Almanac (Film) Reviews: In The Aussie Film Maker’s Wheelhouse

 

 

 

 

Inside is an Australian prison drama directed by Charles Williams whose first feature was Strange Creatures which won the 2018 Short Film Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. As a first feature length film, he couldn’t have asked for more. This is seriously good.

 

Set in a maximum security prison similar to Barwon (you can see the You Yangs in one scene), Guy Pearce plays Murph, a long-time inmate who is in debt and at the mercy of debt collectors inside the prison.

 

British actor Cosmo Jarvis plays Mark, a paedophile, rapist and murderer who has a price on his head. Vincent Miller (Plum TV Series) has arrived at the prison from juvenile detention and is asked to take out Mark by Murph.

 

Both Pearce and Miller are very good but there are two performances that will leave you discussing their brilliance way after dessert.

 

Cosmo Jarvis is incredible as an Australian deviant and sociopath. His character Mark is deeply disturbed and has turned to the Bible for salvation. He has elevated himself to a preacher of sorts and runs weekly sermons in a makeshift chapel.

 

The other one is Toby Wallace (Babyteeth) who plays Murph’s son. He’s only on camera for approximately fifteen minutes but it goes down in my eyes as one of the most memorable cameos and scenes in an Australian film I’ve ever seen. So real.

 

Australian directors such as Rowan Woods, Justin Kurzel and now Charles Williams make truly authentic dramas better than anyone in the world. If you love films like The Boys, Snowtown and Nitram you will devour this one with glee!

 

It was the 70s when the art of truly Australian film making emerged and we were able to witness the ugly, degenerate side of our culture. Directors like Ken Hannam, Paul Cox and Bruce Beresford were trailblazers in this genre of self-effacing, authentic Australian cinema and, no doubt, would be proud to see this new generation of directors taking the baton. 9/10

 

 

 

 

***

 

Also released next week is a terrific South American film I’m Still Here.

 

Set in Brazil, a family consisting of a couple and their five children live an idyllic existence a stone’s throw from the beach in Rio in 1970.

 

Their world is turned upside down when the husband, a former congressman, is taken away by the military dictatorship for questioning and never seen again. His wife receives the same fate but is returned a week later, utterly dishevelled. She then sets about finding the truth which includes raising the children on her own and achieving a law degree which she uses to fight for injustice on many levels in Brazil.

 

The film is beautifully shot and the kids are so natural you’d swear you were watching a documentary. An added bonus is that Ballarat’s own Warren Ellis created the soundtrack!

 

This is a true story and a riveting one. The actor playing the mother, Fernando Torres won a string of awards for her outstanding performance including the Golden Globe. 8/10

 

 

 

 

To read more from Ian Wilson click here.

 

 

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