film

THE FALL GUY

Director
David Leitch
(BULLET TRAIN, ATOMIC BLONDE)

Starring
Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Hannah Waddingham and Aaron Taylor-Johnson

What happens when a former stunt man (Ryan Gosling) is lured back to work, only to find out the star of his latest film has gone missing? Well in this case, it’s a frenetic, action filled game of cat and mouse with a side of romance that ensues.

Gosling plays Colt Seavers, a Stunt Man that broke his back on his last film and has been valeting cars for a Mexican eatery ever since. Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) is his former love interest turned debut director who is working on her big break when unbeknownst to her, the film’s star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) goes missing. When the film’s Producer (Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham) gets Colt back into the stunt crew, she quickly puts him to work to find the man he has frequently put his life on the line for in the past.

This newest effort from hit making director David Leitch is a great blend of the action-packed chaos we’re used to in his previous films such as Bullet Train and Deadpool 2, but maybe not enough of the comedy that we saw in the latter. Given the cast and the known comedic talents of Gosling, Blunt and Waddingham, this feels a little light on in the laugh department. That being said, the romantic chemistry of Gosling and Blunt is well and truly endearing enough to keep us entertained. There is however, a complete underutilisation of Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All At Once) who is only in the film for about 8 minutes, which is such a shame give how brilliant she is.

Overall The Fall Guy is perfect popcorn-cinema. You will not have to think too hard to enjoy this outing. I mean let’s be real, how difficult is it to enjoy Ryan Gosling in ANYTHING? And that’s coming from a big ole queer woman. The film probably is about 25 mins too long and there is a fair bit of filler, which, IF there had have been a bit better comedic dialogue, wouldn’t have seemed like such an issue. So certain areas of the film feel as though they’re dragging somewhat. Those foibles aside however, seeing Ryan Gosling crying in a pickup truck whilst listening to Taylor Swift is worth the price of admission alone.

The Fall Guy is in cinemas now.

BOY KILLS WORLD

Directed by Moritz Mohr
Starring Bill Skarsgård, Famke Janssen, Jessica Rothe, Michelle Dockery, Yayan Ruhian, Isaiah Mustafa, Andrew Koji, Quinn Copeland, Sharlto Copley, and H. Jon Benjamin

Credit to Boy Kills World for bringing a number of eccentric elements to its hackneyed premise. If nothing else, this rather forgettable experience can be remembered for at least being imaginative, even if what it attempts to do is more miss than it is hit.

Perhaps Boy Kills World is best described as a simplistic rendition of The Hunger Games, with irreverent humour in place of The Hunger Games’ notably serious tone and visual flamboyance. In the world in which Boy (performed by Bill Skarsgård) once resided and intends to kill, a dictatorship family dynasty who took everything from Boy when he was just a boy still rule their world. Unbeknown to them, Boy is not only still alive all these years later but is a highly trained and skilled fighter after years of tuition provided by Shaman (Yayan Ruhian) on the outskirts of the city in the forest. Now, shortly before “the culling”, an annual tradition warmly hosted by this aforementioned friendly family where 12 of its citizens are proudly executed, Boy returns seeking vengeance against all of those who wronged him.

One of the many ways Boy Kills World seeks to be an individual from its shared characteristics is the fact that Boy is deaf-mute. I have absolutely no issue with this decision. In fact, I think it’s a great one. I also am not interested in participating in any discourse surrounding the casting of a non-deaf-mute actor in the role of a deaf-mute character. One of the aspects I most admire about an actor acting is to witness their ability to portray a character with characteristics that are different to their own, but that is an entirely separate dialogue deserving of its own piece. The issues I had, and other audience members are bound to have, are self-inflicted by Boy Kills World. Why on Earth make your titular character deaf-mute to then fill the air with incessant dialogue representing Boy’s inner-thoughts speaking aloud to the visible ghost of his dead little sister (Quinn Copeland)!? If that weren’t difficult enough on its own to adjust to, then the grating voice work derived from a childhood video game performed by H. Jon Benjamin puts the nail on the coffin Boy emerged from. Yes, that’s right, Bill Skarsgård doesn’t even voice his own character’s inner thoughts. At the very least, a less is more approach here could’ve found a better balance. It also has its flaws or very questionable developments that reduce the credibility of what it intends to pull off. I’m not spoiling anything here by saying it was way too easy for Boy to firstly enter a city controlled by a dictatorship and then also to do so completely undetected, even just as a stranger. There are some pretty wacky visual effects that fare a bit better than other decisions that are made but come off as arbitrary in nature above all else. Boy Kills World comes closest to achieving the irreverent brand of humour it’s so desperately trying to nail when it simply expresses this via its actions. Its bloody and violent actions, more specifically, such as the accidental death caused by a member of a small resistance group that Boy joins. While it does have some cool ideas and action sequences, Boy Kills World never comes together as a cohesive film and brandishes a bunch of silly twists during its finale that leave everything feeling quite ludicrous.

Oh, and you do not need to hang around for the post-credit’s scene either!

Boy Kills World is showing in cinemas across Australia from May 2nd.

Moviedoc thanks VVS Films and Nixco for the invitation to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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ABIGAIL

Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
Starring Melissa Barrera, Alisha Weir, Dan Stevens, and Angus Cloud

Abigail has tried to do for vampire films what Scream did for slashers, it’s a pastiche lovingly made and indulgently critical of the formulaic narratives plaguing the uber-popular vampire movies of the 2010s.

In the film a ragtag group of token mercenaries are hired by a mysterious third party and tasked with abducting a target for ransom. What isn’t explained prior to the kidnapping, however, is that their target is Abigail, a 12-year-old girl who may well be the daughter of Dracula, though he’s not named in the film. The wheels fall off the group’s loosely oiled machine sooner than expected and they are left to fend for themselves against the brattiest vampire cinema has ever seen.

Abigail succeeds in redefining the typical landscape of a vampire movie, and in doing so, subverting the expectations of its audience from start to finish. It’s not that the stereotypical tropes of vampire flicks aren’t on display, but it’s more that directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett –fresh off wrapping up Scream VI – take massive liberties with which rules they are willing to follow.

At one point one of the mercenaries-turned-prey wonders aloud what the characters in Twilight would do to survive and from there they create a plan of action to survive the night. Similar scenes can be found in Scream but the difference here is that the monster is a pre-pubescent ballerina. The movie’s tagline is that ‘children can be such monsters’, and this is used as a fun excuse for the directors to create their own spin on the formula, because what kid listens to rules anyway?

Speaking of Abigail, actress Alisha Weir carries her weight better than most child actors tasked with juggling the dual roles of little girl and 200-year-old monster in one. Her performance flickers from hostage and victim to patronising hunter, who enjoys making a mockery of the naive adults who abducted her in the first place, which often leads to comedic gold.

As far as the other characters go, the film is unexpectedly generous in sharing the screentime around its supporting cast, bar one or two who meet their demise earlier than expected. As the audience wraps their heads around what traditional monster rules Abigail is going to follow, so too do the mercenaries who either accept their doomed fate or madly try to piece the mystery together themselves. A moment towards the end of the film hilariously showcases one human shifting from active planner to hopeless cog in the machine after they’re confronted with such a ridiculous series of events that they quietly exclaim ‘what the f***’ as they slowly exit the scene. This serves as Abigail’s best moment in that it never goes too far into nonsensicality as to get frustrating but aggressively pushes everyone to stop trying to outsmart it and just to enjoy the ride instead.

Abigail however perhaps overindulges in itself at times. I was surprised to find that it was only 109 minutes as the credits rolled because the movie somehow felt much longer. It’s not a massive complaint as there aren’t many wasted moments during its runtime, but a little bit of executive tightening could’ve really helped it make every minute count.

This film doesn’t take itself seriously and punishes those who do. To go from a good movie to a great movie, however, I think more could have been done to really home in on the three things that made Scream such a classic: humour, confusion, and gore. Abigail has all three in spades but never really gives any one enough time to shine.

Abigail is showing in cinemas across Australia from April 18th.

Moviedoc thanks Universal Pictures for the invitation to the screening of this film.

Reviewed by Zak Wheeler for Moviedoc

MONKEY MAN

Directed by Dev Patel
Starring Dev Patel, Pitobash, Ashwini Kalsekar, Sikandar Kher, and Sharlto Copley

A new hero, of sorts, enters the silver screen in Monkey Man. The hero is not made by Marvel, isn’t a descendant of DC and is not adapted from any comic books or video games. A passion project from versatile actor Dev Patel, broadening and asserting his strengths here as both a bona fide action lead and first-time feature film director, Monkey Man has its roots deep in Indian mythology and is most accurately described as John Wick in Mumbai.

Our unnamed titular protagonist, played by Dev Patel, dons a monkey mask and fights inside the ring under his employer (Sharlto Copley) to earn a living. The fight he is really gearing up for, however, is an extremely personal one that will take place outside of the ring. As the film’s flashbacks quickly establish, our ‘Monkey Man’ has suffered a traumatic past that has taken the lives of people he loved. Those responsible not only escaped any and all forms of conviction and accountability but are now in positions of greater power and wealth than before and continue to oppress others they consider beneath them. The time has come for someone to not just stand up to these despicable beings, but to singlehandedly bring down the system that enables and protects their existence and to execute some sweet vengeance in the process.

This new hero, or sorts, can consider himself very fortunate for making it to the silver screen. It was originally set for a straight-to-streaming release on Netflix until director Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us, Nope) saw the film and acquired it from Netflix via his production company (aptly called Monkeypaw productions!). Like John Wick, Monkey Man effectively immerses viewers into its atmospheric world through its use of lighting, music score, production and set designs, camerawork, and editing. I’m conscious that the more similarities to John Wick that are said, the more this film and perhaps even my review will sound like a copy and paste job. While the inescapable truth is Monkey Man does possess John Wick’s one-man bravura battery and is also infectiously stylistic, it meaningfully incorporates culture into its story and action sequences. Our male protagonist may be motivated by vengeance, but he is also driven by Hanuman, a god who is revered for valour, strength, and discipline. The use of colour in costume design during some fighting scenes and a couple of rickshaws (or Tuk Tuks if you prefer) set-piece sequences are more examples of how Monkey Man best manifests its Mumbai setting.

Regardless of just how much this action-thriller with a random sense of humour is akin to John Wick barely mattered to me. What did matter though were a few key developments in the plot that lack credibility and a pacing hurdle it hits midway through. While I can’t be too specific in elaborating on those plot points, I can say some unanswered questions form as our protagonist goes from one position or location to another. This is especially important to enforce what it would like us to believe of its antagonists. The pacing issue consists of a noticeable flat patch it hits post a prolonged and earlier intense several minutes that gets the adrenalin running on high. Thankfully, it overcomes this and gets the adrenalin pumping all over again as it approaches its climatic and satisfying finale.

Monkey Man is showing in cinemas across Australia from April 4th.

Moviedoc thanks Universal Films for the invitation to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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IO CAPITANO

Directed by Matteo Garrone
Starring Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall

“For the love of money is the root of all evil”.

Readers, please excuse my preachy, scripture-quoting opening and do not believe for a moment that I’m some bible belt about to lay judgement as to why many characters in Io Capitano are headed straight to hell.

Irrespective of how much of the bible is or we believe to be true, there are no truer words relevant to this day spoken by it than those that reside in 1 Timothy 6:10. This non-religious movie, deservedly nominated for Best International Feature Film at the 2024 Academy Awards ®, is new testament to that.

Inspired by actual stories of migrants’ African routes to Europe, Io Capitano is a truly cinematic odyssey that represents these collective stories through the prisms of its two central characters. 16-year-old Seydou (an astonishing performance from Seydou Sarr) and his cousin Moussa (Moustapha Fall) have been secretly working to save funds and leave Dakar, Senegal to live abroad in Europe. Their motivation for leaving their families is simply to earn a decent income to support loved ones, which they aim to do by way of pursuing their music-driven dreams. Both young men are extremely naive and gullible, but the good-hearted Seydou is certainly more trepidatious about leaving than his more determined cousin, especially after receiving stern warnings against leaving. Nevertheless, what the television illustrates of life in Europe outshines everything anyone else has to say. So begins the daring, dangerous and unpredictable journey from West Africa to Italy.

