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Folman and Robin – ‘The Congress’ Review

By Simon Miraudo August 1, 2014 The Congress is where brutal reality meets impossible fantasy, Tex Avery meets Studio Ghibli, and director Ari Folman meets actress Robin Wright, resulting in, at the very least, a truly unique cinematic experience, and inspiring one genius headline. (See above.) Set in a near-future Hollywood that has no further […]

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Public frenemies – Lawrence and Holloman review

By Simon Miraudo July 9, 2014 More anti-human than Antichrist, Matthew Kowalchuck‘s beyond-black comedy Lawrence & Holloman asks us to revel in the largely-unsuccessful emotional torture of a jerk by a sociopath. And they said cinema had run out of heroes. Based on the stage play by Canadian Morris Panych – a fan of Neil […]

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Girl, incubated – Wetlands review

By Simon Miraudo July 7, 2014 Wetlands takes a gross thing, teenagerdom, and makes it grosser, which is like setting out to make an especially revolting movie about your last bout of conjunctivitis: any memory of the experience is probably potent enough. Still, credit to director David Wnendt, adapting Charlotte Roche’s controversial, conservative-enraging novel, for […]

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Say yes to the undressed – Under the Skin review

By Simon Miraudo July 4, 2014 Sensory experiences such as Under the Skin defy mere words, which is going to make enthusiastically recommending it a tricky task indeed. The picture stars Scarlett Johansson as an extra-terrestrial who seduces Glaswegian men as a means of harvesting their organic material, for some alien mission we’re never made […]

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Photo sensitivity – Finding Vivian Maier review

By Simon Miraudo July 4, 2014 Separating the art from the artist – or the sandwich art from the sandwich artist – is sticky stuff. Maybe impossible. Inappropriate, even. But what if the art has separated itself from the artist; is lost and only found after the artist has abandoned their creative pursuits, and appreciated […]

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Hicker than your average – Joe review

By Simon Miraudo July 2, 2014 Nicolas Cage is as if the question “Turn down for what?” took human form and then starred in a bunch of direct-to-DVD thrillers. For him, there is no such thing as a ‘phoned-in’ performance. Performances should be delivered with gusto, peppered with screaming fits. It’s become harder and harder […]

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Revelation Perth International Film Festival – White Reindeer review

By Simon Miraudo July 8, 2013 The holidays are hard, and writer-director Zach Clark only makes them harder on his Christmas-loving heroine in White Reindeer. The spectacularly affecting Anna Margaret Hollyman stars in the black (despite what the title might imply) comedy as Suzanne, a professional, thirty-something real estate agent looking forward to moving to Hawaii […]

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Revelation Perth International Film Festival – The Fifth Season review

By Simon Miraudo July 8, 2013 The Fifth Season will be a sobering experience for anyone who has long denied the possibility of Earth’s ecosystem collapsing upon itself, and a terrifying one for those who sulk if the tap water doesn’t get hot enough for a shave (I, shamefully, belong to the latter group). It […]

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Revelation Perth International Film Festival – Pictures of Superheroes review

By Simon Miraudo July 5, 2013 With his debut feature film, Pictures of Superheroes, writer-director Don Swaynos emerges with a fully formed comedic voice, if not a fully formed screenplay. Ably assisted by a winning cast, he inspires a great number of laughs over the flick’s swift 70 minute running time. Though, for a movie […]

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Revelation Perth International Film Festival – The Act of Killing review

By Simon Miraudo July 5, 2013 Joshua Oppenheimer‘s The Act of Killing is, at the very least, unlike anything we’ve seen before. Gruelling, harrowing, and weirdly funny, it follows the real-life Indonesian gangsters who were tasked by militia in the 1960s to execute communists, intellectuals, and the Chinese. Many of these subjects are seemingly untroubled […]

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F is for Frédéric – The Imposter review

The Imposter – Directed by Bart Layton. By Simon Miraudo. The Imposter plays the Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 12 and 14, 2012. A child goes missing, and, three years later, returns with a different accent, eye-colour, and complexion. If the kid was yours, and you had endured the trauma of losing your […]

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She’s got the look – Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present ­review

Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present ­– Starring Marina Abramović. Directed by Matthew Akers and Jeff Dupre. By Simon Miraudo. Marina Abramović: The Artist is Present plays the Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 10, 2012. It does not yet have an Australian release date. If you have been looking for the natural meeting […]

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Keep it in the family – The Colour Wheel review

The Colour Wheel – Starring Alex Ross Perry, Carlen Altman and Bob Byington. Directed by Alex Ross Perry. By Simon Miraudo. The Colour Wheel plays the Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 9 and 14, 2012. It does not yet have an Australian release date. I suspect The Colour Wheel is not in black-and-white because of […]

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They share everything – Your Sister’s Sister review

Your Sister’s Sister – Starring Mark Duplass, Emily Blunt, and Rosemarie DeWitt. Directed by Lynn Shelton. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. Your Sister’s Sister played the Revelation Perth International Film Festival. It hits Australian cinemas September 6, 2012. With just a handful of credits to her name, Lynn Shelton has rocketed to the top of my […]

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Interview: Crispin Glover

Interview: Crispin Glover. By Simon Miraudo. You may recognise Crispin Glover as George McFly from Back to the Future, and you may even recognise him from Back to the Future Part 2 (though it isn’t him in the second instance, and he’ll tell you all about the lawsuit he filed against the makers for unlawfully […]

