THE BEST FILMS OF 2021

For most of 2021, old Sydney town was COVID shuttered. Not since…last year, actually…has the cinema experience been such a truncated, compromised one. The US summer blockbusters earned perfunctory, catch-me-if-you-can releases (The Suicide Squad; Malignant; Space Jam) or were bumped again (come in, Top Gun Maverick?). Some finally landed, like No Time to Die and Dune, though with question marks over whether they maxed-out their box-office potential or felt a little ‘fatigued’. It would be the streaming services that thrived in 2021 - sixteen of my Top 20 films were watched in my ‘critic’s cave’.

Which made not a shred of difference to the quality of 2021 films. As I write this, Spiderman: No Way Home is smashing box office records on the back of great reviews. The award season is taking shape with films like Licorice Pizza, Spencer, The Tragedy of Macbeth, King Richard and Belfast entering the fray. And the streamers continue their push for critical relevance and commercial dominance, offering films like Don’t Look Up (Netflix), Finch (Apple+) and Being The Ricardos (Amazon Prime).    

So let’s get on with celebrating the films that provided a jolt of exhilaration (and a handful that sucked) in this shit of a year...   

1. CODA (Dir: Sian Heder; USA, 111 mins) Emilia Jones plays Ruby, the only able-hearing member of a deaf family. She’s got talent, is smart, and is destined for a life beyond the family’s struggling fishing business, but stepping away from her role as a Child Of Deaf Parents… And so Sian Heder’s wrenching drama is set in motion, charting a deceptively simple journey that breaks down one’s expectations of a film that pitches like a ‘Movie of the Week’ but plays out like…well, like the year’s best film. Wait for the bait-&-switch moment at Ruby’s school concert; it reduced your cynical, ‘seen-it-all’ film reviewer to a sobbing wreck.

2. THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (Dir: Joachim Trier; Norway, 127 mins) Julie is someone we’ve all known, or may have been - an unsettled, impetuous twenty-something trying to understand how she fits into everyone’s expectations of her life. Serious romance, cohabitation, marriage, kids…blah, blah, blah. Joachim Trier’s film is a journey with Julie which subverts, even defies, the well-trodden path to society’s version of maturity. We are engaged with every honest frame of this transcendent story because of Cannes Best Actress winner Renate Reinsve; her ‘Julie’ is and will remain a touchstone film character for the ages. 

3. LAST NIGHT IN SOHO (Dir: Edgar Wright; UK, 116 mins) All the key indicators were in place - director Edgar Wright, primed to bring his command of the camera to the visually propulsive setting of London in the ‘60s; two actresses, Anya Taylor-Joy and Tommasin McKenzie, duking it out for ‘it-girl’ status; and, above all else, an original high-concept genre piece. The result was a giddy, thrilling, slightly daft but pulsating chiller that both honoured and challenged the ‘stylish slasher’ sensibilities of classic Hitchcock and De Palma.

4. SHIVA BABY (Dir: Emma Seligman; USA, 77 mins) A perfectly directionless Jewish twenty-something (the wonderful Rachel Sennot) finds all the tensions in her life colliding under one roof at the titular funeral service in Emma Seligman’s masterpiece of discomfort. This comedic, white-knuckle emotional journey somehow emerges as a romantic, sexy, bittersweet snapshot of millenial uncertainty.

5. ADRIENNE (Dir: Andy Ostroy; USA, 98 mins) Adrienne Shelley was a ‘90s indie darling, the toast of Sundance after the Hal Hartley films The Unbelievable Truth and Trust, and on the verge of breakout success as director and co-star of Waitress, when she was murdered. Her widower Andy Ostroy reconciles the loss of Adrienne through a multi-tiered recounting of her career, their life and, in the most heartbreaking of many heartbreaking sequences, a meeting with her killer.

