Next Screening | January 17th, 2014 | Red Obsession

6:30pm - Drinks and Nibbles
7:00pm - Show screened

 

From ABC's 'At The Movies' with Margaret and David

 

Ratings: Margaret: David:

 

The great chateaux of Bordeaux struggle to accommodate the voracious appetite for their rare, expensive wines, which have become a powerful status symbol in booming China.

 

 

Review by Margaret Pomeranz

A most fascinating documentary about the wine industry has been made by Australian filmmakers Warwick Ross and David Roach. RED OBSESSION focuses on the wine producers of Bordeaux, on the 'grand cru' estates, where for centuries the combination of ancient vines, soil, climate and devotion has produced some of the greatest wines in the world. The creation of a good wine is regarded as an art form by the winemakers, the grapes are more miracle than agricultural product.

But with the global financial crisis many traditional markets in the West fell away, leaving it to the rich of China to pick up the slack, which they did with gusto.

This beautifully shot and constructed film, cinematographers Lee Pulbrook, Steve Arnold and editor Paul Murphy must take a lot of credit, with narration by Russell Crowe, is a revelatory account of a crucial moment in history for the famous French vineyards. It is absolutely fascinating, jaw-dropping in some instances when you realize what prices are being talked about here, but at the same time the film is more than the sum of its parts. It's about the commodification of wine, the marketing of brands, the buying for status, it's a cautionary tale of our times. And all this began when Warwick Ross sat next to Master of Wine Andrew Caillard on a plane to London. The journey began there but went on to France, Hong Kong and the outer reaches of China. It really is an epic tale.

 
Director: David Roach and Warwick Ross
Classification: PG
Duration: 79 mins

Release date: 15/08/2013
Release details: Limited national release
Genre: Documentary
Distributor: Roadshow Films

Festivals & Awards:

Cinefest Oz 2013

Melbourne International Film Festival 2013

Sydney Film Festival 2013

 

 

Screened Thursday 28 November 2013

6:30 Drinks and Nibbles, Film Screens at 7pm

RUST AND BONE (2012)

"De rouille et d'os"

Winner, Best Film BFI London Festival, 2012

MA15+ 120 min - Drama | Romance  

Director:

Jacques Audiard

Writers:

Jacques Audiard (screenplay), Thomas Bidegain (screenplay)

Stars:

Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Armand Verdure |

Screened to critical acclaim at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, Rust and Bone now arrives in the Limestone Coast.

It's from the director of the wonderful A Prophet and stars Marion Cotillard as Stephanie, an Orca trainer at a local Marineland Water Park. A chance meeting at a club one night means she meets drop out Alain (Schoenaerts) who's penniless and landed with his 5 year old son.

Despite Alain's attempts to hit on Stephanie failing miserably, the two are forced into each other's respective paths after an accident at the Water Park cuts short her career. Alain is a semi drifter, interested only in one night stands and a lack of real commitment, as opposed to Stephanie's warmer approach to life.

Faced by a life changing situation, Stephanie finds that Alain's aloofness is suddenly engaging and the pair form an unlikely relationship.

Rust and Bone is about two people dealing with their inner demons.  Cotillard is sensational as the trainer who finds she needs unexpected support - her restrained and subtle performance conveys every necessary nuance and emotion without being showy or over-sentimental as these films occasionally have a tendency to be. Likewise, Schoenaerts' dropout may be lacking a lot of emotion and living only from day to day, but he's the perfect foil to Cotillard; a brutal yet downbeat man, who's trying to make his way in the world.

There are a couple of gasp aloud moments within Rust and Bone, but this is an engrossing film, delivering a potent mix, a dramatic cocktail worth drinking down.  

 Official Selection Cannes Film Festival 2012 Toronto International Film Festival 2012 Telluride Film Festival 2012

Screened Thursday 17 October 2013 "TABU"

"TABU"
6:30pm - 7:00pm Drinks and Nibbles
7pm Film screens


WINNER – Berlin Film Festival – FIPRESCI Jury Prize & Alfred Baeur Prize for Artistic Innovation.

