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Reviews
The Nightingale (2018)
Intense, brutal and honest
A film set in 19th century colonial Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) where the harsh and beautiful environment is the canvas upon which the story develops.
A confluence of free English settlers, convicts - both British and Irish - and Tasmanian Aborigines with little understanding or empathy produces a brutality that is raw and shocking.
One feels immersed in the film largely a result of the choice of Academy aspect ratio, making the characters the focus of every scene despite the overwhelming grandeur of the natural environment.
A thoroughly rewarding experience that has the potential to profoundly move and make one think about Australia's colonial past.
Der Läufer (2018)
Tense thriller based on real events
Hannes Baumgartner's acclaimed debut is a methodical portrait of toxic masculinity, inspired by the true story of the "midnight murderer" who made head- lines in the 1990s.
In a captivating and unnerving performance, rising Swiss star Max Hubacher (also lead in The Captain) plays Jonas Widmer, one of the leading long- distance runners in Switzerland with an ambition to compete in the Olympics. Despite a difficult childhood and the recent suicide of his brother, Jonas is leading a successful life as a text-book overachiever. However, when Jonas loses his title during a home race, a primordial desire that has long been meticulously and painfully kept at a distance simmers to the surface.
1:54 (2016)
Intense and so well executed
This film is an extraordinary performance by Antoine Olivier Pilon, who seems mature well beyond his years. A story of bullying and homophobia in schools - which could be anywhere - this depiction highlights the sense of entrapment felt by teenagers when in crisis. These are magnified by the power of technology and the omnipresence of the harassment, 24/7.
I have read the earlier reviews and am astounded - did they watch the same film as I had?
This is brilliantly directed, down to the athletics scenes. They were so realistic.
I hate the use of "important" when it comes to movies, but for many confronted by bullying - either as victims or perpetrators - there can be few other words to describe this.
I was profoundly affected by this piece - it was moody, sensitive, raw and brutal.