6. ANNEES 20 (Roaring 20s. Dir: Elisabeth Vogler; France, 85 mins) In the midst of the 2020 COVID outbreak, filmmaker Elisabeth Vogler choreographed this single-shot miracle through the streets of Paris, capturing how the human spirit fronted up to, adapted in the face of and ultimately beat down the loneliness of the ‘new normal’. Sublime steadicam artistry (by the director herself) and a vivid collection of Parisian persons make for a snapshot of a time that will never be recaptured; by definition, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

7. PETITE MAMAN (Dir: Céline Sciamma; France, 72 mins) How a little girl deals with grief and the friendship she strikes in the realm of the fantastic proves the perfect premise for Céline Sciamma’s latest study in profound connection. The material is weighty but the lightness of touch is masterful; you’ll cry for days afterwards, as Sciamma and her two wondrous leads achieve deeply resonant moments that refuse to let go of your thoughts and emotions.

8. PRISONERS OF THE GHOSTLAND (Dir: Sion Sono; US/Japan, 103 mins) Why did it take so long to smash together the cinematic psyches of Japanese punk-auteur Sion Sono and G.O.A.T. Nicholas Cage? Because their hyper-stylised, vengeance-fuelled, dystopian Eastern-western is a work of fearless originality and W.T.F. creative choices that make it an adrenalized, bewildering blast (Ed. - For the record, Pig was #21 in ‘21; Cage had a great year.)

9. DUNE (Dir: Denis Villeneuve; USA, 155 mins) It all looked good in the planning. Denis Villeneuve’s track record (Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival, especially) indicated he could do spectacle with intelligence; the cast were all hot-button names with talent to boot. Of course, we said all this back in ‘84, too. This time, though…grandeur, depth and the promise of more to come.

10. BENEDETTA (Dir: Paul Verhoeven; France/Belgium, 131 mins) Early coverage zeroed-in on the ‘nun-sploitation’ angle of Dutch stirrer Paul Verhoeven’s latest, in particular luminous leading lady Virginie Efira depiction of sapphic experimentation and self-pleasuring. But Verhoeven has much more on his mind (no, really); Benedetta is a brutal take-down of institutionalized religion and the ease with which the ambitiously immoral can exploit the zealous masses.

THE NEXT TEN BEST:
11. VERA DE VERDAD (Dir: Beniamino Catena; Italy/Chile, 100 mins)
12. WEST SIDE STORY (Dir: Steven Spielberg; USA, 156 mins)
13. LA PANTHERE DES NEIGES (The Velvet Queen. Dir: Marie Amiguet; France, 92 mins)
14. ILARGI GUZTIAK (All The Moons. Dir: Igor Legarreta; Spain, 102 mins)
15. TED K (Dir: Tony Stone; USA, 120 mins)
16. MEDUSA (Dir: Anita Rocha da Silveira; Brazil, 127 mins)
17. BERGMAN ISLAND (Dir: Mia Hansen-Løve; France, 112 mins)
18. FREE GUY (Dir: Shawn Levy; USA, 115 mins)
19. THE COLONY (Dir: Tim Fehlbaum; Germany, 104 mins)
20. DORAIBU MAI KA (Drive My Car. Dir: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi; Japan, 179 mins)

THE WORST FILMS OF 2021:
For every exhilarating discovery on the streaming channels, there were piles of steaming dross to scroll pass. Shame on Disney+, for over-extending old franchises with greenlights for the terrible HOME SWEET HOME ALONE and the shamefully uninspired MUPPETS HAUNTED MANSION. With cinemas opening erratically and distributors unwilling to commit theatrical films, straight-to-video product was deemed worthy of multi-screen releases - the turgid Jeremy Irons-Diane Keaton rom-com LOVE, WEDDINGS AND OTHER DISASTERS and the Bruce Willis D-grade scifier COSMIC SIN found themselves in wide circulation. As the pandemic ebbed, exhibitors made space for some Hollywood product, but there was little excitement for misfires like SPIRAL: FROM THE BOOK OF SAW (featuring some Razzie-worthy shout-acting from Chris Rock); the numbing banality of VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE; or, the official death knell of YA-lit 'Hunger Games' wannabes, CHAOS WALKING. But it is from the bottom of the sequel barrel that we scrape the year’s most idiotic film; an inconcievable ninth dip into the well of fake family melodrama and CGI stunt work, overseen by producers who thought launching a car into outer space was a good idea. F9 dipped considerably at the box office (it's the lowest earner in the franchise since 2011’s FAST FIVE), although probably not enough to kill off this knuckle-headed insult to cinema.

