Director Tom Hooper has confirmed that ‘Litterbox Shuffle’, a dance number shot at a reported cost of $1.5million but cut from the final edit of his 2019 adaptation CATS, will be reinstated in sequence for the 4K Blu-ray disc.

The scratching leads to a modern dance/tap number which also includes James Cordern (as ‘Bustopher Jones’) and Rebel Wilson (as ‘Jennyandots’), reportedly burying themselves in the waste tray and, at one point, laying prone as Hooper’s camera captures them making ‘litter angels’ with their arms and legs.

More to follow….

The 2021 Iranian Film Festival (IFFA) commences its nationwide rollout this week, with ten films in competition as part of this year’s celebration of Iranian film culture. Despite a 12 month period that has proved particularly difficult for international filmmakers, the 10th edition of IFFA features a complex and layered selection of award-winning features from the Islamic Republic.

“We have had a very strong year for Iranian cinema, enabling us to present a fantastic and diverse range of films for our audiences in Australia,” said Festival Director, Armin Miladi. “In particular, we are delighted to present three films from female filmmakers.” 

Foremost among these is the Opening Night film Titi, written, produced and directed by Ida Panahandeh. Steeped in Iranian Gypsy lore, it is the story of a friendship between a hospitalized, critically ill physicist, working on a theory about black holes, and an eccentric hospital housekeeper named TiTi, possessed of supernatural powers that she must use to take her new friend on a mystical odyssey.

A highlight of the IFFA will be writer-director Massoud Bakhshi’s Yalda: A Night of Forgiveness, a searing based-on-fact drama about a young woman, sentenced to death for an act of self-defence, who seeks atonement on live television. The riveting and superbly acted film, which poses a critical moral conundrum born out of a theocratic system that disfavours women, won the Grand Jury Prize (World Cinema Dramatic) at last year’s Sundance Film Festival. 

Other highlights of the capital city screening schedules include The Wasteland (Dasht-E Khamoush; pictured, below right), an incisive look at life on the outskirts of Iranian society focussing on a brick factory supervisor who acts as go-between for the workers and the boss; Majid Majidi’s Sun Children, the story of 12-year-old Ali and his three friends who survive doing small jobs and committing petty crimes to make fast cash; and Shahram Mokri’s Careless Crime (Jenayat-E Bi Deghat; pictured, top), in which a modern-day plot to burn down a movie theatre replicates a historical tragedy that occurred four decades ago, as Iranian society was teetering on revolution.

A sidebar presentation will focus on the culture and music of Southern Iran, the region adjacent to the Persian Gulf, as seen in two rousing documentaries - Raha Faridi’s Chicheka Lullaby, a study of the alternative artist and musician Ebrahim Monsefi, and Mohsen Nesavand’s Sebaloo, which highlights the African music culture of the region and one of its greatest proponents, Mahmoud Bardaknia. The centrepiece of the sidebar will be Manijeh Hekmat’s recent hit, Bandar Band (pictured, above right), a music-infused twist on a road movie that follows a band's day-long journey across a flooded Tehran landscape.

 IFFA 2021 will also honour late director Kambuzia Partovi with a screening of his final film, The Truck (Kamion), the story of a Yazidi woman and her two children escaping an ISIS massacre. Partovi was a writer and co-director, known for Closed Curtain (2013), winner of Best Screenplay at Berlinale 2013; Café Transit (2005), his nation’s submission for the Foreign Film Oscar race; and, his groundbreaking family film Golnar (1989), which used music and puppet animals to help the lives of villagers in rural Iran. The director died on November 24, 2020 in Tehran due to complications from Covid-19.

The 10th Iranian Film Festival unfolds in Perth at Luna Cinemas Leederville, 20 - 26 May; in Brisbane at the Elizabeth Picture Theatre, 27 May - 2 June; at Cinema Nova in Melbourne, 3 - 9 June; and in Sydney at Dendy Newtown, 10 - 16 June. An online version of the festival will be held from 20-30 June 2021 Australia-wide. Full session and ticketing information can be found at the festival’s Official Website.

Australian director Gerald Rascionato’s raptor romp CLAW and American indie voice Ben Tedesco’s lockdown timeloop drama NO TOMORROW are the latest feature films to be confirmed for the 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival.

The second annual celebration of speculative cinema is to be held November 3-14 at the Actors Centre Australia in Sydney’s inner-west. The features join the previously-announced VERA DE VERDAD, from Italian director Beniamino Catena, in a program that has grown to 15 sessions in 2021.

Starring Chynna Walker and Richard Rennie as best friends being stalked in an abandoned ghost town by prehistory’s favourite villain, CLAW is the second feature for Rascionato, following 2017’s deep sea creature feature, Cage Dive. Hailing from the far north coast of New South Wales, the LA-based Rascionato and collaborator Joel Hogan shot in remote desert locations through the 2020 pandemic to ready their film for a 2021 release.

Enjoying its Australian Premiere in Sydney, NO TOMORROW is a true auteur’s vision, with Tedesco (pictured, right) starring and assuming production duties on his handmade but very polished film; it was shot on his iPhone 11Pro, GoPro Hero 7 Black and using screen recordings from his MacBook Pro. Filming took place in his parents home in Arizona and en route to his own home in Los Angeles, and all points in between, with the entire shoot adhering to COVID-19 lockdown conditions.      

Also selected from the earlybird submission period were four short films that will debut for Aussie audiences in Sydney:

HIRAETH (Dir: Ryan Andrews; UK). Commander Amber Jones’ mission is to research newly discovered life on Europa. She has courted controversy her entire career, not least because Commander Jones is the daughter of child killer Crista Jones, the first woman to be hanged in Britain in 70-years. Smashing loss and sadness into the limitations of life itself, Hiraeth is a deeply human story of consciousness and loss, raising harrowing questions about the nature of love and the things we do to honour it.

TODAY (Dir: Andrew Jaksch; Aust) Today is November 19th, 1969, and this young successful couple find themselves in a vicious cycle, trapped within an impenetrable void. He wields his power and entitlement like weapons, can she distinguish one day from another? And how does she survive?

BEACON (Dir: Anna Twomey; Aust; pictured, top). Goose is a 16-year-old ‘charger’, a girl whose body produces massive amounts of electricity due to nuclear side-effects. Alongside her warrior older sister, Goose must fight for her freedom from violent raiders, hunting her with the aim of harvesting her energy.

DAILY DRIVER (Dir: Jonathan Adams; Aust; pictured, above). Shane and V.I.N.C.E, a dying old Holden made sentient through artificial intelligence, navigate life and love from polar perspectives.

The 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will run November 3-14 at the Actors Centre Australia in Leichhardt, Sydney. 
Web: https://www.sydneysciencefictionfilmfestival.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SydneyScienceFictionFilmFestival
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SydSciFiFest

 Pictured: Chynna Walker in Claw

One of Hollywood’s most successful filmmakers, Richard Donner has passed away at the age of 91. He leaves behind a body of work that spans both the golden era of television and the ‘birth of the blockbuster’ film period; productions that remain in the hearts and minds of audiences all over the world.

Hollywood is mourning his loss, as Donner was not only a huge creative force but a mentor to a generation of actors and directors. “Being in his circle was akin to hanging out with your favorite coach, smartest professor, fiercest motivator, most endearing friend, staunchest ally and, of course, the greatest Goonie of all,” Steven Spielberg told Variety, referencing their collaboration on 1985’s The Goonies. “He was all kid. All heart. All the time. I can’t believe he’s gone, but his husky, hearty laugh will stay with me always.”

Recalling his finest work is a challenge, as he was so prominent across so many years on so many projects. But below are perhaps the works that will be remembered as, ‘classic Richard Donner’...

‘NIGHTMARE AT 20,000 FEET’ Episode; THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1963)
Donner was a key figure in the burgeoning television sector. Beginning with a 1960 episode of the western Zane Grey Theatre, he would helm everything from The Loretta Young Show and Gilligan’s Island to The Rifleman and Perry Mason. His most famous small-screen effort would become the 1963 Twilight Zone classic, ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’, a taut white-knuckler, written by Rod Serling and Richard Matheson, starring William Shatner as the nervous flyer convinced a monster is trying to bring down his flight.

SARAH T. - PORTRAIT OF A TEENAGE ALCOHOLIC (1975)
Donner’s status in the television sector ensured he was called upon during the TV-movie boom of the 1970s. With hundreds of hours of episodic work and such small but respected films as X-15 (1961), Salt & Pepper (1968) and Lola (1970) to his name, Donner stepped up to direct the issues-based drama, Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975) with Linda Blair in the title role, for Universal Television.

THE OMEN (1976; pictured above, Donner with star Gregory Peck) 
Producer Alan Ladd Jr. shepherded Donner into the project, convinced the predominantly television work of the director captured the intelligence and empathy needed to elevate the ‘devil child’ narrative into something unique. With veteran DOP Gilbert Taylor, Donner embraced the larger screen format and crafted a horror classic that became the director’s first box office blockbuster.

SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (1977; pictured above, Christopher Reeve and Donner on-set)
Richard Donner attacked his new assignment with gusto after producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind secured the director. Donner hacked away at the script he had inherited, excising much of Mario Puzo’s campiness and working with an uncredited Tom Mankiewicz to bolster the scale and iconography of the DC Comics’ figurehead. Also, it was Donner who worked hardest to secure a reluctant Gene Hackman as ‘Lex Luthor’. Under Richard Donner, Superman became the highest-grossing Warner Bros film in the studio’s history.

LADYHAWKE (1985; pictured above, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer in Ladyhawke)
Alongside his 1992 drama Radio Flyer, Ladyhawke is perhaps Donner’s most personal, invested work. The fantasy/romance Ladyhawke stumbled out of the gate at the box-office but has become one of his most beloved films. Lensed by the great Vittorio Storaro and boasting a stunning cast in their photogenic prime (Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Broderick), it was nevertheless a difficult production; Hauer and co-star Leo McKern clashed bitterly, and the remote locations were not suited to a large-scale Hollywood shoot.

THE GOONIES (1985; pictured above, Steven Spielberg, left, on-set with Donner)
Donner shot first-unit footage on this adventure classic; producer Steven Spielberg oversaw second-unit production. The collaboration proved commercial filmmaking gold; The Goonies captured cast lightning in a bottle, hit big with the family audience of the day, and earned generations of fans in its home entertainment afterlife. Upon learning of his passing, Goonies star Sean Astin tweeted, “Richard Donner had the biggest, boomiest voice you could imagine. He commanded attention and he laughed like no man has ever laughed before. Dick was so much fun. What I perceived in him, as a 12 year old kid, is that he cared. I love how much he cared.”

