An engaging documentary that delved into the espionage actions of physicist Ted Hall during the development of the atomic bomb. With interviews from Hall and his wife Joan, the film balances its leftist political stance with an endearing personal love story that survived the interrogation and fear of its times. Mixing reenactments and archives, this silent traditional piece from writer-director-editor Steve James is a worthy accompaniment to Nolan’s more grandiose OPPENHEIMER.
Beautifully filmed in long takes and classic framing, this dark tour-de-force of survival and secrecy during World War II in Nazi Germany manages to both exhilarate and shock. Filip is a young, fit Jewish man from Poland who creates a new identity as a French hotel waiter in Frankfurt. His character is defiant yet wounded as he sleeps with German women, mostly wives of German soldiers, in carefree, live-for-the-moment circumstances. Based on an autobiographical novel by Leopold Tyrmand, FILIP is an intense character study of a man full of life and passion who is not afraid to lose it all at a time when lives can end abruptly.
In this morally convoluted film, Paula Beer stars as the controversial Stella Goldschlag, a Nazi victim and perpetrator greifer for the Gestapo, tracking down Berlin Jews hiding their identities in public during World War II. Stella once dreamed of being a jazz singer until Nazi rule, when she managed to escape her Jewish identity with fake papers together with partner Rolf Isaakson. Later known as the Blonde Poison, she continually hunted down many Jewish acquaintances and schoolmates in streets and public places for her own survival. Spared from ten more years of imprisonment in a post-war trial of her crimes, Stella lived up to old age in a life hinted with shadows of guilt and remorse.
The movie starts in the fall of 1993 as Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat attempt to broker a peace deal in Washington with President Clinton. What complicates this negotiation is the spate of suicide bombings in Israel masterminded by Yahya Ayyash, also known as the Engineer. Emile Hirsch plays a Shin Bet agent intent on finding and ending the Engineer’s covert activities. Adopting the style of Hollywood action thrillers, the film delves into the suspense of missteps and setbacks encountered during the hunt.
At the end of World War II in Russia, Mikhail Krasnitsky settles into a serene life in Rostov with his devoted wife, Riva. What follows is the tragic death of his firstborn, which led to a series of murders of former Nazi-collaborating death camp guards scattered in remote towns of the USSR. The secret service eventually connects the crimes with the cold-blooded resolve of the murderer. In the end, Krasnitsky’s second-born child dies as well from anaphylactic complications, spiralling his guilt and torment. It is a haunting look at how life pays back the sins of the past.
This Cannes entry from Cédric Kahn premiered at Cannes Directors Fortnight and is predominantly a heavy court drama of French activist Pierre Goldman’s polarising trial in the 70s. Goldman is a left-wing revolutionary who was tried for several robberies and two murders. Arieh Worthalter performs as Goldman with a fiery intensity that has kept him popular with activists who livened up the courts at the end of his impassioned speeches. Aside from a brief meeting of Goldma’s lawyers at the start, the film focuses mainly on the courtroom, with every realism of French filmmaking intertwined in the proceedings.
The cinema screenings and festival dates are as follows:
MELBOURNE
Classic Cinemas: 23 October – 29 November
Lido Cinemas: 24 October – 28 November
SYDNEY
Ritz Cinemas: 24 October – 28 November
Roseville Cinemas: 2 November – 19 November
HOBART
State Cinema: 2 November – 12 November
PERTH
Luna Palace Cinemas: 16 November – 6 December
BRISBANE
New Farm Cinemas: 16 November – 26 November
CANBERRA
Dendy Cinemas: 15 November – 22 November
GOLD COAST
Dendy Cinemas Southport: 16 November – 22 November
The biggest film festival in Australia is the Sydney Film Festival which was held for twelve days last 8-19 June 2022, with so many film premieres from prestigious film festivals such as Berlinale, Venice, Cannes, and Sundance, among others. Twelve films vied for competition and the following are my favourites.
The recent French Film Festival featured a generous 54 films in their lineup. Out of this eclectic collection, I am recommending 23 of them as the best of the lot.
