THE ADULTS
Director: Dustin Guy Defa
Plot: Eric returns home for a short visit and finds himself caught between reuniting with his sisters and chasing a victory with his old poker group. As the trip extends, Eric finds it increasingly difficult to avoid confrontations and revelations as his carefully constructed façade of his adulthood gives way to old childhood conflicts.
Review: While the cast were all solid in their roles (Sophia Lillis was the stand-out) and it definitely has some memorable moments sprinkled throughout it, I found it mostly an average affair overall. It’s nothing that we haven’t seen before in other indie comedy/dramas.
Rating:
THE ROOSTER
Director: Mark Leonard Winter
Plot: When the body of his oldest friend is found buried in a shallow grave, Dan, a small-town cop, seeks answers from a volatile hermit who was the last person to see his friend alive. As Dan gets closer to the truth, he must confront his own personal demons and he discovers that hope can be found in unlikely places.
Review: I will admit that for the first 15 minutes, I thought this was going to be a mess due to how overwrought and poorly constructed it was. However once Weaving came in, it got better after that. It’s flawed but really compelling drama that’s well acted by its leads.
Rating:
INSIDE THE YELLOW COCOON SHELL
Director: Pham Thien An
Plot: After his sister-in-law dies in a freak motorcycle accident in Saigon, Thien is bestowed the task of delivering her body in their countryside hometown to which he also takes his nephew Dao, who miraculously survived the crash. Amidst the mystical landscapes of rural Vietnam, Thien begins a search for his older brother who vanished years ago to hand Dao over to him – a journey which deeply questions his faith.
Review: While this film won’t be for everyone due to both its 3 hour running-time and deliberate ponderous nature, personally I was transfixed by from start to finish. It’s a strangely captivating film with some great cinematography and captiy themes at at the centre of it.
Rating:
BIRDEATER
Director: Jack Clark & Jim Weir
Plot: A bride-to-be is invited to her own fiancé’s bachelor party, but when uncomfortable details about their relationship are exposed, the night takes a feral turn.
Review: Umm… Wow. I’m gobsmacked. This was absolutely fantastic, visceral, provocative and dark relationship drama that becomes that definitely shades of WAKE IN FRIGHT when it comes to its tone. The cast were all brilliant and the directors are definitely ones to watch.
Rating:
MONOLITH
Director: Matt Vesely
Plot: A desperate young journalist turns to podcasting to salvage her career, but her rush to make headlines leads her to an alien conspiracy.
Review: While there were aspects of the script that it could have dived into more, this was an really solid, creepy and impressively made sci-fi film that knows how to keep you invested with its unique approach to its story. Lily Sullivan was very good in the lead role.
Rating:
THE MAIDEN
Director: Graham Foy
Plot: Amidst multiple disappearances, the lives of three suburban teenagers cosmically intertwine around their local ravine – as they grapple with grief, loneliness, and unexpected friendship.
Review: Despite both its deliberate pace and meandering approach keeping me at distant at times, I still found this to be haunting and thought-provoking teen film. The three leads all gave strong work and the naturalistic filmmaking gave it an almost documentary feel.
Rating:
YOU’LL NEVER FIND ME
Director: Josiah Allen & Indianna Bell
Plot: Patrick, a strange and lonely resident, lives in a mobile home at the back of an isolated caravan park. After a violent thunderstorm erupts, a mysterious young woman appears at his door, seeking shelter from the weather. The longer the night wears on and the more the young woman discovers about Patrick, the more difficult she finds it to leave. Soon she begins to question Patrick’s intentions, while Patrick begins to question his own grip on reality…
Review: Despite having some great creepy atmosphere, cool visual style and two solid turns from its leads, sadly this Aussie horror film wasn’t as good as it could have been due to its story being predictable and taking too to get going. Still the directors have talent I look forward to what they do.
Rating:
LA CHIMERA
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Plot: Just out of jail and still searching for his late beloved Beniamina, crumpled English archaeologist Arthur reconnects with his wayward crew of tombaroli accomplices – a happy-go-lucky collective of itinerant grave-robbers who survive by looting Etruscan tombs and fencing the ancient treasures they dig up. Arthur isn’t interested in the artefacts, though; he’s seeking a legendary door to the underworld, and to Beniamina.
Review: I must admit that it took me a bit to get into Alice Rohwacher’s latest film at first. However once I did, I found it to be a really engaging, charming, humorous and original film. Josh O’Conner did a great job with his performance and the script is well crafted.
Rating:
CONANN
Director: Bertrand Mandico
Plot: Traveling through the abyss, underworld dog Rainer recounts the six lives of Conann, perpetually put to death by her own future, across eras, myths and ages. From her childhood, a slave of Sanja and her barbarian horde, to her accession to the summits of cruelty at the doors of our world.
Review: My first Bertrand Mandico film and it was… Yeah. While I give it credit for being a unique, radical, bizarre and visually stunning reinterpretation of CONAN THE BARBARIAN, sadly it just wasn’t for me. I was all in on it at first but as it went on, I started losing interest.
