life and adapt to new conditions; it can also fall apart and never get back together. The main idea of the movie is this "key" test for the family...
There is one more thought: each family has its so called "a skeleton in the wardrobe" - meaning a ghost that can come out one day and that can start frightening the family members. The skeleton in the wardrobe can have many form - this is just an allegory of course...
The two ideas that are mentioned above are beautifully connected in this movie by a director's talent in the way that the movie turns into almost a detective story: one of the daughter's suicide was triggered by such "skeleton" . Some family members knew the reason of this horrible incident, some did not. Although the tragedy of this event is more than obvious the director softens it a bit in a different form turning the tears in drama into a physical fight...
he director shows also the good sides of this story as the father now got a son no one knew about who inherits the wealth... The comical and the tragical live close: shoulder to shoulder: there are so many sad stories we here that contain a funny side too... Example: funerals and morning people and hot plastic surgeon that did boobs transplants for one of the sisters (narcissian character type)
The humor comes unexpectedly: a dog pissing sinfully on the old man's grave and lots of funny comments through out the movie...
CHAGALL MALEVICH - RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL 2014 NEW
RATE: 4/10
website
review by Julie Dargan
A movie about two artists to rise to fame in the Russian communist Revolution.
Despite this being a true story depicting the lives of Chagall and Malevich I found this movie not up to par.
The direction was poor, acting not quite up to scratch and the cinema photography lacking in the brilliance of other movies being shown at the Russian Film festival.
This movie went for a long 2 hours and I was glad when it finally finished. I felt that the avent garde themes were a little over the top, but perhaps I am missing something here?
An interesting life story and I love Russian history so enjoyed it for the storyline.
My score was a 4/10 for this movie
RATE: 4/10
website
review by Julie Dargan
A movie about two artists to rise to fame in the Russian communist Revolution.
Despite this being a true story depicting the lives of Chagall and Malevich I found this movie not up to par.
The direction was poor, acting not quite up to scratch and the cinema photography lacking in the brilliance of other movies being shown at the Russian Film festival.
This movie went for a long 2 hours and I was glad when it finally finished. I felt that the avent garde themes were a little over the top, but perhaps I am missing something here?
An interesting life story and I love Russian history so enjoyed it for the storyline.
My score was a 4/10 for this movie
VASILISA - RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL 2014 NEW
RATE: 9/10
website
review by Julie Dargan
I am indeed honoured to have reviewed this movie. The story line follows the life of Vasilisa who is the heroine of the Russian Cossacks during the time of the Napoleon led French invasion of Russia.
This movie shows how love and devotion conquers all. Vasilisa had strength and conviction to stand strong and never surrender.
The scenery, costumes, music, storyline were all truly wonderful and had me memorised for the duration of the movie. There were many times I had tears of both joy and sorrow. This movie touched my heart and yet again made me truly thankful to be born into a peaceful country such as Australia.
The film gave me strength that no matter how trivial things are in my life, if I look deep into my heart enough, will find the strength just as Vasilisa did with every test that was thrown her way.
Another must see, and I trust you will also enjoy it.
My score is 9/10
RATE: 9/10
website
review by Julie Dargan
I am indeed honoured to have reviewed this movie. The story line follows the life of Vasilisa who is the heroine of the Russian Cossacks during the time of the Napoleon led French invasion of Russia.
This movie shows how love and devotion conquers all. Vasilisa had strength and conviction to stand strong and never surrender.
The scenery, costumes, music, storyline were all truly wonderful and had me memorised for the duration of the movie. There were many times I had tears of both joy and sorrow. This movie touched my heart and yet again made me truly thankful to be born into a peaceful country such as Australia.
The film gave me strength that no matter how trivial things are in my life, if I look deep into my heart enough, will find the strength just as Vasilisa did with every test that was thrown her way.
Another must see, and I trust you will also enjoy it.
My score is 9/10
VIY - RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL 2014 NEW
RATE: 4/10
website
review by Victoria Serdyuk
Being a big fan of Gogol I was extremely excited to watch this movie hoping to see the interpretation of one of my favorite horror movies of all times - Viy! But i was wrong :-) After was 10 minutes of watching i got confused because of the sudden change of a scene which didn't make sense and didn't have any logical connection to the current scene. I even thought that I started watching another movie, lol.
By the end of the movie you start thinking that the author of this "masterpiece" randomly tore pages from the original book and put them into the current script. Yes, there are flying coffin, chalk, Khoma, Panochka and Viy in the movie but these are the only things reminding me if the original Viy.
Special effects in the movie are a bit of an old style but it didn't bother me so much. However actor's playing is poor and unprofessional. I would say that this movie is for those who are unfamiliar with the original but not for those like me who has watched 70th Viy over 10 times and can watch again and again.
This is a not bad movie but it is not VIY!!! That is why my score is 4/10!
RATE: 4/10
website
review by Victoria Serdyuk
Being a big fan of Gogol I was extremely excited to watch this movie hoping to see the interpretation of one of my favorite horror movies of all times - Viy! But i was wrong :-) After was 10 minutes of watching i got confused because of the sudden change of a scene which didn't make sense and didn't have any logical connection to the current scene. I even thought that I started watching another movie, lol.
By the end of the movie you start thinking that the author of this "masterpiece" randomly tore pages from the original book and put them into the current script. Yes, there are flying coffin, chalk, Khoma, Panochka and Viy in the movie but these are the only things reminding me if the original Viy.
Special effects in the movie are a bit of an old style but it didn't bother me so much. However actor's playing is poor and unprofessional. I would say that this movie is for those who are unfamiliar with the original but not for those like me who has watched 70th Viy over 10 times and can watch again and again.
This is a not bad movie but it is not VIY!!! That is why my score is 4/10!
GAME OF TRUTH - RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL 2014 NEW
RATE: 8/10
website
review by Julie Dargan
Game of Truth had me in the opening scenes. The music is simply beautiful throughout, the cinema photography is stunning in its simplicity and lured me into thinking this is going to be a lovely, light hearted movie.
15 minutes into the movie I so wanted it to work and wondered where it was going and then BAM, the movie takes off and I realised I had to watch the initial 15 minutes to see the movie progress.
True to its name, it is a Game of Truth. A game that we all need to play every once in a while. Where old wounds are resurfaced, where we realise things we never realised before, where we take a good look at ourselves and work through the issues and not close them off. It is only when we look at situations that we are trying to avoid do we truly learn from them.
An intense movie but it has its light moments that makes this movie so enjoyable to watch.
This is my second movie where it is set in real time and we are seeing an intense snapshot of 1 hour and 30 minutes a lunch meeting of old school friends. Not once does the movie skip a beat. I had myself looking for the cut in the scenes these actors we so on the ball and fantastic. Dynamic action at its best.
I would highly recommend this film to anyone but be ready to think and watch and ponder on your own life as the movie flows.
I would rate it a 8/10.
RATE: 8/10
website
review by Julie Dargan
Game of Truth had me in the opening scenes. The music is simply beautiful throughout, the cinema photography is stunning in its simplicity and lured me into thinking this is going to be a lovely, light hearted movie.
15 minutes into the movie I so wanted it to work and wondered where it was going and then BAM, the movie takes off and I realised I had to watch the initial 15 minutes to see the movie progress.
True to its name, it is a Game of Truth. A game that we all need to play every once in a while. Where old wounds are resurfaced, where we realise things we never realised before, where we take a good look at ourselves and work through the issues and not close them off. It is only when we look at situations that we are trying to avoid do we truly learn from them.
An intense movie but it has its light moments that makes this movie so enjoyable to watch.
This is my second movie where it is set in real time and we are seeing an intense snapshot of 1 hour and 30 minutes a lunch meeting of old school friends. Not once does the movie skip a beat. I had myself looking for the cut in the scenes these actors we so on the ball and fantastic. Dynamic action at its best.
I would highly recommend this film to anyone but be ready to think and watch and ponder on your own life as the movie flows.
I would rate it a 8/10.
MAPS TO THE STARS NEW
RATE: 8/10
website
media preview kind courtesy of eOne ANZ
this is the world of some Hollywood stars revealed in front of our eyes so honestly an so full of light: it is the world of rich values, of people who are sharing and supporting each other, especially their kids (in their teenage), of course there is no drug use, no murderers under the influence of drugs, no manipulation of people. There is also no ageing in this world - stars live for million of years and they can not fade. They never isolate their lives from the crowd, they never play on the people's emotions and they live happily and openly. Not often they get angry about nothing, never!... and by the way please remember - some people never get celebrity-obsessed to keep everyone in trouble... The stars always keep their promises to their big fans and they treat hem with respect as normal people treat normal people they meet. Their mothers and father are perfect - they never abuse their children, on the contrary - they treat their children with respect - this way the children grow warm and unspoiled. Women are loyal and men are noble and most of all they cherish their families, family values and each other. All their actions are never psychotic as they are always balanced and calm... Their actions are based on love and care of each other. The never lie to the world about the things that are not there, nor they want a cheap publicity and rapidly growing careers of course.
It is the Ultimate Map To The Universe travelling and yes, it is perhaps a true Mirror and modern Western Society.
... and I also hope you did not believe a word I just said...
Now a little bit of truth to come:
Mia (personally my favorite in the young generations of actresses) and Julianne are just best of best in their acting and John, Evan and Robert are both fantastic!
What can you do after watching this movie just lie down on the grass, relax and watch the stars... They are shining down on you and the whole world!
RATE: 8/10
website
media preview kind courtesy of eOne ANZ
this is the world of some Hollywood stars revealed in front of our eyes so honestly an so full of light: it is the world of rich values, of people who are sharing and supporting each other, especially their kids (in their teenage), of course there is no drug use, no murderers under the influence of drugs, no manipulation of people. There is also no ageing in this world - stars live for million of years and they can not fade. They never isolate their lives from the crowd, they never play on the people's emotions and they live happily and openly. Not often they get angry about nothing, never!... and by the way please remember - some people never get celebrity-obsessed to keep everyone in trouble... The stars always keep their promises to their big fans and they treat hem with respect as normal people treat normal people they meet. Their mothers and father are perfect - they never abuse their children, on the contrary - they treat their children with respect - this way the children grow warm and unspoiled. Women are loyal and men are noble and most of all they cherish their families, family values and each other. All their actions are never psychotic as they are always balanced and calm... Their actions are based on love and care of each other. The never lie to the world about the things that are not there, nor they want a cheap publicity and rapidly growing careers of course.
It is the Ultimate Map To The Universe travelling and yes, it is perhaps a true Mirror and modern Western Society.
... and I also hope you did not believe a word I just said...
Now a little bit of truth to come:
Mia (personally my favorite in the young generations of actresses) and Julianne are just best of best in their acting and John, Evan and Robert are both fantastic!
What can you do after watching this movie just lie down on the grass, relax and watch the stars... They are shining down on you and the whole world!
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Paul Eluard's poem"Liberté": On my school notebooks On my desk and on the trees On the sands of snow I write your name On the pages I have read On all the white pages Stone, blood, paper or ash I write your name On the images of gold On the weapons of the warriors On the crown of the king I write your name On the jungle and the desert On the nest and on the brier On the echo of my childhood I write your name On all my scarves of blue On the moist sunlit swamps On the living lake of moonlight I write your name On the fields, on the horizon On the birds’ wings And on the mill of shadows I write your name |
On each whiff of daybreak On the sea, on the boats On the demented mountaintop I write your name On the froth of the cloud On the sweat of the storm On the dense rain and the flat I write your name On the flickering figures On the bells of colors On the natural truth I write your name On the high paths On the deployed routes On the crowd-thronged square I write your name On the lamp which is lit On the lamp which isn’t On my reunited thoughts I write your name On a fruit cut in two Of my mirror and my chamber On my bed, an empty shell I write your name |
On my dog, greathearted and greedy
On his pricked-up ears On his blundering paws I write your name On the latch of my door On those familiar objects On the torrents of a good fire I write your name On the harmony of the flesh On the faces of my friends On each outstretched hand I write your name On the window of surprises On a pair of expectant lips In a state far deeper than silence I write your name On my crumbled hiding-places On my sunken lighthouses On my walls and my ennui I write your name On abstraction without desire On naked solitude On the marches of death I write your name And for the want of a word I renew my life For I was born to know you To name you |
THE FOOL - RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL NEW
RATE: 10/10
website
review by Rachel Sandey
I've been shaken to the core by this movie. Yury Bykov, the screenplay writer and the director painted a very grim picture of nowaday life of the provincial town in Russia. We see the appalling living conditions of ordinary working families. Alcoholism, physical and verbal abuse, violence, teen's vandalism and drug use.
