The 71st Melbourne International Film Festival is officially underway! With 267 films to choose from, it can be a challenge - but the SWITCH team has been trawling this year's line-up to check out the best of the offerings. Check them out below - and keep an eye on this page, as we'll be updating it regularly throughout the festival!
Despite the bitter chill of the Melbournian winter, this year's MIFF line-up is one to don the puffer jacket and head out for. It's an opportunity to dive deeper into the culture of our beautiful city and celebrate the stunning cinemas Melbourne has to offer.
This is a film that will divide, and is certainly not for everyone. Luca Gadagnino has created a dark symphony in honour of the classic, in the process creating a work just as powerful and unsettling.
This film speaks volumes with so little, and it's a marvel. Celine Song showcases Seoul and New York in beautiful new ways.
As far as buddy comedies go, 'Biosphere' is one of a kind. It's unpredictably outrageous, in the best way possible. As a comedy, it's one of the most unique and preposterously gleeful cinematic experiences you'll ever experience. As a statement, it's cleverly handled and offers just enough levity among the silliness to open up some serious conversation.
Charlotte Regan has created a beautiful and soulful story. She's exhibited her skills, however green yet earnest, and has entered the game as a director to watch.
The film proves Randall Park's director status with a fun comedy that sells us on unlikeable leads with realistic problems.
Splicing together shaky phone footage, hushed phone calls and more, Madeleine Gavin presents a harrowing and suspenseful documentary on escaping North Korea.
There are skeletons and darkness to Little Richard's life that she doesn't shy away from in search of truth, honesty and understanding. It's what he deserves when the world didn't deserve him.
It may not be as harrowing, explosive, challenging or feature Arnold Schwarzenegger, like some of Kim Ji-woon's previous movies, but it is a very amusing and watchable mediation on the craft of filmmaking.
While not as seminal or lingering, this film still has something to say and rightly embraces the indie tag for an altogether funny and complex journey of the people that shape the United States.
There isn't anything out there like 'Ego', and it deserves to be seen as an important legacy of our local entertainment industry. We owe a debt to Michael Gudinski; his passion for keeping Australian music at the forefront of our minds ensured it wasn't overtaken by overseas interests and kept a local industry alive. We need to make sure, with him now gone, that doesn't slip away.
Despite the obsolescence of the phone through both internal and external factors, 'BlackBerry' refuses to let itself fall down a similar path. It's funny in a way few films of this breed are.
Don't be surprised if you walk out of the theatre the way Hirayama leaves his apartment; smiling, staring at the sky, and full of peace.
An actress involves herself in the lives of a couple whose story may have gripped the nation, but whose presence will test the depths of their relationship.