August 8, 2025 • 12 mins
Dave Griffiths joins Nick Gardener on Southern FM to preview MIFF 2025.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Which are mostly my doing. I think we're right now.
So about that, folks, We've jumped around from different studios
and done all sorts of things, but we finally got there.
He plug there, If the vital thing plugged in, that's
what opome to here. Dave, you're here to talk about
(00:21):
MIF twenty twenty five, not technical longlands.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And making films already in the Catechuldren.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
What are some highlights for you with this year's Melbournick
National Film Festival.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, look, it's going to be a very very exciting festival,
and I think the first film that everybody should book
tickets to go and see is Ari Astur's a brand
new movie called Ennington. Now, of course we're kind of
used to Ari making horror films with Midsummer and films
like that, but his new film is very, very different.
(00:55):
It's kind of a drama that ends up becoming a
crime thriller. It stars Wokne Phoenix playing a sheriff in
a town called Eddington, and he's married to Louise played
by Emma Stone and his mother in law Dawn played
by Deirdre O'Connell. Is a little bit of a conspiracy theorist. Now,
(01:18):
this is set in the early days of the COVID
outbreak in America. The town's mayor, who's played by Pedro Pascal,
he is COVID crazy. He wants everybody wearing masks. He
doesn't want anybody without masks in shops. Whereas the sheriff, Joe,
he is very very much the opposite. He feels that
(01:42):
COVID is never going to come to the town and
that there's nothing to worry about.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Now.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
He's fueled on by his mother in law's conspiracy theories
about where COVID has come from, what's happening with Donald Trump, etc.
And this ends up becoming a really great thriller that
pretty much makes out that everything that happened during that
period of time during COVID and Black Lives Matter and
Antifa and all of that, happens all in this small
(02:09):
town of Eddington, And it becomes a really really good
crime thriller with what is burning underneath that, with all
the people in the town not very happy with what's
going on.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Interesting collecians in this year special and we'll be getting
a wider release, of course it will.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It'll get a release after myth that's one of the
great things about Myth this year. A lot of the
headline films are actually films that will end up getting
releases outside of Myth as well. Another film that is
a little bit of a highlight is The Toxic Avenger. Now,
if you're like me, you might have grown up with
a comic book series or a series on television called
(02:52):
The Toxic Crusaders. I'm not sure if you remember.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
That, Nick, I don't remember that.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I do remember at trying the film The Toxic Avenger.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yes, So this is a remake of that from Troma,
and it's got Peter Dinklidge playing the Toxic Avenger this
time around. Now, this is a film that's kind of
had a weird release schedule. It got shown at a
few festivals overseas and got some rave reviews, but then
everybody seems to be terrified to bring it out into
cinemas because it's an R rated superhero movie. But it's
(03:22):
getting a screening at Myth in Imax, if you could
imagine that. So that's another one to look out for.
Peter Dinklidge as the Toxic Avenger.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
And gave I know you're a big horror fan, of
there any horror highlights in this year's Myth.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Program, Yeah, there are, there are a few. And I'm
also like a very big Australian film fan as well,
and I'm very proud to say that some of the
horror films this year are actually Australian that I'm looking
forward to. Kia Roach Turner, the Australian director who has
made some pretty good horror films here in Australia with
the Wormwood franchise and then went overseas and made of
(03:59):
course He's epic Spider film. He's got a film called
Beast of War which is being screened as part of
Myth this year, and basically it's a horror film set
during World War Two where Japanese fighter pilots and Australian
sailors find themselves at the mercy of a giant shark
(04:20):
during some of the battles in the Pacific Ocean. So
that's one that's definitely well worth a look. There are
a couple of other Ossie films too that are really
films that I'm really interested in. Sophie Somerville has got
a film called and No, I'm not making fun of
people with speech impediment here. The film is called Fuends
(04:41):
spelled fwe Nds. It's a low budget Australian film that's
been getting a lot of buzz before Myth, so I'm
really excited to go and see that. And the other
one that's been getting a lot of a lot of
buzz as well, which sounds very very interesting, is a
film called Westgate.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Now.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
This is a film that's gone back to the time
when the Westgate Bridge collapsed during its building and it
tells the story of a young Italian Australian single mother
who has been left with nothing after I believe both
her husband and her father were killed in the Westgate
Bridge disaster. So that's another one that I'm really looking
(05:22):
forward to. That's from director Adrian or Tager. But going
back to the Assie Horrors, there's Went Up a Hill,
which is directed by Samuel van Grisven that's been described
as a Gothic kind of horror, and that too is
getting a release after Myth has finished. And another film
(05:43):
that you might be interested in as well, Nick, because
I know you've got a Tasmanian connection like I do.