THE BEST TELEVISION OF 2021

A funny thing happened at the Screen-Space office in 2021 - I watched a lot of television. More precisely, I was called upon to review a lot of television, mostly as one half of the Screen Watching podcast. This site has always been film-focussed, but that’s largely because when Screen-Space launched nearly a decade ago, there was no Netflix or Apple+ or Amazon Prime. Back then, we went to the cinema, bought the DVD, caught anything we’d missed on our exciting new pay-TV channel. Good times…

Screen Watching’s other-half is Dan Barrett, the boss of the TV-centric site Always Be Watching (amongst many other projects) and an opinionated enthusiast for all things televisual. If I was going to keep up with his small-screen babblings, I needed to watch more than just Major League Baseball and Seinfeld repeats. So, with COVID’s grip upon society ensuring that sofa time was always the best option, I’m weighing in with the inaugural Screen-Space Best of Television 2021...  

1. ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (Hulu (US) / Disney Star (Aust), 10 eps; starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez) Not such a surprise that comedy veterans Steve Martin and Martin Short should pull off the years’ most wry, witty, laugh-out-loud hilarious romp; a classy whodunnit farce that slyly satirises everything it touches, from apartment etiquette to podcast obsession. The big surprise is that they let Selena Gomez steal the show, the actress the perfect comedic foil to Martin and Martin’s ‘old guy’ schtick.

2. MIDNIGHT MASS (Netflix, 7 eps; starring Hamish Linklater, Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas) Horror’s most accomplished and assured new voice, Mike Flanagan skewers blind faith and zealotry in his smalltown horror masterpiece. The deliberate pacing of his reveals left behind those that like their frights more frantic, but this is his deceptively simple modus operandi - establish setting, then introduce character, then pose a mysterious threat, then…BOO! The comparisons to the King classic Salem’s Lot are unfair, because Midnight Mass is better. 

3. PHYSICAL (Apple+, 10 eps; starring Rose Byrne, Rory Scovel, Deirdre Friel) As a satire of the ‘Greed is good’ mantra of the 1980s and the Reagan-esque nationalism that inspired overspending and wilful over-indulgence in the name of capitalistic growth, Physical is a masterwork. As the unravelling housewife who parlays her love of aerobics into social acceptance and financial independence, Rose Byrne is a whirlwind of anxiety, dark energy and ever-expand(ex)ing self-worth.

4. THE CHESTNUT MAN (Netflix, 6 eps; starring Danica Curcic, Mikkel Boe Følsgaard, David Dencik) For those who thought the Scandi Crime wave had had its day in the endless sun, The Chestnut Man reinvigorated all the recognisable tropes with crackling tension, horrific violence and the best ‘reluctant partner’ chemistry since the heady days of Scully and Mulder. 

5. SUCCESSION Season 3 (HBO Max / Binge, 9 eps; starring Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook) No family has done cold-hearted and calculated with this much twisted glee since The Ewings; the #MeToo plotline and how it threatened to derail The Roy Family empire inspired a rare degree of cut throat-razor dialogue and boardroom tension. In Adrien Brody and Alexander Skarsgård, nailed the 2021 ‘Best Use of a Guest Stars’ honour.

6. VIGIL (BBC, 6 eps; starring Suranne Jones, Rose Leslie, Adam James) There is a pulpy daftness to this submarine-set murder mystery that is occasionally glimpsed on the radar, but when producer Tom Edge’s plotting stays on course it is the most gripping adventure-thriller that the small screen offered up all year. As the investigating detective sent on board, despite having her own recent watery tragedy still on her mind (really?), Suranne Jones is Sigourney-esque in her presence.

7. DOPESICK (Hulu / Disney+ Star, 8 eps; starring Michael Keaton, Kaitlyn Dever, Rosario Dawson) Op-ed rants by John Oliver only go so far in conveying just how insidiously callous Purdue Pharmaceutical and the cartel that owns it, The Sackler Family, were in lying about, spreading and profiting from the social horror they caused with OxyContin. Director Barry Levinson paints a heartbreaking picture of the smalltown, blue-collar lives that The Sackler’s destroyed for financial gain. Does for the opioid crisis what The Day After did for nuclear proliferation.

