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:

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: