Month: June 2024

THE 71st SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL (5th-16th JUNE 2024)


The 71st Sydney Film Festival is over.
I managed to see 11 films and have a list of 23 films that were shown and I didn’t get to see. This is usually the way, I pick up recommendations from people who sit next to me at screenings and try and glean what their favourites have been so far.

The first film I was definitely interested in was Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons and Willem Dafoe and I managed to get a press ticket for a 9.30am showing. The day before I also got a press ticket for Lee starring Kate Winslet about the photographer Lee Smith who was famed for her pictures on the front line of World War 2.

After those two, I was on my own. I grabbed the programme and went to work.
The Contestant, a documentary about a Japanese comedian who was left naked in a room unaware his months-long challenge was being broadcast on a Japanese tv show looked great but I missed that so that’s now on ‘my list’. Kneecap looked fun as I’d just seen the Irish rappers play live at The Great Escape festival in Brighton, England in May this year. I missed that one as well. The Convert by Lee Tamahori and starring Guy Pearce as a preacher caught up in the Māori wars in the 1930s, The Moogai, a horror film about a malicious spirit haunting the house of an indigenous couple with a new born and Ka Whawhai Tonu starring Temuera Morrison and Cliff Curtis reuniting for a historical epic about Aotteroa’s first land war all looked interesting from the First Nations program.
Didn’t see any of them, all on my list.


The Bikeriders will get a major release so I wasn’t too bothered about that, I’ll check that later.
The double bill of South Korean sci-fi actioner Alienoid and Alienoid:Return to the Future looked fun and I did manage to check that out. That was highly enjoyable and great to see on the big screen.
I Saw the TV Glow was another that I wanted to see but all the performances were sold out so bang, on the list. Agent of Happiness, a documentary about an agent for Bhutan’s Ministry of Gross National Happiness travelling across the country measuring people’s happiness was also sold out.
Kill looked like it could be fun, possibly a Hindi The Raid Redemption on a train, which I did manage to see.


The rest of the films that I saw were:
Copa 71, an engaging documentary about the first ever Women’s Football World Cup that drew crowds of over 100,00 in 1971.
Dahomey, a documentary about 26 Artifacts stolen from the Kingdom of Benin in North Africa by a French coloniser being returned to their home country had the potential to be really interesting but proved to be a bit of a drag.
September Says, a psychological drama about two sisters living with their single mother and directed and written by actor, Ariane Labed. This was interesting but didn’t wow me.
Sujo, a coming of age film about a young boy and the lure of the cartel in the isolated countryside in Mexico. This was followed by a Q&A by one of the directors, Astrid Rondero. Fair play to her and her co director, Fernanda Valadez for creating a cartel film like no other, coming across more like a Boyhood style portait of the young man, Sujo. It was decent but again no blowing away.

I met Leandre Sanders, the star of the documentary Skategoat, who was genuinely a really nice dude so that film is now on my list.
Also on my list to look out for are:
The Remarkable Life of Ebelin, Thelma, Cottontail, There’s Still Tomorrow (which won the Best Film), Puan, First Horse (Winner of the First Nations Award), Aquarius, Welcome to Babel (Winner of Best Doc), Kid Snow, The Monk and the Gun, Porcelain War, Touch, Daddio, One Second Ahead One Second Behind and Black Snow.


Last night Sunday 16th June 2024 was the last day of the festival and I got a ticket to see Mahamoud Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, an incredibly powerful film about a family caught up in the theocratic regime in Iran.
After seeing so many ok films, I was relieved and inspired to see something so important and urgent.
The Closing Night film was The Substance, a horror film starring Demi Moore about an ageing star in Los Angeles being discarded and then given the chance to create a new improved version of herself which was out and out absolutley nuts, going full Cronenburg and making commentary about female ageing in Hollywood. It recently won Best Screenplay at Cannes and should garner an Oscar nod for Best Actress for Demi Moore, who was superb.
These last two films made up for my, potentially, average choices this year and the festival ended on a high for me.

Click the links on the films I saw to read more about each of them.

Thanks to all at the SFF. I love me a film festival and look forward to next year.

THE SUBSTANCE (SFF 2024) CLOSING FILM


Body horror at its finest, most fucked up and entertaining.

Taking visual cues from Stanley Kubrick and special effects from the maestro of b horror, David Cronenberg this ups the ante and goes where you won’t imagine.

So strap in and let French director, Coralie Fargeat (Revenge) take you on a hilarious satirical journey on ageing, the fetishisation of youth and commentary on self worth.

This was the closing film at this year’s, the 71st Sydney Film Festival, and fair play to the organisers for picking it. This is not for the faint hearted and if you get, in any way, squeamish about the body and gore of any kind, please give this a miss. You have been warned.

Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance

Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance

Demi Moore makes the comeback of comebacks playing Elisabeth Sparkle, a one time star, who is being forced out of the industry by her age (It’s still me!!!!!) and is given a hard drive entitled The Substance that upon viewing is promised a chance at a better version of herself and, like many who go down the plastic surgery route IRL, she grasps at the branch of youth with the verve of a thirsty desert dweller.

Years ago, I saw a film called Society that this reminds me of. I love it when horror makes social statements and The Substance makes a powerful and important one about the fear of ageing especially to women and women in the spotlight.
I get why they would have cosmetic work done, they are surrounded by beauty that they are constantly having to compete with but age will not be beaten, it’s a losing battle. 

I’m not telling you anything else apart from the acting is fabulous, from Demi Moore, the talented Margaret Qualley and the always sturdy Dennis Quaid, here having an absolute riot playing an absolute knob.

A Warning.......

A Warning…….

The cinematography by Benjamin Kračun owes much to the sensibility of Kubrick and the music supervised by Guillaume Baurez is pulsing, driving and intense and fits perfectly with the images.

The Substance won Best Screenplay at Cannes this year and I’m not surprised, it seems like the kind of film that the folk at Cannes would love having recently been wowed by Julie Ducournau’s Titane.
What is it with the French and body horror, they loved Crash as well, it premiered there and won the Special Jury Prize.

Maragret Qualley in The Substance

Maragret Qualley in The Substance

I loved this film, it is so balls out or tits out crazy that it deserves the accolades. It is also a horror film, which rarely get the kind of critical recognition they deserve.

Strap in and bring a sick bag, it’s going to be rough if you have a weak stomach.

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