Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #50: The Edge of Seventeen (2016).

High-schooler Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) is a tragic wallflower. Cynical, abrasive and sarcastic, her family life is mired in her being stuck in her worshipped older brother Darian's (Blake Jenner) shadow, her uptight mum (Kyra Sedgwick) and the death of her dad, whose favourite she was like Darian is their mother's. Her best and only friend since age 7 is Krista (Haley Lu Richardson), but that soon changes when Krista elopes with none other than Darian. Now Nadine feels more isolated and world-weary than ever, until she forms an unexpected bond with kindly film geek classmate Erwin (Hayden Szeto). This makes Nadine realize there may just be a glimmer of hope for the future after all.

Now, I actually only saw The Edge of Seventeen on Thursday night, but like Nadine getting a sense of hope for her life, it gave me a real sense of hope for teen movies. It could just be the best one of this decade. Writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig, in her directorial debut, avoids so many of the cliches of recent teen flicks (a totally alternative soundtrack, excessive animated interludes et cetera) and handles the mix of comedy and pathos so intuitively and confidently, in the narrative AND visuals, that it will leave a lump in your throat even as you laugh uproariously, and her script manages to be genuinely witty and profound without the dialogue of the teenage characters feeling incongruous.

None of the cast miss a beat, either. Kyra Sedgwick renders Nadine's bitch of a mum with delightful relish, Blake Jenner (who shot to fame as Ryder Lynn on Glee) shows ever-more range as Darian's arc unfolds, and as Nadine's lazy but supportive teacher, Woody Harrelson is his usually entertaining, laconic self. But Hailee Steinfeld truly is the heart and soul of this one. If anybody considered her Oscar-nominated turn in True Grit (2010) a fluke, I'm sure this performance will silence them well and truly. She should've at least been nominated again for it; going back and forth with such wise instinct between contemptuous humour and real sadness and sorrow, Steinfeld is a fucking knockout.

Fresh, resonant, compassionate and very, VERY funny, The Edge of Seventeen proves that while growing up is tumultuous for us all, portraying realistically and originally isn't, after all. John Hughes would've been beaming.

“I now pronounce you... wait! Sorry! We have to vote first!”

It's the postal vote nobody wanted but we're now getting anyway, on the issue the polls for years have shown Australians clearly support. Now, firstly I should stress I don't actually see the point of marriage in general. I never have. But regardless, I'm not about to sit idly by and not do my bit for equality for anyone.

Let's say two men or two women chose to marry. It'd be no different to a traditional wedding, except obviously there'd be two brides or two grooms. Now, is that even anybody else's business, much less something that will cause harm? Not at all. Every country which has already legalised same-sex marriage can vindicate that, and God knows you already hear ABBA and Kylie Minogue played (and glitter thrown) at fuckloads of weddings anyway.

Before history damns us for squandering love and progress, and so we can finally focus on righting other wrongs, just fucking make marriage equality happen, Australia. By whatever means necessary or available.

Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #49: 52 Tuesdays (2013).

16-year-old Billie (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) is an introspective, rebellious teen whose path to independent adulthood is hastened when her mother Jane (Del Herbert-Jane) begins undergoing gender transitioning. With their time together now restricted to Tuesday afternoons, Billie capitalises on the increasing discord between relatives (including her torn father Tom (Beau Travis Williams) and happy-go-lucky uncle Harry (Mario Spate)) and now forges a quirky bond with two voyeuristic older school kids, Josh (Sam Althuizen) and Jasmin (Imogen Archer). Now Billie must help her new “father” and herself in reconnecting and settling into the stages in their lives.

