the Curb

Lars and the Real Girl is Craig Gillespie's 2007 indie comedy-drama about a man who has an unconventional relationship with a sex doll. That man is a young Ryan Gosling, who is supported by Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Patricia Clarkson, and Bianca the Doll.

Umbrella Entertainment have released an impressive collectors edition of the film which features custom artwork, a poster, artcards, essays, an audio commentary by Thomas Caldwell, and more.

Nadine Whitney reviews the film, the disc, and the extras in this podcast discussion.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. For an exclusive, extended interview with Jane Larkin, visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your film loving friends.

We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories from filmmakers to a wider audience.

Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Before commencing her career as a filmmaker, Jane Larkin was an Australian representative sprinter, pushing her body to the limits on the track. In the moments of preparation, cooldowns, and every minute in between, Jane was building friendships, learning from fellow athletes, and seeing a world of sports that we rarely get to see in cinema.

After shifting over to acting in 2018, Jane embraced roles in films like Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives and the Netflix series Boy Swallows Universe, before commencing on her biggest creative project yet: The Edge. Jane wears multiple hats on her feature film debut, embracing the role of director, writer, producer, and co-lead actor, as she plays the role of Annie Murphy.

Like Jane, Annie is a sprinter, and it's her performance, alongside fellow athletes-turned-actors, Lily Riley a powerlifter who plays Sylvia, and paralympic swimmer Mei Ichinose who plays Yui, that gives The Edge a docu-drama feeling. This is ultimately a film about the world of sport, and to get that holistic perspective, Jane consciously brings us into the lives of Annie, Sylvia, and Yui, with each given their chance to explore their lived perspectives of women in the world of athletics.

Jane's script comfortably gives space for each actor to explore the realities of sports: the visceral nature of vomiting during training, the prevalence of sexual abuse, the continued harassment and criticism which leads to complex relationships with body images. But, while these are heavy subjects to present on screen, Jane consciously gives them space to breath by imbuing each character with another aspect that is rarely seen on screen from a woman's perspective: friendship in competitive spaces.

As Annie, Sylvia, and Yui don't directly compete with one another on a sports level, a lesser film might find space to have them compete with each other outside of the sporting arena. It's then comforting to see The Edge delve into supportive relationships, with each character given the other the space to be nurtured, heard, and guided through whatever challenges they're facing. The Edge's levity and warmth comes from these core relationships, allowing the film to resonate long after its finished.

These aspects are also elevated by scenes that carry immense visual weight, whether it be a closing shot of the women on a beach, or the overwhelming in tone underwater shots of Yui. In the following interview, Jane refers to one of cinemas great sporting films - Chariots of Fire - as an inspiration for her creative work as a filmmaker, and it's in these moments of invigoration, captured brilliantly by cinematographer Ben Knibb, that The Edge makes its mark as an impressive entry in the Australian sports genre.

This is an expansive interview which ranges from Jane discussing her decision to shift from athletics to acting, how she managed that docu-drama vibe, and finally, talking about the films upcoming world premiere at the Gold Coast Film Festival on Friday 2 May 2025. The Edge will also have an encore screening on Tuesday 6 May 2025. For all ticketing details, visit GCFF.com.au.

Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andres Veiel's latest documentary, Riefenstahl, delves into the dark and deep archive of the private estate of Leni Riefenstahl, exposing the deep ties the filmmaker had with the Nazi regime. Andres uses footage and correspondence from Riefenstahl's own personal records, including hidden interviews and documents that present a different side of a director who has been both acclaimed and criticised for her role in the rising Nazi regime.

Riefenstahl is a powerful and impactful film that shows just how deep the director was within Hitler's regime, and how much she tried to micro-manage her own public facing image, down to the point of giving precise direction to those who were interviewing her. This is captivating work from Andres Veiel.

In the above interview with Andres Veiel, recorded ahead of Riefenstahl's Australian screenings at the German Film Festival, which Andres will be in attendance for, the documentarian talks about the importance of creating the final statement on Leni Riefenstahl's filmography at this point in time.

