Lion (2016)
★★★★☆
Garth Davis’s Lion is a gripping, unsentimental adaptation of Saroo Brierley’s moving memoir.
Australia
The Daughter (2015)
★★★☆☆
Relocating Ibsen’s The Wild Duck to the Australian outback, Simon Stone’s The Daughter remains an intense but stagey melodrama.
Sherpa (2015)
★★★☆☆
Giving a voice to the sherpas who risk life and limb to make a living on Everest, Jennifer Peedom’s Sherpa finds itself caught between two camps.
Drown (2015)
★★★☆☆
Flexing its tale of a man caught between masculinity and homosexuality, Dean Francis’s Drown is overturned by an overwrought history of self-hate and hopelessness.
Festival Review: Gayby Baby (2015)
★★★☆☆
A neatly observed, fly-on-the-wall documentary on gay parents, Maya Newell’s Gayby Baby adds fuel to the fire of Australia’s hottest topic.
The Turning (2013)
★★★☆☆
A collection of short films marking the turning points in interconnected lives, The Turning is a dark celebration of Australia and its frustrated people.
Son Of A Gun (2014)
★★★☆☆
Action-packed with prison getaways, bullion heists and criminal double-crossing, Son Of A Gun delivers a high-octane thriller. Just cut the monkey business.
The Last Impresario (2013)
★★★☆☆
A celebrity-studded bio-doc of theatre producer and playboy Michael White, Gracie Otto’s documentary uncovers the unknown man in the middle – The Last Impresario.
Mystery Road (2013)
★★★☆☆
An Aborigine detective returns to the outback to investigate the murder of a young Aborigine girl despite his white police colleagues’ prejudice and indifference.
Tracks (2013)
★★★★★
The beautifully lensed story of one woman’s journey through the heat and dust, John Curran’s Tracks is an inspiring expedition into the dead heart of Australia.
Utopia (2013)
★★★☆☆
Veteran documentary filmmaker John Pilger’s latest, Utopia, is a hard-hitting investigation into modern Australia’s commitment to its indigenous communities.
Viramundo (2013)
★★★☆☆
On tour through the globe’s indigenous and marginalised peoples in Pierre-Yves Borgeaud’s Viramundo, Gilberto Gil is turning the world upside-down.
Lore (2012)
★★★★☆
Set in 1945 in a Germany coming to terms with defeat, Cate Shortland’s Lore is an intimate and evocative portrait of lost innocence.
The Sapphires (2012)
★★★★☆
Taking on Aborigine rights in Sixties Australia, Wayne Blair’s debut feature The Sapphires is an all-singing, all-dancing feel-good sparkler.