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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 02 March 2025

I’ve been a long-time fan of Palme-d’Or winning filmmaker Mike Leigh who, in addition to his directing talents, has racked up 5 nominations in the best original screenplay category at the Academy Awards.  Only two people in history have more nods in that category – Woody Allen (16) and Federico Fellini (6).  The films to earn Leigh a nomination have been Secrets & Lies (1996), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Vera Drake (2004), Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), and Another Year (2010).

If there’s one of the abovementioned movies you need to see before Hard Truths, it’s the dark comedy Happy-Go-Lucky.  It starred Sally Hawkins, in a Golden Globe winning role, as a 30-year-old schoolteacher who is constantly happy.  She may sound like the perfect person to hang out with but unfortunately, her positive outlook rubs others up the wrong way.  Many friends and acquaintances are jealous of her joyful attitude, and it only makes them more miserable.

It’s a nice companion piece because Hard Truths has a central figure who is the complete opposite.  Pansy Deacon (Jean-Baptiste) is a middle-aged woman who is one of the most miserable, negative people you could imagine.  She disagrees with every decision made by her husband (Webber) and son (Barrett), she random chastises customers in supermarkets and department stores, and she complains constantly to her sister (Austin), the only person still willing to engage with her on a meaningful level.

The film works beautifully as both a comedy and a drama.  On a shallower level, it’s hard not to be amused by Pansy’s antics and insults.  From slagging a check-out attendant who isn’t smiling, to criticising a baby for wearing an outfit with pockets, there’s laughs to be had.  On a deeper level, you can analyse the hurtful impact Pansy has on others with an emphasis on her immediate family.  Her kind-hearted husband has become a quasi-mute.  He’s too afraid to say anything because he knows Pansy will retort with a vitriolic assault of words.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste earned an Oscar nomination almost 30 years ago for her wonderful, subtle supporting performance in Leigh’s Secrets & Lies.  It’s a shame she didn’t earn a nod this year.  Jean-Baptiste is exceptional in creating an individual who is inherently unlikeable but also someone you want to know more about.  Is there anyone who can break through her rock-hard exterior and find a softer side underneath?

Mike Leigh has a knack for creating interesting characters and placing them in ordinary day-to-day situations.  He’s done it again in Hard Truths and it’s another must-see movie to be admired and debated.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 18 February 2025

There are many talented filmmakers and writers working in the horror genre but when the name “Stephen King” appears in the opening titles, it adds an extra pinch of excitement.  His books have been developed into countless movies including The Shining, Misery, It, Pet Cemetery, and Children of the Corn.  He’s one of the most adapted authors of all time… but still aways behind runaway leader William Shakespeare.

First published as a short story in 1980, The Monkey is the story of an old wind-up robotic toy with sinister powers.  Two young boys stumble across the toy while looking through boxes left by their now absent father.  They turn the winder on the monkey’s back, music plays, and then it does a short drumming routine.  It’s not until their babysitter is killed shortly after in a freak accident that we realise the object’s power.  Every time it is played with, someone in the vicinity will die in a bizarre yet gruesome manner.

Director Osgood Perkins (Longlegs) makes the interesting choice to frame the story as a comedy.  I like the idea and it makes The Monkey one of the “funnier” Stephen King movies of all time.  The premise is already bat-shit crazy with lots of plot points that don’t make sense (e.g. the monkey moves around) and so why not have fun with it?  From the over-the-top deaths through to the “you can’t say that” dialogue, there’s a plethora of eyebrow raising moments for those with darker sense of humour.

There’s also a thought-provoking subject at its core.  What would you do with such a toy monkey if it came into your possession?  Would those with sinister intentions use it for mischief, particularly knowing that the user themselves can’t be killed?  For nicer individuals, would you keep it hidden to ensure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands?  These questions are posed of those who come into its possession.

The set-up is great but the film limps home with a weak finale.  I’d argue the characters don’t stay true to themselves and while I’m fine with a supernatural monkey, I wanted more realistic actions and motives from the humans.  The rushed ending is particularly clumsy.  The Monkey works as a comedy but in terms of its dramatic themes involving death and family, it misses the mark.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 24 February 2025

Sweden has a rich cinematic history.  Since the Oscars created a category for best International Feature Film in 1956, a total of 16 movies have earned a nomination.  The two in the past decade have been Ruben Östlund’s The Square, and Hannes Holm’s A Man Called Ove.  The Last Journey was Sweden’s official submission in this year’s race and while it didn’t make the short list, it’s still an excellent film.  Notably, it’s just the second time in 70 years that the Swedish Film Institute submitted a documentary as its country’s entrant.

The topic of ageing is worthy doco subject.  We may not have experienced it ourselves (yet anyway), but we have parents, grandparents, friends, and colleagues who have reached a point in their lives where their physical and/or mental capabilities are not what they once were.  Filmmaker Filip Hammar, working with long-time collaborator Fredrik Wikingsson, tackles the subject in the most personal way possible by pointing the camera at his 80-year-old father, Lars.

There’s a sweet introduction which shows old home movies from the day Lars retired from his job as a French teacher in 2008.  He’s active, he’s emotional, he’s excited, and he’s talking about his desire to make the most of his free time and travel around the world.  That footage is a stark contrast from the Lars of today – a tired, forlorn guy who spends much of his day sitting in a Belgian armchair.  To summarise the thoughts of Lars’ wife and son, he’s not enjoying life anymore and, with zero spark, it’s as if he’s just running down the clock and waiting to die.

Looking to reinvigorate his dad, Filip plans a father-and-son road trip where the pair will travel from their home in Köping, Sweden to the coastal community of Beaulieu-sur-Mer in southern France.  It was the site of countless family holidays in the 1980s and, guided by old photos, videos and cassette tapes, Filip hopes it will trigger his dad’s memory and help him realise there’s still more joy to be found in his life.

