This week on Primal Screen, Flick Ford is joined by Vyshnavee Wijekumar for a jam-packed episode!

First up, we preview Cinema Reborn, an annual film festival dedicated to the restoration and celebration of cinema history. Flick chats with festival organisers Grace Boschetti and Digby Houghton about this year’s program and the importance of film preservation. The festival runs May 8–13 at Lido Cinemas. Learn more about the program via the Cinema Reborn website.

We also review two compelling new series: The Narrow Road to the Deep North is based on Richard Flanagan’s acclaimed novel, is a new Australian miniseries that follows WWII army surgeon and prisoner of war on the Thai Burmese railways Dorrigo, both sustain and haunted by his past. Directed by Justin Kurzel and starring Jacob Elordi, it’s now streaming on Amazon Prime.

Dying for Sex is a bold new comedy-drama on Disney+ and stars Michelle Williams as a woman diagnosed with stage IV cancer who embarks on a journey of sexual discovery, with support from her best friend, played by Jenny Slate.

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This week we welcome back our beloved host, Flick Ford! Joined by guests Thomas Caldwell and Cerise Howard.

We review Levan Akin’s deeply touching film Crossing, about a retired teacher searching for her estranged niece, a trans woman, with the help of a young man as her translator. It raises challenging issues – particularly around people whose identity has meant they have been isolated from family – and yet it is such a warm, inviting film.

Then we compare Stanley Kubrick’s frighteningly hilarious Dr. Stranglove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb with its filmed theatrical adaptation from the National Theatre, NT Live: Dr. Strangelove. In the latter, Steve Coogan plays four roles in the world premiere stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s comedy masterpiece, often described as the best political satire of the century, about a rogue U.S. General who triggers a nuclear attack.

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It’s Boy Week on Primal Screen, as guest host Alice McShane is joined by Will Cox and Maudie Osborne to take us through discussions and reviews of the boy-heavy releases Warfare, Sinners, and The Rehearsal.

Warfare is the latest film from A24, with director Alex Garland (Civil War, Ex Machina) turning his attention to the war genre. Following a squad of soldiers throughout a particularly fraught battle, the film is set in real time and is a masterclass in building tension and terror for the big screen.

Sinners, directed by Ryan Coogler (Black Panther, Fruitvale Station), follows two brothers who return to their small Southern town in the 1930s to open a juke joint—hoping to build a sanctuary for their community. But their dream takes a dark turn as the racist townsfolk intervene, unleashing a wave of sinister and supernatural events.

The Rehearsal returns for a second season from ‘sinister nerd’ Nathan Fielder, who uses this offbeat ‘documentary’ series to explore a single, surreal question: What if you could rehearse every moment of your life? With a team of actors and meticulously crafted sets that mirror reality down to the smallest detail, Fielder turns hypothetical anxieties into elaborate experiments.

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Eloise Ross jumped into the host seat this week to interview Australia’s unofficial Merle Oberon expert, Rohan Spong. In light of the recent book, Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood’s First South Asian Star and a new creative project Rohan is working on, they discuss Oberon’s contribution to Hollywood. She was the first person of South Asian decent to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, though she spent her life pretending to be born in Australia and her heritage was only made public after her death.

Thomas Caldwell also joined the show to discuss misanthropic critic of contemporary culture, Michael Haneke. The Austrian filmmaker’s body of work is deceptively humanistic and will be celebrated in upcoming seasons from both the Melbourne Cinémathèque and ACMI, starting Wednesday 16 April and Thursday 17 April respectively.

They review Tim Mielants's Small Things Like These, based on Claire Keegan's Booker Prize nominated novel. Starring Oscar-winner Cillian Murphy, the absorbing slow burn reveals the uncomfortable horrors lurking just below the surface of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.

Tune in to Primal Screen each week at 7pm Mondays on Triple R 102.7FM.

Triple R's April Amnesty is on now!

Subscribe and donate to help keep our beloved community radio station on the airwaves for another year!

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This week, we're diving into three titles that, in their own unique ways, critique capitalist systems and corruption through humor and satire. Join Anthony Carew, Alice McShane, and Will Cox for their reviews of THE WHITE LOTUS, THE STUDIO and DEATH OF A UNICORN.

THE WHITE LOTUS has just aired its third season finale, and we have a lot to discuss. Set at the fictional high end resort The White Lotus, each season follows a group of wealthy holiday makers in increasingly luxurious locations, with one person going home in a body bag at the end of their stay.

THE STUDIO is the most recent prestige tv release from Apple Studios - and follows Seth Rogan's Matt Remick who has recently been promoted to run the fictional Continental Studios. Howver, his goal to produce films that are high in profit and high in artistic value proves a tall order.

