Good films are usually comprised of one or more of these components: an excellent story, an engaging script, and standout performances by one or more of the cast members. On the very rare occasion, the stars align and a film can combine all three. When this happens, it can lead to a startling effect.

Director Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and writers Will Tracy and Jang Joon-hwan have combined their skills in the creation of Bugonia, and the end result is the creation of an outlier work. Its ability to transform itself and the audience’s expectation time and time again is quite something to behold.

With a brilliantly deranged performance by Jesse Plemons and an equally assertive one by Emma Stone, this is indeed a rare work. Those three virtues mentioned above come together so seamlessly that it heralds a work that demands your attention and pays dividends to those with a taste for the adventurous.

Difficult to categorise in the best possible way and challenging to digest depending on your own sensibilities, Bugonia is a film not to be missed. View it as an exception to the norm and marvel at both its manic energy and bold disregard for type.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

Starring Benicio del Toro as Zsa-zsa Korda, one of the richest men in Europe; Mia Threapleton as Liesl, his daughter/a nun; Michael Cera as Bjorn, their tutor.

With Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis.
www.facebook.com/UniversalPicturesAU/

How crazy you might ask. Well, there are wanking zombies who put out fires with the climax of a circle jerk, an adjunct who climbs on top of a giant brain and self-immolates herself and Cate Blanchett with one of the worst faux German accents ever put to film. Oh, and the leader of Canada sports the type of ironic man bun that would put any barista to shame.

The seven leaders of the free world are presented as almost petulant children and it’s funny to see them act so juvenile and unprepared for the onslaught of weird about to descend upon their tightly-knit world. For reasons that are never fully explained, they start the summit under a gazebo all by themselves in the middle of an empty and mysterious German forest.

This was after they were taken to an archaeology dig where they had their picture taken while holding shovels and smiling with a two-thousand-year-old mummy with his penis tied around his neck in a box occupying centre stage. Weird falls way short as a descriptor. The running gag is that throughout all the insanity they still need to write their introductory speech, which ends up being about building a giant sundial. You know these are all the normal things that make up an entertaining and outrageous film.
Rob Hudson

Rumours is currently screening at the Brisbane International Film Festival and will be released in Aussie cinemas December 5!
The Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) is a celebration of cinema as art, entertainment and industry, for everyone seeking bold and unforgettable experiences.

An annual event, held over 11 days from Thursday 24th October to Sunday 3rd November 2024 and spread across several wonderful locations in Brisbane.

This years festival will showcase over 40 feature films and 40 short films from home and abroad, filmmaker Q&As, industry and student events.

Rumors BIFF Session details
Palace Barracks
Saturday 26 October | 3:00PM

Dendy Portside
Friday 1 November | 6:15PM

New Farm Cinema
Friday 1 November | 5:00PM
www.biff.com.au

The restaurant in the film, Hawthorne is based loosely on an actual restaurant called KOKS that was featured in the Danish documentary Nordic by Nature – Michelin Stars. It shares that establishment’s isolated island location but flips the script and introduces a real sense of peril to its diners.

The film’s structure as it resolves works on so many levels. As social commentary, it is wickedly assertive and the comments on the anonymity that many expect from the staff that serve and look after their every need is razor sharp.

With the popularity of cooking shows on the rise, there is the chance that people will see The Menu expecting gorgeous food prepared by gorgeous people but what they get will be so much better. This is the kind of work that grows in stature the more you think about it.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/20thCenturyStudiosAUNZ

Little did she know the kind of family she was marrying into but she soon finds out on her wedding night. Observing a long held family tradition, they force her to play a game of hid and seek but this one comes with lethal consequences.

What makes the film so much fun is that Grace even with being scared out of her mind never loses her wise cracking sense of humour. She also doesn’t change into a retribution killing machine and spoil all the incremental fun. The suspense lingers and when she finally blows her cork, it’s quite the detonation.

In a nod to the anger towards the class system that exists between the rich and over privileged and the common man or woman in this case, it’s good fun to see the over monetised get their comeuppance. This happens with explosive effect. See this with the one you love as long as they are not your in-laws.

Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/foxmoviesaus