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In My Father’s Den (2004)
Filmmaker(s): Brad McGann

Paul (Macfadyen), a prize-winning war journalist, returns to his remote New Zealand hometown due to the death of his father, battle-scarred and world-weary. For the discontented sixteen-year-old Celia (Barclay) he opens up a world she has only dreamed of. She actively pursues a friendship with him, fascinated by his cynicism and experience of the world beyond her small-town existence. But many, including the members of both their families (Otto, Moy), frown upon the friendship and when Celia goes missing, Paul becomes the increasingly loathed and persecuted prime suspect in her disappearance. As the violent and urgent truth gradually emerges, Paul is forced to confront the family tragedy and betrayal that he ran from as a youth, and to face the grievous consequences of silence and secrecy that has surrounded his entire adult life.

Spatial War, Redhead Landscapes, Image and Word Woven Together Apart Australia is vital to my life in film. From an American perspective, New Zealand is normally clumped in there as well — something that annoys Kiwis to no end. At least in terms of film, they...


Published May 23, 2022
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The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
The man who tried to cheat the devil.
Filmmaker(s): Terry Gilliam

A travelling theatre company has more to it than meets the eye. It is an imaginary world commanded by the mind of Doctor Parnassus and the audience is in for more than just a show.

Imagination Imagine the standard paragraph here, the one others are writing about Gilliam's grand ambition but lack of execution. The man made a very bad career decision, to try to map his very particular and limited imagination into film. He has two notions only. One is...


Published May 20, 2022
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Extraordinary Measures (2010)
Don't hope for a miracle. Make one.
Filmmaker(s): Tom Vaughan

Working-class father John Crowley is finally on the fast track to corporate success when his two young children are diagnosed with Pompe disease—a condition that prevents the body from breaking down sugar. With the support of his wife, John ditches his career and teams with unconventional specialist, Dr. Robert Stonehill to found a bio-tech company and develop a cure in time to save the lives of his children. As Dr. Stonehill works tirelessly to prove the theories that made him the black sheep of the medical community, a powerful bond is forged between the two unlikely allies.

Dying You can see the pitch: real life, dying children, desperate father, two bankable actors who have made money in action movies but who sputter otherwise. In other words, there is no intent to put anything of value into this: it intends to milk us based on...


Published May 13, 2022
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Triangle (2009)
Terror comes in waves
Filmmaker(s): Christopher Smith

When Jess sets sail on a yacht with a group of friends, she cannot shake the feeling that there is something wrong.

Spilled Blue Paint for Water I love this stuff. Making stories is at root a challenge of surfing between the expected and known and the ambiguous surprise. The further you go into the world of non-linear sense, the more control and skill is required. If the...


Published May 13, 2022
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Japanese Summer: Double Suicide (1967)
Filmmaker(s): Nagisa Ōshima

A sex-obsessed young woman, a suicidal young man she meets on the street, a gun-crazy wannabe gangster—these are just three of the irrational, oddball anarchists trapped in an underground hideaway in Oshima’s devilish, absurdist portrait of what he deemed the “death drive” in Japanese youth culture.

Solid Shadows with Death Wishes I know a few of this man’s films. They are among the richest experiences I know, but I was surprised at how deeply this one worked on me. The surprise comes in part from knowing how specific his target audience was. I...


Published May 13, 2022
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Double Door (1934)
The Female of the Species is More Deadly Than the Male!
Filmmaker(s): Charles Vidor

A domineering money-bags' suppressed incestuous urges go into overdrive when her half-brother brings a new bride home to the family’s gloomy Fifth Avenue mansion. The title refers to a secret soundproofed chamber that the villainess uses to entrap her enemies.

Panic Room During the last depression, moviegoers were obsessed with the wealthy. As with the aristocrats in Europe, these folks neither created nor managed wealth. They just had it and wanted more. Here we have a domineering woman who believes she deserves it all, taking from...


Published May 13, 2022
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