DEATH OF A UNICORN follows a father and daughter after they accidentally hit and kill a unicorn on their way to a weekend retreat at the home of his millionaire pharmaceutical boss, who sees an opportunity to exploit the creature for profit, leading to a comedy horror that offers a gory, "eat the rich" satire of capitalism and greed.

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This week we reviewed three films that all opened in Australian cinemas last week, but otherwise have little else in common.

Our guest host Thomas Caldwell was joined by Silvi Vann-Wall and Vyshnavee Wijekumar.

They discuss Richard Gere’s reunion with American Gigolo writer and director Paul Schrader in Oh, Canada (also starring Uma Thurman and Jacob Elordi); the first fully animated Looney Tunes feature film, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, showcasing magnificent craftsmanship in its 2D animation and hitting the nostalgic feels; and Kazuhiro Soda's observationist documentary The Cats of Gokogu Shrine, which reveals a community collectively caring for stray cats.

Incidentally, the theme for Primal Screen this week was volunteer-run organisations that make it possible to watch films on the big screen with an audience, that you otherwise mightn’t.

The small but mighty teams behind both Melbourne Women in Film Festival (MWFF) and the Melbourne Cinémathèque do extraordinary work to bring unique films to the cinema.

Our guest host Cerise Howard speaks with Sian Mitchell, Artistic Director of MWFF, about the festival’s mission to champion the work of Australian filmmakers and showcase stories about and by women and gender-diverse folk.

Cerise and Eloise Ross, both co-curators of the Melbourne Cinémathèque, also discuss the upcoming season “Out of the Past and Into Flares: Neo-Noir in ‘70s America”, which explores how America’s fractured psyche was reflected on screen during this vibrant and chaotic period. If you're wondering what the difference between "noir" and "neo-noir" is, you'd best listen back.

MWFF runs 20-24 March.

“Out of the Past and Into Flares: Neo-Noir in ‘70s America” runs 26 March-9 April.

Thanks to Karl Chapman for working the panel this week.

It’s Oscars fever in the studio this week! Even if you don’t have a medically certifiable diagnosis of fever, perhaps you have some milder symptoms still attributable to the 97th Academy Awards – it’s hard not to get a little lightheaded at Hollywood’s night of nights.

Anthony Carew jumps into the guest host chair this week with Thomas Caldwell and Vyshnavee Wijekumar, dissecting the highs and lows of this year’s Academy Awards before getting into the “real cinema”.

They review Mohammad Rasoulof’s devastating political thriller about a family’s disintegration, The Seed of the Sacred Fig; Walter Salles’ masterful historical drama based on a true story set against the backdrop of Brazil’s oppressive military dictatorship in the 1970s, I’m Still Here; and Mati Diop’s playful hybrid docu-fiction following 26 looted cultural objects from France back to Benin, Dahomey.

This week on Primal Screen, guest host Alice takes us through reviews of Andrea Arnold's stunning tribute to childhood in BIRD as well as THE LAST SHOWGIRL that holds what could be the performance of Pamela Anderson's career. We also hear from Rough Cut Films to discuss on their 'Summer Sacraments' event on March 1, presented alongside Static Vision Film Collective.

Included as well is the full interview interview with Charles Williams, director of the newly released prison thriller INSIDE, starring Guy Pierce and Cosmo Jarvis.

Tune in to Primal Screen on Monday nights from 7pm on @3rrr 102.7

This week on Primal Screen, guest host Will Cox is joined by Alex McShane to review Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy and Grand Tour.

Our favourite frazzled English woman is back for this Valentine’s Day-released rom-com. Renee Zellweger returns to the role of Bridget Jones, this time as a single mother of two facing the prospect of re-starting her love life. New love interests are played by Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor, as well as old flame Daniel Cleaver played by Hugh Grant. This is the fourth instalment of the series, and is based off Helen Fielder’s novels.

In contrast, Grand Tour is set in colonial-era South East Asia during the First World War. Stationed in Rangoon, British civil servant Edward miserably awaits the arrival of his fiancé Molly, until he decides to flee to Singapore. The resulting lover’s chase across the continent is a dreamy adventure, across jungles, over rivers, and through teeming cities. The film also incorporates hybrid-documentary elements and experimental tableaux, for which Miguel Gomes was awarded Best Director at Cannes last year.

Will also speaks with Associate Professor Stephen Gaunson from RMIT about Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Seven Samurai, screening in stunning 4K at the Capitol Theatre on Tuesday, February 25.

Plus, Spiro Economopoulos, Creative Director of the Europa! Europa Film Festival, joins the show to discuss this year’s program of arthouse European cinema, running from February 12 to March 12.

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