New-made furniture, scuffed to look vintage, rarely convinces as anything other than pastiche. Portraits painted as closely as possible to resemble the photographs on which they’re based are a similarly strange phenomenon: admiration for the painter’s skill is undercut by the sense of creative constraint. For the same reasons “The Peasants,” on which married directors Dk and Hugh Welchman apply the technique — of hand-painting over live-action frames — that brought them breakout success with Van Gogh biopic “Loving Vincent,” is a film that impresses in its painstaking, years-long construction, without ever really supplying a reason (beyond prettiness) for such a laborious aesthetic.
To fully handpaint 40,000 oil paintings (which translates to around six frames out of every second of resulting footage) at a rate of five hours per painting, on top of the standard writing, casting, costuming, shooting, editing etc of live-action, is a mission so impractical that Quixote himself would probably have quailed.
To fully handpaint 40,000 oil paintings (which translates to around six frames out of every second of resulting footage) at a rate of five hours per painting, on top of the standard writing, casting, costuming, shooting, editing etc of live-action, is a mission so impractical that Quixote himself would probably have quailed.
- 10/11/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Poland will submit animated feature drama The Peasants for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards.
The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.
The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.
Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.
Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...
The picture is the latest work from Dk Welchman (previously known as Dorota Kobiela) and Hugh Welchman, the creative duo behind the groundbreaking, Oscar-nominated, hand-painted biopic Loving Vincent.
The pair co-wrote The Peasants screenplay adaptation from Nobel Prize-winning writer Władysław Reymont’s classic 1905 novel of the same name about a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village.
Poland’s Oscar entry choice was made Monday by a selection committee overseen by the Polish Film Institute. There was a strong offering of Polish films this year, with other potential contenders including Agnieszka Holland’s migrant drama Green Border and Malgorzata Szumowska and Michal Englerts’ transgender drama Woman Of.
Related: Agnieszka Holland’s Migrant Crisis Drama ‘Green Border’ Posts Record Opening Weekend...
- 9/25/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Your staying power with Pietro Castellitto’s genre-adjacent non-thriller Enea will depend on your appetite for well-heeled Romans blathering on tirelessly about the encroaching emptiness inside them. An overlong, windy film that purports to investigate the hypocrisy, shallowness and moral decay of wealthy Italians but feels too embedded in that world to have much bite, this is a soulless bit of self-indulgence that seems far too pleased with itself. It’s full of flashy technique and ostentatious stylistic flourishes but has almost nothing of note to say about the supposed burdens of privilege.
The writer-director-lead actor’s father, Sergio Castellitto, among his many screen credits starred for three seasons in the psychotherapist role on the Italian version of In Treatment. That provides a winking in-joke for domestic audiences in his casting here as another shrink, Celeste, the title character’s despondent father, who generally has his head too deep in books to look at life.
The writer-director-lead actor’s father, Sergio Castellitto, among his many screen credits starred for three seasons in the psychotherapist role on the Italian version of In Treatment. That provides a winking in-joke for domestic audiences in his casting here as another shrink, Celeste, the title character’s despondent father, who generally has his head too deep in books to look at life.
- 9/7/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Italian hotshot Pietro Castellitto is in competition in Venice with his second feature “Enea,” in which he also stars as the titular character, a young Roman sushi restaurant owner and cocaine dealer whose best friend Valentino just got his license as an airplane pilot. There is a lot going on in this fresh and frenzied film lensed by ace cinematographer Radek Ladczuk (“The Babadook”).
“Enea” is produced by Lorenzo Mieli’s the Apartment, which is a Fremantle company, and Luca Guadagnino’s Frenesy. Vision Distribution is handling world sales.
Castellitto spoke to Variety about what drew him to make what he calls a gangster movie without the gangster bits.
This seems like a very personal film. Is it?
I would say it’s basically a movie about the desire to feel alive. What moves Enea is the need to feel life pulsing within him. There is this tragic paradox that...
“Enea” is produced by Lorenzo Mieli’s the Apartment, which is a Fremantle company, and Luca Guadagnino’s Frenesy. Vision Distribution is handling world sales.
