Oliver Hermanus’ Living is a film that doesn’t ask for much. It simply wants the audience to observe.

Another stellar line-up of the most imaginative pieces of art and cinema has to offer!

To Leslie is a very old-fashioned human drama; a straightforward character study with modest ambitions and a complete disinterest in modern trappings of spectacle, metacommentary, or narrative obfuscation.

All the Beauty is this wonderful study of the marginal, of someone with a heart uncorroded by time in the halls of power, who leverages the success of their life’s work to take on a pure, irredeemable evil.

Despite Ward and Colman’s impressive performances, and some beautiful Roger Deakins cinematography, Empire of Light is unfortunately weighed down by a messy screenplay that can’t untangle itself before the credits.

Writer-Director Carolina Cavalli’s debut Italian feature film Amanda follows the titular character as she sets about aggressively re-befriending her long-lost childhood friend turned recluse Rebecca.

As the feature debut from directors Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick - the editors of Searching, the film goes to town on inventive editing techniques and uses all the comforts of technology that we take for granted, twisting them into complete discomfort for a layer of tension that stays through almost the whole film.

Director Lukas Dhont’s sophomore feature film Close explores the relationship between two best friends, Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele) as they begin high school.

We Are Still Here is aptly described by the saying “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” as it doesn’t particularly stand out for its technical or creative proficiencies, but rather because the message it manages is profound.

This is the way Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe starts — not with a bang, but with a family dramedy shrouded in visual effects and charming absurdity.

A powerful story about survival that bleeds hope through the linework.

With far less stripping and far fewer banger tracks than one would expect for a movie about stripping, I declare Magic Mike’s Last Dance an official flop.

Do you remember that feeling you'd get when you were a child, trying to go to the toilet but terrified of the dark hallway that led from your bedroom to the bathroom?

Christopher Fieldus aka the drag chanteuse Ms CeCe Rockefeller rounds off the end of this year’s ever-growing Melbourne Midsummer Festival with their cabaretica Devastating Beauty.

A symphony of cinema, bubbling with dark and subtly thrilling emotions, elevated by an incredible lead performance and anchored by adept direction.

However blunt its approach may be (and perhaps that obtuseness is key to something like this working for many audiences), The Whale succeeds on its emotional front, conveying a broader message of understanding and sympathy before judgement.

Vicky Krieps delivers her most achingly beautiful performance yet, as Empress Elizabeth of Austria, a figure endowed with all the spirit and boundless curiosity of woman, yet forced to undermine and erase herself amongst a culture, time and country that has little use for such traits in women. 

Rocketing off at a Scorsese-Esque pace, money changes hands, morals are compromised, and men get covered in explosive elephant diarrhoea, which sums Chazelle’s 3-hour epic up quite well as it is striking, explorative, inspired, and at times flat-out-hilarious. 

While there is much to talk about for this film’s context, Nakahira keeps the narrative in focus with contemporary editing and exciting cinematography so that Crazed Fruit can shine.

Say it with me: M3GAN is hip. M3GAN is happening. M3GAN is the moment.