LETHAL WEAPON (1987)
In the wake of its goofball sequels, it is largely forgotten that Donner’s original buddy-cop classic beats to a very dark heart; a story centred by a grief-stricken, PTSD sufferer whose dangerous unpredictability and crippling melancholia sees him, in one shocking scene, come within a trigger-finger’s twitch of blowing his own head off. Donner was maturing as a director within the American studio system; with Lethal Weapon, he fearlessly subverted the genre, redefining it for future generations. “I will sorely miss him, with all his mischievous wit and wisdom,” Mel Gibson said, in a press statement, “He was magnanimous of heart and soul, which he liberally gave to all who knew him.”

The SCHULER-DONNER Productions
Alongside his beloved wife Lauren Schuler (already a Hollywood force with hits Mr Mom, Pretty in Pink and St Elmo’s Fire to her name when she paired with her husband professionally), Donner’s integrity and commercial flair came through in his work as producer. Under their Schuler Donner banner, the couple oversaw Three Fugitives (1989), Free Willy (1993) and its sequels; Kevin Kline in Dave (1993); Bulworth (1998), with Warren Beatty; the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romancer, You’ve Got Mail (1998); Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday (1999); and, the vast X-Men franchise, starting with Bryan Singer’s 2000 original.

The death of Ukraine-born cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, on the set of the film Rust in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is tragic beyond measure. A young family, including her husband Matthew and their son, have lost a loving mother; her professional community have lost an emerging talent of limitless potential (only 5 percent of the American Society of Cinematographers membership are female). Future generations of filmgoers are left with the stunning images from her 27 credits to date - a remarkable number, given she came to her craft after an early career as a broadcast journalist.

To honour Hutchin's artistry as a DOP, we present a gallery of frames from her features and short films and thoughts collated from the public social media posts of her friends and co-workers...

BLINDFIRE (Dir: Michael Nell; starring Brian Geraghty, Sharon Leal | 2020) A police officer responding to a violent hostage call kills the African American suspect, only to learn of his innocence. Sensing a set-up and facing repercussions, he must track down those responsible while examining his own accountability and the ingrained racism which brought him to this point.

"It is with a sad and heavy heart that I say goodbye to an incredibly talented and wonderful person...I was lucky enough to witness a rising star who was full of passion, creativity, generosity and a love for filmmaking. Her tragic death is a senseless loss and hard too fathom." - Howard Barish, President / Executive Producer of Kandoo Films, makers of Blindside. 

ARCHENEMY (Dir: Adam Egypt Mortimer; starring Joe Manganiello, Amy Seimetz | 2020) Max Fist claims to be a hero from another dimension who fell through time and space to earth, where he has no powers. No one believes his stories except for a local teen named Hamster.

"I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set. She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film." - Adam Egypt Mortimer, Director: Archenemy.

TREACLE (Dir: Rosie Westhoff, starring April Kelley, Wilder Yari | 2020) Two friends, Belle and Jessie, go on a weekend away to help Jessie get over a recent breakup. Road tripping through California over the course of 24 hours, lines begin to blur when the always-heterosexual Jessie in her drunken, post breakup loneliness kisses bisexual Belle.

"Halyna was an absolute joy to collaborate with, bursting with unique ideas, and would go above and beyond in achieving them. She was an integral part of what still remains the best experience of my life. Thank you for the memories. The industry has lost the brightest of stars." - April Kelley, writer/star of Treacle

SNOWBOUND (Dir: Olia Oparina, starring Anya Bay | 2017) A group of erotic party attendees wake up naked in the snow. In the nearby cabin they find a dead girl and a message: In order to survive, they must decide who is responsible for the girl's death and murder that person accordingly.

"My best friend passed away. The pain is unbearable, and nothing can fill that space that is now empty without my loving, supportive, and understanding Halyna...Halyna’s shot every one of my films. When no one trusted us with a feature film, Halyna and I teamed up and made our own, for no money, with a crew of friends...My dear ribka, you will always be in my heart." - Olia Oparina, director of Divination (2016); Marcel Red What You Did (2016); I am Normal (2020); Snowbound (2017).

(re)UNITE (Dir: Anak Rabanal | 2018) Can a clinical method to accelerate emotional intimacy begin healing the social rifts exposed by the 2016 Presidential Election one conversation at a time?

"You will be missed and treasured and your legacy lives on not only in your work but in the people you inspired us to be with the way you lived your life — fearlessly and passionately." - Anak Rabanal, director of (re)UNITE.

The America Film Institute has established The Halyna Hutchins Memorial Scholarship Fund, issuing the statement, " As is profoundly true in the art of cinematography, words alone cannot capture the loss of one so dear to the AFI community. At AFI, we pledge to see that Halyna Hutchins will live on in the spirit of all who strive to see their dreams realized in stories well told."

PLEASE DONATE HERE

A funny thing happened at the Screen-Space office in 2021 - I watched a lot of television. More precisely, I was called upon to review a lot of television, mostly as one half of the Screen Watching podcast. This site has always been film-focussed, but that’s largely because when Screen-Space launched nearly a decade ago, there was no Netflix or Apple+ or Amazon Prime. Back then, we went to the cinema, bought the DVD, caught anything we’d missed on our exciting new pay-TV channel. Good times…

Screen Watching’s other-half is Dan Barrett, the boss of the TV-centric site Always Be Watching (amongst many other projects) and an opinionated enthusiast for all things televisual. If I was going to keep up with his small-screen babblings, I needed to watch more than just Major League Baseball and Seinfeld repeats. So, with COVID’s grip upon society ensuring that sofa time was always the best option, I’m weighing in with the inaugural Screen-Space Best of Television 2021...  

1. ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (Hulu (US) / Disney Star (Aust), 10 eps; starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez) Not such a surprise that comedy veterans Steve Martin and Martin Short should pull off the years’ most wry, witty, laugh-out-loud hilarious romp; a classy whodunnit farce that slyly satirises everything it touches, from apartment etiquette to podcast obsession. The big surprise is that they let Selena Gomez steal the show, the actress the perfect comedic foil to Martin and Martin’s ‘old guy’ schtick.

2. MIDNIGHT MASS (Netflix, 7 eps; starring Hamish Linklater, Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas) Horror’s most accomplished and assured new voice, Mike Flanagan skewers blind faith and zealotry in his smalltown horror masterpiece. The deliberate pacing of his reveals left behind those that like their frights more frantic, but this is his deceptively simple modus operandi - establish setting, then introduce character, then pose a mysterious threat, then…BOO! The comparisons to the King classic Salem’s Lot are unfair, because Midnight Mass is better. 

3. PHYSICAL (Apple+, 10 eps; starring Rose Byrne, Rory Scovel, Deirdre Friel) As a satire of the ‘Greed is good’ mantra of the 1980s and the Reagan-esque nationalism that inspired overspending and wilful over-indulgence in the name of capitalistic growth, Physical is a masterwork. As the unravelling housewife who parlays her love of aerobics into social acceptance and financial independence, Rose Byrne is a whirlwind of anxiety, dark energy and ever-expand(ex)ing self-worth.

4. THE CHESTNUT MAN (Netflix, 6 eps; starring Danica Curcic, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, David Dencik) For those who thought the Scandi Crime wave had had its day in the endless sun, The Chestnut Man reinvigorated all the recognisable tropes with crackling tension, horrific violence and the best ‘reluctant partner’ chemistry since the heady days of Scully and Mulder. 

5. SUCCESSION Season 3 (HBO Max / Binge, 9 eps; starring Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook) No family has done cold-hearted and calculated with this much twisted glee since The Ewings; the #MeToo plotline and how it threatened to derail The Roy Family empire inspired a rare degree of cut throat-razor dialogue and boardroom tension. In Adrien Brody and Alexander Skarsgård, nailed the 2021 ‘Best Use of a Guest Stars’ honour.

6. VIGIL (BBC, 6 eps; starring Suranne Jones, Rose Leslie, Adam James) There is a pulpy daftness to this submarine-set murder mystery that is occasionally glimpsed on the radar, but when producer Tom Edge’s plotting stays on course it is the most gripping adventure-thriller that the small screen offered up all year. As the investigating detective sent on board, despite having her own recent watery tragedy still on her mind (really?), Suranne Jones is Sigourney-esque in her presence.

7. DOPESICK (Hulu / Disney+ Star, 8 eps; starring Michael Keaton, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosario Dawson) Op-ed rants by John Oliver only go so far in conveying just how insidiously callous Purdue Pharmaceutical and the cartel that owns it, The Sackler Family, were in lying about, spreading and profiting from the social horror they caused with OxyContin. Director Barry Levinson paints a heartbreaking picture of the smalltown, blue-collar lives that The Sackler’s destroyed for financial gain. Does for the opioid crisis what The Day After did for nuclear proliferation.

8. WANDAVISION (Disney+, 9 eps; starring Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn) As a journey through TV culture, Disney+’s first small-screen MCU narrative was inventive, charming and, with Olsen and Bettany allowed greater dimensionality to explore their big-screen bit-players, proved a better-than-expected canon add-on. But it was the acuity with which it explored Wanda/Scarlett Witch’s grief and PTSD that made it significantly better than we had any right to expect.

9. INVASION (Apple+ TV, 9 eps; starring Golshifteh Farahani, Shamier Anderson, Shioli Kutsuna) That hoary ol’ scifi trope, the ‘alien invasion’, gets a supremely polished, truly international makeover in Apple’s understated but gripping multi-strand narrative. A grab-bag of influences (War of The Worlds; Independence Day; Arrival) are used to superb impact; in  a great cast, Golshifteh Farahani as the betrayed wife/warrior mother is sensational.

10. THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT (HBO Max / Stan, 8 eps; starring Kaley Cuoco, Michiel Huisman, Rosie Perez) Never seen The Big Bang Theory, so The Flight Attendant was quite the jump-off point for me and Kaley Cuoco. As the sexed-up, boozy stewardess whose life careens dangerously close to catastrophe at every turn, she is a revelation. The production’s profound understanding of alcoholism and Cuoco’s unhinged version of someone in denial and under threat is white-knuckle, character-based black comedy at its best.

There were some big hits (White Lotus; Nine Perfect Strangers; Mare of Eastown) and critical favourites (Hacks; The Underground Railroad; Muhammad Ali; The North Water; The Reservation Dogs) that I just couldn't fit into the viewing schedule. But there were also a handful that I count as highlights, even if they couldn't budge the ten best...

BEST REALITY: THE HILLS: NEW BEGINNINGS Season 2 (MTV, 12 eps) 
Heidi, Spencer, Audrina, Brody, Justin…they’re all still spoilt LA brats, but by 2021 they are spoilt, brattish thirty-somethings, and the seriousness of such themes as family, addiction, wealth (or lack of it), infidelity and honesty are coming into sharper focus. Dismiss their surface sheen as glaringly shallow, but MTV’s stable of in-house reality stars mined some darker emotions in Season 2, and the television (however manipulated) was compelling.

BEST INTERNATIONAL: KATLA (Netflix, 8 eps)
A fissure in the Earth’s surface caused by the eruption of the titular volcano unleashes creatures of Icelandic folklore in Baltasar Kormákur’s slow-burn, bleak, nightmarish study in isolation, paranoia, memory and grief. The year’s best final frame cliffhanger.

