Cinema & Streaming

CINEMA

Onya, Joy... can’t say better or fairer than that

“Slim & I” (PG)

IF you’re Australian and alive in the second half of the 20th century, it’s a fair bet that you’ve heard the music of David Gordon Kirkpatrick (1927-2003).

In 1938, young Gordon changed his stage name to Slim Dusty. What followed became Australian country music history. And reshaped Australian country music.

To describe Slim Dusty as an icon of Australian country music is to use that term correctly, unlike the galling over-use of its adjectival form, particularly by electric media folk.

In this film, director Kriv Stenders acknowledges Slim’s contributions affectionately and, as far as can be ascertained, accurately. As well he might, having access to the wide range of recorded images and sounds that weren’t available to the folk who wrote and sang in the years when writing down words and music was the only way of preserving the songs they sang about their daily lives and interests.

But Stenders’ film goes further. Indeed, his film sets the record straighter. Tucked at the end of its title is an eponymous “I”.

Who was that person? Well, it’s a lady called Joy McKean who before marrying Slim in 1951 had, together with her sister Heather, an established career in country music. Who, after marrying Slim, created most of the songs that made him famous. And at age 90 is still writing and composing. “Slim & I” is more a paean to her than to Slim.

Onya Joy. Onya Kriv. Can’t say more, better or fairer than that.

At Dendy, Palace Electric and Limelight

Slim Dusty… film sets record straighter.

“After We Collided” (M)

I’VE not read Anna Todd’s 2014 romance novel that seems to have ignited flames of enthusiasm among the young-adult age group. Watching director Roger Kumble’s film of the book, for which she wrote the screenplay, the best I can say is that it knows what it intends to say and the age group at which she aimed it.

It’s Todd’s second novel to be filmed. It’s Kumble’s sixth feature film since his debut in 1999, since when most of his time has been spent directing episodes of TV potboiler series. His features seem mostly to have been about young folk learning about their emotional prospects and the biological nitty-gritty that accompanies growing up. “Adam”... grief, shame, and the redemption of motherhood.

In a tedious tale of love, disappointment, retribution and other ingredients, young actor Hero Fiennes Tiffin (fair dinkum; what were his parents thinking about?) plays Hardin.

Hardin and Tessa (Josephine Langford) have a thing going. Their families live in a typical middle-class suburb in a typical American city. Their lives are entangled with those of other young adults.

Does Tessa deserve Hardin? Is Hardin good for Tessa? Kumble’s film spends 105 minutes including closing credits pondering those questions en route to conclusions that may very probably be wrong. At Dendy, Hoyts and Limelight “Adam” (PG) DIRECTOR Maryam Touzani has set her debut film in Casablanca. It could have been any city with a large Muslim population. There’s no politics or religion in it.

Here’s what leading American critic Jay Weissberg says about it: “Taking the stories of two women, both frozen in existential stasis, and bringing them together in a predictable yet deeply satisfying manner, the writer-director ensures this scrupulously even two-hander about grief, shame, and the redemption of motherhood doles out emotional comfort food that’s neither too sweet nor too heavy.”

A widow with a delightful six-year-old daughter, Abla (Lubna Azabal) ekes out a living selling bakery delights from the kitchen of her apartment. Pregnant Samia (Nisrin Erradi) is living on the street. Abla shoos her away from her doorstep.

The Muslim hospitality ethic eventually leads Abla to change her mind. Samia is determined that when her baby is born she will put it out for adoption.

What begins as an uncomfortable change of Abla’s heart develops into a relationship from which both women make important discoveries about themselves. That’s what the film is about. I watched it alone and was enchanted by it.

The strong beauty of Lubna Azabal will be with her decades hence and her talent for conveying wordless emotion is powerful. Nisrin Erradi’s poignant portrayal of a woman with a difficult future matches it.

Call yourself a cineaste? Don’t miss this one.

At Palace Electric

WATCH IT! / streaming and stuff

Creepy, confronting blockbuster

ARTIFICIAL intelligence? Alien planets? A dash of Greek mythology and a whole bunch of rather obvious religious symbolism as a backdrop? I don’t think you could get any more “Ridley Scott” if you tried.

In his television directorial debut, the famous filmmaker who’s brought us hits such as “Blade Runner”, “Alien”, “The Martian” and “Prometheus”, has whipped up another of his philosophical sci-fi spectacles with “Raised by Wolves”.

Set hundreds of years in the future, the story tells of two artificially intelligent androids programmed to raise a colony of human beings after a war on Earth, fuelled by religious differences, tore it apart.

Streaming on Foxtel Binge, it’s creepy, confronting and has a blockbuster budget to back it all up.

INTERESTINGLY, we’re seeing more and more widely known and successful filmmakers continue to shake hands with streaming companies to get their big new productions to viewers, rather than go down the usual cinematic-release route.

“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is another example of this, a film produced by Netflix and dropped earlier this month.

It’s the newest effort from the weird and wonderful mind of Charlie Kauffman, famed for his writing and production of strange films such as “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation”.

“I’m Thinking of Ending Things” is certainly no exception. A sad and surreal head scratcher, it feels as if you’re walking through a dream. For “Raised by Wolves”... another of Ridley Scott’s philosophical sci-fi spectacles. anyone who likes a bit of a challenge in their viewing – I do – or a movie that rewards a close eye to detail, this is definitely one for you.

"Raised by Wolves"... another of Ridley Scott's philosophical sci-fi spectacles.

WHILE we’ve got Netflix on for this week, I’d be remiss to not talk about “Cobra Kai”, its newest original show (streaming now) that’s turned into quite the hit and, again, represents a series inspired by a classic film.

Remember Daniel Larusso’s arch-enemy in the 1984 classic “The Karate Kid”? The one who copped the rough end of that epic crane kick in the final tournament? Well “Cobra Kai” revisits him some 34 years later: down, out and washed up after his loss to our hero from the original film.

Now he seeks redemption and reopens his famous Cobra Kai dojo and wants to reignite his rivalry with Daniel to make something of himself. The series is quick witted, entertaining and very watchable, especially for fans of the original film (I’m happy for a Twitter debate from anyone who didn’t). The Netflix-watching community have been loving it, with it holding the top spot in the trending Top 10 for a solid while.

STAN also had an original movie trending this week, the homegrown Helen Reddy biopic “I Am Woman”. It tells the story of how Ms Reddy and her famous song, for which the film is named, became an anthem for the women’s movement of the 1970s – and beyond.

The film’s inspirational story tells of how Reddy arrived in New York in 1966 with nothing but her three-year-old daughter, a suitcase and $230. Five years later, she’d become one of the biggest stars of her time, with an incredible eight number one US singles. Still alive today, at 78 she continues to share her talents, collaborating on the film.

How fascinating it is to see storytellers of all different kinds now offering their talents and tales to streaming companies eager to present to their viewers. Seems almost like everything old is becoming new again in a movement where we may yet see our generation, too, “waxing on and waxing off”.

More of Nick Overall on Twitter @nick_overall