However, there is one family, which stands out of the rest. Both, 60 year old father and a son are good, honest people with high moral values. As the story unfolds and the son, magnificently played by the actor Artem Bystrov, is called with other 2 plumbers to fix burst hot water pipe,
He discovers, that the whole 9 stores building is having a huge crack in the wall from the basement to the roof and is about to collapse. He decides, that matter can't wait till the morning and going straight to mayor to raise the alarm. The mayor and her administration are facing a necessity of taking urgent measures to prevent a disaster, which could kill over 800 people. That's when the truth reveals what a horrible bunch of deeply rotten and corrupt criminals they are. So, the mayor decides to get rid of whistle blower and 2 witnesses of their own and leave everything as it is.Miraculously our hero was let go on the condition he'd leave the town with his family and keep his mouth shut.When he realises, what happened, and that nobody is going to save these people, he changes his mind and stays despite the threats to be killed. He runs to the building from door to door urging everybody to leave and warning them of approaching catastrophe. The confused crowd outside didn't know what to do next and one drunken man confronted a saviour and started punching and kicking him, others joined him, then all went back to their unsafe home, leaving our hero breathless on the ground.
This is a heart breaking story about a good man who sacrificed his life to save many others and about a frightening shift in moral values in Russian society.
My rating is 10/10
RATE: 10/10
website
review by Rachel Sandey
I've been shaken to the core by this movie. Yury Bykov, the screenplay writer and the director painted a very grim picture of nowaday life of the provincial town in Russia. We see the appalling living conditions of ordinary working families. Alcoholism, physical and verbal abuse, violence, teen's vandalism and drug use.
However, there is one family, which stands out of the rest. Both, 60 year old father and a son are good, honest people with high moral values. As the story unfolds and the son, magnificently played by the actor Artem Bystrov, is called with other 2 plumbers to fix burst hot water pipe,
He discovers, that the whole 9 stores building is having a huge crack in the wall from the basement to the roof and is about to collapse. He decides, that matter can't wait till the morning and going straight to mayor to raise the alarm. The mayor and her administration are facing a necessity of taking urgent measures to prevent a disaster, which could kill over 800 people. That's when the truth reveals what a horrible bunch of deeply rotten and corrupt criminals they are. So, the mayor decides to get rid of whistle blower and 2 witnesses of their own and leave everything as it is.Miraculously our hero was let go on the condition he'd leave the town with his family and keep his mouth shut.When he realises, what happened, and that nobody is going to save these people, he changes his mind and stays despite the threats to be killed. He runs to the building from door to door urging everybody to leave and warning them of approaching catastrophe. The confused crowd outside didn't know what to do next and one drunken man confronted a saviour and started punching and kicking him, others joined him, then all went back to their unsafe home, leaving our hero breathless on the ground.
This is a heart breaking story about a good man who sacrificed his life to save many others and about a frightening shift in moral values in Russian society.
My rating is 10/10
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on 3:56min
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IRON IVAN - RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL NEW
RATE: 9/10
website
review by Julie Dargan
The Iron Ivan is movie based on the life of Ivan Poddubny.
Ivan was dubbed the Hercules of Russia. The movie does not portray his life completely truthfully (his wife in real life stole his trophies and His wife, however, stole many of his trophies, leaving Ivan by running off with an officer from the White Guard during the Russian Civil War).
Regardless of this I absolutely loved this movie. I loved seeing old Russia (having worked in Russia myself in 1988, which was a different Russia as in the late 1800’s as depicted in the movie.
I found the movie interesting in its subtle “attack” on America as being the “land of a free country of free people”. Be sure to take note of this being said in the opening scenes of Ivan’s arrival in America (and hence denouncement of Russia) as opposed to Ivan meeting the same man at the end of the movie. The mystery man is a lot more dishevelled and no longer in awe of America as being the land of the free, but rather this man simply says “You only convey my respects there!”
This is one movie I would highly recommend. A fascinating story line. The movie portrays deception that prevails in all areas of Ivan’s life but his determination to not succumb to it and instead always be a man of high moral manner.
He left America, leaving a lot of money in an American bank (rumoured to still be there) when all he wanted to do was go home.
I would highly recommend this movie and would rate it a 9/10
Julie Dargan
RATE: 9/10
website
review by Julie Dargan
The Iron Ivan is movie based on the life of Ivan Poddubny.
Ivan was dubbed the Hercules of Russia. The movie does not portray his life completely truthfully (his wife in real life stole his trophies and His wife, however, stole many of his trophies, leaving Ivan by running off with an officer from the White Guard during the Russian Civil War).
Regardless of this I absolutely loved this movie. I loved seeing old Russia (having worked in Russia myself in 1988, which was a different Russia as in the late 1800’s as depicted in the movie.
I found the movie interesting in its subtle “attack” on America as being the “land of a free country of free people”. Be sure to take note of this being said in the opening scenes of Ivan’s arrival in America (and hence denouncement of Russia) as opposed to Ivan meeting the same man at the end of the movie. The mystery man is a lot more dishevelled and no longer in awe of America as being the land of the free, but rather this man simply says “You only convey my respects there!”
This is one movie I would highly recommend. A fascinating story line. The movie portrays deception that prevails in all areas of Ivan’s life but his determination to not succumb to it and instead always be a man of high moral manner.
He left America, leaving a lot of money in an American bank (rumoured to still be there) when all he wanted to do was go home.
I would highly recommend this movie and would rate it a 9/10
Julie Dargan
KITCHEN IN PARIS - RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL NEW
RATE: 10/10
website
media preview kind invitation by RRFF, ACMI and Ned&Co PR and Marketing
"oh, not another culinary movie please... I can't stand watching the dishes you can not normally afford even to smell forget about "to taste"... and Russians - what do they know... what do we know... everything is said amd done there... " - this is what my thoughts were coming to this movie preview... how mistaken was I indeed! my first "oh, wow!" was when I read who the director of this film was and voilà! - it was Dmitry Dyachenko himself, the creator of so very famous, funny and also our favorites: "What Men Talk About" and "What Men Still Talk About"... Could I be wrong may be about my initial pre-judgement?.. and how good it feels when you discover that you are wrong - wrong in a good way as the dinner was amazing! ...and yes, not even a slight disappointment: funny , beautifully made, dynamic comedy good class - good taste dish with some romantic spices - all in place, all just so delicate and so well measured to the best chef's expectations... Well cooked!
...and with such a great bunch of actors - the movie should be a winner on many levels!
the camera is top class...
the music selection is a good and delicious champagne blended with contemporary French performers - just to exquisitely compliment the main...
I also really liked the details that were included in the plot when the "imaginary" becomes real or when your thoughts materialised... always such a good-Amelie-like-solution that makes the movie so cheeky-messy-colorful and exciting to watch!
the overall impression: light, mood uplifting and so unexpected: I think there were no 5 minutes in the movie without food splashing on someone's head, face or expensive white suite! gastronomical fights are frustrating but extremely comical!
you are going to enjoy every bit of it! ..
It is significant that Dmitri Nagiev is probably acting "himself"... (???) but who knows...
PREDICTION: the movie lines will be quoted as famous Ryazanov comedies were 20 years back!
Personally - I would watch it again to write down all the quotes and expressions...
examples:
"Where is my rabbit?" - "I am here,,"
I told you we should go to Turkey (not Paris)
My hands are like a Swiss Bank
"He (the baby) is the only one in our family who sees her breasts now..."
"Are you ready for a gastronomical orgasm?" - "Don't know about gastronomical orgasm but I feel the gastronomical erection already"
Our captain used to say: the ship is like a woman - you can not succeed without the champagne
Все у нас через курдюк (untranslatable new Russian expression).
SO IT TURNS T BE MORE THAN A SIMPLE CULINARY COMEDY?
RATE: 10/10
website
media preview kind invitation by RRFF, ACMI and Ned&Co PR and Marketing
"oh, not another culinary movie please... I can't stand watching the dishes you can not normally afford even to smell forget about "to taste"... and Russians - what do they know... what do we know... everything is said amd done there... " - this is what my thoughts were coming to this movie preview... how mistaken was I indeed! my first "oh, wow!" was when I read who the director of this film was and voilà! - it was Dmitry Dyachenko himself, the creator of so very famous, funny and also our favorites: "What Men Talk About" and "What Men Still Talk About"... Could I be wrong may be about my initial pre-judgement?.. and how good it feels when you discover that you are wrong - wrong in a good way as the dinner was amazing! ...and yes, not even a slight disappointment: funny , beautifully made, dynamic comedy good class - good taste dish with some romantic spices - all in place, all just so delicate and so well measured to the best chef's expectations... Well cooked!
...and with such a great bunch of actors - the movie should be a winner on many levels!
the camera is top class...
the music selection is a good and delicious champagne blended with contemporary French performers - just to exquisitely compliment the main...
I also really liked the details that were included in the plot when the "imaginary" becomes real or when your thoughts materialised... always such a good-Amelie-like-solution that makes the movie so cheeky-messy-colorful and exciting to watch!
the overall impression: light, mood uplifting and so unexpected: I think there were no 5 minutes in the movie without food splashing on someone's head, face or expensive white suite! gastronomical fights are frustrating but extremely comical!
you are going to enjoy every bit of it! ..
It is significant that Dmitri Nagiev is probably acting "himself"... (???) but who knows...
PREDICTION: the movie lines will be quoted as famous Ryazanov comedies were 20 years back!
Personally - I would watch it again to write down all the quotes and expressions...
examples:
"Where is my rabbit?" - "I am here,,"
I told you we should go to Turkey (not Paris)
My hands are like a Swiss Bank
"He (the baby) is the only one in our family who sees her breasts now..."
"Are you ready for a gastronomical orgasm?" - "Don't know about gastronomical orgasm but I feel the gastronomical erection already"
Our captain used to say: the ship is like a woman - you can not succeed without the champagne
Все у нас через курдюк (untranslatable new Russian expression).
SO IT TURNS T BE MORE THAN A SIMPLE CULINARY COMEDY?
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Russian Resurrection Film Festival 2014 media launch photos: Sabriena Rahman / ShutterEye Photography at ACMI/
ZERO MOTIVATION - JEWISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2014 NEW
RATE: N/A
REVIEW BY MAX DAVINE
media preview by Classic Cinemas Elsternwick
website
Life in the modernday Western World comes with extraordinary restrictions on insight; we don't know, and more disappointingly, we don't care about certain aspects of life and culture in places like Asia Minor, even if said aspects are an immediate recollection of our own past, that is, compulsory military service. Still practisted today in some parts of Europe and, obviously, Israel, the very idea of being forced to spend two to five years in the Army would not only be distasteful to a young Australian, but entirely alien, even though it is a custom once practiced by our grandfathers, and mothers. This is not drafting for a particular war, but simply being forced to be in the army for a certain amount of time, whether you want to or not. This brings me to another circle of ignorance, which sadly permeates even the distant cultures of which I have already spoken; the plight of women. Even women are, in many cases, oblivious to the plight of women, hence it is such a problem.
Happily, none of this can be said of Israeli writerdirector Tayla Lavie, who not only made the only mainstream, modernday motion picture concerning compulsory military service, but possibly the first in history that looks at women being forced into a role which is not designed for them.
After all, women are not allowed on the frontline. They are not allowed to be soldiers. So,for two whole years of service in the army into which they are not completely allowed, what does a young woman do?
Lavie has answered in the Israeli film Zero Motivation. For one hundred minutes, we are taken into the women's world of the Israeli Defense Force, where menial positions are invented just so that the young women have something to do with themselves for two years, where goofing off and causing trouble actually seem more productive endeavors when compared to the actual jobs to which they are assigned, and where, naturally, closequarter exposure to each other, and to numerous young men in the same position, leads to friendships, romances, and all the dark challenges and disappointments associated with them.
The film is broken into three chapters, the first introducing us to Daffi and Zohar (played by Nelly Tagar and Diana Ivgy, respectively), who will be our guides through our servitude. Daffi is young and girlish, a source of constant moaning and complaining, desperately trying to weasel her way out of her station to Tel Aviv, for no reason other than she thinks it will be different there. Tired of making coffee and shredding papers day in, day out, her preoccupation with escaping lead to consequences both humorous, heartbreaking, and in the instance of a young soldier named Tehlia (Yonit Tobi) extremely dark and disturbing. Such is the remainder of the film, and the three elements are balanced perfectly, as soon after Daffi goes as far as signing up to become an officer, just to get to Tel Aviv, we move on to the next chapter.
Zohar is the one we were waiting for.While all the performances are wonderful, Diana Ivgy has created, in discontent, socially awkward, desperately lonely, sexually retarded and deeply rebellious Zohar a character who not only speaks to us along the lines of how we might be effected by forced military service, but unleashes the darker desires which would surely arise were we in her situation. She is brooding, she is thoughtful, she is menacing, she is a cross between antagonist and protagonist, and never does one distinguish from the other. Her pranks range from harmless and seemingly futile, to destructive on a grandscale, to outright violent and dangerous. Yet she struggles to be accepted as well, and this struggle leads her into her own dangerous trap. The explorations of her relationships with other soldiers, her sexual frustrations and her malcontent have to be seen to be appreciated, it is a masterful performance by Ivgy, and the actress deserves the highest of praise. She is Bart Simpson and Oliver Twist rolled into one, an exciting, powerful and inspiring work of art.
