Eminem’s subversive rap movie leads Melbourne International Film Festival’s 2018 line-up

JAKE Gyllenhaal’s latest will open the show, but a controversial rap comedy produced by Eminem looks set to be the hot ticket of this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival.

A NEW Jake Gyllenhaal drama has the opening gala slot at the 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival, but it’s a provocative hip hop movie produced by Eminem that is likely to be MIFF’s hot ticket.

Bodied is the satirical story of a white university student who begins attending underground rap battles in order to write a thesis, only to discover his own mad rap skills.

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Bodied is a subversive comedy about an unlikely hero on the underground rap battle scene. It’s directed by Joseph Kahn and produced by Eminem. Picture: Supplied

Helmed by Taylor Swift’s go-to video director Joseph Kahn, Indiewire called Bodied “the most subversive movie about hip hop ever made”.

Opening night on August 2 will showcase Wildlife, starring Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan and Australian teenager Ed Oxenbould.

The directorial debut of actor Paul Dano, this 1960s set drama about a fractured family premiered to positive reviews at Sundance in January, Vulture declaring that Gyllenhaal “works wonderfully with Oxenbould” and calling it a “major” moment in Mulligan’s career.

(From left) Australian actor Ed Oxenbould with Jake Gyllenhaal and actor turned director Paul Dano at the premiere of their film Wildlife at Sundance in January. Picture: Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

Critics are calling Wildlife a “major” career moment for Carey Mulligan, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2010 for An Education. Could Wildlife earn her a second nod? Picture: Sundance Institute

A strong documentary line-up includes looks back at the sporting careers of Wayne Gardner (Wayne) and John McEnroe (In the Realm of Perfection), late fashion king Alexander McQueen (McQueen) and fans’ surreal encounters with a Ghostbusters star (Bill Murray Stories).

Melbourne director Jessica Leski is the fangirl behind I Used to Be Normal, which delves into the love young girls have for boy bands, from The Beatles through One Direction.

Teenagers scream, cry and hyperventilate over their favourite boy bands — from The Beatles to NKOTB and One Direction — in Australian-made doco I Used to be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story. Picture: Supplied

In the doco, one grown woman digs through her old Backstreet Boys collection, calling Nick Carter and Co “my demons”.

This video from I Used to Be Normal’s crowdfunding campaign offers a taste of the film.

Ethan Hawke has been a MIFF staple over the years — his Melbourne-shot thriller Predestination opened the festival in 2014.

In 2018 he features on screen as a priest having a crisis of faith in First Reformed, and behind the camera as writer-director of Blaze, a biopic of an obscure country music legend.

Joaquin Phoenix is a contract killer in the rave-reviewed You Were Never Really Here; a man with the same job description is at the centre of Nash Edgerton’s new Foxtel series Mr Inbetween, which like Top of the Lake: China Girl last year, will premiere in full at MIFF before hitting TV screens.

Joaquin Phoenix in You Were Never Really Here. Picture: Supplied

MIFF runs August 2-19. For the list of First Glance titles, visit miff.com.au; the full program is revealed July 10.