film reviews, interviews, features | BRWC

Author: Joel Fisher

  • Once Upon A River: Review

    Once Upon A River: Review

    Margo Crane (Kenadi DelaCerna) lives with her father, Bernard (Tatanka Means) and lives a quiet life by the river. However, Margo soon attracts the attention of an older man and after a series of traumatic event, Margo finds herself alone and pregnant. Having only her mother to turn to, Margo decides that the time is right to find her and so she sets off down the river in her boat, The River Rose to get to know the mother who left her behind.

    Once Upon a River is a sweet, poignant and thought provoking coming of age drama written and directed by Haroula Rose and based on Bonnie Jo Campbell’s novel of the same name.

    As Margo makes her way on her journey to find her family, she meets a few characters who give her unforgettable experiences, and as she touches their lives, she starts to realise that family isn’t always in the blood, but who’s closest to you.

    Once Upon a River has some great performances, particularly from DelaCerna herself in her first acting role who manages to hold the focus of the film all by herself which is no mean feat for a first-time actor.

    Margo’s river ride also takes her to meet a cantankerous but lovable man named Smoke, (John Ashton) and an unusual friendship starts to form as Margo feels as close to him as she would her own grandfather. This even leads to her returning after she does find her mother, making Margo realise that being with Smoke is where she feels most comfortable.

    Once Upon a River is beautifully shot and although the story may not show its audience anything new, it’s often not about the destination, but how you get there. Rose knows who the film’s audience will be and so despite its first few scenes, Once Upon a River is a relaxing ride with barely a bump along the way which will relax its audience and give them hope for Margo’s future.

    The film shows that just because life doesn’t always go the way that we want it to go, it doesn’t mean that we don’t end up where we’re meant to be.

  • Guilt: Review

    Guilt: Review

    Jessie (Janet Shay) is a child psychologist. She spends her career counselling children who have experienced the most unimaginable things and it’s starting to become too much. Taking matters into her own hands, Jessie decides that it’s about time that she does what the police could never do, to give the abusers what she thinks they deserve. However, when a boy returns after years of being one of her patients, Jessie starts to realise that there are consequences to her actions.

    Guilt is an Australian drama written and directed by Karl Jenner and Lyndsay Sarah. Going through Jessie’s life, the movie follows her closely as she finds one abuser after another and does what she needs to do to ensure that no other children are harmed again.

    Although setting her as the protagonist, Jessie is also seen to do terrible things to people which opens up the question of whether her vigilantism is right. The trouble is that Guilt never really answers that question properly and despite showing moments of her own guilt, the movie still stays on her side even when she finishes off one last job after learning the full extent of her actions.

    Jessie eventually meets Grace (Hayley Flowers), the girlfriend of a convicted child abuser and trafficker and although their initial meeting feels forced because Jessie knows exactly who she is, the movie does attempt to give depth to a side of child abuse that most people wouldn’t consider.

    Shay and Flowers do play their scenes well against each other and their scenes are arguably the most compelling of Guilt’s story, but their story arc does leave the audience with mixed messages as it comes to a dramatic end.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEXNGLZa9Us

    Guilt may have all the right intensions and through the use of the media it shows that the movie does show that it’s not just one sided when it comes to understanding the victims, their abusers and the effect on wider society.

    However, the story is just too simplistic, which leaves the audience who disagree with vigilantism to be appalled and those who support it to applaud.

  • Bullets Of Justice: Review

    Bullets Of Justice: Review

    Nobody knows quite when it started. The Americans blame the Russians and the Russians blame the Americans, all we know is that a genetic experiment to create super soldiers went wrong, creating a race of pig-human hybrids that soon became the dominating race on Earth.

    All that’s left to defend the human race is a small band of heroes. Among them is Rob Justice (Timur Turisbekov) and his sister, Raksha (Doroteya Toleva) who have a somewhat unusual relationship. Although in this post-apocalyptic wasteland nobody cares until all the pigs are dead.

    Bullets of Justice is a parody of dystopian science fiction action movies with its tongue firmly placed in its cheek. Directed by Valeri Milev and co-written by Timur Turisbekov, Bullets of Justice is set in a world where men speak with deep, gravelly voices and have traumatic backstories and women are strong and courageous and just happen to have enormous fake breasts.