Perhaps the greatest move both Ivgy and Lavie make is never to be morally clear. No stand is taken; and it is up to us to decide whether we support hellraiser Zohar or despise her in favor of the higher cause which she refuses to serve her part in. This might be the best way to look at any conflict today, as none are clear cut nor morally navigable, and so, depending on who we are, thus we see the movie. Zohar may be a hero or a villain. The judgment is left to us.
We have a truly original, unique and beautiful vision from which to pass our opinions.
RATE: N/A
REVIEW BY MAX DAVINE
media preview by Classic Cinemas Elsternwick
website
Life in the modernday Western World comes with extraordinary restrictions on insight; we don't know, and more disappointingly, we don't care about certain aspects of life and culture in places like Asia Minor, even if said aspects are an immediate recollection of our own past, that is, compulsory military service. Still practisted today in some parts of Europe and, obviously, Israel, the very idea of being forced to spend two to five years in the Army would not only be distasteful to a young Australian, but entirely alien, even though it is a custom once practiced by our grandfathers, and mothers. This is not drafting for a particular war, but simply being forced to be in the army for a certain amount of time, whether you want to or not. This brings me to another circle of ignorance, which sadly permeates even the distant cultures of which I have already spoken; the plight of women. Even women are, in many cases, oblivious to the plight of women, hence it is such a problem.
Happily, none of this can be said of Israeli writerdirector Tayla Lavie, who not only made the only mainstream, modernday motion picture concerning compulsory military service, but possibly the first in history that looks at women being forced into a role which is not designed for them.
After all, women are not allowed on the frontline. They are not allowed to be soldiers. So,for two whole years of service in the army into which they are not completely allowed, what does a young woman do?
Lavie has answered in the Israeli film Zero Motivation. For one hundred minutes, we are taken into the women's world of the Israeli Defense Force, where menial positions are invented just so that the young women have something to do with themselves for two years, where goofing off and causing trouble actually seem more productive endeavors when compared to the actual jobs to which they are assigned, and where, naturally, closequarter exposure to each other, and to numerous young men in the same position, leads to friendships, romances, and all the dark challenges and disappointments associated with them.
The film is broken into three chapters, the first introducing us to Daffi and Zohar (played by Nelly Tagar and Diana Ivgy, respectively), who will be our guides through our servitude. Daffi is young and girlish, a source of constant moaning and complaining, desperately trying to weasel her way out of her station to Tel Aviv, for no reason other than she thinks it will be different there. Tired of making coffee and shredding papers day in, day out, her preoccupation with escaping lead to consequences both humorous, heartbreaking, and in the instance of a young soldier named Tehlia (Yonit Tobi) extremely dark and disturbing. Such is the remainder of the film, and the three elements are balanced perfectly, as soon after Daffi goes as far as signing up to become an officer, just to get to Tel Aviv, we move on to the next chapter.
Zohar is the one we were waiting for.While all the performances are wonderful, Diana Ivgy has created, in discontent, socially awkward, desperately lonely, sexually retarded and deeply rebellious Zohar a character who not only speaks to us along the lines of how we might be effected by forced military service, but unleashes the darker desires which would surely arise were we in her situation. She is brooding, she is thoughtful, she is menacing, she is a cross between antagonist and protagonist, and never does one distinguish from the other. Her pranks range from harmless and seemingly futile, to destructive on a grandscale, to outright violent and dangerous. Yet she struggles to be accepted as well, and this struggle leads her into her own dangerous trap. The explorations of her relationships with other soldiers, her sexual frustrations and her malcontent have to be seen to be appreciated, it is a masterful performance by Ivgy, and the actress deserves the highest of praise. She is Bart Simpson and Oliver Twist rolled into one, an exciting, powerful and inspiring work of art.
Perhaps the greatest move both Ivgy and Lavie make is never to be morally clear. No stand is taken; and it is up to us to decide whether we support hellraiser Zohar or despise her in favor of the higher cause which she refuses to serve her part in. This might be the best way to look at any conflict today, as none are clear cut nor morally navigable, and so, depending on who we are, thus we see the movie. Zohar may be a hero or a villain. The judgment is left to us.
We have a truly original, unique and beautiful vision from which to pass our opinions.
|
|
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ZERO MOTIVATION - JEWISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2014 NEW
RATE: 10/10
media preview by Classic Cinemas Elsternwick
website
there are females only in this Israeli Army clerical office and anything can happen as the boss is also a female. in such office the "situations" are hard to predict - they are even harder to control. the office bureaucracy is the least of "what can be worse?" on the site - some "civil cases" involve staple guns (followed by blood and jail), documents shredders and even office chairs and window blinds - they can not shoot but they look like the best armory in the office space.... Add to this: three levels of good humor: just simple jokes pronounced, the plot witty turns and the fine psychological humor - and you will get a perfect and fresh comedy (so unusual for Israeli typical movie about wars), the movie when the audience can not stop laughing and oh-ing.... the office sometimes cruel, sometimes hilarious situations can happen in any office where females "get cooked in their own soup", suffer from boredom, swear on friendship, betray and support each other and get stuck with loads of work no one actually needs... but what about the love life with all this choice of good looking stunning Israeli soldiers? one can be mistaken even here: he can be interested in boys only, or he can be simply rude, he can go out with your girlfriend or he can be a coward... may be the IT nerd will work well?..
all actors and actresses are more than brilliant - perfect, believable and so truthful in their acting...
the music selection is perfect in my opinion and the whole movie is watched in one breath - actually - in three as there are three small stories - three beautiful interconnected parts.
RATE: 10/10
media preview by Classic Cinemas Elsternwick
website
there are females only in this Israeli Army clerical office and anything can happen as the boss is also a female. in such office the "situations" are hard to predict - they are even harder to control. the office bureaucracy is the least of "what can be worse?" on the site - some "civil cases" involve staple guns (followed by blood and jail), documents shredders and even office chairs and window blinds - they can not shoot but they look like the best armory in the office space.... Add to this: three levels of good humor: just simple jokes pronounced, the plot witty turns and the fine psychological humor - and you will get a perfect and fresh comedy (so unusual for Israeli typical movie about wars), the movie when the audience can not stop laughing and oh-ing.... the office sometimes cruel, sometimes hilarious situations can happen in any office where females "get cooked in their own soup", suffer from boredom, swear on friendship, betray and support each other and get stuck with loads of work no one actually needs... but what about the love life with all this choice of good looking stunning Israeli soldiers? one can be mistaken even here: he can be interested in boys only, or he can be simply rude, he can go out with your girlfriend or he can be a coward... may be the IT nerd will work well?..
all actors and actresses are more than brilliant - perfect, believable and so truthful in their acting...
the music selection is perfect in my opinion and the whole movie is watched in one breath - actually - in three as there are three small stories - three beautiful interconnected parts.
ADVANCED STYLE NEW
RATE: 7/10
website
this is the movie to uplift you , to inspire you as the people you will see are so creative and so life loving and finding the best moments of this reality and being always happy and totally OK with who they are. they even find death grateful.... there is color and there is everything you can create out of if you are a real artist... they are all living in NY and they are all over 60 years old ladies who look and dress better than some of young , boring and following fashion... the movie is witty and really... ageless...
advanced style blog
RATE: 7/10
website
this is the movie to uplift you , to inspire you as the people you will see are so creative and so life loving and finding the best moments of this reality and being always happy and totally OK with who they are. they even find death grateful.... there is color and there is everything you can create out of if you are a real artist... they are all living in NY and they are all over 60 years old ladies who look and dress better than some of young , boring and following fashion... the movie is witty and really... ageless...
advanced style blog
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movie quotes:
"There's a lot more to be learned, and I'm going to learn all the way up to the stairway to the stars"
" You dance as you walk through life.If you don't dance, for heaven's sake, you cannot aspire. You do not lift up from this earth."
"Rise Above It, it's what one does. We're not supposed to be happy happy happy and jumping for joy every second"
"Doesn't time go really fast its moment by moment by moment, and you've got to grab it"
"I don't know, maybe life is a fairytale"
"Grace, is what it is, you dance as you sail through life, and furthermore it heightens your living as of the moment"
"The only Romantic thing left in life is a hat"
"Hats give you a frame. However dreary you feel, if you put on a hat, by golly, you've changed everything. I keep telling my daughter,my granddaughter,everybody, If you don't wear a hat, you're missing it"
"I love Illusion"
"Like Piaf I have no regrets, Oh mercy you have to have the downers and the uppers to be a complete person" - See more at: http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/ten-inspiring-quotes-from-mimi-weddell.html#sthash.9pbo2sH9.dpuf
"There's a lot more to be learned, and I'm going to learn all the way up to the stairway to the stars"
" You dance as you walk through life.If you don't dance, for heaven's sake, you cannot aspire. You do not lift up from this earth."
"Rise Above It, it's what one does. We're not supposed to be happy happy happy and jumping for joy every second"
"Doesn't time go really fast its moment by moment by moment, and you've got to grab it"
"I don't know, maybe life is a fairytale"
"Grace, is what it is, you dance as you sail through life, and furthermore it heightens your living as of the moment"
"The only Romantic thing left in life is a hat"
"Hats give you a frame. However dreary you feel, if you put on a hat, by golly, you've changed everything. I keep telling my daughter,my granddaughter,everybody, If you don't wear a hat, you're missing it"
"I love Illusion"
"Like Piaf I have no regrets, Oh mercy you have to have the downers and the uppers to be a complete person" - See more at: http://advancedstyle.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/ten-inspiring-quotes-from-mimi-weddell.html#sthash.9pbo2sH9.dpuf
PRIDE NEW
RATE: 7/10
website
media preview kind courtesy of eOne Australia and New Zeland
the movie that will make you laugh and cry... it has a light English humor but it also has a serious message in between the lines - our power is not in separating the society on communities, organisations, countries, nations, sexual minorities and majorities, state of origins etc etc, our power is in uniting, not feeling any boundaries accepting people without judging, living and supporting each other... very simple and cheering movie with strong messages...
RATE: 7/10
website
media preview kind courtesy of eOne Australia and New Zeland
the movie that will make you laugh and cry... it has a light English humor but it also has a serious message in between the lines - our power is not in separating the society on communities, organisations, countries, nations, sexual minorities and majorities, state of origins etc etc, our power is in uniting, not feeling any boundaries accepting people without judging, living and supporting each other... very simple and cheering movie with strong messages...
LIVING IS EASY WITH EYES CLOSED NEW
RATE: N/A
website
we were kindly invited to Pinnacle Films media preview of Living is Easy with Eyes Closed. at Palace Cinema Como . Max Davine is generously sharing his opinion on this beautiful picture
There are movies which take us to the edge. There are movies which make us cry rivers. There are movies which scare the living daylights out of us, have us in stitches with laughter, take us to deeply intellectual realms where we are forced to ponder ourselves, our existence, and whatever else. There are movies which make us cheer, lust, hate, love and movies which remember for all our lives.
In making Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados (“Living is Easy Eith Eyes Closed”), a line from the latecoming song by The Beatles; “Strawberry Fields”, director David Trueba has given us absolutely none of the above. What he has done is bring us something seldom explored in cinema; quaint admiration. The beauty, bigotry and suppression of a gorgeous country, still held under the tyrannical fist of Franco in 1966, when the story takes place, is shown with a steady hand and temperate heart. The main character, a kindly social outcast and schoolteacher, Antonio (Javier Camara) is utterly obsessed with meeting John Lennon, while the Beatles shoots a picture in scorching Andalusia. But, judging by the way he faces the difficulties in doing so, he won't exactly die if he doesn't manage to accomplish his mission. Nor are his bonds with teenage runaway Juanjo (Francesc Colomer) and illicitly pregnant Belen (Natalia de Molina) of absolutely vital concern. Likewise, their plights are fleeting, and, left to their own devices, solve themselves. Juanjo's long hair was the straw that broke the camel's back with his family, but he loses it anyway. Belen's pregnancy is unacceptable, but by way of her not - overly important romance with Juanjo, she too finds her way to salvation and emancipation.
Interestingly, the result is not a boring film, nor a lazy one. Indeed the devotion which drives the main characters hence is as breezy as life itself in the small, southern town to which the runaways trek, but their relationships which form and develop, their plights which are a slight shadow, but a shadow nonetheless, become our own, and while nobody will be standing, screaming at the screen, they would, with great fondness, enjoy seeing everything go well for our heroes. Not triumph. Not a victory lap. Just...go well. Which is exactly what the film, complete with gorgeous photography and breathtaking locales, does. It goes well. In doing so, it summarizes the infectious, charming, joyful love of existence that one finds in Spain herself, and in all of her people. So, while most movies may jolt us about the emotional spectrum, Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados simply reminds us that life, no matter the taxes or traumas one finds, is beautiful, and friendship is always worth the struggle.
It might just be the most important reminder of all.
* by Max Davine, the author of Angel Valence, The Red Legion, Off The Map and the controversial Terra Domina. He studied acting for three years, and has worked on several film and theatre productions.
Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed - cinemas release nationally in October 23
RATE: N/A
website
we were kindly invited to Pinnacle Films media preview of Living is Easy with Eyes Closed. at Palace Cinema Como . Max Davine is generously sharing his opinion on this beautiful picture
There are movies which take us to the edge. There are movies which make us cry rivers. There are movies which scare the living daylights out of us, have us in stitches with laughter, take us to deeply intellectual realms where we are forced to ponder ourselves, our existence, and whatever else. There are movies which make us cheer, lust, hate, love and movies which remember for all our lives.
In making Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados (“Living is Easy Eith Eyes Closed”), a line from the latecoming song by The Beatles; “Strawberry Fields”, director David Trueba has given us absolutely none of the above. What he has done is bring us something seldom explored in cinema; quaint admiration. The beauty, bigotry and suppression of a gorgeous country, still held under the tyrannical fist of Franco in 1966, when the story takes place, is shown with a steady hand and temperate heart. The main character, a kindly social outcast and schoolteacher, Antonio (Javier Camara) is utterly obsessed with meeting John Lennon, while the Beatles shoots a picture in scorching Andalusia. But, judging by the way he faces the difficulties in doing so, he won't exactly die if he doesn't manage to accomplish his mission. Nor are his bonds with teenage runaway Juanjo (Francesc Colomer) and illicitly pregnant Belen (Natalia de Molina) of absolutely vital concern. Likewise, their plights are fleeting, and, left to their own devices, solve themselves. Juanjo's long hair was the straw that broke the camel's back with his family, but he loses it anyway. Belen's pregnancy is unacceptable, but by way of her not - overly important romance with Juanjo, she too finds her way to salvation and emancipation.
Interestingly, the result is not a boring film, nor a lazy one. Indeed the devotion which drives the main characters hence is as breezy as life itself in the small, southern town to which the runaways trek, but their relationships which form and develop, their plights which are a slight shadow, but a shadow nonetheless, become our own, and while nobody will be standing, screaming at the screen, they would, with great fondness, enjoy seeing everything go well for our heroes. Not triumph. Not a victory lap. Just...go well. Which is exactly what the film, complete with gorgeous photography and breathtaking locales, does. It goes well. In doing so, it summarizes the infectious, charming, joyful love of existence that one finds in Spain herself, and in all of her people. So, while most movies may jolt us about the emotional spectrum, Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados simply reminds us that life, no matter the taxes or traumas one finds, is beautiful, and friendship is always worth the struggle.
It might just be the most important reminder of all.
* by Max Davine, the author of Angel Valence, The Red Legion, Off The Map and the controversial Terra Domina. He studied acting for three years, and has worked on several film and theatre productions.
Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed - cinemas release nationally in October 23
IN BLOOM NEW
RATE: 8/10
website
the story develops like a spiral around one very powerful, young, 14 year old Georgian girl, whose actions surprise you on every corner of the movie which is unpredictable to the extend that the audience screams at the most unexpected moments... she is stronger than many man shown in this story. her name is Eka. the acting is amazing - credits to all the actors involved. Eka shows herself in many situations in the society where men rule. she saves her friend from becoming a murderer, she gives a hand of help to the guy who constantly assaults her... Eka's wisdom does not match her age: some adults behave so stupidly that Eka, the woman-kid looks as a guardian angel compared to them. her will power is also deserving a great respect. it is a beautifully made movie with very moving Georgian songs and dancing.
there is one more character to pay attention to: totally opposite to Eka, Natia's husband who forced Natia to marry him against her will - only showed how man's will to get what they want turn into tragedy for many people around him...
the day to day life of ordinary Georgian people in 90-s shown with such reality it triggers the memories of many of us who left Russia at that time...
Overall impression: neglecting the movie drama it is a total delight to watch...
RATE: 8/10
website
the story develops like a spiral around one very powerful, young, 14 year old Georgian girl, whose actions surprise you on every corner of the movie which is unpredictable to the extend that the audience screams at the most unexpected moments... she is stronger than many man shown in this story. her name is Eka. the acting is amazing - credits to all the actors involved. Eka shows herself in many situations in the society where men rule. she saves her friend from becoming a murderer, she gives a hand of help to the guy who constantly assaults her... Eka's wisdom does not match her age: some adults behave so stupidly that Eka, the woman-kid looks as a guardian angel compared to them. her will power is also deserving a great respect. it is a beautifully made movie with very moving Georgian songs and dancing.
there is one more character to pay attention to: totally opposite to Eka, Natia's husband who forced Natia to marry him against her will - only showed how man's will to get what they want turn into tragedy for many people around him...
the day to day life of ordinary Georgian people in 90-s shown with such reality it triggers the memories of many of us who left Russia at that time...
Overall impression: neglecting the movie drama it is a total delight to watch...
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FORCE MAJEURE NEW
RATE: 9/10
website
media preview - kind courtesy of Sharmill Films
The movie reminded me slow pace good Russian movies.
The family with two kids goes on ski holiday... Sometimes it takes one drop for the water to go over the edge of the glass...sometimes it takes one snowflake for the avalanche to start...and sometimes it takes one actin for the relationship to start breaking up...
What is important for you on your journey: casual relationship with the people you do not care about, your family values, sleeping around, "giving freedom" to each other or fighting with each other trying to find the truth? Will you continue travelling the rocky road with inexperienced driver with a danger to your life and the lives of your family, will you continue to walk alone without handing hands or will you do something else?.. I believe we all went through something similar in our lives... we all c=have chosen one or the other way to travel ... what is is important is what works for you, what is true to you and what makes you true to yourself and what makes you happy... the psychology of the inner family relationship is so fragile so unique and so complex a small incident, a small falling brick can make the whole "building" to shake to its base... Six days of holiday can turn into drama if of course there are no feelings to forgive, if you are questioning not even the accident itself but the "togetherness" is in question... From the other side: will the father forgive himself ever for his childish and selfish behaviour? Thomas, the main character's friend: :"You were probably thinking you should be safe so you could come back and dig them out, right Tomas?" sounds more like a question not searching for forgiveness but rather a sarcasm...There is another side too: the person who seeks a reason for infidelity will definitely find it - she will forget all the positive past and will concentrate of the bitter accident...
It is a Nordic film so do not expect some "Hollywood action: and fast moving trains... the beauty of this movie is in silence - the thinking process , the soul movements are more important than any physical interactions... just try to deep inside each character to understand their intentions...
There are lots of good humor in the movie - I would not call it black but it is very human.
The character are very colorful and picturesque - they all have their deep significance in the story line
The music selection is classique too!..
The snow avalanches may come to be seen not by many and may be once in a life time - some of them that cause your relationship to change can be more damaging than the real nature disasters - wiping the whole past and shaping your future...
Well if someone tells me that his/her relationship are perfect I certainly stop trusting these people - facades might be "green-grassed", colored and "rosed" by rare flowers but there are no easy roads there...
If you found yourself in this movie - good! If you did not - keep searching and try to be honest with yourself at least once!
RATE: 9/10
website
media preview - kind courtesy of Sharmill Films
The movie reminded me slow pace good Russian movies.
The family with two kids goes on ski holiday... Sometimes it takes one drop for the water to go over the edge of the glass...sometimes it takes one snowflake for the avalanche to start...and sometimes it takes one actin for the relationship to start breaking up...
What is important for you on your journey: casual relationship with the people you do not care about, your family values, sleeping around, "giving freedom" to each other or fighting with each other trying to find the truth? Will you continue travelling the rocky road with inexperienced driver with a danger to your life and the lives of your family, will you continue to walk alone without handing hands or will you do something else?.. I believe we all went through something similar in our lives... we all c=have chosen one or the other way to travel ... what is is important is what works for you, what is true to you and what makes you true to yourself and what makes you happy... the psychology of the inner family relationship is so fragile so unique and so complex a small incident, a small falling brick can make the whole "building" to shake to its base... Six days of holiday can turn into drama if of course there are no feelings to forgive, if you are questioning not even the accident itself but the "togetherness" is in question... From the other side: will the father forgive himself ever for his childish and selfish behaviour? Thomas, the main character's friend: :"You were probably thinking you should be safe so you could come back and dig them out, right Tomas?" sounds more like a question not searching for forgiveness but rather a sarcasm...There is another side too: the person who seeks a reason for infidelity will definitely find it - she will forget all the positive past and will concentrate of the bitter accident...
It is a Nordic film so do not expect some "Hollywood action: and fast moving trains... the beauty of this movie is in silence - the thinking process , the soul movements are more important than any physical interactions... just try to deep inside each character to understand their intentions...
There are lots of good humor in the movie - I would not call it black but it is very human.
The character are very colorful and picturesque - they all have their deep significance in the story line
The music selection is classique too!..
The snow avalanches may come to be seen not by many and may be once in a life time - some of them that cause your relationship to change can be more damaging than the real nature disasters - wiping the whole past and shaping your future...
Well if someone tells me that his/her relationship are perfect I certainly stop trusting these people - facades might be "green-grassed", colored and "rosed" by rare flowers but there are no easy roads there...
If you found yourself in this movie - good! If you did not - keep searching and try to be honest with yourself at least once!
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BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL LIVE FROM LONDON VICTORIA PALACE THEATER NEW
stunning and powerful performance that includes elements of ballet, musical, acting, contemporary dancing and tap dancing - all in one unforgettable live musical - breathtaking event, full house - all tickets sold out at Palace Cinemas and at London Victoria Palace Theater!
to note: some very interesting and intriguing (genius) director solutions
would love t watch it twice as it is so inspirational...
Elton John's music is FANTASTIC!
Lots of very intelligent technical stage solutions...
Ageless production and ageless story!
Be true to yourself - whom would you like to be? - no one is asking us this question now - have you noticed?
stunning and powerful performance that includes elements of ballet, musical, acting, contemporary dancing and tap dancing - all in one unforgettable live musical - breathtaking event, full house - all tickets sold out at Palace Cinemas and at London Victoria Palace Theater!
to note: some very interesting and intriguing (genius) director solutions
would love t watch it twice as it is so inspirational...
Elton John's music is FANTASTIC!
Lots of very intelligent technical stage solutions...
Ageless production and ageless story!
Be true to yourself - whom would you like to be? - no one is asking us this question now - have you noticed?
INTERSECTIONS
screener: kind courtesy of Icon Films
RATE: 9/10
review by Chandra Madanagopal
Intersections, as the title suggests is a story of a honeymoon couple Scott (Frank Grillo - Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Grey, Minority Report) and Taylor (Jaimie Alexander – Thor franchise) Dolan whose lives intersect with a red flagged Interpol convict (Moussa Maaskri – Point Blank), a French woman (Maria-Josee Croze – The Driving Bell and the Butterfly, Munich) with a child, a killer (Charlie Bewley – Like Crazy, Twilight franchise) and a stranger (Rochdy Zem – Point Blank, Days of Glory) who comes to the rescue.
Taylor and Scott are on their honeymoon in Morocco where Taylor plots to kill her rich husband with help from her lover, Travis. The plan goes sour when all parties are involved in a bloody car accident on a remote desert road. They escape the multi-car pileup right in the middle of the desert and encounter the group of survivors, including a wanted smuggler, Omar, a French woman, Audrey, with a sick baby and Saleh, a mysterious "repairman". They embark on a journey of deceit and revelation that surfaces as the story unfolds. Written and directed by American filmmaker David Marconi has many twists and turns in store all throughout, right till the end.
Thomas Hadrmeier’s camera has captured the rugged Moroccan desert just well enough to reflect the cruel intentions of the lead characters. Producer Luc Bensson (Lucy, Taken 1 and 2 and the Transporter Series) has done a commendable job by backing up such a gripping story. Music by Richard Horowitz, jells pretty well with this edge of the seat thriller. Julien Rey’s editing pulls the audiences’ attention well into the storyline and keeps them engaged. The 101 minutes running time just hits like a flash and keeps the audiences guessing as every twist reveals the different layers of the lead characters. The actors have done an exceptional job, especially the “repairman” character played by Rochdy Zem and Taylor, played by Jaimie Alexander whose looks are exceptionally attractive, yet deceiving.
Please beware of spoilers and wait till the end credit roll for some bizarre honeymoon fun.
Rating: 4.5/5
screener: kind courtesy of Icon Films
RATE: 9/10
review by Chandra Madanagopal
Intersections, as the title suggests is a story of a honeymoon couple Scott (Frank Grillo - Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Grey, Minority Report) and Taylor (Jaimie Alexander – Thor franchise) Dolan whose lives intersect with a red flagged Interpol convict (Moussa Maaskri – Point Blank), a French woman (Maria-Josee Croze – The Driving Bell and the Butterfly, Munich) with a child, a killer (Charlie Bewley – Like Crazy, Twilight franchise) and a stranger (Rochdy Zem – Point Blank, Days of Glory) who comes to the rescue.