8. WANDAVISION (Disney+, 9 eps; starring Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn) As a journey through TV culture, Disney+’s first small-screen MCU narrative was inventive, charming and, with Olsen and Bettany allowed greater dimensionality to explore their big-screen bit-players, proved a better-than-expected canon add-on. But it was the acuity with which it explored Wanda/Scarlett Witch’s grief and PTSD that made it significantly better than we had any right to expect.

9. INVASION (Apple+ TV, 9 eps; starring Golshifteh Farahani, Shamier Anderson, Shioli Kutsuna) That hoary ol’ scifi trope, the ‘alien invasion’, gets a supremely polished, truly international makeover in Apple’s understated but gripping multi-strand narrative. A grab-bag of influences (War of The Worlds; Independence Day; Arrival) are used to superb impact; in  a great cast, Golshifteh Farahani as the betrayed wife/warrior mother is sensational.

10. THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT (HBO Max / Stan, 8 eps; starring Kaley Cuoco, Michiel Huisman, Rosie Perez) Never seen The Big Bang Theory, so The Flight Attendant was quite the jump-off point for me and Kaley Cuoco. As the sexed-up, boozy stewardess whose life careens dangerously close to catastrophe at every turn, she is a revelation. The production’s profound understanding of alcoholism and Cuoco’s unhinged version of someone in denial and under threat is white-knuckle, character-based black comedy at its best.

There were some big hits (White Lotus; Nine Perfect Strangers; Mare of Eastown) and critical favourites (Hacks; The Underground Railroad; Muhammad Ali; The North Water; The Reservation Dogs) that I just couldn't fit into the viewing schedule. But there were also a handful that I count as highlights, even if they couldn't budge the ten best...

BEST REALITY: THE HILLS: NEW BEGINNINGS Season 2 (MTV, 12 eps) 
Heidi, Spencer, Audrina, Brody, Justin…they’re all still spoilt LA brats, but by 2021 they are spoilt, brattish thirty-somethings, and the seriousness of such themes as family, addiction, wealth (or lack of it), infidelity and honesty are coming into sharper focus. Dismiss their surface sheen as glaringly shallow, but MTV’s stable of in-house reality stars mined some darker emotions in Season 2, and the television (however manipulated) was compelling.

BEST INTERNATIONAL: KATLA (Netflix, 8 eps)
A fissure in the Earth’s surface caused by the eruption of the titular volcano unleashes creatures of Icelandic folklore in Baltasar Kormákur’s slow-burn, bleak, nightmarish study in isolation, paranoia, memory and grief. The year’s best final frame cliffhanger.

BEST LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT: TASKMASTER (BBC / UKTV, 10 eps)
The well-established U.K. franchise hit its stride in 2021. At first, the mixed-bag of semi-celebs fronting the eleventh go-around of the Greg Davies/Alex Horne cult hit seemed an oddly mismatched bunch; by episode 6, and Mike Wozniak’s career-defining/ruining shock admission (“It’s an absolute casserole down there”), the season proved a series’ highwatermark. 

BEST AUSTRALIAN: DIVE CLUB (Network 10 / Netflix, 12 eps)
What pitched as a teen-dream trifle emerged as a stylish, sophisticated drama, impeccably crafted and brimming with complex characters against a gorgeous backdrop. The title conjures pre-teen Saddle/Babysitter Club-style misadventures, but the dramatic meat on its bones more closely recalls the best of Dawson’s Creek or Party of Five.

And while I don’t want to dwell on the worst TV of the year (it was LA BREA), I do want to address why two of 2021's biggest TV hits left me cold. 

I cannot reconcile the preposterous premise of TED LASSO with sufficient suspension of disbelief to find it charming or funny. The character is annoyingly cloying, a downhome doofus inconceivably tolerated by everyone in England. On the back of its success, expect a Yes Minister reboot featuring Forrest Gump. 

