FILM: SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2011
ON FIRST LOOK HERE ARE MY PICKS FOR THE THINGS TO CHECK OUT AT THIS YEARS SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL
OK so the things that stand out so far are the Opening Night film HANNA with Aussies Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana at the helm with Saoirse Ronan in the lead and directed by Joe Wright
The Closing Night film BEGINNERS starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer about a man who’s father announces he is gay when his wife of 44 years passes away
SLEEPING BEAUTY starring Emily Browning, and written and directed by Julia Leigh about a university student working numerous self-effacing jobs, socially isolated from her friends with a strong willed drift towards oblivion.
THE TREE OF LIFE starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, directed by Terrance Malick. About a middle-American family in the 50′s and the universal cycle of existence from the dinosaur age to the new world
I’M NOT DEAD YET about Australian oddball country music sensation Chad Morgan and narrated by Aussie music’s Tex Perkins about a politically incorrect country singer with a Donkey grin whose been reported dead more times than he can remember. His womanising and rapid rise to the top are the stuff of legend.
CEDAR RAPIDS starring John C. Reily, Anne Heche and Ed Helms, in a take on the ‘what happens in Vegas’ story
THE TRIP with Steve Coogan about fine dining and travel in the Lake District of Northern England
HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN featuring cult king Rutger Haur as an unnamed Skid Row hobo
HOW TO START YOUR OWN COUNTRY featuring two people who are Prince and Princess of their own country within Australia
LIFE IN A DAY from Director Kevin Macdonald, featuring YouTube clips from all over the world created for this special experiment shot on one single day
POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVE EVER SOLD from Director Morgan Spurlock about film product placement and the greater movie machine
SENNA a documentary on the three-time Formula One World Champion and Brazilian hero Ayrton Senna
33 POSTCARDS starring Guy Pearce and Claudia Karvan about a young Chinese orphan girls search for belonging.
THE BEAVER directed by and starring Jodie Foster along with Mel Gibson about depression and one man’s mental breakdown that ruins his marriage and occurs in tandem with his toy company he heads taking a financial hit
JANE EYRE starring Judi Dench and Aussie Mia Wasikowska about Charlotte Bronte’s famed novel of the same name
HOW TO DIE IN OREGON on the only state in the US that has legalised medically assisted death
WIN WIN starring Paul Giamatti at his angst-ridden best in this charming comedy about a scheming attorney trying to keep his business afloat by trying to embezzle old people’s money
TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL a rib tickling reverse-horror movie about sensitive kind-hearted hillbillies
EL BULLI: COOKING IN PROGRESS on the famed Michelin restaurant and what lies behind the unassuming facade that has seen it win the title of the best restaurant in the world more than once
EXPORTING RAYMOND about the Show Runner of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND trying to have it made as a Russian comedy
HERE Ben Foster in an Armenian road movie
MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE with the OTHER Olsen sister, the indie one that did well at Sundance
BEATS RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST Michael Raport’s documentary traces the troubled history of a Tribe Called Quest
BEAR a short film that has been selected to screen at Cannes, from Aussie writer director and stunt man Nash Edgerton
Some good stuff there. I’ve seen Hanna, Hobo With A Shotgun, Tucker & Dale Vs Evil and The Trip (was on TV here this release is a shortened version of the mini series). All those are worth watching. I’d like to see Beginners, The Tree Of Life (ordered on Blu Ray from France), Cedar Rapids (In cinema here now), Senna, 33 Postcards and Bear. I’d love to be going to this
A diverse choice there Derm (yours I mean) I hope to see all of the ones listed above and some others that will indeed surprise me