Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Looking for Eric 7.30pm 11 December 2009





Port Fairy Film Society wraps up its 2009 program this Friday with Ken Loach’s joyous, good natured, if painful romantic comedy Looking for Eric, about a Manchester postman and football fan Eric, his first wife Lily, his mentor Eric Cantona and his family.

Eric (Steve Evets) is depressed. On returning home after a car accident, his second wife leaves him with her two out of control teenage sons. When he takes his granddaughter to see Lily (Stephanie Bishop), she won’t speak to him, but he realises he still loves her, twenty years after leaving her. At the same time his family goes seriously astray.

While his friends seek to help him, Eric Cantona, the brilliant but flawed soccer star, becomes his confidant. Cantona’s philosophizing is a joke at the core of the film. Little Eric learns that he has to think positive and take risks to have a chance in life.

"If they are faster than you, don't try and outrun them," Big Eric says, getting into his aphoristic stride. "If they are taller, don't outjump them. If they are stronger on the left, you go right. But not always. Remember, to surprise them, you've got to surprise yourself first."

Cantona tells the postman you must always trust your team-mates, something he grows to appreciate through the film. We get a deeply enjoyable montage of Cantona goals, but when a saucer-eyed Eric asks the great man what was his best moment, Cantona replies that it was not a goal, but a pass: an inspired assist to Ryan Giggs. From this, Cantona's pupil begins to learn the selfless values of friendship and community, and finds the road back to happiness.

"When Big Eric plays the trumpet, he's all fingers and thumbs," Paul Laverty says. "I suppose what I wanted to show is him struggling through life like everybody else. It's implicit in the relationship between the two Erics - they're just two flawed human beings in this adventure of life."

Ken Loach skilfully directs Paul Laverty’s script with strong acting performances by Evets, Cantona, Bishop and John Henshaw, as Eric’s mate Meatballs. Loach leavened his pure social realist approach with timely positive humour for an enjoyable film.

“A life affirming film whose gritty exterior hides an undercoat of silky humour and an unexpected soft heart, Looking for Eric marries harsh reality with a sprinkling of fantasy in the down to earth way at which Ken Loach excels.” Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile. “Four Stars” Margaret Pomeranz, ABC.


Damien's dad loved it and thought it a great balance of humour, joy and Loach.

Looking for Eric screens this Friday 11th December at 7.30pm at Reardon Theatre in Bank Street. Memberships available at the door. We will have some wine, cheese and nibbles with free tea and coffee after the film to celebrate the year.



Best wishes to Christmas and a Happy 2010, look forward to seeing you next year at our Summer Movies and beside our Film Society urn.




Sunday, November 15, 2009

Elegy - Friday November 20th, 7.30pm



Film buffs can continue to enjoy Friday nights at the Port Fairy cinema this week with 'Elegy', a Phillip Roth adaptation starring Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz.

David Kepesh (Kingsley) is a middle-aged academic whose charisma and inability to commit to women are chief among his traits. When he falls passionately in love with a Cuban student Consuela Castillo (Cruz) he becomes lost in a new emotional landscape. "My whole life was dedicated to independence", he muses.

David's friend George (Dennis Hopper) and longtime liaison Carolyn (Patricia Clarkson) are both anchors to his past and supports in his present. "You've got to stop worrying about growing old," says George. "Worry about growing up."

As David becomes increasingly obsessive and confused in his love for the equally independent Consuela, the path to true happiness seems rockier than ever.

Director Isabel Coixet (My Life Without Me) focuses on the emotional arc of David's character and makes use of the strong ensemble cast, which also includes Deborah Harry and Peter Sarsgaard.

With a rating of 74% positive at Rotten Tomatoes, Elegy was generally well received critically.

"Director Isabel Coixet has adeptly woven this intelligent tale of ageing, beauty, love and loss," wrote Jenni Dawes of Filmink.

