Director - Mark Hartley
The title says it all, this is a wild, fast-paced doc about Australian b-movies from the late '60s through to the start of the '90s. Leaping through porn, car-porn, horror and comedy director Hartley obvious not only knows his subject but is head-over-heels about it. By the time the end credits roll you’ll have scribbled down a huge list of ‘must see’ films. Really entertaining.
Director - Ulrich Seidl
A total oh-my-God-watch-did-I-just-watch film. Various messed up Austrian’s lives overlap at various points like a kind of queasy Altman film. Not for everyone, but worth sticking with if you have a strong stomach. Black humour throughout, but whatever you do don’t watch it with your mum.
Director - Maurice Pialat
Pialat turns his eye on a group of bored teens in a tiny French town. We follow them as they mooch about town, meet up in the one café where they hang out, watch them form relationships that fall apart in the time it takes to smoke an incredibly strong French cigarette. They all dream of escaping to Paris, but will any of them actually get it together to do it? On paper it sounds dull, on screen it’s anything but. Hypnotic.
Director - Michael Haneke
Nasty tale about the relationship between a young piano student and his sadomasochist piano teacher. Not one to watch with your mum. Isabelle Huppert gives the sort of performance that if this was an American film would have everyone clapping their hands and talking about golden statuettes. But it’s a European film and as such you expect the acting to up to this standard. As with all of Haneke’s films this should be seen. And then talked about. It's quite icky though.
