Christos Tsiolkas

This year’s Melbourne International Film Festival featured some great films – including a stunning retrospective of Chantal Akerman – but where was the risk?

Samuel Van Grinsven’s gothic horror Went Up the Hill possesses a stern, terrifying beauty but fails in its narrative.

Louise Courvoisier’s debut feature, Holy Cow, is lavish in its affection for rural life, but never sentimental.

Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay’s promising film Hysteria raises many salient questions about responsibility in making films but goes awry when it turns into a thriller.

Oh, Canada, the latest work from Paul Schrader, brings poise to the legendary filmmaker’s recurring focus on the tension between liberation and redemption.

Despite its flaws, Mohammad Rasoulof’s Oscar-nominated film The Seed of the Sacred Fig is a passionate and compelling indictment of authoritarian misogyny.

What made David Lynch such an influential director was his ability to create eerily universal cinematic imagery that tapped into our dreams and nightmares.

Jacques Audiard’s Golden Globe-winning musical Emilia Pérez is superficial, ham-fisted and fails to access the subversion made possible by camp.

The Saturday Paper’s film critic looks back at the highlights of 2024.

Forty years on, Wim Wenders’ Palme d’Or-winning film, Paris, Texas, remains a stunning evocation of the human need for connection.

Half a century later, Jason Reitman invokes the premiere of Saturday Night Live  in a film that honours the show’s legacy without fully exploring the danger of its comedy.

Winner of an audience award at Sundance, Kneecap – an origin film about the eponymous Irish hip-hop trio – disappointingly lacks the liveliness of their music.

Ingmar Bergman stands as one of the world’s greatest filmmakers whose profound impact on the art form – as well as the author – resonates today.

Goran Stolevski’s latest film, Housekeeping  for Beginners, shows his trademark daring as a filmmaker but stumbles over the plot’s increasing implausibility.

The indie horror film Late Night with the Devil, directed by Australian brothers Colin and Cameron Cairnes, is a superbly judged and deeply disturbing homage to 1970s pulp.

Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is an outstanding film that attempts to understand how we remain trapped in the unresolved aftermath of a terrifying history.

Emma Stone’s exhilarating performance is not enough to breathe life into Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things.

The Saturday Paper’s film critic looks back at the highlights of 2023.

Martin Scorsese’s latest film is a failure of execution and insight, a revisionist Western that hasn’t resolved its central questions.

In Muayad Alayan’s moving A House in Jerusalem, showing at the Palestinian Film Festival, the present is haunted by a violent past.

La Chimera is a transcendent film that blurs the boundaries of the ancient and the modern and recalls the greatest artists of Italian cinema.

Christos joins Michael for a discussion on how becoming part of the literary establishment has changed the author, why he finds bodies endlessly fascinating, and his forthcoming book The In-Between.

The story of Robert Oppenheimer may be perfect fodder for Christopher Nolan as a director, but his lack of prudence when it comes to storytelling causes his latest film to implode.

There’s nothing at stake in Nicole Holofcener’s middle-class satire You Hurt My Feelings, which undermines its stellar cast.

Maryam Touzani’s gorgeously subtle second film, The Blue Caftan, shows the skill and intelligence of a much more experienced director.

The Oscar-nominated independent film To Leslie features magnificent performances from a stunning ensemble cast.

Cate Blanchett is magnificently troubling in Todd Field’s portrait of a brilliant but deeply flawed conductor.

The horror-comedy The Menu is let down by a crude script and a cruder understanding of the absurd.

Jordanian director Darin J. Sallam’s debut feature film, Farha, centres on the experiences of a 14-year-old Palestinian girl during the Naqba.

The French police procedural The Night of the 12th is purportedly an exposé of misogyny, but in the end it’s all about the man.

Thomas M. Wright’s film The Stranger unflinchingly explores a landscape colonised by evil.

Benediction, Terence Davies’ film about the war poet Siegfried Sassoon, is a fascinating failure.

Kogonada’s science fiction film After Yang is acutely intelligent but ends up infantilising its characters.

The Oscars are outdated and have lost their gloss – even today’s controversies are boring.

Pedro Almodóvar’s melodrama Parallel Mothers features brilliant performances but is ultimately jejune.

The fourth instalment in The Matrix franchise is a joyless, pompous, unimaginative exercise in greed.

Through the second year of the pandemic, watching big films on the small screen became ever lonelier.

Flawed but utterly mesmerising, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog demonstrates her mastery of filmmaking.

Scrupulously avoiding exploitation, Justin Kurzel’s Nitram allows space for the aspects of violence that escape comprehension.

The dangerous edge of Nicolas Cage’s screen performances finds a generous complexity in the otherwise indifferent film Pig.