"Intelligently translates Roth's meditation on lust and mortality without soft-pedaling its narrator's brutally honest, unabashedly sexist views," said Leslie Felperin of Variety.

Elegy screens this Friday 20th November at 7.30pm at Reardon Theatre in Bank Street. Memberships available at the door with free tea and coffee provided.


Sunday, November 8, 2009

Tarerer Film Festival - Friday 12th November 6.30pm



Tarerer Film Festival:
Samson & Delilah 6.30pm
Stone Bros. 9pm

The third annual Tarerer Film Festival has two of the most anticipated films of 2009 on one big night, Warwick Thornton's Samson & Delilah and Stone Bros. by Richard Frankland.

Curated by local film icon Walter Saunders, the inaugual Director of the Indigenous branch of the Australian Film Commission, the Tarerer Film Festival has been a highlight on the region's film calendar for the past two years.

Samson & Delilah (6.30pm) is the most acclaimed Australian film since Lantana. Two teenagers in the central desert are in love but have little support around them to nurture their spirit. They flee to Alice Springs, where life is hard and unsafe.

Told using intimate, fluid desert imagery and minimal dialogue, Samson & Delilah won Warwick Thorton a Camera D'Or at Cannes for Best First Feature.

"This is for me one of the most wonderful films this country has ever produced," said Margaret Pomeranz of ABC TV's At the Movies. "It is exquisitely made, it’s full of discipline. There’s not a spare moment in it. Five stars."

"Most importantly for Australian filmmaking, there is a complexity to our response; it's neither 'feel good' or a 'downer'," wrote Andrew L Urban of Urban Cinefiles.

Stone Bros. (9pm) is directed by Portland director Richard Frankland. As the first Indigenous comedy feature ever made, this stoner road movie features Eddie and his 'cuz' Charlie travelling through the outback with a deranged dog, a deadly spider and 187 joints.

Essentially an old-fashioned slapstick played chiefly for regular belly laughs, Stone Bros. hurtles along from one crazed situation to another. Reminicent of the hilarious 2001 TV series Bush Mechanics, the film is underpinned by Frankland's storytelling ability while exploring deeper issues of place and identity. Frankland is a deep thinker and a smart filmmaker, and you sense that despite the apparent ease of the style there is something he is working away at in the minds of the audience.

"A lively, energetic and laugh-out-loud funny road movie with a uniquely black Australian flavour," said Louise Keller from Urban Cinefiles.

"A genuinely funny road movie that sees two fine actors dealing with personal and global issues in a fresh and emotionally engaging way," wrote Ruth Hessey of ABC Radio National's MovieTime.

The Tarerer Film Festival is run by the Tarerer-Gunditj Project Association and hosted by the Port Fairy Film Society. Tickets are $8 per film, available at the door. There will be drinks and nibbles and discussions between each film.

Monday, October 26, 2009

15/15 Film Festival - Friday 30th October @ 7pm

Just before midnight on a cold night in July, three filmmakers from Warrnambool came together to celebrate having each made a film in the preceding fifteen hours. James Russell, Sidney Sprague and Colleen Hughson joined 168 filmmakers from six countries across the globe completed a task set that morning: to create an entire short film in 15 hours from scratch. Their films will all be shown as part of the ninth annual 15/15 International Film Festival this Friday in Port Fairy.



Participants in the 15/15 Film Festival were challenged to make a short film of no longer than 15 minutes within 15 hours on July 18, 2009, using the prompt of an object and quote revealed on the filming day. The screening will feature local films as well as those nominated for awards.

Festival Director Amadeo Marquez Perez says the screening is a chance to see exciting films from across the globe.

"We have some amazing local and international talent on show this year," said Amadeo. "The audience is always blown away by what people can do in 15 hours, and, we’re going to see some really great work."

After beginning as a regional event, the 15/15 Film Festival has been running successfully for eight years and grown to cover all corners of the globe, with entries from diverse places such as Spain, France, UK, Malaysia, Thailand and Puerto Rico.

