Everybody Knows Re-asserts Asghar Farhadi’s Talent for (Melo)drama
Asghar Farhadi is surely one of his generation’s greatest dramaturgists, so the release of a new film of his is invariably cause for excitement.
The Light Between Oceans is Too Polite for its Own Good
Derek Cianfrance treats this maudlin melodrama with too much restraint for it to truly connect.
Julieta (2016)
Pedro Almodóvar’s latest mutes its melodramatic tendencies to contrast the vibrancy of youth with the mounting regrets of aging.
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…
BAPFF Melodrama: Early Winter, The Daughter and Floating Clouds
I had a melodramatic couple of days at the Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival. Starting with Michael Rowe’s Canadian/Australian drama Early Winter, through Simon Stone’s The Daughter and concluding with a retrospective screening of Mikio Naruse’s classic Floating Clouds, my weekend was dominated by the infidelities and dark secrets that define the much-maligned genre of…
The Best of Me (2014)
So I saw my first Nicholas Sparks movie and … I didn’t hate it? Maybe the two glasses of wine beforehand affected my judgment, as I can hardly defend the film from an “objective” perspective. It’s riddled with problems, including: The casting of Luke Bracey as the teenage version of James Marsden; not only does…
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