‘Shayda’

An initimate 1990s Melbourne-set drama and based on director Noora Niasari’s personal experiences as a child, a migrant Iranian woman flees domestic abuse with her six year-old daughter.

Escaping the abusive marriage, Shayda (Zar Amir Ebrahimi) finds refuge in a Melbourne Womens Shelter. But she’s never certain of safety with her husband (Osamah Sami) given access to Mona (Selina Zahednia) by the courts and the majority of the local Iranian community siding with tradition. Shelter manager Joyce (Leah Purcell) is the main support as Shayda navigates the Nowruz (New Year) holiday season and attempts to provide a level of normalcy for her confused daughter.

In her feature film debut, Noora Niasari creates a powerful mood piece as Shayda looks to piece her life together, aware of the judgement of other migrants, fearful of being followed. In focusing predominantly on the mother/daughter relationship, Shayda is a tale of tender vulnerability.  

Rating: 69%

Director: Noora Niasari (Antunez House)

Writer: Noora Niasari

Main cast: Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Holy Spider, Tatami), Leah Purcell (The Drover’s Wife, Lantana), Selina Zahednia

‘The New Boy’

A meditative allegory, two cultures are forced together in 1940s outback Australia as a nine year-old indigenous boy is delivered to a remote Mission at the dead of night.

The home to a handful of (Stolen Generation) boys, renegade nun Sister Eileen (Cate Blanchett) runs the Mission having kept secret the death of the Priest a year earlier. ‘Sister Mum’ (Deborah Mailman) is the only other nun with George (Wayne Blair) the live-in handyman. It’s a closed world of little joy, routine and few words – the semi-naked New Boy’s arrival upsets the balance. An extraordinary realism from newcomer Aswan Reid is caught between two cultures. With his own spiritual powers and connectivity to place, he becomes fascinated by Catholic spirituality and its heavy symbolism. But there’s an inevitablity that the one can never accept the other.

It’s a quiet, stunningly shot feature from Warwick Thornton with a haunting soundtrack from Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Little happens in its arguably elusive 100 minute running time, yet The New Boy is a compassionate exploration of ritual, faith and colonialism. 

Rating: 70%

Director: Warwick Thornton (Samson & Delilah, Sweet Country)

Writer: Warwick Thornton (Samson & Delilah, Sweet Country)

Main cast: Cate Blanchett (Little Fish, Blue Jasmine), Aswan Reid, Deborah Mailman (Bran Nue Dae, Rabbit Proof Fence)

‘Of An Age’

A touching, beautifully crafted tale of first love as 17 year-old Kol experiences an intense 24-hour romance with a friend’s older brother.

A panicked Kol (Elias Anton) discovers his school ballroom dancing partner Ebony (Hattie Hook) is wasted and on the other side of the city. Their final year presentation is only three hours away. A few phone calls later, Ebony’s older brother Adam (Thom Green) offers to drive with Kol to collect her. As they drive through Melbourne’s suburbs, the two talk with gentle teasing flirtation knowing Adam is leaving to live in Buenos Aires the next day. A decade later the two, both based overseas, meet for the first time since that fateful 24 hours.

A sensitively written narrative impeccably performed by the two leads, a wistful Of An Age is nuanced and romantic with writer/director Goran Stolevski beautifully capturing the awkwardness of uncertainty.

Rating: 72%

Director: Goran Stolevski (Housekeeping for Beginners, You Won’t Be Alone)

Writer: Goran Stolevski (Housekeeping for Beginners, You Won’t Be Alone)

Main cast: Thom Green (Downriver, TV’s Dance Academy), Elias Anton (Sunflower, TV’s Barracuda), Hattie Hook (TV’s Savage River, Ten Pound Poms)

’Total Control’ (Seasons 1-3)

A fascinating if occasionally overly melodramatic drama series as we are taken behind the scenes of Parliament House in Canberra as indigenous independent Senator for Queensland Alex Irving fights for justice and equality.

Invited by Prime Minister Rachel Anderson (Rachel Griffiths) into the Senate to shore up her ailing government weeks before the General Election, Alex Irving (Deborah Mailman) has no intention of sitting quietly in the corner making up the numbers. She has demands. Negotiating her way through the complexities of a toxic working environment with Chief of Staff (Harry Richardson) far from committed is a challenge – with compromises made. Equally challenging is Irving’s home life back in Winton – a sick mom, a traunt teenage son (Wesley Patten) and university lecturer brother Charlie (Rob Collins) believing, like many of the indigenous locals, his sister has sold out.