The festival is not for profit and provides emerging and independent filmmakers from around the world with the opportunity to have their work screened internationally as well as in their home town.

"It means that if you make a film in Warrnambool, we come and screen your film and others in Warrnambool - this allows emerging filmmakers to have a dialogue about their work and compare it to films from around Australia and the world," said Amadeo.

Port Fairy Film Society President Damien Becker, who helped out on Colleen Hughson's production 'Fred's Big Adventure', said being part of such an event both was unique and thrilling.

"This is speed filmmaking," he said. "It gets back to the basics of cinema, which is how to tell a good story simply and effectively on screen."

"There was no time to procrastinate, just get the right shot then and there and move on. Colleen had a clear vision of what she wanted and this allowed her natural talents to show through."

Five dollar entry at the door. More Info at
http://www.filmfestival15.com/

Stats:
590 Filmmakers involved: 6800 Final films: 168
2009 15/15 Object: Balloon
2009 15/15 Quote: The most important thing is to be happy
2009 Countries participating: 6 (France, Spain, Australia, Netherlands, Puerto Rico and UK)

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Summer Hours - Friday October 16th, 7.30pm

Port Fairy Film Society invites you to share in the delights of a summer table in provincial France this week with Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours.

Helene has a house full of family treasures and little time left to enjoy them. She asks her son Frederic to make sure they are preserved after her death. Once she's gone, however, Frederic must convince his sceptical brother and sister that memories are worth honouring.

With each revelation, the children and grandchildren gain an unfolding sense of a woman - and their own family's - true story. Juliette Binoche continues her dazzling career with another terrific performance as Helen's self-absorbed daughter Adrienne, while Isabelle Sadoyan plays to the film's heart as the elderly housekeeper.

The film was co-sponsored by the Musee d'Orsay in Paris and Assayas renders the aesthetic quality of these beautiful objects by making them, in a sense, co-stars of the film. More than beauty, however, this film is about loss, the preservation of stories and of the peculiar dynamic of a successful, lonely family.

"It's a rich, ambitous piece of work...this is a mature film by an accomplished director," wrote Paul Byrnes of the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Maybe this beautiful film will be too slight for many but it's certainly one of the better French films of the last year... fours stars," David Stratton said.

Summer Hours screens this Friday 16th October at 7.30pm after the Port Fairy Film Society Annual General Meeting at Reardon Theatre in Bank Street. Memberships available at the door with free tea and coffee provided.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Tulpan - Friday 18th September 7.30pm


If all you've ever known about Kazakhstan is through Borat's 'cultured learnings', Tulpan offers somewhat of a sandstorm in a newly opened eye.

Critically acclaimed for bringing the little-seen life on the Kazakh steppes to our screens, Tulpan introduces us to Asa, recently returned from the navy and on the lookout for a wife. Being where many might consider the middle of nowhere, there is really only one woman on offer for Asa, but she spurns him for his big ears.

With no wife prospects, Asa sees no life prospects and he struggles to win her affections. We never actually see Tulpan, the object of his yearnings, but the documentary style makes Asa's predicament real and his home life engaging.

Tulpan is not quite Hollywood in the sense of its gentle pace and hand-held, dusty vision of life in the post-Soviet desert. A real time scene of the delivery of a lamb in a howling desert gale is already an immortal cinema moment.




Tulpan screens this Friday 18th September at 7.30pm at Reardon Theatre in Bank Street. Memberships available at the door with free tea and coffee provided.

Click below to watch trailer:

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Mary and Max - Friday 21st August 7.30pm


Mary and Max both have feet of clay and are in need of a friend. Max is a lonely, overweight New Yorker whose only positive relationship is his new penpal Mary Daisy Dinkle, an eight-year-old with a sad home life. The film follows twenty years of this melancholy long-distance friendship.

