Standing strong: Paola Cortellesi, director and star of ‘There’s Still Tomorrow’.
THERE’S STILL TOMORROW **** (118 minutes; subtitled) M
In post-war Italy, harried mother and abused wife Delia (director, co-writer Paola Cortellesi) gradually discovers the cracks in her constricted domestic and social world through which she might find a measure of personal liberation.
Shot in black-and-white and looking like it was made in the late 1940s by one of the Italian masters, Cortellesi crafts a beautiful, moving tale of a woman’s growing sense of self, masterfully blending comedy, drama and musical numbers. (Oh, if only the makers of Joker 2 had watched this film beforehand to see how to infuse music into a narrative.)
Without forcing the issue, the film brandishes a powerfully understated feminist tint and offers the most piercing detailing yet about the dynamics that underlie domestic violence. In an exceptional performance as Delia’s husband Ivano, Valerio Mastandrea embodies the tradition that entitles him to raise his hand.
In Italy, the film was a massive box-office, beating Barbie and Life is Beautiful, the latter being a more significant achievement given the film’s Oscar-winning legacy.
The film’s final ten minutes might just be the most emotional closing to a film in years. Prepare for thine eyes to mist.
HERE **** (104 minutes) M
What a wonderful, unconventional, life-affirming film this is – and one that seems to have arrived at the right time.
Set in one location as seen through a single locked-off camera angle, director Bob Zemeckis (Back to the Future; Forrest Gump) takes us on a visually compelling journey across time in one of the most unusual and beautiful films we’ve seen in a long while.
Most of the action takes place in the street-facing living room of a colonial house across the road from the historic home where Benjamin Franklin’s son once lived.
The narrative flits back and forth across a timeline that mainly covers around a century of the home’s inhabitants but which occasionally stretches back to pre-colonial times and the prehistoric era (complete with mandatory dinosaurs).
It’s not just a matter of straightforward cutting between scenes, though.
Using an innovative, ingenious framing device – adapted from the 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire upon which the film is based – varying segments of the screen are outlined during a scene, becoming preview windows into the next time period we are about to be transported to.
The main story follows the various travails of one family as its members deal with a host of ordinary ordeals such as mortgage repayments, career frustration, troublesome kids, ageing parents, teenage pregnancy and such like.
All the interlocking dramas serve to highlight the compromises life demands of us, a punishing reality made tolerable only by the embracing of homespun family values.
It sounds corny as heck, admittedly, but it’s the superb, mesmeric storytelling that sells it.
Given the chaotic state of the world at the minute, that the film quietly champions such traditional values comes both as a welcome relief and as somewhat brave. This a film Norman Rockwell would have loved.
Underpinning all the time-shifting scenarios are some visual effects that are truly astonishing.
The film stars Forrest Gump duo Tom Hanks and Robin Wright as a couple who hook up young and find the demands of suburban life sucking the life out of their modest dreams.
Thanks to the newly minted de-aging digital technology – which allowed the creation of a young Harrison Ford for Indiana Jones 5 – we see them flawlessly age backwards and forwards, with Hanks bearing his youthful flush from the 1980s. It is truly remarkable stuff.
The film has thus far received a brutal critical drubbing, but don’t let that put you off.
Heartfelt and marvellously composed, Here offers a unique and memorable viewing experience – an increasingly rare thing in this era of stamped-out, post-content cinema.
SATURDAY NIGHT *** (108 minutes) MA
This fun-filled film recreates the mishaps and mayhem of putting together the first episode of the iconic live sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live.
Filmed on grainy 16mm, the piece looks as though it was made in 1975 as producer Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle) marshals his cutting-edge cast together, including (among others) Dan Ackroyd (Dylan O’Brien), John Belushi (Matt Wood), Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), Andy Kaufman (Nicholas Braun) and Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith, in the film’s standout turn).
The boisterous lark is energetically directed by Jason Reitman, who aptly captures how the daring nature of the show’s comedy embodied both outright silliness (inspired by British comedy such as Monty Python) and the spirit of social change that was running through society regarding race relations and women’s rights.
Next up, they should do a film about the creation of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, the anarchic comedy show that set the stage for SNL. Regrettably, though, it doesn’t get the reference it deserves.
WEEKEND IN TAIPEI ***1/2 (100 minutes) MA
Ripper action film as tightly wound DEA agent (Luke Evans) defies orders and goes to Taipei to take care of some unfinished fighting. There are some nifty fight sequences and car chases but the clincher is how he hooks up with his former lover (Gwei Lun-mei) who has some surprises for him, not the least of which is that she’s now married to the villain he’s trying to take down (Sung Kang). A terrific, straight-up action film that delivers. Proficiently directed by George Huang, who co-wrote with producer and French action veteran Luc Besson.
THE RED *** (83 minutes) MA
Hey. Why not a giant zombie kangaroo that can’t be killed with guns or knives or four-wheel drives? This tight, well-made bunch o’fun pits a feisty country cop (Tess Haubrich) against the marauding marsupial as it terrorizes then chows down on the locals. Features some convincing gore, good VFX and a nicely etched turn by the immortal Michael Biehn (The Terminator; Aliens; The Abyss) who also served as producer. Directed with punch and a deep love of mischievous tension building by Ryan Coonan. Sequel please.
In the US the film is known as Rippy – a much better title.
THE MOOGAI *1/2 (84 minutes) M
The noble attempt by writer/director Jon Bell to upgrade his award-winning 2020 short film into a full-blooded feature might well earn it a special accolade as the politest horror film ever.
A member of the stolen generation and raised by a nice foster family, Sarah (Shari Sebbens) appears to be happy, living a good life as a legal consultant and earning more bread than husband Fergus (Meyne Wyatt).
A difficult birth rouses the spectre of the titular beast, a malevolent spirit deputized by the colonial past to steal babies, presumably indigenous ones.
Bell stages some strong set-up scenes as Sarah becomes progressively unhinged and does a good job mashing history into his horror concept.
Unfortunately, the closer he draws to the climax the more he loses his grip, too intent on making a statement than delivering scares or any real sense of threat.
As a horror film The Moogai is just far too well-behaved, never losing its head like it should. Also annoying is the film’s portrayal and sidelining of non-indigenous characters. Sarah’s adoptive family, for instance, literally vanish from view.
It’s a big disappointment, especially given how good most Australian horror films have been over the past few years.
Local filmmakers seem to know what they’re doing when they operate within genre, fully aware of the rules and conventions, thus knowing which ones to use, bend and discard depending on the demands of the narrative.
Regrettably, the one big thing The Moogai needed is sorely missing, as genre fans will no doubt clock as they watch the film stumble, then fall.