Despite a promising beginning, Leos Carax’s Annette becomes a jumble of styles that falls back on stale, melodramatic tropes.

Shahram Mokri’s new film Careless Crime plays with surreal narratives and timeshifts to create a powerful meditation on Iranian history.

Pietro Marcello’s intelligent film adaptation of Jack London’s classic novel Martin Eden investigates the impossible dilemmas faced by a working-class artist.

Although Harry Macqueen’s Supernova is formally unadventurous, this film about a couple dealing with the onset of dementia features transcendent performances.

Thomas Vinterberg’s remarkable new film Another Round harks back to his earlier work in Dogme 95.

Emerald Fennell’s film Promising Young Woman begins well, but is ultimately betrayed by a lack of courage.

In 2020 we mostly had to watch films at home, and the most exciting possibilities still emerged from independent cinema.

For all its controversial subject matter, Sandra Wollner’s film is a smart, ethical investigation that doesn’t deserve to be banned.

A cynical nod to Agatha Christie’s locked-room mysteries, Régis Roinsard’s The Translators fails to recognise the complexities and canniness of that storytelling tradition.

MIFF opening night film First Cow follows the austere and sophisticated path of director Kelly Reichardt’s previous works but is stymied by its small-screen showing and the underdeveloped ‘buddy’ relationship at its core.

In a career that spanned more than six decades, Ennio Morricone scored hundreds of films, writing music that worked in concert with the directors’ vision.

In his latest film, It Must Be Heaven, Elia Suleiman continues to explore the absurdity and tragedy of being Palestinian, and weaves in a moving contemplation of the ageing body.

While welcoming the Covid-19 lockdown as a chance to catch up on some TV and film viewing, this reviewer found himself craving, with a few notable exceptions, the romance of the cinematic experience.

Forgoing depth and complexity for cheap nostalgia, Beastie Boys Story has little of the vitality that characterised the band’s music.

Miranda Nation’s directorial debut, Undertow, begins with power, promise and tension, but it ends up drowning in its own contradictory styles.

Through the story of a farmer who refuses to swear allegiance to Hitler, Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life reckons with the horrors of the Nazi regime in a quiet, powerful way.

Streaming services increased their domination of the film industry this year, but the big screen still holds a vital place in cinema.

Joanna Hogg’s autobiographical fourth feature film, The Souvenir, explores the fallibility of memory and attraction, grounded by nuanced performances from Honor Swinton Byrne and Tom Burke.

Despite some missed opportunities in its storytelling, Animals is sustained by riveting performances from its two leads, and by Sophie Hyde’s generosity as a director.

Quentin Tarantino’s childhood love of cinema again is at the fore in his nostalgic paean Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. But when will the writer-director invest his talents in something fresh and challenging?

After his excellent documentaries Senna and Amy, Asif Kapadia has turned his attention to another modern icon, Diego Maradona. But this new film is inhibited by its narrow vision.

Bong Joon-ho’s impeccable technical skills are on show in Parasite, his Palme d’Or-winning comic thriller, but the film’s social commentary doesn’t quite hit the mark.

In Transit, Christian Petzold transposes a story of World War II refugees into a contemporary setting. By pulling off this feat, he confronts viewers with their complicity in the treatment of asylum seekers today.

Despite a valiant performance from Nicole Kidman in Destroyer, Karyn Kusama’s feminist take on film noir ultimately shies away from true darkness.

After a shift in setting to Spain for Everybody Knows, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi squanders a brilliantly tense kidnapping drama in an attempt to provide social commentary.

The unequal but loving relationships in Roma, Alfonso Cuarón’s film set amid the political turmoil of 1970s Mexico, deliver some of the most powerful scenes in recent cinema.

What starts as a dance film to rival Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz switches to giallo horror as the diverse cast of Gaspar Noé’s Climax descend into a lysergic hell.

While Rami Malek shines as Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, Bohemian Rhapsody plays it so safe and is so sexually sanitised it fails to truly rock us.

Bruce Beresford’s Ladies in Black is not just a homage to classical filmmaking and 1950s Sydney, it is also a window into the cultural richness brought by post-World War II refugees. If only it had pushed darker themes further.

Where Spike Lee’s films usually brim with passion and intellect, his portrayal of black activism and racism in BlacKkKlansman becomes more slapstick than sinister.

Through subtlety and its refusal to out a villain, Disobedience sees its three stars radiate passion and intensity – for their faith and each other – under the masterful direction of Sebastián Lelio.

In Loveless, the tale of a lost boy and a marriage in tatters, Andrey Zvyagintsev delivers a tragedy that is also a masterpiece and the best film of the past few years.

Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s The Other Side of Hope revisits worthy themes close to the director’s heart, but lacks the daring to take his filmmaking to new heights.

