Sydney Film Festival 2016 - Film Review - War on Everyone

Michael Peña and Alexander Skarsgård - War on Everyone

John Michael McDonagh's latest film, War on Everyone is reminiscent of a Tarantino style of storytelling rather than his earlier black humoured films, The Guard and Calvary. This film is a fast-paced, action packed 'shoot-em first' film with sharp dialogue and plenty of gratuitous violence.

The storyline is centred on Detectives Terry Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård) and Bob Bolano  (Michael Peña), a pair of corrupt, boozed up police officers who display little interest in solving crimes as much as they do with lining their pockets from various scams. When British aristocratic criminal, Lord James Mangan (Theo James) masterminds a major heist on their territory, the two anti-heroes are determined to find the culprits and recover the million dollars for themselves. Anarchy ensues with blackmail, drugs and shoot-outs just some of the action as this unlikely pair of 'law' enforcers roll across New Mexico to Iceland in hot pursuit of their target.

Skarsgård and Peña are well cast as the odd couple of policing (Starsky and Hutch they are not) and New Mexico the perfect setting for wreaking havoc.  The film does not have the same level of nuances and satire of The Guard nor the darkness of Calvary so McDonagh's script varies from his previous work. It is nonetheless an easy film to watch with more than a few laughs (in the best of Irish irony).

Sydney Film Festival 2016 - Film Review - The Childhood of a Leader

(L to R:) Liam Cunningham, Tom Sweet, Bérénice Bejo, Robert Pattinson.

Producer, Director and co-writer, Brady Corbet has created a film either of magnificent grandeur or a grandiose folly with his non-epic which chronicles the fictional childhood of a fascist leader commencing from the end of World War I until a later but undefined period. The setting of this period film is placed in rural France during the peace negotiations being held at Versailles.  The child, Prescott (Tom Sweet), the young son of an American diplomat, increasingly develops his powers to shift the balance of power in his family and subvert the order of life through three chapters titled 'Tantrums', which is itself an understatement of events. The Father (Liam Cunningham) is too busy with the peace negotiations to pay much attention to his son, while The Mother (Bérénice Bejo) delegates much of her role to a tutor and nanny only to be out-manoeuvred by the calculating Prescott at every juncture. Eventually Prescott's dominance is such that he openly assaults his mother and declares his non belief of any religion to an astounded set of guests at a dinner party.

The film's photography and scene setting uses powerful images of surrealism and almost operatic structure partnered with a thundering music score by composer Scott Walker. Such is the evolution of totalitarian fascism.

Viewers hoping to see much of Robert Pattinson will be disappointed as he is relegated to a few support scenes and then a non dialogue image-only role as the adult Prescott. The most tangible presence and performance is delivered by Tom Sweet as the wilful, calculating and ultimately villainous child Prescott. The final scene shows masses of people being held back by uniformed troops wearing greatcoats and red bands around their caps almost Russian communist in style. Massive banners flutter from building facades while a large limousine delivers the adult Prescott to the masses wearing a uniform not unlike Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler. It is a film full of metaphors but strangely it ultimately remains unsatisfying.

Sydney Film Festival 2016 - Film Review - Blood Father

Mel Gibson and Erin Moriarty - Blood Father

Any doubts as to Mel Gibson's acting skills in his now later years are put to rest in this thriller from director, Jean-Francois Richet. Filmed in the dusty wide expanse of New Mexico, Richet has created an almost cliche story of 'father rescues daughter from the clutches of gangsters' however in this case the daughter is no angel. Bikers, gang-bangers, trailer park residents, orange prison jumpsuits and lots of fierce looking tattooed men adorn this film along with all manner of firearms.

In the storyline, ex-con John Link (Mel Gibson) runs a small tattoo business from his trailer while still looking for his missing teenage daughter, Lydia (Erin Moriarty). Lydia is missing from choice however and after accidentally shooting the leader of the local drug cartel, who is also her boyfriend, she is on the run and turns to her father for help.  Link is determined not to allow the cartel to knock off his daughter in revenge and the stage is set for a shoot-out between the drug dealers and Link in the desolate countryside. In a scenes reminiscent of Mad Max, Link speeds to rescue his daughter on a custom made motorcycle with a sawed-off shotgun and some hand grenades for good measure.