One thing that took me by complete surprise is just how epic in scale this majestic movie is. It truly is anything but minor in presence, impact and in how far-reaching its story is.

After an engaging opening, an uplifting sense of adventure sets in as the boys begin their journey, even despite our awareness (and their lack) of the numerous dangers that must lie ahead. In fact, this is one of many strengths that Io Capitano possesses – the incredible agility to switch between being wonderfully uplifting and greatly unsettling without ever being uneven and always being profound, when and as it chooses to be. That is not an easy mix to execute, and Io Capitano absolutely nails it. Seydou and Moussa’s relationship as cousins is close and beautifully portrayed. Our insights into their aspirations and observations of their innocence connected me to them quite deeply and regularly filled me with a potent sense of dread each time they cross paths with corrupt characters they blindly trust who will do literally anything to make a dollar. All the while, this top-quality production boasts a mesmerising music score, magnificent cinematography of its sweeping locations, and even creatively injects a minor fantasy element to proceedings.

I do need to make a couple of points concerning the conclusion of this film, which I promise do not reveal or elaborate on how far geographically its protagonists go. Initially, the ending felt abrupt and truncated. There are definitely certain details I cared to know more about than is delivered. Upon reflection, however, these finished details would have only applied comfort and certainty to what is an uncomfortable and very uncertain route for many.

One of the best films of the year.

Io Capitano is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from March 28th.

Moviedoc thanks Rialto Distribution and Annette Smith: Ned & Co for providing a screener link to watch and review this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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IMMACULATE

Director
Michael Mohan

Starring
Sydney Sweeney, Álvaro Morte and Dora Romano

I’ve got to admit, after seeing Immaculate I truly believed that they had got 6 writers in a room where they all got to pitch one idea that would make it into the film. I was astonished to find that only one man was responsible for this diabolically bad, shambles of a film that is so full of unexplained elements and false directions that it’s hard to know what to make of it.

The premise isn’t a bad one; Sydney Sweeney is Sister Cecilia, a young, novice Nun who is sent to an Italian convent for elderly and dying Nuns. Once there, things start getting weird and (as you may have guessed from the title) Sister Cecilia finds herself with child, despite her adherence to her vow of chastity. Now was this conception another miracle of God, or something far more sinister?

It seems that the Director (Michael Mohan) had two options here; make a truly creepy, atmospheric horror film, which given the location and the subject matter, could have easily been achieved….or lean completely to the ridiculousness of it all and have a bit of fun, akin to a Blumhouse Production. Sadly, he elected to do neither, and instead make a truly confused film that wasn’t sure of what it wanted to be, and so instead relied FAR too heavily on grotesque imagery to garner a visceral response from its audience.

There were so many things that happened where I shrugged and assumed it would be explained over the course of the film, only to get to the end with no reference to it again. If someone can tell me why in two scenes we see Nuns with red fabric overing their faces, only for that never to pop again, I would be grateful. There are also elements of the 2018 remake of Suspiria (a truly terrible film) in some of the random cutaway scenes that don’t really seem to serve a purpose other than to fill in some of the screen time due to the lack of valid storyline.

Often with bad films, it doesn’t really bother me. Not every film can be great, which just makes you appreciate the good ones all the more. But I was quite physically annoyed with Immaculate because it has SO MANY elements that I love in a horror; a great location, a questionable religious influence and a couple of other plot points which I won’t mention as it will spoil the experience. It honestly had all the ingredients to be something great, including a more than decent performance by Sydney Sweeney (which is not at all surprising). But the execution and convoluted nature of the storyline absolutely ruined it. Days later, I’m still angry about the whole thing.

Hopefully in 20 years’ time someone else can come along and remake Immaculate and turn it into the film it rightly deserves to be.