Mary and Max is the feature length debut for Adam Elliot, who won an Oscar for his claymation short Harvey Krumpet. Elliot's handcrafted talent and cinematic voice is utterly unique in world cinema, demonstrated when this film opened the Sundance Film Festival to a rapturous reception.

Critics have fallen in love with his obsessive detail and quirky observational humour. Could Elliot be the Gen X Leunig?

An eclectic cast of voices include Toni Colette, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Humphries and Eric Bana.

"The film is sublime," Margaret Pomeratz said. "It's funny and insightful... it was five years in the making and worth every minute."

"You really care about these characters, even though you know they're made of plasticine," said David Stratton.
 
Mary and Max screens this Friday 21st August at 7.30pm at Port Fairy Cinema in Bank Street. Memberships available at the door with free tea and coffee provided.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Short filmmaking taster courses

Got a yearning to make your own films? The Port Fairy Film Society is supporting local storytelling through film by running two low-cost filmmaking workshops in September. A four-hour course run over two weeks will commence at the Port Fairy Community House in Railway Place on 1st & 8th September. The course covers basics of putting together a home movie (scripted or created out of photos and home footage) including scriptwriting & planning, shooting and editing on readily available Movie Maker software. This course is at the beginner or the 'dabbler'. For more info contact Colin at the Community House on 5568 3187. Cost $30.

Another opportunity is being run as part of the Ex-Libris Book Fair on Saturday 5th September, a three hour 'race around the town' to create a 30 second cinema advertisement to be screened as a promotion for next year's Ex-Libris. Participants will help make the short ad with filmmaker Colleen Hughson and Film Society President Damien Becker, learning the basics of making a short video 'on-the-job'. A whirlwind learning experience. Cost $20. To book, contact Damien on 55681358. 


Friday, August 7, 2009

Friday 14th August -Special Screening -St.Kilda Short Film Festival in Port Fairy

Following on from the success of the 2008 National Tour, the St Kilda Film Festival National Tour is about to embark on its biggest tour yet visiting over 30 destinations Australian wide, covering every state and territory.
The sessions screened on the tour consist of a selection of some of the best films from the Top 100 program - award winners and audience favourites.
The ‘Best of the Fest’ sessions offer a variety of genres and includes filmmakers from each region, showcasing the very best of Australia’s emerging and established filmmaking talent.
Come and enjoy 12 diverse and amazing short films to be screened in two sessions commencing at 7.30pm.

The St Kilda Film Festival screens this Friday 14th August at 7.30pm at Port Fairy Cinema in Bank Street. Tickets $10.00. Overall film rating is 18+

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

I've Loved You So Long - Friday July 17th, 7.30pm


I've Loved You So Long is a slow burning, deeply psychological drama in the rich tradition of European - and particularly French - cinema. I never used to like these films when I was younger but I love them now, at a time when there seems to be fewer like them made.

Critical and popular acclaim for this film centres mainly around the performance of Kristin Scott-Thomas, one of those rare English-folk who speak perfect French and exude Gallic beauty and style. Scott-Thomas plays Juliette, a doctor and convicted murderer. When invited upon realease by her estranged sister Lea to live with her family, Juliette leaves much of the past unspoken despite her remaining, at least emotionally, imprisoned.

Director Philippe Claudel is a French novelist by primary vocation and he releases fragments of information slowly and carefully. The relationship of Juliette and her sister Lea is given time to develop, and the bridge that the younger sister so clearly wishes to build between them is constructed brick by brick, always threatening to topple if the trauma within finally breaks its levies.

"This is a film whose power lies in its restraint and the impact of its emotions compound as our hearts open wider and wider with each revelation,"
Louise Keller of Urban Cinefiles wrote.

"(It is) an exquisitely rendered story of reconciliation and redemption, which has something of a thriller's structure but is really all about relationships,"
Michael O'Sullivan of the Washington Post.

I've Loved You So Long screens this Friday 17th July at 7.30pm at Port Fairy Cinema in Bank Street. Memberships available at the door with free tea and coffee provided.

