Ten Winters - Movie Poster

Ten Winters

4.0 Anne Murphy

Timing is everything as friends who are drawn to each other miss opportunities to become a couple but keep connecting by chance during a decade.

Winter in Venice looks cold, the back drops are frosty, a stark contrast to the central characters who are warm and real. There is a good deal of restraint exercised, and love-lorn resignation experienced, by the friends as they fail to connect romantically over the ten year period covered by the movie. The unrequited attraction of the couple is understated and compelling to watch as each year passes and fate conspires to keep them apart. "Ten Winters" is one great story.


Angèle and Tony - Movie Poster

Angèle and Tony

4.0 Anne Murphy

A fragile woman returns to the seaside town of Normandy on completing a jail term and meets a fisherman through a personal ad.

The sensitivities around relationships are captured with few words in this intimate exploration of human connections. The characters are forthright and defensive, whatever warmth they may have is not to be squandered, and their innermost temperaments are reflected in the windswept coastline and grey subdued ocean. The tone is understated and the film is all the more powerful for the simplicity with which it captures restrained expressions of longing. Tony ❤ Angele and vice versa.


The Fighter - Movie Poster

The Fighter

4.0 Anne Murphy

A look at the early years of boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his brother who helped train him before going pro in the mid 1980's.

If you thought stories of the boxing hero had retired to their corner, grab a ringside seat... "The Fighter" will get you in a clinch. Oddly the fighter himself is the most conventional, and possibly the least interesting character in the ensemble. There are no glass jaws among his family, brawlers all. While not landing a full body blow, the action is powerful if punishing to watch. The gloves are off, and the audience is delivered a TKO.


The Messenger - Movie Poster

The Messenger

4.0 Anne Murphy

An American soldier struggles with an ethical dilemma when he becomes involved with a widow.

"The Messenger" delivers emotional punches in relentless succession in a context of heartbreaking realism. More than a war film, or even a film about the army, this is a movie about loss and grief, mostly expressed by men. Harrowing exchanges made when people are at their most vulnerable are intense to witness, made no less easy by scenes where withheld emotions seethe within the characters. Thankfully there are strands of camaraderie and humour threaded throughout, and they serve to strengthen the compelling messages.


Actresses - Movie Poster

Actresses

4.0 Anne Murphy

Marcelline has the lead role in Turgenev's "A Month in the Country" and is in rehearsal for the stage production while rendezvousing with her real and imagined mid-life crisis.

This is a charming dramatic comedy about arriving at a certain life stage unfulfilled by the journey and irrevocably aging. Time ticks to an off-beat rhythm as players and characters collide, even the director's metronome can't restore a more even beat for members of the cast. It's the off-stage drama that is most engaging, where emotions are held in check only to emerge in theatrically inappropriate ways. Encore.


Sarah's Key - Movie Poster

Sarah's Key

4.0 Anne Murphy

A journalist researching the 1942 Vel' d' Hiv Roundup in Paris uncovers links with Sarah, a Jewish girl, who was arrested with her parents.

"Sarah's Key" is a fictional account of the Holocaust that discloses events from the dark years of World War 2 in an assured manner. A contemporary story is seamlessly intertwined with one from the past as intrigue builds. The actors underplay the poignancy of both narratives, as ordinary people deal with extraordinary dilemmas and strong messages are presented without unnecessary melodrama. The past is not forgotten but sometimes needs to be unlocked.


The Killer Inside Me - Movie Poster

The Killer Inside Me

4.0 Anne Murphy

A West Texas deputy sheriff is slowly unmasked as a psychotic killer.

Small town post-war America is faithfully captured and depicted in a way that almost elicits nostalgia, even for those of us who weren't there. "The Killer Inside Me" is dark and moody as well as stylish, as is the film-noir tradition. Watching the sociopathic protagonist committing a string of murders while maintaining his deception is profoundly disturbing. Sadistic elements of the story-line are intended to shock; the violence is brutal and administered with pre-meditated determination but most chilling is the demeanour of the murderer. There is not a flicker of remorse inside this killer.


The Last Summer of La Boyita - Movie Poster

The Last Summer of La Boyita

4.0 Anne Murphy

Feeling estranged from her older sister, Jorgelina and her father go in their Boyita camper-van, to the countryside where playmate Mario is undergoing some changes of his own.