Taylor and Scott are on their honeymoon in Morocco where Taylor plots to kill her rich husband with help from her lover, Travis. The plan goes sour when all parties are involved in a bloody car accident on a remote desert road. They escape the multi-car pileup right in the middle of the desert and encounter the group of survivors, including a wanted smuggler, Omar, a French woman, Audrey, with a sick baby and Saleh, a mysterious "repairman". They embark on a journey of deceit and revelation that surfaces as the story unfolds. Written and directed by American filmmaker David Marconi has many twists and turns in store all throughout, right till the end.
Thomas Hadrmeier’s camera has captured the rugged Moroccan desert just well enough to reflect the cruel intentions of the lead characters. Producer Luc Bensson (Lucy, Taken 1 and 2 and the Transporter Series) has done a commendable job by backing up such a gripping story. Music by Richard Horowitz, jells pretty well with this edge of the seat thriller. Julien Rey’s editing pulls the audiences’ attention well into the storyline and keeps them engaged. The 101 minutes running time just hits like a flash and keeps the audiences guessing as every twist reveals the different layers of the lead characters. The actors have done an exceptional job, especially the “repairman” character played by Rochdy Zem and Taylor, played by Jaimie Alexander whose looks are exceptionally attractive, yet deceiving.
Please beware of spoilers and wait till the end credit roll for some bizarre honeymoon fun.
Rating: 4.5/5
WISH I WAS HERE
website
RATE: 6/10
it is the movie about family and what is important, relationship in the family - couples, dating, sons and fathers, daughters and fathers, brothers... there are more and more movies on this subject appearing here and there... relationship in the family are basically like everything in life are the reflections of your relationship with god and they are the most important ones - they are the same in their significance as your relationship with yourself... who you see the world will get projected on everything you touch and everything that happens with you in life... it is funny and quite dynamic, with some unique ideas, yes... and great to watch for the whole family!
website
RATE: 6/10
it is the movie about family and what is important, relationship in the family - couples, dating, sons and fathers, daughters and fathers, brothers... there are more and more movies on this subject appearing here and there... relationship in the family are basically like everything in life are the reflections of your relationship with god and they are the most important ones - they are the same in their significance as your relationship with yourself... who you see the world will get projected on everything you touch and everything that happens with you in life... it is funny and quite dynamic, with some unique ideas, yes... and great to watch for the whole family!
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INCOMPRESA - LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014
Misunderstood
website
RATE: 8.5/10
it is the movie about family values, a child suffering because she is not understood, she is not seen and she is not valued by her family... love of two people first born in the fine worlds of spirituality. a child is a materialisation of that love between two. it s a physical reality of what is unseen by our eyes when you fall in love. if the child is healthy, happy and beautiful so this was your love. when love dies between two the child feels it as he/she is not wanted in this world any more... let's be nice to each other as when you fall in love there is not more two - there are three of you already... when you break up you kill the child who is unwanted now too... the child does not understand why does she/he feels this way: she misbehaves and gets punished so the trauma is becoming even deeper and the wound might never get healed... you might damage your child's life forever... let's be nice to each other, people...
Misunderstood
website
RATE: 8.5/10
it is the movie about family values, a child suffering because she is not understood, she is not seen and she is not valued by her family... love of two people first born in the fine worlds of spirituality. a child is a materialisation of that love between two. it s a physical reality of what is unseen by our eyes when you fall in love. if the child is healthy, happy and beautiful so this was your love. when love dies between two the child feels it as he/she is not wanted in this world any more... let's be nice to each other as when you fall in love there is not more two - there are three of you already... when you break up you kill the child who is unwanted now too... the child does not understand why does she/he feels this way: she misbehaves and gets punished so the trauma is becoming even deeper and the wound might never get healed... you might damage your child's life forever... let's be nice to each other, people...
UTOPIA
RATE: 7.5/10
screener - kind courtesy of Roadshow Entertainment
website on ABC TV Series
review by Bron Neale
New Aussie TV show “Utopia” is a a combination of well know shows like “the Office” and Rob Sitch’s former tv hit “Frontline”.
Utopia is a satire of the everyday goings on in the government office. How more often than not the bureaucracy achieves nothing, while righteously spending millions on studying the issue, talking about the issue, voting on it, readdressing the issue and somehow never actually achieving the result required.
Starring a who’s who of Australian comedy with Stitch playing the lead role as departmental head Tony, balancing the pressures of pleasing the governmental figure head Jim (played by comedian Anthony Lehmann, aka Lehmo) and his own morale.
Tony is accompanied by the less than competent Scott (Dave Lawson) and the unapt Katie (Emma-Louise Wilson), who are predictably under qualified to assist Rhonda’s (Kitty Flanagan- hilariously funny) decision to redesign the authority’s logo.
Although at times the show is predictably funny, the comic level of the show will keep you entertained. Aimed at the larger market with views of Sydney this show should find itself a winner with the overseas market. Slow to start but definitely worth a watch.
RATE: 7.5/10
screener - kind courtesy of Roadshow Entertainment
website on ABC TV Series
review by Bron Neale
New Aussie TV show “Utopia” is a a combination of well know shows like “the Office” and Rob Sitch’s former tv hit “Frontline”.
Utopia is a satire of the everyday goings on in the government office. How more often than not the bureaucracy achieves nothing, while righteously spending millions on studying the issue, talking about the issue, voting on it, readdressing the issue and somehow never actually achieving the result required.
Starring a who’s who of Australian comedy with Stitch playing the lead role as departmental head Tony, balancing the pressures of pleasing the governmental figure head Jim (played by comedian Anthony Lehmann, aka Lehmo) and his own morale.
Tony is accompanied by the less than competent Scott (Dave Lawson) and the unapt Katie (Emma-Louise Wilson), who are predictably under qualified to assist Rhonda’s (Kitty Flanagan- hilariously funny) decision to redesign the authority’s logo.
Although at times the show is predictably funny, the comic level of the show will keep you entertained. Aimed at the larger market with views of Sydney this show should find itself a winner with the overseas market. Slow to start but definitely worth a watch.
SUN OF A GUN
media preview - kind courtesy of eOne
website
RATE: 6.5/10
the movie you do not want your teenage kids to see... promoting the wrong values and making heroes out of the criminals? may be we are missing something here? it is mainly because of the idea of the movie which seemed a bit plane not to say primitive. from one side and dangerous for some minds from the other side... am i still missing something here????..
the actors are absolutely brilliant there - all of them... the camera is good...
but coming back to the story... suddenly you start thinking like criminals... do: you believe that all they are fighting for looks more like chimpanzees fighting for more bananas... it suddenly becomes important and true for you too - what a strange thought to place inside adult's mind... that is why I am worried that teenagers will understand it the wrong way... we, as adults can get out of this game, step aside and start asking questions... i can not write here everything we think as this is not really for publishing but the overall feeling is "wrong", "this is totally wrong"... I am believing it is right but this is wrong... to add to this i did not believe a word of love between the criminal and his lover - a prostitute that suddenly got changed into a good and loyal woman and a future wife and mother... Stnaslavski would cry... "I am not believing it!" and I can not buy it...
media preview - kind courtesy of eOne
website
RATE: 6.5/10
the movie you do not want your teenage kids to see... promoting the wrong values and making heroes out of the criminals? may be we are missing something here? it is mainly because of the idea of the movie which seemed a bit plane not to say primitive. from one side and dangerous for some minds from the other side... am i still missing something here????..
the actors are absolutely brilliant there - all of them... the camera is good...
but coming back to the story... suddenly you start thinking like criminals... do: you believe that all they are fighting for looks more like chimpanzees fighting for more bananas... it suddenly becomes important and true for you too - what a strange thought to place inside adult's mind... that is why I am worried that teenagers will understand it the wrong way... we, as adults can get out of this game, step aside and start asking questions... i can not write here everything we think as this is not really for publishing but the overall feeling is "wrong", "this is totally wrong"... I am believing it is right but this is wrong... to add to this i did not believe a word of love between the criminal and his lover - a prostitute that suddenly got changed into a good and loyal woman and a future wife and mother... Stnaslavski would cry... "I am not believing it!" and I can not buy it...
LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014 - THE WONDERS
Le meraviglie
website
RATE: 9.5/10
for those of you, the lovers of "Italian taste" movies: it has got it all - Federico Fellini's hypnotic meditations on the subject of mysterious nothing-ness - just the exact word - wonders describes it all... the young, hard working and curious Gelcomina who is "in charge" of the farm (played by one very interesting and talented actress) - from one side and her stubborn and strict father who tried to establish the "rules" in the house where the rules will never work - it is full of women - his wife, his daughters and his farm workers - this is from the other side... the movie - it is strange, it is funny, it is everything the Italian movie should be... the life is still and country-side-like-unchanging and quiet... and suddenly the balance is broken by announced Farmer's Competition, that brings up to the surface some hidden and well covered emotions, then the bombs explodes again by the German boy who arrived to assist the Gelsomina's family (he is following the rehabilitation program)... now there is blood (just a little bit), the honey is running out of the bucket over the edge and uncontrolled, the kids are missing, the beauty queens are singing... there are some stupid TV shows no one needs, there are loud sisters and... there are camels... life seems a real mess.... how does she take it, Gelsomina..?
Le meraviglie
website
RATE: 9.5/10
for those of you, the lovers of "Italian taste" movies: it has got it all - Federico Fellini's hypnotic meditations on the subject of mysterious nothing-ness - just the exact word - wonders describes it all... the young, hard working and curious Gelcomina who is "in charge" of the farm (played by one very interesting and talented actress) - from one side and her stubborn and strict father who tried to establish the "rules" in the house where the rules will never work - it is full of women - his wife, his daughters and his farm workers - this is from the other side... the movie - it is strange, it is funny, it is everything the Italian movie should be... the life is still and country-side-like-unchanging and quiet... and suddenly the balance is broken by announced Farmer's Competition, that brings up to the surface some hidden and well covered emotions, then the bombs explodes again by the German boy who arrived to assist the Gelsomina's family (he is following the rehabilitation program)... now there is blood (just a little bit), the honey is running out of the bucket over the edge and uncontrolled, the kids are missing, the beauty queens are singing... there are some stupid TV shows no one needs, there are loud sisters and... there are camels... life seems a real mess.... how does she take it, Gelsomina..?
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SIDDHARTH
website
media screening - kind courtesy of Classic Cinemas and Pinnacle Films
RATE: 9/10
it is one heart breaking story about the family missing a 12 year old boy... you feel hopeless, devastated following his father with your thoughts who travels all around India to find him... not even him... just traces of the people who saw him last. the boy have disappeared but apart from sadness you also see the pictures of common life in India: Delhi. Mumbai and many other places... some people help the family with all their hearts some are ignorant, some rude, the police is hopeless like the whole authority system... the poverty these people live in is beyond any common understanding... the pictures are so vivid you suddenly understand that only miracle will help this poor family...
website
media screening - kind courtesy of Classic Cinemas and Pinnacle Films
RATE: 9/10
it is one heart breaking story about the family missing a 12 year old boy... you feel hopeless, devastated following his father with your thoughts who travels all around India to find him... not even him... just traces of the people who saw him last. the boy have disappeared but apart from sadness you also see the pictures of common life in India: Delhi. Mumbai and many other places... some people help the family with all their hearts some are ignorant, some rude, the police is hopeless like the whole authority system... the poverty these people live in is beyond any common understanding... the pictures are so vivid you suddenly understand that only miracle will help this poor family...
LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014 - SPACIAL PRESS RELEASE
INTERVIEW WITH THE FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL GUEST AND RAISING STAR MS. NADIR CASELLI
Nadir Caselli Interview
By Max Davine
As part of the Lavazza Italian Film Festival, the Italian film industry has let us borrow one of its premier rising stars; the beautiful screen actress Nadir Caselli.
She comes to us from Tuscany, where she studied English, thankfully for me as I know not a sentence of Italian, and martial arts while working as a model and, eventually, an actress.
Having studied, worked with and been very close friends with many, many actors over the years, I've discovered one thing is consistent about them; you know who’s going to make it long before they do. You don't have to see them work, you hardly have to talk to them. There's just an energy about them. An amazing balance of self-confidence without arrogance, of humbling compassion coupled with blistering intelligence, and of heartwarming sensitivity combined with an almost self-announcing clarity and conciseness. A strong passion, and a certain love for everything and everyone around them. They just have a light about them, and as soon as I heard the sweet voice of Nadir Caselli down the other end of the line, speaking with grace and sincerity unabated by her Italian accent, I knew I was talking to a winner.
Welcome to Australia, how are you feeling?
• Thank you, I am great, I like this country very much...unfortunately I didn't get to see much of Melbourne, though, we came off the plane after a long trip from Italy and I only had two days, before I had to come to Sydney. But I liked very much what I saw. It is a very beautiful city, I can tell.
Nadir is a beautifully exotic name, where does it come from?
• My mother read a book, which she loved, and there was a character named Nadir, who was a princess, and she just loved her so much she decided that one day, when she has a daughter, she will name her Nadir, so that's where it comes from.
What led you to become an actress?
• I started modeling when I was sixteen, and that went really well, so when I was seventeen my agent proposed I go to a casting for a movie, and it was a movie set in Tuscany. I am from Tuscany, so that was easy, and they called me back two more times, and then I got the part. That was my start, and it led me on to do more movies afterward, which I’m still doing.