Click below to watch trailer:


Monday, June 29, 2009

The End of Suburbia; Hunt Angels; Elizabeth: the Golden Age

End of Suburbia Friday 3rd July @ 7.30pm
Hunt Angels Saturday 4th July @ 7.30pm
Elizabeth: The Golden Age Tuesday 7th July @ 12noon
All films at Reardon Theatre Bank Street Port Fairy. These are non-Film Society screenings, separate ticketing applies.

Cinema buffs in Port Fairy are spoilt for choice this week with three movies screening over five days. From the challenge of climate change to a little known story of two Aussie filmmaking larrikins to the virgin queen herself, there is a range of delights on offer at Reardon Theatre in Bank Street.

The History and Heritage Winter Weekends kicks off on Friday night with the documentary 'The End of Suburbia' (7.30pm), which charts modern society's obsession with the car and the havoc this has wreaked on notions of the good life. It's a gripping doco, with incisive figures such as Howard Kunstler cutting through the jargon and highlighting the folly of suburban dreaming as the ultimate dead-end. You'll never look at Caroline Springs the same way again.

'The End of Suburbia' has ignited communities around the world to confront their role in the perpetuation of the consumption culture which is damaging the soil, the society and the soul. A panel discussion after the film featuring some of Port Fairy's most passionate identities will look back nostalgically on a community we once had, identifying what we have misplaced and need to find again to live sustainably. The discussion will try to bring hope in finding solutions to counter the fear surrounding climate change. The film and discussion is an event of the newly formed Transition Towns Port Fairy group.

'Hunt Angels' (Saturday, 7.30pm) chronicles the life of Rupert Kathner, Australia's challenger to Ed Wood as the world's worst ever filmmaker. Starring Ben Mendelsohn as the hapless Kathner and Victoria Wood as his loyal, seductive co-creator, the film uses an interesting mix of interviews and archival footage into which the stars are digitally incorporated.

'Hunt Angels' looks great, recreating 1940s Sydney, Ballarat and Benalla beautifully, and it's a terrific yarn. Kathner was a true visionary, prepared to take on the big studios, the police state and the war propaganda machine. He also happened to be a liar, adulterer and crook with absolutely no aptitude for filmmaking whatsoever. Mendelsohn is wonderful in a role clearly made for his lovable roguish charisma.

The annual Red Cross fundraising film and luncheon on Tuesday (12 noon) has been advertised as a screening of 'The Duchess'. However, due to unforeseen circumstance the film 'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' will be shown instead. Starring Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush, who reprise their roles of the 1997 classic 'Elizabeth', this sequel showcases two of our finest acting exports.

'Elizabeth: the Golden Age' received only a lukewarm response from critics, and it is clearly a lesser film than its predecessor. However, it is still very enjoyable, and Blanchett is as luminous and powerful as ever. She inhabits the queen totally, and looks divine from one bejewelled frock to the next.

Elizabeth I's reign was a tumultuous one and made her reputation as a fierce leader. Where the film explores the tenderness of a woman carrying a burden of history, it also counters with her ruthlessness. Mary Queen of Scots, her nobility intact, could not survive such a force. A great way to spend a winter's lunch.

Click below to watch trailers:


Monday, June 15, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire - Friday June 19th


Jamal was a boy from the streets of Bombay, a 'slumdog' with no right to prospects or happy endings. But he's got something going for him - a destiny that was written before his mother was murdered, before he ran away from lecherous henchmen, before he became a Dickensian urchin hustler.

Now Jamal is clever, in love and confounding the host of India's Who Wants to be a Millionnaire by continuing to get the answers right as he accumulates a fortune he doesn't want. Is he cheating, a genius or just riding his luck?

Slumdog is the best film I've seen for five years. Director Danny Boyle is back to his Trainspotting best mixing pulsating (and, at times repulsive) action, a dash of Bollywood theatrics and a lovable lead character. It won all the Oscars and clever people are fond of knocking these sorts of films, but this is an exhilarating feast well worth the fuss.