Mel Gibson and Erin Moriarty are excellent in their respective roles as father and daughter with the correct level of both feel-good and frustration being displayed in equal measure. This is a very comfortable styled Saturday afternoon matinee movie.

Sydney Film Festival 2016 - Film Review - Goldstone

Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) in Goldstone

Australian director and screenwriter, Ivan Sen brings his indigenous detective character, Jay Swan back to the screen in this full feature set in a small mining town of Goldstone in the Australian Outback. Swan (Aaron Pedersen) a flawed but ultimately determined police officer is sent to Goldstone in search of missing Chinese girl. As his inquiries proceed he finds himself being warned off by the local Mayor (Jacki Weaver), the mining boss (David Wenham), the local Aboriginal Land Council Chairman (Tom E Lewis) and his motel room is blasted by gunfire. The sole young local police officer, Josh (Alex Russell) also seems to be part of the network however Swan is uncertain how far the influence extends. The full gamut of tactful persuasion is at play in Goldstone - corruption, politics, corporate greed, the environment and Aboriginal mythology. The stage is set for a shoot-out between law enforcers and law breakers in the finale of the film.

The well established cast handles the suspenseful and later action-packed script expertly with Jackie Weaver and David Wenham particularly effective, respectively as the villianous town Mayor and mining boss. Veteran Aboriginal actor, David Gulpilil, adds an authenticity to the connection to land aspect of the film and the mythology underpinning Aboriginal belief. Ivan Sen has made full use of the endless sun, extensive panorama and the stark landscape of outback Queensland to establish the picture frame in which the action proceeds.

Sydney Film Festival 2016 - Film Review - Land of Mine

Land of Mine - German conscripts await their fate

Land of Mine written and directed by Martin Zandvliet approaches a well worn period with a fresh, absolutely compelling approach. Based on extraordinary true events, at the end of World War II a group of conscripted, teenaged German soldiers are sent to work by the Danish Army to disarm hidden landmines placed on beach along the Danish coast during the Nazi occupation.  Under the strict, unrelenting supervision of Danish paratroop Sergeant Rasmussen (Roland Møller), the young soldiers are faced with clearing thousands of mines, some booby trapped. Rasmussen's initial lack of sympathy for his young prisoners changes as his recognition of the true horror of the situation grows and the body count climbs when the mines accidentally detonate.  

Of the original dozen young soldiers who arrive at the beach to clear the mines, only four survive to return home after completing their task and only then through the direct intervention of Rasmussen, who drives them to the Danish-German border to escape. The Danish Officers in charge of the overall operation using the prisoners-of-war had other ideas.

Lead actors, Roland Møller (as Danish Sergeant Carl Rasmussen) and Mikkel Følsgaard (as German Lieutenant Ebbe) bring intensity to their roles as key protagonists under Zandvliet's direction. Shot on location in Denmark on the actual beaches and coastal installations from the period, the heartbreaking elements of this film resonate over time.

Sydney Film Festival 2016 - Film Review - Weiner

Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin face the media - Weiner

Former seven term Congressman, Anthony Weiner's failed campaign to become Mayor of New York in 2013 is the subject of this documentary by Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg. Weiner had infamously been forced to resign from Congress after posting a sexually explicit picture of himself via Twitter. In 2013 he sought to stage a political career comeback but as the documentary filming proceeded, his campaign fell apart as further sexting evidence came to light and Weiner's previous statements were considered by the media to be false and deceptive.

Weiner's wife, Huma Abedin is a long term senior staffer for Hillary Clinton and her calm measured manner, increasingly frustrated with her husband, contrasts strongly with Weiner's often combative public style. Weiner never committed any crime or indictable offence but his greatest mistake was to misrepresent and deny his behaviour to the media and the public. As the media targetted him, often with absurd and bizarre questions, his defence became ever more desperate. In the Democratic primary for Mayor of New York he achieves less than 5% of the vote.

For those with an interest in media management, political campaign documentaries and politics in general, this documentary is a must-see.  The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.