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prettybluelites · 7 months

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Thoughts: Impossible Birds

Okay, to hold me over until Thursday, I'm going to rewatch and blather about each of the existing three episodes, one each, today tomorrow and Wednesday. It won't be true "reaction" because I'm on...oh, the 6th rewatch? But I'll try to cover the stuff I know I was thinking when I watched the first time.

Action right out of the gate. Love a good dream sequence. Rhys looking alarmingly Branagh-esque.

First lols of the new season: "You absolute twaaaaaaaaa..." and the tackle hug. That just looked like it hurt.

More on this bit in the previous post, where I wrote about "I Love My Baby."

This scenery was well worth the wait, goddamn

Not gonna lie, I'm not a fan of fart jokes, but it got them back to reality pretty quick. So I guess I have Wee John's farts to thank for the outstanding pacing so far.

THEY PIMPED THE SWEDE OUT TO JACKIE, omg, I fucking DIED at Roach practically pushing him into her lap. "He's single!"

Also lmao at Buttons' plaintive "May we go back to the sea now?" The flip side of "Are we there yet?" They really are just little children.

I know I'm supposed to be caught up in the "Trust No One" tattoo but I'm distracted by Taika's waist

Jesus Christ there's a lot to unpack in that wedding officiant's speech. "Elevate the common human rabble," yeeesh. I mean, I know that was a thing, like, "people of our standing" or whatever. But yeesh.

That close shot of Ed's eyes when he says "I'm the fuckin' devil"--that's something that grabbed me when I first watched the trailer. Or teaser, whichever it was. There's not a single glimmer of light there. He's so tired and broken and it's all there in his eyes.

The wedding raid is probably a vaguely inappropriate time to mention that Vico is still, as I believe Nathan Foad put it, the hottest human being on the planet

Obsessed with Archie

Obsessed with Susan/Zheng Yi Sao

Obsessed with Auntie

I'm not going to analyze the Izzy stuff much at this point because there's already been a lot of that and I haven't fully processed my feelings so right now I'm just going to leave it at, Con O'Neill is fuckin incredible

Swede has assimilated well, I see

Firm believer that everybody looks cuter when they're wet. Stede looks cuter but mostly sadder

"Could be, could be, mate" - I screamed

Ricky is obviously ew and I hated sitting there helpless while he played Stede like the proverbial fiddle

Stede's look when Swede says "husbandly duties," equal parts Oh no, TMI and Aw, that's our lil boy

Feels wrong not to say anything about Izzy's sort-of confession to Ed, but like I said, I'm still processing. Did I mention Con is incredible?

Taika is scary in the scene that follows, it's actually kinda hard for me to watch, but goddamn he nails it. When can this show win all the Emmys it deserves?

Fun fact, the lime rickey was invented in 1883 :D

Leslie Jones is awesome and gorgeous, and I love Jackie and Susan squaring off in this scene

I absolutely love that Jim, the orphan raised by a nun to be a killing machine, is the character that has made me laugh the hardest, like until I literally cried, on every single viewing of this season so far. And Fang and Archie laughing at Jim's telling of the story just adds to the moment, there's so much joy in the middle of that awful, awful situation they're all in.

And on the other hand is Ed's speech about the bird, just heartbreaking, especially the way he's gasping his way through it. Treading water, waiting to drown.

The song here is fucking gorgeous too, they just keep hitting the soundtrack out of the park

I love soup too, friends.

And here endeth the episode, not including the extended bit of Jim's Pinocchio story, but I've said all that needs saying about that.

Stay tuned for Episode 2 tomorrow!

#ofmd #ofmd s2 #our flag means death #ofmd season 2 #ofmd s2 spoilers #impossible birds #ofmd s2 e1

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thefilmfatale · 4 years

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Jojo Rabbit (2019)

Who says you can't laugh about the Holocaust? Certainly not Taika Waititi.

The Hunt for the Wilderpeople director’s latest film Jojo Rabbit, set in Nazi Germany with a fanatical Hitler youth at its center, is uproarious, funny, and anything but glib. The story follows 10-year-old Jojo Betzler (played by the effortlessly charismatic and magnetic Roman Griffin Davis), who idolizes Adolf Hitler so much that Hitler (played by Waititi) has become his imaginary friend, popping up like a proverbial devil-on-one’s-shoulder during random moments of turmoil to comfort and counsel our budding young Nazi.