Switching between three eras by matching particular events in Jamal's life to quiz questions he is forced to answer, Boyle generates pace and genuine tension throughout. The complexity of his relationship to older brother Salim, himself a classic angel-devil paradox, is fascinating and keeps you guessing until the very end. If you're not squirming in your seat in the final ten minutes you aren't human.

Three observations stayed with me. Firstly, one can't help admire Jamal and Salim because they are always running, literally and figuratively, away from the present towards an unknown which, whatever it is, has to be a better place. Two, you can't beat a love story. And three, it's hard to deny the delicious drama of the Who Wants to be a Millionaire franchise format. Anil Kapoor, who in real life is a lot more famous than Eddie McGuire (hard to believe, but true), is absolutely perfect as the egotistical host.

Slumdog is even better the second time around, and it deserves to be seen on the big screen.

"The climax was so tense I actually fell off my chair," said Marc Fennell from Triple J. "And the ending had me in tears. Tears of joy."

And from Port Fairy Film Society member Matt Neal from the Warrnambool Standard: "It's a touching tale told with boundless energy, moments of charming humour and an almost startling directness. You'd have to be stone-hearted not to be moved by Jamal'sCinderella-esque story."

"Compelling and moving, bitter sweet and haunting, it's one of the best films of the year, any year," wrote Andrew L Urban from Urban Cinefiles.

Slumdog Millionaire screens this Friday 19th June at 7.30pm at Port Fairy Cinema in Bank Street. Memberships available at the door with free tea and coffee provided.

Click below to watch preview:



Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The Lemon Tree - Friday 15th May, 7.30pm

On the border separating Israel and the West Bank, a widow earns her small income by tending her lemon tree grove. The Israeli Minister of Defense lives alongside the trees, which to him pose an unacceptable security risk. That's when good neighbours...

Despite her seeming powerlessness, Salma refuses to remove the trees planted by her father half a century ago and she finds an unlikely ally in the minister's wife. A young lawyer takes on her case and fights it right to the Supreme Court.

Salma, the widow David to the Israeli army's Goliath, is played by Hiam Abbass, who we saw recently as a grieving mother in that wonderful film The Visitor.

Based on actual events, The Lemon Tree recevied wide critical acclaim as a sensitive, gentle look at the Israeli-Palestine conflict as felt by the people that live there.

"Like the fruit of the lemon tree, The Lemon Tree is an astringent film, but just as welcome to the palate, in the right context," wrote Andrew L Urban of Urban Cinefiles.

"After The Band;s Visit and Waltz With Bashir there’s no doubt that Israeli cinema is doing exceptionally well at the moment with films that intelligently and with humanism explore the main source of conflict in the region," said Margaret Pomeratz of ABC1's At the Movies.

"A beautiful example of how a film can explore grand themes in microcosm," said Jim Slotek of Jam! Movies.

The Lemon Tree screens this Friday 17th April at 7.30pm at Port Fairy Cinema in Bank Street. Memberships available at the door with free tea and coffee provided. Please note we have simplified our membership structure (don't worry, it's exactly the same prices and deal, just simpler to understand than the previous system - we hope!) From this month ALL members who don't have 6 or 12 month memberships purchase 3-month memberships at the door for $24/$20 concession with the option of paying HALF on first visit (i.e $12/$10 - the same as current visitor passes) and half on second visit, with the third film free. These are valid to use until Feb 2010. All current membership cards floating around will still be valid.

Click below to watch trailer:



Monday, April 27, 2009

'Milk' - Relay for Life fundraiser, Friday 1st May 7.30pm


Hollywood icon Sean Penn's most celebrated performance is a film fundraiser for Relay for Life this Friday night in Port Fairy.

