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5 unmissable films from the Sydney Film Festival

<p>In his announcement as spokesperson for the jury of the Sydney Film Festival, film director David Michôd pointed out that judging films at film festivals is like comparing apples and oranges.</p> <p>And he’s right – there’s such an assortment of films from a variety of genres, that it becomes difficult to lay out clear judgements. The best we can hope to do is articulate the strengths and weaknesses of particular films on their own terms, and then hold these evaluations in relation to one another.</p> <p>With this caveat in mind, my pick for the top five films of the Sydney Film Festival follows, in no particular order.</p> <p><strong>The Hand of God</strong></p> <p>Paolo Sorrentino’s latest film is his best to date, and I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest that this will endure as a masterpiece of cinema. In some respects, it’s a simple coming of age film, following adolescent Fabietto (Filippo Scotti) and his family as they live their lives in Naples in the 1980s, anchored around the event of Maradona coming to play soccer for Napoli.</p> <p>But it’s a far more complex film than its simple narrative would suggest, and where other films of this type chart the course of the main character’s life purely through narrative, with events marking their education about the reality of the world, <em>The Hand of God</em> embodies this transformation at a formal cinematic level in the film’s transition from kitschy Italian comedy in the first part to devastating urban drama in the second.</p> <p>It begins like a tourist advertisement for Italy. We are presented with a colourful, sun-drenched Naples bound by the usual cliches: buxom women, sexist men, yearning boys, bad driving, and bounteous food. It’s good natured and funny, and so beautifully shot that we are sucked into the world despite all the silliness.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432085/original/file-20211115-21-1iu1whb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432085/original/file-20211115-21-1iu1whb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <em><span class="caption">Hand of God is set in Naples in the 1980s, anchored around the event of superstar player Maradona coming to play soccer for Napoli.</span> Image: <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sydney Film Festival</span></span></em></p> <p>However, midway through a completely random tragic event befalls Fabietto, and the film’s whole tenor is transformed in a way that forces us to re-imagine what we have just been watching. All of the clichés are suddenly redrawn as the product of Fabietto’s (and the cinematic viewer’s) fantasies about Italy and the world at large, as realised with the simplicity of caricature.</p> <p>The second half moves more clearly into the “true” consciousness of Fabietto as he finds himself deracinated, bereft, wandering around Naples without a clue what to do. His formerly adored Naples soccer team no longer holds any interest for him, and the hand of God, rather than referring to his idol Maradona, now seems to suggest, merely, the cruelty and arbitrariness of the world.</p> <p><em>The Hand of God</em> is a haunting, miraculous film about the power – and lack thereof - of our illusions to comfort us. Despite its appearance, it is hard edged and unsentimental, forcing us to think about our positions as subjects in the cinema.</p> <p><strong>Pleasure</strong></p> <p>Like many of the best films about America, <em>Pleasure</em> is made by a European, Swedish writer-director Ninja Thyberg. It is a thoroughly formulaic film, following an ingenue’s rise to stardom in an American tradition stretching from Paul Verhoven’s <em>Showgirls</em> back to Theodore Dreiser’s novel <em>Sister Carrie</em>. But this makes <em>Pleasure</em> no less pleasurable.</p> <p>The narrative is centred on Bella Cherry (Sofia Kappel) as she arrives in LA to try to become, as she puts it early in the film, the best porn star in the world. We follow her from shoot to shoot, on her way to becoming a “Spiegler girl” (played by real-life talent agent Mark Spiegler, with all of the cast of the film, except Kappel, coming from the porn industry).</p> <p>Much of the action is comical, and one of the key comedic tropes of the film is the contrast between the fantasy when the cameras are rolling and the reality when the cameras stop. Brutal, tattooed men become attentive and sensitive coworkers.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432088/original/file-20211115-19-1ffuzvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432088/original/file-20211115-19-1ffuzvi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <em><span class="caption">Pleasure follows Bella Cherry (Sofia Kappel) as she arrives in LA to try to become, as she puts it early in the film, ‘the best porn star in the world’. </span>Image: <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sydney Film Festival</span></span></em></p> <p>But it’s not all hugs and jokes. In a particularly disturbing sequence, the boundaries between reality and fantasy are blurred during a “rough sex” shoot. Bella finds herself harassed and abused by two men on camera, demands they stop, and when she tries to get out of it the director and actors pressure her to continue. When she later confronts her agent, claiming that she was “raped,” he replies “Don’t throw that word around just because you had a bad day at work.”