There's a new film from Zach Hildic called We Bury
the Dead, which is a zombie film I believe, which
is the result of what happens when the Australian government
decides to use tas Mania as a military experiment.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Based on I don't know.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
But yeah, it sounds like it's going to be a
very very interesting film. But yeah, there's a lot of
great Australian films this year that I think is going
to really spark that interest back in Australian films once again.
There's also a lot of music documentaries, which I know
(06:26):
is something that you're very interested in, Nick as well.
There's a new documentary that's going to be screening this
time around which looks at the life and career of
Jeff Buckley, which of course was tragically cut short when
he drowned. That's another one that I'm really looking forward
to going along and seeing. And do you remember the
(06:49):
nineties kind of doom grudge band the Butthole Surfers.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
They've played the show.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, So there's a documentary directed by Tom J. Stern
which is being described as irreverent, X rated and sometimes dangerous,
So that should be an interesting documentary to go and
see as well. There's another documentary on Jimmy Barnes called
Working class Man, which is directed by Andrew Farrell, which
(07:19):
might be worth a look if you're into Australian music
as well. And there's another documentary from indie rock pioneers Pavement,
which is going to be an interesting one. That's from
Alex ross Perry who's directed that one about the band Pavement.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, then interesting mixed band of films. You've got great documentaries,
a lot of really experimental films. Is a huge kind
of experimental short film program, including one called Things We
Said Today. I don't know if you've seen that one,
a kind of surreal take on the Beatles at nineteen
sixty five tour.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, that one is another one that sounds really interesting.
And there's a lot of different experimental films this year
that I think is going to make a lot of
people see where film is and cinema is heading to
as well. It's one of those festivals this year where
it feels like they're trying to do a lot of
different thing and introduce people to some of the films
(08:21):
that are going around in the world at the moment,
because AI and things like that are really creeping into cinema.
So yeah, there sounds to be some very very interesting
ones this time around.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And of course there's a big animation program, not necessarily
for the youngsters, although they have screened The Bad Guys too,
which I was surprised by, which is kind of a
big commercial film, but a big range of animated films
if that's your particular taste and sci fi comedy. Is
(08:54):
even a rescreening of B and EX Bandits.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, that's part of the one that's been happening for
the last few years now at MYTH where they go
back and screen some of the classic Australian films from
over the years, and I understand this year as well
they're doing more family films as well. You mentioned BMX
Bandits and also The Bad Guys. There's also an Asian
(09:22):
film which I believe is from Japan called Imagine. There's
a very very rare family film as well, called The
Legend of Ochi, which I've been hearing some amazing things about.
It's from A twenty four that's screening as part of
the family section of the festival this year as well.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Lots to check out at the MYTH five Film Festival date.
Just before you go, I might just get a couple
of quick words on the film that I reviewed just
before Bridehead.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
You're at the screening, will be your thoughts on that. Look.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
I really really feel for Rebel Wilson with this film.
It feels like this is a movie that could have worked.
I mean, when you think about who directed that movie.
This is the man that brought us films like tomb
Raider and stuff like that. But it feels like Rebel
Wilson has been wrongly cast in this film. She's just
not believable as that CIA agent slash spy. Early on, though,
(10:22):
I thought the jokes kind of worked, but then as
the film went on they became more dad jokes, and
I felt that kind of let it down. But this
is one of those films where it really feels and
it's I'm surprised someone during the pre production or even
the production itself didn't say, Hey, I think we've cast
the wrong person in the lead role here.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, it's not a perfect piece of casting, even as
a satire of the action genre.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Rebel Wilson, right, that was just.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
A upcoming preview, a mixed to show here on the
other of the FF but debut, you're still there. I
am mate, Yes, I am so if you if you
want to hangarf the disco show, there's a pre velvet there,
but not a great piece of casting, and a film that,
(11:17):
as some more review, clings on by its fingernails to
achieve meteorography rather than becoming a complete sort of make
it fested Turkey.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Look, it does enough things for you to be able
to sit there and watch it and not think I
really want to leave the cinema right now. But there
were so many different things that I found as the
film went on seemed to get progressively worse, including the
fight sequences, the green screen. At one point it felt
like it was a high school production green screen that
(11:48):
they were acting in front of it. It really was
weird for a film that has such a high profile
director that's worked with big budgets to find him working
on a film that seemed to have little on budget
at all.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Absolutely, yeah, one of the unfortunate movies so far this year.
