TWO FILMS, ONE NIGHT - A REELS FILM SOCIETY DOUBLE BILL TO LAUNCH 2016

Thursday 21st January 2016

Reels Film Society opens their 2016 season of International cinema  with a rare offering, a double bill.  Not just 1 award winning film, but 2 for the price of 1!

THE MAFIA ONLY KILLS IN SUMMER (Italy 2015)

This film was inspired by real events and is a black comedy about 20 years of history of Sicily from 1970s to 1990s, mocking mafia bosses and restoring the generosity of the heroes of antimafia. 
An original film, entertaining and well executed.  No pun intended!
The overall result is a winsome film that is filled with romance, dark humour and wistful nostalgia.

Starring and Directed by "Pif" Pierfrancesco Diliberto.
Rating: IMDb 7.2
Running time: 89 minutes

Film Number 2:  

TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (Belgium 2013)

Sandra, (Marion Cotillard) a young Belgian mother discovers that her workmates have opted for a significant pay bonus, in exchange for her dismissal.  She has only one weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses so she can keep her job.

Starring Marion Cotillard
Genre: Drama
Running time: 95 minutes
Ratings: IMDb 7.4  Margaret and David of ABC's At The Movies 4 stars and 4.5 stars respectively.

THE ROCKET - Thursday 17th December 2015

The Rocket (2013) directed by Australia's Kim Mordaunt is set in the rarely seen tribal mountains of Laos, this movie is gripping, yet heart warming cinema in the vein of The Motorcycle Diaries, Slumdog Millionaire, with a touch of Little Miss Sunshine.

The Rocket was awarded Best Narrative, Best Actor and the Audience Winner at the Tribeca Film Festival, New York.

Three months after its release the Lao People's Democratic Republic banned The Rocket from its few cinemas.

"A feel-good success crafted with care, Kim Mordaunt's story  set  in Laos is a heartfelt audience pleaser while remaining sensitive toward its subjects"

Genre: Drama

Running time: 96 minutes

Ratings: IMDb-7.4

Rotten Tomatoes - 98% approval rating!

To quote: James Brown, this is a "I Feel Good" movie.  So good, so good.

WADJDA (Saudi Arabia 2013) Thursday 19th November

Wadjda, a startling assured new voice from a corner of the globe where cinema has been all but silenced.

An enterprising Saudi girl signs on for her school's Koran recitation competition as a way to raise the remaining funds she needs in order to buy the green bicycle that has captured her interest.

Five years in the making, Wadjda was shot on location in the streets of the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh. 

Starring: Wadd Abdullah, Reem Abdullah
Genre: Drama/Comedy
Running time: 98 minutes
Classification: PG

Critical acclaim:
IMDb: 7.6
Rotten Tomatoes: 99%!
Metacritic: 8.1

"By any standards, this [is] a fine, moving film and essential viewing for anyone who cares about contempary cinema" David Stratton

Thursday 15th October we show SUPERCONDRIAQUE (Fr.)

If laughter is the best medicine, this is the perfect prescription.

Romain Faubert is forty years old, unmarried, has no children. His work for an online medical dictionary exacerbates the pathological hypochondria which has guided his existence for far too long and which has turned him into a neurotic.

His only true friend is his GP, who once felt fond of his patient, but who now bitterly regrets this. The imaginary invalid is difficult to manage and his GP would give anything to get rid of him for good. His  doctor thinks he's found the remedy to both their problems “dating”. But finding the rare gem who is able to stand Romain and to cure him of his hypochondria through love proves more difficult than expected. ...

Release: 2014 As yet unreleased in Australia.

Starring: Dany Boon, Alice Pol

Genre: Very funny "tres drole"

Running time: 103 minutes.

THE BABADOOK Screening on WEDNESDAY 30th September

In a shadowy suburban house in Adelaide, Amelia, ESSIE DAVIS, lives with her 6-year-old son, Samuel, NOAH WISEMAN. Amelia has never quite recovered from the death of her husband, Oskar, in a car crash the day Samuel was born. She's a kindly woman, who works in a home for old people and worries about the violent tendencies of her hyper-active son. Sam produces a book, Mr. Babadook, and asks his mother to read it - and then strange and frightening events begin to happen.

Writer-director Jennifer Kent succeeded at Sundance with this minimalist but very effective horror film. Working on a limited budget Kent has achieved a great deal. The film's chief success is in the acting. Essie Davis gives an exceptionally fine performance as the traumatised woman whose terror grows as the film proceeds while young Noah Wiseman is quite remarkable as the out-of-control Samuel, sweet and loving one moment, diabolical the next.

No cheap jump scares, this real psychological thriller boasts a heartfelt, genuinely moving story to boot.

Margaret & David from ABC's At The Movies awarded The Babadook 4.5* and 4* stars respectively

?? FILM SOCIETY AUGUST 20th - "Living is Easy with Eyes Closed" Spain 2014

Entertaining and fun movie filled with interesting characters, humour, drama and good feeling.
Living Is Easy With Your Eyes Closed (Vivir Es Facil Con Los Ojos Cerrados) landed the top 2 Spanish Film Academy prizes, at the 2014 Goya Awards --best film and best director as well as 4 other awards including best soundtrack.

Inspired by actual events in 1966, it's a comedy road movie about an English teacher (Javier Camera) obsessed with the Beatles who motivates his students using Beatles music.  He hears that John Lennon is in Almeria, Spain making the movie "How I Won the War" and he decides to go there.  Along the way he, Antonio, picks up two runaway passengers, a teenager and a pregnant girl.  They were looking for John Lennon but they found themselves.


This is a marvellous ode to adolescence, plenty of innocence, friendship, cooperation, curiosity and comradeship.  The director David Trueba shows the important and universal values through the minds of adolescents.

Rated: M
Running time: 108 min

"An absolute delight -- Gorgeous, it's really gorgeous."

Margaret Pomeranz ABC's At the Movies 4****

"Terrifically enjoyable ---it's a lovely film, I liked it so much."

David Stratton ABC's At the Movies 4****

REELS FILM SOCIETY JULY 23rd 2015

Thursday 23rd July at the SRHT

"NEBRASKA" (USA) 2013

Reels Film Society is delighted to bring you "NEBRASKA" nominated for 6 Academy Awards and the prestigious Palme d'Or award at Cannes in 2013.

This is the story about a cantankerous old b.....d by the name of Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) who can barely walk down the street of his home in Billings, Montana, without stopping for a drink. So when Woody receives receives a sweepstakes notice in the mail and insists on making a 750-mile trip to Lincoln, Nebraska, to collect his prize, it falls to baffled son David (Will Forte) to accompany him. During a stop in their Nebraska hometown, word gets out about Woody's fortune, first making him a hero, then later, the target of predatory people.

Genre: A Drama filmed in black and white. 

Classification:   MA+

Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb and Stacy Keach.

IMDB rating:  7.8
Rotten Tomatoes: 91%
Running time: 115 minutes

See you at the Sir Robert Helpmann Theatre on the 23rd July 2015