In Review
Welcome to In Review! Check out the latest reviews across film, TV, theatre and so much more…
Film Review - Unbreakable: The Jelena Dokic Story
Unbreakable is a celebration of Dokic as both a player and a person, cementing herself as one of the greatest names in tennis and a true role model.
Film Review - Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Super/Man is a remarkably grounded and thoughtful profile of a man whom we all believed could fly – and maybe we still do.
MIFF 2024 Film Review - DEVO
Like its idiosyncratic subject matter, DEVO is a poignantly hyperkinetic ninety-minute examination of rock music’s most misunderstood band.
MIFF 2024 Film Review - Abiding Nowhere
It’d be easy to label Abiding Nowhere as tranquil and meditative, as it certainly is, but I still see so much of Ming-liang’s earlier passion present in the form of this late-stage mellowness.
MIFF 2024 Film Review - Grand Theft Hamlet
I think whatever qualms I have towards Grand Theft Hamlet’s artificial attempts at a heart-to-heart are outweighed by how organically and hilariously human the majority of the film is.
🇵🇸Palestinian Film Fest 2024 Review - Lyd
Lyd, which recently played at Melbourne's Palestinian Film Festival, is a cinematic exploration of the city formerly known as Lyd, a place with a rich and tumultuous history that has been shaped by its many inhabitants and the broader geopolitical forces at play.
🇵🇸Palestinian Film Fest 2024 Review - Gaza Surf Club
Philip Gnadt and Mickey Yamine’s 2016 film Gaza Surf Club tells the story of several Palestinians and their relationship with the sea. Each of them finds a form of liberation while surfing. We see their struggle to form a thriving surf club whilst living under Israeli occupation.
🇵🇸Palestinian Film Fest 2024 Review - Resistance, Why?
This is one of the most important films in this year’s festival. I would implore anyone wanting to learn more about Palestinian history to watch it.
Film Review - Stop Making Sense (4K Restoration)
Move aside Taylor Swift. The re-release of Stop Making Sense reiterates that Talking Heads still holds the title for the best concert film ever made.
MIFF 2023 Film Review - Australia’s Open
Insightful, hilarious yet emotional, director Ili Baré leads the audience through a surprising journey behind one of the world’s most viewed sports competitions, The Australian Open.
MIFF 2023 Film Review - Time Bomb Y2K
Time Bomb Y2K delivers an earnest archival examination, unraveling the intricacies of the Y2K phenomenon – delving deep into the global anticipation for a potential digital doomsday.
Film Review - All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
All the Beauty is this wonderful study of the marginal, of someone with a heart uncorroded by time in the halls of power, who leverages the success of their life’s work to take on a pure, irredeemable evil.
Film Review - Summer of Soul (or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Summer of Soul is undoubtedly a stunning blend of art and rebellion not likely to ever be seen again on our screens.
Film Review - The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft
Herzog has created a film that magnifies the sensitive balance of nature, simultaneously terrifying and touching, the parallels of science and art, the juxtaposition of the volcano’s fascinating beauty yet ultimate destructive force, and the deaths and the lives of Katia and Maurice Krafft.
Film Review - McCurry: The Pursuit of Colour
Following along within his shadow as the legend discerns locations, chiselling angles and painstakingly slugging through the aftermath of war and the archives of his rent-a-shed, reproduce a well-lived life on the road.
Film Review - Franklin
Is Franklin a documentary for climate warriors? Nature enthusiasts? Lovers of Australian history? Soul searchers? Who can say for sure - but I’m sure viewers will each find their own most pressing meaning in it.
Film Review - Fire of Love
Bold and breathtaking in its awe-inspiring images of nature at its most fierce, Fire of Love does what any great nature doco should - not just fascinate, but entertain.
TV Review - Trainwreck: Woodstock ‘99
After the rise of, among other things, the #MeToo movement, this event fits into another, darker timeline. It’s within this context that the Netflix Original documentary, Trainwreck: Woodstock ‘99 strives to situate itself.
MIFF 2022 Film Review - Lynch/Oz
This is a film for anyone that has ever wanted to look behind the curtain, and find out how the wizard’s magic machine might work.