Over three seasons and 18 episodes, Total Control provides an engrossing narrative of personal and political storylines as Irving stands on the independent ticket following Anderson’s ousting as leader by repugnant misogynist Damien Bauer (Anthony Hayes). It’s the independents who hold the balance of power as Bauer finds himself in opposition to Paul Murphy (Wayne Blair), Australia’s first indigenous PM. There’s no holes barred as Irving rips into Murphy whilst the ever-present Rachel Anderson, also as an independent, manipulates behind-the-scenes in looking to create a new centre party with her at the head.

Idealistic fiction and melodrama it may be, but there’s no denying the mirroring of the politics of politics as power plays, manipulation, compromise, threats, back-stabbing, underhand deals, racism, bullying, misogyny, gaslighting and more come to the fore over the eighteen episodes. Regional health care and deaths in detention were the initial concerns for Irving as she entered Parliament – and, with variations, they remain her primary concerns. But with a new, far more clued in Chief of Staff in Joely McKinnon (Steph Tisdell) to support her, Irving rides roughshod over naysayers, determined as she is to get her way – at any cost.

Rating: 70%

’Talk to Me’

A captivating and quietly shocking Australian horror feature that goes against genre type in the building of character within a group of teenagers.

Still coming to terms with the loss of her mother, Mia (Sophie Wilde) reluctantly attends a small party with best friend Jade (Alexandra Jensen). Jade’s younger brother Riley (Joe Bird) to whom Mia has a close affinity tags along. Turns out the party is a form of seance – Hayley (Zoe Terakes) has come into possession of an embalmed hand from which spirits can be conjured. The gang are hooked – and Mia looks to talk to her mom. But she goes too far, allows Jade to have a go – and unleashes terrifying, uncontrollable forces.

Directors Danny and Michael Philippou, twin brothers, expertly ramp the tension and existential dread. As the families of the teenagers attempt to deal with the consequences, Mia’s addiction to the need to know answers from her mother grows. The moments of horror, though brief, are deeply shocking, adding to the sinister complexities of the unfolding narrative.

Winner of 8 AACTA Awards in 2023 including best film, director, actress and script

Rating: 76%

Director: Danny Philippou (TV’s RackaRacka) Michael Philippou (TV’s RackaRacka)

Writer: Danny Philippou (TV’s RackaRacka), Bill Hinzman

Main cast: Sophie Wilde (The Portable Door, TV’s Boy Swallows Universe), Alexandra Jensen (The Moogai, TV’s The Messenger), Miranda Otto (The Daughter, War of the Worlds)

‘Snowtown’

Intense, raw, gritty and based on true events, 16 year-old Jamie finds himself in the thrall of his mother’s new boyfriend and neighbourhood vigilantes.

Life in the margins as Elizabeth (Louise Harris) and her four sons live in run down housing in northern Adelaide. The arrival of her latest boyfriend, John (Daniel Henshall) provides a level of stability and sense of family. But John’s sense of self-righteousness and bigotry influences the boys, Jamie (Lucas Pittaway) in particular as a level of hero-worship develops. As time passes, with the disappearance of several people, Jamie finds himself drawn into the world of violence, retribution and murder.

A dour, bleak feature in director Justin Kurzel’s film debut, Snowtown nevertheless remains a compelling, expressionist menace of a narrative underscored by superb, naturalistic performances.

Rating: 76%

Director: Justin Kurzel (Nitram, True History of the Kelly Gang)

Writer: Shaun Grant (Nitram, True History of the Kelly Gang)

Main cast: Lucas Pittaway (The Faceless Man), Daniel Henshall (The Royal Hotel, TV’s Defending Jacob), Louise Harris (The Turning, TV’s Wentworth)

‘The Royal Hotel’

Running short of cash whilst on a working holiday, two female Canadian backpackers take a job at the remote Royal Hotel in the Australian outback. Trapped, the two find the attentions of the virtually all male clientele insufferable.