As a fading diva in Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Annette Bening reminds the reviewer of why he fell in love with film in the first place.

Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country joins the canon of Australian westerns probing violent colonialism and Indigenous dispossession.

In Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Call Me By Your Name’, Timothée Chalamet provides an outstanding portrait of a swooning teen’s sexual awakening.

Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Killing of a Sacred Deer is a dark parable about eye-for-an-eye justice. But at the heart of the film is the view that children are never innocent.

Thirty-five years ago, Blade Runner was a thrilling and potent sci-fi offering. But while its sequel is just as visually inviting, the film’s storyline is more replicant than cutting edge.

While Yorkshire-born director Francis Lee brings authenticity to the screen with his depiction of rural labours, he fails to find honesty in God’s Own Country’s idealised central relationship.

In remaking The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola has captured some beautiful and atmospheric moments of the antebellum south. But, the film fails to confront the defining issues of the time.

A film about Emily Dickinson and a documentary on Whitney Houston may seem worlds apart but both address – with varied success – the notion of divine gifts.

Jordan Peele’s satirical horror Get Out fails to frighten by addressing America’s race politics on the surface rather than probing its subconscious fears.

Although at times a slightly confused ghost story, Personal Shopper trades on the talent of Kristen Stewart and her connection with director Olivier Assayas.

Made with fidelity and care, ‘Loving’ re-creates history without lapsing into histrionics.

In his tale of Portuguese Jesuit priests travelling in Japan at a time when Christianity was outlawed, Martin Scorsese returns to the complexities of faith, and makes his best film in 20 years

Whiplash director Damien Chazelle has sought to deliver a classic Hollywood musical, but La La Land fails to spark.

Isabelle Huppert’s masterful turn in Elle, Paul Verhoeven’s latest skewering of middle-class concerns, is let down by a psychosexual bent with no convincing basis.

In examining Australian society via a heinous true crime, Joe Cinque’s Consolation forces us to look at ourselves.

Director Ben Wheatley is too faithful to J. G. Ballard’s simplistic prose in High-Rise, missing the opportunity to refine its class politics for the present day.

The reboot of Ghostbusters stifles a group of fine comic actresses with an unadventurous script.

Queen of the Desert plays it safe and fails the story of Gertrude Bell, the pioneering woman who guided the British during the emergence of the modern Middle East.

In trying to be everything to everyone, the emasculated thriller Bastille Day typifies the fearful filmmaking of our time.

As a maker of documentaries, Michael Moore has already formed an opinion, ruining any chance for insight.

Stephen Page’s feature film debut, Spear, presents an all-too-rare onscreen examination of Aboriginal masculinity.

After Carol’s tender yet suffocating tale of sexual repression, comes Lenny Abrahamson’s emotionally dishonest Room.

A documentary examining Indonesia’s anti-communist purges in the mid-'60s highlights the repression of the nation’s history and its lasting effects.

Yorgos Lanthimos’s surrealist film The Lobster, punctures cherished myths about love and marriage in an absurdist alternative universe.

Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth falls short in exploring the true depths of ‘black and deep desires’.

Viggo Mortensen crosses the desert mountains with an Arab prisoner in 'Far From Men', set during Algeria’s war of independence.

The splendid cast of Thomas Vinterberg’s adaptation Far from the Madding Crowd can’t make up for the director ironing out the nuance.

Like Bergman and Antonioni, Olivier Assayas focuses on the experience of women, as in his latest, Clouds of Sils Maria.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s efforts to stay true to the novel Inherent Vice leave this film noir floundering in the dark.

Laura Poitras’s Snowden film, Citizenfour, is a welcome return to documentary that doesn’t tell us what to think.

Foxcatcher’s fearless stars score all the points in a takedown of naked narcissism and searing sociopathy.

Timothy Spall embodies Turner in a virtuosic performance of an artist in pursuit of the ethereal and elemental.

Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s meditative but tightly wound Winter Sleep.

Fury wins the battle as a buddy film, but too many punches are pulled for it to win the war.

The Immigrant joins a long line of films tracing new beginnings in a foreign land. Sadly, this one fails to truly arrive.

Robin Williams was on our screens for more than 30 years, but his genius for creative mayhem was quashed in film.

Documentary about champion skateboarding brothers sidesteps some home truths.

With Kubrick and Cocteau in its DNA, Under the Skin stars Scarlett Johansson as the man-eater who fell to Earth.

If only Bad Neighbours were better, funnier, more inspired. At least the stars shine.

Compulsive and compelling, Lars von Trier’s latest is as much about the nature of sex as the nurture of its telling.

Obsession is ready for its close-up in this poignant tale of potent desire and despair.