by Dov Kornits
Joseph Schuman & Austin Stark’s debut is a film for our times, even though it’s set in 1918 during the Spanish Flu epidemic. Peter Sarsgaard has never been better as a shyster who manages to get a gig on the estate of a wealthy family, pretending to be their private cook. The film says a lot about the media and our modern response to Covid, of course, in the smartest and darkly comical of ways. It reminded me of that highly over-rated dark horror comedy The Menu, but so much better. Coup! premiered at Venice and also stars Billy Magnussen, Sarah Gadon and a scene-stealing (what else) Fisher Stevens as Upton Sinclair.
Cody Lightning is brilliant in this mockumentary from Canada. Lightning plays the lead character, a complete delusional loser who once had a dash of fame with his supporting role in Smoke Signals, the first Indigenous Canadian film to play at Sundance and go on to screen internationally. In between various hustles, Lightning is intent on making Smoke Signals 2: Still Smoking, and after making various false promises manages to get a gangster to invest in the idea, however, he now has to get the film’s cast back together again. Some of the humour in this is comparable to the uncomfortableness of The Office or even the recently concluded Curb Your Enthusiasm. The other interesting aspect of the film is its no-holds-barred approach to Indigenous themes, playing with the preciousness that the woke movement has placed upon them.
Something must be in the Canadian water, because the latest film from Canuck master Denys Arcand (Jesus of Montreal, Barbarian Invasions) also tackles the woke movement, this time through the eyes of an old man living out his years in a nursing home, realising how little he matters, and observing some of the insanity around him. Beautifully acted and written, some may argue that he’s an old man shouting from the rooftops but no one can hear, however the French-speaking film has been a massive hit back home, and has a juicy cameo from Robert Lepage, and if nothing else, it leaves a lot of food for thought, which the best kind of cinema delivers.
A video essay writ large, examining the impact of the internet and modern tech on our stories and cinema. From Tron and Electric Dreams to The Matrix and Terminator, filmmaker/artist Amanda Kramer puts together a beautiful argument of why we are where we are today, all accompanied by a monotone narration from Debbie Harry. With all of this talk about AI in the world right now, this is an entertaining and unique cinematic experience that is both nostalgic and of the now.
The first half of this film is comedy gold, as a couple of smoothly dressed debt collectors travel through Morocco, hitting up isolated everyday people with unreasonable demands about paying off loans. No money, no worries, we’ll just take your carpet or whatever else we can find in the home. The second half of the film takes a darker turn as the pair are involved with a recently released heavy, who is on a revenge mission. Both halves feature some of the most scenic photography you will see on the big screen. With its exotic setting of The Sahara, this is the ultimate film festival experience, and it rightly premiered at the prestigious Cannes Director’s Fortnight.
The Inner West Film Fest is on between 11-21 April, for the full program head here: https://www.innerwestfilmfest.com.au/
