The Nightingale

Jennifer Kent is best known for her controversial horror film The Babadook. Her latest film is set in Tasmania during the convict era and centres around Clare an Irish convict who has served her time, got married to another Irish ex-convict, had a baby but can't leave the tiny settlement she lives in until the lieutenant in charge writes her release letter. She works as a servant and singer and the whole garrison, from Lt Hawkins down, openly lusts after her. Clare is near the bottom of the social pecking order, constantly at risk of harm to her and her family, while trying to insist on her right to be treated as a free person. A visit from a more senior officer starts the chain of events that brings down an avalanche of violence on Clare. With nothing left to lose except her life, Clare sets out to into the bush with Billy (a reluctant Aboriginal tracker) to get revenge on the Lieutenant (who left with a small contingent a few hours earlier). The film follows the two groups through the bush to Launceston. While initially a backdrop to Clare's story, the war against Aboriginal Tasmanians becomes the second theme of the film and Clare's initial attitude to Billy is no different to the soldiers' attitude. As Billy explains his history, Clare slowly begins to see him as a fellow victim.

The Nightingale doesn't shy away from violence and the body count here rivals a Quentin Tarantino film. The film is a rollercoaster with each rise in fortune followed by a crashing fall. This isn't a happy story, it is one that asks us to understand the use of violence and whether violent revenge puts an end to the original violence or just creates a cycle and an excuse to continue with violence.

🎥

Ian's rating 4/5

Judy & Punch

I have never seen a Punch & Judy puppet show. I'm too young and/or too far removed from the United Kingdom. It is one of those things that hover on the edge of my cultural consciousness, alongside pantomime, Dune, Engelbert Humperdinck and Halloween. I recognise the name and some of its aspects (such as Punch’s crescent moon-like profile, familiar from Dad's magazines) but not enough detail to understand it.

Set somewhere and sometime in the past, Judy & Punch is a fictitious origin story for Punch & Judy shows and a revenge story for Judy. Punch is a marionette showman with a drinking problem, dreaming of taking the show to the big smoke, his wife Judy is trying to hold things together. The small town they live in has a witch problem. Of course, killing witches does not reduce the number of townsfolk discovered to be witches.

Leaving Punch to look after their baby, a string of sausages on the table and small dog Judy goes out to run some errands. Even a cursory knowledge of Punch & Judy will clue you into what happens next and to Punch's reaction to being confronted. Punch's inability to take responsibility for anything piles up the victims in a dark second act. Here the writer/director's inexperience led to an unsatisfactory third act. Reaching into the hat of worn-out Hollywood tropes, we get quickfire: "resurrection from (apparent) death", "rescue by Ewoks" (a secret society of outcasts living in woods), "wisdom from Yoda" (a wise old medicine woman), "pleasant interlude with the outcasts", "dream sequence", "ignore wise advice to take revenge", "rescue and revenge", "happy ending with idyllic social order established". Though there is a coda where the transition from marionettes to hand puppets is explained.

Underlying the film is an anti-alt-right message. Concentrating on misogyny, on emotional arguments over rational ones, on violence as a solution (though that last one gets undermined in the end).

Ian's rating 2/5

Jirga

I was really looking forward to Jirga but  watching it was a disappointment. It has a great trailer but you don't get anything more from the film than the trailer gives you. The basis for the story is an Australian soldier returning to Afghanistan to compensate the family of a civilian he shot in error. I thought we might get some insight into what motivated him to come ( is that the only civilian he's ever shot, is that a common problem, does the army help you deal with that?)  but we didn't. And the leading character came across as a bit of a wet blanket, and not like someone who has been in the military. I mean , how many people are on a car journey in a hot country without a bottle of water in hand?

The director did a Q and A at the showing and it seems there were various aspects of Afghanistan he wanted to showcase including the lakes of the Band-e-Amir National Parkand the supportive and communicative relationship that groups of Afghani men enjoy. It feels like the plot is an afterthought and the story doesn't live up to the scenery or the actors.

I suggest you watch the trailer and then go to a different film

Anne's rating  2/5

The Berlin Syndrome

Clare the Australian backpacker meets Andy the German school teacher out and about in Berlin. They hit it off, and meet up again the next day. He invites her back to his apartment, they have sex, she spends the night and when she wakes up in the morning  he's gone to work, and she's locked in. Not too perturbed, she waits for him to come home  and when he does, he takes the key he meant to leave her out of his pocket. They have more sex, she stays another night and when she wakes up she finds the key he left her doesn't fit the lock.

