Melbourne

Despite how much social media is seemingly at the center of our lives, there are still only precious few good movies about the subject. What is it that makes it so hard to capture? Is…

It was November of 1970. Dennis Hopper, hot off the success of his counterculture masterpiece Easy Rider and deep into post-production of his second feature, The Last Movie travels from Taos, New Mexico to Los Angeles…

To say that a two-and-a-half-hour-long film is on the shorter side of a director’s filmography may sound like a deeply confused claim, but for Filipino auteur Lav Diaz — whose works are less like films…

Few snippets of on-screen text in modern foreign cinema have been as intriguing as the opening blurb of Tsai Ming-liang’s latest film, Days — “This film is intentionally unsubtitled.” — not just because it points to a…

Take one look at, say, Netflix’s vast documentary catalog, and you’ll instantly realize that the true-crime documentary genre has found itself in a state of oversaturation. From the litany of same-ish docs on streaming services…

Eccentricity and innovation have always been defining features of any given artist — even more so for documentaries that specifically go out of their way to train a lens on them. Whether it be the…

Cambodian-Australian, Allison Chhorn is an artist of many talents. A skilled photographer, painter, composer, and filmmaker, Chhorn is a bold and intriguing new voice in Australia’s artistic landscape. Her latest experimental cinematic effort, The Plastic…

The Killing of Two Lovers begins with an unbelievably harrowing moment, showing a painful closeup of David’s (Clayne Crawford) face as he stands over the bed with a cocked gun, pointing it at his wife…

There’s something about micro-budget, social realist, mumblecore adjacent independent films with an emphasis on naturalism and a kind empathy for deeply flawed and troubled characters that feels so invigorating. Canadian director, Kazik Radwanski’s deeply uncomfortable…

Check out the rest of our coverage of the 2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival: Read Part 1 here. Read Part 2 here. Read Part 3 here. Paradise Without People Even though the Syrian refugee crisis…

Check out the rest of our coverage of the 2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival: Read Part 1 here. Read Part 2 here. The Walrus and the Whistleblower CW: Mentions of animal abuse Nathalie Bibeau’s portrait…

Read part 1 of our 2020 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival coverage here. The Wheels of Wonder Play is a very important aspect of every child’s development. It gets them moving, stimulates their imagination, and helps…

Click here to read Part 1. MIFF 2019 keeps on going, and so do the mini reviews. Let’s dive right in! Sorry We Missed You At the sprightly age of 83, two-time Palme d’Or winner…

The Melbourne International Film Festival is just over 2 weeks away. Celebrating it’s 68th year, the program for MIFF 2019 was unveiled last week, announcing the largest line-up in the festival’s history. Over a massive…

In its 29th year, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival has become an institution as the largest queer film festival in the Southern Hemisphere. The festival continues to grow with over 120 features and shorts, panels,…

MIFF may now seem like a long time ago, but hey, I’m still writing mini-reviews for the films I saw at the festival! This is Part 3 — if you have yet to check out…

The 67th annual Melbourne International Film Festival is well and truly underway.  With 374 films from 80 countries screening over 18 days, this year’s festival is huge. And I’m privileged to be covering the festival…