</p> <p>The inconsistency of Bella’s experience across different “rough sex” sets – rather than the morality of the acts themselves – is critically scrutinised by the film as a reflection of a general lack of regulation in the industry.</p> <p>Kappel is absolutely mesmerising as Bella, star-struck ingenue-come-Machiavellian player, and she performs the part with confident understatement, surprising for an actress in her first film. The supporting cast are equally brilliant, including newcomer Revika Anne Reustle as Joy, and porn actors Chris Cock and Kendra Spade in non-porn roles as Bella’s friends Bear and Kimberly.</p> <p><em>Pleasure</em> is an intense experience, raucous, but terrifying at times too. It is beautifully shot by Sophie Winqvist, capturing the neon lights of party LA with electric intensity, while visually connecting this to the other LA – the LA of the sprawling, post-industrial wasteland. This is a film that truly revels in its own pleasure, amoral and sublime.</p> <p><strong>Television Event</strong></p> <p><em>Television Event</em> is an extremely well-made documentary that follows the difficulties of the (American) ABC network producing and then exhibiting the nuclear apocalypse telemovie, <em>The Day After</em>, which aired in 1983 and became the most-watched TV movie to this day.</p> <p>Director Jeff Daniels skilfully assembles a plethora of archival material, interspersing this with talking head interviews with the main figures behind the television event. This includes director of <em>The Day After</em>, Nicholas Meyer, and his nemesis at ABC, executive Stu Samuels, who still mostly have only negative stuff to say about each other.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432092/original/file-20211115-23-owthp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432092/original/file-20211115-23-owthp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <em><span class="caption">Television event is a documentary about the Cold War nuclear apocalypse telemovie, The Day After, which aired in 1983 and became the most-watched TV movie to this day.</span> Image: <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sydney Film Festival</span></span></em></p> <p>While it taps into a certain nostalgia for the period, evident in the hilariously outdated network promos and talk shows featured in the film, the story of the conception, filming and screening of the movie is carefully contextualised by Daniels in terms of the Reagan-era Cold War, with the anti-nuke message of the film changing, the film suggests, America’s nuclear policy.</p> <p>And this is the ultimate claim of the film – that mass media does have the potential to positively effect the world for most of the population, not just the powerful who control the networks – even if one’s cynicism regarding the military-media-industrial complex is usually warranted.</p> <p><strong>The Story of My Wife</strong></p> <p>In a seemingly inconsequential piece of dialogue in Ildikó Enyedi’s <em>The Story of My Wife</em>, protagonist Jakob (Gijs Naber) challenges the astrological obsession of his landlord Herr Blume (Josef Hader). Why not a carrot?, he asks him – the miracle of the world is in a carrot, not in the stars, in the simplicity of being-as-it-is, not in the attempt to decipher some underlying mystery.</p> <p>In this moment, the film articulates its vision of the world – the mystery is in the play of light across surfaces, not in the attempt to render depth where there is none. And the film performs this truth: it is an epic-scale production, a period film featuring meticulous design in every aspect – and yet the whole thing seems effortless, breezing along for nearly 3 hours with the lightest of touches propelled by two amazing actors in the lead roles.</p> <p>After sea captain Jakob is advised to get a wife by his vessel’s cook, he promises his colleague that he will marry the next woman who enters the café in Paris where they are drinking. It happens to be Lizzy (Léa Seydoux), and, charmed by his combination of bravado and frankness, she agrees to his proposal.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432094/original/file-20211115-13-2819hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432094/original/file-20211115-13-2819hs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <em><span class="caption">The Story of My Wife is epic in length, a massive-scale production shot in multiple languages.</span> Image: <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sydney Film Festival.