So now we're straying into nightmare territory. The windows don't open, and they're double glazed and reinforced. Andy appears to be the only occupant of an entire apartment complex. The apartment windows don't look out over the street, they look onto a courtyard. Andy has removed the sim card from Clare's phone, and there's no landline. When Andy returns he admits to detaining Clare on purpose, and we're definitely in nightmare territory.

The film moves into exploring the bad situation (augmenting the nightmare) and looking for the opportunity to escape. It's very tense and keeps us wondering what the outcome will be, particularly when we find out that Andy has pulled this stunt before. The Berlin Syndrome is not for the faint-hearted but I promise you won't be bored. It's well-acted and atmospheric. Just don't expect to drop off to sleep immediately when you get home.

Anne's rating 3.5/5 Ian's rating 3.5/5

Jasper Jones

Jasper Jones is not the protagonist in this film. Bespectacled Charlie Bucktin, who may be 13 but looks 11, the new kid in town, is the protagonist. His best friend is Jeffrey Lu, who is also trying to fit in. The town is Corrigan, Western Australia and the year is 1969. The Vietnam War is on. Prejudice is commonplace. Kids ride around on bikes.

One night Charlie is woken by Jasper Jones the town's half-cast bad boy knocking on his window begging for Charlie's help and for Charlie to come and see something.

While Charlie is anxious, but his strong sense of adventure and righting wrongs trumps this. Jasper's secret quickly puts Charlie offside with his parents, especially his mother (Toni Collette) and with Eliza, a pretty girl who tries to befriend him. It turns out that Jasper's secret is not the only one and Charlie quickly becomes privy to a host of different people's secrets. The subsequent adventures remind me of Enid Blyton's Secret Seven and Famous Five and the friendship with Eliza is like Moonrise Kingdom with some emotion added.

Jasper Jones is a jolly romp and bildungsroman with a dark edge. The acting by the young actors is believable and I felt that I could over look the plot holes and unresolved story lines. It is based on a 2009 novel.

Ian's rating 5/5  Anne's rating 4/5

The Daughter

Ibsen is the world's second most performed playwright (after Shakespeare). Such is the NZ education system, that he could have been a tennis player or Harry Potter character for all I knew, until I was researching for this review. The Daughter is based on the Henrik Ibsen play: The Wild Duck.

Henry Neilson (Geoffrey Rush) owns the sawmill that is a small Australian town's main employer. He lives in a huge, country house, shoots duck, has servants and is aloof. He looks out of place in modern Australia, clearly a character from an old story. Despite his failing business (he is being forced into closing the sawmill) he is planning a grand wedding to Anna (Anna Torv) his beautiful and much younger fiancee (and ex-housekeeper). His son, Christian, arrives back from USA with an American accent on a rare trip home. He has a huge chip on his shoulder and an aim to cause trouble and get up almost everyone's nose. After an initial swipe at Anna he runs into Oliver, a school chum and from then on the two of them are almost inseparable. A parallel story line involves Oliver's teenage daughter Hedvig (Odessa Young - who also starred in Looking for Grace) and Oliver's dad (Sam Neill). Eventually Christian's destructive urge goes completely nuclear.

While some characters (especially Henry Neilson) don't fit in the 21st century and Christian seems almost unbelievably vindictive, the film is still effective. The acting is superb and the plot (particularly in the second half) is like watching a train wreck looking for somewhere to happen. I couldn't tell you how closely the film sticks to the original play but while it still looks like a film of a play it is a much better adaption than most play-to-film adaptions I've seen.

I've never seen Australia looking so wet and cold.

Ian's rating 4.5/5 Anne's rating 3/5

Looking for Grace

Grace is a teenager, who steals $13 000 from her parents' safe and runs away from home, leaving a note saying "sorry Mum"  Looking for Grace tells this not-very-complicated story from  five different viewpoints - those of Grace herself, her Mum Denise, her Dad Dan, retired detective Tom and a  truck driver called Bruce.

