When we see those pre-empting words of ‘based on a true story’ at the beginning of a film, we are usually left thinking about how much of what we see is fiction, and how much is fact. In the case of Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter, the latest offering from the Zellner Brothers, the protagonist is…
Read More
Agnès Varda is a director who has a nose for a good story and an eye for the sublime. The Grand Dame of French New Wave Cinema started her career as a stills photographer and it is clear that she has brought these skills to her feature films. Her movies are often quite sensual and…
Read More
The Iris talks to Peter O’Donoghue, the editor and co-writer of Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets about the film while in Sydney for the Australian premiere at the Sydney Film Festival – June 2014. ———- This content has recently been ported from its original home on The Iris and may have formatting errors…
Read More
La Petite Mort translated as The Little Death, is a French euphemism for orgasm, referring to the post-orgasmic state of consciousness some people go through after a sexual experience. Josh Lawson’s (Any Questions for Ben?, Anchorman 2) low budget directorial debut based on this intriguing concept, is an extension of a short film he’d put…
Read More
Last night saw the end of the 61st Sydney Film Festival, with the festival’s prestigious awards handed out at the Closing Night Gala at the State Theatre. Of the 12 films competing in the Official Competition, the Sydney Film Prize was awarded to the French film Two Days, One Night, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc…
Read More
Dior & I could be renamed “Dior & Co.” or “Dior & Us”. The documentary film goes behind the scenes at the French fashion house as the new creative director for Dior Haute Couture, Raf Simons prepares his debut collection. After John Galliano was unceremoniously fired amid controversy (he’d made anti-Semitic comments at a Parisian…
Read More
“It’s life, you go to bed unsatisfied” in the words of police chief Bill Oswalt, and he’s expressing how we feel too, we’re unsatisfied, and this episode does leave you feeling a little bit that way. Not in a negative sense at all, more in a “we’re at episode 8 of 10 and we still…
Read More
There’s only one time in my life that I can recall having something that I can only describe as an anxiety attack. It was at a Brian Cox lecture in Sydney last year and I believe it was when the rockstar physicist was describing the moment when the Earth would cease to exist. The very…
Read More
All hail Super Meat Boy! This chunky little character consisting of a sloppy cube of meat, is as hilarious and fun to navigate as his gaming forefathers, made popular for their simplicity, difficulty and clever use of odd concepts. This funky gem created by developers Team Meat, may have succeeded in bringing the excitement and gameplay of…
Read More
Quickly cementing his status one of the most talented actors of his generation, Tom Hardy is currently undertaking one of his most challenging roles yet. Or rather, two of his most challenging roles yet. Hardy has started shooting period biopic Legend this week, in which he portrays real-life twins Reginald and Robert Kray. To mark the start of shooting,…
Read More
the AU last caught up with The Head and The Heart back in New York as part of CMJ; they had sold out Terminal 5 on the city’s west side and were continuing to build up a strong fan base. Speaking with Josiah, who is in Detroit at the time of our chat, we get…
Read More
the AU review sits down with Eleanor Dunlop in Sydney to chat about the success of her single “Disguise”, the triple j play, we look back at her time with the band Cameras, look ahead to global aspirations and much more…
Read More
Last month, the AU headed along to the SiriusXM Indies in Toronto, Canada, held during the annual Canadian Music Week. While backstage, we spoke to some of the presenters and the nominees. Check out now our chats with Chloe Charles, Poor Young Things, The Glorious Sons and Rich Kidd, who delivers some surprising insight into…
Read More
It’s been a long while since I’ve spent a night in The Basement, but what better way to return to the iconic Sydney venue than with two of the finest Australian musicians around. Kicking off the night was Dan Kelly, performing solo and acoustic; a perfect support for the night’s headliner, The Drones’ Gareth Liddiard….