And the phenomenon that is SQUID GAME? The show is well-made, stocked with some interesting characters and handsomely produced, but its genre inspirations weigh heavily on its shoulders. Everything from Battle Royale to The Hunger Games to The Running Man has trodden this well-worn path to better effect. 

READ THE SCREEN-SPACE TEN BEST MOVIES OF 2021 HERE (Coming Soon!)

THE BEAUTIFUL EYE OF HALYNA HUTCHINS

The death of Ukraine-born cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, 42, on the set of the film Rust in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is tragic beyond measure. A young family, including her husband Matthew and their son, have lost a loving mother; her professional community have lost an emerging talent of limitless potential (only 5 percent of the American Society of Cinematographers membership are female). Future generations of filmgoers are left with the stunning images from her 27 credits to date - a remarkable number, given she came to her craft after an early career as a broadcast journalist.

To honour Hutchin's artistry as a DOP, we present a gallery of frames from her features and short films and thoughts collated from the public social media posts of her friends and co-workers...

BLINDFIRE (Dir: Michael Nell; starring Brian Geraghty, Sharon Leal | 2020) A police officer responding to a violent hostage call kills the African American suspect, only to learn of his innocence. Sensing a set-up and facing repercussions, he must track down those responsible while examining his own accountability and the ingrained racism which brought him to this point.

"It is with a sad and heavy heart that I say goodbye to an incredibly talented and wonderful person...I was lucky enough to witness a rising star who was full of passion, creativity, generosity and a love for filmmaking. Her tragic death is a senseless loss and hard too fathom." - Howard Barish, President / Executive Producer of Kandoo Films, makers of Blindside. 

ARCHENEMY (Dir: Adam Egypt Mortimer; starring Joe Manganiello, Amy Seimetz | 2020) Max Fist claims to be a hero from another dimension who fell through time and space to earth, where he has no powers. No one believes his stories except for a local teen named Hamster.

"I’m so sad about losing Halyna. And so infuriated that this could happen on a set. She was a brilliant talent who was absolutely committed to art and to film." - Adam Egypt Mortimer, Director: Archenemy.

TREACLE (Dir: Rosie Westhoff, starring April Kelley, Wilder Yari | 2020) Two friends, Belle and Jessie, go on a weekend away to help Jessie get over a recent breakup. Road tripping through California over the course of 24 hours, lines begin to blur when the always-heterosexual Jessie in her drunken, post breakup loneliness kisses bisexual Belle.

"Halyna was an absolute joy to collaborate with, bursting with unique ideas, and would go above and beyond in achieving them. She was an integral part of what still remains the best experience of my life. Thank you for the memories. The industry has lost the brightest of stars." - April Kelley, writer/star of Treacle

SNOWBOUND (Dir: Olia Oparina, starring Anya Bay | 2017) A group of erotic party attendees wake up naked in the snow. In the nearby cabin they find a dead girl and a message: In order to survive, they must decide who is responsible for the girl's death and murder that person accordingly.

"My best friend passed away. The pain is unbearable, and nothing can fill that space that is now empty without my loving, supportive, and understanding Halyna...Halyna’s shot every one of my films. When no one trusted us with a feature film, Halyna and I teamed up and made our own, for no money, with a crew of friends...My dear ribka, you will always be in my heart." - Olia Oparina, director of Divination (2016); Marcel Red What You Did (2016); I am Normal (2020); Snowbound (2017).

(re)UNITE (Dir: Anak Rabanal | 2018) Can a clinical method to accelerate emotional intimacy begin healing the social rifts exposed by the 2016 Presidential Election one conversation at a time?

"You will be missed and treasured and your legacy lives on not only in your work but in the people you inspired us to be with the way you lived your life — fearlessly and passionately." - Anak Rabanal, director of (re)UNITE.

The America Film Institute has established The Halyna Hutchins Memorial Scholarship Fund, issuing the statement, " As is profoundly true in the art of cinematography, words alone cannot capture the loss of one so dear to the AFI community. At AFI, we pledge to see that Halyna Hutchins will live on in the spirit of all who strive to see their dreams realized in stories well told."

