Luke Davies
The Monthly Essays
The Stars My Destination
Luke Davies
Yet viewed on even larger scales, the sense of our tenure here can become positively claustrophobic. There’s really nowhere to go when you...
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Film
Triumph of the Kill: Susanne Bier’s 'In a Better World' and Denis Villeneuve’s 'Incendies'
Luke Davies
In Susanne Bier’s In a Better World (in national release on 21 April) – this year’s Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film – there’s a...
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Film, Arts & Letters
Failure to Communicate: Tom Hooper’s 'The King’s Speech' and Derek Cianfrance’s 'Blue Valentine'
Luke Davies
“Do you know any jokes?” asks a speech pathologist of his newest patient, a stammerer. “Timing is not my strong suit,” the uptight patient...
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Film, Arts & Letters
Tools of the Trade: Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis' 'Machete' and Sean Byrne’s 'The Loved Ones'
Luke Davies
“Every time an illegal dances across our border,” says Senator John McLaughlin (Robert de Niro) at a rally, “it is an act of aggression...
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Film, Arts & Letters
Roots: 'The Kids Are All Right' and 'The Tree'
Luke Davies
There’s a well-travelled archetype of the American ‘family drama’: we begin with a generic family living in relative harmony, then the...
More ...Father Knows Worst: Taika Waititi's 'Boy' and Mia Hansen-Love's 'Father of My Children'
Luke Davies
A man perches awkwardly on the edge of a single bed talking to his two sons, Boy (James Rolleston) and Rocky (Te Aho Eketone-Whitu). He has...
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Film
Theatre of Operations: Richard Linklater's 'Me and Orson Welles' and Nadia Tass's 'Matching Jack'
Luke Davies
If you are looking for signs of the apocalypse, you need look no further than High School Musical, the film franchise that began life as a...
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Film, Arts & Letters
Births, Deaths and Marriages: Claire McCarthy’s 'The Waiting City' and Mona Achache’s 'The Hedgehog'
Luke Davies
In 2004, the UNICEF report Children on the Brink estimated that there were 35 million orphans in India and that nearly 4 million children...
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My Three Sons: David Michôd’s 'Animal Kingdom' and Banksy’s 'Exit Through the Gift Shop'
Luke Davies
First-time director David Michôd, whose Animal Kingdom is one of the best Australian films in years, served notice in 2007 that something...
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The Music of Time: Gillian Armstrong’s 'Love, Lust & Lies' and Radu Mihaileanu’s 'The Concert'
Luke Davies
In 1975 Gillian Armstrong made the short film Smokes and Lollies, which followed the lives of three 14-year-old girls Armstrong had found...
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