This years Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) launches on Thursday 1st August and runs through until Sunday 18th August. According to the official website 'MIFF is a not-for-profit organisation that has been continuously running since 1952, making it the leading film festival in Australia and one of the world’s oldest film festivals, alongside Cannes and Berlin. Presenting a curated global program of innovative screen experiences and the world’s largest showcase of exceptional Australian filmmaking, MIFF is an accessible, iconic cultural event that provides transformative experiences for audiences and filmmakers alike'.
This years Programme Strands falls into a number of categories ranging from Animation, to Documentaries, to Australian Films, International Films, Headliners, Experimentations, Restorations, Music On Film, Night Shift, Virtual Reality and MIFF Shorts.
Amongst these are the following :
Australian FilmsMIFF is one of the world’s biggest supporters of homegrown talent, with over sixty local films screening this year, across shorts, features and VR. Telling the true blue ocker Australian story through documentary, drama, thriller, comedy, innovative Indigenous filmmaking and award-winning queer cinema, with approaching thirty World Premieres shown this year.
Among those are : 'Alice' Directed by Josephine Mackerras in the SXSW Grand Jury prize winner; 'Angel of Mine' Directed by Kim Farrant and starring Noomi Rapace, Luke Evans, Yvonne Strahovski and Richard Roxburgh; 'Animals' Directed by Sophie Hyde and starring Alia Shawkat and Holliday Grainger; 'The Australian Dream' Directed by Daniel Gordon and the opening night film; 'Below' Directed by Maziar Lahooti and starring Ryan Coor and Anthony LaPaglia; 'Hearts and Bones' Directed by Ben Lawrence and starring Hugo Weaving; 'H is for Happiness' Directed by John Sheedy and starring Miriam Margolyes, Emma Booth, Richard Roxburgh and Deborah Mailman; 'Judy & Punch' Directed by Mirrah Foulkes and starring Mia Wasikowska and Damon Herriman; 'Measure for Measure' Directed by Paul Ireland and starring Hugo Weaving; and 'The Nightingale' Directed by Jennifer Kent and starring Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr and Damon Herriman.
International Films
Every year, MIFF brings the freshest global cinema back to Melbourne. These international films – from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, North America and Latin America – represent the cream of the crop of world cinema, and include award winners from the most prestigious film festivals, your new and old favourite Directors, famous faces and far-flung places.
Among these are : 'American Woman' Directed by Jake Scott and starring Sienna Miller, Christina Hendricks and Aaron Paul; 'The Art of Self-Defence' Directed by Riley Stearns and staring Jesse Eisenberg; 'The Beach Bum' Directed by Harmony Korine and starring Matthew McConaughey, Isla Fisher, Jonah Hill, Zac Efron, Snoop Dog and Martin Lawrence; 'Beanpole' Directed by Kantemir Balagov this Russian feature won both the coveted Best Director award and the FIPRESCI prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section earlier this year; 'Bellbird' Directed by Hamish Bennett; 'Dirtry God' Directed by Sacha Polak; 'Frankie' Directed by Ira Sachs and starring Brendan Gleeson, Greg Kinear, Isabelle Huppert, Jeremie Renier and Marisa Tomei; 'Happy New Year, Colin Burstead' Directed by Ben Wheatley and starring Bill Paterson, Charles Dance, Hayley Squires, Richard Glover and Sam Riley; 'The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao' Directed by Brazilian filmmaker Karim Ainouz which took out the Cannes’ prestigious Un Certain Regard prize; 'The Kill Team' Directed by Dan Krauss and starring Adam Long and Alexander Skarsgard; 'Kursk' Directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Matthias Schoenaerts, Lea Seydoux, Colin Firth and Max von Sydow; 'Monos' Directed by Alejandro Landes and winner of the Sundance Special Jury Award; 'The Mountain' Directed by Rick Alveston and starring Jeff Goldblum, Tye Sheridan; Udo Kier and Denis Lavant; 'Skin' Directed by Guy Nattiv and starring Jamie Bell, Danielle Macdonald, Daniel Henshall, Vera Farmiga, Mike Colter, Bill Camp and Mary Stuart Masterson; 'The Souvenir' Directed by Joanna Hogg and starring Tilda Swinton, Honor Swinton Byrne, Richard Ayoade and Tom Burke this film picked up the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Dramatic category, and a sequel is already in the works; 'Swallow' Directed by Carlo Mirabella-Davis and starring Haley Bennett and Austin Stowell; 'Them That Follow' Directed by Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage and starring Alice Englert, Kaitlyn Dever, Lewis Pullman, Olivia Colman and Walton Goggins; 'Tommaso' Directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Willem Dafoe, Anna Ferrara and Cristina Chiriac; 'The Tomorrow Man' Directed by Noble Jones and starring John Lithgow and Blythe Danner; and 'Vivarium' Directed by Lorcan Finnegan and starring Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots.