BEST LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT: TASKMASTER (BBC / UKTV, 10 eps)
The well-established U.K. franchise hit its stride in 2021. At first, the mixed-bag of semi-celebs fronting the eleventh go-around of the Greg Davies/Alex Horne cult hit seemed an oddly mismatched bunch; by episode 6, and Mike Wozniak’s career-defining/ruining shock admission (“It’s an absolute casserole down there”), the season proved a series’ highwatermark. 

BEST AUSTRALIAN: DIVE CLUB (Network 10 / Netflix, 12 eps)
What pitched as a teen-dream trifle emerged as a stylish, sophisticated drama, impeccably crafted and brimming with complex characters against a gorgeous backdrop. The title conjures pre-teen Saddle/Babysitter Club-style misadventures, but the dramatic meat on its bones more closely recalls the best of Dawson’s Creek or Party of Five.

And while I don’t want to dwell on the worst TV of the year (it was LA BREA), I do want to address why two of 2021's biggest TV hits left me cold. 

I cannot reconcile the preposterous premise of TED LASSO with sufficient suspension of disbelief to find it charming or funny. The character is annoyingly cloying, a downhome doofus inconceivably tolerated by everyone in England. On the back of its success, expect a Yes Minister reboot featuring Forrest Gump. 

And the phenomenon that is SQUID GAME? The show is well-made, stocked with some interesting characters and handsomely produced, but its genre inspirations weigh heavily on its shoulders. Everything from Battle Royale to The Hunger Games to The Running Man has trodden this well-worn path to better effect. 

READ THE SCREEN-SPACE TEN BEST MOVIES OF 2021 HERE (Coming Soon!)

For most of 2021, old Sydney town was COVID shuttered. Not since…last year, actually…has the cinema experience been such a truncated, compromised one. The US summer blockbusters earned perfunctory, catch-me-if-you-can releases (The Suicide Squad; Malignant; Space Jam) or were bumped again (come in, Top Gun Maverick?). Some finally landed, like No Time to Die and Dune, though with question marks over whether they maxed-out their box-office potential or felt a little ‘fatigued’. It would be the streaming services that thrived in 2021 - sixteen of my Top 20 films were watched in my ‘critic’s cave’.

Which made not a shred of difference to the quality of 2021 films. As I write this, Spiderman: No Way Home is smashing box office records on the back of great reviews. The award season is taking shape with films like Licorice Pizza, Spencer, The Tragedy of Macbeth, King Richard and Belfast entering the fray. And the streamers continue their push for critical relevance and commercial dominance, offering films like Don’t Look Up (Netflix), Finch (Apple+) and Being The Ricardos (Amazon Prime).    

So let’s get on with celebrating the films that provided a jolt of exhilaration (and a handful that sucked) in this shit of a year...   

1. CODA (Dir: Sian Heder; USA, 111 mins) Emilia Jones plays Ruby, the only able-hearing member of a deaf family. She’s got talent, is smart, and is destined for a life beyond the family’s struggling fishing business, but stepping away from her role as a Child Of Deaf Parents… And so Sian Heder’s wrenching drama is set in motion, charting a deceptively simple journey that breaks down one’s expectations of a film that pitches like a ‘Movie of the Week’ but plays out like…well, like the year’s best film. Wait for the bait-&-switch moment at Ruby’s school concert; it reduced your cynical, ‘seen-it-all’ film reviewer to a sobbing wreck.

2. THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Dir: Joachim Trier; Norway, 127 mins) Julie is someone we’ve all known, or may have been - an unsettled, impetuous twenty-something trying to understand how she fits into everyone’s expectations of her life. Serious romance, cohabitation, marriage, kids…blah, blah, blah. Joachim Trier’s film is a journey with Julie which subverts, even defies, the well-trodden path to society’s version of maturity. We are engaged with every honest frame of this transcendent story because of Cannes Best Actress winner Renate Reinsve; her ‘Julie’ is and will remain a touchstone film character for the ages. 

3. LAST NIGHT IN SOHO (Dir: Edgar Wright; UK, 116 mins) All the key indicators were in place - director Edgar Wright, primed to bring his command of the camera to the visually propulsive setting of London in the ‘60s; two actresses, Anya Taylor-Joy and Tommasin McKenzie, duking it out for ‘it-girl’ status; and, above all else, an original high-concept genre piece. The result was a giddy, thrilling, slightly daft but pulsating chiller that both honoured and challenged the ‘stylish slasher’ sensibilities of classic Hitchcock and De Palma.

4. SHIVA BABY (Dir: Emma Seligman; USA, 77 mins) A perfectly directionless Jewish twenty-something (the wonderful Rachel Sennot) finds all the tensions in her life colliding under one roof at the titular funeral service in Emma Seligman’s masterpiece of discomfort. This comedic, white-knuckle emotional journey somehow emerges as a romantic, sexy, bittersweet snapshot of millenial uncertainty.

5. ADRIENNE (Dir: Andy Ostroy; USA, 98 mins) Adrienne Shelley was a ‘90s indie darling, the toast of Sundance after the Hal Hartley films The Unbelievable Truth and Trust, and on the verge of breakout success as director and co-star of Waitress, when she was murdered. Her widower Andy Ostroy reconciles the loss of Adrienne through a multi-tiered recounting of her career, their life and, in the most heartbreaking of many heartbreaking sequences, a meeting with her killer.

6. ANNEES 20 (Roaring 20s. Dir: Elisabeth Vogler; France, 85 mins) In the midst of the 2020 COVID outbreak, filmmaker Elisabeth Vogler choreographed this single-shot miracle through the streets of Paris, capturing how the human spirit fronted up to, adapted in the face of and ultimately beat down the loneliness of the ‘new normal’. Sublime steadicam artistry (by the director herself) and a vivid collection of Parisian persons make for a snapshot of a time that will never be recaptured; by definition, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

7. PETITE MAMAN (Dir: Céline Sciamma; France, 72 mins) How a little girl deals with grief and the friendship she strikes in the realm of the fantastic proves the perfect premise for Céline Sciamma’s latest study in profound connection. The material is weighty but the lightness of touch is masterful; you’ll cry for days afterwards, as Sciamma and her two wondrous leads achieve deeply resonant moments that refuse to let go of your thoughts and emotions.

8. PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND (Dir: Sion Sono; US/Japan, 103 mins) Why did it take so long to smash together the cinematic psyches of Japanese punk-auteur Sion Sono and G.O.A.T. Nicholas Cage? Because their hyper-stylised, vengeance-fuelled, dystopian Eastern-western is a work of fearless originality and W.T.F. creative choices that make it an adrenalized, bewildering blast (Ed. - For the record, Pig was #21 in ‘21; Cage had a great year.)

9. DUNE (Dir: Denis Villeneuve; USA, 155 mins) It all looked good in the planning. Denis Villeneuve’s track record (Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival, especially) indicated he could do spectacle with intelligence; the cast were all hot-button names with talent to boot. Of course, we said all this back in ‘84, too. This time, though…grandeur, depth and the promise of more to come.

10. BENEDETTA (Dir: Paul Verhoeven; France/Belgium, 131 mins) Early coverage zeroed-in on the ‘nun-sploitation’ angle of Dutch stirrer Paul Verhoeven’s latest, in particular luminous leading lady Virginie Efira depiction of sapphic experimentation and self-pleasuring. But Verhoeven has much more on his mind (no, really); Benedetta is a brutal take-down of institutionalized religion and the ease with which the ambitiously immoral can exploit the zealous masses.

THE NEXT TEN BEST:
11. VERA DE VERDAD (Dir: Beniamino Catena; Italy/Chile, 100 mins)
12. WEST SIDE STORY (Dir: Steven Spielberg; USA, 156 mins)
13. LA PANTHERE DES NEIGES (The Velvet Queen. Dir: Marie Amiguet; France, 92 mins)
14. ILARGI GUZTIAK (All The Moons. Dir: Igor Legarreta; Spain, 102 mins)
15. TED K (Dir: Tony Stone; USA, 120 mins)
16. MEDUSA (Dir: Anita Rocha da Silveira; Brazil, 127 mins)
17. BERGMAN ISLAND (Dir: Mia Hansen-Løve; France, 112 mins)
18. FREE GUY (Dir: Shawn Levy; USA, 115 mins)
19. THE COLONY (Dir: Tim Fehlbaum; Germany, 104 mins)
20. DORAIBU MAI KA (Drive My Car. Dir: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi; Japan, 179 mins)

THE WORST FILMS OF 2021:
For every exhilarating discovery on the streaming channels, there were piles of steaming dross to scroll pass. Shame on Disney+, for over-extending old franchises with greenlights for the terrible HOME SWEET HOME ALONE and the shamefully uninspired MUPPETS HAUNTED MANSION. With cinemas opening erratically and distributors unwilling to commit theatrical films, straight-to-video product was deemed worthy of multi-screen releases - the turgid Jeremy Irons-Diane Keaton rom-com LOVE, WEDDINGS AND OTHER DISASTERS and the Bruce Willis D-grade scifier COSMIC SIN found themselves in wide circulation. As the pandemic ebbed, exhibitors made space for some Hollywood product, but there was little excitement for misfires like SPIRAL: FROM THE BOOK OF SAW (featuring some Razzie-worthy shout-acting from Chris Rock); the numbing banality of VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE; or, the official death knell of YA-lit 'Hunger Games' wannabes, CHAOS WALKING. But it is from the bottom of the sequel barrel that we scrape the year’s most idiotic film; an inconcievable ninth dip into the well of fake family melodrama and CGI stunt work, overseen by producers who thought launching a car into outer space was a good idea. F9 dipped considerably at the box office (it's the lowest earner in the franchise since 2011’s FAST FIVE), although probably not enough to kill off this knuckle-headed insult to cinema.

A musical based on the people’s princess, a tone-deaf and toothless social satire and a former global superstar now just in it for the cash are in the critical crosshairs of the voters of 2021 Golden Raspberry Awards, aka ‘The Razzies’.

Leading the nominations with 9 Razzie mentions is director Christopher Ashley’s Diana the Musical (pictured, below), Netflix’s excruciating adaptation of the lambasted Broadway bomb (it shuttered after 40 performances in the wake of brutal reviews). Coke Daniel’s privileged white-woman takedown Karen, a project that seemed like a good idea at the time but which somehow proved more offensive than the ‘Karens’ it portrayed, came in second with 5 nominations.

In a first for the organisers, the 2021 Razzies will honour actor Bruce Willis with his own category, the bald capitalist having released no less than eight films in the last calendar year, each worse than the one before. Once one of international cinema's biggest names, Willis has resigned himself to roles that sometimes take only hours to shoot for projects that are never likely to surface anywhere other than physical media dump-bins in electronic superstores. Nevertheless, such comitment was deemed worthy of mention by the awards body, no doubt due in part to Willis' long Razzie history; he has two trophies to his name (1999 Worst Actor; 1992 Worst Screenplay) and a further five nominations.  