Jojo’s dedication to the cause is unwavering. Thanks to some imaginative Nazi propaganda, Jojo is convinced that his purpose is to exterminate Jews, whom he envisions as winged creatures that eat children and hoard anything shiny. Alas, after playing cavalier with a grenade at Hitler youth camp, Jojo suffers an accident that renders him unfit to keep training with the other children, including his best friend Yorki (played by the adorably precocious Archie Yates). He’s promptly sent home, where his angst grows due to being isolated from his Jew-hating peers. To add insult to injury, he discovers that his mother Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) has been hiding a Jewish girl in their home. Outraged and beside himself with indignation, Jojo hatches a plan to get rid of the Jewish girl, seizing it as an opportunity to prove himself as a true Nazi believer to his peers.

Jojo embarks on quite the character arc, and Waititi once again proves that he is a masterful director when it comes to working with children. His ability to elicit the purest, most delightful performances from child actors is amazing (just as he did in Hunt for the Wilderpeople), and the audience swiftly finds themselves endeared to Jojo and the rest of the cast. Performances from everyone were delightful, with Waititi allowing each actor (such as Johansson, Sam Rockwell, and Rebel Wilson) to bring their signature flairs to their characters. While the film is approached mostly as a period piece from an aesthetic standpoint (with costumes, set design, and color palettes largely faithful to the period), Waititi’s deliberate choices in making it anachronistic serve two purposes: to punctuate the satire, and to help make what should be a very sobering subject matter more approachable.

The story, a loose adaptation of the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens, while quirky and sweet certainly doesn't shy away from the real horrors of the holocaust. It’s a tightrope walk to juggle humor and atrocity, but Waititi makes it seem natural. He also knows precisely how to tug at heartstrings without being melodramatic. Jojo Rabbit’s triumph is ultimately in its ability to treat the topic of ideological extremism with the ridicule it so often deserves while at the same time provoking interesting questions about why people get sucked into blindly following charismatic demagogues, entrenching themselves in hate-filled cults, and spouting toxic ideologies. The best part? Waititi does this with so much thoughtfulness and nuance, all while serving up an entertaining, poignant story.

By the end of Jojo Rabbit, you’re not raising your pitchforks screaming about the injustice of the Holocaust—that would be rather trite. Instead, you’re reminded that humans are complex, multi-dimensional, and capable of both immense kindness and unbridled terror. It’s a celebration of people’s capacity to change their minds. More importantly, it’s a reminder of the beauty of comedy and how laughter can be the best medicine during turbulent times.

(More—including spoilers—under the cut)

What I love most about Jojo Rabbit is the depth of each character and how there’s so much to dissect and unpack for each one. Beginning with Jojo—we learn that not only is his father far away, in danger, fighting somewhere on the frontlines, but that he also lost his older sister Inge. We’re never told in full detail what happened to her, but the main takeaway is that her death, coupled by the absence of Jojo’s father, were tragedies that may have propelled Jojo to seek out the philosophy of the Third Reich. It’s not uncommon for young fanatics to get swept into hate groups when they are at their lowest points. When you’re angry or feeling helpless and lonely, it’s easy to externalize your pain and find someone to blame, whether it’s an entire gender, people of certain ethnicities, or members of a different political party. It’s simpler, you see, instead of owning one’s problems and acknowledging that the world doesn’t revolve around you. By making boogeymen out of people who are easy targets, we assert control over the senseless things that happen in our lives. It’s a way to feel powerful.

When you’re young, there are so many things that are out of your control. You’re caught in this torrent of everyone else’s decisions—your parents, school, your peers, society at large—and you’re looking around, flailing and hyperaware, that you’re living what is supposed to be your life and yet there seems so very little that you have ownership of. That's Jojo’s story. Not only is he caught in the middle of a war, but he’s grappling with some seriously heavy shit: an absentee father, a dead sister, a craving for acceptance from his peer group and, ultimately, a longing for connection that is rooted in positivity rather that hate.