The description in the film festival programme suggests the film is about her parents enlisting the services of a retired detective and following clues to find their daughter but this credits the film with a great deal more plot than it actually has. Rather than relating the solving of a mystery, Looking for Grace is more an empathetic look at five  individuals. who have somewhat dysfunctional relationships.The writer/director (who was at the screening we went to) said the film has " a very Australian sensibility" and that it would be interesting to see whether New Zealand audiences warmed to it. I'm not sure what very Australian sensibility she meant but I'm guessing that she was referring to the not-very- demonstrative and not-very-communicative nature of the interpersonal relationships.All the characters had major secrets that their nearest and dearest didn't know about - an extra-marital affair, a child from a previous relationship, a business that wasn't financially viable to name just some. The characters, their flaws and their relationships  are conveyed sympathetically and humourously and they're pretty likeable but the film lacks much of a plot and much of a point so it's ultimately frustrating. And we never do find out why Grace's note says "sorry Mum" The trailer is a quick version of the film without the frustrating element.

Anne's rating 2.5/5 Ian's rating 3/5

Another Country

David Gulpilil is one of Australia's most famous actors, and certainly its most famous indigenous one. He's the voice of Another Country and while he didn't write the script by himself , the politics and the viewpoint is his. Molly Reynolds and Rolf de Heer  who co-wrote the script and directed and produced the film are so familiar with how he thinks that they were able to convey it easily.

Another Country documents life in David's home town, Ramingining, not just for the sake of documenting but because it epitomises what's wrong with aboriginal communities in Australia and what's wrong with the government's management of the people that live there. It's miles from anywhere and as David says, there are no jobs and there's nothing to do.

One of the bests aspects of the film was the summaries of the differences in culture and ways of thinking between "white mans" and black fellas" culture. For example, he says that rubbish is a foreign concept to indigenous Australians - it's not on their radar and they don't know how to deal with it. Historically, everything they had came from the bush and that's where it all went back to. So a broken spear or a worn out mat was just left in the bush, and since it is all biodegradable, there isn't a problem.

He doesn't offer complete solutions but does think there needs to be consultation between the Australian Government and aboriginal communities. And the results of the consultation shouldn't just be viewed with white values and white eyes. For example, paying white builders to come and build houses may be quicker and more efficient, but it makes the locals feels worthless and doesn't take advantage of one of their great resources,  which is time.

As is often the case after watching a documentary I felt a mixture of hope and sadness. It would be good if it were compulsory viewing for all Australian members of parliament.

Anne's rating 3/5.

The Mule

Ray is one of those well meaning guys whose life hasn't gone anywhere. Living at home and dominated by his mother he admires Gavin, a childhood friend with a lad-about-town lifestyle. At the end of the footie season celebration Ray unexpectedly wins player of the year and is offered a free ticket on the team holiday to Thailand. It is left to Gavin to explain to Ray the reason for his inclusion. To swallow 20 condoms of heroin that Gavin is smuggling back to Melbourne for club benefactor and nightclub owner Pat Shepherd.

This wouldn't be much of a movie if everything went well. This is 1983 and all Australia is obsessed by the America's Cup. It also means that Ray can refuse a rectal exam and the police are only able hold him 7 days or 2 bowel movements. Ray decides to hold on. As the days drag on both the police and drug world become increasingly desperate. The only chink of light for Ray is his young court appointed lawyer, but she is clearly out of her depth.

Angus Sampson, writer, director and star of The Mule does a convincing job of playing the passive, uncommunicative Ray and convince us that he is trying hard to avoid going to the loo for 7 days. Hugo Weaving has a ball playing Detective Croft, well outside official police procedure and John Noble is suitably creepy as the local crime boss. Georgina Haig as the lawyer plays well against Hugo Weaving's crass macho posturing.

Like The Castle, The Dish and Muriel's Wedding; The Mule is an example of what Australian film makers do well - a funny film centred on a simple story staring ordinary people.

Ian's rating 3.5/5 Anne's rating 3.5/5

Charlie's Country

 It's fair to say I am likely to go to any film that David Gulpilil , the star of Charlie's Country, is in. It's a particular pleasure to watch him walk - he has the most upright carriage of anyone I can think of and a light springy step. It's a bit like the pleasure you get from watching a dancer. Having committed to going to this film on that basis, there was the trepidation that comes with going to a film about indigenous Australians about whether it's going to be unbearably depressing.