★★★★ "Prepare yourselves for a unique cinema experience: a tour de force of great beauty, whimsy and emotion. It’s really, really something special. It’s sublime.”Margaret Pomeranz, ABC AT THE MOVIES 

★★★★★ “I fell in love with it. I just fell under the spell. It is so rewarding.”David Stratton, ABC AT THE MOVIES 

“The most enjoyable and creatively ambitious film I’ve seen this year…Swooningly romantic. Simply glorious.”Tim Robey, THE TELEGRAPH UK 

IMDB rating 7.3 out of 10.

A love story told in two unique parts, TABU is, quite simply, a film unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Deftly moving between contemporary Portugal, colonial Africa and the landscape of dreams, director Miguel Gomes conjures an enthralling story of obsession, memory and dangerous forbidden romance.

In part one, ‘Paradise Lost’, we follow the seemingly ordinary daily life of a devout Lisbon woman, Pilar (Teresa Madruga) and her attempts to support and console her extravagant and bitter neighbour Aurora (Laura Soveral), who spends her day gambling at the local casino and whose grip on reality is clearly becoming tenuous; she’s convinced her stoic maid Santa is secretly practicing voodoo spells against her. 

When Aurora’s health takes a turn, a stranger is summoned to her deathbed and it gradually transpires this man is Gian Luca, the love of her life from the distant past. His confession to Pilar of their doomed youthful affair forms the basis of the film’s second extraordinary chapter, ‘Paradise’, set 50 years prior at an African farm in the foothills of Mount Tabu… 

Playfully interpreting and rearranging history, Gomes’ film is somehow both technically and narratively subversive and yet inescapably romantic, in no small way thanks to the sensuous black and white cinematography and incredible score and sound design. Where part one portrays a society wallowing in nostalgia, the second propels a dramatic shift in tone and emotional power, delivering everything the characters – and we – may dream of, and live for.



TRAILER
http://www.palacefilms.com.au/tabu/

Director: Miguel Gomes
Cast: Teresa Madruga, Laura Soveral, Ana Moreira, Henrique Espírito Santo, Carloto Cotta, Isabel Cardoso, Ivo Müller, Manuel Mesquita
Duration: 118 mins
Country of Origin: Portugal

Rated MA Strong s_x scene and nudity

Screened Thursday 5 September 2013 | The Sessions

AGM is 5.30pm at the theatre

All positions are vacated. Some founding members are retiring. New committee members will be needed.  If you want to find out more please contact reelsatwehl@gmail.com and give us your phone number, one of the committee can call you to answer questions.

The Sessions

6.30pm drinks and nibbles
7.00pm film screens

4.5 stars David 4 stars Margaret
7.2/10 IMDB

A man in an iron lung who wishes to lose his virginity contacts a professional sex surrogate with the help of his therapist and priest.

Starring Academy Award® Nominee John Hawkes, Academy Award® Nominee William H. Macy and Academy Award® Winner Helen Hunt, the film is based on the true story of California–based journalist and poet Mark O’Brien. 
Portrayed by the exceptionally gifted John Hawkes – who gives a career-defining performance, O’Brien’s story is the immensely poignant and surprisingly funny tale of a man, paralyzed by polio who - at age 38 – is determined to finally lose his virginity.


Trailer: http://www.thesessions.co.uk/

Director: Ben Lewin
Producer: Judi Levine, Ben Lewin, Stephen Nemeth
Cast: William H Macy, Moon Bloodgood
Classification: MA
Duration: 95 mins
Genre: Drama
Lead actor: John Hawkes and Helen Hunt
Screenplay: Ben Lewin
Music: Marco Beltrami
Distributor: 20th Century Fox

Language: English

Screened "A Quiet Life (Una vita tranquilla)"

A Quiet Life (Una vita tranquilla)

Thursday 18th July 2013
6.30pm drink and nibbles
7.00pm film screens

A sophisticated crime drama from the Lavazza Italian Film Festival.