Riefenstahl screens nationally from 30 April 2025 at the German Film Festival. Visit GermanFilmFestival.com.au for screening details.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your film loving friends.

We'd also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories from filmmakers to a wider audience.

Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Saskia Archer is an actor on the rise. From the streets of Sydney, to the turf of Tasmania where she embarked on a path to become a paramedic, to a shift to WA where she built her acting skills at the WA Academy of Performing Arts, and now, to the bustling city of New York, Saskia is seeing the world and forging a path in acting doing so.

Genre-fans might know Saskia from the 2022 flick The Reef: Stalked, where she played Annie, while others might know her as her turn as Hanabeth in Bali 2022. For these roles, and more to come, including a turn in Shane Black's upcoming film Play Dirty, Saskia leans on her foundations as an empathy-first actor, utilising her skills to change audiences moods and emotions.

In the following interview, Saskia talks through her path into acting, what kinds of roles and actors she looks up to, how her initial training as a paramedic informs her acting work, and a lot more. Follow Saskia on Instagram to keep up with her future projects.

We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. For an exclusive, unedited version of this interview, visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month.

Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eli Craig smashed onto the slasher scene with his genre-defying comedy event Tucker & Dale VS Evil, and he's back with another slasher that upends expectations: Clown in a Cornfield.

Clown in a Cornfield is based on the first entry in Adam Cesare's Frendo series which chucks a group of teens into the mayhem of a Midwestern American town where they find themselves picked off by a growing group of killer clowns. Eli Craig then takes that terror from the page and supplants it brilliantly with a satirical and savvy stance, making one of the most enjoyably subversive horror flicks of the year so far.

It's also one of the most timely too, as it's a horror film about the flyover states of America, yet it's shot in Canada. That added layer of political devilishness is one of the things that I ask Eli about in the following interview.

This chat is an open one from Eli, with the horror director talking about the journey of Tucker & Dale VS Evil from being an unseen flick to a cult classic which has fans demanding a sequel. Eli also talks about the journey of adapting Adam's books for the screen, before making a statement for horror film fans around the world, myself included: If you want more Clown in the Cornfield films, then go and see the first one in cinemas.

And for Aussie audiences, you'll be able to do that very soon.

Clown in a Cornfield makes its Australian premiere at Fantastic Film Festival Australia on 26 April at the Lido in Hawthorn and the Ritz Randwick. It then is unleashed nation wide on 8 May. This is a film you'll want to see with a screaming audience.

We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month.

Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every so often, you sit down to watch a film, and find that it unexpectedly fills a hole you didn't know you had in your life. You might not know you needed a charming, dose of positivity in that moment, but as the seconds tick over, you find yourself being swept along in a wave of joy that your day shifts and things that would usually bother you suddenly bounce off you, even if it's just for a day.

That's what I experienced when I watched Jesse Leaman's delightful short film, Mother of Chooks, a pure hearted documentary about Elaine James, a Geelong local who becomes connected with her local community thanks to her strong relationship with her flock of chickens. She's got frizzles, wyandottes, bantams, and a glorious Isa Brown named Flapper, and each morning she bundles up her feathered friends and heads out into the world. Elaine and her chooks chat together at a local cafe, or take to the beach for a spot of swimming. For the chooks that aren't partial to the waves, they go for a spin on the local playground.

It's all very sweet and delightful in a manner that skews away from twee and saccharine. See, Mother of Chooks leans into Elaine's relationship with her chooks, touching on the loss of family and canine friends in her life, and showing a woman on the brink of isolation. Instead of lingering in that solitude, Elaine turns to chickens for companionship. It's an early story about her path into poultry that shows what kind of light journey that Jesse Leaman and co-director Maite Martin Samos will take us down.

Oh, did I mention that Maite is Jesse's mother? That relationship, while off screen, informs their creative journey, with the two working together for the first time to craft a cinematic rarity: a genuinely uplifting experience which is not skewed or tinged with drama, sadness, or the almost expected tragedy that these kinds of stories feature.