Rating:
AFIRE
Director: Christian Petzold
Plot: A seaside vacation takes an unexpected turn when Leon and Felix show up at Felix’s family’s holiday home to discover Nadja, a mysterious woman, already there. As an ever-encroaching forest fire threatens their well-being, relationships are tested and romances are kindled.
Review: I wasn’t sure what to expect from Christian Petzold’s latest film, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. While its tone can be a little uneven in spots, it’s a really engaging comedy/drama that has strong work from its cast. Especially Paula Beer, who was great.
Rating:
PASSAGES
Director: Ira Sachs
Plot: A gay couple’s marriage is thrown into crisis when one of them impulsively begins a passionate affair with a young woman.
Review: Having really liked his previous, Ira Sachs’ latest film would live to the potential of its interesting. As expected, it did. This was a great film that found equal parts engaging, funny, sensual and well crafted. All three leads did a terrific job with their roles.
Rating:
ANSELM
Director: Wim Wenders
Plot: Anselm Kiefer is one of the greatest contemporary artists. His past and present diffuse the line between film and painting, thus giving a unique cinematic experience that dives deep into an artist’s work and reveals his life path.
Review: While I wished that Wim Wender’s latest documentary dived into more of the life of artist Anselm Kiefer since I wasn’t very familiar with his work, it’s still a visually striking film that’s a good showcase for the man’s amazing art and use of immersive 3D effects.
Rating:
MONSTER
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda
Plot: When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what’s going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher and child, the truth gradually emerges.
Review: Yep. Definitely go into this as blind as possible. Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest work is an absolutely captivating, complex, moving and brilliantly crafted film that you think starts off being one thing, but goes into a different direction as it goes along. I loved it.
Rating:
MERCY ROAD
Director: John Curran
Plot: MERCY ROAD is a tense, psychological thriller about a flawed everyman (Luke Bracey) who commits an impulsive and vicious crime. In this ultimate journey to redemption, he soon learns just how far he is willing to go to save his child.
Review: As somebody who has really liked John Curran’s previous films, his latest is just simply terrible. While this thriller definitely has potential, sadly it’s let down by an awful script, ludicrous plotting, hilariously bad acting and some baffling use of bad green screen.
Rating:
CREATURE
Director: Asif Kapadia
Plot: On a remote Arctic research station, a captive creature (played by the English National Ballet’s charismatic principal dancer Jeffrey Cirio) is unwittingly enlisted into a military program that subjects him to sinister experiments. Amid this turmoil, he finds himself enamoured with a cleaner, the only person who shows him kindness; together, these two outsiders dream of escape from their dystopian surrounds.
Review: While I can see why this won’t vibe with most people due to it basically being a filmed experimental stage dance production, personally that’s what made this sci-fi/horror film such a unique experience from beginning to end. The dance sequences were all great.
Rating:
WALK UP
Director: Hong Sang-soo
Plot: A middle-aged film director and the daughter he hasn’t seen in years visit a building owned by an interior designer. They have come because the daughter also hopes to study interior design. The designer takes them up floor by floor to show them the renovations she has done. The three of them go into the rooms on each floor to look around. After the film begins in this way, we start again at the bottom and ascend one floor at a time.
Review: This was my first time watching a film from director Hong Sang-soo and to be honest, I found it a bit of a mix-bag. While the performances are all solid, sadly I just found the tone too dry for my taste and some conversation scenes just went on for way too long.
Rating:
THIS IS GOING TO BE BIG
Director: Thomas Charles Hyland
Plot: Peer behind the curtain as a cast of neurodivergent teens prepare to come of age and hit the stage in their school’s time-travelling, John Farnham–themed musical.
Review: An absolute delight from start to finish. This was truly wonderful, inspiring, heartfelt, charming and entertaining documentary of neurodivergent teenagers preparing for a high school musical on singer John Farnham. It’s a real crowd-pleaser through and through.
Rating:
SLEEP
Director: Jason Yu
Plot: A young couple’s life is turned upside down when the husband sleepwalks and turns into someone else after dark. His wife, overwhelmed by the fear that he will harm their newborn baby, can no longer sleep.
Review: I must admit that outside of its set-up, I didn’t know what to expect from this South Korean horror film. Now having seeing it, it was totally my jam. It’s really effective, unsettling and well crafted film that escalates as it goes along. The two leads were great!
Rating:
GOODBYE JULIA
Director: Mohamed Kordofani
Plot: Just before the secession of South Sudan, a married former singer from the north seeks redemption for causing the death of a southern man by hiring his oblivious wife as her maid.
Review: I wasn’t sure what to expect from this film, but I came out of it very pleasantly surprised. Despite a couple of plot contrives in its first half, this was an absolutely superb film that I found to be equal parts powerful, riveting, complex and brilliantly acted.
Rating:
Well, that’s it. That’s complete rundown of all the films that I saw at MIFF 2023. I can’t wait to do it all again next year. Bring on MIFF 2024!
Article written by Bede Jermyn
The Super Network 