LIGHTS, camera, l’action!
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The annual International Film Festival rolled into Albury on Wednesday.
Almost 40 films from around the globe will light up the big screen for 11 days of diverse storytelling.
In a movie extra, the non-English features come with subtitles that are actually easy to read unlike watching SBS on Demand on the iPad while lying down in bed.
If only film critics Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton could agree to reunite for this Border festival I’m sure they’d agree to disagree in their reviews of the handful of movies listed below:
THE FINAL PORTRAIT (M)
Margaret: Set in Paris in the sixties. Remember how that was David?! Artist Alberto Giacometti bumps into his old friend, the American critic, James Lord, and begs him to sit for a portrait. Lord obliges but as the days turn into weeks he realises his life has been hijacked by this erratic genius. Veering between frustration and joy, Lord ultimately sees logic in the artist's chaotic mind. Geoffrey Rush is brilliant as Giacometti while the young Armie Hammer is oh-la-la. What did you think David? 5 stars
David: Hammer is not my cup of tea, Margaret, but Rush is wonderful as the tortured artist in this. 4½ stars from me
I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO (M)
David: Master filmmaker Raoul Peck envisions the book James Baldwin never finished before his death in 1987. Baldwin left only 30 pages of the manuscript that was to be a revolutionary, personal account of the lives and assassinations of his colleagues Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. The documentary is a radical, relevant and poignant examination of race in America, using Baldwin's own words and gripping archival material. 4 stars
Margaret: Oh my goodness, those poor people and that school girl. I can’t get her out of my head. I’m giving it 4½ stars
THE DANCER (M)
Margaret: Well now I think we're heading for a major stoush on the show because the next film under discussion is The Dancer. Loie becomes the toast of the Folies Bergères in Paris and stages across the world after she creates the Serpentine Dance in 1887. I found the film magnificent, I think David is going to disagree with me.
David: You see I didn’t like it because, again, of the style.
Margaret: I’m giving it 5 stars and I know you’re not!
David: No, I’m giving it half that: 2½
SMALL TOWN KILLERS (R18+)
Margaret: Something is rotten in the state of Denmark! (Laughs) You didn’t see it David. 2 stars
THE EAGLE HUNTRESS (G)
David: Thirteen-year-old girl Aisholpan trains to become the first female in 12 generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter. Set against the breathtaking expanse of the Mongolian steppe, The Eagle Huntress features some of the most awe-inspiring cinematography ever captured in a documentary, giving this intimate tale of a young girl’s quest the dramatic force of an epic narrative film. 4½ stars
Margaret: I completely agree David. I do. It’s just stunning on every level. It’s 4½ also from me.
Only seven films achieved a "5 star" rating by both Pomeranz and Stratton on At The Movies shown on the ABC.
They were Good Night, and Good Luck; Brokeback Mountain; No Country for Old Men; Samson and Delilah; A Separation; Amour; and Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
The Albury Wodonga International Film Festival runs at the Regent Cinemas Albury until September 10.
Australian favourite Geoffrey Rush stars in the opening night film The Final Portrait with 38 other films showing across 11 days.