At first that connection seems to be cultivated by his mother, Rosie, who is literally and figuratively the most vibrant character in the film. From her bold, striking fashion sense and rouged lips to her joie de vivre, Rosie is, to quote Mulan, a flower that blooms in adversity. Even during the bleakest of times, she finds ways to uplift her son, whom she can tell is hurting. Her bursts of energy, her ability to find excitement and enthusiasm even in the most mundane of things, her rally to dance in the face of tragedy—all were reminders that dwelling on hatred and sorrow, while easy and sometimes necessary, is a crutch in a balm’s disguise. We must always forge ahead and seek hope when all feels lost, like “staring a tiger in the eyes”, as Rosie would say. That’s why, despite the risks of being caught by the Gestapo, she housed a Jewish girl in her home. In some small way, she was doing her part in the resistance against a hateful movement. While Rosie says she’s never stared a tiger in the eyes, her act of defiance came at great risk to herself, and that’s true courage.

In one of the most heartbreaking scenes in the film, Jojo is wandering the streets when he notices a bright, blue butterfly fluttering against the backdrop of hate-filled propaganda smattered on the city walls. He chases it wistfully and accidentally stumbles on the gallows in the middle of the town square. All the audience sees, hanging from the gallows, is a pair of legs with bright-colored shoes, and our hearts immediately sink. It’s Rosie. Waititi leads up to this shocking moment during a previous scene, while Jojo and Rosie are hanging out by a river. Rosie makes fun of Jojo for still being unable to tie his own shoes. She’s skipping gleefully on top of a concrete wall, with the camera trained low at Jojo’s eye-level, so the audience sees a shot of her shoes as she taps into a merry little dance. Waititi counts on viewers remembering this quiet scene to make what follows truly devastating. The effect is quite heart-stopping, and it’s impossible to want to reach out and give poor Jojo a hug as he cries out and wraps his arms around his dead mother’s feet. It’s then that Waititi makes his message known: Yes, there’s plenty to make light of in the world, but you can do this while also acknowledging that there’s plenty of darkness. It’s an impressive balancing act, and Waititi does it with so much wonderful exuberance and earnestness that it’s tough not to commend.

Viewers notice that the more Jojo focuses on the positive things in his life—his mother, his new Jewish friend Elsa—the less we see of his imaginary friend Hitler. And this is a deliberate choice by Waititi to prove a point: when you are consumed with hate, you’ll want to constantly keep feeding it because it’s comfortable and easy. As humans, we have a biological negative bias that we rely on as a means of survival. The very idea of entropy exists as a reminder that it takes more work to put things in order, to be good, to rise above, than for things to decay and distort and devolve. The more you fill your life with things that bring you joy, fulfillment, and contentment, the less you’ll rely on poisonous literature and toxic people. While this isn't exactly an epiphany for most of us, one may applaud Waititi for the inventive way he delivers this message.

Another delightful character who, on the surface, seemed to be solely there for comedic effect, was Sam Rockwell’s Captain Klenzendorf, who’s tasked with whipping up these little rascals into Nazi-fighting shape. From the very get go, we sense that this man’s commitment to the Nazi cause is entirely for appearances’ sake. From his clandestine romance with his right-hand man (played by Games of Thrones’ Alfie Allen) to his soft spot for Jojo, the audience is led to believe that this man is merely pretending to be a hard-ass because that’s what you were expected to do, else be accused of treason to your nation. One could assume his affection for Jojo had something to do with being able to sympathize with the young boy after Jojo is relegated to doing simple jobs due to his injury (Klenzendorf claims he was benched from the frontlines because of an injury that led to him having a dead eye). But it’s toward the end of the film where we fully realize the totality of his character. In an earlier scene, Jojo is bullied by some older boys into killing a rabbit. They jeer at him as he wrestles with the decision to kill an innocent animal. He’s torn between wanting desperately to ingratiate himself into his peer group and staying true to the part of himself that’s kind, pure, innocent, and staunchly against needless violence. The music builds as we lean forward in our seats waiting to see what Jojo does. He decides on an act of mercy at his own expense, releasing the bunny and yelling at it to flee from danger. Unfortunately, before it has a chance to escape, the bunny is snatched up by one of the older boys, who wrings its neck in front of all the young boys to see.