Castellitto spoke to Variety about what drew him to make what he calls a gangster movie without the gangster bits.
This seems like a very personal film. Is it?
I would say it’s basically a movie about the desire to feel alive. What moves Enea is the need to feel life pulsing within him. There is this tragic paradox that...
- 9/7/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
“I feel like there’s a sort of mouth over the city, ready to eat us up,” says Enea, sophisticated young nightclubber, tennis champion and coke dealer; if anyone is trying to swallow the Eternal City whole, it’s Enea himself. The son of intellectuals – his mother hosts a television chat show about literature; his father is a psychoanalyst – the inexhaustible Enea scoots and toots between the city’s most exclusive sports club, the city’s most exclusive parties and, even more thrillingly, rendezvous with the criminal classes, homespun proletarians to a man. “You need to marry Eva, have a child with her, make her happy. If you have no one to kiss, you go crazy,” advises Giordano (Adamo Dionisi), pusher and family man, when he learns that playboy Enea has acquired a girlfriend. Whatever. In his line of work and with the company he keeps, Giordano isn’t going to last that long.
- 9/5/2023
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
About 20 minutes pass in “Enea” before someone asks the young, handsome, splendidly attired title character what he does for a living, during which time audiences are likely to be wondering the same thing. This, to be fair, is not a negligent omission in writer-director-star Pietro Castellitto’s script, which tells us early on that Enea, the elder son of a wealthy Roman family, ostensibly manages a high-end sushi restaurant, atop an assortment of more underhand dealings. What he actually does, however, is a question less easily answered in this slickly mounted but stultifying portrait of privilege and ennui among Italy’s silver-spoon set, which feels more empathy for its pampered, spiraling protagonist than most viewers are likely to muster.
Three years ago, Castellitto premiered his directorial debut “The Predators” in Venice’s Horizons sidebar, winning the section’s screenplay prize. A dark comedy examining social disparity in the Italian capital,...
Three years ago, Castellitto premiered his directorial debut “The Predators” in Venice’s Horizons sidebar, winning the section’s screenplay prize. A dark comedy examining social disparity in the Italian capital,...
- 9/5/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
In “My Neighbor Adolf,” a Polish Holocaust survivor living in South America suspects that the belligerent German who’s just moved in next door could be none other than der Führer himself. How could that be? Hitler shot himself in his bunker at the end of the war. Or did he? Director Leon Prudovsky’s middling mind game pits David Hayman and prolific German character actor Udo Kier against one another in what could have been a sly, “Sleuth”-style two-hander. But the tonally uneven movie isn’t prepared for its own premise: If the man’s hunch is correct, what are the implications of making friends/enemies with evil?
Years earlier, Malek Polsky (Hayman) sat opposite Hitler at the World Chess Championship in Berlin. He swears he’d recognize “those dead blue eyes” anywhere — and now they’re staring right back at him over the rickety wooden fence that separates their properties.
Years earlier, Malek Polsky (Hayman) sat opposite Hitler at the World Chess Championship in Berlin. He swears he’d recognize “those dead blue eyes” anywhere — and now they’re staring right back at him over the rickety wooden fence that separates their properties.
- 8/5/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Dark comedy-drama “My Neighbor Adolf,” which will world premiere in Piazza Grande at the Locarno Film Festival, has debuted its trailer. The film stars David Hayman, Udo Kier and Olivia Silhavy, and is directed by Israeli helmer Leon Prudovsky. Beta Cinema is handling world sales.
The film, which Hayman has described as a cross between “Rear Window” and “Grumpy Old Men,” is set in Colombia in May 1960, just after Israel’s abduction of Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. Polsky, a lonely Holocaust survivor, lives in the remote Colombian countryside. He spends his days playing chess and tending his beloved rose bushes. One day, when a mysterious old German man moves in next-door, he suspects that his new neighbor is… Adolf Hitler. Since nobody believes him, he embarks on a detective mission to find the evidence. But, in order to gather evidence, he will need to be closer to his neighbor than he would like.
