Life’s natural humour and the most profound thoughts and feelings captured in small, still moments and quiet exchanges are hallmarks of director Kore-eda Hirokazu, deftly shown in this story of a divorced father, scraping by as a private detective, who ends up stuck at his mother’s house along with his son and ex-wife as they sit out a typhoon.
This uber-quirky film is not for everyone, but for those willing to dive into the surreal world of its creator and star Julio Torres it’s a delirious and joyous experience. He stars as an inventor of surreal toys, with Tilda Swinton as the unhinged art critic who holds the key to his fate. Wu Tang Clan rapper RZA and Past Lives’ Greta Lee co-star, with Isabella Rossellini narrating.
Beautifully and inventively shot in sublime black and white, this film marked a new artistic height in Hitchcock’s career. Ingrid Bergman stars as the daughter of a German war criminal enlisted by Cary Grant’s U.S. government agent to infiltrate a nest of post-war Nazis — but at what cost?
Reimagined history with Vicki Krieps (The Phantom Thread) magnetic as the rebellious Empress Elisabeth of Austria, who must decide over the course of an imagined year how long she can bear life in a gilded cage. Carefully deployed anachronisms remind us these 18th Century lives are not so distant after all.
If you’re up for offbeat, occasionally dark comedy, this story of a failed American standup returning to his Blackpool birthplace in search of inspiration just might be the funniest film you’ve never heard of. Oliver Platt, Jerry Lewis, Oliver Reed, Leslie Caron and Richard Griffiths are all terrific, but it’s physical comedy genius Lee Evans you won't be able to take your eyes off.
Based on the true story of how gay activists ended up supporting striking Welsh coal miners in 1984, it will make you laugh a lot, and likely shed a tear too. The stacked cast includes Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Dominic West, and Andrew Scott.
Beautiful, universally relatable capturing of hopes, dreams, love found and love lost through the lives of nurses who have come from small towns to Mumbai, where privacy is a luxury and loneliness is found throughout.
On a WA wheat farm in 1968, Ed (Xavier Samuel) and Paddy (Clarence Ryan) are best mates despite steep social inequalities, but new laws change their world. Roger Mason’s dreamlike score complements visuals that pay homage to Terrence Malick.
In the hands of Wim Wenders and his star, Kōji Yakusho, this film about a man whose days are all seemingly the same as he goes about his job cleaning toilets in Tokyo becomes a beautiful, gently uplifting Zen meditation on fulfilment, meaning and simple joys.
Come for a never-better Russell Crowe, for Peter Weir’s extraordinary cinematic artistry, for the deeply thrilling, you-are-there naval battle scenes, or for the music by Wollongong’s own Richard Tognetti — just come and see this epic the way it should be seen, on the big screen.
A film for people who love films, from Wong Kar-wai, ‘the most romantic filmmaker in the world’. Stylised, stylish and seductive for those prepared to surrender to it, this is the seemingly separate but actually cleverly connected and mirrored stories of two lovelorn cops in bustling, colourful Hong Kong, before it was handed back to China.
Miles Davis (in his only starring feature film role) plays a legendary trumpeter whose brief, unexpected Outback appearance changes the life of John ‘Dingo’ Anderson (Colin Friels). Davis and Michel Legrand composed the soundtrack and Rolf de Heer directs.
Meditative, dreamlike, fantastical and mysterious, slyly funny and philosophical, surreal and free of plot as we know it, this film shows us the interior life of a calmly dying man visited by visions of his past, and past lives, and spirits from the beyond.
Tony Curtis and Burt Lancaster were never better — and that’s saying something — brilliantly cast against type as a desperate small-time press agent and the monstrous gossip columnist who can make or break lives with a line.
A ‘true-crime’ story like you’ve never seen, this is the brilliantly told story of how four US college students decided to steal books worth millions and what happened next. Exciting, sure-handed and frequently surprising, it stars Saltburn’s Barry Keoghan in one of his first major roles.
This based-on-a-true-story Mexican drama, about an unorthodox teacher who joins a school in a dangerous, impoverished town and refuses to accept that its kids have no futures, hits all the familiar notes of the genre — and is no less powerful for doing so.
This story of a lost-soul archaeologist turned tomb-raider (Josh O’Connor) in 1980s Italy and the people around him is beguiling, poetic, funny, mournful, romantic, strange, magical and utterly distinctive.
Glass-obsessed heiress Lucinda (Cate Blanchett, already extraordinary in one of her first films) and guilt-ridden naif priest Oscar (Ralph Fiennes, in a role unlike any other in his career) are inveterate gamblers, and lifelong misfits until they meet one another. But even then neither can resist an all-or-nothing bet.
Living alone in her London flat, 12-year-old Georgie must confront reality when her estranged father, Jason, shows up out of nowhere. Uninterested in a sudden new parental figure, she remains stubbornly resistant to his efforts. As they both adjust to their new circumstances, Georgie and Jason soon find that they still have a lot of […]
Samay fights heaven and earth to find light. He wants to catch, control, cut and project that light to tell stories. Now to pursue that dream he must leave everything he loves and take a flight to find the light. Rated M
Two Italian boys spend their childhoods together in a secluded alpine village roaming the surrounding peaks and valleys before their paths diverge. Rating unclassified
A drama about how mere humanity can bond us all. It follows Ali, an immigrant using another man’s license, and his elderly passenger Esther, who can’t remember where she is going, and is angry that she’s been stripped of everything familiar to her. Rating unclassified Short film: Grey Power – Australia, 2023 ∙ 12 mins […]
Living alone in London, writer Adam encounters his neighbour Harry, which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life. Preoccupied with childhood memories as he works on a screenplay, Adam is drawn to his family home where his parents appear to still be living, just as they were on the day that they died 30 years […]
Over the course of a single day, seven-year-old Sol and her extended family prepare for a surprise birthday party for her father. Rating unclassified
Shayda, a brave Iranian mother, finds refuge in an Australian women’s shelter with her six-year-old daughter. Over Persian New Year, they take solace in Nowruz rituals and new beginnings, but when her estranged husband re-enters their lives, Shayda’s path to freedom is jeopardised. Rated M
Virginie Efira stars as a teacher whose new relationship with a single father becomes complicated when she begins to bond with his young daughter. Rated M
Troubled 16-year-old Murra finds herself abandoned after an explosive incident with her mother. Her caring policeman uncle Murra throws her a lifeline in the shape of a photo safari into the Pilbara country alongside three other teenagers facing their own challenges. Rated M Short film: Katele (Mudskipper) – Australia, 2023 ∙ 13 mins ∙ Dir. […]
The women of an isolated religious community grapple with reconciling their reality with their faith. Through the backstory, we see a community of women come together to figure out how they might move forward together to build a better world for themselves and their children. Rated M
Set in the 1990s, a Korean single mother raises her young son in the suburbs of Canada determined to provide a better life for him than the one she left behind. Rated M
Set in Singapore during the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, Ilo Ilo chronicles the relationship between the Lim family and their newly arrived Filipino maid, Teresa. Jiale, the young and troublesome son, starts to form a unique bond with Teresa, who soon becomes an unspoken part of the family. Rated M
In a small village in Catalonia, the peach farmers of the Solé family spend every summer together picking fruit from their orchard. But when plans arise to install solar panels and cut down trees, this tight-knit group suddenly faces eviction – and the loss of far more than their home. Rated M
During the Great Depression, a con man finds himself saddled with a young girl who may or may not be his daughter, and the two forge an unlikely partnership. Rated PG
