It’s the most wonderful time of the year…as long as you’re a citizen of Melbourne willing to wait in queues, read subtitles, and hork back a quick coffee while sprinting from ACMI to Melbourne Central Hoyts. The 70th iteration of the Melbourne International Film Festival is upon us, and Flicks is here to let you in on the festival buzz.
Unless otherwise noted, all of our short reviews and fest news snippets come from Eliza Janssen, who will be reporting on the releases that are making waves from August 4 to 21. It’s our way of cutting through the noise of an enormous, diverse program, which you can check out right here via the MIFF official website.
Monday August 22
With Sunday evening’s late screening of Bodies Bodies Bodies, I am finally free—MIFF 2022 has come to a fun and spooky close, if you don’t count the remaining week of watching on MIFF Play. The long-awaited Mass (now available to watch from home on the digital platform) on Friday kicked off a final weekend of racing between Melbourne cinemas, and its theatrical, claustrophobically tense staging was a nice palate cleanser before some wildly contrasting flavours.
Tori and Lokita gave me soul-crushing social realism just before Peter Strickland’s latest Flux Gourmet went sillier and grosser than he ever has before, with mostly pretty funny results. Both films doled out their moments of shock and strange majesty better than the drawn-out Spanish horror flick Piggy, which was very clearly a good short turned into a predictable film.
The Stranger was chosen as one of Flicks NZ’s favourite films of NZIFF 2022, described by Steve Newall as
an “utterly bone-chilling Australian thriller” in which “director Thomas M. Wright ensnares us in the psychology, environment and relationships of his characters before weaving in procedural elements”. Sean Harris is indeed chilling in the clip below, giving one of my favourite performances of the festival.
And yet, I wish The Stranger had been a bit…stranger. Same thing with Bodies Bodies Bodies, which I’ll review shortly: in a smorgasbord of every experiment and provocation the world of cinema has had to offer over the last year, my limits have been pushed too far, and I seek absolute transgression and freshness over familiar screen comforts.
After 30 films, it’s time to find some equilibrium again and stay home. ‘Til next time, MIFF!!
Me after watching my final film at MIFF and saying goodbye to the festival for another year. #MIFF2022pic.twitter.com/FByCv9X5ff
— The Terrible Aussie @MIFF2022 (@BedeJermyn) August 21, 2022
Wednesday August 17
Following on from Monday night’s devastating Vortex (which you can read my review of right here), Marcel the Shell With Shoes On also had a heartbreaking dementia subplot—of Marcel’s nana, a wildly adorable stop-motion shell voiced by Isabella Rossellini, earning some cracks and leaving little Marcel (voiced by Jenny Slate) to face the big world alone. Throw in some unexpected themes of cultural trauma and diaspora, and the whimsical family-friendly trifle begins to look a bit less twee. I also lost my shit at briefly hearing Nathan Fielder’s voice…
On the absolute opposite end of the bleakness/optimism spectrum, On The Count Of Three sees standup comedian Jerrod Carmichael directing himself opposite Christopher Abbott, as a pair of traumatised besties who promise to help kill each other. It has a potent ticking time-bomb narrative, but the jokes and realisations aren’t as strong as they could be. Nor is Carmichael’s deadpan acting, especially opposite the deeply committed and sympathetic Abbott.
Monday August 15
Feeling very overstimulated by a big weekend of cinema, which included the latest films from George Miller (entertaining yarn but a bit of a mess), David Cronenberg (all the sexy sickness I could’ve possibly asked for), and Park Chan-Wook (old-fashioned noir fun with a bleak finale).
I also caught two black comedies with a lot of overlapping themes: Sick Of Myself, a Norwegian influencer cautionary tale that really is about The Worst Person In The World, and Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness, which wore out its welcome a bit, despite some great scenes of poop and vomit flooding a luxury yacht.
The most thought-provoking and unusual watches of the weekend were Give Me Pity, a demonic 1980s TV special starring an unhinged Sophie Von Haselberg, and Shadow, a short and stirring experiment from Geelong theatre company Back to Back. The fascinating conclusion of the film is that, in a future dominated by AI, all of humanity will be able to empathise with how those with intellectual disabilities are ostracised and unacknowledged. If you’re a skeptic or a believer in AI, please check it out.
Friday August 12
Sinéad O’Connor’s cover of “Nothing Compares 2 U” will never sound the same again, after I saw Nothing Compares last night. Her voiceover revealed that she made the song for her abusive mother, the “beast” she would calm with her singing—absolutely crushing! Almost as crushing as the fact that the documentarians couldn’t get the rights to use the actual song in the movie…
The Tweet below basically sums up my feelings on my second film of the night, Lucile Hadžihalilović’s mysterious yet frustrating Earwig. The movie is, to impossibly summarise its basic plot, about a little girl and the gaunt caretaker who makes her dentures from her own frozen saliva. I probably enjoyed the befuddled walk home more than I did the movie’s darkly lit, repetitive eerieness.