Immaculate is in cinemas now.

2024 OSCARS ®

Hi readers and fans,

Here are my Oscars® predictions and a comment for each category covered ahead of tomorrow’s 2024 Academy Awards ®.

Best Picture Winner

Oppenheimer

I believe and do want to see Oppenheimer take out the top prize tomorrow, despite the fact Past Lives is my personal favourite film of the lot. Christopher Nolan’s movie is the complete and ultimate all-round epic movie experience you want your best film of the year to be when reflecting in years to come. Oh, and they need to shorten the candidates to 5 movies moving forward! This is an exclusive category. Let’s keep it that way.

Best Director Winner

Christopher Nolan – Oppenheimer

First and foremost, it is beyond a joke that Greta Gerwig missed out on a nomination in this category for Barbie. While Nolan will be a deserved winner, heck I’d love to see Jonathan Glazer cause a major upset in this category for the more subtle and powerful work of horror he superbly executed in The Zone of Interest.

Best Actress in a Leading Role Winner

Lily Gladstone – Killers of the Flower Moon

Lily was great and it will be a historic win. My personal favourite performance of the nominees goes to Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall. I also have to add that each of the five female nominees this year deserve to be there, and I’d be happy to see any one of them walk out victorious.

Best Actor in a Leading Role Winner

Cillian Murphy – Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer was great for many reasons. One of them was its reminder of just how excellent an actor Cillian Murphy is. I will applaud when he wins, but my personal applause goes to Bradley Cooper in Maestro. For me, Cooper is a clear standout in this category, which is a big statement coming from someone who LOVES everything Paul Giamatti does and believes what he did in The Holdovers might be his best yet.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role Winner

Da’Vine Joy Randolph – The Holdovers

The one acting performance nominated for an Oscar ® I am yet to see if that of Danielle Brooks in The Colour Purple. As for the remainder of the nominees, I’m impartial here. I can’t say that one performance in this category stands out above another.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role Winner

Robert Downey Jr. – Oppenheimer

There is a clear standout for me here. From the films of his I have seen; Robert Downey Jr. was never better than he was in Oppenheimer. Wow.

Best Original Screenplay Winner

Past Lives

Why not? I’m tipping my personal favourite screenplay to win this category. The Holdovers has plenty of ripping dialogue and is beautifully written too. Anatomy of a Fall is meticulous and magnificent. The other two nominees not quite Oscar-worthy writing in my humble opinion.

Best Adapted Screenplay Winner

Oppenheimer

Can’t they just have a ‘Barbenheimer’ nominee and grant this award to that double film?

Best Animated Feature

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

I have not seen Robot Dreams, thought Nimona was a quality production, but The Boy and the Heron was the most creative and original work that made me appreciate and admire anime all over again after a several year hiatuses. Hence, despite not being my prediction to win over the very busy and very good Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, it is my personal favourite.

Best Documentary Feature

20 Days in Mariupol

The only nominee in this category I have not seen is To Kill a Tiger. No title is topping 20 Days in Mariupol this year. Some might assume it’s purely for political reasons, but do not overlook or underestimate this documentary’s emphasis on the importance of free international press. Of course, 20 Days in Mariupol is utterly harrowing and gut-wrenching to experience. At the same time, it is difficult to think of a more bravely documented one and is also finely narrated and presented. A very deserved winner.

Best International Feature

The Zone of Interest

Unfortunately, this is the only major category where I’ve not seen more films than I have seen. Of the two I have seen – Society of the Snow (Spain) and The Zone of Interest (Germany), the latter is by far and away a better film in every way. I would not be surprised, however, if Io Capitano (Italy) triumphs.

Compiled by Leigh for Moviedoc

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CABRINI

Director
Alejandro Monteverde
(THE SOUND OF FREEDOM)

Starring
Christina Dell’Anna, David Morse and John Lithgow

The inspiring true story of the Catholic missionary, Mother Cabrini, who was the first US citizen to be canonised a Saint is brought to life in this new film by The Sound of Freedom director Alejandro Monteverde. Cabrini not only tells of her impressive feats bringing education and medical care to impoverished Italian immigrants in the late 19^th century New York, but it’s also an interesting commentary on feminism and immigration as a whole.