Major Hollywood studios were determined not to miss out, providing such dregs as the Amy Adams potboiler The Woman in the Window, from 20th Century Fox (5 nominations); Stephen Chbosky’s misguided musical effort, Dear Evan Hansen, courtesy of Universal (4 nominations); Warner Bros. product placement extravaganza, Space Jam: A New Legacy (4 nominations); and, Mark Wahlberg’s execrable actioner Infinite (3 nominations), which Paramount pulled from its theatrical schedule and cynically repackaged to launch its own streaming service.

A-listers to feel the Razzie sting include Ben Affleck for his “I’m going to be in my own movie!” performance opposite Matt Damon in Ridley Scott’s dud, The Last Duel; Jared Leto (pictured, left), only recognizable by the brazen, Leto-esque self-belief that he could pull off his ‘jowly Guiseppe’ role in Ridley Scott’s other dud, House of Gucci; and, the once high-flying Amy Adams, who earned two noms, for Dear Evan Hansen and The Woman in the Window. 

The 42nd annual Golden Raspberry award ceremony will be held on March 26, the traditional ‘Oscar’s Eve’ slot that The Razzies have made its own.

Full list of nominees:   

WORST PICTURE
Diana the Musical (The Netflix Version); Infinite; Karen; Space Jam: A New Legacy; The Woman in the Window

WORST ACTOR
Scott Eastwood / Dangerous; Roe Hartrampf (As Prince Charles) / Diana the Musical; LeBron James / Space Jam: A New Legacy; Ben Platt / Dear Evan Hansen; Mark Wahlberg / Infinite

WORST ACTRESS 
Amy Adams / The Woman in the Window; Jeanna de Waal / Diana the Musical; Megan Fox / Midnight in the Switchgrass; Taryn Manning / Karen; Ruby Rose / Vanquish

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams / Dear Evan Hansen; Sophie Cookson / Infinite; Erin Davie (As Camilla) / Diana the Musical; Judy Kaye (As BOTH Queen Elizabeth & Barbara Cartland) / Diana the Musical; Taryn Manning / Every Last One of Them

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ben Affleck / The Last Duel; Nick Cannon / The Misfits; Mel Gibson / Dangerous; Gareth Keegan (As James Hewitt, the Muscle-Bound Horse Trainer) / Diana the Musical; Jared Leto / House of Gucci

WORST PERFORMANCE by BRUCE WILLIS in a 2021 MOVIE (Special Category)
Bruce Willis / American Siege; Bruce Willis / Apex; Bruce Willis / Cosmic Sin; Bruce Willis / Deadlock; Bruce Willis / Fortress; Bruce Willis / Midnight in the Switchgrass; Bruce Willis / Out of Death; Bruce Willis / Survive the Game

WORST SCREEN COUPLE
Diana the Musical - Any Klutzy Cast Member & Any Lamely Lyricized (or Choreographed) Musical Number.
Space Jam: A New Legacy - LeBron James & Any Warner Cartoon Character (or Time-Warner Product) He Dribbles on
House of Gucci - Jared Leto & EITHER His 17-Pound Latex Face, His Geeky Clothes or His Ridiculous Accent
Dear Evan Hansen - Ben Platt & Any Other Character Who Acts Like Platt Singing 24-7 is Normal
Tom & Jerry the Movie - Tom & Jerry (aka Itchy & Scratchy) 

WORST REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL
Karen (Inadvertent Remake of Cruella deVil); Space Jam: A New Legacy; Tom & Jerry the Movie; Twist (Rap remake of Oliver Twist); The Woman in the Window (Rip-Off of Rear Window)

WORST DIRECTOR 
Christopher Ashley / Diana the Musical; Stephen Chbosky / Dear Evan Hansen; “Coke” Daniels / Karen; Renny Harlin / The Misfits; Joe Wright / The Woman in the Window

WORST SCREENPLAY 
Diana the Musical / Script by Joe DiPietro, Music and Lyrics by DiPietro and David Bryan
Karen / Written by "Coke" Daniels
The Misfits / Screenplay by Kurt Wimmer and Robert Henny, Screen Story by Henny
Twist / Written by John Wrathall & Sally Collett, Additional Material by Matthew Parkhill, Michael Lindley, Tom Grass & Kevin Lehane, from an “Original Idea” by David & Keith Lynch and Simon Thomas
The Woman in the Window / Screenplay by Tracy Letts, from the Novel by A.J. Finn

Jane Campion’s creepy, complex western The Power of the Dog nestled into the laps of  Academy members, leading the 2022 Oscar nominations pack with 12 nods. Other contenders fell in line with award season trajectory, with the space epic Dune landing 10 nominations and the retro-spectacles West Side Story and Belfast both nabbing seven. Those four frontrunners will be joined in the Best Picture race by CODA, Don’t Look Up, Drive My Car, King Richard, Licorice Pizza and Nightmare Alley.

With her Best Director nomination, Campion (pictured, below) becomes the first woman in Oscar history to earn two directing nominations, her last being in 1993 for the The Piano. She won the Adapted Screenplay award that year, an honour she is in line for again in 2022.

Other milestones established with the 2022 nominee list include the second deaf nominee in Oscar history (CODA’s Troy Kotsur in the Supporting Actor category); Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast haul, making him the only person to earn seven Oscar nominations in seven different categories (in addition to Belfast, he’s been nominated previously for Hamlet, Henry V,  live-action short film Swan Song, and My Week With Marilyn); and, Being the Ricardo’s Javier Bardem and Parallel Mother’s Penélope Cruz becoming the sixth married couple to be nominated for acting in the same year.

There were two “What the f*** just happened?!?” omissions from the nominee list. On the crest of an award season wave, Lady Gaga was bumped for Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, with Oscar favouring Kristen Stewart for Spencer (who had missed SAG and BAFTA consideration in recent weeks; pictured, below) and Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (considered a waning outsider by Oscar analysts). And Denis Villeneuve found himself being Beresford-ed by the Academy, with Dune’s ten nominations not including a Best Director mention (perhaps Part 2 of the saga will rectify that). 

The Academy also chose not to pander to high-profile commercial success as a means by which to reverse sagging viewership. Blockbuster status did not bolster the nomination count for No Time to Die (three, including a Best Song nod for Billie Eilish plus Sound and Visual Effects) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (a sole Visual Effects mention).

In fact, studios will be hoping that nominations will re-energise the box office takings of several of the nominees. Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story will head back into theatres nationally, hoping its cumulative box office of US$36million will surge on the back of its seven nominations. Other films looking for the ‘Oscar Bump’ include Guilleremo Del Toro’s Nightmare Alley (4 noms with US$11million banked); Reinaldo Marcus Green’s King Richard (6 noms with takings of $15million); Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza (3 noms against US$13million so far) and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s arthouse hopeful Drive My Car (4 noms with US$950k from a very limited release).

The 94th annual Academy Awards will be held on March 27 at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre, with the in-person ceremony to be televised on ABC in the US and Foxtel in Australia.

The full list of 2022 Academy Award nominees are:

BEST PICTURE
Belfast (Laura Berwick, Kenneth Branagh, Becca Kovacik and Tamar Thomas, Producers)
CODA (Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers)
Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay and Kevin Messick, Producers)
Drive My Car (Teruhisa Yamamoto, Producer)
Dune (Mary Parent, Denis Villeneuve and Cale Boyter, Producers)
King Richard (Tim White, Trevor White and Will Smith, Producers)
Licorice Pizza (Sara Murphy, Adam Somner and Paul Thomas Anderson, Producers)
Nightmare Alley (Guillermo del Toro, J. Miles Dale and Bradley Cooper, Producers)
The Power of the Dog (Jane Campion, Tanya Seghatchian, Emile Sherman, Iain Canning and Roger Frappier, Producers)
West Side Story (Steven Spielberg and Kristie Macosko Krieger, Producers)

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza); Kenneth Branagh (Belfast); Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog); Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car); Steven Spielberg (West Side Story)

BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain (The Eyes of Tammy Faye); Olivia Colman (The Lost Daughter); Penélope Cruz (Parallel Mothers); Nicole Kidman (Being the Ricardos); Kristen Stewart (Spencer)

BEST ACTOR
Javier Bardem (Being the Ricardos); Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of the Dog); Andrew Garfield (Tick, Tick … Boom!); Will Smith (King Richard); Denzel Washington (The Tragedy of Macbeth)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter); Ariana DeBose (West Side Story); Judi Dench (Belfast); Kirsten Dunst (The Power of the Dog); Aunjanue Ellis (King Richard)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ciarán Hinds (Belfast); Troy Kotsur (CODA); Jesse Plemons (The Power of the Dog); J.K. Simmons (Being the Ricardos); Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Cruella (Jenny Beavan); Cyrano (Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran); Dune (Jacqueline West and Robert Morgan); Nightmare Alley (Luis Sequeira); West Side Story (Paul Tazewell)

BEST SOUND
Belfast (Denise Yarde, Simon Chase, James Mather and Niv Adiri); Dune (Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett); No Time to Die (Simon Hayes, Oliver Tarney, James Harrison, Paul Massey and Mark Taylor); The Power of the Dog (Richard Flynn, Robert Mackenzie and Tara Webb); West Side Story (Tod A. Maitland, Gary Rydstrom, Brian Chumney, Andy Nelson and Shawn Murphy)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Don’t Look Up (Nicholas Britell); Dune (Hans Zimmer); Encanto (Germaine Franco); Parallel Mothers (Alberto Iglesias); The Power of the Dog (Jonny Greenwood)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
CODA (screenplay by Siân Heder); Drive My Car (screenplay by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Takamasa Oe); Dune (screenplay by Jon Spaihts and Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth); The Lost Daughter (written by Maggie Gyllenhaal); The Power of the Dog (written by Jane Campion)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Belfast (written by Kenneth Branagh); Don’t Look Up (screenplay by Adam McKay; story by Adam McKay & David Sirota); King Richard (written by Zach Baylin); Licorice Pizza (written by Paul Thomas Anderson); The Worst Person in the World (written by Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier)

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
Affairs of the Art (Joanna Quinn and Les Mills); Bestia (Hugo Covarrubias and Tevo Díaz); Boxballet (Anton Dyakov); Robin Robin (Dan Ojari and Mikey Please); The Windshield Wiper (Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez)

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
Ala Kachuu — Take and Run (Maria Brendle and Nadine Lüchinger); The Dress (Tadeusz Lysiak and Maciej Ślesicki); The Long Goodbye (Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed); On My Mind (Martin Strange-Hansen and Kim Magnusson); Please Hold (K.D. Dávila and Levin Menekse)

BEST FILM EDITING
Don’t Look Up (Hank Corwin); Dune (Joe Walker); King Richard (Pamela Martin); The Power of the Dog (Peter Sciberras); Tick, Tick … Boom! (Myron Kerstein and Andrew Weisblum)