Partying in Sydney, Liv (Jessica Henwick) discovers her credit card maxed out and convinces Hanna (Julia Garner) to take well-paid jobs at the remote Royal Hotel. Warned it could be a challenge, the two very quickly discover it’s far, far worse than they imagined and the level of drunkeness unbearable. Mind games aplenty are played with the two as owner Billy (Hugo Weaving) struggles to pay bills and wages whilst Hanna is not sure just how much she can trust the larrikin Matty (Toby Wallace). Both women agree they need to steer clear of the creepy Dolly (Daniel Henshall).

Based on real events, The Royal Hotel as directed by Kitty Green is a slow-burn hybrid of suspense, horror and drama in exploring, in a low-key, almost everyday setting, toxic masculinity.

Rating: 61%

Director: Kitty Green (The Assistant, Ukraine is Not a Brothel)

Writer: Kitty Green (The Assistant), Oscar Redding (Van Diemen’s Land, TV’s Cop Hard)

Main cast: Julia Garner (The Assistant, TV’s Ozark), Jessica Henwick (Glass Onion, The Gray Man), Hugo Weaving (The Dressmaker, Priscilla – Queen of the Desert)

‘The Proposition’

Violent, gruesome yet interlaced with moments of great visual beauty, The Proposition is an Australian outback tale circa 1880s as an attempt to bring an end to violence results in more bloodshed.

Looking to bring order to the outback town and surrounds, Captain Stanley (a magnificent Ray Winstone – The Departed, Sexy Beast) makes a proposition to the captured Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce – Memento, L.A. Confidential), a member of the notorious Burns gang. Kill your psychopathic brother Arthur (Danny Huston – The Constant Gardener, Hitchcock) or younger brother Mike (Richard Wilson – The Loved Ones, Birthday), currently in chains, will be executed. He’s given nine days to ride off into the remote landscape – with Stanley left to justify to the townsfolk and his wife (Emily Watson – Gosford Park, On Chesil Beach) the decision to release the outlaw.

The Proposition as directed by John Hillcoat (Lawless, Triple 9) is primal and volatile. Written by Nick Cave (who also provides with Warren Ellis the hypnotic soundtrack), malevolence begets malevolence as the characters contrast against an equally unforgiving landscape. Extreme it certainly is but also haunting, very poetic and very Nick Cave. An underrated Australian classic.

Rating: 84%

‘Dead Europe’

Dark, morose adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’ seemingly unfilmable novel sees the death of a father in suburban Sydney result in a son’s return to the ancestral homeland in a remote part of Greece.

When Isaac (Ewen Leslie – The Daughter, The Nightingale) decides to take his father’s ashes back to Greece, he is acting against his mother’s wishes. But, in travelling to Europe, he discovers a schism in the extended family and, on a trip to his parent’s village, Isaac learns of his father’s dark secret and cursed history.

Neither parent had set foot in their homeland since leaving several decades earlier and slowly, Isaac begins to understand more. What he dismisses as superstition becomes something much darker and he is forced to confront the violent rumours of anti-Semitism of the past, the embedded bigotry in ‘old’ Europe and the nature of inherited guilt. As he searches for understanding, Isaac heads to Budapest and his estranged brother Nico (a deeply chilling Marton Csokas – The Last Duel, The Equalizer), a man involved in the gay-porn slave-trade.

It’s a bleak, twisted narrative from Tsiolkas and director Tony Krawitz (TV’s The Kettering Incident, Ready For This) that highlights the broken corruption of time before Isaac’s birth and their consequences in the present day. But the result a cold and emotionless feature.

Rating: 40%

‘Spear’

A metaphorical rite of passage for Australian indigenous 21-year-old Djali (Hunter Page-Lochard), Spear is a creative cinematic dance drama from Stephen Page, artistic director of Bangarra Dance Company.

Steeped in cultural traditions but living in a westernised world, Djali journeys through men’s stories as he symbolically moves from adolescence to manhood, reconciling his identity as an indigenous male in contemporary Australian society. As, shot mostly in shadow, he and his male peers explore through movement distinct issues of adolescence and adulthood, so Aaron Pedersen (High Ground, Mystery Road) provides the only spoken commentary, a litany of concerns and issues facing the aboriginal male.

It’s a beautiful unravelling of dance and movement whether set in studios or the bush where movement is contextualised within its natural setting. Powerful, sublime storytelling complemented by a pitch-perfect soundtrack from the late David Page.

Rating: 72%