M, 79 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury It may not be the right year, or the real chef, or the exact historical moment when public dining rooms opened in France, but do we really mind? When this delectable gastronomy comedy gets so much right, going along with the confected notion that underpins… Continue reading Delicious
Category: Film Reviews
The Worst Person in the World
MA15+, 128 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury The worst person in the world is not as bad as it sounds, just a gently ironic and self-deprecating reference to an expression apparently common in Scandinavia for admitting you could ‘do better’. Joachim Trier, the filmmaker who has made this… Continue reading The Worst Person in the World
The Hand of God
MA 15+, 130 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury How absurd life looks through the eyes of an adolescent. Weird, grotesque, enticing, deadly. If only that first step was a little easier to take. Now soccer, on the other hand, when the ball is played by the masters, has the grace and… Continue reading The Hand of God
Best films of 2021: the year in review
By © Jane Freebury It has been as good a year as any on screen during 2021, and there’s more to come. For the short term, at least. While cinemas were closed it meant blockbusters like No Time To Die and Black Widow were delayed until they could make a splash, and it left… Continue reading Best films of 2021: the year in review
The French Dispatch
M, 108 minutes 4 stars Review by © Jane Freebury If watching The French Dispatch feels like thumbing through an old-style print magazine at leisure, getting hooked on an arcane subject that a writer is passionate about, then it certainly also looks the part. It’s a film inspired by a… Continue reading The French Dispatch
The Card Counter
MA 15+, 116 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury A mind like a steel trap has its up and downside. Ever since he served an eight-and-a-half-year term in military prison, William Tell/Tillich, played by Oscar Isaac, has been working hard at obliterating his past with nights spent at the casino. Although… Continue reading The Card Counter
Eric Clapton – Lockdown Sessions
No rating, 89 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury It was never meant to be the way it turned out. Eric Clapton and a combo of some of his closest musical collaborators were due to perform live at the Royal Albert Hall in front of thousands of fans earlier this year, but the… Continue reading Eric Clapton – Lockdown Sessions
Titane
R 18+, 108 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury So, the jury at Cannes has given the Palme d’Or to a film directed by a woman. It’s the second time this has happened and for the first time the prize is not shared by two films. The award for Titane is a great… Continue reading Titane
Stray
M, 71 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury It’s a doggie world in Stray. A singular doco about the dogs that live on the streets of the great city of Istanbul, where, far from being feared or avoided, they are patted, fed and even cared for. It’s not every day that a… Continue reading Stray
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
R 18+, 106 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury After whips, masks and explicit sex open the show, this argumentative, chaotic film from Romania sets off in various more unexpected directions. It is actually a social protest film, and it won the prize for best film at the Berlin film festival… Continue reading Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
The Rescue
M, 107 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury When the junior soccer team and coach who went missing inside a vast underground cave system in Thailand in 2018 were discovered, it was said that finding them had been the easy part. Getting them back to the surface alive was so difficult… Continue reading The Rescue
The Power of the Dog
M, 127 minutes 5 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Sensuality laced with violence often features in the films of writer-director Jane Campion whose remarkable career, with its surprisingly modest output, saw her the first female director to win a Palme d’Or at Cannes. There have been numerous awards and accolades but that… Continue reading The Power of the Dog
Passing
PG, 98 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Two women with completely different approaches to life, meet by chance one sweltering day in a leafy, airy, gracefully furnished hotel tearoom in Manhattan. Once childhood friends, they have not seen each other for many years until… Continue reading Passing
The Last Duel
MA 15+, 153 minutes 4 Stars Powerful and immersive, despite making a shift away from the usual driven narrative style and embarking into 14th century gender politics Review by © Jane Freebury Instead of a story arc that develops through the traditional three stages, The Last Duel is told from three different angles, leading… Continue reading The Last Duel
The Green Knight
MA 15+, 130 minutes 3 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury With or without a head on his shoulders, the Green Knight who disrupts a feast at King Arthur’s court is an enigmatic character of English myth and legend. What did he want? What did he mean in the great scheme of things? And… Continue reading The Green Knight
Nitram
MA 15+, 112 minutes Three stars Review by © Jane Freebury Among the lists recommending the best of this or that out on the net, there are sites listing feature movies about mass murder. It comes as a bit of a shock to realise when researching Nitram, a film about Australia’s most notorious mass… Continue reading Nitram
A Fire Inside
M, 92 minutes Four Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Volunteering in this country is strong. We saw how it boosted the Sydney Olympics. Then two decades later the Australian volunteering public was called on to do more, and then some, during the incredibly testing conditions of the Black… Continue reading A Fire Inside
Lamb
MA 15+, 106 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury Without a lot to go on, little things loom large in this intriguing new feature from Iceland. The land of fire and ice is a powerful presence as both location and ultimately, a walk-on character. It is set… Continue reading Lamb
Count Me In
M, 82 minutes 4 Stars Review by © Jane Freebury As a doco about the overlooked, drummers who were integral to the success of famous rock bands but weren’t celebrated, Count Me In has its work cut out. Not only is there a lot of territory to cover, there is no shortage of people who… Continue reading Count Me In
Diana the Musical
M, 118 minutes 1 Star Review by © Jane Freebury It’s easy to imagine Diana Spencer would have loved the idea of her life turned into a musical, if she could have had a different leading man. She loved to dance, maybe not waltzing around the floor with Charles, but with professional dancers… Continue reading Diana the Musical