Short Term 12 (2013)

Brisbane International Film Festival: Short Term 12 (2013)

I’ve never seriously contemplated walking out of a movie theatre; consequently I’ve sat through the entirety of some truly execrable films. Yet halfway through Short Term 12, I strongly considering getting up and leaving the cinema. Short Term 12 takes its name from the foster care facility that serves as its primary setting, and is…

Ja’mie: Private School Girl (Episode 5)

Despite the fact that Ja’mie: Private School Girl finds Chris Lilley returning to a character he’s played not once, but twice before, the series is a risk for the comedian. Each of his previous series have been thematically distinct but shared a common narrative structure, splitting their time with roughly half-a-dozen characters (all played by…

Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson in Don Jon (2013)

Brisbane International Film Festival: Don Jon (2013)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, Don Jon, demonstrates sparks of clever filmmaking. The film’s construction is deliberately repetitive, using recurring rituals (church, Sunday lunch, gym, jackin’ it to internet porn) that change to highlight the growth of its (unlikable) characters. It also mines humour from these subtle variations – generally at the expense of its Jersey-Shore-esque…

Ja’mie: Private School Girl (Episode 4)

The fourth episode of Ja’mie has the same problem I spoke about last episode in that there’s a continued reluctance to provide any kind of substantial characterisation to any non-Ja’mie characters. It’s telling that her romance with Mitchell has been relegated to descriptions of text messages/Facebook statuses and the occasional wordless montage; if I’m being…