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Coming 2 America (Mike Marino, Stacey Morris and Carla Farmer); Cruella (Nadia Stacey, Naomi Donne and Julia Vernon); Dune (Donald Mowat, Love Larson and Eva von Bahr); The Eyes of Tammy Faye (Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh); House of Gucci (Göran Lundström, Anna Carin Lock and Frederic Aspiras)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Encanto (Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer); Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sørensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie); Luca (Enrico Casarosa and Andrea Warren); The Mitchells vs. the Machines (Mike Rianda, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Kurt Albrecht); Raya and the Last Dragon (Don Hall, Carlos López Estrada, Osnat Shurer and Peter Del Vecho)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Ascension (Jessica Kingdon, Kira Simon-Kennedy and Nathan Truesdell); Attica (Stanley Nelson and Traci A. Curry); Flee (Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Monica Hellström, Signe Byrge Sorensen and Charlotte De La Gournerie); Summer of Soul (Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein); Writing With Fire (Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh)

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Audible (Matt Ogens and Geoff McLean); Lead Me Home (Pedro Kos and Jon Shenk); The Queen of Basketball (Ben Proudfoot); Three Songs for Benazir (Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei); When We Were Bullies (Jay Rosenblatt)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Be Alive” — music and lyrics by DIXSON and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter (King Richard)
“Dos Oruguitas” — music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Encanto)
“Down to Joy” — music and lyrics by Van Morrison (Belfast)
“No Time to Die” — music and lyrics by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell (No Time to Die)
“Somehow You Do” — music and lyrics by Diane Warren (Four Good Days)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Dune (Greig Fraser); Nightmare Alley (Dan Laustsen); The Power of the Dog (Ari Wegner); The Tragedy of Macbeth (Bruno Delbonnel); West Side Story (Janusz Kaminski)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE
Drive My Car (Japan); Flee (Denmark); The Hand of God (Italy); Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom (Bhutan); The Worst Person in the World (Norway)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dune (production design: Patrice Vermette; set decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos); Nightmare Alley (production design: Tamara Deverell; set decoration: Shane Vieau); The Power of the Dog (production design: Grant Major; set decoration: Amber Richards); The Tragedy of Macbeth (production design: Stefan Dechant; set decoration: Nancy Haigh); West Side Story (production design: Adam Stockhausen; set decoration: Rena DeAngelo)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Dune (Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer); Free Guy (Swen Gillberg, Bryan Grill, Nikos Kalaitzidis and Dan Sudick); No Time to Die (Charlie Noble, Joel Green, Jonathan Fawkner and Chris Corbould); Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Christopher Townsend, Joe Farrell, Sean Noel Walker and Dan Oliver); Spider-Man: No Way Home (Kelly Port, Chris Waegner, Scott Edelstein and Dan Sudick)

Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF) has unveiled its 2022 program, a mammoth undertaking that will bring over 130 sessions and exclusive events to the Coffs Harbour region over 16 jam-packed days, from Thursday 21st April to Friday 6th May, 2022.

Building on the success of its 2021 Festival, SWIFF has cemented itself on the Australian film festival circuit as the premiere regional film event. In addition to hosting over 80 different feature films in 2022, SWIFF is looking to break its attendance record with the addition of its new Storyland music festival, taking place on Saturday 23rd April at Park Beach Reserve, headlined by Courtney Barnett and Hiatus Kaiyote.

SWIFF Artistic Director, Kate Howat says, “People are ready to embrace shared arts experiences again. Seeing the enthusiasm for the festival has given us license to grow bolder though, both in the addition of Storyland, and in the comprehensive film line-up we’ve made for all the film tragics out there, just like us.”

SWIFF audiences will be among the first in Australia to witness The Northman (pictured, right), the latest epic cinematic masterpiece from the visionary director, Robert Eggers (The Witch, 2015; The Lighthouse, 2020), featuring an all-star line up of Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Claus Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Willem Dafoe and, in an exciting return to the big screen after a 20-year absence, Icelandic superstar Björk.

Reinforcing its status as a truly international film event, works from 40 countries feature in this year’s World Cinema program, making it the most culturally rich line-up in SWIFF history. Highlights of the program include Kogonada’s trippy sci-fier After Yang, with Colin Farrell, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar frontrunner, Drive My Car, Sebastian Meise’s Venice Best Film winner, Great Freedom; Julia Ducornau's auto-erotica Palme d'Or winner Titane; and, the great Asghar Farhadi’s Cannes Grand Prix winner, A Hero.

Already established as a festival dedicated to local sector representation, SWIFF ‘22 will comprise a line-up of the very best in new Australian films. These include the AWGIE Award winner Ablaze, directed by Alec Morgan and Tiriki Onus, and Ithak, the story of John Shipton, father of imprisoned Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, in his fight to save his son. John Shipton, Gabriel Shipton and director Ben Lawrence are guests of the Festival.

Honouring one of the most audacious filmmakers of all time, Paul Verhoeven’s catalogue of films will take centre stage in a seven film retrospective at SWIFF. Among them are the groundbreaking 1992 blockbuster Basic Instinct; the nihilistic classic, Robocop; the rarely-seen early works Spetters (1980) and Flesh+Blood (1985, and starring festival patron, Jack Thompson); and, his latest shocker, the religious satire/nunsploitation pic, Benedetta. The strand offers a unique insight into the work of a pure provocateur whose heady cinematic cocktails mix violence, sexuality, and ambiguity, with lashings of social commentary.

The program will also showcase an extensive line-up of documentaries including the Oscar-nominated Flee, a thrilling vision fusing animation and archival footage to tell the story of a gay Afghan refugee; the Australian Premiere of Sam & Mattie Make a Zombie Movie (pictured, right), the story of two New England teenagers with Down syndrome who write and shoot their first feature film; and, the self-reflexive I Get Knocked Down, from Chumbawamba founder and anarcho-punk rocker, Dunstan Bruce.

Closing SWIFF’22 will be Everything Everywhere All At Once, by visionary filmmakers Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels (Swiss Army Man, 2016; The Death of Dick Long, 2020), a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure starring acclaimed actress Michelle Yeoh and the iconic Jamie Lee Curtis.

SWIFF Live returns with two film screenings accompanied by live music on stage. In Beautiful Dark: The Music of Twin Peaks, the iconic music of David Lynch’s masterpiece will be performed by Beautiful Dark, a 7-piece ensemble band, taking audiences on a journey through Lynch’s strange and mysterious world. And in an exclusive partnership with The Surf Film Archive, SWIFF ‘22 will present the World Premiere of That Was Then, This is Now, collaborating with Australian director Jolyon Hoff alongside live music composers Headland, to screen on Saturday 30th April at the CHEC Theatre.

SWIFF’22 is proudly presented by Ashton Designs, with Storyland made possible by the Australian Federal Government’s RISE Fund, and the NSW State Government through the Regional Event Acceleration Fund, Create NSW, and Regional Arts NSW.

They are two of the fall award season’s most star-studded and discussed films. David O’Russell returns to directing for the first time since 2015 with Amsterdam, a massive production spanning two continents and set in a post-WW1 period of free-spirited decadence and simmering fascism. And Olivia Wilde’s tabloid-fodder retro-mystery Don’t Worry Darling, which pits Florence Pugh against The American Dream in a ‘50s milieu that demands a blind eye be turned to hideous misogyny.

Prior to release, they were both singled-out as Oscar frontrunners and in all likelihood will still factor, albeit in below-the-line categories like costume design, art direction, production design. Both are stunning films to look at, their imagined worlds rich with colours and camera tricks that provide some giddy visual moments. Pugh might jag a Best Actress nomination for her gutsy turn, too. But critics have been a bit down on them as a whole - Don’t Worry Darling has some passionate advocates, but is topping out at 40% on Rotten Tomatoes; Amsterdam, slightly worse off at 35%.

I’m in the Fresh Tomato crate on both, while also certainly acknowledging that both films are flawed in ways they shouldn’t be (especially Amsterdam, which is O’Russell at his most wildly self-indulgent). What I find particularly fascinating is that they are mainstream studio projects that give full-flight to entirely constructed realities constructed to address the most pertinent social issues of contemporary Western society. Yes, I wish they were better films, but I’m glad they are being made at all. (Pictured, right: from left, John David Washington, Margot Robbie, Rami Malek and Anya Taylor-Joy in Amsterdam) 

Don’t Worry Darling imagines a manicured suburban paradise built to serve the male employees of The Victory Project, a secret undertaking that starts to smell to Alice (Florence Pugh) like a global domination cult based on the principles of patriarchal superiority. She’s married to the upwardly mobile Jack (Harry Styles), one of the key offsiders to the Hank Scorpion-like Victory Project boss, Frank (Chris Pine), who demands the ladies of his utopian America just lay back and enjoy the spoils of their husband’s worklife, no questions asked. Wilde and scriptwriter Katie Silberman work in some fantasy elements to shade the film in cool scifi-ey, genre beats, but the message finds an urgent clarity - ladies, fight back, kicking and screaming, or lose your voice entirely.

Amsterdam bounces back and forth between 1930’s NYC, the European theatre of conflict in 1917 and the titular bohemia of 1919. Two wounded soldier buddies (Christian Bale, John David Washington) bond with a French/not-French nurse (Margot Robbie) in a friendship pact that carries them all the way to the soulless strengthening of corporate greed in a booming pre-WWII U.S. economy. From that dark seed, the ties that bind fascism and capitalism are sown. There are a multitude of eccentric sideways deviations in O’Russell’s ‘cuckoo’ farce, affording a whole lot of stars (Zoe Saldana, Mike Myers, Ed Begley Jr, Robert de Niro, Rami Malek, Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Rock, Taylor Swift) some flavoursome bit parts. But mostly, Amsterdam is a nutty, noisy narrative about the birth of Trump’s America.

The end-goal impact that Wilde and O’Russell were working towards is to be found in two landmark films that remain relevant today. Don’t Worry Darling recalls The Stepford Wives (Bryan Forbes' 1975 original, and definitely not Frank Oz’s 2004 misdirection), which conjures a similar well-to-do American middle class designed to continually strengthen the patriarchy. And both films want to expose the horrors of modern life in the way that Peter Weir and Andrew Niccol did in 1998 with The Truman Show, the visionary takedown of the entertainment sector’s most shameless exploitation model, the then newly-minted world of reality TV. (Pictured, above: Katharine Ross in The Stepford Wives)

Neither Don’t Worry Darling nor Amsterdam nail it with precision, but they do indicate that smart, ambitious, high-end social commentary is still on the studio agenda. Audiences may need a little more convincing; at time of writing, O’Russell’s US$80million folly is bombing, while Wilde’s starry vision is waning after a strong first week. And there are factors out of the industry’s control that are in play, like the difficulty more adult-skewing pics are having in drawing audiences post-COVID. But both films suggest that at least some of the Hollywood hierarchy take their role as arbiters of the world’s most popular and influential artform seriously.

