Girlfriends (1978)

Girlfriends (1978) is a buried treasure of independent cinema whose influence was touted awhile back by Lena Dunham (who held a revival screening and hired director Claudia Weill to helm an episode of Girls). It also feels like the inspiration to filmmakers like Nicole Holofcener, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig, etc as it is about […]

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)

While a Criterion Collection streaming service is still absent in Australia, SBS OnDemand at least offers a good selection of art-house titles and acclaimed foreign films in its library. The recent season (from Sony Pictures networks, I believe) of Quentin Tarantino programming a ‘Swinging Sixties’ line up of movies from that era, to tie into […]

A Bucket Of Blood (1959)

I always loved seeing Dick Miller (who sadly passed away this year) appear in cameos and small parts in movies, particularly those made by former protégés of Roger Corman (Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Joe Dante obviously, etc). I never realised that Miller was the lead of anything, namely the cult beatnik culture satire horror flick […]

Female Trouble (1974)

John Waters’ next film after Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble (1974), still has the capacity to shock with its gleeful celebration of bad taste, or at least redefining what counts for taste at that time. Divine is a magnetic force of nature as Dawn Davenport, who goes through an episodic narrative journey, from sneaking in hoagie […]