Mary and Max (2009)

Director: Adam Elliot
Starring: Toni Collette, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana, Narrated by Barrie Humphries. Australia/USA. 1h 32m

It’s hard to summarise the movie in words and it just makes you think and feel of so many childhood moments and  nostalgia once again. If you’re someone who’s in a dark place I’d like to think that the two requited characters The are the scent of Elliot’s movie will help rekindle something in you as they speak to audiences on a universal level.

Two unlikely people. Two different worlds come together in a story about a most unusual friendship.

Dreams of a Life (2011)

Director: Carole Morley Starring: Zawe Ashton, Everyone else as themselves. UK/England. 1h 35m

What started off as a shocking headline, ending up depressing and confusing many who sparked up a conversation about the unknown woman involved. The woman was found dead in her apartment, having died 3 years earlier and had gone totally undetected for so long. The crime scene investigators turned up after bailiffs to a striking scene, with Christmas present covered in dust and the television still on, she had passed on her sofa.. but for 3 years went totally unmissed? It was always very concerning that someone would just fall between the cracks. Many couldn’t fathom how the utility or council hadn’t come for payment much earlier but what really got under the skin of the nation was that no friends or family had reported her missing or called on her in all that time.

Antichrist (2009)

Director: Lars von Trier
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Charlotte Gainsbourg . Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden. 1h 48m

This made a very interesting date night, a reconciliation with an ex and a movie filled with sexual violence and gnostic connotations, but in all honesty we both read that there were crazy genital mutilation scenes and being the sick twisted couple we were, we actually wanted to see this together, on top of this any film with Charlotte is usually a bit nutty and even with all this knowledge we were still a bit mystified and shocked at this dark and distinctively effective movie.

Death of a Vlogger (2019)

Director: Graham Hughes
Starring: Graham Hughes, Annabel Logan, Paddy Kondracki, Patrick O’Brien, Joma West.UK. 1h 28m

Found footage movies are generally the cheapest and “easiest” to make however a lot fail when they try to hard, overthinking the details and missing the obvious, a lot of film makers would have jumped into this movie as a teen drama, however, Graham Hughes uses himself and his own flat to make a really personal and cerebrally challenging film that turns out the be one of the best in the genre despite the one terrible cliché it falls into occasionally.

Graham stars as himself, in his own home, as a wannabe YouTube star, attempting all the trends that we remember from planking, the ice bucket challenge to bottle throwing he seems desperate to find fame online, but he’s more than just a wannabe he is a cultured soul and tells some really great sensitive story about world war II parachuters who had issues with perception, after jumping out of a plane, many would land of roofs and simply jump down, after falling hundreds of feet without injury, a few feet just doesn’t seem to much however that’s when they would gain their biggest injuries… and perception is what Graham is about to rick roll his audience with in many sinister ways.