Francesca Cabrini (born in 1850) spent all of her formative years in her home in Lombard (then part of the Austrian Empire, now Italy). Due to a premature birth and a near drowning incident in her youth, Francesca had been quite sickly as a child, and had been given very limited life prospects. She was never expected to leave her bed, let alone her hometown. These imposed limitations did nothing but spur her on to strive for more, to aim for greatness. She joined the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and set upon a crusade to lead the first all-female mission. Her greatest desire was to take Catholic missionary work to the East and set up programs to help impoverished people in China, but after much resistance from the Vatican, the Pope granted her permission to lead a mission, but on the proviso that she begin her work in the West, not the East. Hence, she set forth to New York, where the first wave of Italian immigration was floundering in squalor, amidst racial prejudice from a previously predominantly white city. When she arrived, Mother Cabrini would have to overcome a number of challenges related to both her gender and her race in order to achieve her goal of bringing about a better standard of living for her compatriots.

Whilst the narrative and delivery of the films messaging can be a little heavy handed and overdone at times, the overall intention is good. Talking about the struggles of immigrant life in the late 1800’s is sadly still relevant today. With each wave of immigration, there are those that came before trying to push them back (often without the acknowledgement of irony of the situation). More disheartening still is to see how similar the struggle was for women at this time to be seen and heard, which is still so prevalent today. The message here though is that women can achieve all kinds of greatness if given the chance. The final line of the film may have been an incredibly powerful feminist statement had it not been directed like an over-the-top midday movie. That’s the only thing really letting this film down, but that’s not entirely surprising coming from Monteverde whose in-your-face, moral messaging seems to be a key theme to his work. At least this latest endeavour cannot be linked to any QAnon conspiracy nutters and has a largely unproblematic cast.

On that front, the work of Italian actress is Christiana Dell’Anna as Mother Cabrini is impressive, as was that of the many bilingual cast members that will be unfamiliar to many western audiences. The film doesn’t rely on a ‘big name’ drawcard, and the fact that John Lithgow is one of the top billed actors is a bit sad for him given his minimal role throughout. The real stars are the lesser-known actors, in particular the captivating Romana Maggiora Vergano who plays prostitute turned pseudo-missionary Vittoria.

Overall the film is perfectly inoffensive and enjoyable. It’s sad that it’s taken this long to have a film about one of the least problematic Catholics in history, whose legacy spreads far and wide today. If you’re in the mood to see a sassy Italian woman taking on the patriarchy and racism, then this is just the ticket for you!

Cabrini is in selected cinemas now.

IMAGINARY

Directed by Jeff Wadlow
Starring DeWanda Wise, Pyper Braun, Taegen Burns, and Betty Buckley

The opening scene of this new Blumhouse Production where someone is having a spider nightmare ironically features straight after a preview to the upcoming spider horror flick (yes, requires its own genre!), Sting. My concerns that Imaginary would be as lame as Sting appears to be were initially quashed… until an atrocious finale proves otherwise.

To conceptualise a new horror movie devised from having an imaginary friend might not be a particularly enticing or intellectual idea, but it is a rather original one on paper. That originality draws (some) curiosity.

The youngster whom that imaginary friend belongs to is Alice (Pyper Braun). Interestingly, that imaginary friend is not purely a figment of her imagination but rather has a physical existence in the form of a plush toy named Chauncey that I chose to label as Ted’s evil cousin. How the filmmakers choose to make this work is a problem in itself they could never find a workable solution for. More on that shortly. Alice discovers Ted’s evil cousin while meandering through her stepmother’s (played by DeWanda Wise) family home, which she and her teenage sister Taylor (Taegen Burns) are staying at for the weekend. Jessica (the stepmum) is at first unfazed by Alice’s new companion, but when she learns Ted’s evil cousin is seemingly and somehow influencing Alice to partake in sinister games, she quickly becomes very concerned.