At first this seems like a scene that’s simply supposed to be an obnoxious display of bravado. But Waititi calls back to this scene towards the end of the film twice. Klenzendorf arrives at the Betzler household when it is being searched and ransacked by the Gestapo, who suspect Rosie has been aiding Jews. Jojo is terrified, not just to be discovered as traitors by the Gestapo but for Elsa’s (the Jewish girl they have been hiding who has now become his friend) safety. To get ahead of the situation, Elsa emerges from her hiding place and pretends to be Jojo’s dead sister Inge. When the Gestapo demand her paperwork, she shows them Inge’s old ID card. Klenzendorf immediately intercedes, grabs the ID from her hand and demands that she variate her identity by stating her birthday. Elsa stammers in response. “Correct,” Klenzendorf confirms flatly. The Gestapo consider this acceptable and vacate the premises, none the wiser. We discover immediately that Elsa had actually given the wrong birthdate, and Klenzendorf could have outed her right then, but decided not to. He was helping the bunny escape.

In another scene, when the Allied troops march into Germany and start rounding up all the Nazi soldiers, Jojo (who has a Nazi officer’s jacket on) is mistaken for one of them. He runs into Captain Klenzendorf, who creates a commotion by wrenching the Nazi jacket off of Jojo’s back and pushing him away, telling him to flee while yelling at him for being a dirty Jew so the Allies don’t execute him. It was an act of sacrifice from a man who recognized himself in the young boy. Klenzendorf saw Jojo’s gentleness and purity of heart and knew this kid needed to live. He released the bunny, stared a tiger squarely in the eyes—at the expense of his own life.

Jojo Rabbit, while certainly laugh-out-loud funny and full of amusement, is a moving story about heroism from a group of people who rarely ever get acknowledgment for their acts of bravery. These were Germans who defied their Führer and their Aryan brotherhood at great risk to their own lives. While these acts will never erase the horrors of the Holocaust, it’s a reminder that people are complicated creatures, capable of miraculous acts of mercy and horrific deeds of violence. It implores us to think about how some of the people that get caught up in hate groups are hurting deeply and just looking for something to blame their pain on. It definitely doesn’t excuse their actions or the bile they oftentimes spew, but it merely reminds us that behind every caricature is a human being in pain.

Even if you see Jojo Rabbit and don’t think it’s that deep—you may say “Starr, it’s just a comedy about stupid Nazis, it’s not even a true story”. What is true about it is that we live in a world of grey, and while it may be simpler to put people in buckets of black and white, hero and villain, good and bad, more often than not we are all just hurting in some way. What’s true about it is that we have more in common than we have differences and ultimately, everyone regardless of race, creed, sexual orientation, craves the same thing: freedom; Freedom from the burdens that we carry on our shoulders, from dead loved ones to strife and war. Freedom from the fear of persecution for being who we are. The freedom to wear whatever we want, screw whomever we want, and to dance like no one’s looking.

#Jojo Rabbit #taika waititi #Scarlett Johansson #movie reviews #sam rockwell

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sielinakyle · 4 years

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Dig a Little Deeper

tagged by @quaffled!! thank you :)

i’m putting this under the cut because it’s long!

1. do you prefer writing with a black pen or a blue pen? blue!

2. would you prefer to live in the country or in the city? i’m definitely more of a city girl, but i love driving around the country.

3. if you could learn a new skill, what would it be? i think i’d want to learn how to fix a car. that seems like a pretty decent skill to have haha.

4. do you drink your tea/coffee with sugar? coffee with sugar!

5. what was your favorite book as a child? definitely harry potter. i also liked the shadowhunter series but never finished it. i liked reading the judy blume books and roald dahl.

6. do you prefer baths or showers? showers

7. if you could be a mythical creature, which one would you be? just give me some magical powers pls.

8. paper or electronic books? paper. but i read a lot of fanfiction for electronic...?

9. what is your favorite item of clothing? leggings! and this oversized sweater i love wearing in the winter.