A brilliant addition to the new wave of sophisticated Italian crime films that focus more on character than action, A Quiet Life is further complemented by Toni Servillo who delivers a riveting performance as a man hiding a dark secret. This critically acclaimed, slow-burn dramatic thriller from Claudio Cupellini (Lessons in Chocolate) is a must-see festival highlight.

Rosario Russo (Servillo) is living near Frankfurt where he runs a restaurant and hotel and has integrated perfectly into the local community with his family. He keeps a low profile, he has changed his name and he speaks German. Life is good, until one day the introverted Diego (Marco D'Amore) and street-smart Edoardo (Francesco Di Leva) turn up at the hotel, looking for a room. Soon their sinister assignment is revealed, dragging Rosario back into the past.

Director Claudio Cupellini has created a tense thriller, moodily shot in grey winter light, edited at a breathless pace with a slick script and sensational soundtrack. But it is the three standout performances, including the ever popular Toni Servillo, that are so compelling in this modern day Greek tragedy.

"Displays slickness on all levels."SCREEN DAILY

"A psychological thriller of unusual depth, “A Quiet Life” reps a significant leap forward for sophomore helmer Claudio Cupellini (“Lessons in Chocolate”), revealing a level of stylistic control and narrative force that should catapult him onto the list of Italo directors to watch. A rare international co-production that feels organically right, the pic boasts the considerable thesping talent of Toni Servillo as a marked man hiding from his mob past." VARIETY

Rome Film Festival 2010
Winner – Best Leading Actor

Director:
Claudio Cupellini

Cast: 
Toni Servillo, Marco D'Amore, Francesco Di Leva.

Running time: 105 minutes

Rating: M+

Screened "Angels' Share" Thursday 27th June 2013

6.30pm drinks and nibbles
7.00pm 'Angels' Share' screens

****.5 stars Margaret **** stars David 

IMBD 7/10

A bittersweet comedy about a Glasgow boy locked in a family feud who just wants a way out. When Robbie sneaks into the maternity hospital to visit his young girlfriend Leonie and hold his newborn son Luke for the first time, he is overwhelmed. He swears that Luke will not lead the same stricken life he has led.

On community service Robbie meets Rhino, Albert and Mo for whom, like him, work is little more than a distant dream. Little did Robbie imagine that turning to drink might change their lives - not cheap fortified wine, but the best malt whiskies in the world.

What will it be for Robbie? More violence and vendettas or a new future with ‘Uisge Beatha’, the ‘Water of Life’?

Only the angels know...

Director: Ken Loach
Producer: Rebecca O'Brien
Cast: John Henshaw, Gary Maitland, Jasmin Riggins, William Ruane
Classification: MA
Duration: 101 mins
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Lead actor: Paul Brannigan
Screenplay: Paul Laverty
Language: English


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iELanfA565Y


Won 2012 Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival

Screened "Chinese Takeaway"

Thursday 16 May 2013
6.30pm drink and nibbles
7.00pm film screens

Winner of Best Film and the Audience Award at the Rome International Film Festival, CHINESE TAKEAWAY is a comedy following the relationship between a reclusive Spanish hardware store owner and a Chinese immigrant, thrown together by an absurd twist of fate.

For over 20 years, introverted hardware store owner Roberto (Ricardo Darín, THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES) has lived virtually shut off from the outside. After a chance encounter with Jun, a Chinese man who has arrived in Argentina looking for his only living relative, Roberto takes him in. Their unusual cohabitation helps Roberto bring an end to his loneliness, but not without revealing to the impassive Jun that destiny's intersections are many and they can even divulge the film's surreal opening sequence: a brindled cow falling from the sky.

The end credits reveal that one of the most unlikely elements of the plot was actually based on an incredible real-life incident that gave the writer-director the inspiration for the film in the first place. Truth is certainly stranger than fiction, it seems.