Happily, this depiction of life in the Northern Territory (set in an aboriginal community and in Darwin) is

painted with light strokes and we see both good and bad aspects. Charlie is the main character and he is in almost every shot. In the community Charlie lives in a bivouac and has the opportunity to dabble in the traditional lifestyle - although the local cops take exception to him carrying a spear through the village and confiscate the buffalo that he and a friend shoot because their firearms are unregistered. Going walkabout results in pneumonia and he is med-evac'ed to Darwin. Discharging himself from hospital he lives rough in town, gets jailed for supplying alcohol to  people he shouldn't and is eventually released back to the community.

The film touches on the nature of friendship, the beauty of the landscape, the mostly patronising but usually well meaning nature of authority (the police, the housing officer, healthcare workers) and the community's residents' awareness of their health issues. There are moments of great humour ( Charlie doing some tracking for the police is one that stands out) and also ones of great pathos. Charlie's Country was an enjoyable watch.

Anne's rating 3.5/5

The Babadook

An alternative title for The Babadook could be " a mother's worst nightmare." So what do mothers worry about, particularly if they're tired and stressed? Do they worry they might have a car accident if they're really tired? Do they worry that they might actually harm someone or something they care about if they're really angry? Do they worry about getting sacked if they have to take time off work to look after their kids? Do they feel inferior in the company of better-dressed other mothers with better-behaved children?  Are they embarrassed when their child pushes his cousin out of the treehouse? Do they worry that the neighbours hear them shouting at their children and judge them? Do they think they'll scream if their child says "Mum-mee!" one more time?

The answer to all those questions is probably yes. And all those scenarios crop up in the Babadook. I was unsurprised to find out that the Babadook  was written, produced and directed by women. It seemed
 like a very woman-centric nightmare scenario. The

story centres around solo mother Amelia and her seven-year-old son Samuel. Amelia's husband died on the trip to hospital for Samuel's birth so we're talking solo parenthood with extra pathos. Samuel has "behavioral issues"  and a vivid imagination. One of the story books in the house features a bogeyman- in- the-wardrobe type creature which Samuel is convinced is real. He builds an assortment of weaponry to deal with it and of course he can't sleep because he's frightened. His behaviour gets worse and he's suspended from school. Amelia gets (more) exhausted and she starts to see the Babadook too. She rear-ends a car. She makes soup with broken glass in it. She strangles the family dog. And so on.

The trouble with The Babadook is that it's tedious rather than terrifying. There are some scary moments, an atmospheric score and there's quite a lot of screaming but mostly you want it to stop because of the tediousness. I think a good horror film should have the kind of frightening thing that you can't do anything about, and you never know when it's coming. It should get under your skin at least a bit. I felt that most of the terror in the Babadook was eminently addressable. Try painting the rooms in your house is a more cheerful colour than dark gray. Get a flatmate or a boarder or live with your mum so you don't have to deal with your child completely alone. Get psychological help sooner rather than later.  Watching the trailer again I can see that part of the nightmare is Amelia seeking help and not getting it, but perhaps waiting seven years wasn't the wisest idea.

I didn't feel the Babadook got under my skin. I didn't go home and feel any urge to look under the bed or check the wardrobe for bogeymen. All I felt was a bit relieved I wasn't a solo mother and a bit cheated in the adrenaline department.

Anne's rating 2/5 Ian's rating 2/5

The Sapphires

Ah ha! The Australians CAN make a cheerful movie involving aboriginal people. Unlike Samson and Delilah and Rabbit Proof Fence and The Tracker, The Sapphires oozes positivity and charm. Sadly, unlike the three films just mentioned, it's really not very good.

The story is fine - back in 1969, three aboriginal sisters and their cousin who all have amazing voices, go off to Vietnam to sing for the entertainment of the American troops. One of them falls in love with their Irish manager and they come home and live happily ever after. As you might expect, the music in this film is great and it's great to look at.

The problem is that the acting is a bit wooden and the script isn't great. There was no point where I forgot I was watching a film. The family home outside Cummeragunga looked like someone had parked a very small wooden house next to some gum trees and dressed up some actors and arranged them on the verandah and in the yard - there was no sense of them actually living there. The romance between Dave and Gail seems contrived and without spark. And any sense of the sisters overcoming prejudice or breaking new ground for the aboriginal people is almost entirely missing. It was quite fun to watch, but  I feel this movie didn't fulfill its potential

Anne's rating 2/5

Animal Kingdom

Melbourne is known for its shopping, trams, food, wine and criminal gangs. Animal Kingdom looks at a fictional crime family from the point of view of a seventeen year old boy. From this point of view things are not black and white. The people who nurture him are on the wrong side of the law. The police are not always on the right side of the law. There is a severe shortage of trust in this story, which provides much of the tension.

The story builds gradually as the focus moves gradually from one family member to another as different members take an interest in the silent Joshua, who mostly wants to be invisible. Once the police take an interest in him, Joshua finds that he can no longer take a passive role.

If you like dark, morally ambiguous thrillers then Animal Kingdom is a film you should see. If you prefer cheerful, morally black and white films then it is a film to avoid.

Ian's rating 3.5/5

The Loved Ones

Two boys: a funny one and a sullen one. Three girls: a good one, a bad one and a misunderstood one. The end of the year school dance. Girl gets boy... but which boy? And which girl?

One boy learns that the hospitality of outback folk can be painful, inventive with household objects and difficult to escape from. Though he might have been pre-warned if they taught William Congreve in English class. The other boy's evening doesn't go to plan either.

This is a good film to test your squeamish levels with, as this is a surprise and violence horror movie rather than a suspense one. While it is difficult for horror movie makers to avoid formula in the structure of their films Sean Byrne has been inventive in the detail of implementing the formula. It is also an equal opportunity horror movie, the girls are not scream queen victims, in fact for most of the film they drive the action. So if your date is up to it, lock away all sharp objects, make sure you are on good terms with all your ex's, dress up and see this film in a cinema where you can share a sofa and you can hold more than each other's hands.

Did I mention the father-daughter relationship that will be seared on your brain as much as the unspeakable things that happen to the hero?

Ian's rating 4/5

(I advise against seeing the trailer for this film as it gives too much away)

My Year without Sex

My Year Without Sex was, in a word, disappointing. I really liked writer/director Sarah Watts' Look Both Ways - it was innovative and touching and funny. MYOS tried to be all those things and somehow missed the bus. The potential was there - Natalie, happily married thirty-something Mother of two, has a brain aneurysm and almost dies. Her doctor tells her cheerfully that a recurrence in the year following is fairly likely and could be triggered by sneezing, straining to have a bowel motion or having sex and that the ones that could be avoided, should. The film recounts the year that follows, in 12 chapters - one per month.

As you can imagine, the scenario has huge tragicomic potential. Natalie explores a number of ways to cope, but I thought she and her husband were just too nice to each other to make the film interesting - he was so reasonable and understanding. The kids were amusingly self-centred but there's nothing remarkable about that. The chapter structure seemed arbitrary, and it seemed a bit like watching sanitised reality TV.

Anne's rating 2.5/5

Mary and Max

If you like to leave the cinema feeling that you're more well-adjusted than the characters in the movie you've just watched, then this could be the movie for you. You may also leave with the feeling you've been laughing at people with unfortunate disabilities, which might or might not be a good thing. Mary and Max is an oddball movie about oddball characters which does make you laugh but is rather a sad tale overall. Mary is a friendless bespectacled child with an alcholic mother and "eyes the colour of mud and a birthmark the colour of poo" who gets Max's name and address out of the New York telephone directory and begins a correspondence with him, hoping he'll answer her burning questions about life the universe and everything.

Max is overweight, Jewish, anxious and afflicted by Aspergers syndrome. He doesn't have any friends either, which is possibly what inspires him to write back to an Australian child that he's never met. He does his best to answer her questions even though some of them ("where do babies come from?" for example) cause him panic attacks that last for hours.

Based on a true story, the movie follows the correspondence all the way to its end - which is many years later when Mary is an adult. It makes you ponder the meaning and mechanics of friendship and human relationships and is probably quite unlike any movie you've seen for a while.

Anne's rating 3/5

Making of Samson and Delilah

In contrast with Samson and Delilah itself, this "making of" documentary is sheer good fun. Initially it follows Writer/Director Warwick Thornton and Producer Kath Shelper around while they hunt for the teenage actors for their film,and then it sits in on the shoot.We get to know the actors chosen (Marissa Gibson and Rowan MacNamara), in a small way - she's more self possessed and he's very shy, but they both turn out to be great actors. His participation in the film is in doubt initially due to a date with the youth justice system which could have ended up with a curfew being imposed, but we get to sit in on the restorative justice session and this particular crisis is averted.