The best part about watching EARWIG at #MIFF2022 was the perplexed post wrap up with friends, mostly consisting of ‘what the fuck just happened’?!? Those colourful conversations made the experience all the more worth it! ;)
— Jo Warrener (@thebigjobowski) August 11, 2022
Thursday August 11
Last night I got to witness what one Melbourne critic in 1975 called “the most evil film [he had] ever seen”. That’s probably bit hyperbolic for the fast-paced, groovy junkie odyssey Pure Shit, but the movie was certainly grotty—and hilarious, like a gonzo Aussie version of Trainspotting or Uncut Gems. It might even be more amoral than those movies, too, considering the rumoured onscreen death of one player.
Today at the beautiful Astor there’s a focus on headbanging, with Oz: A Rock ‘n Roll Road Trip Movie starring Pure Shit‘s AFI nominee Gary Waddell with music from Daddy Cool, and then Meet Me In The Bathrooms, a documentary of New York’s post-millennium indie revival. Zip yourself into some denim flares or black skinny jeans and put your lighters in the air.
Wednesday August 10
Our review is in for Crimes Of The Future, David Cronenberg’s return to his beloved body horror genre. Read Stephen A Russell’s thoughts here, where he concludes that the director’s “cutting edge may be dulling with age, but there’s life left yet in his mad vision”.
All of my organs are quivering with excitement at seeing the movie later this week. But first I had to grieve countless black-and-white stars at Charlie Shackleton’s experimental collage The Afterlight, which exists as a single 35mm print that will inevitably degrade as the British filmmaker tours it around the world. Speaking from The Capitol’s stage post-screening, Shackleton admitted his emotional attachment to the project, which could get lost in an airport somewhere at any point in its travels and literally never be seen again: all part of its ephemeral, mournful magic.
Luckily my cinema was relatively cough-free, but other MIFF attendees are starting to feel anxious about the festival’s first post-pandemic iteration:
I've done it. My first ever cinema walkout in my life. My Apologies to BURNING DAYS but the chorus of coughing and spluttering from all corners of the Forum made me need to get out. So a kindly reminder to MIFF Patrons that if you are not well, STAY THE FUCK AT HOME! #MIFF2022
— Sean (naM sdrawkcaB ehT) @MIFF2022 (@seanhub_) August 9, 2022
Tuesday August 9
At last night’s thought-provoking screening of Lynch/Oz, film geek and doco director Alexandre O. Phillipe requested “Emerald City lighting” at The Capitol and got it within seconds, resulting in the Oztacular green cinema you see above. Over at the just-as-gorgeous Forum, Emily the Criminal will screen today, featuring what Steve Newall calls “an excellent dramatic performance by a restless, impulsive [Aubrey] Plaza”. She’s no Dorothy, but we would certainly follow the Parks & Rec star down any brick road her arthouse feature career leads.
Monday August 8
We hope your first weekend of MIFFing got off to a strong start! As our coverage of the New Zealand International Film Festival wraps up, the team there have got some very strong recommendations to fill up your schedule.
Their absolute fave of the fest was Godland, with the hyped-up review “good grief, it seems that once in a blue moon they do make them like they used to” from Matthew Crawley. We Are Still Here has also had a few screenings thus far after opening SFF a few months ago: read Stephen A Russell’s review right here, of this irreverent and powerful First Nations anthology piece.
Tonight I’ll be worshipping at the altar of the avant garde, with a doco on David Lynch’s recurring fascination with The Wizard of Oz, and MIFF’s selection of Experimental Shorts. I’m most excited for some new work from Jodie Mack, whose short in this curated mini-festival will hopefully live up to my love for her fabric daydream The Grand Bizarre.
Friday August 5
It has begun! Last night’s Opening Night Gala premiered Goran Stolevski’s Melbourne coming-of-age drama Of An Age, which has been feted on Twitter as the best opener in living memory, and I couldn’t be more jealous at not attending *grumble grumble*. Instead I downed drinks at MIFF’s free Campari-sponsored event and watched a screener of doco Dreaming Walls: Inside The Chelsea at home.
Produced by Scorsese, the film’s a sombre tour around New York’s formerly raucous, rock ‘n roll hotel, with elderly inhabitants shuffling and reminiscing through the old building’s skeleton as it’s under construction. Some of the talking heads are more pompous and self-conscious on camera than others, but as an elegy it should hit hard for fans of The Velvet Underground and Janis Joplin.
