Showing all posts about film
Keep Stepping, a documentary by Luke Cornish
19 April 2022
Keep Stepping, trailer, by Sydney based documentary maker Luke Cornish, which has its world premiere at the 2022 Sydney Film Festival, explores the world of competitive street dancing in Australia.
On Sydney’s urban fringe, two young women battle for a better life in the underground world of competitive street dance. Patricia, Romanian-born and hanging out for a visa, is a breakdancer. Gabi, of Chilean-Samoan heritage, pops with power. Both dream of escaping the rough hand they’ve been dealt. Will a win at Australia’s biggest dance competition Destructive Steps – in which 60 contestants compete in the preliminary rounds – be their golden ticket? Or will the external pressures of financial hardship and volatile relationships stop them from even reaching the dancefloor?
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film, film festivals, Luke Cornish, Sydney Film Festival, trailer
A trailer for Conversations with Friends TV series
14 April 2022
A trailer for Conversations with Friends, a television series produced by BBC Three and Hulu, based on the 2017 novel of the same name, by Irish author Sally Rooney.
Conversations with Friends follows Frances, a 21 year old college student, as she navigates a series of relationships that force her to confront her own vulnerabilities for the first time. Frances is observant, cerebral and sharp. Her ex-girlfriend, now best friend, Bobbi is self-assured, outspoken and compelling.
Though they broke up three years ago, Frances and Bobbi are virtually inseparable and perform spoken word poetry together in Dublin. It’s at one of their shows that they meet Melissa, an older writer, who is fascinated by the pair. Bobbi and Frances start to spend time with Melissa and her husband, Nick, a handsome but reserved actor.
While Melissa and Bobbi flirt with each other openly, Nick and Frances embark on an intense secret affair that is surprising to them both. Soon the affair begins to test the bond between Frances and Bobbi, forcing Frances to reconsider her sense of self, and the friendship she holds so dear.
It won’t be news to fans of Sally Rooney, but the series goes to air on Sunday 15 May 2022.
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Boiling Point, a film by Philip Barantini
11 April 2022
I once had a housemate who worked as a chef. When he wasn’t on the job — which didn’t seem to be often — he refused to cook. At all. A solitary jar of vegemite, and a loaf of bread, were the only foodstuffs to be found on his shelf in the pantry of the kitchen. Before moving in, another housemate warned me not to expect culinary feasts to be served.
Perhaps Boiling Point, trailer, the new drama feature from Britsh filmmaker Philip Barantini, goes someway to explaining my former housemate’s reluctance to go near a kitchen outside of working hours. Who’d want to be thinking about their pressure-cooker like workplace environment when they weren’t on duty?
On the busiest night of the year at one of the hottest restaurants in London, charismatic, commanding head chef Andy Jones balances along a knife’s edge as multiple personal and professional crises threaten to destroy everything he’s worked for. A surprise visit from a health and safety inspector sets the staff on edge as the overbooked hotspot begins to fill with guests. Jones alternately berates and cajoles his diverse staff, trying his best to diffuse tensions between management and his crew, while catering to the ridiculous demands of customers.
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film, Philip Barantini, trailer
Sydney Film Festival announces first 22 films for 2022
6 April 2022
The Sydney Film Festival has unveiled the first twenty-two movies that will be featured at this year’s event. Among their number is The Passengers of the Night (Les passagers de la nuit), directed by French filmmaker Mikhaël Hers, and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, as a woman trying to get her life back on track.
Election night, 1981. Socialist François Mitterrand has been declared president and there are hopeful celebrations across Paris. But it is not a happy night for Elisabeth (Gainsbourg, Antichrist), whose marriage has come to an unexpected end. She must find the means to support herself and two teenaged children. When she lucks upon a job on her favourite talkback radio show, she meets Talulah (Noée Abita, Slalom, SFF 2021), a charismatic young woman who is struggling, and invites her home. Free-spirit Talulah has a lasting impact, inspiring confidence in each of the family members.
I couldn’t find a trailer, but did locate a clip of this scene from the film.
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film, Mikhaël Hers, Sydney Film Festival, trailer
Little Tornadoes, screenplay co-written by Christos Tsiolkas
6 April 2022
Australian novelist Christos Tsiolkas, author of Seven and a Half, teamed up with Melbourne based filmmaker Aaron Wilson to write the screenplay for Little Tornadoes, trailer, which premiered at last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival:
Introverted* Leo is a steelworker at his small town’s local plant. After his wife abandons him without explanation, leaving him to care for their two young children, he is bereft – barely able to cook a decent meal or keep the household running. So when a recently-arrived Italian colleague suggests that his sister, Maria, act as surrogate homemaker, Leo reluctantly accepts. But can one woman’s warm, nurturing presence fill the void left by another, and can Leo yield to the winds of change?
Little Tornadoes is set in 1971, and was filmed in Tocumwal, in New South Wales, where Wilson grew up. In a voiceover in the trailer, one of the characters utters the words “so long ago, it was a different country.” I’m not sure of the context of her words, but here the film somehow feels more like it was set in 1921 rather than 1971. Little Tornadoes arrives in Australian cinemas on Thursday 12 May 2022.
*Leo’s either an introvert, or he’s reserved. You cannot be introverted, just like you cannot be called blonded if you have blond hair, right? Pedantic I know…
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Aaron Wilson, Christos Tsiolkas, film, trailer
The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes
4 April 2022
The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes, trailer, directed by Emma Cooper for Netflix, explores the circumstances surrounding the 1962 death of American actor Marilyn Monroe.
[The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes] explores the mystery surrounding the death of movie icon Marilyn Monroe through previously unheard interviews with her inner circle.
While Monroe’s death was ruled suicide through a barbiturate overdose, some people believe Monroe was murdered, despite a police investigation finding no evidence of foul play.
The Mystery of Marilyn Monroe: The Unheard Tapes goes to air on Wednesday 27 April 2022.
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The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo film adaptation
29 March 2022
On the subject of books being adapted to film, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Los Angeles based author Taylor Jenkins Reid, is set to be made into a movie, produced by Netflix.
The book, which has recently spent 54 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller Paperback list, four years after publishing, and has turned into a TikTok book phenomenon, follows reclusive Hollywood legend Evelyn Hugo, who chooses an unknown reporter, Monique Grant, to tell her life story. Evelyn recounts her time in the Golden Age of Hollywood, her rise to fame, and her seven marriages — revealing stunning secrets and lies. But through it all one question remains: Why has she chosen Monique for her final confession?
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is on my sprawling TBR list, here’s hoping I’m able to finish reading it before the film arrives.
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film, novels, screen adaptations, Taylor Jenkins Reid
99% of books optioned for film die in development hell
29 March 2022
It must be the dream of every author: to have their book made into a film. But with so many novels and manuscripts in circulation, what are the chances of this happening? Remote, to say the least, I would think. Not that long odds dissuade some writers, particularly first time, or aspiring authors.
I’ve heard literary agents say some budding novelists, when submitting a manuscript, have gone so far as to append a list of actors they’d like to see play the characters in their story, when their novel is inevitably — you understand — adapted for the big screen. This before the manuscript has even found a publisher, let alone anything else.
The exuberant hopes of first time authors aside though, even a genuine, bona fida, movie option on a novel is still no guarantee an author will one day be proudly striding the red carpet at the premiere of their book turned film. In fact, according to American steampunk fiction author Gail Carriger, there’s a mere one percent chance any optioned book will become a film.
Sobering or what? Only one in one hundred novels that have been optioned will end up as a big screen production. One way of looking at an option is to see it as a film producer taking a temporary hold on the film rights of a novel, while they try to find interest, and funding, for a potential movie. In the end — and the process may be protracted — they might not succeed.
While their novel may languish in development hell, there is one small consolation, the author will receive an option payment of some sort, hopefully one that’s relatively generous.
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CODA wins Best Picture, Zack Snyder Oscar Twitter awards
28 March 2022
CODA, trailer, directed by American filmmaker Sian Heder, has been named winner of the Best Picture in the 2022 Oscars. A full list of winners can be seen here.
Meanwhile Zack Snyder has taken out both of the inaugural “people’s choice” awards. He won the #OscarsFanFavorite poll for Army of the Dead, and #OscarsCheerMoment for Justice League.
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film, Oscars, Sian Heder, trailer, Zack Snyder
Diana the Musical wins worst film Razzies gong
28 March 2022
Before the Oscars serve up the best films of the last year (as voted by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at least) this morning Sydney, East Coast of Australia time, over the weekend parody award show the Razzies, announced the worst films of 2021 (in their opinion) for us.
Diana the Musical, directed by Christopher Ashley, was adjudged Worst Picture. With a lowly Metacritic score of twenty-nine though, I guess that wasn’t hard to see coming.
LeBron James was named Worst Actor for his part in Space Jam: A New Legacy, with Jeanna de Waal collecting Worst Actress for her part in the aforementioned Diana the Musical. Meanwhile Jared Leto picked up Worst Supporting Actor for his role in House of Gucci, a film that had been the talk of the town prior to its release.
American actor Bruce Willis won the Golden Raspberry in Worst Performance By Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie, a special category this year, for his work in Cosmic Sin. Willis received eight nominations in this category and must’ve surely been sweating on the outcome.
Update: The Razzies have withdrawn their award for Bruce Willis in their special category “Worst Performance By Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie”, following news of his aphasia diagnosis. Quite right. As a humourous dig, it seemed like a little light-hearted fun, but not anymore.
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