Culture
Movies
The tragedy of cinema’s ‘most beautiful boy’
Bjorn Andresen’s life was already troubled when Luchino Visconti cast him in Death in Venice. A documentary showing at MIFF charts the film’s painful aftermath.
- by Chris Harvey
Latest
After 50 years, Peter Tatchell still has plenty to fight for
There’s a long list of people who hate the former Mount Waverley boy and it doesn’t bother him a jot.
- by Stephanie Bunbury
★★★★
Review
Suicide Squad is a gory, sentimental, crass fever dream
Whether or not this brand of splashy horror-comedy floats your boat, it’s been put together by an uncommonly skilled filmmaker.
- by Jake Wilson
★★★★
Review
Did Val Kilmer take the wrong road in his acting career?
Val Kilmer’s obsession with documenting his own life on video forms the centrepiece of this revealing documentary.
- by Paul Byrnes
★★★
Review
Broad human comedy found in France’s wars of the roses
This clever film takes us into the world of the rose-growers of rural Provence, defending their tradition and culture against modern industry.
- by Paul Byrnes
‘Unforeseen personal circumstances’: Natalie Portman movie falls over in Sydney
HBO says Days of Abandonment, based on a novel by bestselling Italian novelist Elena Ferrante, “will not move forward”.
- by Garry Maddox
★★★½
Review
Rhythms of Cuba find animated home in Miranda’s latest creation
Like Lin-Manuel Miranda’s New York show In the Heights, Vivo is a tribute to Latin American music but this time the characters are animated.
- by Sandra Hall
Film festival gems worth mining if you’re stuck on the couch
Melbourne International Film Festival includes an online cinema: here are our expert’s picks of the best of what’s on offer.
- by Stephanie Bunbury
‘There’s absolutely no one there’: Sydney Film Festival postpones to November
Lockdown has meant another delay for the city’s biggest cinema event.
- by Garry Maddox
Melbourne Film Festival flips virtual and cinema programs to beat COVID
Just days out from its planned opening night, MIFF has had to reorient its program, while hoping attendance caps lift by August 12.
- by Karl Quinn