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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Surviving Georgia (Film)

by Erin Free | October 10, 2011 16:28 | Edited October 10, 2011 16:29

Driven by engaging lead performances and working from an honest but sweet script, this winds up a real charmer.

With her first two films - the barely seen Max's Dreaming (also known as Deeper Than Blue) and the favourably reviewed The Caterpillar Wish - writer/director Sandra Sciberras announced herself as a filmmaker interested in the relationships that can develop out of tough, almost cripplingly difficult situations. Boasting strong performances, richly layered scripts, and truck-loads of angst, both films spoke of a director unafraid to burrow into dark, painful - but never shocking or sensationalist - ground. With her third film, Surviving Georgia (on which she co-directs with Kate Whitbread, who produced and appeared in her last two films as an actress), Sciberras softens her stance a little with a sweetly told tale that still deals with a few emotional home truths.

 

Reserved, sensible and slightly repressed Heidi (Pia Miranda, surely one of the most charming, talented and utterly engaging actresses to emerge in Australia in the last ten or so years) and blowsy single mum, Rose (one time Neighbours star and occasional pop starlet, Holly Valance, is terrific here, finding all the inherent sass and swagger in her opportunity-rich character), are sisters, but they couldn't be more different. Still bruised by their larger-than-life mother's (Caroline O'Connor) desertion twelve years prior, they must confront a few old demons when they receive news that their mother has died and, in her will, has left them a milk bar in the small town where they grew up.    

 

From its light, breezy, pop-inflected soundtrack to its idealised romantic interests (Spencer McLaren as Heidi's nice guy boss, and Shane Jacobson as the decent, knockaround cop who understandably carries a torch for Rose), Surviving Georgia is a warm, positive film that counters every moment of sadness and heartbreak with one of optimism. Directors Sciberras and Whitbread obviously love their characters, and that feeling spills infectiously off the screen - Surviving Georgia is a real charmer.