Little White Lies (Guillaume Canet 2010)

Les regles du jeu meets The Big Chill, and how I wish a studio boss had insisted on it being a lot shorter.

SBS: Go back to where you came from (Dir. Ivan O'Mahoney 2011)

Reality TV meets the world refugee siuation. It would be funny if the stakes weren't so high.

SFF: Toomelah (Ivan Sen 2011)

Pretty much a definition of 'unflinching'.

STC: The White Guard (Mikhail Bulgakov, adapted by Andrew Upton)

Oh dear! Whether it's Andrew Upton's 'new version' or his directorial decisions, or the play itself, this production is a serving of unarticulated and indigestible soup punctuated by easy laughs and an occasional burst of brutality.

X-Men: First Class (Matthew Vaughn 2011)

I've only ever read one X-Men comic, and though it was written by the fabled Joss Whedon it left me completely cold. Yet I have found all four films enchanting. Something about the particular mix of seriousness and silliness scores a direct hit on my story bone. For example, I found Hugh Jackman's tiny moment in this film immensely gratifying,

SFF: Cirkus Columbia (Danis Tanovi 2010)

A comedy  about the leaad up to the Serb-Croatian civil strife, with a frankly allegorical setup, a Walter Matthau lookalike ex-Fascist, a bit of bucolic romance, a lost cat and a bittersweet ending as violence erupts.

Every Night They Dance (Andy Kissane 2000)

I bought the last copy of this from Gleebooks in Dulwich Hill. I'm looking forward to its poems set in the local area.

SFF: Cairo 678 (Mohamed Diab 2010)

A film about sexual harassment in Cairo, made before the Cairo Spring, but could be seen as a harbinger. One of the stars, whose character is a poor, veiled woman, introduced it in sparkling strapless gown, and every second seat in the State Theatre had a show bag with booklet, DVD and T-shirt. The film was good too.

Why I love Australia (Bronwyn Bancroft 2010)

Shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Awards, this is incredibly beautiful.

SFF: Exporting Raymond (Phil Rosenthal 2010)

A Making-Of documentary that manages to make fun of everyone, including the film maker. Phil Rosenthal was the brains behind Everyone Loves Raymond, and it turns out he's passionate about it. The project of making a Russian version takes him, a self-described pain-in-the-ass New Yorker, to Moscow, where the opportunities for eye-rolling and wisecracks are endless, but the cross-cultural collaboration is a lot more interesting than just that.

SFF: Suiker [Sugar] (Jeroen Annokkee 2010)

A tiny, very funny short Dutch film that won't be shown on television any time soon.

SFF: If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (Marshall Curry, Sam Cullman 2011)

A serious doco about a young man who committed multiple arsons believing they would somehow help the environment. Many points of view are presented with respect and compassion, but the film doesn't flounder into relativism.

SFF: Fragments (George Varettas, Cosmin Hrincu 2010)

A 5 minute film made by two students in their honours year at COFA. 20-somethings' post-holocaust gloom, beautifully executed.

SFF: My America (Peter Hegedus 2011)

In Hawai'i, they speak of '747' poems - that is to say, poems written by people who fly in, form a quick impression, and then fly out. This film has a lot of charm and many strong moments, but it's something of a 747 film nonetheless, flying in to four continents, collecting vox pops, discovering, for instance, that Iranians don't hate America, they just disapprove of some US foreign policy, or that US vets feel that the US has made great sacrifices for the people of Iraq.

DVD: Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger 1959)

Influenced by Margaret and David we got hold of a copy of this. While it's great to see James Stewart up against a young George C Scott, it was fascinating how much looser the screenplay could be with courtroom procedures back then, not to mention attitudes to female sexuality and domestic violence. As surprise endings go, this one is semaphored bigtime.

Fair Share: Country and City in Australia (Judith Brett, Quarterly Essay 42)

Judith Brett is always good value.

Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois 2010)

A wonderful film. A study in what sanctity might mean. A  letter is read out in speak-over near the end. It turns out it was written by the real man a couple of years before his death. It's on the web.