10. do you like your name? would you like to change it? i like my name :) even if i have to spell it everywhere i go.

11. who is a mentor to you? i don’t think i’ve ever really had a mentor. i look up to my mum a lot if that counts...

12. would you like to be famous? if so, what for? i think it’d be cool to write a book but i’d probably use a pseudonym.

13. are you a restless sleeper? i have a hard time falling asleep. night time is when my anxiety spikes.

14. do you consider yourself to be a romantic person? hopeless romantic.

15. which element best represents you? earth!

16. who do you want to be closer to? i honestly don’t know... my best friend lives almost five hours a way and i only see her like twice maybe three times a year.

17. do you miss someone at the moment? yep. covid sucks. and relatives that have passed away.

18. tell us about an early childhood memory. my mum, dad and i were up at a cottage with my cousins and my aunt and uncle. and my one cousin and i went for a bike ride and we saw a bear along the way. so we raced back and told everyone but no one believed us, my dad was like “you probably saw a giant bird” and to this day (like 12 years later) no one still believes us.

19. what is the strangest thing you have eaten? alligator meat?

20. what are you most thankful for? family, friends, roof over my head.

21. do you like spicy food? caribbean spicy

22. have you ever met someone famous? taika waititi came into my work. chelsea and i sat near sebastian stan at TIFF (didn’t meet him but it was great). i’ve meet a few NHL players and MLB players when i was younger. i used to work at an entertainment show so celebs would walk in and out for interviews.

23. do you keep a diary or journal? i used to!

24. do you prefer to use pen or pencil? pen

25. what is your star sign? capricorn

26. do you like your cereal crunchy or soggy? i don’t really eat cereal

27. what would you want your legacy to be? god i don’t know. dsfjnkdsjnfks just being a decent human with an open mind

28. do you like reading? what was the last book you read? yes! i can’t remember the last physical book, but i’ve read a lot of fanfiction in lockdown.

29. how do you show someone you love them? for friendship love, i’m supportive and caring and a listener. i think those are important. for my romantic relationship i love hand! holding! and also just being a support system for that other person and communicate!

30. do you like ice in your drinks? sure

31. what are you afraid of? dying, watching my family dying, being alone. uncertainty.

32. what is your favorite scent? honey vanilla, cookies, coffee, shea butter

33. do you address older people by their name or surname? uhhh i don’t know? i guess if i know them then their first name.

34. if money was not a factor, how would you live your life? travel!!!

35. do you prefer swimming in pools or the ocean? pools!

36. what would you do if you found $50 in the ground? keep it probably

37. have you ever seen a shooting star? did you make a wish? i don’t think i have

38. what is one thing you would want to teach your children? be open minded and kind

39. if you had to have a tattoo, what would it be and where would you get it? i have two! but i want like 2384234 more :)

40. what can you hear now? youtube video. 41. where do you feel the safest? in my home, in bed with a bunch of blankets. or with my mum. 42. what is one thing you want to overcome/conquer? anxiety!!! self deprecating!!!

43. if you could travel back to any era, what would it be? i think seeing thew 70s/80s would be neat.

44. what is your most used emoji? the crying laughing emoji or the eye roll emoji 45. describe yourself using one word. anxious

46. what do you regret the most? not having more time with my dad.

47. last movie you saw? the princess bride

48. last tv show you watched? glee...... just don’t even ask i’m mad at myself

49. invent a word and its meaning. i dont know lmaaao

tagging: @cinderllas @hathawaywrites @sansastsrk @mysnflower @delacourr @mischiefsmanaged @chvchang @marleneblackinnon @madney

#ask game #long post

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funnythingshere0-blog · 6 years

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Breaking Up is Easy for Rising Kiwi filmmakers

New Post has been published on https://funnythingshere.xyz/breaking-up-is-easy-for-rising-kiwi-filmmakers/

Breaking Up is Easy for Rising Kiwi filmmakers

The comedy, which opens the Sydney Film Festival next month, centres on two best friends and roommates, Jen (van Beek) and Mel (Sami), who provide a professional break-up service to partners not brave enough to dump their unwanted lovers. For a fee, they will act out a fake pregnancy or lie about a drowning to end a relationship.

