Although directed by Jocelyn Moorehouse, The Dressmaker has the stamp of its writer and producer P.J. Hogan all over it. Like Hogan’s classic Muriel’s Wedding, The Dressmaker is a quirky Australian comedy that pits a sophisticated outsider against prejudiced Aussie bogans, celebrates femininity and glamorous reinvention while satirising both, has a wedding scene but also makes frequent turns into darker
Read moreMany films have explored the idea of a person’s dark past coming back to haunt them like some monster from the Id; Sexy Beast and Cape Fear being two thrilling examples. New Australian crime drama Cut Snake, which is set in 1970’s Brisbane, revisits this theme with impressively tense and disturbing results. Alex Russell plays young factory worker Merv or
Read moreWith the initial Mad Max film trilogy, director George Miller established an idiosyncratic but distinctly Australian franchise that earned first a cult then a mainstream following and provided a springboard for star Mel Gibson’s ascent into the Hollywood stratosphere. After a mere 30 years Miller has delivered the fourth instalment Mad Max: Fury Road. The film has thus far had
Read moreA stand-up comedian doing a film about the life of a stand-up comedian seems very self-indulgent. That feeling is inescapable throughout the so-called romantic comedy/drama Manny Lewis. Popular comedian Carl Barron plays the title character, a droll, cynical, self-deprecating and often unlikeable stand-up comedian whose material often seems to be based on some disturbing child hood experiences. His off-stage life
Read moreThe high sugar content of our diet has increasingly been named in the medical literature and the popular media as a health problem. Concerned about this, Aussie actor and now director, Damon Gameau a non-sugar consumer, investigated the impact of sugar on his health by consuming supposedly healthy but sugar-laden foods such as cereals and yoghurt for 60 days and
Read moreJohn Doe: Vigilante is bound to divide audiences and evoke volatile reactions for both its subject matter and its film-making style. Taking perhaps too many thematic and plot cues from 90’s serial killer films such as Natural Born Killers and Seven, the film follows an Aussie vigilante killer calling himself John Doe who murders assorted criminals who he thinks have
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