Author Archive: Guest Reviewer
The Penguin Lessons
(Directed by Peter Cattaneo, 2024) (Thanks to White Rita, our ‘off-budget’ film reviewer, for this comment). The Penguin Lessons is a beautiful, moving film made all the more poignant by the fact that it is a true story. Set during the “Dirty War” in 1970s Argentina, it revolves around a middle-aged English teacher and the delightful little penguin that imprints itself on him. Steve Coogan delivers a wonderful performance and is supported by a delightful cast of characters. This important story is sad, happy, humorous and at all times, engaging.
Continue Reading →It Ends With Us
There's no end to this...
(Directed by Justin Baldoni, from the novel by Colleen Hoover) (2024) Thanks to Guest Reviewer Rita, for sitting through this so we don’t have to. Her pithy synthesis is below, with our additional comments further on. “What a woeful travesty! This film trivializes and romanticises the very serious subject of domestic violence and is downright insulting to the many true victims of this ongoing crime. It fails in many ways…most notably it neglects to portray the fact that the most dangerous time for a woman entrapped in such an abusive relationship is when she summons the courage to leave. Give…
Continue Reading →Amedeo Modigliani
(By Rita Kirkman) I frequently revisit artists who never fail to touch my heart with their unique talent for the creation of timeless beauty and their representations of the worlds in which they lived. Amedeo Modigliani was born in Italy in 1884 to a French mother and a Jewish-Italian father. From the outset, he was plagued by chronic bad health which he endured for the rest of his short life. At age 7 he suffered from typhoid fever, and thereafter tuberculosis. He was very close to his mother. When he was 11, she noted in her diary: “The child’s character…
Continue Reading →Conclave
(Directed by Edward Berger, 2024) [Thanks to our Guest Reviewer, Dr. Jack White] Last night, I attended the final night of the Italian Film Festival in Adelaide that presented “Conclave” – a papal thriller based on Robert Harris’s novel. This is a film you must see, certain to take out many Academy Awards. Obviously, the setting is the Vatican. The Pope has died. The film explores the process by which Cardinals come together to vote for a new Pope. What is clear from the outset is that the cardinals are real people with real frailties who are driven by human…
Continue Reading →Prima facie
[Written by Suzie Miller; Directed by Justin Martin: live recording available online] (Our Guest Reviewer is a King’s Counsel of several decades experience, particularly in the criminal law) Prima facie: (of first appearance) Where there is some evidence in support of an allegation made, which will stand unless it is displaced. As it happens, I have never attended a performance by the National Theatre in London and I have not seen, or heard of, the actress Jodie Comer. That was until recently when I had the great pleasure to watch Prima facie, filmed live at the Harold Pinter Theatre and…
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