Read More
As part of our brand new section AU Abroad, we bring you a birds eye view of the world of travel. In this article series, we let you in on the best airlines to fly with. We kick things off in North America with Air Canada’s direct route from Toronto to Los Angeles, which we…
Read More
Oz Comic-Con Melbourne just got a whole lot more exciting, with the addition of Once Upon a Time’s Jennifer Morrison to it’s July lineup! The American actress, who currently stars in the fantasy drama as ‘Emma Swan’, daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming – yeah, it’s a big mash up of a show, but…
Read More
With the Supanova Pop Culture Expo set to kick off in Sydney this weekend before hitting up Perth on June 20-22, the organisers have given fans in Adelaide and Brisbane a taste of their convention line ups for November. More guests are to be announced in coming months, but in the meantime get a hit…
Read More
Fish & Cat feels like a dream that’s forever threatening to turn into a nightmare. This bizarre and unsettling film, by Iranian director Shahram Mokri, is supposedly based on true events where a restaurant served human flesh, and its roughly two hours of runtime is filmed entirely in one shot. Imagine a re-enactment of a…
Read More
The theme of two lovers kept apart from their families or individual circumstances is hardly anything new. But Gabrielle is a film that deals with another rarely discussed subject and one that is infrequently depicted in cinemas. It is the love lives of the disabled and this film shows this with dignity and for the…
Read More
Abuse of Weakness, the latest offering by French filmmaker Catherine Breillat, is an intriguing and compelling film that unflinchingly portrays Breillat’s own curious story. The autobiographical film is based upon Breillat’s experiences, beginning with her suffering a stroke in 2004 and following her through the long recovery process and adapting to life partly crippled. During…
Read More
Erin Gray may be known for her role as “Colonel Deering” within the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century franchise, but over an extensive career in television and film, Gray has been able to expand and integrate her passions as a public speaker, writer and Tai-Chi teacher into her career as well. In Australia for…
Read More
The Melbourne International Animation Festival kicks off next week at ACMI (Running from June 19th until the 29th). Ahead of opening night, we caught up with Malcolm Turner, the Director of the festival, to discuss the program for 2014, his recent trip to Paris, his advice for young animators and much more… What are the…
Read More
Of all of the films screened at the 2014 Sydney Film Festival, At Berkeley is perhaps the timeliest, considering the recent reveal that the budget here in Australia could see considerable changes to the tertiary education landscape. At Berkeley acts as a peek into how the University of California, Berkeley, is run in the…
Read More
We take you to New York City for the annual Governor’s Ball Music Festival. Last year’s wet weather was replaced in 2014 with nothing but sunshine, as music fans enjoyed the likes of The Strokes, Jack White, OutKast and many, many more. Enjoy these photos from the event and head to our Governor’s Ball Hub…
Read More
Tomas Barfod has been working hard on his second album Love Me album while spending his time on two different continents and playing in his primary band Whomadewho. He spoke to Philippe Perez about the process of going solo a second time (while still doing many other things as well). You seem to like to…
Read More
Not everything or everyone is quite what it seems in this gripping thriller that brings a wealthy American couple and a young shady tour guide together on an increasingly tense journey across the Mediterranean as they try to evade the law. Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and his gorgeous young wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst) are holidaying…
Read More
Is it too much of a stretch to imagine a crowd of rabid soccer fans turning into a mob of hyper-violent, destruction-hungry rioters? Such is the question when gearing up to watch a two-part French horror film which quite proudly displays it’s mixed-genre glory in it’s trailer. It isn’t hard too understand what’s going on…
Read More
The 61st Sydney Film Festival comes to a close this Sunday, but you still have a chance to see some incredible films before the festival ends. Particularly exciting is the terrifying program that the Festival has in store for tomorrow, which just happens to be Friday the 13th! The Festival presents a packed program of…
Read More
Brad Pitt is one of those actors who can drum up a huge amount of buzz for any project that has his name attached to it. He always delivers solid performances and is endlessly watchable. Next up for Pitt is WWII drama Fury, which sees him leading a tank crew through the tail end of the war. Joining…
Read More
The Queen is a gritty and dazzling short presented by Argentinean director Manuel Abramovic. I’ve called this one gritty and dazzling because it is full of sequins, incredible glittering costumes but also suffering. This film is a short 15-minute vignette of Memi’s life. Memi is only 11 years old and she is going to be…
Read More