But their cold-hearted business is threatened when Mel falls for a client – a handsome but not-overly-bright rugby player (James Rolleston, the now-grown-up star of New Zealand hit Boy) who has been trying to break up with his passionate girlfriend (Ana Scotney✓) by emoji.

Van Beek, 42, and Sami, 38, co-wrote, co-directed and co-star in the film that casts Celia Pacquola (Rosehaven) in her first feature film.

The Breaker Upperers open the Sydney Film Festival next month.

Photo: Abigail Dougherty

Given their very Kiwi sense of humour, the multitasking duo was were quickly described as a female Flight of the Conchords✓ – a comparison they don’t mind in the least given Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie are “dear friends”. Another friend with similar comic talent, Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi✓ – a high school friend of van Beek’s – is executive producer of their film.

Seizing a moment when the New Zealand film industry was looking to encourage female directors, van Beek and Sami have delivered their own version of a buddy comedy.

As the partying continues around them in the bar, the duo banter on the phone about their background together that includes various theatre productions together over 20 years. Van Beek has previously written and directed a more serious film, The Inland Road, and appeared in the TV series 800 Words; Sami was in Top of the Lake and directed van Beek in the TV series Funny Girls.

“We actually met when I was 14 years old,” Sami says. “I was in the national theatresports improv competition and Jackie was a tutor.”

Van Beek chimes in: “A very young tutor.”

Sami: “Yes, very young.”

Van Beek: “I was 17 or 18 and I identified Madeleine Sami as one to watch. You did pretty well in that competition. Did you win?”

Sami: “There were no winners.”

Van Beek: “No winners? What a lame competition.”

Some filmmakers make sure they have a memorable story but, with an endearing New Zealand directness, van Beek says the idea for the film just popped into her head while ambling around her kitchen one morning.

“I was reflecting on all those conversations I’d had with people about how awful it is having to break up with your partner and how you dread it and there’s a lot of fear and angst involved,” she says. “I just thought, ‘wouldn’t it be funny if you could outsource the responsibility [to] a company?’. I thought, “I’ll never start that company because I’m way too lazy and not interested enough but it would make a very funny film’.”

Sami not only liked the idea but suggested the title.

“I thought it was a stupid, stupid, silly title that made me laugh,” she says. “It was a working title for a long time then it just kind of stuck.”

Van Beek: “It was perfect because it really set the tone for the film … Very Kiwi.”

They spent four years on-and-off writing the film, enjoying inventing comic methods for breaking up couples.

“That was the fun part of the writing, coming up with ways the job could work,” Sami says. “We wrote a big $50 million version of the film which was completely unrealistic for us to make because we were never going to get that sort of money – speedboats and scuba diving, like James Bond meets The Idiots✓.

“Once we had the premise, it was really about telling a story about some characters that were true to us and that we felt people could relate to – getting a buddy comedy element in there.”

The duo surrounded themselves with an experienced team – largely women – so they could focus on their performances in the film.

“We left a lot of room for improvisation,” van Beek says. “Sometimes Madeleine and I would tangent into what we considered comedy gold …

Sami: “But some people might consider comedy poo. We’ve edited a lot of the comedy poo out.”

The duo saw their film as subverting the romantic comedy genre, with Bridesmaids as a reference for its ensemble female cast and The Wedding Crashers as “a concept cousin”.

“It feels like a premise for the times,” Sami says. “The way young people – and I say young people because Jackie and I are both happily married older women – now connect with each other on Tinder and things like that. It’s a far more brutal world that we live in with technology in the way it allows us to step back from the confrontation and the responsibilities that we’ve had in the past. We actually had to talk to somebody to break up with them.”

While the likes of Hunt for the Wilderpeople✓ , What We Do in the Shadows✓ and Flight of the Conchords✓ suggest there is a particular quality to New Zealand comedy – deadpan, warm-hearted, down to earth and mumblingly self-effacing – the duo feel their film has a similar sense of humour to Australian comedies.

“There was that era of Australian film that just was so influential for me in wanting to be an actor – Muriel’s Wedding, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, The Castle,” Sami says.

