

WENT UP THE HILL
TWO STARS When Elizabeth dies, both her wife and son are visited by her ghost. She's not in a good mood. DRAMA NZ English #WENTUPTHEHILL Starring Vicky Krieps, Dacre Montgomery WENT UP THE HILL opens when Jack meets Jill (yeah) at a funeral for a woman who isn’t ready to leave. Samuel Van Grinsven’s feature, starring Vicky Krieps (CORSAGE) and Dacre Montgomery ( Stranger Things) , wants to be a ghost story, a trauma drama, and a psychosexual provocation. What it mostly is, h
Colin Fraser
Sep 10


SORRY, BABY
THREE STARS Following an incident, Agnes is struggling to let go and reconnect with her life. DRAMA USA English #SORRYBABY Starring Eva Victor, Naomi Ackie At their best, movies can give voice to feelings we can’t quite put into words. That’s the territory writer/director Eva Victor aims for in her debut SORRY, BABY - a tender, messy and droll exploration of personal trauma. Victor also takes acting duty as Agnes, a late-twenties academic who’s stayed put in the sleepy colle
Colin Fraser
Sep 4


BUT ALSO JOHN CLARKE
THREE AND A HALF STARS A warm, witty tribute to one of the Antipode's warmest and wittiest satirists, John Clarke. DOCUMENTARY AUSTRALIA English #BUTALSOJOHNCLARKE Starring John Clarke, Sam Neill There’s a moment in BUT ALSO JOHN CLARKE when Clarke pauses mid-sentence, eyes twinkling, as if he’s found a thought too good to rush. It’s a reminder of why he was so loved – the sharp mind, the deliberate pace, and the effortless knack for exposing absurdity without ever raising h
Colin Fraser
Sep 4


THE ROSES
ONE AND A HALF STARS A warring couple fail at therapy, at marriage and are struggling to stay alive. COMEDY USA English #THEROSES Starring Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch The movie treads a dangerous line. There are times when its ferocity threatens to break through the boundaries of comedy to become so unremitting we find we cannot laugh”. That was the late Roger Ebert talking about Danny DeVito’s THE WAR OF THE ROSES (1989). What would he make of Jay Roach’s remake as
Colin Fraser
Sep 3


THE THREAD
THREE AND A HALF STARS A defence lawyer is convinced his client is innocent. And he might be right. DRAMA FRANCE French #THETHREAD Starring Daniel Auteuil, Grégory Gadebois THE THREAD takes the true crime formula and turns the volume way down. This isn’t a lurid, procedural bloodbath. Instead the violence of murder stays implied and, apart from one photo, offscreen with director-star Daniel Auteuil guiding the pace like a Sunday afternoon stroll. The title could refer to the
Colin Fraser
Aug 28


MR BURTON
THREE AND A HALF STARS Thanks largely to PH Burton, Richard Jenkins would become one of the 20th century's most celebrated actors. PERIOD DRAMA UK English #MRBURTON Starring Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey Richard Burton’s career is as well documented as his marriages but less well known is the boy behind the man behind the legend. Marc Evans’ MR BURTON takes us back to the beginning, to Port Talbot in the 1940s, when the Welsh miner’s son was still Richard Jenkins. This is no stra
Colin Fraser
Aug 14


THE STOLEN PAINTING
THREE AND A HALF STARS A valuable painting, long thought lost to history, is found hanging on the wall of a young man who wants nothing to do with it. DRAMA FRANCE French #THESTOLENPAINTING Starring Alex Lutz, Léa Drucker THE STOLEN PAINTING plays out like a smartly cut thriller, but what really lingers isn’t the mystery — it’s the slow, satisfying excavation of character. Beneath its Parisian gloss, this is a study in how money can corrode almost anything it touches, even t
Colin Fraser
Jul 31


FOUR LETTERS OF LOVE
THREE STARS A man quits his job and head to the coast to paint. Divine intervention has set off an unlikely chain of events. PERIOD DRAMA IRELAND English #FOURLETTERSOFLOVE Starring Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham-Carter In some ways FOUR LETTERS OF LOVE aspires to be an Irish Wuthering Heights , all billowing romance of chaste emotion but with a healthy dose of a new dawn. And it could be were it braver in its choices, stronger in its conviction and served with a lot less sy
Colin Fraser
Jul 24


EL47
THREE AND A HALF STARS City officials said a bus could never reach a neighbourhood behind Barcelona. Manolo said otherwise. DRAMA SPAIN...
Colin Fraser
Jul 10


THE STORY OF SOULEYMANE
FOUR STARS A young asylum seeker hopes to get the right to work in Paris. For now, he's delivering food. DRAMA FRANCE French #SOULEYMANE Starring Abou Sangare, Alpha Oumar Sow Bike deliveries have become ubiquitous with the urban landscape - dropping drinks, meals and pizzas cities wide. Yet behind every bike is a person and interactions with the drivers are seldom more than a polite ‘thank you’ or a grumpy ‘get off the footpath!’ What happens around those exchanges is THE S
Colin Fraser
Jul 1

