Milk chronicles the true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in the United States. San Fransisco in the 1970s is a gay civil rights flashpoint, and Milk, who runs a camera shop, becomes an unlikely poster boy for progress.

Director Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, Elephant) uses a mix of archival footage with intensely dramatic sequences to build a film worthy of both the subject and the gifted actor at the centre.

Josh Brolin plays his second misunderstood villain of the year - depending on where George W. Bush sits in your esteem - and has been lauded for his portrayal as Milk's disaffected colleague.

"I think it’s one of Sean Penn’s great performances," said David Stratton of ABC1's At the Movies. "I think in this he really lives - inhabits the role of Harvey Milk, who was such an interesting character anyway. Five stars."

"Quite simply, Milk is an unmissable film about a man who energised a movement," said Colin Fraser of FilmInk.

"The film is dedicated to Milk's memory, but it's Penn that most of us will remember," wrote Evan Williams in The Australian.

Milk screens this Friday 1st May at 7.30pm at Port Fairy Cinema in Bank Street. Tickets available at the door or phone 55628961.
Click below for preview:

Monday, April 13, 2009

Vicky Cristina Barcelona - Friday April 17th at 7.30pm


Woody Allen continues to fascinate audiences despite widespread scepticism - completely valid given his mediocre recent fare. A switch from New York to Europe has revitalised his later career, helped also by the enduring loyalty of A-List stars who seem to relish his oddball comic creations.

Welcome to wherever you are, Woody - in this case, stunning Barcelona. Scarlett Johansson, a regular Allen muse these days, is joined by Penelope Cruz in a four-way love triangle (would that be a quadrangle?) with Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall. A Spanish summer is spent searching for love, creative passion and meaning.

Artist Juan Antonio (Bardem) has invited tourists Cristina (Johansson) and Vicky (Hall) to his hometown to see a favourite sculpture. Full of Spanish charm, sparks begin to fly. When his crazy ex-wife Maria Elena (Cruz), who has just tried to kill him and herself, turns up, the dynamics become even more complicated.

Steady, without the often rapid-fire wisecracking style usually associated with Woody Allen films, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is an enjoyable summer holiday. It is a delight to see Cruz (who won the Oscar for this) and Bardem, in particular, as the quintessential passionate Spanish artists. Johansson delves back to her Lost in Translation turn as the Gen X woman constantly for what she wants, but with a sultry playfulness here.

While there's still more than a hint of Allen's famously patronising attitude to women for which many can't excuse, it's a strong return to form. The pace works, the ideas are solid and the casting is spot on.

"Occasionally endearingly audacious, Woody Allen's screenplay for Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a further riff on the unique, unpredictable nature of romantic relationships among the human race," wrote
Andrew L Urban of Urban Cinefiles.

"By the time Cruz appears, Vicky Cristina Barcelona has delivered on those initial good omens: it's Allen's best film in at least a decade," said
Nicholas Barber of the Independent.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona screens this Friday 17th April at 7.30pm at Port Fairy Cinema in Bank Street. Memberships available at the door with free tea and coffee provided.
Click below to watch trailer:

Monday, March 16, 2009

Unfinished Sky - Friday 20th March 7.30pm

Unfinished Sky is Port Fairy Film Society’s February screening this Friday 7.30pm.

A reclusive Queensland farmer finds a bruised and terrified Afghani woman on his property. With language and trauma as barriers to communication for her and emotional depth restricting his ability to act with compassion, trust is slow to develop. Meanwhile, the hotelier and the policeman are acting strangely.

First curious, then suspicious, and finally protective, the widowed farmer John (played by William McInnes) keeps Tahmeena’s existence a secret from those in the town that are asking questions. Details of their past emerge slowly, building tension as their relationship develops.

Actress Monic Hendrickx also played the equivalent character (though, interestingly, of Eastern European descent) in the 1998 Dutch film The Polish Bride, of which this film is a loose remake.

Unfinished Sky won six AFI awards and won favour with critics with its strong performances and tense drama.