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Do the right thing – The Interrupters review

The Interrupters – Directed by Steve James. Rated M. By Simon Miraudo. The Interrupters plays the Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 6, 11, and 13, 2012. It does not yet have an Australian release date. Steve James‘ documentary The Interrupters arrives eighteen years after his Oscar-nominated Hoop Dreams, and it acts as a […]

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Bleary eyes, full heart – Undefeated review

Undefeated – Directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin. By Simon Miraudo. Undefeated plays the Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 7 and 10, 2012. It does not yet have an Australian release date. There’s only room in one’s life for a certain number of passions. Hopefully family and friends take up the first […]

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Crispin Glover headed to 15th Revelation Perth International Film Festival

The Sydney Film Festival is officially in full swing, and the Melbourne International Film Festival just recently announced its first batch of flicks. But cast your eyes to the west coast of Australia and take note of the sprightly young fest vying for – and deserving – your attention; the dark horse/strange cousin of Australia’s […]

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Revelation Perth International Film Festival – William S Burroughs: A Man Within

William S Burroughs: A Man Within – Directed by Yony Leyser. By Danielle Marsland. William S. Burroughs: A Man Within plays the Revelation Perth International Film Festival on Sunday July 24. This documentary is not so much focused on the celebrity of William S. Burroughs, or his role as one of the key leaders of […]

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Revelation Perth International Film Festival – Meek’s Cutoff review

Meek’s Cutoff – Starring Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood and Will Patton. Directed by Kelly Reichardt. By Simon Miraudo. Meek’s Cutoff plays the Revelation Perth International Film Festival on Saturday 16 July and Friday 22 July. Some are saying that ‘nothing happens’ in Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff, a slow burn drama about a group of wannabe-settlers […]

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Revelation Perth International Film Festival – Tyrannosaur review

Tyrannosaur – Starring Peter Mullan, Olivia Colman and Eddie Marsan. Directed by Paddy Considine. By Simon Miraudo. Tyrannosaur plays the Revelation Perth International Film Festival on Saturday July 16 and Monday July 18. Directorial debuts are rarely as brutal or furious as Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur. The reasoning behind that title becomes apparent late in the […]

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The 2011 Revelation Perth International Film Festival lineup revealed!

The full program for the 2011 Revelation Perth International Film Festival has been unveiled, with a number of acclaimed features from overseas mingling with some oddball cult selections (as Revelation audiences have come to expect). Revelation 14 will bring to Perth Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff, Richard Ayoade’s Submarine, Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur, Ben Wheatley’s Kill List, […]

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Revelation Film Festival – Day Eleven

Revelation Perth International Film Festival – Day Eleven Nude Study / Closing Night  “Oh Rev. Rev! Where will I go? What will I do?” It was a little hard not to feel like Scarlett O’Hara as the 13th Revelation Perth International Film Festival drew to a close. We had just been treated to eleven days […]

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Revelation Film Festival – Day Ten

Revelation Perth International Film Festival – Day Ten Wheedle’s Groove There was still plenty of action to be found at The Astor on the second last day of the 13th Revelation Perth International Film Festival – but sadly, I was unable to spend the whole day immersed in it. Partly because I’d already seen a […]

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Revelation Film Festival – Day Nine

Revelation Perth International Film Festival – Day Nine Bomb It / The Loved Ones Rev 13 may be speeding towards its (sadly inevitable) conclusion, but it’ll be damned if it finishes without a bang. After eight days of tremendous screenings and wonderful guest appearances, the Revelation crew decided to kick it up a notch for […]

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Interview: Tim Lethbridge, director of A Day at the Oasis

Interview: Tim Lethbridge, director of A Day at the Oasis. By Simon Miraudo. Tim Lethbridge’s directorial debut – A Day at the Oasis – holds the distinct honour of closing this year’s Revelation Perth International Film Festival. And rightly so. The WA-produced feature was written by fellow sandgroper Tim Beckett, and tells the tale of […]

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Interview: Jennifer Maas, director of Wheedle’s Groove and producer of Humpday

Interview: Jennifer Maas, director of Wheedle’s Groove and producer of Humpday. By Simon Miraudo. One of the most exciting films playing at Revelation Perth International Film Festival this year is Wheedle’s Groove, a documentary on Seattle’s hidden history of funk and soul music. Director Jennifer Maas shared with me her inspiration for the doco, how […]

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Revelation Film Festival – Day Seven

Revelation Perth International Film Festival – Day Seven Cropsey Thanks Revelation! I’m looking forward to the weeks of sleepless nights ahead of me following this evening’s screening of the excellent Cropsey, a documentary that has more in common with The Blair Witch Project than anything by Ken Burns. The film begins as an examination of […]

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Interview: Jackie Alixander, star of Nude Study

Interview: Jackie Alixander, star of Nude Study. By Simon Miraudo. What? You didn’t think it would be all zany documentaries and warm, fuzzy comedies, did you? Stefan Popescu’s Nude Study makes its Australian premiere at the Revelation Perth International Film Festival and it is guaranteed to be one of the most talked about films of […]

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Revelation Film Festival – Day Six

Revelation Perth International Film Festival – Day Six Double Take / Bunny and the Bull After taking a day’s break from the Revelation madness, I return with another end-of-day wrap up of the festival proceedings. Seeing as there is rarely anything happening in Perth on a Tuesday night, it took a significant amount of gusto […]

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