In the following interview, Jesse talks about how making Mother of Chooks came about, and the difference of this film in comparison to his other, more dramatic work. Jesse also talks about the creative journey of filmmaking with his mum, and how he had to shift and change his directing style in the process.

Mother of Chooks is a pure delight of a film, and it makes its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs on Friday 25 April, with a follow up screening on 29 April. Mother of Chooks will also screen at the Doc Edge Festival in New Zealand-Aotearoa. Future festivals dates around the world are yet to be announced, but make sure to follow Jesse Leaman on Instagram for upcoming dates and details, or visit Jesse's website here.

We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month.

Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

And we're back with another review discussion with myself, Andrew, and my colleague Nadine Whitney. In this episode, we discuss the work that we both did on the Umbrella releases of Eyes Without a Face and Hounds of Love, while also discussing the importance of the supplementary materials that come with physical media releases, alongside the work that goes into writing or creating essays for physical media releases.

We also discuss other current releases from Umbrella, including Metal Skin, and the upcoming release Storm Warning.

Our cinematic recommendations include Bob Trevino Likes It and Every Little Thing.

Umbrella Entertainment are currently having a sale on their physical media, which includes a buy one get one free selection, and 30% off merch and select collector's editions, including Hounds of Love and Eyes Without a Face. To buy these editions, visit umbrellaent.com.au. After the discussion took place, Umbrella announced that the Michael Haneke set is back online with an additional film and extra bonus features.

Follow Nadine Whitney on Bluesky and the Curb on Bluesky.

If you want to find out more about the work we do on the Curb, then head over to theCurb.com.au. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month.

Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ion to our humanity. At twelve years of age, Darwin won the award for Best Film by a Child Producer, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing at the KidzFlicks awards for his short film Red Panda Man. He had previously made a claymation short film called My Eco Friendly House. Darwin then also was a Tropfest Jr finalist for his short Milk. Again, he was only twelve years old at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIZDIpQoomY

Flash forward a decade and Darwin's creative streak continues with his latest short film Bluebird, a brilliantly realised short that pays homage to the classic swashbuckling films from the early 1900s. That sense of exploring and amplifying our relationship with the environment continues with Darwin's work as a cinematographer on the short film The Overthrow, and underpins the visual style of Bluebird. Bluebird features musical sequences, fighting, and romance, all with a backdrop of a glorious green environment that elevates the adventure of the story of a Princess seeking revenge in delightfully entertaining ways.

There's a level of vision and scope at work within Bluebird that is a rarity for Australian films, and it's that vision that underpins the following conversation with Darwin, recorded ahead of Bluebird's Australian Premiere at the upcoming Fantastic Film Festival Australia. Bluebird will be screening in the Sydney Shorts package alongside a smorgasbord of great local talent, including Chris Elena's latest film Passion Pop.

Bluebird is a film that's designed for an audience to appreciate and enjoy on the big screen. There's an understanding and appreciation of cinematic language and the possibilities of creative storytelling that makes the work of Darwin Schulze a delight to watch. In the following conversation, Darwin talks about how his journey into filmmaking began, what it means to have supportive parents who encouraged his creative journey, and how he managed to create the distinct and expansive look of Bluebird on a microbudget.

Bluebird screens as part of the Sydney Shorts package at Fantastic Film Festival Australia on 27 April 2025.

the Curb is a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. 

Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In December 2013, Australian journalist Peter Greste, alongside fellow Al Jazeera colleagues Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, were arrested in Cairo, Egypt under charges of holding illegal meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation declared as a terrorist group by the Egyptian Interior Ministry. 

Kriv Stenders is a prolific Australian filmmaker, with his work spanning features, documentaries, and TV series. His latest film, The Correspondent, translates this period of Greste's life, as documented in his 2017 memoir The First Casualty, to screen, with Richard Roxburgh portraying the award winning journalist. 

