Doc Corner: Melbourne International Film Festival shows documentary’s many different forms

By Glenn Dunks

Two years ago (!) I mourned the absence of my local film festival. After another year off in 2021 due to Melbourne’s pandemic lockdowns, the Melbourne International Film Festival has finally returned to theatres this month. It has been such a wonderful feeling to sit down and watch films with other movielovers that we will quite likely never have another opportunity to see projected so big.

The festival runs for another week and a half yet, but let's talk about a few of the documentary titles screened so far. They are all extremely different and formally bold takes on the medium that deserve celebrating. From an experimental tour of America to an equally experimental tour of the human body, these have all been films I can't imagine having missed in the cinema. They won't get a sniff of Oscar buzz, but who cares?

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Review: Loveable Diane Keaton in "Mack & Rita"

By Christopher James

Branding is important. Craft a persona early enough, it can sustain you for a full career. Stallone and Schwarzenegger will remain action stars until they need rockers. DeNiro will be a gangster in every third rate mob movie known to man. Finally, Diane Keaton instantly conjures the vision of a kooky Grandma who loves Chardonnay.

Between Book Club and Poms, septuagenarian Keaton has once again found a way to lead movies packaged around her infectious star persona. Mack & Rita is the latest in this series. While it’s easily the shabbiest of the three, it’s not without its charms thanks to its Oscar-winning lead. Who wouldn’t want to jump to the point in their life where they could be Diane Keaton?

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Reviews: "Bullet Train" and "Thirteen Lives"

by Nathaniel R

Whenever we're about to go thumbs down on two movies, we feel the need to reiterate that we genuinely love the cinema. Even when we don't love a movie, we're (usually) glad we went. But sometimes you want to love a movie (Thirteen Lives), and it just isn't worthy. Other times you go in, fully expecting a great love (Bullet Train) but the movie is too narcissistic and cocksure to even notice you're watching it in time to love you back...

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Review: Going viral with "Not Okay"

by Matt St Clair

While social media can be an outlet for networking and connection, it’s also a place of toxicity. Quinn Shephard’s new satire Not Okay heavily emphasizes the latter. In a digital age where anyone can achieve fame with viral tweets or TikTok videos, Not Okay taps into how some people, like anti-heroine Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch), go on a demeaning search for internet clout.

Stuck with an unfulfilling photo editor job when she wants to be a writer, Danni Sanders aims to get ahead at the magazine she works for. Seeking fame and validation from everyone around her, including influencer Colin (Dylan O’Brien) who she crushes on, Danni decides to fake a trip to Paris. With just her photo skills and a change in location on her Instagram posts, Danni makes it appear she went away despite being held up in her apartment. But once a terrorist attack occurs in Paris, Danni then pretends to be one of the survivors. As you can guess, thinks get grimmer as they progress... 

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Quick Reviews: Sea Beasts, Asgardian Clowns, and Silver Teeth

To try and catch up, another round of quickie reviews, one of which (Thor Love and Thunder) is quite belated primarily by way of 'if you don't have anything nice to say...' But the other two movies are good so let's get started...

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