This is a genuinely inventive, brave and striking cinematic experiment, and its power will really sneak up on you. Director Sophie Hyde, drawing from her own experiences with a transgender parent, and her cast and crew filmed it over a year, once weekly every week, and on Tuesdays. Wise decision; the movie feels that much more authentic for it. The central performances of Cobham-Hervey and Herbert-Jane (an actual trans performer) are both ferociously raw and well-balanced, and the supporting players all fill the background very entertainingly. Plus, Matthew Cormack's screenplay (from a story he and Hyde developed) is very perceptive, and Bryan Mason's cinematography is lovely and rich, particularly in Billie's video diary scenes. It's also cleverly interspersed with title cards listing the Tuesdays in numerical order, embellished with snippets of news events which happened during filming, like the Arab Spring, that help us track the timeline and never feel jarring.

52 Tuesdays won the 2013 Sundance Film Festival Film Festival Directing Award: World Cinema, Dramatic and the Berlin Film Festival's Crystal Bear Generation Award, and both were richly deserved. It's a beautiful meditation on the path to accepting your relatives and finding yourself. One of the best Australian films of this century.

NO WAR WITH NORTH KOREA.

Firstly, not one word of this should suggest I support any of what North Korea's government is doing. The evils of nuclear warfare speak for themselves, and Kim Jong-un is unmistakably a chip off the old block. Nonetheless, Donald Trump's threats to him, and Malcolm Turnbull's pledge of support for those this week, will, I believe, just rub salt in the wound. Maybe a whole bottle of salt. Kim Jong-un is evidently out to provoke the West, and while we may have historical blood on our hands to explain that (but not necessary to excuse it), by responding, and especially in such terms, we are giving him just what he wants. And in the process, falling to his level.

Trump's threats to Jong-un are dangerous enough, and now Turnbull has stood by them through invoking the ANZUS Alliance. That may have helped us inexorably during World War II, but since then I believe it has caused Australia as much harm as good. Consider both Bali bombings, the 2005 Cronulla riots, the Sydney Lindt Cafe siege, and the ongoing debate over Australia having systemic racism, to name but a few. All a direct result of successive Australian governments – Labor AND Liberal - proudly following America's lead into foreign conflicts where the natives may not have even WANTED ANY foreign aid to start with.

I'm not saying we should turn a blind eye to North Korea's actions. None of us should. I just cannot shake the belief that intervening with force never helps, culturally, morally or ethically. Offering or giving aid through diplomatic or entrepreneurial means, however, is honourable, and sometimes even successful. Whatever happened to that?

Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #48: The Black Balloon (2008).

Thomas Mollison (Rhys Wakefield) is 15 and the new kid at school. He's just moved town with his heavily pregnant mother Maggie (Toni Collette), military man father Simon (Erik Thomson) and severely autistic older brother Charlie (a show-stealing Luke Ford). Thomas soon meets local sweetheart Jackie (Gemma Ward) and is automatically smitten, but Charlie's unpredictable antics repeatedly hamper Thomas' efforts to connect with Jackie, and Thomas also finds Charlie embarrassing at school, where naturally he subsequently attracts bullies. After one particularly troubling incident with Charlie, Thomas, with Jackie's and his parents' help, must find a way of firstly venting his frustration and sadness, then more importantly overcoming his shame and managing to understand and connect with his eccentric brother, who's always wanted to help but doesn't know how to.

It's hard for me to say what the best (per se) cinematic depiction of autism is, but The Black Balloon is certainly the most realistic I have yet seen. Based on her own experiences growing up with two autistic brothers, director Elissa Down's treatment of this very hard topic is utterly sincere and accurate but nonetheless fully objective (as I hope this review is; I'm on the spectrum myself). The scenes with the Mollisons interacting are handled very calmly and evenly, keeping it an ensemble piece so we can sympathise with every character, and she intersperses these with more intimate moments between Thomas and Jackie which are more overtly visual but never jarring. Her direction overall is so assured, and her screenplay (with Jimmy the Exploder) also offers numerous good-natured laughs involving the whole ensemble.

But the real meat in this sandwich must be the sensational performances. Wakefield makes a very authentic young hero as he lets Thomas' emotions slowly seep out until they come to a head, making it all the more moving, Ward strikes the right balance between devotion and assertion as his romantic voice of reason, Collette gives one of her best performances and Thomson (best known to Aussie audiences for his work in TV) is equally strong as the ocker/disciplinarian dad. But as I said, Luke Ford really is the best part of The Black Balloon, and in the role that would have made or broken it. He spent several months at an autism centre to prepare for it, and reportedly knew he had the role down when he went around downtown Sydney in character and people mocked him (as sad as what that suggests is). His every mannerism and nuance, from the mangled speech to limb movements and the so-called “signing” Charlie does with his hands to communicate, is just flawless. This really enhances an especially powerful scene featuring a cover of Crowded House's Fall at Your Feet (the movie is set in the '90s), and another in a supermarket. Ford also has a suitable height and build for autistic character. He will blow you away.

The Black Balloon deservedly won six 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Film. It's poetic, compassionate, emotional, funny and again, very realistic. But not for a second do you have to have an autistic relative for it to affect you. Family is family, after all.

Aussie Campuses: Too Much Sex, Not Enough Study.

This week, a federal report revealed shockingly high rates of sexual assault and harrassment on Australian university campuses. According to these findings, something like one in five female respondents claimed to have been subjected to such treatment. One in five! Now, I don't consider myself a masculist or a feminist (there are awful examples of both); I do, however, support the call for gender equality (even if, admittedly, my tastes are quite masculine).

Are men really more prone to violence and obsessed with sex and if so, does that explain these findings? I know it doesn't excuse them at all. And during my six years at my alma mater (Central Queensland University from 2006 to 2012), not once did I witness any such behaviour, although that doesn't mean it's never happened there at all. But had I seen such treatment, I really would have intervened or reported it. A large number of LGBT students also claimed to have been targeted, which adds insult to injury. It's like Australian tertiary education is became the same as the American Ivy League with its fraternities and sororities, which also engage in very dangerous hazing rituals.

If you attend university (or college), you can let your hair down sometimes. I did that a fair amount in my own student days. But that is not what you or your parents paid thousands of bucks for you to do. And we all, whatever our gender, sexuality/identification or race et cetera, should be treated as equal.

Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #47: Away from Her (2006).

Something Cult, Foreign or Indie #44: Away from Her (2006).

Grant (Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona Anderson (Julie Christie) are an elderly couple who've been married happily for 50 years. Their bond remains tight, but Fiona has recently contracted Alzheimer's disease. When she is moved into a retirement home, Grant struggles to cope with her cognitive deterioration, particularly once she develops a similarly close bond with fellow patient Aubrey (Michael Murphy). Grant wants to help Fiona in her new life but isn't sure if he can yet let her go and if so, how to. Finally, after counsel from nurse Kristy (Kristen Thomson) and Aubrey's wife Marian (Olympia Dukakis), Grant makes a brave act of self-sacrifice in order to provide Fiona's last happiness.

Based on Alice Munro's short story The Bear Came Over the Mountain, writer-director Sarah Polley's work here is admirable. Her Oscar-nominated screenplay observantly evokes the depth and longevity of Fiona and Grant's union in how they interact with real, hard-won trust and faith in each other, and it accurately covers the neuroscience and psychology of dementia, aging and loss. Her direction is even better; she uses the frozen Canadian landscape as an insightful metaphor for the sense of isolation and concern her characters are enduring, and later she gets the feel (in every sense) of a nursing home or palliative care unit down to a fever pitch. I should know; I've seen dementia as a relative.

And then there are her stars. Julie Christie was deservedly Oscar-nominated for her portrayal of Fiona; she is hauntingly subtle and brings real childlike innocence to the newly vulnerable Fiona that makes it all the more moving. Gordon Pinsent is her equal as he tenderly depicts an externally stoic but shattered man, cynical of Fiona's carers, who slowly learns how to find closure and comfort for them both.

An accurate, sincere and very delicate treatment of two challenging subjects, Away from Her is exquisitely beautiful and powerful.