Some of the big fests have been and gone for the year (not to overlook gems like next month’s Adelaide Film Festival). But some of the best of fests are already playing in cinemas around the country—or coming to them very soon. Here’s what to factor in, on a big screen near you in September and October.
Now playing
Writer-director-star Eva Victor explores how a woman is challenged by an abuse-of-power sexual assault, one that she manages through hidden coping mechanisms even as she outwardly flourishes in her career.
“Though I found it all a little bit too girl-who’s-going-to-be-ok-meme-esque at times, and not nearly as uproariously funny as some audiences, I appreciated Sorry, Baby’s hopeful and heartfelt approach and refusal to sensationalise its subject matter,” wrote Flicks’ Katie Parker.
Not Only Fred Dagg But Also John Clarke
Claimed on both sides of the Tasman, the late John Clarke found his way onto the TVs of households across Aotearoa as comic farmer Fred Dagg before decamping to Australia for a hugely successful and decades-long satirical partnership with Bryan Dawe. The pair’s work includes superb ahead-of-its-time mockumentary series The Games (watch this clip).
In this new doco, John’s daughter Lorin gives her comic icon father the chance to tell his story in his own words, drawing on recorded conversations with (and archive footage of) one of the all-time greats—no matter whether you call him Aussie or Kiwi.
As COVID arrives in a small New Mexico town, its residents are glued to their phones and stuck in their own bubbles of belief. It’s against this backdrop that a feud between Joaquin Phoenix’s sheriff and Pedro Pascal’s mayor escalates, and Ari Aster again looks to literalise our fears.
“No viewpoint is spared being depicted as siloed here, and as this thing takes flight, the ways it departs from observable reality somehow capture something that resonates as even more real,” I commented.
Coming soon
Well, you can’t see everything at a film festival, and Splitsville eluded our NZIFF coverage—so consider us curious about this open relationship indie comedy (no, not that kind of curious). Among the cast: Dakota Johnson, Adria Arjona, Nicholas Braun and the film’s director and writers Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin.
An introverted space princess sets out to save her ex-girlfriend from Straight White Maliens in a crowd-pleasing animated comedy that’s been a hit on the festival circuit.
“Not only good for a laugh every ten seconds,” according to Matthew Crawley, “it’s also got ridiculously catchy tunes (it’s not a musical, don’t worry), plus the sexist, racist, homophobic, ableist, misogynist, impatient spaceship you didn’t know you needed in your life.”
Beloved filmmaker Kelly Reichardt serves up a tale of art crime and domestic tension in this ’70s-set slow-burner starring a fellow familiar festival face in Josh O’Connor.
“He plays the infuriatingly selfish art crim at the centre of Kelly Reichardt’s latest feature with a kind of dirtbag charm and innate hopelessness,” says Rachel Ashby: “He’s every guy you fancied at art school, but worse.”
At a support group for grieving siblings who’ve lost their twin (pretty niche), Roman (Dylan O’Brien) bonds with Dennis (James Sweeney, also the film’s writer-director)—but there’s more bubbling under the surface than much-needed emotional support…
“Narratively inventive with proper dramatic heft that fuels the abundance of cringe comedy, this would pair nicely with Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship for anyone daring a double feature on destructive clinginess,” challenges Liam Maguren.
