Throughout November, Rialto Channel is screening a diverse collection of films from Australian filmmakers on Wednesday evenings. This week catch The Infinite Man, the debut feature film from director, producer and editor Hugh Sullivan, and coming up next week is Cut Snake, the 1970s set crime thriller by Tony Ayres (The Turning, Walking on Water).
Throughout November, Rialto Channel is screening a diverse collection of films from Australian filmmakers on Wednesday evenings. This week catch The Infinite Man, the debut feature film from director, producer and editor Hugh Sullivan, and coming up next week is Cut Snake, the 1970s set crime thriller by Tony Ayres (The Turning, Walking on Water).
Wednesday 18th November, 8.30pm … The Infinite Man
With four short films under his belt, Australian writer-director Hugh Sullivan released his debut feature film in 2014. It’s sci-fi romantic comedy about Dean (Josh McConville) an obsessive inventor who plans the perfect anniversary weekend for his girlfriend Lana (Hannah Marshall) in a now abandoned seaside hotel, only to have it interrupted by her brutish ex boyfriend Terry (Alex Dimitriades). After the day ends badly, Dean creates a time travel machine allowing him and Lana to travel back in time to put the day right, but the two get stuck in an infinite metaphysical time loop. What’s clever about this film is that Sullivan obviously had a meager budget to work with and while you can see this in the use of one location, minimal wardrobe changes and few characters, he’s still produced a smart, ambitious film. The black humour works well, and for a film with a romance at the heart of it, it’s devoid of any sentimentality of mushy bits – instead The Infinite Man reminds us of how messy real life is.
Saturday 21st November 8.30pm… Lucky Them
Toni Collette is fabulous in this flick that’s part romantic comedy, part road trip and part drama about a Seattle based magazine music critic and features writer whose latest assignment is to go in search of her ex-boyfriend who mysteriously disappeared ten years ago. Collette plays Ellie Klug, the alter ego of Emily Wachtel, who co-wrote this semi-autobiographical story with Huck Botko. She’s supported by a fabulous that includes Olivier Platt as Ellie’s pot smoking boss, The Blacklist’s Ryan Eggold as Ellie’s love interest and Nina Arianda as her best friend. Its also stars Thomas Haden Church in the oddball role of Charlie, a wealthy and eccentric old boyfriend Ellie hits up to help fund her search for her other ex boyfriend, the cult rock hero Matthew Smith. At first, Church’s character is jarring and his inclusion in this story feels clunky, but it’s hard to resist someone who makes self-proclamations such as “There’s a crispness to my writing that I enjoy.” Lucky Them touches on the price of fame and conjures up memories of Kurt Cobain, and yet it’s a film about those left behind and what they face in not knowing what happened to their loved ones. Collette is utterly convincing as a woman dealing with loss, and presents us with one of the most heartbreaking and memorable climax’s you’ll ever see in a rom com.
Sunday 22nd November, 8.30pm… The Trials of Jimmy Rose
One man’s journey toward some semblance of redemption ends in this final instalment of The Trials of Jimmy Rose, and while it’s a conclusion, it ain’t happy by any means.
Ray Winstone and Amanda Redman stared together in the cult gangster film Sexy Beast (2000) and in this gritty British drama, they team up together again as husband and wife. Winstone is Jimmy, a career criminal released from a 12 year stretch in jail to find his family in ruins. His son disowns him, and his wife Jackie (Redman) isn’t sure whether she still loves him or not. Jimmy tries to go straight but when he discovers his heroin granddaughter is shacked up with a drug dealer, he’s drawn back into the violent criminal world in order to save her. Winstone is fabulous as a working class criminal, a role he’s played often throughout his life and has mastered well. Redman is as usual, a class act. Sparsely written and directed with nuance, this superbly acted mini series is compelling stuff.