Its fun to watch them getting to grips with acting and following instructions,with interacting on film and then watching themselves. The writer and producer are also entertaining to watch and the whole process just seems genuinely good-humoured. My favourite moments were Marissa getting cold feet about cutting off her hair and at the end when Warwick and Kath bring the film to each of Marissa and Rowan's family homes so they can watch it on the laptop before it goes to the big screen. So there's a big family group on the verandah in each case, glued to the computer and all giggling appreciatively.

This was a great way to spend 50 minutes, and I discovered that the Film Archive does great coffee.

Anne's rating 4/5

Samson and Delilah

Samson & Delilah is a movie to touch your heart. And disturb you. And, importantly to make you feel that there's always hope. It's the story of the love affair between two aboriginal teenagers, one of whom is a petrol-sniffer. There's no sex to speak of, and almost no dialogue but there's physical beauty, charm and rock-solid loyalty and then there's kick-you-in-the-guts awfulness but the film-maker seems to have got the doses of each just right so you CAN bear to go on watching.

I loved Samson throwing rocks at Delilah as if he were six not sixteen, and I loved him dancing on the verandah. I liked the hand gestures Delilah made to him on the way into the store and I liked them eating 2 minute noodles with their fingers. I liked Gonzo the drunk under the bridge in Alice Springs who didn't say much but he was positively chatty compared to the hero and heroine. I loved Delilah's Nana and I've always loved the landscape of Central Australia.

Clearly, not everyone loves this film and here's a totally contrasting viewpoint for you . I don't think you should go to Samson and Delilah if you need a light and fluffy movie, but I think you should go sometime.

Anne's rating 4/5

Donkey in Lahore

The Scenario: skinny unprepossessing twenty-something Australian puppeteer and part-time goth Brian meets beautiful and vivacious sixteen-year-old Pakistani Amber after a puppet show in Lahore. Immediate attraction results and she suggests he marry her, which he agrees is a good idea. On returning to Australia, rather than dismiss the idea as youthful folly he sets about trying to make it happen and this film documents the process.

The process involves conversion to Islam, several trips to Pakistan, getting Amber's family onside using Amber's english-speaking brother-in-law as the intermediary, and doing battle with Australian immigration to get Amber a visa.The difficulties seem insurmountable at times and Brian (or Aamir as he becomes known) has to battle depression as well as everything else. Back in Lahore, Amber likewise finds her situation hard to cope with, particularly the shame of having a husband who seems unable to procure her a visa. His efforts to get her a visa are hampered by the distance and communication difficulties and at times were almost painful to watch.Brian's lack of paid employment exacerbates his difficulties.

Happily, there were definite humourous moments to counterbalance the angst and getting to see what life in Lahore is like was very interesting. I alternated between thinking Brian was a complete twit who was only taking on this enormous challenge because everyone thought he shouldn't and admiring him for his determination to get what he wanted. I was delighted and impressed that it all worked out in the end - because the odds were certainly stacked against that outcome.

The donkey of the title refers to a puppet Brian made and took with him, hoping to make a TV program called "the little donkeys of Lahore". (The donkey puppet was particularly charming and traveled between Queensland and Pakistan several times before taking up residence with Amber. When she gets her Australian visa she donates him to the local puppet museum.) I presume that thinking Donkey refers not just to the puppet but also to Brian is the intent.

Anne's rating 3/5

Night

The film festival guide says that Night is a symphony of music and images celebrating life and the world between dusk and dawn so I was expecting something like Koyaanisqatsi with fantastic footage and great music. There was some of that - a stunning moonrise over Uluru, fantastic fireworks at Sydney Harbour Bridge at New Year and sunsets with a great harp soundtrack. There was also a lot of time devoted to Australians talking about night and their attitudes to it and that ran the gamut from interesting to puerile to just plain weird. I'm not convinced that the taking heads added anything.

I wasn't taken with the fast forwarded footage either and the film maker seemed to want to fast forward everything. There was a night-time church service with lots of procession and incense waving, there were the footballers doing press-ups on the field under lights, there were ferries on Sydney harbour and there was a steel-works (or some similar industry) belching fumes, all of which were good images which didn't need speeding up.Quite a lot of the movie was a bit out of focus which is understandable for low light filming but rather annoying.

So there were flashes of brilliance but as a complete experience this movie was lacking.

Anne's rating 2.5/5