The film, which Hayman has described as a cross between “Rear Window” and “Grumpy Old Men,” is set in Colombia in May 1960, just after Israel’s abduction of Adolf Eichmann in Argentina. Polsky, a lonely Holocaust survivor, lives in the remote Colombian countryside. He spends his days playing chess and tending his beloved rose bushes. One day, when a mysterious old German man moves in next-door, he suspects that his new neighbor is… Adolf Hitler. Since nobody believes him, he embarks on a detective mission to find the evidence. But, in order to gather evidence, he will need to be closer to his neighbor than he would like.
- 7/7/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Stars: Aisling Franciosi, Baykali Ganambarr, Sam Claflin, Damon Herriman, Harry Greenwood, Ewen Leslie, Charlie Shotwell, Michael Sheasby, Charlie Jampijinpa Brown, Magnolia Maymuru | Written and Directed by Jennifer Kent
Australian filmmaker Jennifer Kent’s follow-up to The Babadook is this brutal, uncompromising revenge tale set in the Tasmanian Outback. As such, it is most assuredly not for everyone, but those who can stomach the horrific opening are in for a stunningly realised revenge thriller that sears itself into your brain with its white hot rage.
Set in the British colony of Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) in 1825, the film stars Aisling Franciosi as Clare, a young convict who’s served her time and is waiting for Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Clafin) to sign her papers, so she can begin a new life of freedom with her husband (Michael Sheasby) and newborn baby. However, Hawkins shows no intention of granting her freedom...
Australian filmmaker Jennifer Kent’s follow-up to The Babadook is this brutal, uncompromising revenge tale set in the Tasmanian Outback. As such, it is most assuredly not for everyone, but those who can stomach the horrific opening are in for a stunningly realised revenge thriller that sears itself into your brain with its white hot rage.
Set in the British colony of Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) in 1825, the film stars Aisling Franciosi as Clare, a young convict who’s served her time and is waiting for Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Clafin) to sign her papers, so she can begin a new life of freedom with her husband (Michael Sheasby) and newborn baby. However, Hawkins shows no intention of granting her freedom...
- 2/4/2021
- by Matthew Turner
- Nerdly
Afca Awards host Adam Ross.
Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale dominated the Australian Film Critics Association’s annual awards, winning all eight prizes for local narrative features, while The Australian Dream was named best documentary.
The 1825 revenge drama produced by Kristina Ceyton, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Kent was voted best film, shading fellow nominees Buoyancy, Hotel Mumbai, Judy and Punch and The King.
King took the director and screenplay awards and Aisling Franciosi was named best actress, mirroring the film’s success at the Aacta Awards.
The other accolades went to Baykali Ganambarr (best actor), Sam Claflin (supporting actor), Magnolia Maymuru (supporting actress) and Radek Ladczuk (cinematography).
The win for Daniel Gordon’s The Australian Dream, produced by Good Thing Productions’ Nick Batzias and Virginia Whitwell and Passion Pictures’ John Battsek, followed its Aacta award.
In the international categories Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman was judged best English language film,...
Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale dominated the Australian Film Critics Association’s annual awards, winning all eight prizes for local narrative features, while The Australian Dream was named best documentary.
The 1825 revenge drama produced by Kristina Ceyton, Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Kent was voted best film, shading fellow nominees Buoyancy, Hotel Mumbai, Judy and Punch and The King.
King took the director and screenplay awards and Aisling Franciosi was named best actress, mirroring the film’s success at the Aacta Awards.
The other accolades went to Baykali Ganambarr (best actor), Sam Claflin (supporting actor), Magnolia Maymuru (supporting actress) and Radek Ladczuk (cinematography).
The win for Daniel Gordon’s The Australian Dream, produced by Good Thing Productions’ Nick Batzias and Virginia Whitwell and Passion Pictures’ John Battsek, followed its Aacta award.
In the international categories Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman was judged best English language film,...
- 2/9/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘The Nightingale.’
Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale platformed in Los Angeles and New York last weekend, drawing sizable audiences and largely positive reviews from Us critics.
Us distributor IFC Films launched the female-driven revenge thriller at Arclight Hollywood and New York’s IFC Centre, grossing $US40,000, with sold-out shows on Friday and Saturday.
