Jordan Prosser

'Armageddon Time: A burnished coming-of-age tale' by Jordan Prosser

ABR Arts • 31 October 2022

After the uneven space operatics of Ad Astra (2019), American writer–director James Gray returns to Earth – specifically to Queens, New York, 1980 – with Armageddon Time, a burnished, contemplative, and astutely observed autobiographical coming-of-age tale. This is a rapidly escalating micro-trend in cinema; it seems that every auteur with enough critical clout will soon be expected to churn ... (read more)

'Three Thousand Years of Longing: A storyteller first and foremost' by Jordan Prosser

ABR Arts • 01 September 2022

For the casual moviegoer unconcerned by matters of auteurship, it can still come as something of a shock to learn that the person behind the original Mad Max trilogy (1979–85), as well as its decade-defining follow-up, Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), also brought us the madcap animal antics of Babe: Pig in the City (1998) and the all-singing, all-dancing penguin colony of Happy Feet (2006) and Happy ... (read more)

‘Elvis: Baz Luhrmann’s signature maximalist style’ by Jordan Prosser

ABR Arts • 20 June 2022

Crafting a biopic is a near-impossible act of curation; of the hundreds of thousands of hours that make up a person’s life, which two and a half will accurately sum up their entire existence? Some recent attempts, like the excellent Steve Jobs (2015) or the Judy Garland biopic Judy (2019), limit their slice of life to a handful of defining moments and allow the viewer to extrapolate from there, ... (read more)

‘Men: Eldritch evil everywhere’ by Jordan Prosser

ABR Arts • 17 June 2022

The films of Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Ex Machina, Annihilation) all share a distinct feeling of descent – an almost gravitational pull towards madness, towards decay, towards a loss of self. His new film, the ingeniously titled but only half-realised Men, continues this tradition. It stars Jessie Buckley (devastatingly good in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter, an ... (read more)

‘A Hero: Asghar Farhadi’s profoundly insightful new film’ by Jordan Prosser

ABR Arts • 03 June 2022

Some directors leave their fingerprints on a finished product through a trademark visual style, a particular musical taste, or a recurring ensemble of actors. Others embody the notion that when something’s truly well made, the handiwork is invisible. Such is the case with Asghar Farhadi, two-time Oscar-winning writer and director of A Separation (2011) and The Salesman (2016), who continues to r ... (read more)

‘The Dropout: A deft parable of entrepreneurial hubris’ by Jordan Prosser

ABR Arts • 11 April 2022

If there is a logical successor to the twentieth-century gangster epic, it may well be the modern-day high-stakes corporate drama. Both revolve around merciless protagonists operating by their own dubious moral code, amassing wealth and influence as they leave a trail of bodies (literal or figurative) in their wake. Instead of intimidation and assassination, our new corporate anti-heroes leverage ... (read more)

‘Loveland: Ivan Sen’s audacious experiment in science fiction’ by Jordan Prosser

ABR Arts • 22 March 2022

After a decade spent redefining Australian outback noir with Mystery Road (2013), Goldstone (2016), and their ABC TV offshoots, writer–director Ivan Sen turns his attention to a semi-futuristic Asian metropolis in Loveland, retaining his lean directorial focus while delving into even headier philosophical territory. His new film is a strange beast indeed – daring, beautiful, frequently confoun ... (read more)

'Belfast': Kenneth Branagh's coming-of-age dramedy adds little to the genre

ABR Arts • 31 January 2022

On the sunny streets of Belfast in 1969, nine-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill) fights imaginary dragons with a wooden sword and a shield made from the lid of a garbage bin. When his Ma calls him home for tea, he races through the neighbourhood, bright-eyed and carefree. But the afternoon idyll is quickly shattered by a small army of Protestant rioters laying siege to the street, smashing windows and fir ... (read more)

'The Tragedy of Macbeth': Shakespeare by way of Brecht in Joel Coen’s new film

ABR Arts • 20 December 2021

Could Macbeth be Shakespeare’s most innately cinematic play? Even in its brief stage directions and off-stage action, it conjures up daring battlefields, horrible massacres, spine-tingling witchcraft, wandering spirits, duels on castle ramparts, and a moveable forest. Every few years another filmmaker tries their hand at it, Orson Welles (Macbeth, 1948), Akira Kurosawa (Throne of Blood, 1957), a ... (read more)

'The Power of the Dog': A stiff shot of pure cinema

ABR Arts • 15 November 2021

After eighteen months of wayward blockbusters and couch-ready, pandemical streaming entertainment, Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog arrives like a stiff shot of pure cinema. Adapted from Thomas Savage’s 1967 book of the same name, Campion’s film offers no quick thrills, no easy answers, no simple heroes, and no mercy for its inhabitants. It’s a rare beast in an industry increasingly spl ... (read more)