Headliners
Among these are : 'Bacurau' from Directors Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Madonca Filho; 'The Day Shall Come' Directed by Chris Morris and starring Anna Kendrick and Marchant Davis; 'The Dead Don't Die' Directed by Jim Jarmusch and starring Adam Driver, Bill Murray, Caleb Landry Jones, Carol Kane, Chloe Sevigny, Danny Glover, Iggy Pop, RZA, Rosie Perez, Selena Gomez, Steve Buscemi, Tilda Swinton and Tom Waits; 'Official Secrets' Directed by Gavin Hood and starring Keira Knightley, Matt Smith, Ralph Fiennes, Matthew Goode and Rhys Ifans; 'Pain and Glory' Directed by Pedro Almodovar and starring Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz; and 'Sorry We Missed You' Directed by Ken Loach.
For more news, views and the full programme details on the upcoming Melbourne International Film Festival, you can visit the official website at : https://www.miff.com.au/
Turning attention back to this week, we have four new release movies coming to an Odeon near you. We kick off with not so much a new movie but one that is celebrating its 40th anniversary and has been remastered visually and audibly to bring you a classic epic Vietnam War story pretty much as the Director had originally intended. Maintaining the war theme we go back further in time to post WWII that sees this true story of a German POW held in Lancashire, England go on to become a highly acclaimed goalkeeper for Manchester City culminating in his side winning the 1956 FA Cup Final. And keeping with the football theme we have a documentary about the rise and fall of an Argentinian soccer playing legend that represented his country in four World Cup tournaments, winning one; and in closing out the week we have a documentary about Japanese whaling ships hunting down whales in the Southern Ocean all in the name of scientific research as their attempts are often thwarted by the anti-whaling vessel The Sea Shepherd, and then of course there is the plight of those hunted whales themselves.
Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.
'APOCALYPSE NOW : FINAL CUT' (Rated R18+) - this 1979 and now a classic American epic war film about the Vietnam War was Directed, Produced and Co-Written by Francis Ford Coppola and now gets it's 40th anniversary re-release in the manner that Coppola had perhaps always intended. Starring Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Harrison Ford, Sam Bottoms, Laurence Fishburne, Scott Glenn and Dennis Hopper with the Screenplay, Co-Written by Coppola and John Milius was loosely based on the 1899 novella 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad. 'Apocalypse Now' was honoured with the Palme d'Or at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered unfinished before it was finally released on August 15, 1979. The film is today considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. It was nominated for eight Oscars at the 52nd Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Duvall, and went on to win for Best Cinematography and Best Sound among its total awards haul of twenty wins and another 31 nominations. The film took US$150M at the global Box Office off the back of a US$32M Budget.
In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) a veteran U.S. Army special operations officer takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a highly decorated U.S. Army Special Forces officer with the 5th Special Forces Group who has gone rogue and supposedly completely insane at an outpost in Cambodia. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer Lieutenant Colonel William Kilgore (Robert Duvall), 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment commander, and a crazed freelance photojournalist (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness. With a running time of 183 minutes, backed up by a 4k restoration and all the technological advancements in sound design, Coppola reportedly said that it now 'looks better than it has ever looked, and sounds better than it has ever sounded', and that he's 'thrilled beyond measure to present the best version of the film to the world.' A must see on the big screen - catch it for a limited time only at limited theatres.
'THE KEEPER' (Rated M) - this British and German Co-Produced biographical drama offering Directed and Co-Written by Marcus H. Rosenmuller saw its World Premier screening at the Zurich Film Festival back in early October 2018, before going on release in Germany in mid-March this year and in the UK in early April. And so, 'The Keeper' tells the almost unbelievable true story of Bert Trautmann (David Kross), a German soldier and POW interned in Lancashire, who, against a backdrop of British post-war protest and prejudice, secures the position of Goalkeeper at Manchester City, and in the process becomes a footballing legend. Struggling for acceptance by those who regard him as the enemy, Bert's love for Margaret (Freya Mavor), an Englishwoman, sees him overcome this adversity and he wins over even his harshest critics and opposition by winning the 1956 FA Cup Final, even playing on with a broken neck to secure his teams victory. But fate of course will soon takes a turn for the worse for Bert and Margaret, when their love and loyalty to each other is put to the ultimate test.