The 1825-set tale starring Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, newcomer Baykali Ganambarr, Michael Sheasby, Damon Herriman, Harry Greenwood and Ewen Leslie will expand in both cities and open in Austin, Texas, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Boston on August 9.
Kristina Ceyton, who produced with Kent and Made Up Stories’ Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky, tells If the roll-out will encompass at least 100 screens over the next few weeks.
“The upcoming support we have from the exhibition community has been outstanding, with Landmark, AMC, Regal and Alamo all on board for this release, as well as top art...
Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale platformed in Los Angeles and New York last weekend, drawing sizable audiences and largely positive reviews from Us critics.
Us distributor IFC Films launched the female-driven revenge thriller at Arclight Hollywood and New York’s IFC Centre, grossing $US40,000, with sold-out shows on Friday and Saturday.
The 1825-set tale starring Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, newcomer Baykali Ganambarr, Michael Sheasby, Damon Herriman, Harry Greenwood and Ewen Leslie will expand in both cities and open in Austin, Texas, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Boston on August 9.
Kristina Ceyton, who produced with Kent and Made Up Stories’ Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky, tells If the roll-out will encompass at least 100 screens over the next few weeks.
“The upcoming support we have from the exhibition community has been outstanding, with Landmark, AMC, Regal and Alamo all on board for this release, as well as top art...
- 8/4/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
There are almost no movies that come with a content warning about sexual assault. Jennifer Kent’s haunting new film “The Nightingale” does, and it’s a warning not to be taken lightly.
For those us of who use trigger warnings to navigate life, it’s sometimes better to be mentally prepared for the horrors depicted in the film. Set up a self-care plan in place ahead of nightmares or panic attacks it might bring up, or decide for your health’s sake that this film is better watched at another time in the safety of your home or perhaps not at all. What’s important for some viewers is that these warnings restore control to those who may have had it taken away.
It’s in that spirit (and the wishes of the film’s distributor) that I won’t go into some of the more visceral details of...
For those us of who use trigger warnings to navigate life, it’s sometimes better to be mentally prepared for the horrors depicted in the film. Set up a self-care plan in place ahead of nightmares or panic attacks it might bring up, or decide for your health’s sake that this film is better watched at another time in the safety of your home or perhaps not at all. What’s important for some viewers is that these warnings restore control to those who may have had it taken away.
It’s in that spirit (and the wishes of the film’s distributor) that I won’t go into some of the more visceral details of...
- 8/1/2019
- by Monica Castillo
- The Wrap
It’s instructive to point out that The Nightingale is not for the faint of heart. There’s horrific violence abound; at one point early on, a rapist violates his victim while her baby screams in his ear. But in no way is this powerhouse another treatment of male violence filtered through an exploitaive male gaze. In her second film, after 2014’s haunting The Babadook, Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent creates a woman’s revenge tale fueled by a righteous anger at the evil men do. There’s not a whit of audience coddling.
- 7/30/2019
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
It’s a shame that female filmmakers are held to a different standard than men. When a woman makes a disturbing or violent movie, the response is far different than to that of her male counterparts. The takes are hotter and there’s a sense of almost questioning why she would mount this project. That’s not fair and a real shame. All throughout its time on the festival, that sort of discussion has surrounded Jennifer Kent’s follow up to The Babadook, the revenge tale The Nightingale. Though the flick is decidedly disturbing and violent, it’s also about something, so it’s hardly pointless bloodshed. In fact, one might say that Kent has found a way to make the brutality essential. It’s upsetting, but that’s the point. The film is a period drama, set in 1825 during the time of British colonization. 21 year old Irish servant Clare...
- 7/30/2019
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Stars: Aisling Franciosi, Baykali Ganambarr, Sam Claflin, Damon Herriman, Harry Greenwood, Ewen Leslie, Charlie Shotwell, Michael Sheasby, Charlie Jampijinpa Brown, Magnolia Maymuru | Written and Directed by Jennifer Kent
Australian filmmaker Jennifer Kent’s follow-up to The Babadook is this brutal, uncompromising revenge tale set in the Tasmanian Outback. As such, it is most assuredly not for everyone, but those who can stomach the horrific opening are in for a stunningly realised revenge thriller that sears itself into your brain with its white hot rage.