Pyper Braun as Alice jn Imaginary. Photo Credit: Parrish Lewis

For roughly two thirds of its duration, Imaginary actually does a reasonable job of creating and maintaining some form of suspense in several scenes and it also exhibits effective utilisation of lighting. These aspects, as well as the consistent and solid performances of DeWanda Wise and Pyper Braun, might do enough for long enough to satisfy those with little expectations.

Ironically again, however, Imaginary is seriously lacking in imagination.

I mentioned earlier the format used to make imaginary friend exist is a problem. Visually, it’s acceptable. Its script, however, is massively under-developed and misses an opportunity to derive some form of psychological element. After all, where do imaginary friends really exist!?

Throughout, Imaginary follows a tried and tested formula, which renders it formulaic at best. Almost every horror trope, from the father who needs to be away while Ted’s evil cousin comes to life to the overly intrusive neighbour (played by an extremely wooden Betty Buckley) who knows a thing or two about him, is present here. While the film does draw some further curiosity in developing Jessica’s upbringing and how this is connected with the present timeline, it is evident quite early that genuine creativity ended at conception in this production.

Even if Imaginary remains passable as it approaches its final act, its revelations to Ted’s evil cousin’s origin is best summed up as a D-grade Stranger Things rip off. In fact, there are several movies and I’m sure TV series as well that Imaginary derives and attempts to repackage ideas from. Furthermore, it opts to go into horror autopilot mode during its finale, where it becomes laughably silly and nonsensical.

You’re better off remaining in the company of your own imaginary friend. Not recommended.

Imaginary is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from March 7th.

Moviedoc thanks Studiocanal and Annette Smith: Ned & Co for the invite to the screening of this film.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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2024 OSCAR ® NOMINATED SHORT FILMS – ANIMATED

Letter to a Pig
France/Israel
17 minutes

By far and away the most “arty” of the animated short films nominated for an Oscar ® this year, which can work for or against it. In my case, the latter presides. Letter to a Pig arouses initial curiosity as to why a Holocaust survivor feels he owes his life to a pig and how this is connected with a young girl in school. Unfortunately, this short film’s efforts to bring any substance to the latter part aren’t near enough.

Ninety-Five Senses
USA
13 minutes

My personal favourite of the lot, slightly nudging Our Uniform. As the title kind of alludes to, this short film details one older man’s (brilliantly voiced by Tim Blake Nelson) sentiments towards our five senses. What makes this unique and excellent is the creative variation in animation styles, how eloquently written it is, and the revelation of the perspective our protagonist is citing these senses from. Who says 13 (minutes) is an unlucky number? It is just the right length for this short feature I could easily see becoming a full-length one someday.

★★★★

Our Uniform
Iran
7 minutes

Something wondrous and original immediately greets us in Iranian short film Our Uniform with its visual storytelling playing out on clothing. Clothing that is her old school uniform. The insight given via her perspective as a young girl attending school in Tehran is eye-opening and somewhat surprisingly amusing when intended to be. A short and sweet little gem that also deserves some form of feature-length adaptation one day.

Pachyderme
France
11 minutes

The seemingly mundane existence of picturesque animation Pachyderme’s lead character, a ten-year-old girl who is temporarily staying at her grandparent’s idyllic home, is harbouring a disturbing and shocking development that left me sitting stunned for several minutes after the credits had rolled.

★★★1/2

War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko
USA
11 minutes

I have to say, the quality of short films nominated for an Academy Award ® this year is really strong. War is Over is no exception to that. Here is another interesting idea featuring a pigeon playing messenger between two soldiers partaking in a game of chess who are unaware they are on opposing sides during WWI. The tone and music score of this production brings a calm to the storm that is war and just like four of the five animated short films reviewed above, the ending is a powerful and memorable one.

★★★1/2

The 2024 Oscar ® Nominated Short Films – Animated is showing in selected cinemas across Australia from February 22nd to Early March.

Moviedoc thanks Bonsai Films and Annette Smith: Ned & Co for providing screener links to watch and review these short films.

Review by Leigh for Moviedoc

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