Resident film buff Lezly Herbert takes a look at what’s happening in film this week.
Partisan (MA)
Directed by Ariel Kleinman
This brilliant debut film by Australian director Ariel Kleinman takes place in a decaying Eastern European town. Gregori (Vincent Cassel) gives shelter to a young mother and her newborn son who are alone in the world and the film starts when the son, Alexander (a mesmerising Jeremy Chabriel), has just turned 11 years of age. Over the years, Vincent has given shelter to many homeless women and their babies who now live in his sheltered compound away from the rest of the town. The narrative slowly unfolds and a dark undercurrent emerges. Alexander begins to question his life and his role as a ‘resistance fighter’. As Alexander’s next birthday approaches, his mother gives birth to another boy. Also another 11 year old boy joins the group and questions the slaughter of a chicken in the yard. Tension mounts as Alexander begins to think for himself and quietly challenge the menacing patriarch Gregori.
Mad Max: Fury Road (MA)
Directed by George Miller
George Miller’s first highly successful Mad Max film was in 1979 and the action-packed ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ brings a new generation to the post-apocalyptic world of fire and blood. Max (Tom Hardy) reluctantly teams up with Furiosa (Charize Theron) as they escape from the Citadel and the wrath of leader Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne who was the villain in the original Mad Max). The pursuit across the dusty wastelands (filmed in Namibia because of unseasonable rains in Central Australia) occupies the whole 2 hour film. Oscar-winning cinematographer John Seale came out of retirement to capture the adrenaline-pumping stunts and digital effects and dialogue is kept to a minimum. There’s barely room for the audience to breathe as the war on wheels is kept pumping by drummers and even a maniacal electric guitar player. The degenerate characters are even more degenerate and the ideology more decrepit in this testosterone-fuelled world. It’s great stuff.
Walking the Camino (pg)
Directed by Lydia B. Smith
People have been walking the Camino for over 1200 years and after the ancient pilgrim pathway transformed her life in 2008, Lydia B. Smith decided to focus on six walkers in her documentary. These people from diverse backgrounds talk about their motivations and the discoveries they make on the 500 mile (nearly 800km) trek. The audience gets to know them as the picture postcard landscape allows them to discover an expanded universe and they battle more immediate problems such as heavy packs, doubt, blisters, injury, rain, heat and their own prejudices. It is hard going but there’s comradeship among the walkers and villagers along the way welcome the walkers with food and shelter for the night. One walker commented that you begin the walk as a tourist and end as a pilgrim. This is a great insight into one of the most challenging things you can put on your bucket list.
The Duke of Burgundy (ma)
Directed by Peter Strickland
Lesbians Evelyn (Chiara D’ Anna) and Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen from the cult TV series ‘Borgen’) live in a sumptuous house in the English countryside. It appears to be the 1970s and at first it seems that Evelyn is a maid to the demanding Cynthia, but the two entomologists are in a relationship. With have a study full of mounted butterflies and moths, symbolism abounds as they play their daily games of subservience and dominance. Lingering sensual cinematography brings the audience into their elaborate costume drama while the power shifts between the lovers and it is difficult to work out who is actually in control. Evelyn seems to want to push the boundaries of their sexual games into more risqué territory while Cynthia seems to be struggling with the demands of being a dominatrix. Described as erotic and neurotic, The Duke of Burgundy is part of the Revelation Film Festival.
