CarnivalAskew

Look Both Ways is certainly a boost for the morale of the Australian film industry; emotional, thought-provoking and honest it explores the eternal questions of life, death and our perceptions of reality. A debut feature from writer and director Sarah Watt this film will take you on a journey that is both light and dark; tragic and funny.

Look Both Ways opens with Meryl (played by Justine Clarke) an artist who is returning home from her father's funeral and has begun seeing death and tragedy everywhere.

Yes, sometimes it's nice and good to see a film that satisfies you, that gives you what you want. At the end, all problems are solved, all questions answered, the good are good and the bad? Are bad. True is true and right is right. Well, "Hidden" is not such a film. It is the opposite: What is true and right? What not? Or, is there a truth at all? Who did it and why? The camera may stay static a lot of time, but not your mind.

"The critics are raving", "A terrific movie"(Time), "Remarkable film" (L.A. Times) "This movie gets under the skin" (Rolling Stone). Well, I won't tell you the opposite. The story is told soon: A New Yorker intellectual family gets divorced, the father, a teacher and bohemian writer, moves out, the two boys stay three days of the week at their mom's (also a writer) and the rest at their dad's.

But it is not that simple, everybody reacts different – the parents accuse and hurt each other, who takes what, does not matter if it is the TV, the cat or the love of their sons.

The Assassination of Richard Nixon is based on the true story of Samuel Bicke (the spelling of whose name was changed to protect his family), a man virtually lost to history though he attempted to assassinate one of the most notorious of American presidents, Richard Nixon.

For anyone in Sydney who appreciates all things Mexican, the first annual Hola Mexican Film Festival begins on the 21st of November, showcasing some of the best movies to have come out of Mexico in the last 50 years, in addition to offering free salsa lessons and other Mexican festivities.

“Los Olvidados: The Young and The Damned,” is one of the classic movies being screened at Hola this year. Originally made in the 1950’s but digitally remastered for screening, Olvidados won the Best Film at Cannes, and was recently considered by UNESCO as part of the World’s heritage.

The inherent difficulty with reviewing a festival is that the movies are only on once. So even if you enjoyed the movie, and want to recommend it to all your friends, the chances of them being able to take you up on that offer are slim to none. For one thing, festival movies normally take a while to be brought to commercial release. For another, by the time they are, your friends will have forgotten all about your crazy rants and raves and have instead gone and put 15 dollars into Cheaper By the Dozen 2.

And Japanese films are an even harder sell.

It takes you to heaven, brings you down to earth and then shows you hell." (MC Reviews)This sentence summarizes the Australian movie Candy really quite well.