'DIEGO MARADONA' (Rated M) - continuing with the soccer theme, this British documentary film is Written and Directed by the British film maker Asif Kapadia whose previous notable doco's were 2010's 'Senna', based on Ayrton Senna the famed Brazillian Formula 1 motor racing ace, which won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary and Best Editing and the World Cinema Audience Award Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival 2011. He also filmed 2015's 'Amy' based on singer Amy Winehouse, which has become the highest grossing documentary of all time in the United Kingdom, and also won him an Academy Award and Grammy Award in 2016. Constructed from over five hundred hours of never-before-seen footage, this documentary centres on the career of celebrated Argentinian football player Diego Armando Maradona, who played for Barcelona and then Napoli in the 1980's, with both teams scoring a record beating transfer fee at the time. In his international career with Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals. Maradona played in four FIFA World Cups, in 1982 in Spain, in 1986 in Mexico where he captained Argentina and led them to victory over West Germany in the final, and won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player, then again in 1990 in Italy and in 1994 in the US. The film saw its World Premier screening out of competition at this years Cannes Film Festival, went on release in the UK in mid-June and has so far made just over US$1M at the Box Office. Maradona is now 58 years of age and is/was coach of Mexican side Dorados de Sinaloa.
'DEFEND, CONSERVE, PROTECT' (Rated PG) - Produced in Australia and financed successfully through a global crowdfunding effort, 'Defend, Conserve, Protect' is a documentary film that took over four years to make, and was shot across France, The Netherlands, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. Directed by Stephen Amis and narrated by Dan Aykroyd, this film pits the impassioned marine conservation group, Sea Shepherd against the Japanese whaling fleet, in an epic battle to defend the majestic Minke Whales of the Southern Ocean. These noble, curious Minkes are easy prey for the Japanese, who claim to kill in the name of science aboard their 'Research Vessels' – an assertion that has been widely discredited outside Japan for many years. At the helm of the Sea Shepherd is 28 year old Captain Peter Hammarstedt who hunts the whaling ships, not the whales. The documentary clearly depicts what happens when a small group of determined people stand up against an aggressive corporation flagrantly defying international law.
With four new release movies this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead, at your local Odeon.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.
'THE KEEPER' (Rated M) - this British and German Co-Produced biographical drama offering Directed and Co-Written by Marcus H. Rosenmuller saw its World Premier screening at the Zurich Film Festival back in early October 2018, before going on release in Germany in mid-March this year and in the UK in early April. And so, 'The Keeper' tells the almost unbelievable true story of Bert Trautmann (David Kross), a German soldier and POW interned in Lancashire, who, against a backdrop of British post-war protest and prejudice, secures the position of Goalkeeper at Manchester City, and in the process becomes a footballing legend. Struggling for acceptance by those who regard him as the enemy, Bert's love for Margaret (Freya Mavor), an Englishwoman, sees him overcome this adversity and he wins over even his harshest critics and opposition by winning the 1956 FA Cup Final, even playing on with a broken neck to secure his teams victory. But fate of course will soon takes a turn for the worse for Bert and Margaret, when their love and loyalty to each other is put to the ultimate test.
'DIEGO MARADONA' (Rated M) - continuing with the soccer theme, this British documentary film is Written and Directed by the British film maker Asif Kapadia whose previous notable doco's were 2010's 'Senna', based on Ayrton Senna the famed Brazillian Formula 1 motor racing ace, which won the BAFTA Award for Best Documentary and Best Editing and the World Cinema Audience Award Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival 2011. He also filmed 2015's 'Amy' based on singer Amy Winehouse, which has become the highest grossing documentary of all time in the United Kingdom, and also won him an Academy Award and Grammy Award in 2016. Constructed from over five hundred hours of never-before-seen footage, this documentary centres on the career of celebrated Argentinian football player Diego Armando Maradona, who played for Barcelona and then Napoli in the 1980's, with both teams scoring a record beating transfer fee at the time. In his international career with Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals. Maradona played in four FIFA World Cups, in 1982 in Spain, in 1986 in Mexico where he captained Argentina and led them to victory over West Germany in the final, and won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player, then again in 1990 in Italy and in 1994 in the US. The film saw its World Premier screening out of competition at this years Cannes Film Festival, went on release in the UK in mid-June and has so far made just over US$1M at the Box Office. Maradona is now 58 years of age and is/was coach of Mexican side Dorados de Sinaloa.
'DEFEND, CONSERVE, PROTECT' (Rated PG) - Produced in Australia and financed successfully through a global crowdfunding effort, 'Defend, Conserve, Protect' is a documentary film that took over four years to make, and was shot across France, The Netherlands, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. Directed by Stephen Amis and narrated by Dan Aykroyd, this film pits the impassioned marine conservation group, Sea Shepherd against the Japanese whaling fleet, in an epic battle to defend the majestic Minke Whales of the Southern Ocean. These noble, curious Minkes are easy prey for the Japanese, who claim to kill in the name of science aboard their 'Research Vessels' – an assertion that has been widely discredited outside Japan for many years. At the helm of the Sea Shepherd is 28 year old Captain Peter Hammarstedt who hunts the whaling ships, not the whales. The documentary clearly depicts what happens when a small group of determined people stand up against an aggressive corporation flagrantly defying international law.With four new release movies this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead, at your local Odeon.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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