You're here for the Lavazza Italian Film Festival, what movies can we see you in?
• You can see me in Universitari – Molto piu che amici, a comedy directed by Frederico Moccia, which is all about friendship, it's about these friends sharing a warehouse just outside Rome. There are six girls and boys. My character, Giorgia,, starts out as very shy, and insecure, because she has never received much affection from her parents. Her father is a diplomat, and always traveling around the world, and is never there to look after the family, whilst her mother was also often absent. So she decides to go to Rome and study fashion at a university, but to get by, she has to share this warehouse with 5 others. They all learn a lot about support and friendship, and slowly she learns to let go of her insecurities and falls in love.
• I am also in I Can Quit Whenever I Want, directed by Sydney Sibilia, also a comedy, which was inspired by the economic crisis in Italy, and the rest of Europe, but we wanted to laugh about it instead of being depressing. The movie is about a researcher from a university who has been laid off, and has to find a job, but he can't because the only thing he can do is what he's always done, research! So he and some friends invent a new illegal drug, and they begin to deal it, and get very rich. It changes their lives very quickly, and that gets them into trouble, because they can't handle it, so things get out of control.
Thank you for your time, Nadir, it is very much appreciated.
• Thank you, thank you very much, bye!
images from NADIR CASELLI in her movie, UNIVERSITY: MORE THAN FRIENDS
provided courtesy of the Lavazza Italian Film Festival
INTERVIEW WITH THE FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL GUEST AND RAISING STAR MS. NADIR CASELLI
Nadir Caselli Interview
By Max Davine
As part of the Lavazza Italian Film Festival, the Italian film industry has let us borrow one of its premier rising stars; the beautiful screen actress Nadir Caselli.
She comes to us from Tuscany, where she studied English, thankfully for me as I know not a sentence of Italian, and martial arts while working as a model and, eventually, an actress.
Having studied, worked with and been very close friends with many, many actors over the years, I've discovered one thing is consistent about them; you know who’s going to make it long before they do. You don't have to see them work, you hardly have to talk to them. There's just an energy about them. An amazing balance of self-confidence without arrogance, of humbling compassion coupled with blistering intelligence, and of heartwarming sensitivity combined with an almost self-announcing clarity and conciseness. A strong passion, and a certain love for everything and everyone around them. They just have a light about them, and as soon as I heard the sweet voice of Nadir Caselli down the other end of the line, speaking with grace and sincerity unabated by her Italian accent, I knew I was talking to a winner.
Welcome to Australia, how are you feeling?
• Thank you, I am great, I like this country very much...unfortunately I didn't get to see much of Melbourne, though, we came off the plane after a long trip from Italy and I only had two days, before I had to come to Sydney. But I liked very much what I saw. It is a very beautiful city, I can tell.
Nadir is a beautifully exotic name, where does it come from?
• My mother read a book, which she loved, and there was a character named Nadir, who was a princess, and she just loved her so much she decided that one day, when she has a daughter, she will name her Nadir, so that's where it comes from.
What led you to become an actress?
• I started modeling when I was sixteen, and that went really well, so when I was seventeen my agent proposed I go to a casting for a movie, and it was a movie set in Tuscany. I am from Tuscany, so that was easy, and they called me back two more times, and then I got the part. That was my start, and it led me on to do more movies afterward, which I’m still doing.
You're here for the Lavazza Italian Film Festival, what movies can we see you in?
• You can see me in Universitari – Molto piu che amici, a comedy directed by Frederico Moccia, which is all about friendship, it's about these friends sharing a warehouse just outside Rome. There are six girls and boys. My character, Giorgia,, starts out as very shy, and insecure, because she has never received much affection from her parents. Her father is a diplomat, and always traveling around the world, and is never there to look after the family, whilst her mother was also often absent. So she decides to go to Rome and study fashion at a university, but to get by, she has to share this warehouse with 5 others. They all learn a lot about support and friendship, and slowly she learns to let go of her insecurities and falls in love.
• I am also in I Can Quit Whenever I Want, directed by Sydney Sibilia, also a comedy, which was inspired by the economic crisis in Italy, and the rest of Europe, but we wanted to laugh about it instead of being depressing. The movie is about a researcher from a university who has been laid off, and has to find a job, but he can't because the only thing he can do is what he's always done, research! So he and some friends invent a new illegal drug, and they begin to deal it, and get very rich. It changes their lives very quickly, and that gets them into trouble, because they can't handle it, so things get out of control.
Thank you for your time, Nadir, it is very much appreciated.
• Thank you, thank you very much, bye!
images from NADIR CASELLI in her movie, UNIVERSITY: MORE THAN FRIENDS
provided courtesy of the Lavazza Italian Film Festival
THE TERROR LIVE
website
screener - kind courtesy of Icon Films
review by Julie Dargan
RATE: 8/10
This movie follows one person, Young-Hwa Yoon, for the duration of the movie. It is all centred around him. It is shot in a studio, based in Korea, and follows real time for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Looking back I was so engrossed in the movie that I felt that movie flowed like a stage play without the actors stopping for one minute.
Many themes are brought up in this movie. The main one for me involves what people will do to climb the corporate ladder. Pretending to be delivering news for the people when it is for their own cause.
I found myself many times siding with the "terrorist" when the smug politicians do not understand "the people" which did surprise me.
A fantastic movie which I think I will watch again to try and see the twists and turns ahead of time. I would rate this movie as 8/10.
website
screener - kind courtesy of Icon Films
review by Julie Dargan
RATE: 8/10
This movie follows one person, Young-Hwa Yoon, for the duration of the movie. It is all centred around him. It is shot in a studio, based in Korea, and follows real time for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Looking back I was so engrossed in the movie that I felt that movie flowed like a stage play without the actors stopping for one minute.
Many themes are brought up in this movie. The main one for me involves what people will do to climb the corporate ladder. Pretending to be delivering news for the people when it is for their own cause.
I found myself many times siding with the "terrorist" when the smug politicians do not understand "the people" which did surprise me.
A fantastic movie which I think I will watch again to try and see the twists and turns ahead of time. I would rate this movie as 8/10.
LAND OF THE BEARS
Terre des ours
website
RATE: 8/10
with all my love to the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic channel and all the movies about the nature and wild animals - this movie was a real piece of art: impeccable technically, full of extraordinary camera work and unique moments of pristine Kamchatka Peninsula life of bears: from the early spring to the late autumn. The movie is made in 3D, it will be a real treat for the whole family. It is meditative, it shows the closeness of the bears to earth, trees and water: they treat them all like their best friends, we have a lot to learn from their innocence, their ability to survive in such harsh conditions and their love to life.
absolutely beautiful almost meditative soundtrack!
Terre des ours
website
RATE: 8/10
with all my love to the Discovery Channel, the National Geographic channel and all the movies about the nature and wild animals - this movie was a real piece of art: impeccable technically, full of extraordinary camera work and unique moments of pristine Kamchatka Peninsula life of bears: from the early spring to the late autumn. The movie is made in 3D, it will be a real treat for the whole family. It is meditative, it shows the closeness of the bears to earth, trees and water: they treat them all like their best friends, we have a lot to learn from their innocence, their ability to survive in such harsh conditions and their love to life.
absolutely beautiful almost meditative soundtrack!
THE NIGHT MOVES
website
RATE: 5.5/10
the movie is slow... it is developing this way too... it is like breathing in life and breathing out death... it is a bout crime and punishment... it is about the environment and our values in life, it is about how light and positive purpose can turn into darkness and fear if you do not really understand what you are doing. you can turn into a terrorist who will be fearing for his life if your plan is to destroy not build, if your plan is short term, not long term solutions... it is a crime that while set there is no way back and for the people involved it turns not to be the saviours and fighters for the clean earth but fearful little creatures who from now on will be hiding in the dens if they are not taken by federal police or not killed by their own crime-mates. the movie can make you deaf so silent it is sometimes... the are the thoughts of the criminal - or the major character who thinks he became one. his and his "friends" actions do not attract attention of the environment defenders - on the contrary their actions make an opposite public re-action: they condemn them as the result was - one man killed after the blown up dam. but every crime is dark not because of the public punishment but because of the guilt the criminal will carry inside of him/her soul for rest of his/her life... there is more to that: one crime usually leads to another and another one - the chain will never end once started from a single wrong deed... what will remain?.. silence and emptiness...
there is one last thought: the environmental problems can not be solved by one stupid terrorist act, they can be solved by long term solutions: consumer mind changing... the less material attachments we human beings will have the less environmental disasters we will have , the better and cleaner future we will leave for our kids...
website
RATE: 5.5/10
the movie is slow... it is developing this way too... it is like breathing in life and breathing out death... it is a bout crime and punishment... it is about the environment and our values in life, it is about how light and positive purpose can turn into darkness and fear if you do not really understand what you are doing. you can turn into a terrorist who will be fearing for his life if your plan is to destroy not build, if your plan is short term, not long term solutions... it is a crime that while set there is no way back and for the people involved it turns not to be the saviours and fighters for the clean earth but fearful little creatures who from now on will be hiding in the dens if they are not taken by federal police or not killed by their own crime-mates. the movie can make you deaf so silent it is sometimes... the are the thoughts of the criminal - or the major character who thinks he became one. his and his "friends" actions do not attract attention of the environment defenders - on the contrary their actions make an opposite public re-action: they condemn them as the result was - one man killed after the blown up dam. but every crime is dark not because of the public punishment but because of the guilt the criminal will carry inside of him/her soul for rest of his/her life... there is more to that: one crime usually leads to another and another one - the chain will never end once started from a single wrong deed... what will remain?.. silence and emptiness...
there is one last thought: the environmental problems can not be solved by one stupid terrorist act, they can be solved by long term solutions: consumer mind changing... the less material attachments we human beings will have the less environmental disasters we will have , the better and cleaner future we will leave for our kids...
THE LEGEND OF BEN HALL - IN PROJECT MOVIE
director Matthew Holmes
website
website for kickstarter
an article by Rick Idak (the camera man and one of the actors)
[This is] ...the behind the scenes story of Ben Hall and how...
Hi I'm Rick Idak, regulars at The BRC may remember me as the event videographer for Natasha at her home. A couple of years ago I went freelance after 21 years of in house filming for the company I worked at "Transpacific Industries"
where there were 7200 employees. They did construction, mining, waste disposal manufacturing. You name it. So I did a lot of the inhouse training videos, safety films, catalogs, documentaries, photo shoots etc. On weekends I did live events, small independent films. Where I hired out equipment and sometimes shot them as well.
Well after 21 years and 1 month, my department was made redundant and I received a nice payment. I decided to just do a little bit of filming. (A wedding video here, a music video there. But it got busier and busier. Some of my clients were really angry if I filmed for others. So I decided this is too stressful and let most of it go.
Recently I got a urgent call from director Matthew Holmes. He was about to start filming the film Ben Hall. He needed to hire my sound equipment, generators, lights, grips, and other things like that. Sure I was about to drop it off when Matthew asked if I could stay a few days as someone pulled out at the last minute. So they needed me to run the generators and set up grip equipment etc. once under way a lot of crew got sick and so a few days turned into 7 weeks.
I thought the film was going to be a small independent film. As I knew Matthew was raising money on Kickstarter. When I arrived on set. I saw dozens of extras
dressed in period costumes of the 1860's.
There was stunt action horse riding and gunfire, recreated towns of the period
etc, etc. Matthew apparently raised a lot more money than he asked for. So the film became much bigger and ambitious.
Every day on the set there were new actors and extras dressed with period costumes. There were many horse drawn carriages. I sometimes arrived on set thinking I was in the 1860's.
I tried to find replacements for me. As I had so many little event videos to film back in Melbourne. But the producers asked me to stay as they were in a fix as
now there were investors involved as well a kickstarter pledgers. We also had a representative from New York. He was from one of the investors for the film. So we had a lot riding on this.. If we could meet deadlines, more money was available so Ben Hall was a full length feature instead of a independent short.
The position I originally had was to bring my gear and pass it on to the sound man, and apropriete crew. It turned out I was carrying heavy generators up mountains, and getting up at6am and finishing late in the evening.
I was then made still photographer as well. Then I had to shoot interviews with the cast and crew. I was also frozen in freezing weather and sunburnt horribly the next day. We shot all over western Victoria then went to Forbes NSW and other inland locations.
For those that don't know Ben Hall was a outlaw and was the biggest and best known before Ned Kelly. It is a true story as we follow his life as a farmer and cattle owner with a young wife and child. It his his journey from that and how he became an outlaw.
After working and aching and swearing not to ever do this again. I find out that the production is going straight into a horror film "Territorial" which will be produced by the producer of Wolf Creek 1 and 2. Peter Jackson is building the monsters and doing effects with his company Weta Workshop. Then they plan to do a science fiction film.
Ahhh give me a small independent film shot in Melbourne anyday. Just too old for this now. I so want to retire...
director Matthew Holmes
website
website for kickstarter
an article by Rick Idak (the camera man and one of the actors)
[This is] ...the behind the scenes story of Ben Hall and how...