"...the character that is created, he's so obsessive. I love the moment you meet him. He is counting out nails in a box of 500 and absolutely incensed because there's ten short." Margaret Pomeranz, ABC's At the Movies

7.2/10 IMDB

3.5 stars Margaret and David

Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDhNkFDPbeQ

Director: Sebastian Borensztein
Producer: Pablo Bossi, Juan Pablo Buscarini, Gerardo Herrero, Axel Kuschevatzky, Ben Odell
Cast: Muriel Santa Ana, Ignacio Huang, Enric Cambray
Classification: M
Duration: 106 mins
Genre: Drama
Lead actor: Ricardo Darin
Screenplay: Sebastian Borensztein
Music: Lucio Godoy
Distributor: Rialto Distribution
Country: Argentina

Language: Spanish/Mandarin with English subtitles

Screened "Marley"

4th April 2013
6.30pm for pre-screening drink and nibbles
7.00pm film screens


Bob Marley's universal appeal, impact on music history and role as a social and political prophet is both unique and unparalleled. 

MARLEY is the definitive life story of the musician, revolutionary, and legend, from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best.
Directed by Kevin MacDonald.

7.8 out of 10 IMDB rating

Trailer http://www.magpictures.com/marley/

Rated PG 13
In English

Screened "We have a Pope"

Thursday 14 March 2013
6.30pm complimentary glass of wine and nibbles
7.00pm film screens

We have a Pope (Habemus Papam)

"Brilliantly witty."
THE GUARDIAN

Following the funeral of the Pope, the red robed cardinals convene to elect a successor. Cardinal Gregori (Renato Scarpa) is the odds-on favorite but surprisingly is beaten in the second round by French cardinal Melville (Michel Piccoli.) The decision made, Melville is led towards the balcony to address the waiting crowds of the faithful but experiences a last minute panic and flees.

While the Vatican spokesman, (Jerzy Stuhr) madly troubleshoots, a psychoanalyst (Nanni Moretti) is brought in to assess and cure the future pontiff. Memorable characters and Piccoli's incredible performance as the frail old Cardinal make this comedy a delight. Moretti co-wrote a script that is full of inventive moments and cements him is one of the most creative filmmakers in Italy today.

At the Cannes screening of the film (where it was in competition), Moretti (The Son's Room) was moved to tears when he received a 10 minute standing ovation.


Cannes Film Festival 2011
In Competition

Nastri d'argento Awards 2011
Winner - Best Director,
Best Cinematography,
Best Costume Design,
Best Original Story, Best Producer,
Best Production Design.

Director:
Nanni Moretti, 2011 | 102'

Cast: 
Michel Piccoli, Nanni Moretti, Jerzy Stuhr, Renato Scarpa, Margherita Buy.

Language:
Italian with English subtitles

Trailer http://www.italianfilmfestival.com.au/2011/films/wehaveapope/

Screened | Valentine's Day 14 February | Country Wedding

'Country Wedding'

Valentine's Day, Thursday 14 February 2013

Drinks and nibbles 6.30pm

Film screens 7pm

Mt Gambier’s official film society, Reels at Wehl, brings a film to Mount Gambier that has been screened at film festivals in London, Paris, New York, Chicago, Toronto and other international cities. The film ‘Country Wedding’ will screen on Valentine’s Day, Thursday 14^th February at 7pm at Wehl Street Theatre.

‘Country Wedding’ follows the comic misadventures of a bridal party that leaves from Reykiavik (Iceland) on two buses for a rustic, romantic wedding. Only two people know the location of the venue, so getting lost forms part of the comedy.  ‘Country Wedding’ was shot in only seven days with multiple cameras supervised by ‘Slumdog Millionaire’s’ cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantie. The first time director, Valdis Óskarsdóttir has worked on the films of Gus Van Sant and Lars von Trier among others.

When Reels has screened on Valentine’s day over the last five years there is a full house and they suggest people gather by 6.30pm. Reels at Wehl Film Society is membership based due to copyright laws and new members are always welcome with a minimum three films membership ($30 or $27 concession). Memberships include a complimentary glass of wine and nibbles. Drinks and nibbles are from 6.30pm and the film screens 7.00pm.

‘Country Wedding’ is rated M.