Set in the British colony of Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) in 1825, the film stars Aisling Franciosi as Clare, a young convict who’s served her time and is waiting for Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Clafin) to sign her papers, so she can begin a new life of freedom with her husband (Michael Sheasby) and newborn baby. However, Hawkins shows no intention of granting her freedom...
Australian filmmaker Jennifer Kent’s follow-up to The Babadook is this brutal, uncompromising revenge tale set in the Tasmanian Outback. As such, it is most assuredly not for everyone, but those who can stomach the horrific opening are in for a stunningly realised revenge thriller that sears itself into your brain with its white hot rage.
Set in the British colony of Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) in 1825, the film stars Aisling Franciosi as Clare, a young convict who’s served her time and is waiting for Lieutenant Hawkins (Sam Clafin) to sign her papers, so she can begin a new life of freedom with her husband (Michael Sheasby) and newborn baby. However, Hawkins shows no intention of granting her freedom...
- 6/4/2019
- by Matthew Turner
- Nerdly
The Nightingale is Jennifer Kent's follow-up to The Babadook and is a bold and brutal affair. Too much so in the end.
Midway through a Sundance screening of Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale, the film had to be paused. Moments ago on the screen, one character had taken a furious vengeance on another. Flesh was pierced, bones were shattered, and the sounds of a life audibly, and brutally, going out were heard. It is not an exaggeration to say that 911 was called after a fellow moviegoer had at least fainted following this sequence. He may have been the most prudent among us.
As Kent’s follow-up to the cult horror darling The Babadook, The Nightingale is an unforgiving experience and likely the most intense one I’ve had in a movie theater since The Revenant four years ago. Like that film, Nightingale is technically a harrowing period piece as opposed to a strict horror,...
Midway through a Sundance screening of Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale, the film had to be paused. Moments ago on the screen, one character had taken a furious vengeance on another. Flesh was pierced, bones were shattered, and the sounds of a life audibly, and brutally, going out were heard. It is not an exaggeration to say that 911 was called after a fellow moviegoer had at least fainted following this sequence. He may have been the most prudent among us.
As Kent’s follow-up to the cult horror darling The Babadook, The Nightingale is an unforgiving experience and likely the most intense one I’ve had in a movie theater since The Revenant four years ago. Like that film, Nightingale is technically a harrowing period piece as opposed to a strict horror,...
- 2/2/2019
- Den of Geek
Jennifer Kent.
The Nightingale, Jennifer Kent's follow-up to her acclaimed 2014 feature The Babadook, is set to begin shooting this month in Tasmania.
The Fall's Aisling Franciosi will star with Sam Claflin (Their Finest). Aussie actors onboard include Hugo Weaving's son Harry Greenwood, Down Under's Damon Herriman, The Daughter's Ewen Leslie as well as Aboriginal Djuki Mala dancer Baykali Ganambarr and East Arnhem Land Indigenous model Magnolia Maymuru.
Hard to express just how excited I am about this project and all the lovely people involved...
The Nightingale, Jennifer Kent's follow-up to her acclaimed 2014 feature The Babadook, is set to begin shooting this month in Tasmania.
The Fall's Aisling Franciosi will star with Sam Claflin (Their Finest). Aussie actors onboard include Hugo Weaving's son Harry Greenwood, Down Under's Damon Herriman, The Daughter's Ewen Leslie as well as Aboriginal Djuki Mala dancer Baykali Ganambarr and East Arnhem Land Indigenous model Magnolia Maymuru.
Hard to express just how excited I am about this project and all the lovely people involved...
- 3/14/2017
- by Harry Windsor
- IF.com.au
Jennifer Kent’s disturbing directorial debut The Babadook arrives on Blu-ray this week, scoring some of the most critically acclaimed notices ever for a recent psychological horror film. With The Exorcist director William Friedkin’s glowing praise splashed over the front and back cover, proclaiming that he has “never seen a more terrifying film,” and that it will “scare the hell out of you as it did me,” (horror master Stephen King also submits his stamp of approval), Kent’s film has reached a level of unprecedented cultural saturation since premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. Though pulling in a surprisingly paltry sum at the domestic box office in Australia, foreign markets embraced the film, including in France, the UK, and the Us, bringing its worldwide box office to just under five million.
