The 65th Sydney Film Festival launches itself on to the cinematic consciousness on Wednesday 6th June and runs through until Sunday 17th June. With in excess of 330 films being showcased the festival opens with its screening of the New Zealand comedy 'The Breaker Upperers' Directed, Written and also starring Jackie van Beek and Madeline Sami in the lead roles. The closing night film is 'Hearts Beat Loud' Written and Directed by Brett Haley.
And in between there are twelve films in official competition; ten films competing for the Documentary Australia Foundation Award; ten short films in competition; fifteen films in Special Presentation; six films showcasing the best from new Italian cinema; 45 films in the Features section; ten new films Directed by European Women; 37 International Documentaries; six family films; eight films under the heading 'Flux : Art+ Film'; David Stratton showcasing ten films by Finland's most celebrated filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki; six films under the banner 'Sounds on Screen'; seven films titled collectively as 'Freak Me Out' and a whole heap of other cinematic content screening restored classics, Australian Indigenous films, more short films being screened before features and doco's, and a bunch of VR presentations too. For more info., go to www.sff.org.au
The films running in Official Competition this year are :* 'Aga' : Written and Directed by Bulgarian Milko Lazarov. Australian Premier.
* 'Blackkklansman' : Written and Directed by Spike Lee. Australian Premier.
* 'Daughter of Mine' : Written and Directed by Laura Bispuri. Australian Premier.
* 'The Heiresses' : Written and Directed by Paraguayan Marcelo Martinessi. Australian Premier.
* 'Jirga' : Written and Directed by Australian Benjamin Gilmour. World Premier.
* 'Leave No Trace' : Written and Directed by Debra Granik. Australian Premier.
* 'Matangi / Maya / M.I.A.' : Written and Directed by English Stephen Loveridge. Australian Premier.
* 'The Miseducation of Cameron Post' : Written and Directed by Desiree Akhaven. Australian Premier.* 'One Day' : Written and Directed by Hungarian Zsofia Szilagyi. Australian Premier.
* 'The Seen and Unseen' : Written, Directed and Produced by Kamila Andini. Australian Premier.
* 'Transit' : Written and Directed by German Christian Petzold. Australian Premier.
* 'Wajib' : Written and Directed by Palestinian Annemarie Jacir. Australian Premier.
Turning attention back to this week, we have five new release movies coming to an Odeon near you. We launch having already had the 11, 12 and 13 in this heist franchise, and now we have the eight, with the future prospect of the nine and ten to join the dots, aided and abetted by a fine line up of female acting talent to pull off the robbery of the century. We then move to a terrifying supernatural horror that has been touted as one of the best in years that will leave you glancing over your shoulder and looking under your bed as this offering is grounded in a reality that has scared the bejeezus out of audiences thus far. Then we have a change of pace with a road movie featuring an estranged son, his dying father and several rolls of photographic film that need to be developed interstate in the last place that does so. This is followed up by a biographical WWII drama leading up to the assassination attempt of one of Hitler's most highly regarded (and evil) henchmen, and we wrap up the week with a charmingly funny and candid documentary film about four grand dames of English film, television and theatre recounting their lives, friendship and careers over the last 50+ years.
Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the five 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 here cordially invited 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.
'OCEAN'S EIGHT' (Rated M) - here we have the much publicised heist comedy offering out of the same mould as 2001's 'Ocean's Eleven', 2004's 'Ocean's Twelve' and 2007's 'Ocean's Thirteen' of which all were Directed by Steven Soderbergh and starred the same ensemble cast consisting of George Clooney (as the titular, charming and debonair mastermind Danny Ocean), Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Andy Garcia, Scott Caan, Don Cheadle, Julia Roberts, Elliot Gould and Carl Reiner amongst others. An 'Ocean's Fourteen' was highly unlikely as reported by Soderbergh and Clooney post 2007, but taking the story off in a another direction had credence. And so now we have 'Ocean's Eight' with Soderbergh taking a Producer credit and Gary Ross on Directing duty (whose previous credits include 'Pleasantville', 'Seabiscuit', 'The Hunger Games' and more recently 'Free State of Jones') as well as penning the story and Co-Writing the Screenplay. Here we have an ensemble cast made up almost entirely of all female acting talent with a nod or two to the original trilogy.