As much a feature as the two leads is the car they travel in.  To keep with the 1980s theme, Filip acquires a bright orange Renault 4 which has no air conditioning and can barely get above 60 kilometres an hour.  He calls it “Europe’s most overtaken car” as they traverse the freeways of Belgium and France.  It may not be the film’s dominant purpose but it’s also a great advertisement for European tourism as the camera, sometimes attached to a drone, captures the beautiful landscapes and architecture of the region.

I realise we’ve all got different tastes, but The Last Journey feels like a movie which is impossible to dislike.  How can you not be moved watching a kind-hearted son take his elderly dad on one final trip to his dream holiday venue?  It clocks in at a sharp 90 minutes and includes some funny misadventures involving French actors, a parrot, and a Harry Belafonte quip.

The highest grossing documentary in Swedish film history, The Last Journey is a beautiful motion picture.

You can read my chat with directors Filip Hammar and Fredrik Wikingsson by clicking here.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 17 February 2025

Pamela Anderson made a name for herself on 1990s television (Baywatch, Home Improvement) but it’s been a tougher run, speaking professionally, in the decades to follow.  She’s kept in the public eye with several film cameos (often playing herself) and celebrity appearances on the likes of Big Brother and Dancing on Ice, but not since the 1996 release of the awful Barb Wire have Australian audiences seen Anderson in a leading role on the big screen.  Until now.

Drawing from a true story, The Last Showgirl is centred on Shelly (Anderson), a 57-year-old who spent almost her entire adult life working as a topless dancer for a Moulin Rouge-style cabaret show in Las Vegas.  The pay isn’t great, and she’s made of lot of personal sacrifices along the way, but Shelly is devoted to her work.  She loves going out on stage every night in lavish costumes to the rapturous applause of excited audiences.  She’s also made genuine friendships and taken some of the younger dancers under her wing as a quasi-mother.

Her world is upended when the show’s producer (Bautista) announces that due to a changing of the times and declining ticket sales, the show will permanently close in two weeks and be replaced by a Cirque du Soleil-like act.  It’s an alarming wake-up call for the now unemployed Shelly who doesn’t know what to do.  Finding another dancing gig at her age is near impossible.  On top of that, she now faces financial woes having put aside no savings or other assets for retirement.

Directed by Gia Coppola (Palo Alto) and written by Kate Gersten (The Good Place), The Last Showgirl is rough around the edges.  I’ve no concerns with the short 89-minute runtime but you get a sense a few subplots were shortened and/or left on the cutting room floor.  As an example, the hot-and-cold relationship between Shelly and her distant daughter (Lourd) needed more depth.  There’s a similarly rushed moment involving Shelly and another showgirl (Shipka) who arrives on her doorstep begging for help.  Why doesn’t this lead to anything?

The Last Showgirl still succeeds though as a character study and it’s easy to see why Pamela Anderson was nominated by her peers for best actress at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.  Audiences will empathise with Shelly and understand (possibly relate) to the emotional rollercoaster she is enduring.  When you devote your entire life to an artistic medium and it’s suddenly taken away from you… yeah, it’s heartbreaking.  At the same time, there’s a naivety to Shelly which has you asking questions about the extent to which her problems are self-inflicted.  Should she have taken a simpler, better-paying job before now?

Bolstered by a fun supporting performance from Jamie Lee Curtis (Everything Everywhere All at Once), this movie is worth your time.  Take a bow, Pamela Anderson.

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Written by Matthew Toomey

Created: 24 February 2025

Brazilians lived under a military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985 and during that time, those considered a “subversive threat” by the government were subject to imprisonment and torture.  A post-regime commission identified that over 400 deaths or disappearances.  One such individual was engineer-turned-congressmen Rubens Paiva who was taken from his beachside home in Rio de Janeiro on 20 January 1971 and never seen again.

It’s a story which could be covered from many angles but instead of focusing on Rubens or the oppressive military, the screenwriters largely tell the story from the perspective of the wife, Eunice.  This makes it more of a family drama, and it’s a very good one, as opposed to a whodunit-style thriller.  The source material is a 2015 autobiography written by Rubens and Eunice’s son, Marcelo, and the director is the talented Brazilian filmmaker Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) who knows a thing or two about the era.

The reason this film is connecting with audiences is because of the wonderful lead performance of Fernanda Torres as Eunice.  She’s a household name in Brazil but the 59-year-old, who has been acting since the 1980s, is now having her “breakout” moment.  She recently earned a Golden Globe award for best actress in a drama (beating the likes of Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman), and she now has an Oscar nomination to go with it.  It comes with a dash of nostalgia given Torres mother, Fernanda Montenegro, was nominated herself in 1999 for another Salles film, Central Station.

We may not have dealt with a situation as tragic as Eunice Paiva but through Torres powerful performance, we understand her mindset, her actions, and the emotion of the situation.  She was a loving mother to five children and first and foremost, her instinct was to shield them from the horror.  She concealed information and made many sacrifices to ensure their childhood as normal as possible.  This wasn’t easy (some were older and savvier than others) and a moving epilogue helps answer questions about how much the children really knew.

Torres deserves the acclaim, but the child actors also deserve a shoutout.  It’s not often you see a family unit as convincing as this.  There are times when they’re arguing and talking over each other… and there are moments when they’re hugging, dancing, and showing true affection.  They also externalise their emotions which serve as important contrast to Eunice who is forced to bottle hers in.

Profiling a darker chapter in Brazil’s history, telling a beautiful family tale, and highlighting the power of photographs and memories, I’m Still Here is great cinema.  Academy voters honoured it as one of the year’s 10 best pictures… and it’s easy to see why.