Satisfying genre films are generally few and far between these days, so it’s with absolute delight...
Satisfying genre films are generally few and far between these days, so it’s with absolute delight...
- 4/14/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Originally reviewed at Fantastic Fest 2014.
On the surface, The Babadook is about a mysterious children’s book character that comes to life to haunt a mother and her child. The dark creature almost has no distinguishable characteristics aside from a ghastly grin, long, sharp fingers and a top hat. It may sound like a straightforward idea but it is writer and director Jennifer Kent’s handling of the material that makes this film so memorable.
The Babadook may be the scariest horror film of the year, but at the same time it is so much more. Beneath the slow-building dread lies a classic tale of a woman coming to terms with her own demons. Depression, regret, and life as a single mother are all examined in a thoughtful manner that elevates the film to a Polanski level of horror – especially in a way that recalls Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion or...
On the surface, The Babadook is about a mysterious children’s book character that comes to life to haunt a mother and her child. The dark creature almost has no distinguishable characteristics aside from a ghastly grin, long, sharp fingers and a top hat. It may sound like a straightforward idea but it is writer and director Jennifer Kent’s handling of the material that makes this film so memorable.
The Babadook may be the scariest horror film of the year, but at the same time it is so much more. Beneath the slow-building dread lies a classic tale of a woman coming to terms with her own demons. Depression, regret, and life as a single mother are all examined in a thoughtful manner that elevates the film to a Polanski level of horror – especially in a way that recalls Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion or...
- 12/14/2014
- by Michael Haffner
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Babadook
Written and directed by Jennifer Kent
Australia, 2014
The Babadook contains DNA from such disparate influences as Roman Polanski, Joe Dante, Georges Méliès, German expressionism, and Roald Dahl, but Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent’s very impressive feature debut is an intensely emotional horror film that feels completely unique in the current film landscape. It’s an allegory on grief, love, loss, and maternal trauma, and is as consistently unnerving as many a Polanski movie (and is the scariest thing with Roald Dahl blood since Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
Plagued by memories of a car crash that killed her husband six years prior, former writer and single mother Amelia struggles with an unrewarding new job and the disruptive, often insufferable behaviour of her six-year-old son, Samuel. (Husband Oskar was killed while driving Amelia to the hospital to give birth to Samuel.) One night, for the boy’s bedtime story,...
Written and directed by Jennifer Kent
Australia, 2014
The Babadook contains DNA from such disparate influences as Roman Polanski, Joe Dante, Georges Méliès, German expressionism, and Roald Dahl, but Australian writer-director Jennifer Kent’s very impressive feature debut is an intensely emotional horror film that feels completely unique in the current film landscape. It’s an allegory on grief, love, loss, and maternal trauma, and is as consistently unnerving as many a Polanski movie (and is the scariest thing with Roald Dahl blood since Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).
Plagued by memories of a car crash that killed her husband six years prior, former writer and single mother Amelia struggles with an unrewarding new job and the disruptive, often insufferable behaviour of her six-year-old son, Samuel. (Husband Oskar was killed while driving Amelia to the hospital to give birth to Samuel.) One night, for the boy’s bedtime story,...
- 11/28/2014
- by Josh Slater-Williams
- SoundOnSight
Consequences of Grief: Kent’s Stunning Debut Wades Through Primordial Fears
Satisfying genre films are generally few and far between these days, so it’s with absolute delight to discover something as genuinely impressive as Jennifer Kent’s directorial debut, The Babadook. Expanded from her 2005 short film, “Monster,” it’s not so much that Kent’s premise is anything revolutionary, but her ability to tap into base human fears and without the aid of cheap or excessive frills only makes this simplistic narrative all the more potent. Additionally, Kent’s built her scares around a strong, emotional core, examining the frazzled relationship between a single mother and her son as they struggle to come together after a terrible tragedy. A metaphor for the havoc wreaked when one cannot lay one’s demons to rest, Kent wields a commanding, and graciously moving parable into a film that deserves a long winded...
