Your guide to new films in cinemas across Australia this week, 28 October to 3 November 2024.
For the monthly guide to new film releases, head to our guide for new films in October.
New movies
31 October
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Tom Hanks and Robin Wright play a couple throughout the ages in this odyssey through time and memory from director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump). The story’s centered around a place in New England where – from wilderness, and then, later, from a home – love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 104m
My Favourite Cake
Mahin lives alone in Tehran since her husband’s death and her daughter’s departure for Europe, until an afternoon tea with friends leads her to break her solitary routine and revitalize her love life.
Director: Behtash Sanaeeha, Maryam Moghaddam
Cast: Lili Farhadpour, Esmaeel Mehrabi
Classification: CTC
Country: France, Germany, Iran, Sweden
Runtime: 97m
Saturday Night
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) helms this depiction of the down-to-the-wire lead-up to the recording of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live. Set at 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, the film follows a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers in the 90 minutes leading up to a broadcast that would change television forever.
Director: Jason Reitman
Cast: Gabriel Labelle, Rachel Sennot, Dylan O’Brien
Classification: MA
Country: USA
Runtime: 108m
Mozart’s Sister
Like her younger brother, Maria-Anna Mozart was a keyboard genius from an early age and the siblings toured Europe performing as wunderkinder to royalty. As a child it was acceptable for Maria-Anna to play in public. But when she reached 15, societal norms compelled her to retire. Tantalising clues exist of her continued virtuoso playing as well as her interest in composing music. Using recreations and expert interviews, Madeleine Hetherton-Miau explores the fascinating theory that Maria-Anna Mozart played a larger role in her brother’s music than is previously known.
Director: Madeleine Hetherton-Miau
Cast: N/A
Classification: CTC
Country: Australia
Runtime: 98m
The Moogai
A malicious spirit enters the home of a young Indigenous couple with a newborn baby and the mother must protect them at any cost. Based on his award-winning short of the same name, writer-director Jon Bell’s striking feature debut arrives from SXSW, Sundance, SFF and MIFF.
Director: Jon Bell
Cast: Shari Sebbens, Meyne Wyatt, Tessa Rose
Classification: CTC
Country: Australia
Runtime: 86m
Audrey
A dramedy following self-appointed Mother of the Year, Ronnie Lipsick, who is living a life she never wanted, with a derailed career, a husband whose love for life has gone limp and two daughters who she struggles to connect with. When an accident lands her eldest daughter Audrey in a coma, Ronnie gets a second chance at life by taking on her daughter’s identity – only she’s not the only one in the family who sees Audrey’s comatose state as an opportunity.
Director: Natalie Bailey
Cast: Jackie van Beek, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Hannah Diviney
Classification: CTC
Country: Australia
Runtime: 96m
Recently released
23 October
Whitney Houston: The Concert for a New South Africa (Durban)
In 1994, Whitney Houston took the stage in Durban, South Africa, making her the first major Western musician to visit the newly unified, post-apartheid nation following President Nelson Mandela’s winning election.
Director: Marty Callner
Cast: Whitney Houston
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 115m
24 October
A Different Man
Sebastian Stan stars in this Berlin Golden Bear-nominated A24 film as a man who, after undergoing a facial reconstructive surgery, becomes fixated on an actor in a stage production based on his former life.
Director: Aaron Schimberg
Cast: Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 112m
Lee
Kate Winslet leads this biopic as photographer Elizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II. Co-stars fellow Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone) and Oscar-nominee Andrea Riseborough (Birdman) alongside Emmy-winners Josh O’Connor (Challengers), Alexander Skarsgård (The Northman) and Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine).
Director: Ellen Kuras
Cast: Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Andy Samberg
Classification: M
Country: USA, UK
Runtime: 117m
Left Write Hook
Documentary following eight female survivors of childhood sexual abuse who participate in a two-year experimental recovery program that combines the physicality of boxing with the emotional power of expressive writing. Find screening information here.
From ScreenHub’s review of Left Write Hook:
‘Adopting a groundbreaking approach informed by her lived experience, Donna Lyon’s work has resulted in a documentary of the same name, which has debuted at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF). Directed by Shannon Owen, a former support worker in a refuge housing women fleeing domestic violence, it follows Lyon’s intensive program bringing together seven women with very different experiences but a shared legacy of trauma that manifests in diverse ways. Lyon shares her own journey too.
‘Sitting together in a gym environment is difficult enough for women who have struggled to communicate their experiences beyond a therapist’s office, exacerbated by the shame that is too often held bone-deep in a country that still struggles to have vital conversations about the shocking epidemic of violence against women.’ Read more …
Director: Shannon Owen
Classification: MA
Country: Australia
Runtime: 93m
My Freaky Family
On the cusp of her 13th birthday, Betty Flood – budding musician and magical being – just wants to be like the rest of her fabulous, but very different family, so why is her magical Mum so against it? As Betty wrestles with this, she also learns the amazing truth about her family and discovers that the not so normal, the magical and the musical are all a part of her fabulously freaky family.
Director: Mark Gravas
Cast: Rupert Degas, Sarah Aubrey
Classification: PG
Country: Australia, Germany, Ireland
Runtime: 87m
Tears for Fears Live (A Tipping Point Film)
Tears For Fears cinema concert film captured during The Tipping Point Tour Part 2 in 2023. The hits including Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Shout, Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Mad World and Head Over Heels along with new fan favourites from The Tipping Point – their first album in 17 years.
Director: Vincent Adam Paul
Cast: Tears For Fears
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 120m
Venom: The Last Dance
Tom Hardy returns for this third Venom film, as does BAFTA-nominated writer Kelly Marcel who also directs. Also stars Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) and three-time Emmy nominee Juno Temple (Ted Lasso).
Director: Kelly Marcel
Cast: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple
