Norwegian Wood
MA15+
Japan, 2010
Director: Anh Hung Tran
Starring: Kiko Mizuhara, Ken'ichi Matsuyamaa, Rinko Kikuchi
What's it about?
This beautiful, romantic adaptation of Haruki Murakami's eponymous novel tells the story of Toru Watanabe, a quiet and serious young man living in 1960s Tokyo, who is torn between his first love, the beautiful and introspective Naoko, and the outgoing, self-confident Midori. This visually stunning film, set against Jonny Greenwood's (Radiohead) marvelous score, follows Toru's interior journey, as he faces life-changing decisions against a backdrop of civil unrest and sexual liberation.
[link title="Read ★★★ ½ review" url="node/5185"]
Source: SBS Movies
Boy
M
New Zealand, 2010
Director: Taika Waititi
Starring: James Rolleston, Taika Waititi, Te Aho Eketone-Whitu
What's it about?
With currently smashing box office records, it is well worth revisiting Taika Waititi's earlier success Boy, which already bears the Kiwi director's quirky sense of humour and retro feel. Set in 1984, it follows 11-year-old Boy, who lives on a farm with his gran, a goat, and his younger brother. Shortly after Gran leaves for a week, Boy's father Alamein (played by Waititi himself) appears out of the blue. Having imagined a heroic version of his father during his absence, Boy comes face to face with the real version - an incompetent hoodlum who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years before.
[link title="Read ★★★★ review" url="node/5152"]
Source: SBS Movies
An Education
M
UK, 2009
Director: Lone Scherfig
Starring: Peter Sarsgaard, Carey Mulligan, Dominic Cooper
What's it about?
Jenny, a bright young girl on the cusp of her 17th birthday, is destined to a bright future with plans to study at Oxford. But when she falls in love with the dashing David, a much older man, she experiences a lifestyle she'd never imagined, and thoughts of prep school and Oxford fly out the window. Written by Nick Hornby () and directed by Lone Scherfig, this clever cautionary tale (adapted from Lynn Barber’s memoir) revealed the talent of the young Carey Mulligan and was nominated for three Oscars in 2010.
[link title="Why You Should Watch: An Education" url="node/14325"]
[link title="Read ★★★★ review" url="node/4853"]
Source: SBS Movies
Lore
MA15+
Germany/Australia, 2012
Director: Cate Shortland
Starring: Saskia Rosendahl, Kai-Peter Malina, Nele Trebs
What's it about?
Australian director Cate Shortland () lends her rich visual style to this story of lost innocence and survival set during the spring of 1945, as the German front collapses and the Allied forces take control over Hitler’s country. With her Nazi parents imprisoned, 16-year-old Lore is left in charge of her four young siblings. Embarking on a journey across the devastated country, the children struggle to survive. And Lore has to learn to trust a person who she had always been told was the enemy.
[link title="Read ★★★★ review" url="node/5874"]
Source: SBS Movies
Ginger & Rosa
M
UK, 2012
Director: Sally Potter
Starring: Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Annette Bening
What's it about?
In this emotional drama directed by Sally Potter (), best friends Ginger and Rosa smoke, kiss boys, hitchhike, attend political protests together and dream of lives bigger than their mothers' frustrated domesticity. But, as the Cold War meets the sexual revolution, the lifelong friendship of the two girls is shattered – by the clash of desire and the determination to survive. Set against a great period jazz soundtrack, Ginger & Rosa offers a stylish, yet realistic depiction of '60s London and its atmosphere, carried by a starry cast that also includes Annette Benning, Timothy Spall and Christina Hendricks.
[link title="Ginger & Rosa: Sally Potter interview" url="node/1597"]
[link title="Why You Should Watch: Ginger & Rosa" url="node/42821"]
Source: SBS Movies
Turn Me On, Goddammit
MA15+
Norway, 2011
Director: Jannicke Systad Jacobsen
Starring: Helene Bergsholm, Malin Bjørhovde, Henriette Steenstrup
What's it about?
This funny and honest sex teen comedy offers a refreshing change by focusing on the girls' perspective. Its heroine is 15-year-old Alma, who lives with her best friend in a sleepy village in the mountains of Norway, and is consumed by her out-of-control fantasies. Yearning to escape and battling her hormones, she can’t help but dream about every man she meets and finds temporary respite calling sex hotlines, resulting in exorbitant phone bills footed by her unimpressed mother.
Source: SBS Movies
The French Kissers
MA15+
France, 2009
Director: Riad Sattouf
Starring: Alice Tremolieres, Vincent Lacoste, Anthony Sonigo, Noemie Lvovsky
What's it about?
Comic book artist Riad Sattouf gave us one of the best surprises of 2010 with his first film, an exploration of that awkward time of life that is puberty. French school student Hervé and his heavy metal fanatic best friend try to make sense of adolescence as they deal with the opposite sex, uncooperative parents and rebellious hormones. The struggle to get through the day without a public gaffe only gets trickier for Hervé when he finds himself with an actual girlfriend, Aurore. Hervé's misadventures include some of the un-sexiest French kisses of all time.
[link title="The French Kissers ★★★½ Review" url="node/4912"]
Source: SBS Movies
Electrick Children
M
USA, 2012
Director: Rebecca Thomas
Starring: Rory Culkin, Julia Garner, Liam Aiken
What's it about?
This ethereal and fascinating film centers on a young Mormon virgin, who awakens to find herself inexplicably pregnant after secretly listening to a forbidden tape of The Nerves' classic hit “Hanging on the Telephone”. Facing shame in her community and a forced marriage, Rachel flees and, accompanied by her stern cousin, hits the road in search of the singer on the tape - the man she is convinced has made her pregnant through music. Lost in Las Vegas, the oddball pair fall in with a bunch of slacker skater punk rockers led by dreamy lost boy Clyde, and are thrown into a very different new world full of music, romance and possibility.
Source: SBS Movies
Kisses
MA15+
Ireland, 2009
Director: Lance Daly
Starring: Neili Conroy, Shane Curry, Kelly O'Neill, Paul Roe
What's it about?
In this gritty, modern-day fairy tale, Kylie and Dylan, two pre-teen kids who live next door to each other on the fringes of Dublin, decide to run away from their grim home life and abusive relatives to search for Dylan’s brother who now lives in the city. Dublin, as seen through the innocent eyes of our protagonists, is a kaleidoscope of magic, wonder and mystery, but as the night wears on, the city takes on a darker character, and together, the two kids will have to face the dangers lurking in the streets.
Source: SBS Movies
The Rage in Placid Lake
M
Australia, 2003
Director: Tony McNamara
Starring: Ben Lee, Rose Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Garry McDonald
What's it about?
In this charming Australian comedy based on director Tony McNamara's own play, The Cafe Latte Kid, precocious teenager Placid Lake (Ben Lee) finishes high school and decides to annoy his selfish new-age parents by becoming their complete opposite. He starts wearing cheap suits and embarks on a path towards a career in insurance, despite his friend Gemma (Rose Byrne) trying to talk him out of it.
In this charming Australian comedy based on director Tony McNamara's own play, The Cafe Latte Kid, precocious teenager Placid Lake (Ben Lee) finishes high school and decides to annoy his selfish new-age parents by becoming their complete opposite. He starts wearing cheap suits and embarks on a path towards a career in insurance, despite his friend Gemma (Rose Byrne) trying to talk him out of it.
[link title="Watch David and Margaret's original ★★★ ½ review" url="node/3098"]
Source: SBS Movies
