British playwright Alan Bennett (The History Boys; The Lady in the Van) has been documenting and dramatising the British character and the country’s institutions for decades. His play Allelujah, which examined the health system and its impact on the vulnerable people within in it has now been turned into a film. While at times very affecting, occasionally grim, sometimes amusing,
Read moreThe surreal, dreamlike Polish animal adventure EO, which comes from veteran director Jerzy Skolimoski, is one of the most intriguing and affecting films of the year. While a donkey played a small supporting role in Banshees Of Inisherin, in this film, our four-legged friend takes his rightful place as the lead. Here, former circus performer Eo escapes the farm to
Read moreMacedonian Australian director Goran Stolevski leapt to the cinema world’s attention with his remarkable, feminist-themed, 2022 supernatural horror film You Won’t Be Alone. With his latest film, Of an Age, he returns to Melbourne and more contemporary issues as he explores same-sex relationships and the attitudes of Anglo and Eastern European Australians through the burgeoning but awkward romance between two
Read moreThis week on ‘Built For Speed’ we take a look at two intriguing films, the vivid and disturbing thriller, ‘Pearl’ and the Australian romantic drama, ‘Of An Age’. We’ll also play a feast of fine tunes with new Aussie material, post-punk favourites, classic rock and some of the artists featured in the recent SBS doco ‘Women Who Rock’. Don’t forget
Read moreThe new British film Living, has followed quite a quite remarkable cultural pathway before arriving on our screens. Directed by a South African, Oliver Hermanus, it’s an adaption of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Ikiru which was itself based on Tolstoy’s novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Despite a fairly slender plot and some pretty obvious religious references, Living slowly seduces
Read moreWhile the film is set in 1955, the issues explored in the often-confronting civil rights drama Till resonate powerfully today. This is the true story of African American woman Mamie Till-Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler) who sought justice for her 14-year-old son Emmett (Jalyn Hall) who was abducted and killed while visiting cousins In Mississippi. The film begins in fairly sedate and
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