Overwhelmed by choice of movies on SBS On Demand? Here are three great movies you might have missed – and they’re all leaving the platform very soon!
A Bittersweet Life, 2005 (leaving SBS on Demand 31 August)
The tagline: A gangster starts a violent feud after he refuses to kill his boss’s cheating girlfriend. South Korean neo-noir action drama film.
The director: Kim Jee-woon is a South Korean film director, screenwriter, and producer known for his proficiency across genres and his masterful handling of action sequences and graphic violence. A Bittersweet Life was his first collaboration with actor Lee Byung-hun, whom he later worked with on The Good, the Bad, The Weird (2008) and I Saw the Devil (2010). Kim Jee-woon was hired to direct Hollywood action thriller The Last Stand (2013), starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The stars: Lee Byung-hun plays the high-ranking enforcer and and loyal subordinate of a crime boss (Kim Yeong-cheol). The two share concerns over business tensions with a son from a rival family (Hwang Jung-min) who may be having an affair with the boss’s mistress (Shin Min-ah).
What the critics said: A Bittersweet Life was considered an ultra-stylish and ultra-violent gangster film that was both a critical and commercial success in South Korea. On Rotten Tomatoes the film sits at 100% fresh with critics. Derek Elley from Variety described it as ‘a tour de force of noirish style and Korean ultra-violence that will have genre fans nailed to their seats’.
Watch it if … You’re in the mood for gangsters and well-choreographed violence.
Don’t watch if … You’re a sensitive soul looking for deep psychological insights.
Read: Three hidden gems to stream on ABC iview
The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups),1959 – leaving SBS on Demand on 13 August.
The tagline: Widely considered one of the best films ever made, and a defining film of the French New Wave, The 400 Blows is a coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old boy who is deprived of parental warmth and turns in despair towards a life of petty crime.
The director: Film critic-turned-filmmaker François Truffaut was the iconic French New Wave director. He was responsible for proposing the now established auteur theory – positing that certain directors are the ‘authors’ of their works, and great directors like Renoir or Hitchcock have distinct styles and themes that can be seen across their films. The 400 Blows was Truffaut’s directorial debut feature and he co-wrote the semi-autobiographical screenplay based on his own unhappy childhood. The film has four sequels: Antoine et Collette (1962), Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970) and Love on the Run (1979).
The stars: Jean-Pierre Léaud plays the misunderstood and wilful boy in one of cinema’s great youthful performances. The film also stars Claire Maurier, Albert Remy, Guy Decomble, Patrick Auffray, Georges Flamant, Yvonne Claudie, Robert Beauvais.
What the critics said: Sitting at 99% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the critical consensus is that The 400 Blows is a seminal French film that offers ‘an honest, sympathetic, and wholly heartbreaking observation of adolescence without trite nostalgia’. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian calls it ‘sublime’, while Jean Luc Godard himself, writing for the revered cinephile journal Cahiers du Cinema, said (in translation): ‘To sum up, what shall I say? This: Les 400 Coups will be a film signed Frankness. Rapidity. Art. Novelty. Cinematograph. Originality. Impertinence. Seriousness. Tragedy. Renovation. Ubu-Roi. Fantasy. Ferocity. Affection. Universality. Tenderness.’
Watch this if … You want to call yourself a film buff or consider yourself a genuine cinephile.
Don’t watch this if … You need easy emotional resolution and can’t bear the thought of children being neglected – or hate black-and-white cinema.
Bright Star, 2009 (leaving SBS on Demand on 5 August)
The tagline: A biographical romantic drama about poet John Keats and Fanny Brawne, who are romantically involved for three years in the 19th century, before Keats’ tragic death at only 25.
The director: New Zealand-Australian director Jane Campion (The Piano) wrote and directed Bright Star. The film was selected and screened in the main competition at Cannes in 2009.
The stars: Australian actor Abbie Cornish plays Fanny Brawne and UK actor Ben Whishaw plays Keats. The cast includes Paul Schneider, Kerry Fox, Thomas Sangster and Antonia Campbell-Hughes.
What the critics said: Sitting at 83% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the critical consensus was that Jane Campion’s direction and screenplay were refined in this understated, intelligent period drama. In 2019, the BBC polled world experts to create a list of the 100 Greatest Films Directed by Women and Bright Star was voted 54.
Watch this if … You’re in the mood to swoon, not just at the tragic, poetic love story, but at Greig Fraser’s luminous cinematography.
Don’t watch this if … You need a happy-ever-after romance.
A Bittersweet Life, The 400 Blows, and Bright Star are free to stream on SBS on Demand.
