What to watch: Lion a movie that will restore your faith in Australian cinema
One of the best Australian films of the past few years is the fascinating tale of a lost orphan on an extended hell-ride through India in the mid-1980s, only to end up in Tasmania 20 years later. Here’s what to watch this weekend.
Leigh Paatsch
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Leigh Paatsch is back with what to watch this weekend.
There’s something for everyone with a commanding performance by Annette Bening in 20th Century Women, one of the best Australian films of the past few years in Lion or a bright and bouncy cartoon for the kids with Smurfs: The Lost Village.
THE ONE SO TRUE TO ITSELF
20TH CENTURY WOMEN (M)
****1/2
NETFLIX
Most films inspired by actual events are happy if they deliver just the one relatively accurate slice of life.
This warm, funny, inquisitive and poignant film serves up so many sumptuous slices at once, you may as well call it a complete cake.
Writer-director Mike Mills (Beginners) is out to capture the unusual way he was raised by his mother in an idyllic Californian coastal town in the late 1970s.
Mills’ masterstroke is the casting of a superb Annette Bening as Dorothea, a free-spirited single mother who hands over all emotional nurturing and instruction of her teenage son (Lucas Jade Zumann) to the boarders who stay at her ramshackle home.
Bening’s presence is so commanding that the pieces of what might have been a puzzling coming-of-age tale just keep locking into place wherever she goes.
A tremendous support cast (Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup, Elle Fanning) all walk taller and loom larger simply by sharing the screen with a flawless Bening. Highly recommended.
THE ONE THAT RESTORES YOUR FAITH IN AUSSIE MOVIES
LION (PG)
****
SBS ON DEMAND
One of the best Australian films of the past few years is the fascinating tale of a lost orphan, his near-impossible quest to locate his family, and the ingenious method he used to search for them.
It is not unfair to state the opening hour ascends to peaks the rest of the movie cannot quite reach.
This superb first section is an extended hell-ride through India in the mid-1980s, navigated with great instinct and genuine innocence by a hopelessly lost 5-year-old boy named Saroo (an astonishing performance from rookie actor Sunny Pawar).
The second half unfolds 20 years later, in Tasmania of all places.
With the surprise assistance of a powerful new technology called Google Earth, the now-adult Saroo (Dev Patel) gradually moves closer to a home that was once a distant memory.
Co-stars Nicole Kidman, David Wenham.
THE ONE WITH NOTHING BUT GOOD TASTES
THE LUNCHBOX (PG)
***1/2
SBS ON DEMAND
A richly flavoured tale of misplaced meals and unrequited love.
In modern-day Mumbai, a glitch in the city’s time-honoured ‘dabbawala’ food delivery service opens a line of correspondence between two lonely people.
Ila (Nimrat Kaur) is sending heartfelt lunchtime dishes to reignite the interest of an inattentive husband.
The actual recipient is Sajaan (Irrfan Khan), a gruff accountant bewitched by the feeling that has gone into the preparation of these delicacies.
In time, notes are exchanged along the culinary crossed wires, revealing the pair have much in common.
Will they ever meet and dine as one? A gentle, understated romantic drama that finds a delicious level of anxiety in the wait for a final answer. Lovely stuff.
THE ONE THAT LOVES YOU, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH
THE BEATLES: EIGHT DAYS A WEEK — THE TOURING YEARS (M)
***
FOXTEL NOW
Director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) dashes off an easygoing doco covering the first half of The Beatles’ hit-making, youth-quaking career.
Gently tapping the sides of a cast-iron chronology familiar to even casual Fab Four fans, the film starts with the global outbreak of incurable Beatlemania (circa 1962), and ends with the decision to never set foot on a stadium stage again (1966).
If you’re after new revelations about what it was like to be a Beatle back then, this isn’t the place to look.
Whether via fresh interviews (Paul and Ringo) or sound bites salvaged from the archives (John and George), all four Beatles are on hand throughout with play-safe commentary on the craziness of the era.
Unfortunately, so too are an inessential collection of talking heads such as Sigourney Weaver and Whoopi Goldberg, continually celeb-splaining the blandly obvious.
The genuine must-see factor here is plenty of quality performance footage — including the legendary Shea Stadium gigs — further boosted by better sound mixing and syncing than experienced before.
THE ONE WITH THE RIGHT MOVES
DANCE ACADEMY: THE MOVIE (PG)
***
FOXTEL NOW
This is a belated movie expansion of the Australian-made TV series Dance Academy, fresh episodes of which have not been produced since 2013.
Rather than revisit or repeat former glories of this charming little show, the film version tracks the original troupe of teenage hoofers as they try and make it in the wider world as adults. The centre of attention is Tara (Xenia Goodwin), who embarks on a daunting solo quest to overcome a terrible injury and regain her footing as one of the best young ballet dancers of her generation.
The story (much of which takes place in the US) is a lot more downbeat and realistic about the plight of young performers than many viewers will expect, and the film as a whole is all the better for it. Co-stars Miranda Otto, Tara Morice.
THE ONE FOR VERY YOUNG VIEWERS
SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE (G)
**1/2
GOOGLE, ITUNES
A fair school holidays pick for the little’uns.
This animated adventure sees Smurfette and her friends Brainy, Clumsy and Hefty set out on an urgent exploration of the Forbidden Forest, leading to the discovery of the biggest secret in Smurf history.
This third outing for the Smurfs is a back-to-basics affair, dispensing with the (not-so-hot) live-action stuff of the past, and pumping up the bright and bouncy cartooning.
The simplified approach makes a better fit for preschoolers and early primary schoolers.
Not a lot of substance here — hey, it is the Smurfs we’re talking about, after all! — but members of the target audience will have few complaints.
A stellar voice cast is spearheaded by Demi Lovato, Mandy Patinkin, Julia Roberts and Ellie Kemper.
THE ONE THAT PRESSES THE PAWS BUTTON
A DOG’S PURPOSE (PG)
**
NETFLIX
If you’re the type of moviegoer who will happily howl away at the sight of a cute canine carking it, A Dog’s Purpose has the potential to be another Marley & Me.
There is not just one pooch passing away here. There are at least four of them. Don’t reach for the tissues, just yet, however.
For in this thematically garbled adaptation of the book by W. Bruce Cameron, the same dog spirit will be passed along from hound to hound over 40 years or so.
In the 1960s, Bailey is a peppy little retriever. In the next decade, he will be reincarnated as a German Shepherd police dog. By the end of the 80s, Bailey is a corgi. Later down the track, he’s a big ol’ mangy mutt of a thing.
Bailey’s deepest philosophical thoughts are given playful voice by actor Josh Gad, a gimmick which doesn’t quite go the distance here.
Stars Britt Robertson, Dennis Quaid.
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