PLEASE DONATE HERE

REMEMBERING RICHARD DONNER

One of Hollywood’s most successful filmmakers, Richard Donner has passed away at the age of 91. He leaves behind a body of work that spans both the golden era of television and the ‘birth of the blockbuster’ film period; productions that remain in the hearts and minds of audiences all over the world.

Hollywood is mourning his loss, as Donner was not only a huge creative force but a mentor to a generation of actors and directors. “Being in his circle was akin to hanging out with your favorite coach, smartest professor, fiercest motivator, most endearing friend, staunchest ally and, of course, the greatest Goonie of all,” Steven Spielberg told Variety, referencing their collaboration on 1985’s The Goonies. “He was all kid. All heart. All the time. I can’t believe he’s gone, but his husky, hearty laugh will stay with me always.”

Recalling his finest work is a challenge, as he was so prominent across so many years on so many projects. But below are perhaps the works that will be remembered as, ‘classic Richard Donner’...

‘NIGHTMARE AT 20,000 FEET’ Episode; THE TWILIGHT ZONE (1963)
Donner was a key figure in the burgeoning television sector. Beginning with a 1960 episode of the western Zane Grey Theatre, he would helm everything from The Loretta Young Show and Gilligan’s Island to The Rifleman and Perry Mason. His most famous small-screen effort would become the 1963 Twilight Zone classic, ‘Nightmare at 20,000 Feet’, a taut white-knuckler, written by Rod Serling and Richard Matheson, starring William Shatner as the nervous flyer convinced a monster is trying to bring down his flight.

SARAH T. - PORTRAIT OF A TEENAGE ALCOHOLIC (1975)
Donner’s status in the television sector ensured he was called upon during the TV-movie boom of the 1970s. With hundreds of hours of episodic work and such small but respected films as X-15 (1961), Salt & Pepper (1968) and Lola (1970) to his name, Donner stepped up to direct the issues-based drama, Sarah T. - Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic (1975) with Linda Blair in the title role, for Universal Television.

 

THE OMEN (1976; pictured above, Donner with star Gregory Peck) 
Producer Alan Ladd Jr. shepherded Donner into the project, convinced the predominantly television work of the director captured the intelligence and empathy needed to elevate the ‘devil child’ narrative into something unique. With veteran DOP Gilbert Taylor, Donner embraced the larger screen format and crafted a horror classic that became the director’s first box office blockbuster.

 

SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (1977; pictured above, Christopher Reeve and Donner on-set)
Richard Donner attacked his new assignment with gusto after producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind secured the director. Donner hacked away at the script he had inherited, excising much of Mario Puzo’s campiness and working with an uncredited Tom Mankiewicz to bolster the scale and iconography of the DC Comics’ figurehead. Also, it was Donner who worked hardest to secure a reluctant Gene Hackman as ‘Lex Luthor’. Under Richard Donner, Superman became the highest-grossing Warner Bros film in the studio’s history.

 

LADYHAWKE (1985; pictured above, Michelle Pfeiffer and Rutger Hauer in Ladyhawke)
Alongside his 1992 drama Radio Flyer, Ladyhawke is perhaps Donner’s most personal, invested work. The fantasy/romance Ladyhawke stumbled out of the gate at the box-office but has become one of his most beloved films. Lensed by the great Vittorio Storaro and boasting a stunning cast in their photogenic prime (Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Broderick), it was nevertheless a difficult production; Hauer and co-star Leo McKern clashed bitterly, and the remote locations were not suited to a large-scale Hollywood shoot.

THE GOONIES (1985; pictured above, Steven Spielberg, left, on-set with Donner)
Donner shot first-unit footage on this adventure classic; producer Steven Spielberg oversaw second-unit production. The collaboration proved commercial filmmaking gold; The Goonies captured cast lightning in a bottle, hit big with the family audience of the day, and earned generations of fans in its home entertainment afterlife. Upon learning of his passing, Goonies star Sean Astin tweeted, “Richard Donner had the biggest, boomiest voice you could imagine. He commanded attention and he laughed like no man has ever laughed before. Dick was so much fun. What I perceived in him, as a 12 year old kid, is that he cared. I love how much he cared.”

