Wandering the world

It feels like my movie buddy, MH, and I are making a tradition of sorts by only watching film festival films! Sentimental value is the second of two such films we experienced together in 2025. I love a good Scandi story and Stellan Skarsgard is one of my favourite actors. I was keen to see Sentimental value , too, as it had won the Grand Prix at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Sentimental value | General Australian release December 2025 | Viewed August 2025 | Directed by Joach

I've always been fascinated by Eastern Europe and life behind the Iron Curtain, particularly in East Germany. I visited Berlin in the mid 1990s, only a few years after the Wall had came down. Two to one is the first film I have seen that explores the economic and social challenges of Germany's reunification. I saw it with my movie buddy, MH, during the 2025 German Film Festival. Two to one | Released in Australia April 2025 | Viewed May 2025 | Directed by Natja Brunckhorst |

I waited a whole year to see Lee after seeing the preview for the film at the end of 2023. Kate Winslet is my favourite actor and I would run to the cinema to see anything that she is in. I understand that Lee was a passion project for her. Kate was the drawcard but I was also interested in the subject of the film - model-turned-photographer, Lee Miller - who was a trailblazing war photographer. Lee features in the infamous shot of herself in Hitler's bath tub in this private

I saw There's still tomorrow at the 2024 Brisbane Italian Film Festival. This was a new experience for me as I'd never seen an Italian film before. I liked the idea of the post-war 1940s setting and what I thought was going to be a feminist perspective on breaking away from traditional familial expectations. The film was the highest grossing film of 2023 in Italy and the number one film at the Brisbane Italian Film Festival. I had high hopes! There's still tomorrow | Released

Touch is the second film I saw at the 2024 Brisbane Scandinavian Film Festival. See my review of the other film I watched, Before it ends. Touch | Released in Australia August 2024 | Viewed August 2024 | Directed by Baltasar Kormakur | Main cast: Egill Olafsson, Yoko Narahashi, Palmi Kormakur, Koki, and Masahiro Motoki I wouldn't normally be interested in a romance film, but there was something about the preview for Touch that drew me in. The film is told in two parts: Krist

I saw Before it ends at the annual Scandinavian Film Festival in Brisbane. I was instantly drawn to the film for its exploration of the dark events in Denmark at the end of WW2 when the occupied country was forced to take in German refugees. The film stars an actor - Pilou Asbaek - I loved in the Danish political television series, Borgen - and I was keen to see him in a different role. (Check out my review of my other Film Festival viewing, Touch. ) Before it ends | Released

I wanted to love All of us strangers. The film has won both critical and audience acclaim and was nominated for multiple BAFTA awards. It is a deeply moving and powerful film, exploring the themes of grief, loneliness and identity. All of us strangers | Released in Australia January 2024 | Viewed January 2024 | Directed by Andrew Haigh | Main cast: Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, and Jamie Bell There are only four characters in the film. Andrew Scott plays Adam, a scre

One life tells the story of Sir Nicholas Winton, a British stockbroker who saved 669 Czechoslovakian children just before the Second World War broke out, by arranging transport, visas and foster families for the children when they arrived in London from Prague. The film is based on the book by Sir Nicholas's daughter, Barbara Winton. One life | Released in Australia December 2023 | Viewed January 2024 | Directed by James Hawes | Main cast: Sir Anthony Hopkins, Lena Olin. Hele

WARNING: If you want to see the film spoiler-free, as I did, and you have kept away from reviews and social media commentary, read my review AFTER you have seen the film. Saltburn | Released in Australia November 2023 | Viewed December 2023 | Directed by Emerald Fennell | Main cast: Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E Grant, Alison Oliver, and Archie Madekwe I was keen on Saltburn, partly because I wanted to see Emerald Fennell's second film as a director,

Past lives tells the story of Nora (played by Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (played by Teo Yoo), childhood friends who go in separate directions when Nora and her family emigrate from South Korea to Canada and Nora later moves to NYC. The story is told in three pieces: Nora and Hae Sung's childhood friendship as 12 year olds in Seoul, 12 years later when the two reconnect over Skype, and another 12 years later when they finally meet in NYC. Past lives | Released in Australia Augus

I was keen to see Oppenheimer because of my special interest in the Second World War and my general interest in the biographies of figures who have played a major role in global social, cultural and political history. Oppenheimer | Released in Australia July 2023 | Viewed August 2023 | Directed by Christopher Nolan | Main cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jnr, Matt Damon, and Florence Pugh The film focusses on the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the leader of