Best TV shows and movies streaming in Australia this month
By Google News TV ·
Discover what’s coming to Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, Prime Video and others in November, including an Anthony Bourdain biopic, a new show from Mike Schur and an Australian take on ET
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My colleague Peter Bradshaw is among many critics who have championed this South Korean drama from Lee Chang-dong, which snagged the Silver Lion grand jury prize at this year’s Venice film festival. Inspired by mass layoffs and the subsequent protests that reshaped Korea’s labour movement, the film follows two married couples from opposite ends of the economic spectrum.
Lee Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong), a documentarian, and her husband, Sang-woo (Zo In-sung), are well-off, while Mi-ok (Jeon Do-yeon) and her husband, Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu), a jobless factory worker with a drinking problem, are doing it tough. Ye-ji approaches Mi-ok to feature in her documentary about workers who have lost their jobs.
The film uses the uneven relationship between them to chip away at themes including class division, privilege and exploitation. Bradshaw calls it a “finely judged, beautifully acted” work; “sombre, bittersweet, elegant”.
Ludo Studio, the Australian production company behind Bluey, pivots to live-action film-making with this family-oriented comedy, which finds a quirky path into a storyline about extraterrestrials and formative experiences.
The protagonist is Petey (TJ Power), who’s like a grown-up Elliott from ET the Extra-Terrestrial, and who has never moved on from having an alien pal during childhood (“The best thing that happened to me already happened,” he says). Then one day … guess who returns to say hello?
Its creator and co-director, Daley Pearson, has described Allen as “a story about love, family and all those big and small moments from childhood that end up shaping who we are when we grow up”.
Honourable mentions: The Hobbit 1-3 (film, out now), A Dog’s Perfect Christmas (film, 4 November), Interstellar (film, 5 November), It Ends With Us (film, 6 November, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (film, 8 November), The Body (TV, 11 November), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (film, 10 November), The Polar Express (film, 12 November), A League of Their Own (film, 13 November), Guiding Stars (film, 18 November), The
Altruists (TV, 19 November), Smile (film, 20 November), The Hangover (film, 19 November), Smile (film, 20 November), Steps (film, 20 November), The Mosquito Bowl (film, 25 November), Sonic the Hedgehog (film, 27 November), Michael (film, 29 November).
From the outset, the beats of this Australian indie are soft and contemplative, making the most of a small cast and modest settings. The protagonist is Jack (James Ivor), a construction worker soon to go to prison. His neighbour is Richard (Anthony Phelan), a well-known cellist whom Jack comes to the aid of when he suffers a heart attack.
The pair don’t get along but this event profoundly changes their relationship, which deepens during the days leading up to Jack’s stint in the slammer.
It doesn’t take long to feel as though you’re in good hands, with co-directors James Ivor and Eryk Lenartowicz chipping away at their characters patiently and thoughtfully. The drama has a pleasingly unhurried quality, ultimately feeling a tad open-ended – remaining sincere and quietly affecting throughout.
The latest Robin Hood adventure sure ain’t Men in Tights. The modus operandi embraced by the writer/director Michael Sarnoski seems to have been: “Let’s take the story of…
Originally published by Google News TV