 

LETHAL WEAPON (1987)
In the wake of its goofball sequels, it is largely forgotten that Donner’s original buddy-cop classic beats to a very dark heart; a story centred by a grief-stricken, PTSD sufferer whose dangerous unpredictability and crippling melancholia sees him, in one shocking scene, come within a trigger-finger’s twitch of blowing his own head off. Donner was maturing as a director within the American studio system; with Lethal Weapon, he fearlessly subverted the genre, redefining it for future generations. “I will sorely miss him, with all his mischievous wit and wisdom,” Mel Gibson said, in a press statement, “He was magnanimous of heart and soul, which he liberally gave to all who knew him.”

The SCHULER-DONNER Productions
Alongside his beloved wife Lauren Schuler (already a Hollywood force with hits Mr Mom, Pretty in Pink and St Elmo’s Fire to her name when she paired with her husband professionally), Donner’s integrity and commercial flair came through in his work as producer. Under their Schuler Donner banner, the couple oversaw Three Fugitives (1989), Free Willy (1993) and its sequels; Kevin Kline in Dave (1993); Bulworth (1998), with Warren Beatty; the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan romancer, You’ve Got Mail (1998); Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday (1999); and, the vast X-Men franchise, starting with Bryan Singer’s 2000 original.

SIX EARLYBIRD TITLES EARN SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FEST PLACEMENT

Australian director Gerald Rascionato’s raptor romp CLAW and American indie voice Ben Tedesco’s lockdown timeloop drama NO TOMORROW are the latest feature films to be confirmed for the 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival.

The second annual celebration of speculative cinema is to be held November 3-14 at the Actors Centre Australia in Sydney’s inner-west. The features join the previously-announced VERA DE VERDAD, from Italian director Beniamino Catena, in a program that has grown to 15 sessions in 2021.

Starring Chynna Walker and Richard Rennie as best friends being stalked in an abandoned ghost town by prehistory’s favourite villain, CLAW is the second feature for Rascionato, following 2017’s deep sea creature feature, Cage Dive. Hailing from the far north coast of New South Wales, the LA-based Rascionato and collaborator Joel Hogan shot in remote desert locations through the 2020 pandemic to ready their film for a 2021 release.

Enjoying its Australian Premiere in Sydney, NO TOMORROW is a true auteur’s vision, with Tedesco (pictured, right) starring and assuming production duties on his handmade but very polished film; it was shot on his iPhone 11Pro, GoPro Hero 7 Black and using screen recordings from his MacBook Pro. Filming took place in his parents home in Arizona and en route to his own home in Los Angeles, and all points in between, with the entire shoot adhering to COVID-19 lockdown conditions.      

Also selected from the earlybird submission period were four short films that will debut for Aussie audiences in Sydney:

HIRAETH (Dir: Ryan Andrews; UK). Commander Amber Jones’ mission is to research newly discovered life on Europa. She has courted controversy her entire career, not least because Commander Jones is the daughter of child killer Crista Jones, the first woman to be hanged in Britain in 70-years. Smashing loss and sadness into the limitations of life itself, Hiraeth is a deeply human story of consciousness and loss, raising harrowing questions about the nature of love and the things we do to honour it.

TODAY (Dir: Andrew Jaksch; Aust) Today is November 19th, 1969, and this young successful couple find themselves in a vicious cycle, trapped within an impenetrable void. He wields his power and entitlement like weapons, can she distinguish one day from another? And how does she survive?

BEACON (Dir: Anna Twomey; Aust; pictured, top). Goose is a 16-year-old ‘charger’, a girl whose body produces massive amounts of electricity due to nuclear side-effects. Alongside her warrior older sister, Goose must fight for her freedom from violent raiders, hunting her with the aim of harvesting her energy.

DAILY DRIVER (Dir: Jonathan Adams; Aust; pictured, above). Shane and V.I.N.C.E, a dying old Holden made sentient through artificial intelligence, navigate life and love from polar perspectives.

The 2021 Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival will run November 3-14 at the Actors Centre Australia in Leichhardt, Sydney. 
Web: https://www.sydneysciencefictionfilmfestival.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SydneyScienceFictionFilmFestival
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SydSciFiFest

 Pictured: Chynna Walker in Claw