Hollywood offered up its traditional sludge - a dire video-game adaptation (Uncharted), a terrible remake (Firestarter), a cash-grab franchise low (Jurassic World Dominion), and an MCU nadir (Doctor Strange and The Multiverse of Madness). The ongoing descent of Mel Gibson into B-movie hell plummeted alarmingly with the unforgivably stupid On The Line.

Beyond Hollywood…same stink, different s**t. The Phantom of the Open proved that there’s a razor’s edge between ‘Mark Rylance Great Actor’ and ‘Mark Rylance Shameless Ham’ (the jury is split on his odd turn in Bones and All). All Jacked Up and Full of Worms, despite the year’s best title, was a putrid, shock-for-shock-sake cult wannabe that became the film that hipsters mentioned to seem cool. Australia had one of those films, too - the teen-trauma misery-porn of Blaze, art-directed with no eye for storytelling by gallery darling Del Kathryn Barton.  

But it fell to the streaming platforms to find me the five that had me truly gagging on my movie-viewing in 2022:  

5. THE MAN FROM TORONTO (Dir: Patrick Hughes | Stars: Kevin Hart, Woody Harrelson, Ellen Barkin | U.S. | 110 mins) Jason Statham dropped out over script issues (wait…WHAT?!) and Woody Harrelson was shoe-horned into the kind of overproduced, underdone buddy comedy/star vehicle that is crippling Netflix’s credibility with viewers. (Netflix)

4. PINOCCHIO (Dir: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt (voice), Cynthia Erivo (voice) | U.S. | 105 mins) Has any filmmaker fallen so far in audience esteem as Robert Zemeckis? The latest bold, red line under his name was this treacherous Disney exploitation of one of their most beloved cartoon characters. (Disney+)

3. BIG BUG (Dir: Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Isabelle Nanty, Elsa Zylberstein, Claude Perron | France | 111 mins) Pitched as some kind of farcical social satire, this typically ‘European’ but atypically awful sci-fi vision of a dystopic near-future repped a lowpoint for the once great French visualist. (Netflix)

2. POKER FACE (Dir: Russell Crowe | Stars: Russell Crowe, Steve Bastoni, Liam Hemsworth | Australia | 94 mins) There’s ‘vanity project’ and then there’s Poker Face, in which Russell Crowe paints himself as a ‘secret angel’ benefactor for his already well-off mates and unfaithful family members. This guy has an Oscar, yet exhibits no discernable storytelling skill in a single frame of this streaming pile of s**t. (Stan)

1. THE BUBBLE (Dir: Judd Apatow | Stars: Karen Gillan, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key | U.S. | 126 mins) I actually admire that they tried to pull off a COVID lockdown comedy while in their own production ‘bubble’. But it feels like an improvised sketch run amok, with no one providing any ‘in-points’ for the group to react with; not a single scene offers a laugh - topical, nonsensical, satirical, whatever. It’s 126 minutes (!!) of talented people hoping someone else will do something funny. They don’t. (Netflix)

NOW CHECK OUT OUR BEST FILMS OF 2022 HERE.

Courtesy of Kismet Films, SCREEN-SPACE has 6 in-season double passes to give away to see Paul Mescal in his Oscar-nominated performance in AFTERSUN, the universally acclaimed debut feature from writer/director Charlotte Wells.

TO WIN, simply tell us in 25 words or less about that special family holiday you remember from your childhood. Provide your answer in the comments section below.  

Set in a fading vacation resort in the mid '90s, 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) treasures rare time together with her loving and idealistic father, Calum (Paul Mescal). As a world of adolescence creeps into view, beyond her eye Calum struggles under the weight of life outside of fatherhood. Twenty years later, Sophie's tender recollections of their last holiday become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn't, in Wells' superb and searingly emotional debut film.

Critics have been unanimous in their praise...:

"A tremendous film. Something that looks at a hard topic like depression in a very beautiful and human way." - BBC.com

"A triumph of new British filmmaking." - Empire

"Every moment, every snippet of dialogue, every detail down to the smallest role or the tiniest detail in the background feels like a vibrant slice of real life." - Chicago Sun-Times

AFTERSUN is in Australian cinemas from February 23.

T&Cs: 
Australian residents only, sorry; competition closes 11.59pm on Wednesday February 22, 2023. This is a game of skill and entries will be judged by Screen-Space contributors; the judge's decision will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. Double-passes will be emailed to winners and may be used at all participating cinemas, at the venue's discretion. The prize is not transferable for cash or to be used with any other offer on any other film in general release. 

We've got a lot to say about this year's Academy Award contenders. So much, in fact, we've split our annual predictions piece into two. Pick some fights with us on this page, then follow the link to Round 2... 

Check out 2023 OSCAR PREDICTIONS, PART 2: DIRECTOR, ACTRESSES, ADAPTED SCREENPLAY, ANIMATED FILM PLUS LOTS MORE here.

BEST PICTURE: 
The Guild community, which makes up a big chunk of the AMPAS voters, seem pretty united on this front, with Everything Everywhere All at Once taking the award season spoils in recent weeks across a lot of categories. Tough to bet against it at this stage. The other multi-nominated challenger, All Quiet on the Western Front, will get its dues in the International Feature category. 
NOMINEES:All Quiet on the Western Front; Avatar: The Way of Water; The Banshees of Inisherin; Elvis; Everything Everywhere All at Once; The Fabelmans; Tár; Top Gun: Maverick; Triangle of Sadness; Women Talking
WHO SHOULD WIN: Triangle of Sadness
WHO WILL WIN: Everything Everywhere All at Once.

In Part 2 of our Oscar Predictions piece, we make some big calls (yes, Ana de Armas should win for Blonde!) and hope you're along for the ride.

Read 2023 OSCAR PREDICTIONS, PART 1: FILM, ACTORS, ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY, SONG PLUS LOTS MORE here.

BEST DIRECTOR
Splitting the Director and Film honours used to be an anomaly, but that’s on the turn. I think it’ll happen again this year; The Daniels will get their individual trophies in the Original Screenplay category, but get pipped here by Steven Spielberg for The Fabelmans. Todd Field can consider himself unlucky that Tar is up against a buzz title in Everything…. And a sentimental fave in Fabelmans, because Tar is masterfully helmed.     
NOMINEES: Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness; Todd Field, Tár; Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once; Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin; Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans.
WHO SHOULD WIN: Todd Field for Tár.
WHO WILL WIN: Steven Spielberg for The Fabelmans

Cinematographer Jacques Haitkin passed away aged 72 on March 21 2023, leaving behind a legacy of images that helped shape a generation of film fans. Not cinephiles or academics (although they’ve come to appreciate him, too) but film ‘fans’; those that love the visceral thrills, stomach-tightening horrors or giggly chuckles of that unbalanced American cinema that is often ignored or derided as ‘B-movie’ schlock upon release, but which creeps its way to cult status over time. 

Working with masters like Wes Craven, Jack Sholder, Steve de Jarnatt, Larry Cohen, Stewart Raffill and Kevin Connor, the NYC-native Haitkin forged a filmography that provides a wonderful snapshot of ‘80s genre favourites; films that provided repeat-viewing pleasure for the VHS-educated generation of movie watchers. They were often viewed on scratchy rental cassettes, panned-and-scanned to fit square TVs, and only fully appreciated for their skill and craft in restored incarnations. Despite (or perhaps because of) their origins, these are the works that make us love a world seen through the lens of Jacques Haitkin.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (1984) and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE (1985): No one expected Wes Craven’s 1984 high-concept teen-horror pic to be the game-changer it became, but when A Nightmare on Elm Street hit big, the industry asked, ‘How did that happen?’. Many laid the film’s success at the countless iconic images that Haitkin and Craven conjured. The D.O.P. returned for the sequel, under new helmer Jack Sholder; the film would not find immediate favour with audiences or critics, but has grown in stature ever since. (He worked with Craven again on Shocker, in 1989).

THE HIDDEN (1987) and CHERRY 2000 (1987): Haitkin reteamed with Sholder to shoot alien-possession action-thriller The Hidden, one of the late ‘80s most thrilling B-movie experiences. Arguably his most ambitious shoot was alongside Steve de Jarnatt on the dystopian action film Cherry 2000, in which he employed an otherworldly colour palette. These two films, along with his …Elm Street undertakings, are his most popular and enduring works; this professional period also provided such future cult faves as Charlie Loventhal’s My Demon Lover (1987); actor Anthony Perkin’s black comedy/horror, Lucky Stiff (1988); Larry Cohen’s The Ambulance, with Eric Roberts (1990); and, Greg Beeman’s Mom and Dad Save the World (1992), with Teri Garr. 

GALAXY OF TERROR (1981) and THE LOST EMPIRE (1984): There is no avoiding the fact that a couple of Haitkin’s gigs have a ‘bad film’ stink attached to them. But it is also worth pointing out that his ‘so-bad-they’re-good’ projects can’t be faulted for his lensing. Bruce D. Clark’s low-budget Alien riff, Galaxy of Terror, from the production house of the legendary Roger Corman, was rich with BTS talent - Bill Paxton did set decoration; James Cameron, the production designer and 2nd Unit director. Jim Wynorski’s The Lost Empire, an ultra low-budget camp romp made for the booming home video market…well, yeah, it is pretty bad.

THE TIM CONWAY COMEDIES: THEY WENT THAT-A-WAY & THAT-A-WAY (1978), THE PRIZE FIGHTER (1979), THE PRIVATE EYES (1980): Haitkin had graduated from NYU Film School and by the mid 1970s, had earned a reputation for being a skilled young cinematographer; his 1972 short, Hot Dogs for Gaugin, shot with director Martin Brest and actor Danny De Vito, earned him a cinematography fellowship at the American Film Institute. Things hit big for Haitkin in 1977-78, when he first shot the ‘blaxploitation’ actioner The Hitter with Ron O’Neal, then scored DOP duties on three old-school comedies starring funnyman, Tim Conway (and TV star thanks to the hit sketch series, The Carol Burnett Show). For co-directors Stuart E. McGowan and Edward Montagne, he lensed the prison-set comedy, They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way. The surprise hit meant Haitkin would be asked to bring his crowd pleasing comedy framing to Conway’s follow-ups, which paired him with fellow ageing clown, Don Knotts - Michael Preece’s boxing pic The Prize Fighter (1979), and Laing Elliott’s UK-set farce, The Private Eyes (1980).

THE T.V. MOVIES: Haitkin moved effortlessly between big- and small-screen work. His TV sector output contains some of his resonant works. His choice of films showed a keen commercial instinct; many reliably sold into the international home video and television markets. Foremost amongst them were The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1980), with Robert Hays and Pam Dawber; St. Helens (1981), a large-scale dramatization of America’s volcano disaster; Save the Dog! (1988), starring Cindy Williams; Buried Alive (1990), for young director Frank Darabont and star Jennifer Jason Leigh; the cult horror film Strays! (1991), with Kathleen Quinlan; and, for his old friend Jack Sholder, the chilling true-life shark attack drama, 12 Days of Terror (2004).

