France | 2007 | Directed by Blutch, Charles Burns, Marie Caillou, Pierre Di Sciullo, Lorenzo Mattotti, Richard McGuire Logline: Several nightmarish tales of the macabre, grotesque and creepy delivered in heavily-stylised monochromatic animation by leading European artists of the surreal. We’re so used to modern animation being saturated in colour, especially the stuff that comes [...]
USA | 1990 | directed by Phil Joanou Logline: An undercover cop returns to his NYC stomping ground in order to bring an Irish-blooded criminal family and associates to justice, but finds the danger too close for comfort. One of the best gangster flicks set in New York City, Phil Joanou’s blistering tale of corruption, [...]
West Germany/USA | 1987 | Directed by Percy Adlon Logline: When a German tourist is abandoned by her husband she seeks solace at a dysfunctional Californian desert café motel and inadvertently brings disruption, then joy to the staff, guests and patrons. A film festival favourite when it was first released Bagdad Café (aka Out Of [...]
UK | 2009 | Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn Logline: The prison life story of Michael Peterson, Britain’s most notorious criminal, originally sentenced to seven years, he’s spent thirty-four years behind bars, thirty of them in solitary confinement. Denmark’s enfant terrible turns his attention to making a docu-drama-cum-biopic unlike anything seen before. The true story [...]
Australia | 1976 | Directed by Bruce Beresford Logline: On the night of the 1969 Australian election, Don holds a party in his Sydney home, where his crass middleclass friends discuss sex and politics, get drunk and try to seduce each other’s wives. Arguably playwright David Williamson’s finest hour-and-a-half, Don’s Party is a superbly sustained [...]
USA | 1984 | Directed by Alex Cox Logline: An indignant teenage punk-rocker is recruited by a car repossession agent and becomes embroiled in the chaotic pursuit and secret agent shenanigans for a car containing deadly cosmic material. Made on the smell of an oily rag and sporting some of the cheesiest special effects this [...]
USA | 2009 | Directed by Sophie Barthes Logline: After a neurotic actor discovers an unorthodox solution to his mid-life crisis: a company that specializes in soul extraction and storage, he then rents the soul of a Russian poet, only to discover his own soul has been stolen and given to a Russian actress. The [...]
Australia/USA | 1971 | Directed by Ted Korcheff Logline: An English Outback teacher on route to Sydney finds himself trapped and out of his depth in a small township, caught up in the local pastime of drinking, gambling, and aggressive hospitality. Based on a blistering first novel by Kenneth Cook written in 1961, with an [...]
West Germany/France/Poland/Yugoslavia | 1979 | Directed by Volker Schlöndorff Logline: In Danzig, Germany, as WWII begins, a three year old boy with extraordinary intellect and a distorted morality decides to stop growing in defiance against the absurdity and contradiction of the adult world he sees around him. Based on the best-selling novel by Günter Grass [...]
Australia | 2008 | Directed by Jon Hewitt Logline: Three mischievous teenagers decide to blackmail a suspected serial killer into murdering a perverted bully as an act of revenge, but their dangerous plans go seriously awry. Australia’s recent genre entries have been solid and inspiring and Acolytes is one of the best horror-thrillers I’ve seen [...]
Italy | 2006 | Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore Logline: A determined and troubled Ukrainian woman becomes the maid and nanny to a young, affluent Italian family, befriending the young impressionable daughter as part of her elaborate mission to uncover a sad and shocking truth. Nominated for Best Foreign Language film at the 2008 Academy Awards [...]
Italy | 2008 | Directed by Matteo Garrone Logline: Five interwoven stories describe life and work in the province of Naples and Caserta where residents are forced to obey the violent, uncompromising rules of organized crime, known as the Camorra. In a narrative that bears similarities to two other movies that deal with power, money [...]
Germany | 1927 | Directed by Fritz Lang Logline: In 2026, in a city divided between the poor workers and the wealthy city-planners, the son of the city’s master architect falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate and unite the two classes. Not just the [...]
Germany | 2008 | Directed by Dennis Gansel Logline: When a high school teacher uses an unorthodox social experiment to demonstrate autocracy to his class, the students embrace the order of unity with a fervor that soon spirals out of control. I remember reading the novel by Todd Strassers (written under the pseudonym Morton Rhue) [...]
New Zealand | 1981 | Directed by Roger Donaldson Logline: A former Grand Prix driver and obsessive auto mechanic resorts to desperate measures in order to maintain custody of his young daughter after his wife walks out on him and takes his close friend as her lover. Roger Donaldson would go on to direct the [...]
USA | 1982 | Directed by Ridley Scott Logline: In Los Angeles, 2019, a cynical and weary detective is coerced into tracking down several dangerous rogue androids, but finds himself confused and dehumanized in the process. REPLICANT\rep’-li-cant\n. See also ROBOT (antique): ANDROID (obsolete): NEXUS (generic): Synthetic human, with paraphysical capabilities, having skin/flesh culture. Also: Rep, [...]
Japan | 1993 | Directed by Takashi Kitano Logline: A jaded, but suspicious Yakuza in Tokyo is assigned to take his men to Okinawa to help settle a dispute between two factions, but several of his men are killed, so he retreats to a remote beach to contemplate the situation and plan his revenge. Beat [...]
USA | 2006 | Directed by John Cameron Mitchell Logline: Several gay and straight characters struggle for sexual inspiration and a deeper understanding of love and commitment within their respective relationships. The title takes its inspiration – a little obscurely – from the shorter yellow American school bus that apparently follows the longer traditional one. [...]
UK | 2004 | Directed by Shane Meadows Logline: A soldier returns to a small country town to seek revenge on the local wastrels who amused themselves years earlier by teasing, humiliating, and terrorising his younger mentally handicapped brother. A deeply sombre and disturbing tale, more resonant than a dozen hack horror movies, yet inhabits [...]
USA | 1991 | Directed by Tom DiCillo Logline: A naïve and immature young man with aspirations of being a country-rock star receives a few lessons in life and love while strutting around in his newly acquired blue suede shoes. “John had just about everything: the look, the hair, the clothes … everything, except one [...]
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