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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 26 April 2024

The inspiration for Iranian-British filmmaker Babak Jalali (Radio Dreams) came from the real-life stories of Afghan refugees living in the San Francisco Bay Area.  These people had risked their lives working as translators for American soldiers during the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and in return, they were granted safe passage to the United States.  From there however, they had been largely forgotten about and left to fend for themselves.

Jalali’s film is centred on the fictional Donya, beautifully played by newcomer Anaita Wali Zada in her first acting role.  She’s a former Afghan translator who emigrated to California eight months ago and now works in a Chinese fortune cookie production factory in the city of Fremont.  It’s a lonely existence.  She resides in a tiny apartment (her bedroom only has room for a single bed), lives off a meagre income, and has no family to spend time with (they’re all back in Afghanistan).  Her only friend is a chatty work colleague, and they’ll often exchange text messages of an evening.

We’ve all got a different sense of humour but if you like your comedies dark and dry, Fremont is for you!  The inner workings of the fortune cookie company are hilarious as Donya interacts with a semi-deluded boss, an elderly lady who can barely use a computer, and a broken coffee machine.  Laughs are also drawn from her appointments with an offbeat, book-loving therapist (Turkington) who reluctantly prescribes sleeping pills to help with her insomnia.  Even the innocuous dinner scenes in a rundown restaurant (she’s the only customer) deserve a shout out.

These chuckles are balanced seamlessly with the more dramatic themes of loneliness and self-worth.  It is sometimes hard to “get a read” on Donya given her emotionless expressions but as the film progresses, we get a better sense of her character’s mental health.  It really hits home in the final half-hour as she meets a mechanic, delicately played by recent Emmy winner Jeremy Allen White (The Bear), who is in similar need of conversation and companionship.  It has been a while since I was cheering so strongly for two characters to get together – they just need to harness the courage and open up.

At the recent Independent Spirit Awards, Fremont won the John Cassavetes Award which goes to the year’s best film with a budget of less than $1 million.  Shot in distinctive black and white, Fremont is a funny, big-hearted reminder that you don’t need big dollars to make a great movie.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 22 April 2024

Of the five nominees for best international feature at this year’s Academy Awards, The Teacher’s Lounge is the last to be made available to Australian audiences.  Made in Germany, it has resonated with audiences on the festival circuit since its premiere in Berlin over a year ago and took home five German Film Awards including best picture, best director, and best actress.  The acclaim is justified.

It’s an intricate, complicated story which takes place entirely within the walls of a school.  Money, stationery, and other items have gone missing, and a group of teachers are attempting to identify the students responsible.  It reaches a point where class captains are being interrogated for potential leads, and random wallet inspections take place during lessons.  One of the 7^th grade teachers, Carla Nowak (Benesch), is uncomfortable with the school’s invasive response to the matter and expresses her concerns.

Thinking that perhaps an adult may be the culprit, Carla uses her laptop camera to spy on teachers in the staff room.  It records the arm of a person taking money from inside a jacket pocket on Carla’s desk.  They’re identified as a long-serving administrative officer, Ms Kuhn (Löbau), who strongly refutes the accusation but after a heated confrontation involving the school’s principal, she is placed on leave pending a formal investigation.  Adding to the delicacy of the situation is that the accused has a son, Oskar, who attends the school and is in Carla’s class.

The Teacher’s Lounge offers much to think about in terms of information and who should be entitled to it.  Carla and the headmaster would prefer to keep things quiet pending the investigation but given Ms Kuhn is a much-admired member of the community, “Chinese whispers” start spreading in online group chats and frustrations are vented at a parent-teacher evening.  It’s a powerful scene as we watch Carla defend the school’s actions with one hand metaphorically tied behind her back.  There’s not much she can say.

Another worthy issue to reflect upon are the reputational connections between a parent and their child.  With his mum suspected of wrongdoing, Oskar is ostracised by fellow students, and his persona and grades take a negative shift.  This poses further questions of the audience around the subjects of regret and forgiveness as Carla starts to rethink her approach.  She may have firm proof of Ms Kuhn stealing money but if it’s the child who suffers, is it the right outcome?  Adding further drama are teachers upset with Carla that she would use her laptop to spy in the first place.

Featuring a slew of authentic performances and realistic conversations, I can now see why The Teacher’s Lounge has resonated so powerfully.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 26 April 2024

Whether it be two Italian brothers running a struggling restaurant (Big Night), a guy driving across America with a Cuban food truck (Chef), or a talking rat who dreams of becoming a chef (Ratatouille), there’s something about “food movies” that whets the appetite and lures audiences in.  You may not be able to smell and taste what appears on screen, but the sights and sounds of the succulent dishes create a near-equal sense of fulfillment.

The Taste of Things was submitted as France’s entry in the best international feature film category of this year’s Academy Awards.  That caused a ruckus within cinematic circles given its submission ahead of the Palme d’Or winning Anatomy of a Fall.  More fuel was added to the fire when The Taste of Things ultimately missed out on a nomination while Anatomy earned nods for best screenplay (which it won), best director, and best picture.

While most (including me) would agree Anatomy of a Fall is the superior flick, The Taste of Things is still a high-quality romantic drama which audiences should embrace.  It’s a late 19^th Century tale set on a French estate.  Dodin (Magimel) owns the beautiful residence while Eugénie (Binoche) has served as his in-house cook for roughly two decades.  What began as a simple professional relationship has now become a deeper connection driven by love and admiration.

I admired the approach of Vietnamese-born filmmaker Trần Anh Hùng (The Scent of Green Papaya) who serves as both writer and director.  We’ve seen plenty of movies where two characters express their love physically (kissing, sex) or through heartfelt conversation.  In this case, Dodin and Eugénie get the message across through the power of food.  They’ll spend hours in the well-stocked kitchen using the freshest of ingredients to cook up mouth-watering dishes for each other.  Dialogue is used sparingly as it’s the food which does the talking.

It’s a great role for both Benoît Magimel (The Piano Teacher) and Oscar winner Juliette Binoche (The English Patient) who fit the characters beautifully.  Void of cliches and artificial tension, it’s just nice to watch the day-to-day actions of two people who love life, food, and each other.  Several sequences will leave you smiling and, in seeing the positive side of the human condition, it provides an injection of “feel good” which sticks with you on leaving the cinema.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 17 April 2024

Abigail is a horror-thriller about vampires but, looking to do something different, the writers open the film as a crime drama.  A team of 6 strangers, all unknown to each other, have been recruited to kidnap a young girl from a well-fortified house and then “babysit” her for 24-hours at a remote location.  The end plan is for her extremely wealthy father to pay a substantial ransom, and they’ll each walk away with an extra $7 million in the bank.  The crime’s execution dominates the film’s first act.

Beyond that point, things are more conventional.  Vampires get their hideously pointed teeth into the necks of fresh victims and suck them of their blood.  Non-vampires use an array of traditional weapons including garlic, stakes, and sunlight as a means of survival.  Helping keep the tone light, characters even refer to the likes of Ann Rice, Twilight, and True Blood in search of meaning and answers.

There’s early intrigue but my interest levels waned once the film’s key plot points were revealed.  They’re a cliched group of criminals who come across as actors as opposed to credible characters.  They’re dumb when it suits the film’s needs, and they’re smart when the opposite applies.  If you want me to care about these people and their fate, I need sharper dialogue, deeper backstories (oh, one has a kid), and a reason to cheer for them.

The film’s humorous events are stronger than dramatic ones.  It needed to lean more in that direction.  Provided you’re not too squeamish, there’s laughs to be drawn from the explosive death sequences.  Who knew the human body holds so much blood and guts?  14-year-old Irish actress Alisha Weir (Matilda the Musical) also deserves praise for the emotional and tonal range she brings to the title character.  She’s more interesting than her naive kidnappers.

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the guys responsible for the last two Scream movies, Abigail is worth a look (particularly for fans of the genre) but lacks a distinctiveness to make it stand out from the growing vampire pack.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 23 April 2024

After a successful 6-year stretch, the career of stuntman Colt Seavers (Gosling) ended abruptly after a stunt-gone-wrong led to a serious back injury.  He now lives alone and works as a parking valet for a run-down Mexican restaurant.  That’s about to change.  After getting the call from a powerful executive producer (Waddingham), a rejuvenated Colt is flown to Sydney to work on a big-budget science-fiction flick about a human falling in love with an alien (it looks terrible).  A colleague (Duke) sums it up best – “it’s time for you to start rolling cars again instead of parking them.”

The Fall Guy is an odd film.  It’s a mishmash of genres that writer Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3) struggles to weave together.  There’s a romantic, “tortured souls” connection between Colt and the film’s director, Jody Moreno (Blunt), but it’s a rocky one given they had a falling out after Colt’s accident.  There’s a mystery component when the film’s A-list star, Tom Ryder (Taylor-Johnson), gets involved with the criminal underworld and goes missing during the shoot.  There’s a strong comedic flavour as characters talk flippantly and light-heartedly despite the gravity of the situation.  The film also serves as a tribute to stuntpeople and their perceived lack of recognition (no Oscars for them) when it comes to promotion and awards.

I’ll cut to the chase and say this is one of the worst screenplays served up this year.  This could have been quite funny but every attempt at humour is over-scripted and uninspired.  Colt and Jody discuss the merits of split screen while we, as the audience, see them talking in split screen.  That's the best they could think of?  There’s a moment on set where Jody, despite wanting to keep things “profesh”, lectures Colt in front of everyone about how the film’s plot is a metaphor for their own fractured romantic past.  These scenes drag on too long, the dialogue is forgettable, and they induce cringe as opposed to laughs.

The repetitively annoying nature of certain material also wears thin quickly.  How many times did we need to hear about “spicy margaritas” and “bad decisions”?  What’s the point of continually namedropping films like The Fast & The Furious and The Last of the Mohicans?  I’m a fan of the KISS song “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” but why did it have to be used so often?  If crafting a lengthy fight sequence to take place on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, why not write something that better showcases stunt folk as opposed to relying on obvious visual effects?  Why cast recent Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once) if giving her nothing meaningful to do?

The Fall Guy will tick boxes to promote Australian tourism (there’s even a scene on the steps of the Sydney Opera House) but if you’re looking for a fun, entertaining way to spend two hours… this ain’t it.