Palio (2015)

I love a good underdog sports story. Oh, it’s a familiar narrative, but there’s something in the time-honoured tale of overcoming the odds and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat that can’t help but resonate with me. Palio then, which pits plucky newcomer Giovanni Atzeni against veteran champion – and mentor – Luigi “Gigi”…

Girl Asleep (2015)

Girl Asleep, screening in this year’s Sydney Film Festival, has a lot in common with a pair of teen-oriented films that screened in the festival last year. Like the impressive Diary of a Teenage Girl and the not-so-impressive Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, Rosemary Dyer’s directorial debut uses the “Sundance aesthetic” – twee…

It’s Only the End of the World (2016)

Xavier Dolan’s sixth feature film, It’s Only the End of the World, had its Australian premiere at Sydney Film Festival from a precarious position. Arriving from Cannes with a pair of strange, if increasingly common bedfellows – widespread critical derision and the Grand Prix prize – it’s perched on a pedestal that demands either full-throated…

Suntan (2016)

Suntan begins as an R-rated, Greek Islands take on The Office. The middle-aged and miserable Kostis (Makis Papadimitriou) is transferred to a tiny island to serve as their only doctor. As Christmas rains give way to summer sun, Kostis begins tagging along with a group of irreverent young tourists and struggles to strike up a…

A Second Chance (2014)

Read a synopsis of A Second Chance and you might go in expecting an especially spicy episode of SVU. The story’s packed with crime, parental neglect and a particularly potent package of twists. But what prevents this from being a feature-length Danish Law & Order episode are the steady hands of director Suzanne Bier. Perhaps…