Eloise Grills
Age: 25
Twitter handle: @grillzoid
City I call home: Melbourne
Genre/style/region of cinema I am most passionate about: It’s pretty hard to say one genre, but I’m very interested in film experimentation, stuff that exploits the liminal spaces between genres. I like directors who can take styles generally considered quite hammy — sci-fi, exploitation, body horror etc — and move them to new places.
A film that changed me/my mind is: A film that really changed my mind was The Fly. It really changed my perception of what sci-fi and horror could do in a dramatic sense (also with its ah-mazing special effects). And it got me really obsessed with diving into the quagmire of 80s body horror.
MIFF 2015 film I’m most looking forward to: Albert Mayles's Iris. I really loved Grey Gardens as a teenager, how it captured the mildew beneath high society. I’m also pretty into anything that depicts ageing — particularly the lives of elderly women — in a light we’re not used to seeing.
I’m looking forward to Critics Campus because: I’m excited to have a chaotic time, learn some stuff, meet film nerds,n and argue with them.
Cinema excites me because: It’s a very seductive medium; it’s one that’s the most like dreams. I often find myself immersed in and convinced of things I would never normally agree with in the moment, and I’m interested in the ways film can aesthetically do that.
Favourite critic and why: I really like the reviews Luke Davies does for The Monthly — they are often very textured and exuberant.
A publication I’d one day like to write for: I’d most like to write for The New York Times; The Monthly if I’m being less full of myself.
What listicle about MIFF would be most likely to go viral? 7 ways to enjoy a late-showing MIFF film while not having had a pee-break since 8am.