The Correspondent is a salient reminder of the need for a global free press, and it arrives at a time where journalists around the world, even Australia, are being vilified, condemned, or at worse, being imprisoned or murdered for their work. While The Correspondent considers the legal battles that Greste and his journalistic colleagues endured between 2013 through to 2015, when Greste was released, the film then reflects on another attack on journalists, with Stenders and writer Peter Duncan taking us to another part of Greste's life, when he worked alongside Kate Peyton (portrayed by Yael Stone) in Mogadishu, Somalia in 2011. These scenes act as an insight to the complex ways that reporting from war zones leads to the aggressors violently controlling the passage of information, with The Correspondent then amplifying the message of advocating for free press.

A central aspect to that advocacy is Richard Roxburgh's turn as Peter Greste. Arguably, this is the finest performance of Richard Roxburgh's career, with the weight of expectation, trauma, uncertainty, and grief lingering on his mind, often only appearing through glances or brief looks at his fellow inmates. Roxburgh echoes the work of Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips, another film which sees the acclaimed actor give a career best turn, and in doing so, brings to life Greste in an empathetic and supportive manner. It is as if this is the only performance that matters in his career. It's powerful stuff. 

I carry that in mind when I sit down to discuss the film with Kriv Stenders, oddly for the first time in my career. I've long admired Stenders work, from having caught The Illustrated Family Doctor in a small screen at Luna Cinemas Leederville, to being knocked off my feet with Boxing Day and Lucky Country. He then took his filmmaking to a new level with Red Dog and Red Dog: True Blue, and with the back of this run of films, he has examined the role that Australian stories and voices have on our cultural identity. Few filmmakers in Australian cinema get more than one or two films, and yet Stenders has crafted an enduring filmography that comments on and furthers our understanding of what Australian culture, identity, and cinema, can be. 

While this is my first time talking with Kriv, I know it won't be my last. 

The Correspondent arrives in Australian cinemas on 17 April 2025, with Q&A screenings continuing to take place at select cinemas. Make sure to check your local cinema guide for session details. 

Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Aussie band Kingswood are rock royalty, having played shows with AC/DC and The Hives, tearing down the rooves of Aussie venues in equal measure with their unique brand of raucous rock. In 2024, the band undertook a record-setting road trip across Australia with the Hometowns Tour, the longest ever music tour, encompassing 112 shows over six months, with everywhere from the outer regions of Western Australia to the sticky floors of Sydney getting a taste of their guitar licks and long hair. 

Knowing what a historical moment this would be for the band, Kingswood tapped emerging director Darcy Newton on the shoulder to shoot social media footage and share their journey on the road. That notion quickly fell by the wayside when Darcy realised there was something more at play here, with his trusty camera able to capture the highs and the lows of the bands journey, ultimately bringing forth the feature documentary CLAPTRAP.

In the following interview, recorded ahead of the films roll out in Australian cinemas which kicks off with a premiere event at The Astor Theatre Melbourne on Friday 4 April, and culminates with a Q&A screening at The Ritz Sydney on Friday 11 April, Darcy and producer Luca Catalano talk about how they came on board to shoot the film, what life was like on the bus with the band, and how Darcy captured some of CLAPTRAP's more impactful moments, like a late night boozy chat with a regional music icon or a deep and meaningful chat between bandmates about the meaning of one of their songs.

CLAPTRAP AUSTRALIAN SCREENINGS

** KINGSWOOD attending 

Friday 4 April Astor Theatre Melbourne **

PREMIERE EVENT

Tickets

Saturday 5 April Thornbury Picture House Melbourne **

SCREENING, Q&A EVENT

Tickets

Sunday 6 April Pivotonian Cinema Geelong

SCREENING, Q&A EVENT 

Wednesday 9 April Regal Theatre Adelaide SA 

SCREENING

Wednesday 9 April Byron Bay Palace Byron Bay NSW **

SCREENING, Q&A EVENT 

Thursday 10 April New Farm Cinema Brisbane ** 

SCREENING, Q&A EVENT 

Tickets

Friday 11 April The Ritz Sydney **

SCREENING, Q&A EVENT

Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.