Fantaspoa — A–Z of films

For an anthology movie, Adorable Humans is pretty consistent both in the terms of style and substance.

The characters are larger than life, each with a distinctive look, to make it easier to keep track. The effect is rather like being at a drunken fancy dress party.

A marvellous piece of storytelling.

Immersive and intense, the more so because of its roots in a brutal history of gaybashing by Sydney cops.

It's not a map, it's a blueprint, a means of telling fortunes and a handsome puzzle to boot.

A thoughtful, subtly dangerous film which denies viewers the reassurance of a conventional ending.

The irreverent score, the gothic art direction, and Mario Tosi’s kaleidoscopic, slithering cinematography coalesce into something mesmeric.

A stunningly realised piece of magical realism quite different from anything that writer/director Alberto Sciamma has created before.

Mangione-Smith...is particularly successful at telling the story dynamically without compromising the found footage approach.

The film’s general campiness does not diminish the points it’s making.

Bright, white-painted spaces give way to slowly deepening blues as the story progresses, so that when we see the colour red, it leaps out at us.

The original film was derided by critics for being crude, exploitative and immature. Fans will be pleased to know that this one delivers more of the same.

Cinema in its most metal form.

This is essentially a modern film, indicative of changing times, which makes its story all the more potent and provides it with a lasting emotional charge.

Ricardo Álvarez Canales and Andrzej Rattinger’s dialogue is wonderfully observed and the two leads give lively, fresh performances which make them feel like real 14-year-old girls, looking at the world in a way most adults forget.

An astute portrait of an experience still underexplored onscreen.

It holds nothing back – it’s funny, violent, suspenseful and tense while still discussing our current cultural moment, both locally and globally, and being very incisive and dangerous about it.

Lucid is surprisingly coherent once the pieces start to come together, and it’s among the more successful experiments in this sort of portraiture.

There is some excellent work here of the sort that gets under your skin without you noticing, so that when the film abruptly shifts gears in the final scene, it hits you all at once.

One of the most impressive films of the year to date.

The energy of it, combined with Gálvez’s endearing performance, means it’s likely to work well in any environment.

Joseph Field Eccles and Nick Smyth’s sound design...is magnificent from start to finish, and full of playful touches.

There’s smart staging, structural and visual misdirection, and a number of sharp twists.

Wiseman Jr plays most of it very straight, without sentiment, easing viewers into a place where they can take all this for granted.

Alice Maio Mackay’s...most accessible film to date.

The first half is packed with clues and double entendres. The second becomes more about action.

A hugely ambitious first feature from director Thales Banzai, Tony Odyssey repeatedly bites off more than it can chew, but it has lots of great ideas, both conceptual and visual.

Heavy layered with meaning, the film shifts uncertainly underfoot, deliberately discomfiting viewers.

There’s a “Warriors, come out to play!” vibe about it, but alas, like that film, it is better to remember than it is to watch.

An atmospheric, beguiling piece of work.