“Anchored by two outstanding performances, Unfinished Sky is an engaging and intriguing drama,” wrote Andrew L Urban from Urban Cinefiles.

“This combination of thriller and love story is most successful with the latter. The relationship between John and Tahmeena is developed beautifully and tentatively,” said Margaret Pomeratz of ABC1’s At the Movies.

Screening starts at 7.30pm. Memberships available at the door, tea and coffee provided.

Click below to watch trailer:

Monday, February 23, 2009

Bushfire Fundraiser - Baz Luhrmann's 'Australia' - Friday February 27th


Let's reflect on our luck: we have a theatre to come together in, friends and family to share it with and homes to return to afterwards. After the fires, some communities aren't so lucky. 

The Port Fairy Film Society, Belfast Lions, Port Fairy Red Cross, Moyne Shire Council and Port Fairy Folk Festival are proudly supporting the Bushfire Relief Fund through its fundraiser screenings of Baz Lurhmann's 'Australia' on February 27th at Reardon Theatre in Port Fairy.

There will be two screenings at 1pm and 7.30pm.

Tickets can be purchased from Belfast Lions, Port Fairy Red Cross, Moyne Shire Council offices in Port Fairy and the Visitor Information Centre at Railway Place. Tickets will be available at the door subject to availability. CFA volunteers and their partners will be admitted free to the screenings.

As an epic of the forties' Hollywood tradition, 'Australia' attempts to tell the grand tale of our island home. Romance, the great glorious space, war and culture clashes. Like Hugh Jackman's intro at the Oscars, this is entertainment, not navel-gazing.

Please support this event. Bring your friends and family. $12 per ticket. 

Click below to watch trailer:

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Persepolis - February 20th 7.30pm


Persepolis is Port Fairy Film Society’s February screening. Review by Damien Becker.

Animation grew up long ago thanks largely to Japanese anime and Pixar, but audiences for ‘cartoons’, no matter how worthy the subject matter, can still be tricky to find. Some people just can’t seem to bond with drawings.

If this sounds like you, Persepolis might change your mind. The film looks at the Iranian revolution of the seventies through the voice of Marjane, a teenage girl with a dangerous love of punk rock. Marjane, like the film itself, is smart and endearingly straightforward. The revolution brings oppression and regression, especially for wisecracking rebellious teenage girls. This is a painful memory, but she doesn’t flinch in the telling of it with bite and humour.

Persepolis is a film of an autobiographic comic about an Iranian girl fleeing to France while speaking mostly in English. It sounds confusing, but it’s easy to watch and enjoy. It also chronicles a forgotten story, when Iran was open and tolerant until change came both insidiously and frighteningly swiftly.

The more sophisticated cinema effects technology and the fancier the editing gets, the clearer it is whether the people involved know what they’re doing as old fashioned filmmakers. A good story well told visually is still the foundation of the best films, as it always was.

Two recent animations, Persepolis and Waltz With Bashir have wowed audiences and critics even as they tackled difficult aspects of Middle East history. Persepolis beat all conventional films to win the Jury Prize at Cannes. Waltz With Bashir has even been nominated for an Oscar in a general film category, Best Foreign Language Picture.

The animation of Persepolis is hand-drawn but sharp and magical, and what it lacks in effects trickery it replaces with heartfelt, clever writing and clear visual style.

“An uplifting, funny, moving fable about the difference between the ideal of freedom and the real thing,” wrote Jim Schembri of The Age.

“A unique insight into life in Iran from the point of view of a young girl, this observant cinematic impression sears itself into our consciousness by its simplicity,” said Louise Keller from Urban Cinefiles.

“Four stars… this is a hymn to the human spirit, to a young woman who refused to let fundamentalism destroy her love of life,” said David Stratton, of ABC-TV’s At the Movies.

Screening starts at 7.30pm. Memberships available at the door, tea and coffee provided.


Click below to watch trailer: