Based on the true story of screenwriter Tony Briggs’s family, and adapted from the 2004 stage production, about an Aboriginal girl band, The Sapphires is set in 1968 Australia, when racism was prevalent, causing the girls talent to go unnoticed. That is until they meet Dave Lovelace (Chris O’Dowd, Bridesmaids), a local Irishman who happens to play piano accompaniment at one of the venues where the girls perform. O’Dowd is hilarious and loveable as the eccentric Lovelace, and his performance is a highlight of the film through comic relief and O’Dowd’s undeniable charm. Dave sees something in the girls that the town refuses to notice due to the racism that exists within the community. Dave quickly appoints…
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[AFF Review]…Hyde Park On Hudson
Hyde Park on Hudson recounts the royal visit of King George VI (who you may remember from Colin Firth’s portrayal in The Kings Speech, depicted here by actor Samuel West), and Queen Elizabeth (Olivia Colman) to Hyde Park from the perspective of Daisy Suckley (Laura Linney), who at this time has recently become FDR’s (Bill Murry) mistress. Unbeknownst to Daisy, she’s not the only secret Roosevelt is keeping. The screenplay is based on actual events discussed in diary entries and letters that belonged to Daisy. The correspondence was found after her death, and the affair she had kept a secret for most of her life was finally revealed. The royal…
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[BFI London Film Festival Review]…No
Gael García Bernal stars in Pablo Larraín’s third film to reflect on the brutality of the Pinochet regime in Chile during the almost twenty years they were in power. No, examines the inner workings of war propaganda, and is based on the real-life ‘No Campaign’ against Pinochet, that was established during the 1988 referendum. Once Renè is hired to work on the campaign, he quickly does away with the stories of sorrow and bitterness the opposition has made their focus, and replaces them with jingles, advertising clips showing joyful scenes of ‘happy’ people, and a logo that consists of a large rainbow along side the word ‘no.” The campaign proves…
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[BFI London Film Festival Review]…Ginger & Rosa
Sally Potter’s incredible film explores aspects of female friendship from the perspective of 17-year-olds Ginger (Elle Fanning) and Rosa (Alice Englert, daughter of director Jane Campion), as they attempt to navigate their way through adolescence during Cold War, 1960’s Europe. Ginger and Rosa epitomize the rebel, Beatnik culture of the 60’s; they even dress the part, and their determination not to become their mother’s, both aging housewives who have been left by the men who once loved them, is a nod to the changing times, as well as one of the many aspirations that serve to bond the two girls. At first this bond appears as though it may never…
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[BFI London Film Festival Review]…Midnight’s Children
Over thirty years after the novel’s publication, Salman Rushdie’s film adaptation of his Booker prize-winning novel has come to fruition. With so many years of waiting and anticipation, the film has a lot to live up to, and the complicated nature of the book is a challenging body of work to attempt to fit into 148 minutes of film. Rushdie wrote the screenplay with Oscar-nominated director, Deepa Mehta, resulting in a whimsical interpretation of an epic tale with beautiful imagery and magical powers that gives the story a fairytale quality. The problem with this approach is one that is common in films with story lines spanning several decades, it often…