Hi I'm Rick Idak, regulars at The BRC may remember me as the event videographer for Natasha at her home. A couple of years ago I went freelance after 21 years of in house filming for the company I worked at "Transpacific Industries"
where there were 7200 employees. They did construction, mining, waste disposal manufacturing. You name it. So I did a lot of the inhouse training videos, safety films, catalogs, documentaries, photo shoots etc. On weekends I did live events, small independent films. Where I hired out equipment and sometimes shot them as well.
Well after 21 years and 1 month, my department was made redundant and I received a nice payment. I decided to just do a little bit of filming. (A wedding video here, a music video there. But it got busier and busier. Some of my clients were really angry if I filmed for others. So I decided this is too stressful and let most of it go.
Recently I got a urgent call from director Matthew Holmes. He was about to start filming the film Ben Hall. He needed to hire my sound equipment, generators, lights, grips, and other things like that. Sure I was about to drop it off when Matthew asked if I could stay a few days as someone pulled out at the last minute. So they needed me to run the generators and set up grip equipment etc. once under way a lot of crew got sick and so a few days turned into 7 weeks.
I thought the film was going to be a small independent film. As I knew Matthew was raising money on Kickstarter. When I arrived on set. I saw dozens of extras
dressed in period costumes of the 1860's.
There was stunt action horse riding and gunfire, recreated towns of the period
etc, etc. Matthew apparently raised a lot more money than he asked for. So the film became much bigger and ambitious.
Every day on the set there were new actors and extras dressed with period costumes. There were many horse drawn carriages. I sometimes arrived on set thinking I was in the 1860's.
I tried to find replacements for me. As I had so many little event videos to film back in Melbourne. But the producers asked me to stay as they were in a fix as
now there were investors involved as well a kickstarter pledgers. We also had a representative from New York. He was from one of the investors for the film. So we had a lot riding on this.. If we could meet deadlines, more money was available so Ben Hall was a full length feature instead of a independent short.
The position I originally had was to bring my gear and pass it on to the sound man, and apropriete crew. It turned out I was carrying heavy generators up mountains, and getting up at6am and finishing late in the evening.
I was then made still photographer as well. Then I had to shoot interviews with the cast and crew. I was also frozen in freezing weather and sunburnt horribly the next day. We shot all over western Victoria then went to Forbes NSW and other inland locations.
For those that don't know Ben Hall was a outlaw and was the biggest and best known before Ned Kelly. It is a true story as we follow his life as a farmer and cattle owner with a young wife and child. It his his journey from that and how he became an outlaw.
After working and aching and swearing not to ever do this again. I find out that the production is going straight into a horror film "Territorial" which will be produced by the producer of Wolf Creek 1 and 2. Peter Jackson is building the monsters and doing effects with his company Weta Workshop. Then they plan to do a science fiction film.
Ahhh give me a small independent film shot in Melbourne anyday. Just too old for this now. I so want to retire...
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MARINA - LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL OPEN NIGHT SELECTION 2014
website
RATE: 9/10
review by Carmen Martin Issifu
Based in Belgium where migrants fuel the economy of a coal mining town you'll find the Granata family.
A bold move by the head of the household Salvatore finds the young Calabrian family migrating to a foreign country divided by nationality and class. The search for greener pastures to fulfill their dreams soon turns for the worst as the Granata family find themselves struggling between love, passion, money and laws that were made to be followed.
This storyline will keep you wanting more as it takes you on a intriguing journey through the eyes of Salvatore's son a passionate young man named Rocco that believes he is worthy of being treated equal.
To his fathers dismay Rocco finds a way to express himself and re-gain a sense of freedom from his routine life through his passion for music.
Soon the lines that divide the lower and higher classes become blurred and the hope of dreams coming true are once again restored. In this drama filled movie you will be reminded that following your passion can lead to greatness.
website
RATE: 9/10
review by Carmen Martin Issifu
Based in Belgium where migrants fuel the economy of a coal mining town you'll find the Granata family.
A bold move by the head of the household Salvatore finds the young Calabrian family migrating to a foreign country divided by nationality and class. The search for greener pastures to fulfill their dreams soon turns for the worst as the Granata family find themselves struggling between love, passion, money and laws that were made to be followed.
This storyline will keep you wanting more as it takes you on a intriguing journey through the eyes of Salvatore's son a passionate young man named Rocco that believes he is worthy of being treated equal.
To his fathers dismay Rocco finds a way to express himself and re-gain a sense of freedom from his routine life through his passion for music.
Soon the lines that divide the lower and higher classes become blurred and the hope of dreams coming true are once again restored. In this drama filled movie you will be reminded that following your passion can lead to greatness.
THE LITTLE DEATH
VOTED THE BEST MOVIE OF THE MONTH
movie preview - kind courtesy of eOne
website
RATE: 10/10
Josh Lawson - thumbs up!
The movie reminded me The Manual Of Love from Italian Film Festival a couple of years ago - sensational and unique Australian version full of good humor, frankly told stories put up together by a master hand (mind?) into a beautiful lace of somehow connected events, a bit twisted and a bit unexpected! Can't think of people who would not love it!.. So let's bring up some philosophy first...
Is there a connection between a broken back door lock and a broken nose? ...a loud love making and a quiet love making? the tears you enjoy in your partner's eyes and your tears in your eyes? ...between you acting a doctor and being a doctor of your own relationship? ...may be interpreting for a deaf person a sex phone conversation and falling in love with this same person? each of five small stories slowly unfolding in front of our eyes has got its own complication and the moments where you can not hold your loud laughter... they are stories about sexual life of five couples who may be do not know each other but they live in the same neighborhood... their fetish stories are so different but they are all strangely connected ... oh, not this... yes, connected by a total stranger, actually an ex-sexual assault convict who was just released from jail... the sexual fetishes of these five couples are extraordinary - I never heard about some of them, the director looks at each couples from different angles: when such strange fetish stories can turn into life threatening situations , into a total danger and when they are hilariously comical ? the girl who wants to be raped by a stranger could actually accidentally kill her husband, the husband who was looking for something new and fresh in his sexual life can miss some important moment of truth because he is too involved into being "someone else" - he believes now he is a great actor! his wife from the other side can not understand and does not want to understand him... or take this: some sexual fetishes may be could not be revealed to your partner at all - you better walk away, die, admit something you have never done rather than say to her what your fantasy is... there is a bit of tragedy - yes, but somehow death comes when there is no way.to forgiveness, so the plot develops so harmonically logical... no more words and no more philosophy! just - WATCH IT!
to add to this review: the movie soundtrack is fantastic.
I firmly believe this movie is one more candidate on the best movie of the month... I have not laughed like this fr the last couple of years... first time also I saw Alex laughing at the movies!!!
Josh Lawson - thumbs up, genius with your little death!
La petite mort, French for "the little death", is an idiom and euphemism for orgasm
VOTED THE BEST MOVIE OF THE MONTH
movie preview - kind courtesy of eOne
website
RATE: 10/10
Josh Lawson - thumbs up!
The movie reminded me The Manual Of Love from Italian Film Festival a couple of years ago - sensational and unique Australian version full of good humor, frankly told stories put up together by a master hand (mind?) into a beautiful lace of somehow connected events, a bit twisted and a bit unexpected! Can't think of people who would not love it!.. So let's bring up some philosophy first...
Is there a connection between a broken back door lock and a broken nose? ...a loud love making and a quiet love making? the tears you enjoy in your partner's eyes and your tears in your eyes? ...between you acting a doctor and being a doctor of your own relationship? ...may be interpreting for a deaf person a sex phone conversation and falling in love with this same person? each of five small stories slowly unfolding in front of our eyes has got its own complication and the moments where you can not hold your loud laughter... they are stories about sexual life of five couples who may be do not know each other but they live in the same neighborhood... their fetish stories are so different but they are all strangely connected ... oh, not this... yes, connected by a total stranger, actually an ex-sexual assault convict who was just released from jail... the sexual fetishes of these five couples are extraordinary - I never heard about some of them, the director looks at each couples from different angles: when such strange fetish stories can turn into life threatening situations , into a total danger and when they are hilariously comical ? the girl who wants to be raped by a stranger could actually accidentally kill her husband, the husband who was looking for something new and fresh in his sexual life can miss some important moment of truth because he is too involved into being "someone else" - he believes now he is a great actor! his wife from the other side can not understand and does not want to understand him... or take this: some sexual fetishes may be could not be revealed to your partner at all - you better walk away, die, admit something you have never done rather than say to her what your fantasy is... there is a bit of tragedy - yes, but somehow death comes when there is no way.to forgiveness, so the plot develops so harmonically logical... no more words and no more philosophy! just - WATCH IT!
to add to this review: the movie soundtrack is fantastic.
I firmly believe this movie is one more candidate on the best movie of the month... I have not laughed like this fr the last couple of years... first time also I saw Alex laughing at the movies!!!
Josh Lawson - thumbs up, genius with your little death!
La petite mort, French for "the little death", is an idiom and euphemism for orgasm
SACRO GRA - LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014
website
RATE: 6/10
review by Julie Dargan
This movie is a documentary focusing on the various people living around Rome’s ring road (the Grande Raccordo Anulare). The director of the movie actually lived in a minivan for 2 years on the giant 70km ring road in order to capture the wonderful diversity and unseen world most people think of when they think of Rome.
The people in the film are every day people and they behave in the movie as if no camera is there. I wondered if the camera was on for many hours at a time and the people forgot it was there allowing us to see their lives authentically.
I loved the slow pace of the movie. I have never seen Big Brother but I assume it would be like that except the people did not care for how they came across. We really had a glimpse into their everyday lives including the small living spaces they had to live in to the life of an ambulance paramedic actually following their call outs.
As with all the Italian films I watched, it is a delight to escape the over the top Hollywood style movies and actually just sit back and let the scene shots move slowly, and let you absorb what is going on.
I would rate this movie a 6/10
website
RATE: 6/10
review by Julie Dargan
This movie is a documentary focusing on the various people living around Rome’s ring road (the Grande Raccordo Anulare). The director of the movie actually lived in a minivan for 2 years on the giant 70km ring road in order to capture the wonderful diversity and unseen world most people think of when they think of Rome.
The people in the film are every day people and they behave in the movie as if no camera is there. I wondered if the camera was on for many hours at a time and the people forgot it was there allowing us to see their lives authentically.
I loved the slow pace of the movie. I have never seen Big Brother but I assume it would be like that except the people did not care for how they came across. We really had a glimpse into their everyday lives including the small living spaces they had to live in to the life of an ambulance paramedic actually following their call outs.
As with all the Italian films I watched, it is a delight to escape the over the top Hollywood style movies and actually just sit back and let the scene shots move slowly, and let you absorb what is going on.
I would rate this movie a 6/10
STAY AWAY FROM ME - LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014
website
RATE: 8.5/10
review by Sahara Follan
Stay away from Me is a laugh a minute, so if you need a giggle, sit down and enjoy this. Jacapo knew from a young age he had a knack to figuring out relationships and became a marriage counselor. Through his own trials and trivialities in dating disasters decides to stay single until he met Sara. An hysterical journey of car doors being knocked off by buses, walking into doors, being stuck in lift and dvd mix up's at the Vatican this movie will keep you entertained from start to finish. A catalyst of events that can befall anyone, any couple anywhere especially if your jinxed like Jacapo was from a fateful curse he was given when he was a child from a misunderstanding, this sure is a rollercoaster of fun.
website
RATE: 8.5/10
review by Sahara Follan
Stay away from Me is a laugh a minute, so if you need a giggle, sit down and enjoy this. Jacapo knew from a young age he had a knack to figuring out relationships and became a marriage counselor. Through his own trials and trivialities in dating disasters decides to stay single until he met Sara. An hysterical journey of car doors being knocked off by buses, walking into doors, being stuck in lift and dvd mix up's at the Vatican this movie will keep you entertained from start to finish. A catalyst of events that can befall anyone, any couple anywhere especially if your jinxed like Jacapo was from a fateful curse he was given when he was a child from a misunderstanding, this sure is a rollercoaster of fun.
SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR
media preview: Icon Film Distribution
RATE: N/A
if you like rivers of blood, killing, broken bones, lots of fighting, computer games, cartoons, women that look like sluts, violence and naked bodies than you will find this movie to be a perfect paradise for you. The graphics is sensational in this movie-computer game, the plot is close to zero, but more like primitive. It is a typical commercial movie that I would not recommend the teenagers to watch - it is a psyche breaking and damaging. We could not rate it to be honest as this is just not our cup of tea... I am still feeling dizzy just thinking about this movie... But I am pretty sure that the movie will be very appealing for some grown up men.
media preview: Icon Film Distribution
RATE: N/A
if you like rivers of blood, killing, broken bones, lots of fighting, computer games, cartoons, women that look like sluts, violence and naked bodies than you will find this movie to be a perfect paradise for you. The graphics is sensational in this movie-computer game, the plot is close to zero, but more like primitive. It is a typical commercial movie that I would not recommend the teenagers to watch - it is a psyche breaking and damaging. We could not rate it to be honest as this is just not our cup of tea... I am still feeling dizzy just thinking about this movie... But I am pretty sure that the movie will be very appealing for some grown up men.
SOUTH IS NOTHING - LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014
website
RATE: 6/10
review by Chandra Madanagopal
Fabio Mollo’s “South Is Nothing” is a story about a coming of age girl Grazia, brought up by a single father, Christiano in a small Italian fishing village with an on and off help from her grand mother. This slow moving story revolves around the teenage girl, whose looks could deceive almost anyone whether she is a boy or a girl.
Fabio has used the 90 minutes of the running time very well by showing the strong emotions of both Grazia and Christiano. The urge of Grazia in knowing what happened to her missing brother disturbs the relationship of every single character involved in the story. A strange vision of her brother in the midst of her little nap on her family boat pushes her even further to search for her brother. This leads her in developing a love hate relationship with a fellow youngster who helps his dad in his business. The rest of the story is knit upon how Grazia intimidates her father to reveal the secret of her missing brother.
The build up of the music helps the story move along quite well. It would have been better if the back-story had been told clearly. Sometimes it is very confusing for the viewer to actually decide whether the brother is actually alive or dead. South Is Nothing is a brave attempt.
website
RATE: 6/10
review by Chandra Madanagopal
Fabio Mollo’s “South Is Nothing” is a story about a coming of age girl Grazia, brought up by a single father, Christiano in a small Italian fishing village with an on and off help from her grand mother. This slow moving story revolves around the teenage girl, whose looks could deceive almost anyone whether she is a boy or a girl.
Fabio has used the 90 minutes of the running time very well by showing the strong emotions of both Grazia and Christiano. The urge of Grazia in knowing what happened to her missing brother disturbs the relationship of every single character involved in the story. A strange vision of her brother in the midst of her little nap on her family boat pushes her even further to search for her brother. This leads her in developing a love hate relationship with a fellow youngster who helps his dad in his business. The rest of the story is knit upon how Grazia intimidates her father to reveal the secret of her missing brother.
The build up of the music helps the story move along quite well. It would have been better if the back-story had been told clearly. Sometimes it is very confusing for the viewer to actually decide whether the brother is actually alive or dead. South Is Nothing is a brave attempt.
DARKER THAN MIDNIGHT - LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014
website
RATE: 8/10
review by Carmen Martin Issifu
This movie based in Sicily with it's amazing park lands and gorgeous historic buildings portrays the life of Davide.
A 14yo feminine young man with gorgeous red hair coming to terms with his sexuality and having to deal with his ignorant and traditional father.
Davide sets on a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows once he starts exploring the real world where he meets others going through the same emotional roller coaster of being unnacepted and disowned by their families.
He coincidently comes accross the flamboyant Rattore and his posse, they take him in and show him the ropes of the streets.
They teach him the bare essentials of what he needs to survive outthere, Davide soon comes to realise it's not all sunshine and smiles.
Get ready for a turbulent movie which is filled with many unfortunate truths that happen in the lifes of many.
website
RATE: 8/10
review by Carmen Martin Issifu
This movie based in Sicily with it's amazing park lands and gorgeous historic buildings portrays the life of Davide.
A 14yo feminine young man with gorgeous red hair coming to terms with his sexuality and having to deal with his ignorant and traditional father.
Davide sets on a roller coaster of emotional highs and lows once he starts exploring the real world where he meets others going through the same emotional roller coaster of being unnacepted and disowned by their families.
He coincidently comes accross the flamboyant Rattore and his posse, they take him in and show him the ropes of the streets.
They teach him the bare essentials of what he needs to survive outthere, Davide soon comes to realise it's not all sunshine and smiles.
Get ready for a turbulent movie which is filled with many unfortunate truths that happen in the lifes of many.
QUIET BLISS - LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014
RATE: 9/10
website
review by Julie Dargan
I watched the movie Quiet Bliss last night. At first I was little worried when I saw the movie went for over 2 hours but I must say it was a wonderful 2 hours. The movie follows the lives of four women from the same family, three generations apart. It is a movie that shows the different ways people react to the challenges in life. On reflection I found it interesting in the portrayal of one of the main characters was that no matter how much we try to create a better life for our children, how we behave makes them make the same mistakes we did. Lucia is trying to create a better life for her family when the family business falls apart. She is a hard lady and every now and again you see a fondness but this is one tough lady who will not allow any happiness in her life. I found the story line just beautiful, the scenery astounding yet simple. Makes you just want to shake the younger ladies in the movie to enjoy the beautiful surroundings they are living in, but then I am a country person myself. A city person may find the movie a little different, but will certainly make them feel like taking time out in the country after watching this film.
I would rate it a 9/10
RATE: 9/10
website
review by Julie Dargan
I watched the movie Quiet Bliss last night. At first I was little worried when I saw the movie went for over 2 hours but I must say it was a wonderful 2 hours. The movie follows the lives of four women from the same family, three generations apart. It is a movie that shows the different ways people react to the challenges in life. On reflection I found it interesting in the portrayal of one of the main characters was that no matter how much we try to create a better life for our children, how we behave makes them make the same mistakes we did. Lucia is trying to create a better life for her family when the family business falls apart. She is a hard lady and every now and again you see a fondness but this is one tough lady who will not allow any happiness in her life. I found the story line just beautiful, the scenery astounding yet simple. Makes you just want to shake the younger ladies in the movie to enjoy the beautiful surroundings they are living in, but then I am a country person myself. A city person may find the movie a little different, but will certainly make them feel like taking time out in the country after watching this film.
I would rate it a 9/10
THOSE HAPPY YEARS - LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014
RATE: 8/10
website
review by Rachel Sandey
The director, Danialle Luchetti is painting a picture of life in Italy of 70-s, the years he doesn't hide his nostalgia for. The story is narrated by a boy, the son of the artist,Guido, who is battling to make himself a name in the modern art of that time. He works long hours in his studio, but he is not trying very hard to resist his young, beautiful, nude models. His wife, Serena, the mother of two sons, (played by a ravishing actress Micaela Ramezzotti) is a strikingly attractive woman, who, naturally, is hurt by his continuous infidelity. Guido got invited to participate in a big and important show in Milan, where his exhibition proves to be unsuccessful, wounding badly his artistic pride.
Guido's agent, a feminist, gives Serena an advice to disappear for some time, take a holiday and join her on the trip to France, which she decides to accept, going there with her sons. Her absence forcing Guido to face the truth and re-valuate his priority in life, love and art.
An excellent performance of main characters conveys sincere emotions and warms our hearts.
I am giving it 8/10
RATE: 8/10
website
review by Rachel Sandey
The director, Danialle Luchetti is painting a picture of life in Italy of 70-s, the years he doesn't hide his nostalgia for. The story is narrated by a boy, the son of the artist,Guido, who is battling to make himself a name in the modern art of that time. He works long hours in his studio, but he is not trying very hard to resist his young, beautiful, nude models. His wife, Serena, the mother of two sons, (played by a ravishing actress Micaela Ramezzotti) is a strikingly attractive woman, who, naturally, is hurt by his continuous infidelity. Guido got invited to participate in a big and important show in Milan, where his exhibition proves to be unsuccessful, wounding badly his artistic pride.
Guido's agent, a feminist, gives Serena an advice to disappear for some time, take a holiday and join her on the trip to France, which she decides to accept, going there with her sons. Her absence forcing Guido to face the truth and re-valuate his priority in life, love and art.
An excellent performance of main characters conveys sincere emotions and warms our hearts.
I am giving it 8/10
ANZAC GIRLS
RATE: 8/10
website
review by Elizabeth Bossong, artists
DVDs are kind courtesy of Roadshow Entertainment (Home/TV) Release date: September 17, 2014
Aussie nurses in the first world war have not had a big share in war movies and period pieces, so it’s interesting to see this drama based around the ANZAC nurses. It’s based on the diaries of women who served at the time and as such has a charming authenticity.
As a lover of Downton Abbey I was thrilled to find another series that was full of historical facts and points of interest, as well as plenty of ‘will they get together’ suspense and romance.
The exploration of WW1 through the eyes of these fresh faced girls is riveting as they deal with the stress and speed of trying to keep up with the battle wounded and deal with the politics of Doctors and Matrons.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
RATE: 8/10
website
review by Elizabeth Bossong, artists
DVDs are kind courtesy of Roadshow Entertainment (Home/TV) Release date: September 17, 2014
Aussie nurses in the first world war have not had a big share in war movies and period pieces, so it’s interesting to see this drama based around the ANZAC nurses. It’s based on the diaries of women who served at the time and as such has a charming authenticity.
As a lover of Downton Abbey I was thrilled to find another series that was full of historical facts and points of interest, as well as plenty of ‘will they get together’ suspense and romance.
The exploration of WW1 through the eyes of these fresh faced girls is riveting as they deal with the stress and speed of trying to keep up with the battle wounded and deal with the politics of Doctors and Matrons.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
THE MAFIA KILLS ONLY IN SUMMER - LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014
RATE: 8/10
website
review by Julie Dargan / Juice Master Australia
This movie was a delight to watch. It was a very witty movie and had me engaged throughout the whole movie. It takes a, what appeared to be a tongue in cheek, look at the Mafia in Sicily. Many people deny the existence of the mafia which is laughable in its own right. This movie honours the wonderful people who have dedicated their lives to try and release the strong hold the mafia.
It is not until the end that we realise that the movie is in fact based on actual people.
This movie helps in gaining awareness of the destroying effects the mafia plays on many innocent people in Sicily.
I would rate this movie 8/10
RATE: 8/10
website
review by Julie Dargan / Juice Master Australia
This movie was a delight to watch. It was a very witty movie and had me engaged throughout the whole movie. It takes a, what appeared to be a tongue in cheek, look at the Mafia in Sicily. Many people deny the existence of the mafia which is laughable in its own right. This movie honours the wonderful people who have dedicated their lives to try and release the strong hold the mafia.
It is not until the end that we realise that the movie is in fact based on actual people.
This movie helps in gaining awareness of the destroying effects the mafia plays on many innocent people in Sicily.
I would rate this movie 8/10
LAVAZZA ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014
media opening launch
website
Lavazza Italian Film Festival 2014 http://www.italianfilmfestival.com.au/ media opening night at Enoteca Sileno Lygon Street Carltonhttps://www.enoteca.com.au/ tonight was an absolute delight... chocolate block full house - I have never seen anything like this at any Melbourne Festival! - so many people turned up to support this year's festival launch - better than ever with very selective drinks from Enoteca's finest drinks, mouthwatering snacks and hot food including wood fire pizzas... so well organised by the Palace Cinemas Melbourneand PR and marketing team - it was really marvelous also to watch some highlights from this year's program and movie selection: from drama to the best Italian comedies - they covered it all! More to that - you also had an opportunity to buy some delicious products from the Enoteca shop including their amazing cook books every master chef could be envy of... one short word overall: IM-PRESS-IVE! The festival kicks off with an Opening Night Gala featuring Marina movie - tickets were all sold out in Sydney and Melbourne ( Palace Cinema Como) in one week!!! http://www.italianfilmfestival.com.au/films/marina YOu should hurry up booking your tickets as everyone is so excited to see EVERYTHING - the movies are all very very good this year! We will be publishing more reviews (Marina movie will be included too and we will be raffling festival ticket upon receiving them in mail shortly)... Very grateful to everyone involved in organising this event with so much taste, promoting Italian culture with such attention to details! I am publishing this night's photos... and the festival trailer soon to come...
media opening launch
website
Lavazza Italian Film Festival 2014 http://www.italianfilmfestival.com.au/ media opening night at Enoteca Sileno Lygon Street Carltonhttps://www.enoteca.com.au/ tonight was an absolute delight... chocolate block full house - I have never seen anything like this at any Melbourne Festival! - so many people turned up to support this year's festival launch - better than ever with very selective drinks from Enoteca's finest drinks, mouthwatering snacks and hot food including wood fire pizzas... so well organised by the Palace Cinemas Melbourneand PR and marketing team - it was really marvelous also to watch some highlights from this year's program and movie selection: from drama to the best Italian comedies - they covered it all! More to that - you also had an opportunity to buy some delicious products from the Enoteca shop including their amazing cook books every master chef could be envy of... one short word overall: IM-PRESS-IVE! The festival kicks off with an Opening Night Gala featuring Marina movie - tickets were all sold out in Sydney and Melbourne ( Palace Cinema Como) in one week!!! http://www.italianfilmfestival.com.au/films/marina YOu should hurry up booking your tickets as everyone is so excited to see EVERYTHING - the movies are all very very good this year! We will be publishing more reviews (Marina movie will be included too and we will be raffling festival ticket upon receiving them in mail shortly)... Very grateful to everyone involved in organising this event with so much taste, promoting Italian culture with such attention to details! I am publishing this night's photos... and the festival trailer soon to come...
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