Mona Lisa (1986)

Bob Hoskins searching for a mystery woman through peep shows and seedy clubs to the sounds of Genesis’ ‘In Too Deep’ is such an iconic 1980s neo-noir moment. Mona Lisa (1986) is directed by Neil Jordan and earned accolades and awards for Hoskins’ performance as George, a small time crook released from prison after a […]

Wheels On Meals (1984)

I knew SBS Cult Movies screened Wheels On Meals (1984) occasionally on a Saturday night, much as they would any Jackie Chan Hong Kong martial arts flick from the 1980s, and all I recalled was that Jackie rode around on rollerblades. Turns out that was a false memory implant and that it’s a skateboard you […]

Dogs In Space (1986)

People have always recommended Dogs In Space (1986) to me and I know for many people it means a lot to them, representing a time and place, the post-punk sub-culture of Melbourne in the late 1970s. It’s also a key cult text in Australian cinema, director Richard Lowenstein bringing one of the biggest rock stars […]

Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)

Often good acting is equated to external tics and Denzel Washington’s performance in Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017) is a barrage of choices. The glasses, the fro, the gap in his teeth, the bow-legged walk, and so on. There are a lot of choices to create this character but I thought they were deeply felt […]

Far From Men (2015)

Based on a short story by Albert Camus, Far From Men (2015; Loin des hommes) focuses on the inevitability of choice and of having to choose a side, particularly with its setting being the Algiers conflict in French-colonised North Africa during the 1950s. A former war veteran from World War 2, Daru (Viggo Mortensen) lives […]