In attempting to craft a film that is broad in scope, Cahill seems to have suffered from tunnel vision and consequently left his script with several faults and weakness in plot and characterisation. There is not surer way to lose your audience than to attempt to force meaning than allow it to arise naturally, and that is what Cahill does throughout this film.
A Most Wanted Man
At best the film could be described as the intellectual cousin of the Bourne trilogy with all too few moments of great scene transitions, framing and sound editing that is largely overcome by the many noticeable moments where it doesn’t get these components quite right.
Ballet Boys
Whilst Ballet Boys attempts to break away from the narrative of ballet as a feminine art form and the familiar space of professional ballet companies, Elvebakk’s piece falls short in developing the lives of these characters and is ultimately a hyperdramatisation of puberty and the ballet world.
Dior & I
Frederic Tcheng’s documentary breaks from the typical ‘fashion’ mould in presenting a business at work rather than an idealised world.
The Disappearence of Eleanor Rigby: Him
Reaching the second part of Eleanor Rigby reveals not cohesion but lost potential.
Appropriate Behavior – An Interview with Writer/Director Desiree Akhavan
Desiree Akhavan’s Appropriate Behavior is a very funny comedy about a relationship breakdown and the need to move on, starring Akhavan, who also wrote the film. It focuses on a lesbian relationship told through flashbacks, mirroring the structure of films like Annie Hall. We caught up with Desiree when she was in Sydney last week.
Tu dors Nicole
On a surface level this film ticks the boxes of what we want from a coming of age slacker film, but what lifts it is its subversive undertones that ultimately critique that genre.
Is the Man Who is Tall Happy?
Whilst its easy to appreciate Gondry’s intent with the film and his impressive animations that show the power one man has with a texta, the actual interview that makes up the film fails to penetrate that surface and bring out anything engaging intellectually or emotionally.
Frank
Lenny Abrahamson’s Frank goes further than its goofy premise may suggest – Abrahamson and the four great lead actors deliver a film that, if not ground-breaking, balances comedy and sincerity in this enjoyable and satisfying film.
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her, the first half in an interesting film series, achieves all it does for first time writer-director Ned Benson through balancing nostalgia and reality, humour and dole, aesthetic beauty with an incredibly nuanced and well crafted dialogue. One part down, one to go.