EIGHTH GRADE

Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Bo Burnham Stars: Elsie Fisher, Josh Hamilton, Catherine Oliviere, Emily Robinson, Jake Ryan, Daniel Zolghadri. This rich, naturalistic and authentic look at the anxieties faced by today’s teenagers in a modern world obsessed with social media and status is an insightful coming of age tale that is refreshingly free of the usual tropes of the subgenre. Eighth Grade follows Kayla Day (played by Elsie Fisher, who voiced the character of Agnes in the first two Despicable Me movies) as she makes that awkward transition from middle Continue reading

JEWISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2018 – interview with Eddie Tamir

by GREG KING The Jewish International Film Festival is screening in Sydney and Melbourne. In Melbourne the festival screens at the Classic Cinema in Elsternwick, the Lido in Hawthorn and the Cameo in Belgrave. It runs until November 21, and will screen some 80 features and documentaries. The opening night film was the critically acclaimed bittersweet road movie The Interpreter. Closing the festival is The Unorthodox, a comedy inspired by the founding of Israel’s Shas party. Director Lisa D’Apolito will be in attendance during the festival ton introduce her Continue reading

EDIE

Reviewed by GREG KING Director: Simon Hunter Stars: Sheila Hancock, Kevin Guthrie, Wendy Morgan, Amy Manson, Paul Brannigan. Edith Moon (veteran Sheila Hancock, from The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, etc) is an 85-year old widow who has spent the better part of her life caring for her wheelchair bound and domineering husband. She is preparing to move into an aged care facility. But when she visits the place to check it out she decides she is not quite ready for the move. While packing up her things she finds her diary in which she has written her thoughts Continue reading

IRISH FILM FESTIVAL 2018 – interview with Enda Murray

by GREG KING The 4th Irish Film Festival screens at Melbourne’s Kino Cinemas from April 26 through to April 28. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland and a couple of the films in this year’s festival examine the legacy of the “troubles.” The opening night film is Maze, a dramatization of the 1983 mass breakout from the notorious Maze prison. There is also No Stone Unturned, a new documentary from Alex Gibney that probes a 1994 murder and the subsequent cover up. Greg spoke to the festival’s artistic director Enda Murray to Continue reading

JEWISH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2017 – interview with Eddie Tamir

by GREG KING The 2017 Jewish International Film Festival screens at the Lido and Classic Cinemas here in Melbourne from October 25 through to November 22. This year, the festival presents 65 films from across the globe that celebrate the remarkable diversity of Jewish culture and storytelling - from Israel, France and Australia, to the Yiddish-speaking neighbourhoods of Brooklyn. This year's program includes 38 features and 23 documentaries. The opening night film is Menashe, while the closing night film is The Rebel In The Rye, a drama about the young J D Salinger, Continue reading