</span></span></em></p> <p>Once they are married, suspicions regarding his wife’s motives immediately begin to emerge. He cannot believe she has married him – she is a social butterfly type, he is a stodgy sea captain. He is unable to follow his own advice, to find beauty in the present, in the simple appearance, in the being of the carrot.</p> <p>It sounds tragic and dramatic, but it’s not really, with the film adopting the easygoing attitude of Lizzy, at the same time romantic, whimsical and profoundly melancholic. Its three hours passes like a flash of light on a Parisian street, and it is rare to see such a light touch in a film today.</p> <p><strong>Pompo the Cinéphile</strong></p> <p><em>Pompo: The Cinéphile</em>, an animated work from writer-director Hirao Takayuki, is an incredibly joyful film. The title character is a hotshot producer in “Nyallywood”, renowned for her exciting but trashy blockbusters, the kind of stuff involving bikini-clad beauties fighting giant octopi with machine guns. Pompo, despite her status, acts and looks like a kid, with her temper tantrums, one suspects, poking fun at some of the more eccentric Hollywood producers.</p> <p><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432096/original/file-20211115-23-1bm3lv7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=1000&amp;fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432096/original/file-20211115-23-1bm3lv7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt="" /></a> <em><span class="caption">Pompo the Cinéphile is set in ‘Nyallywood’, a fictional Hollywood analogue.</span> Image: <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sydney Film Festival</span></span></em></p> <p>When Pompo develops an idea for a more serious dramatic film – a corny but completely believable Oscar-bid type film about an ageing conductor’s path to redemption – she enlists her assistant, film nerd Gene, to direct it. We follow Gene as he flourishes into a star director, with his rise paralleling the rise to stardom of the leading actress in the film, Nathalie.</p> <p>The whole thing plays like a weird and delightful fantasy. It’s of the funny and sweet rather than violent and mean school of anime, but this does not make its barbs about the film industry any less incisive. This film will not be for everyone – maybe not even for most – but it makes my top five as an exercise in pure cinematic joy, full of stunningly drawn images and a pleasurably escapist narrative.</p> <p><strong>Other hits</strong></p> <p>Many other brilliant films screened, like Eddie Martin’s stunning documentary <em>The Kids</em>, which looks at the aftermath of career and life of those who participated in Larry Clarke/Harmony Korine’s famous <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113540/" target="_blank">1990s film <em>Kids</em></a>, and received virtually nothing for their efforts. Or Paul Schrader’s brooding exercise in minimalistic noir, <em>The Card Counter,</em> about an ex-torture specialist soldier who now spends his life travelling from casino to casino.</p> <p>Then there were the standouts from the Freak Me Out section of the festival, <em>The Spine of God</em>, a fantasy film made by rotoscope animation that played like an R-rated, ultraviolent version of the Masters of the Universe cartoon, and <em>Censor</em>, a grim, beautifully made horror film set in the UK video nasties era, about a censor who finds herself swept into her own horror story.</p> <p>The two strongest films not in the above five are <em>A Hero</em>, an Iranian film from Asghar Farhadi that skilfully dissects the effects of social media when a prisoner’s return of a bag of gold becomes a local media event, and <em>Compartment Number 6</em>, a beautifully shot film from director Juho Kuosmanen that follows the budding friendship between pretentious Irina (Dinara Drukarova) and macho Vadim (Yuriy Borisov) as they share a compartment while travelling across Russia by train.</p> <p>A frequent refrain during this film festival was that “Sydney needs the festival now more than ever.” It sounds corny, but having sat in the dark with masses of potentially germ-bearing strangers over the past twelve days, collectively participating in an absolute feast of cinema, I can at least confirm this for myself.<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171814/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https://theconversation.com/republishing-guidelines --></p> <p><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/ari-mattes-97857" target="_blank">Ari Mattes</a>, Lecturer in Communications and Media, <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-notre-dame-australia-852" target="_blank">University of Notre Dame Australia</a></em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a rel="noopener" href="https://theconversation.com/5-unmissable-films-from-the-sydney-film-festival-171814" target="_blank">original article</a>.</em></p> <p><em><span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image: Sydney Film Festival</span></span></em></p>