Van Beek: “Then later on Chris Lilley’s stuff. And Kath and Kim.”

Sami: “And the Comedy Company. My first gig was when I was eight years old at a family Christmas in Taranaki and I did Kylie Mole impressions; ‘She goes, she goes’. I got my mum to put my hair in pigtails. I can still quote Con the Fruiterer. “

With the soft shell crab and broccoli bites having been swept away, it’s time for the duo to head around the corner for the screening. Having already been to Hollywood to discuss future projects, they plan to co-direct again.

“It’s lovely that people do seem excited that we’re new female film directors,” van Beek says.

Sami adds: “We barrelled ahead with this project and we just convinced everyone else and ourselves that it was possible. And it totally is.”

Sydney Film Festival runs from June 6 to 17. Tickets are at sff.org.au. The Breaker Upperers is in cinemas from July 26.

WOMEN AT THE FESTIVAL

IN COMPETITION

Daughter of Mine

Italy’s Laura Bispuri✓ , who made her name with the 2015 transgender tale Sworn Virgin, directs a drama about a 10-year-old girl torn between two very different mothers in a small Sardinian community.

Leave No Trace

Debra Granik✓ , who launched Jennifer Lawrence’s career in Winter’s Bone, directs a tender drama about an army veteran and his 13-year-old daughter who live off the grid in a public park in Oregon.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post

Iranian-American director Desiree Akhavan✓ won the top prize at Sundance with a touching coming-of-age drama about a high school girl (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is sent to a gay conversion camp.

The Seen and Unseen

Indonesia’s Kamila Andini✓ (The Mirror Never Lies) centres a meditative dreamlike drama on a 10-year-old Balinese girl who is dealing with the loss of her twin brother.

DOCUMENTARIES

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Photo: Supplied

A Murder In Mansfield

Barbara Kopple✓ , the two-time Oscar winning director of Harlan County USA and Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing, looks at the human cost of a vicious murder in Ohio in 1989, through the eyes of a troubled man still trying to deal with his father killing his mother.

On Her Shoulders

A Sundance prizewinner, Alexandria Bombach’s documentary is about a 23-year-old woman who survived genocide and sexual slavery at the hands of ISIS Islamic State to become the courageous voice of her people.

Half the Picture

Through interviews with Ava DuVernay✓ , Lena Dunham✓ and Catherine Hardwicke✓ among others, Amy Adrion looks at why there are so few women directors.

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

You Were Never Really Here

Lynne Ramsay, the uncompromising Scottish director of Ratcatcher and We Need to Talk About Kevin, has Joaquin Phoenix as a traumatised hitman in a thriller that won screenplay and acting awards at Cannes last year.

The Kindergarten Teacher

Maggie Gyllenhaal shines as a primary school teacher who believes one of her students is a child prodigy in a Sundance prizewinning drama from Sara Colangelo✓ (Little Accidents).

AUSTRALIAN WOMEN

My Brilliant Career

A new digital restoration of Gillian Armstrong’s breakthrough film from 1979 features Judy Davis as a headstrong young woman determined to be a writer and Sam Neill as her beau.

Piercing

A long way from Alice in Wonderland, Mia Wasikowska plays a prostitute who disrupts the plans of a would-be murderer (Christopher Abbott from Girls) in what is described as a bold S&M comedy.

Chocolate Oyster

Anna Lawrence✓ and Rosie Lourde✓ are two waitresses wanting bigger things in a so-called mumblecore comedy set in Bondi that is directed by Steve Jaggi✓.

Terror Nullius

New York-based sisters Dominique and Dan Angeloro✓ , who make up the video art collective Soda_Jerk, repurpose shots from Australian films for a savage satire about the state of the country.

REAL LIVES ON SCREEN

Bad Reputation

The life story of Joan Jett, founding member of the Runaways and later frontwoman for Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, in a documentary from noted director music video Kevin Kerslake✓ .

Whitney

A candid portrait of Whitney Houston, from triumph to sad decline, as told by Kevin Macdonald✓, the Oscar-winning director of One Day in September and Touching the Void.

Garry Maddox is a Senior Writer for The Sydney Morning Herald.