Advertisement

Movies & TV News & Features

OzFlix: Australian Film Weekend

OZFLIXFriday to Monday (February 13-16) at the Royal and ROM. See here for screenings information.


It’s winter here but midsummer in Australia – perfect timing for this exhibition of Aussie cinema, especially when it includes plenty of boobs, blood and lots and lots of car crashes, a trash cinema trifecta guaranteed to get the blood pumping.

[rssbreak]

Not Quite Hollywood (NNNN, Saturday, February 14, 9:30 pm) is a thorough and rousing documentary about the history of Ozploitation movies, from the genre’s emergence in the 60s and its growth in the 70s and early 80s – thanks largely to adrenaline-fuelled insanity like Mad Max and Razorback – to its contemporary influence on Hollywood.

The doc, by director Mark Hartley, is jam-packed with movie clips both obscure and familiar, and the talking heads on hand to fill in the blanks never outstay their welcome. Of course, no discussion of grindhouse cinema would be complete without an appearance by Quentin Tarantino, the first person interviewed, who pops up regularly to expound on the awesomeness of Aussie B movies. And this one plays on Valentine’s Day to boot!

In Her Skin (NNN, Monday, February 16, 7:30 pm) starts out as a drama about a husband and wife (Guy Pearce, The Lord Of The Rings’ Miranda Otto) coping with the fact that their teenage daughter has gone missing. The police believe she’s just a runaway and will likely turn up at a friend’s house.

If the story had left it at that, the examination of a couple’s grief in the face of loss, it would have been a heart-wrenching effort a notch or two above a Hallmark movie.

But the tone shifts into thriller mode when we’re introduced to the missing girl’s former babysitter, an emotionally disturbed young woman with a domineering father (Sam Neill) and a tenuous hold on reality. From here, In Her Skin plays out almost as you’d expect. Almost.

Strong performances, particularly by Pearce and Otto (I would have been content just to follow them through their harrowing experience) hold the whole thing together, along with the realization that the story, however clichéd it sometimes is, is based on real events.

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted