The cultural capital of Australia, Melbourne is inarguably the premiere location for film fans down under (no matter what anyone from Sydney tells you). These weekly posts will take you beyond the multiplex and highlight the Top 5 movie alternatives worth checking out each week.
1. The NeverEnding Story (The Astor)
An entriped young reader is transported to a fantastical world of monsters, magic and gigantic animatronic puppets in Wolfgang Peterson’s The NeverEnding Story. A trip down memory lane for children of the eighties, the film will light up the big screen at The Astor all week long. (Sun, Apr 7 – Sun, Apr 14)
2. It’s A Girl (ACMI)
Shot on location in India and China, Evan Grae Davis’s sixty-four minute documentary explores the ongoing practice of gender-based discrimination, violence and murder in patriarchal cultures across Asia and the world. A grim watch, but a worthy one, the film was selected by various feminist and human rights film festivals throughout 2012. (Wednesday, April 10, 6:45pm)
3. Mapantsula (ACMI)
A small time criminal becomes involved in the anti-Apartheid movement in this politically charged and controversial landmark of South African national cinema. Initially banned by the ruling regime, the film screened at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, and is now considered one of the most important films of the “anti-Apartheid new wave”. (Saturday, April 6, 4pm)
4. Cinema Fiasco: Reptilicus (Cinema Nova)
Last week, it was Volkswagen sized rabbits in Night of the Lepus. This week, comedians/in-theatre commentators Geoff Wallis and Janet A. McLeod take on a gigantic, pus-spewing Danish dinosaur in the Scandanavian B-movie bonanza Reptilicus. (Friday, April 5, 7:30pm)
5. Bonjour Tristesse (ACMI)
The gorgeous Jean Seberg plays Cécile, an idle daddy’s girl whose pampered existance is threatened when her father announces his intentions to marry, in Otto Preminger’s 1958 adaptation of Françoise Sagan’s novel Bonjour Tristesse. Beautifully shot, with an opening credits sequence by Saul Bass, the film is a stunning mix of jealousy, decadence and despair. (Thur, Apr 4 – Sun Apr 7, start times vary)