'HEREDITARY' (Rated MA15+) - this much publicised American supernatural horror film is Written and Directed by first timer Ari Aster and its is already being touted as the most scary film of 2018, and for some time before that too. The film Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival back in January and goes on release in Australia and the US this week, and the UK next week. The story unwinds in a slow burn terrifying emotional rollercoaster of a ride when Ellen, the matriarch of the Graham family passes away. Her daughter's family comprising Annie Graham (Toni Collette), her husband Steve Graham (Gabriele Byrne), son Peter (Alex Wolff) and daughter Charlie (Milly Shapiro) begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry as the domestic unit begins to breakdown with horrifying consequences. The more they discover, the more they find themselves trying to outrun the sinister fate they seem to have inherited. The film has garnered much positive early Reviews and has been universally acclaimed so far by audiences and Critics alike, and especially that of Toni Colette's performance.
'KODACHROME' (Rated M) - this American drama film, Directed by Mark Raso in only his second feature length outing after 2014's 'Copenhagen', and is based on a New York Times article written by A.G. Sulzberger. The film has its World Premier screening at TIFF last September, went on release Stateside towards the end of April and now gets a limited release in Australia. The film here surrounds Matt Ryder (Jason Sudeikis), a struggling executive who finds his world in turmoil when his estranged father's nurse, Zooey Kern (Elizabeth Olsen) shows up unannounced at his place of work. Matt's father Benjamin Ryder (Ed Harris), a famed bad-boy photojournalist, is looking down the barrel of terminal cancer. Ben's dying wish is for Matt to join him on a road trip from New York to Kansas to process his last rolls of Kodachrome film before the sole remaining lab closes and those captured moments held on those rolls of film, are gone forever. Also starring Bruce Greenwood and Dennis Haysbert the film has received mixed or average Reviews. FYI, the Wikipedia explanation of 'Kodachrome' is that it 'is a brand name for a non-substantive, colour reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful colour materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years Kodachrome was widely used for professional colour photography, especially for images intended for publication in print media. Its manufacture was discontinued in 2009, and processing ended in December 2010.'
'THE MAN WITH THE IRON HEART' (Rated MA15+) - aka 'HHhH' in France and 'Killing Heydrich' in Canada is a French and Belgian Co-Produced biographical WWII drama film Directed and Co-Written for the screen by Cedric Jimenez and based on the French author Laurent Binet's 2010 novel 'HHhH'. The film was released in France exactly one year ago on 7th June 2017, and only now does it get a limited run in Australia. The film concerns Operation Anthropoid, the codename associated with the assassination of Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich (played here by Jason Clarke) in Prague. The title is an acronym for Himmlers Hirn heißt Heydrich ('Himmler's brain is called Heydrich'), a quip about Heydrich said to have been circulated in Nazi Germany at the time. Heydrich was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and an important figure in the rise of Adolf Hitler - he was given overall charge of the Final Solution of the Jews throughout Europe. The operation was carried out in Prague on 27th May 1942, prepared by the British Special Operations Executive with the approval of the Czechoslovak government-in-exile. Wounded in the attack, Heydrich died of his injuries on 4th June 1942. He was/is regarded by many a historian as the darkest figure within the Nazi elite and Adolf Hitler described him as 'The Man with the Iron Heart'. He also went by various other monikers including 'The Hangman', 'The Butcher of Prague', 'The Blond Beast' and 'Himmler's Evil Genius'. The film also stars Rosamund Pike as Lina Heydrich, Stephen Graham as Heinrich Himmler, Jack O'Connell, Jack Reynor and Mia Wasikowska; cost US$32M and has so far recouped less than US$3M having received mixed Reviews.
With five new release films out 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. Meanwhile, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead at your local Odeon.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