This coming of age story is set during a long hot summer on the Argentinean Pampas. It's a summer of discovery, particularly of the unknown and unimagined world of inter-sexuality and gender identity. The children's roles are well acted, striking a perfect balance between innocence and precociousness. The sensitive themes are tenderly handled - the film's narration is more through visual imagery than dialogue - and it never becomes clumsy. Can't wait for Autumn.


Insignificant Things - Movie Poster

Insignificant Things

4.0 Anne Murphy

Esmeralda is a teenager who collects little objects she finds, creating a box of insignificant treasures.

The movie unfolds through four vignettes tenderly woven together with the shared threads of lives that intersect. "Insignificant Things" explores important relationships that are undervalued and it does so with a deft touch. This is a finely tuned and detailed piece that is incisive and affecting without becoming despairing. A film so well crafted that it mesmerises is a very significant thing indeed.


Looking for Eric - Movie Poster

Looking for Eric

4.0 Anne Murphy

Eric, a postman whose life is descending in to crisis, receives some life coaching from Eric Cantona.

For the most part, the tone of "Looking for Eric" has a steady down beat of realism as individuals within a loosely connected family tackle emotional issues including loss and depression. The cast extends beyond family to encompass important relationships with friends, heroes, and deadbeats. The plot is refreshingly unpredictable with a triumphant, if somewhat incongruent, conclusion tacked on. All is forgiven as the credits roll... the audience feels good and Eric may have found what he was looking for.


My Week with Marilyn - Movie Poster

My Week with Marilyn

4.0 Anne Murphy

Colin Clark, an employee of Sir Laurence Olivier's, documents the tense interaction between Olivier and Marilyn Monroe during production of The Prince and the Showgirl.

There's not a lot of plot to get lost in just an intimate week with the movie star we remember for her reputation for being as fragile as she was glamorous. "My Week with Marilyn" is an engaging in-depth character study. The lead actor delivers a spell-binding and authentic portrait of the screen legend as complex woman who shone in front of the camera and struggled with insecurity behind the scenes. Not only gentlemen will prefer this blonde.


Accidents Happen - Movie Poster

Accidents Happen

4.0 Anne Murphy

Billy Conway has become the de facto glue between his bitter mum, distant brother, and stoic dad.

Stories of tragedy that are constructed with humour, albeit dark or black humour, reflect life a little as we tend to live it, when hanging on and trying to cope. "Accidents Happen" shows how strong the bonds of family can be, how tough and at the same time how vulnerable family members are. The film is carefully crafted to evoke an earlier era and the audience is transported to a typical suburb somewhere where mishaps are the norm. Be warned, as the emotional punch packed by this movie happens to be no accident.


Beautiful Lies - Movie Poster

Beautiful Lies

4.0 Anne Murphy

An anonymous love letter leads to a slew of misunderstandings.

Frivolous, frothy, and fabulous rather than slight. In short, everything hoped for from a good French rom-com is served up in "Beautiful Lies". It is delectable. The comic storyline is complicated enough to tease out laughter around situations of mistaken identities and misguided efforts of matchmaking. There's no mistaking funny for ridiculous however; this is an intelligent and warm movie that brims with affection. The delightful cast bring depth to the characters, who relate genuinely to each other and the audience can't help but care what happens in the end. Sincerely comique.


Café de Flore - Movie Poster

Café de Flore

4.0 Anne Murphy

A love story between a man and woman, and a love story set four decades earlier between a mother and her son.

"Café de Flore" has two distinct threads that are separated in time and interwoven into one movie like a dream within a dream. The story is one of love and obsession and it is told with a sense of unease that builds along with anticipation about what might transpire. This movie is as engrossing as it is puzzling, with content so emotional you can't help but be drawn in and watch entranced. Book a table.


The Kids Are All Right - Movie Poster

The Kids Are All Right

4.0 Anne Murphy

Nic and Jules had the perfect family, until they met the man who made it all possible.

Watching this grown-up drama is an engrossing experience. The central family with its two Mums is more normal than many more traditionally conventional families. The complex and real characters are mature until they do something impulsive or all too human in a wonderful reflection of modern family life. There are tensions, teenage angst, love, and a good deal of craziness in this refreshing comedy. Without preaching and never condescending, we're immersed in a new normal. The kids are alright and their Mums are too.