“It is the journey north that the Screen-Space team (i.e., me, with my +1) have undertaken six times. The pilgrimage to Coffs Harbour for the Screenwave International Film Festival, the ever-expanding regional film celebration that brings global cinema, old and new, to the N.S.W. F.N.C. If I had to pick only six, on the Festival’s popular ‘Six Pass’, here they are, but it’s academic, as I’ll be in town for two weeks and cramming my days and nights with SWIFF sessions. As should you.” - Simon Foster, Managing Editor. 

THE SPIRAL (Dir: Maria Silvia Esteve | Argentina, 20 mins)  + LUX AETERNA (Dir: Gaspar Noè | starring Beatrice Dalle, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Abbey Lee | France, 55 mins)
Sometimes cinema should be an assault on the senses, and nobody assaults like French agitator Gaspar Noè, whose oeuvre reads like a dictionary entry for ‘uncomfortable cinema’ - Climax (2018); Love (2015); Enter the Void (2009); Irreversible (2002). The pairing of his latest, Lux Aeterna, with Argentinian surrealist auteur Maria Silvia Esteve’s stream-of-subconscious nightmare The Spiral is inspired programming; a daring, disturbing descent into film as an extension of our darkest psyche.
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THE FLY (Dir: David Cronenberg | starring Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis | U.S.A, 96 mins)
As scientist Seth Brundle, whose matter transference device accidentally becomes a high-tech gene-splicer, with horrific results, Jeff Goldblum was a revelation. There was huge industry support for him in the 1986 Best Actor Oscar race, rewarding the humanity he brought to a performance mostly buried deep in prosthetic make-up (like the nomination they gave to John Hurt for The Elephant Man), but that did not eventuate. David Cronenberg’s The Fly is a near-perfect mash-up of nightmarish body-horror and heart-breaking romantic drama. Some argue that John Carpenter’s The Thing is Hollywood’s greatest remake; for me, it comes an admirable second.
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FINAL CUT (Dir: Michel Hazanavicius | starring Romain Duris, Bérénice Bejo | France, 112 mins)
The last time that Michel Hazanavicius paid homage to the wonderful world of cinema, he won the Best Picture Oscar, with 2011’s monochromatic mute musical, The Artist. That’s probably not going to happen again for Final Cut, what with The Academy’s largely poo-pooing all things horror, but the French director’s bloody, hilarious zom-com (which opened Cannes 2022) is no less an insider’s elevated spin on the giddy, ego-driven, tempestuous island that is a modern movie set. Very groovy, very gory; if you love those early Peter Jackson films, you’ll love the latest Michel Hazanavicius one.
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ENNIO: THE MAESTRO (Dir: Giuseppe Tornatore | Italy, 156 mins)
Charting the creative journey and cultural impact of the great film composer is pure cinephile catnip, and Giuseppe Tornatore’s rousing, deeply moving documentary works on that ‘fan service’ level for every second of its 156 minutes. But where it truly soars is in its study of the man’s influences and inspirations; the chords and melodies that captured his imagination then morphed into some of the greatest film soundtracks ever written. Just ask Quentin tarantino, Oliver Stone, Barry Levinson, Clint Eastwood, Terrence Malick, and many more; Tornatore did, and their answers shed a profound light on Ennio Morricone’s musical legacy.
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INFINITY POOL (Dir: Brandon Cronenberg | starring Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth | Canada, 131 mins)
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Cronenberg household, with son Brandon’s latest, Infinity Pool, plunging into the themes of psycho-sexual, body-horror gender conflict just as his father David did with works like Crash (1996) and Dead Ringers (1988). Cronenberg Jr. is a divisive talent - couldn’t gel with his feature debut, Antiviral (2012) but really dug his follow-up Possessor (2020) - and his latest looks to be more of the intellect-challenging, stomach-churning Canadian creepiness that we’ve come to expect from the Cronenberg clan.
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CORNERS OF THE EARTH: KAMCHATKA (Dirs: Spencer Frost, Guy Williment | Australia, 90 mins)
It’s not enough for directors Spencer Frost and Guy Williment, with surfers Letty Mortenson and Fraser Dovell along for the 3-day plane/helicopter/snowmobile ride, to seek out the most remote surfing conditions in the world. It also has to be on the east coast of Russia, in sub-arctic conditions…um, there was one more thing?...oh yeah! On the very day that their host country declares war on neighbouring Ukraine! The footage of the lads taking on the brutal cold, both on land and at sea, is breathtaking; their interactions with the surfing community of Kamchatka, heartwarming; and, the isolation from western influence as the war escalates and resources are compromised, engrossing.
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Full ticketing and session details can be found at the SWIFF Official Website.

There is a skill that comes with experience when you set out to pick your must-see Sydney Film Festival ten films. If I book this one, do I miss that one? If I miss that one, can I catch it at Newtown, Randwick or Cremorne? Does it have a local distributor, and a likely release soon anyway? What’s its Rotten Tomatoes rating? Wasn’t this booed at Cannes (if so, I’m in!)? And where do I even park at that time of day?! With all that in mind, Team Screen-Space zeroed in on the ten films that will have earned our time and dollars by Closing Night 2023…

THUNDER (Dir: Carmen Jaquier; Switzerland, 92 mins) In the summer of 1900, pious 17-year-old Elisabeth learns of the death of her sister, Innocente. Ripped away from her beloved nunnery, she returns home to the Valais Valley, where an encounter with three village boys and Innocente’s hidden diary awakens stirrings in the touch-starved novice. Director Carmen Jacquier’s debut draws on the staggering beauty of the mountains and rivers, in an elemental portrayal of youth caught between restriction and discovery, desire and God. BUY TICKETS

SNOW AND THE BEAR (Dir: Selcen Ergun; Türkiye, 93 min) Selcen Ergun’s directorial debut begins with a car driving through a snowy Turkish hinterland, setting an ominous note of isolation and paranoia that continues right up to the haunting final shot. The car’s driver is headstrong young nurse Asli (Merve Dizdar), who has arrived in a small village for compulsory service. The men look down upon Asli, but that is the least of her worries when a townsperson disappears and the locals settle with conspicuous certainty on a bear attack as the cause. BUY TICKETS

SISU (Dir: Jalmari Helander; Finland 91 mins) Tipping its hat to no-nonsense action movies that dominated drive-ins in the ’70s and home video in the ’80s, Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander’s splattery Sisu won of Best Picture, Cinematography, Music and Actor (Jorma Tommila) at Sitges on its way to Sydney; a thunderous revenge tale that pits a grizzled old geezer against a bunch of arrogant Aryans with no idea what they’re in for. BUY TICKETS

RAGING GRACE (Dir: Paris Zarcilla; UK, 99 mins) Joy is almost invisible to the rich Londoners whose houses she cleans. With cheeky young daughter Grace to support and huge visa fees to pay if she wants to avoid deportation, Joy has to take any work she can find. Zarcilla’s intelligent screenplay hits high gear when Joy lands a job as live-in caretaker at the musty ol’ Garrett Manor. Reality and fantasy combine as revelations about her strange new home bring all kinds of demons into the open. BUY TICKETS

PICTURES OF GHOSTS (Dir: Kleber Mendonça Filho; Brazil 93 mins) The Brazilian city of Recife has been home to Mendonça Filho’s family since the 1970s and it is where he discovered cinema in the grand picture palaces of the time. Shot over decades, the film features a delightful, humorous narration by Mendonça Filho himself, and is a glorious love letter to his historian mother Joselice, his neighbourhood and the films and cinemas that made him. BUY TICKETS

OMEN (Dir: Baloji; Belgium 90 mins) Banished from Congo because he was considered a sorcerer, Koffi and his partner Alice return to reconcile with his family but receive a welcome that’s anything but warm. In telling this compelling story, Baloji takes fascinating diversions through the streets of vibrant Lubumbashi, capturing unforgettable images; Omen marks the emergence of an incredible filmmaking talent. BUY TICKETS

LAST THINGS (Dir: Deborah Stratman; USA, Portugal, France 50 minS) Iridescent crystals spin and exquisite fractal patterns bloom. The camera zooms out to lunar landscapes and in on chondrules (droplets of solar nebula) glimmering like stained glass under a microscope. Stratman’s camera ekes wonder from seemingly inert matter, celebrating – in her words – the ‘delicious candy snack' appeal of the geo-biosphere. Embracing otherworldly visual thrills, Last Things takes pleasure in the unknown. BUY TICKETS

JOAN BAEZ I AM A NOISE (Dirs: Karen O'Connor, Miri Navasky, Maeve O'Boyle; USA, 113 mins) With a career spanning over 60 years, Baez has a lifetime of stories and secrets to share, but she also has boxes of never-before-seen home movies, diaries, paintings and audio recordings. This treasure trove forms the basis of a compelling doco-portrait, alongside archival footage and revealing interviews with the now 82-year-old. BUY TICKETS

GAGA (Dir: Laha Mebow; Taiwan 111 mins) Grandpa Hayung has spent his life following ‘gaga’, the spiritual traditions of the Indigenous Tayal people. Few others abide by gaga nowadays, including Mayor Toli, who has started encroaching on Hayung’s land and inspiring eldest son Pasang to run for mayor, hoping to reclaim his family’s status. Featuring a big-hearted ensemble of non-professional actors, Mebow beautifully depicts the complexities of modern family life that retains a connection to ancient culture. BUY TICKETS

BLUE BAG LIFE (Dirs: Rebecca Lloyd-Evans, Lisa Selby, Alex Fry; UK, 92 mins) Even though her mother abandoned her as a baby, Lisa Selby idolised her glamourous yet addicted parent. Flicking through photo albums and searching online she tries to find a connection, but her mother is dying and her partner is jailed for drug dealing. All this trauma, captured on iPhones and hard drives, is assembled into an emotionally raw and striking factual film. BUY TICKETS

As I write this, we near the final week of 2023, and the industry question that all the trade papers are pondering is, “Is cinema back?”

Variety notes that, unless Wonka and Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom overperform, the domestic U.S. box office will fall just shy of $9billion - the number that analysts have set as a healthy highwater mark for the first full twelve months of cinema patronage, post-COVID. Fact is, if Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania or Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny or Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1 had realised their full potential; or, if The Marvels had contributed at all; or, if the biggest industrial action in Hollywood history hadn’t bumped to 2024 a bevy of pics (including the one-two Zendaya punch of Dune: Part Two and Challengers), that $9billion would’ve been shrinking in the rear-view mirror.

Also, let’s not ignore the phenomenon that was #Barbenheimer, an unambiguous pop culture moment that proved that movies can still cut through and hold the global society in their thrall. Some sequels worked just fine (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; John Wick: Chapter 4); fresh content connected (M3GAN; Five Nights at Freddy; Sound of Freedom); and, nostalgia proved lucrative (The Super Mario Bros. Movie; The Little Mermaid). 

And that Variety article also points out that, although 2023 will fall short of $10b-$11b levels that were de rigueur pre-COVID, studios also premiered a lot less movies this year. There were 88 films released in 2023 compared to 108 in 2019, when ticket sales reached $10.5 billion. 

So…well, there’s still some ground to make up but, yeah, cinema is back.

Here are my favourites of 2023.

Simon Foster
Editor, SCREEN-SPACE

1. ANATOMY OF A FALL (Dir: Justine Triet | Stars Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado Graner | France | 171 mins) The framework is a cop/court procedural - did he fall? was he pushed? what does the boy know? - and Anatomy of a Fall is a compelling take on that well-worn genre. There’s more to Justine Triet’s best ever film, however. A marriage is imploding; a child is witness to the disintegration of his stability; violence dwells and swells within this middle-class setting. Anatomy of a Fall is anxiety as an artform; an intimate epic about the deceitful depths we plumb to not only keep secrets but convince ourselves we are justified in doing so. As 2023 closes out, Sandra Hüller is the finest European actress of her generation (see also, The Zone of Interest). 

2. THE CONCERT FILM - TAYLOR SWIFT: THE ERAS TOUR (Dir: Sam Wrench | USA | 169 mins); RENAISSANCE: A FILM BY BEYONCÉ (Dir: Beyoncé, Ed Burke | USA | 169 mins); STOP MAKING SENSE Remastered (Dir: Jonathan Demme | USA | 88 mins) Can the concert documentary recapture the immersive thrill of the world’s biggest music shows? No, of course not, but the very best do what any great cinema does and conjure a version of reality that enhances it as only film can. Whether it is the giddy performance highs that Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour delivered, or the glimpse inside a brilliant diva-artist’s creative process that Beyoncé’s Renaissance revealed, there was no matching the sheer cinematic bravado they provided in 2023. Or in 1984, for that matter, as the remastered Stop Making Sense reaffirmed. 

3. PAST LIVES (Dir: Celine Song | Stars Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro | USA, South Korea | 105 mins) The year’s most beautiful  narrative examines a soulful connection that fate keeps determinedly apart…in this life, anyway. Celine Song wrote and directed a deconstruction of love that tears at the very fibre of what we’ve been conditioned to expect a screen romance should be. Greta Lee has a Best Actress nomination in the bag; the denouement will reduce you to sobs.     

4. GODZILLA MINUS ONE (Dir: Takashi Yamazaki | Stars Minami Hamabe, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Sakura Ando | Japan | 124 mins) It’s been seven years since Toho Studios released a Godzilla adventure; in the interim, those amongst us who worship at the mighty lizard’s talons have had to settle for just-OK Hollywood versions. This year, Toho and FX maestro-turned-director Takashi Yamazaki took Godzilla back to a post WWII Japan, crafting the most heartfelt, exciting action blockbuster of the year.     

5. PERFECT DAYS (Dir: Wim Wenders | Stars Kôji Yakusho, Tokio Emoto, Arisa Nakano | Japan, Germany | 123 mins) Kôji Yakusho won the Cannes Best Actor trophy as Hirayama, a Tokyo everyman who finds contentment in life’s smallest details. A book by lamplight; his favourite driving song; a sandwich in the park; the slightest moment of shared joy with a stranger. There’s more to Hirayama’s inner life, of course, but director Wim Wenders will take you there when he’s ready. Afterwards, you’ll float from the cinema.   

6. BARBIE (Dir: Greta Gerwig | Stars Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling | USA | 114 mins) When Greta and Margot had a dolly playdate, moviegoers to the tune of US$1.45billion - the highest global gross in Warner Bros. history - joined in the fun. After years of script development, the final polish came amidst The #MeToo Movement and Trump’s toxic reign; the result was the smartest, funniest possible brand-based film adaptation ever. 

7. BEYOND UTOPIA (Dir: Madeleine Gavin | USA | 115) No capes and tights defined this year’s greatest film hero. His name is Pastor Seungeun Kim, a South Korean human rights activist whose efforts to aid a family of five seeking refuge from North Korea’s heartless regime makes for the most gripping and heartbreaking factual filmmaking experience 0f 2023. A great geopolitical thriller and bracing testament to the importance of film journalism.  

8. REALITY (Dir: Tina Satter | Stars Sydney Sweeney, Josh Hamilton, Marchánt Davis | USA | 83 mins) As the intelligence specialist who blew the whistle on Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election, Sydney Sweeney went from being next-big-thing to Big Thing. In Tina Satter’s ultra-realistic portrayal of Reality Winner’s takedown, Sweeney conveys a brittle fragility grounded in a bedrock of integrity; a few decades back, Shelley Duvall or Sissy Spacek would have similarly nailed the part.    

9. NIMONA (Dirs: Nick Bruno, Troy Quane | Voice cast Stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Riz Ahmed, Eugene Lee Yang | USA | 101 mins) Imagine a fantasy world where the latest Disney princess is not the bog standard hetero-normative stereotype, but instead an androgynous punk-rock shapeshifter with a taste for wicked misadventure. Stunning design and progressive but non-preachy plotting make Nimona a line-in-the-sand moment for one of cinema’s oldest disciplines. 

10. BOTTOMS (Dir: Emma Seligman | Stars Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, Ruby Cruz | USA | 91 mins) Sennot and Seligman signposted their MO with Shiva Baby a few years back - cringey, character-based comedy with a tart mouth and big heart. Their sophomore effort is more of the same, with the added sheen of a studio teen pic but no-less brimming with their indie ‘f**k off’ joie de vivre. It-girl Ayo Edibiri seals the deal. 

THE NEXT BEST TEN:

• TIME ADDICTS (Dir: Sam Odlum | Stars Freya Tingley, Charles Grounds, Joshua Morton | Australia | 97 mins)
• TO CATCH A KILLER (Dir: Damián Szifron | Stars Shailene Woodley, Ben Mendelsohn, Jovan Adepo | USA, Canada | 119 mins)
• ASTEROID CITY (Dir: Wes Anderson | Stars Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks | USA, Germany | 105 mins)
• POOR THINGS (Dir: Yorgos Lanthimos | Stars Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Rufalo | Ireland, United Kingdom, USA | 141 mins)
• STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE (Dir: Davis Guggenheim | USA | 95 mins)
• THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES (Dir: Asmae El Moudir | Stars Mohamed El Moudir, Asmae ElMoudir, Zahra Jeddaoui | Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar | 96 mins)
• OPPENHEIMER (Dir: Christopher Nolan | Stars Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt | USA, UK | 180 mins)
• MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD RECKONING PART 1 (Dir: Christopher McQuarrie | Stars Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Esai Morales | USA | 163 mins)
• CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT (Dir: Thomas Negovan, Tinto Brass | Stars Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole | USA | 178 mins)
• HE AIN’T HEAVY (Dir: David Vincent Smith | Stars Leila George, Sam Corlett, Greta Scacchi | Australia | 103 mins)

When the arguments about who have been ‘snubbed’ arise each year in the wake of the Oscar nominations announcement, there is always a counter-argument about who should have missed out to make way. There isn’t a name amongst the nominees that we’d begrudge their spot. But there is certainly a sense of “What might have been…” when you consider our most startling non-nominees…

GRETA GERWIG (Best Director) and MARGOT ROBBIE (Best Actress): They weren’t technically shut out of the ceremony - Greta, with hubby Noah Baumbach, are up for Adapted Screenplay; Robbie as a producer for Best Picture - but the now decade-long trend that favoured viewer-inducing box-office hits in key categories screeched to a halt when the Barbie pair missed out. Just as last year, when Tom Cruise’s cinema-saving return as Maverick was ignored, Robbie and her director deserved Oscar’s respect - for both shepherding the film’s bold narrative to fruition and its billion dollar box office.

BEST DOCUMENTARY - BEYOND UTOPIA (pictured, right) and STILL: A MICHAEL J. FOX MOVIE: The first-person factual filmmaking masterclass in 2023 was Madeleine Gavin’s account of the horrors of life in North Korea and one family’s odyssey to freedom. And the soul laid bare that Davis Guggenheim’s camera captures in his profoundly moving chat with Hollywood’s favourite son is unforgettable viewing. How these two missed a Best Doco slot…well, I just don’t get it…  

BEST ACTOR - JOAQUIN PHOENIX (Beau is Afraid) and NICHOLAS CAGE (Dream Scenario): Seems there is only room for one obnoxious, neurotic white guy in the Best Actor mix, and that spot was filled by Paul Giamatti in The Holdovers. Phoenix’s masterclass in anxiety and Cage’s everyman dream guy were, let’s be frank, far more nuanced and inventive performances than Giamatti’s one-note, smart-alec, cliched academic, but…well, here we are.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS - RACHEL McADAMS (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret) and PENELOPE CRUZ (Ferrari): Admittedly, this was a super-competitive category, as usual. But both McAdams, as the perfect movie-mom incarnation ever in the adored adaptation of Judy Blume’s YA-lit classic, and Cruz, as the emotionally-tortured wife of the automobile industry giant, support their films with invaluable, indelible characterisations.  

BEST ACTRESS - GRETA LEE (Past Lives; pictured, right): Another example of a film that didn’t go unnoticed - Past Lives earned two nominations, including Best Film - but one that couldn’t hold award season momentum in the category it deserved most, Best Actress, for the luminous Greta Lee. We can legitimately point an accusing finger at the FYC marketing budget at Netflix; Annette Bening’s kind-of surprising inclusion here for the streamer’s biopic Nyad stole away Lee’s shot at a trophy.   

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM - FALLEN LEAVES (Finland) and THE MOTHER OF ALL LIES (Morocco): These are two films that bear the unmistakably unique hallmarks of two truly singular auteur’s - Finnish cinema’s national treasure, Aki Kaurismäki and one of 2023’s breakout talents, Asmae ElMoudir, from Morocco. Their films were perhaps ultimately too idiosyncratic, given the Best International Film spots were taken by the far more palatable Society of the Snow (no pun intended) and Perfect Days (which we love, so no shade intended).

BEST SONG - “PEACHES” by JACK BLACK (The Super Mario Bros. Movie): Can you imagine the giggly, crowd-pleasing thrill of following up Ryan Gosling’s live rendition of ‘I’m Just Ken’ with Jack Black going all-in on stage as his SMB villain Bowser singing his unhinged love serenade ‘Peaches’? Well, it ain’t gonna happen. Black’s brilliantly comedic ballad, an inspired intermission in the otherwise frantic animated hit, should’ve been nominated.      

EVERYTHING SALTBURN: There was a tangible momentum over the last month that suggested Emerald Fennell’s hot-button pic was on Oscar’s radar. Barry Keoghan for Best Actor; Rosamund Pike for Supporting Actress; Original Script, Set and Costume Design, Cinematography, Editing all seemed within reach. But the divisive film instead fell in with a prestige crowd that includes The Iron Claw, Priscilla, All of Us Strangers, Eileen, A Thousand and One, Origin, Memory, Asteroid City - great films from 2023 that didn’t get their shot.

SEE THE FULL LIST OF NOMINATIONS HERE