    There’s nothing in Bullets of Justice that can be taken seriously and it knows it all too well.

    There’s plenty to laugh at although not all of the jokes may work as well as others, but ultimately Bullets of Justice is as enjoyable to those who love a cheesy action movie as it is for those who think the genre is all very silly. Turisbekov is good in the lead, although there is something about his casting which is a little misplaced, although thankfully this may just be another level of self-awareness.

    A small, but knowing cameo from Danny Trejo also tops the film off nicely as Trejo’s become a staple for action movies over the years and makes sure that the audience knows exactly what they’re getting. Although for those who don’t really understand the joke, there are long periods of time during the movie that still deliver plenty of blood, gratuitous nudity and action.

    Toleva also plays her part well. The typically male written female action heroine (written as a man, but played by a woman) isn’t exactly subtle commentary what with Raksha’s prominent moustache, but it gets the point across. Also look out for a footballing cameo, although it’s not who you think it is.

  • By Night’s End: Review

    By Night’s End: Review

    Heather (Michelle Rose) and Mark (Kurt Yue) are a couple coping with the loss of their daughter. Their first Christmas will be difficult without her, but they intend to make the best of things, although it’s clear that they’ve drifted apart.

    Then in the middle of the night they find a man has broken into their house, at first the man offers them $10,000 to let him go, but after he pulls a gun on them, Heather sees no choice but to kill him. Overcome with the shock and trauma of ending a life, Heather wants to call the police immediately. However, Mark proposes that they take an hour to search the house so that they can possibly find the $10,000 prize that their intruder was offering.

    Little do they realise that their wannabe assailant has friends that are after the prize as well.

    By Night’s End is a home invasion action thriller co-written and directed by Walker Whited. A cross between Die Hard and Home Alone, the film starts out as cat and mouse thriller. However, while Mark and Heather get closer during their high concept situation, the audience learns that Heather’s past as an Iraq veteran may come in handy as she has a particular set of skills.

    What follows becomes more like a full-blown action thriller as it progresses and by the final act there’s an indication the movie may only exist to showcase Rose’s expertise as a stunt performer. By Night’s End is still enjoyable though, no matter how many action movie cliches may get thrown at the audience, although those looking for something more emotionally involving may be left disappointed.

    However, for fans of the genre that knowingly throws back to its action influences there’s plenty to enjoy, particularly from the flamboyantly dressed villain ironically named Moody (Michael Aaron Milligan) who gives a suitably flamboyant performance.

    By Night’s End may not be all that original despite its initial premise, but it’s fun and executed well enough to switch off your brain for 85 minutes. Who knows, there may even be a sequel set in an airport.

  • Alien Addiction: Review

    Alien Addiction: Review

    Riko (Jimi Jackson) loves hanging out with his mates, getting stoned and chasing girls. Unfortunately, the only thing he’s good at is getting stoned. He lives with his mum and his friends all make fun of her because she’s so absent minded and also keeps talking about the day that the aliens will come to Earth. Riko tries to defend his mum to his mates, but he still feels embarrassed by her.

    Then one day a news report tells the nation that a large meteor has hit the earth, somewhere in New Zealand, so Riko and his friends set out to find where it went and even what may have landed alongside it.

    After a while nothing happens, but soon Riko finds two aliens that have come out of their spaceship when it crashed, but rather than being scared, Riko finds out that they have more in common with him than he’d ever imagined.

    Alien Addiction is a sci-fi comedy written and directed by Shae Sterling that seems to be taken from a different time rather than just from a different space. Riko and his friends are the typical kind of characters that you’d find in films from the early 2000’s, they’re lazy stoners who still live like teenagers and will remind the audience of characters such as Harold and Kumar and Jesse and Chester from Dude Where’s My Car?.

    The problem is though, especially with Riko being the protagonist, he has no redeemable features whatsoever.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsNWkGvYpn4

    Alien Addiction is also supposed to be a comedy, but again the jokes are lazy and juvenile, seemingly only aimed at an audience of teenage boys and man-children. If you think this kind of comedy is aimed at you then you should feel very insulted.

    Although the kinds of things like jokes about feces and sex with larger women may have been funny once, audiences have moved on and if anybody ever admitted to finding that kind of thing funny then they’d probably be outcast from society. Alien Addiction is a mean spirited, outdated comedy that’s an embarrassment to all those involved.