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The unmissable spot in the Northern Territory

<p>“Made famous as a harsh and isolated outpost by Jeannie Gunn in her book We of the Never Never, Mataranka is now a welcoming Northern Territory outback town south of Katherine, equally famous for its spring-fed thermal pools as its literary history.</p> <p>Its natural swimming pools in Elsey National Park, such as Bitter Springs and Rainbow Springs, are inviting, warm and crystal clear. Shaded by lush palms, you might even share the water with a friendly turtle. They offer a welcome respite from the heat of the outback, or could be just the place to unwind after a day spent fishing for barramundi on the nearby Roper River.</p> <p>But you can’t escape from the fact that this is ‘Never Never’ country, a name adopted by the locals in celebration of the place they now hold in Australian folklore. When Aeneas and Jeannie Gunn were posted to Mataranka in 1902 to live on and manage Elsey Station, Jeannie was the first white woman in the area. She published the book as an account of her experience, which lasted only until her husband’s death from malarial dysentery in 1903. The book has since sold over a million copies and visitors to Mataranka can experience a replica of the Gunns’ original homestead, which was built for the 1982 movie version of the book.</p> <p>Mataranka has an ability to bring people from all walks of life together. It isn’t flashy and there is no resort, but you can get a good meal at the pub. And then, of course, there are the hot springs – they’re like a spa and their turquoise water is glorious. It’s easy to spend hours soaking in them.” – Janet Denton, Marion, South Australia</p> <p><strong>What to do:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Join the twice-daily barramundi feeding at Territory Manor, a unique celebration of the Top End’s most famous fish.</li> <li>Drop into the Never Never Museum in town, which showcases early settler history alongside that of the region’s traditional custodians, the Mangarayi and Yangman people. It also has displays on the Australian Overland Telegraph Line and the North Australia Railway.</li> <li>Visit Elsey National Park for a soak in the natural hot springs, or to canoe or fish on the mighty Roper River.</li> </ul> <p>“The locals of Mataranka, like farmer Jim Sullivan, struck such a chord with us that we often reminisce about them fondly. The town itself is not much more than a tiny main street, its centrepiece being the life-size statues based on Jeannie Gunn’s book We of the Never Never. The statues not only add character to the town, but they bring the history of the region alive and pay homage to the pioneering settlers who took on such a remote and unforgiving part of the world. The springs are an absolute must. In the outback heat, they’re like a gift from Mother Nature. (And don’t worry about crocodiles! They don’t inhabit the thermal springs.)</p> <p>Surrounded by the shade of Elsey National Park, the water is like a bath so you don’t want to get out! Hanging out with fellow travellers from all over the world, we spent an entire day mesmerised by our lush surroundings, floating around in the crystal clear waters, and cruising downstream with the current. To our daughter Charli’s delight, we even spotted a few turtles! Our time in Mataranka ended on the Roper River fishing for barramundi. I can’t say we had any luck(!) but we were totally captivated by the vibrant outback sunset that lit up the water.” – Jen and Clint</p> <p><img width="165" height="202" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7817764/australia-s-ultimate-bucket-list_165x202.jpg" alt="Australia -s -ultimate -bucket -list (1)" style="float: right;"/></p> <p><em>This is an edited extract from </em>Australia’s Ultimate Bucket List<em> by Jennifer Adams &amp; Clint Bizzell published by Hardie Grant Books RRP $29.99 and is available in stores nationally</em>.</p>

Cruising

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5 unmissable Aussie shore excursions

<p>There are so many beautiful places to cruise to in the world and some are closer than you realise. Here are five unmissable shore excursions in Australia.</p> <p><strong>1. Port Douglas: Daintree National Park</strong></p> <p><strong>Who goes there:</strong> Carnival, Celebrity, Crystal, P&amp;O, Princess, Royal Caribbean</p> <p>A day tour from Port Douglas will let visitors see the old sugar town of Mossman, Daintree Village and enjoy a cruise on the Daintree River. One of the oldest tropical rainforests in the world, the Daintree is praised for its biodiversity and vast range of animal species.</p> <p><strong>2. Cairns: Great Barrier Reef</strong></p> <p><strong>Who goes there:</strong> Azamara, Celebrity, Crystal, HAL, NCL, Oceania, P&amp;O, Ponant Princess, RSSC, Seabourn, Silversea, Viking</p> <p>A visit to this national treasure is unforgettable. The reef is one of UNESCO’s Seven Natural Wonders of the World and despite the coral bleaching, the reef continues to house many marine lives.</p> <p><strong>3. Brisbane: Australia Zoo</strong></p> <p><strong>Who goes there:</strong> Cunard, HAL, P&amp;O, Princess</p> <p>This conservation park allows for visitors to hand-feed kangaroos, meet koalas and wombats and watch crocs and giant snakes. Australia Zoo is an hour’s drive from Brisbane and visitors should allow four and a half hours to tour the park.</p> <p><strong>4. Port Arthur</strong></p> <p><strong>Who goes there:</strong> Azamara, Carnival, Crystal Cunard, HAL, P&amp;O, Princess, Seabourn</p> <p>To get a glimpse of Australia’s rich history, Port Arthur is the place to visit. It is Australia’s most preserved convict site and has more than 30 buildings, ruins and restored period homes and landscaped grounds. A shore excursion here includes a walking tour, a harbour cruise and access to buildings and gardens.</p> <p><strong>5. Melbourne: Great Ocean Road</strong></p> <p><strong>Who goes there:</strong> Azamara, Carnival, Celebrity, Cunard, P&amp;O, Princess, RSSC, Royal Caribbean, Silversea</p> <p>Besides from enjoying the views the mesmerising 12 apostles, visitors can also check out the Shipwreck Museum, complete walking trails and visit seaside towns.</p> <p>Have you been lucky enough to visit any of these places before? Let us know in the comments below. </p>

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