5 films to stream: quick view
5 films to stream
1) Aftersun – 1 Dec (SBS On Demand)
Film (2022). Get ready to be transfixed, entertained, maudlin and then to weep for days. Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father 20 years earlier. Officially: memories real and imagined become a powerful and heartrending portrait of their relationship, as Sophie tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t.
Unofficially: the impossible beauty of this film will sooner or later break you in two, and you’ll be happy it did, but sad, so sad, about life and how quickly it passes and how sadness and joy co-exist. Starring Paul Mescal and Frankie Corio. Watch the trailer.
From ScreenHub’s five-star review of Aftersun:
‘Writer-director Charlotte Wells brings a lightness of touch to just about every element of this film. Nothing here feels forced; the heavy burden of Sophie’s present day searching is presented in brief flashes of a packed dance floor, a dreamlike searching for her father in a crowd.
‘On one level Aftersun is literally ‘what I did on my holidays’ presented with a vivid, almost documentary sense of time and place. It’s enthralling even when it’s rug shopping or losing goggles during a diving expedition.’ Read more …
2) How to Make Gravy – 1 Dec (Binge)
Film (2024). This new film is based on Paul Kelly’s iconic song (and not affiliated with RecipeTin Eats or other online purveyors of excellent gravy recipes). The song was adapted for the screen by Aria award-winning musician Meg Washington and Nick Waterman, with a fab lineup of Australian actors bringing the characters to life, including Daniel Henshall, Brenton Thwaites, Kate Mulvany, Hugo Weaving and Damon Herriman. Watch the trailer.
From ScreenHub’s four-star review of How to Make Gravy:
‘Waterman’s beautifully composed film dismantles Australian masculinity’s more toxic traits in a similar way to Weaving’s spikier role in Mark Leonard Winter’s The Rooster, or his more caring outlook as a bird of prey-handler guiding inmates towards a better life in Craig Monahan’s Healing. With a stacked cast this magnificent, led by Henshall and Weaving, you’ll feel all the feelings.’ Read more …
3) Bookworm – 2 Dec (Binge)
Film (2024). Precocious 11-year-old Mildred’s (New Zealand) world is turned upside down when her estranged father, the washed-up magician Strawn Wise, comes to look after her and agrees to take her camping to find a mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.
There’s nothing particularly new in the ‘two people don’t get on with each other until they have an adventure that brings them closer’ format, but the performances are great, the scenery breathtaking, and the jokes and set-pieces suitable for adults and youngsters alike. In other words: a really good family movie. Starring Elijah Wood and Nell Fisher. Watch the trailer.
4) Absolution – 3 Dec (Prime Video)
Film (2024). An action crime thriller in which an ageing Boston mob enforcer attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter and grandson, and rectify the mistakes in his past, only to face mounting obstacles past and present.
In other words: another of the 300-or-so films Liam Neeson has starred in over the last few years in which redemption and revenge spit on each other’s hands and have an entertaining arm-wrestle to the death. Starring Liam Neeson, Ron Perlman and Frankie Shaw. Watch the trailer.
5) Fly Me to The Moon – 6 Dec (Apple TV+)
Film (2024). A sharp, stylish comedy-drama set against the backdrop of NASA’s Apollo 11 moon landing in the late sixties. But the rocket’s not the only thing with sparks flying … get it?
Marketing maven Kelly Jones wreaks havoc on launch director Cole Davis’ already difficult task by involving him in the orchestration of a fake moon landing as a backup in case the mission fails.Â
If you’re into hot people with lots of charisma pretending to be NASA types, this movie will add fuel to your shuttle. If you’re a conspiracy theorist, you’ll spend the whole thing thinking ‘yeah, we know, a fake landing, get with the news, everyone – this is practically a documentary, there’s no wind on the moon …’
Starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum’.  Watch the trailer …