Satisfying genre films are generally few and far between these days, so it’s with absolute delight to discover something as genuinely impressive as Jennifer Kent’s directorial debut, The Babadook. Expanded from her 2005 short film, “Monster,” it’s not so much that Kent’s premise is anything revolutionary, but her ability to tap into base human fears and without the aid of cheap or excessive frills only makes this simplistic narrative all the more potent. Additionally, Kent’s built her scares around a strong, emotional core, examining the frazzled relationship between a single mother and her son as they struggle to come together after a terrible tragedy. A metaphor for the havoc wreaked when one cannot lay one’s demons to rest, Kent wields a commanding, and graciously moving parable into a film that deserves a long winded...
- 11/24/2014
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
From Australia comes what is possibly the most scary and well made horror film in years. Here's Ryan's review of The Babadook...
A good horror film offers the kind of entertaining shocks you’d expect from a ghost train ride. A great horror film brings depth, subtext and character as well jolts of terror - they leave us with something that lingers and makes us shudder long after the cinema’s closed for the night. Australian chiller The Babadook undoubtedly falls into the latter category.
Australian writer and director Jennifer Kent’s film is told largely from the tired, wan perspective of Amilia (Essie Davis), a mother who lost her husband in a car accident just under seven years earlier. That fateful crash occurred while Amilia was being driven to hospital to have her son, Sam (Noah Wiseman), meaning that his birthday has a sad dual significance.
Still grieving her loss,...
A good horror film offers the kind of entertaining shocks you’d expect from a ghost train ride. A great horror film brings depth, subtext and character as well jolts of terror - they leave us with something that lingers and makes us shudder long after the cinema’s closed for the night. Australian chiller The Babadook undoubtedly falls into the latter category.
Australian writer and director Jennifer Kent’s film is told largely from the tired, wan perspective of Amilia (Essie Davis), a mother who lost her husband in a car accident just under seven years earlier. That fateful crash occurred while Amilia was being driven to hospital to have her son, Sam (Noah Wiseman), meaning that his birthday has a sad dual significance.
Still grieving her loss,...
- 10/17/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
On the surface, The Babadook is about a mysterious children’s book character that come to life to haunt a mother and her child. The dark creature almost has no distinguishable characteristics aside from a ghastly grin, long, sharp fingers and a top hat. It may sound like a straightforward idea but it is writer and director Jennifer Kent’s handling of the material that makes this film so memorable. The Babadook may be the scariest horror film of the year, but at the same time it is so much more. Beneath the slow-building dread lies a classic tale of a woman coming to terms with her own demons. Depression, regret, and life as a single mother are all examined in a thoughtful manner that elevates the film to a Polanski level of horror – especially in a way that recalls Catherine Deneuve in Repulsion or Mia Farrow in Rosemary’S Baby.
- 10/6/2014
- by Michael Haffner
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The line where art meets commerce has always been a grey one . even when it is reliant on the public purse. The issue flared in 2011 when government proposals took aim at the regulations which limit foreign actors working on local productions. And it flared again last year when, for the first time, a number of local films employed foreign cinematographers.
The appointments created a ripple of unease among local cinematographers who are regularly lauded as being amongst the world.s best. Of the seven Australians who have won Academy Awards for their work behind the camera, five are still active in the industry: Dean Semler, John Seale, Andrew Lesnie, Russell Boyd and Dion Beebe. A new breed are also making the leap into high-end features such as Ross Emery (The Wolverine), Simon Duggan (The Great Gatsby) and Jules O.Loughlin (Sanctum), just to name a few.
So it came as...
The appointments created a ripple of unease among local cinematographers who are regularly lauded as being amongst the world.s best. Of the seven Australians who have won Academy Awards for their work behind the camera, five are still active in the industry: Dean Semler, John Seale, Andrew Lesnie, Russell Boyd and Dion Beebe. A new breed are also making the leap into high-end features such as Ross Emery (The Wolverine), Simon Duggan (The Great Gatsby) and Jules O.Loughlin (Sanctum), just to name a few.
So it came as...
- 5/28/2013
- by Brendan Swift
- IF.com.au
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