I needed something to Turkey list and it's made the
grade there. Dave, many thanks for staying with us tonight.
A few difficulties along the way, but really appreciate your
insights into the wonderful program and myth this year, some
(12:23):
great films to check out.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
You've let us not out.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
There and definitely go along and have look at the
diverse program on offer.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
That's not Brightheart.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
You can give that one a miss, but if you can,
definitely check out Dave Griffiths from the Book of the Film,
the t Shirt, The Good About the Ugly Film Show
as well and many other.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Outlets. We thank very much for giving your cinema wisdom tonight.
Thanks though,
Which are mostly my doing. I think we're right now.
So about that, folks, We've jumped around from different studios
and done all sorts of things, but we finally got there.
He plug there, If the vital thing plugged in, that's
what opome to here. Dave, you're here to talk about
(00:21):
MIF twenty twenty five, not technical longlands.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
And making films already in the Catechuldren.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
What are some highlights for you with this year's Melbournick
National Film Festival.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Yeah, look, it's going to be a very very exciting festival,
and I think the first film that everybody should book
tickets to go and see is Ari Astur's a brand
new movie called Ennington. Now, of course we're kind of
used to Ari making horror films with Midsummer and films
like that, but his new film is very, very different.
(00:55):
It's kind of a drama that ends up becoming a
crime thriller. It stars Wokne Phoenix playing a sheriff in
a town called Eddington, and he's married to Louise played
by Emma Stone and his mother in law Dawn played
by Deirdre O'Connell. Is a little bit of a conspiracy theorist. Now,
(01:18):
this is set in the early days of the COVID
outbreak in America. The town's mayor, who's played by Pedro Pascal,
he is COVID crazy. He wants everybody wearing masks. He
doesn't want anybody without masks in shops. Whereas the sheriff, Joe,
he is very very much the opposite. He feels that
(01:42):
COVID is never going to come to the town and
that there's nothing to worry about.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Now.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
He's fueled on by his mother in law's conspiracy theories
about where COVID has come from, what's happening with Donald Trump, etc.
And this ends up becoming a really great thriller that
pretty much makes out that everything that happened during that
period of time during COVID and Black Lives Matter and
Antifa and all of that, happens all in this small
(02:09):
town of Eddington, And it becomes a really really good
crime thriller with what is burning underneath that, with all
the people in the town not very happy with what's
going on.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Interesting collecians in this year special and we'll be getting
a wider release, of course it will.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
It'll get a release after myth that's one of the
great things about Myth this year. A lot of the
headline films are actually films that will end up getting
releases outside of Myth as well. Another film that is
a little bit of a highlight is The Toxic Avenger. Now,
if you're like me, you might have grown up with
a comic book series or a series on television called
(02:52):
The Toxic Crusaders. I'm not sure if you remember.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
That, Nick, I don't remember that.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
I do remember at trying the film The Toxic Avenger.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yes, So this is a remake of that from Troma,
and it's got Peter Dinklidge playing the Toxic Avenger this
time around. Now, this is a film that's kind of
had a weird release schedule. It got shown at a
few festivals overseas and got some rave reviews, but then
everybody seems to be terrified to bring it out into
cinemas because it's an R rated superhero movie. But it's
(03:22):
getting a screening at Myth in Imax, if you could
imagine that. So that's another one to look out for.
Peter Dinklidge as the Toxic Avenger.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
And gave I know you're a big horror fan, of
there any horror highlights in this year's Myth.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Program, Yeah, there are, there are a few. And I'm
also like a very big Australian film fan as well,
and I'm very proud to say that some of the
horror films this year are actually Australian that I'm looking
forward to. Kia Roach Turner, the Australian director who has
made some pretty good horror films here in Australia with
the Wormwood franchise and then went overseas and made of
(03:59):
course He's epic Spider film. He's got a film called
Beast of War which is being screened as part of
Myth this year, and basically it's a horror film set
during World War Two where Japanese fighter pilots and Australian
sailors find themselves at the mercy of a giant shark
(04:20):
during some of the battles in the Pacific Ocean. So
that's one that's definitely well worth a look. There are
a couple of other Ossie films too that are really
films that I'm really interested in. Sophie Somerville has got
a film called and No, I'm not making fun of
people with speech impediment here. The film is called Fuends
(04:41):
spelled fwe Nds. It's a low budget Australian film that's
been getting a lot of buzz before Myth, so I'm
really excited to go and see that. And the other
one that's been getting a lot of a lot of
buzz as well, which sounds very very interesting, is a
film called Westgate.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Now.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
This is a film that's gone back to the time
when the Westgate Bridge collapsed during its building and it
tells the story of a young Italian Australian single mother
who has been left with nothing after I believe both
her husband and her father were killed in the Westgate
Bridge disaster. So that's another one that I'm really looking
(05:22):
forward to. That's from director Adrian or Tager. But going
back to the Assie Horrors, there's Went Up a Hill,
which is directed by Samuel van Grisven that's been described
as a Gothic kind of horror, and that too is
getting a release after Myth has finished. And another film
(05:43):
that you might be interested in as well, Nick, because
I know you've got a Tasmanian connection like I do.
There's a new film from Zach Hildic called We Bury
the Dead, which is a zombie film I believe, which
is the result of what happens when the Australian government
decides to use tas Mania as a military experiment.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Based on I don't know.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
But yeah, it sounds like it's going to be a
very very interesting film. But yeah, there's a lot of
great Australian films this year that I think is going
to really spark that interest back in Australian films once again.
There's also a lot of music documentaries, which I know
(06:26):
is something that you're very interested in, Nick as well.
There's a new documentary that's going to be screening this
time around which looks at the life and career of
Jeff Buckley, which of course was tragically cut short when
he drowned. That's another one that I'm really looking forward
to going along and seeing. And do you remember the
(06:49):
nineties kind of doom grudge band the Butthole Surfers.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
They've played the show.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, So there's a documentary directed by Tom J. Stern
which is being described as irreverent, X rated and sometimes dangerous,
So that should be an interesting documentary to go and
see as well. There's another documentary on Jimmy Barnes called
Working class Man, which is directed by Andrew Farrell, which
(07:19):
might be worth a look if you're into Australian music
as well. And there's another documentary from indie rock pioneers Pavement,
which is going to be an interesting one. That's from
Alex ross Perry who's directed that one about the band Pavement.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, then interesting mixed band of films. You've got great documentaries,
a lot of really experimental films. Is a huge kind
of experimental short film program, including one called Things We
Said Today. I don't know if you've seen that one,
a kind of surreal take on the Beatles at nineteen
sixty five tour.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
Yeah, that one is another one that sounds really interesting.
And there's a lot of different experimental films this year
that I think is going to make a lot of
people see where film is and cinema is heading to
as well. It's one of those festivals this year where
it feels like they're trying to do a lot of
different thing and introduce people to some of the films
(08:21):
that are going around in the world at the moment,
because AI and things like that are really creeping into cinema.
So yeah, there sounds to be some very very interesting
ones this time around.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And of course there's a big animation program, not necessarily
for the youngsters, although they have screened The Bad Guys too,
which I was surprised by, which is kind of a
big commercial film, but a big range of animated films
if that's your particular taste and sci fi comedy. Is
(08:54):
even a rescreening of B and EX Bandits.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
Yeah, that's part of the one that's been happening for
the last few years now at MYTH where they go
back and screen some of the classic Australian films from
over the years, and I understand this year as well
they're doing more family films as well. You mentioned BMX
Bandits and also The Bad Guys. There's also an Asian
(09:22):
film which I believe is from Japan called Imagine. There's
a very very rare family film as well, called The
Legend of Ochi, which I've been hearing some amazing things about.
It's from A twenty four that's screening as part of
the family section of the festival this year as well.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
Lots to check out at the MYTH five Film Festival date.
Just before you go, I might just get a couple
of quick words on the film that I reviewed just
before Bridehead.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
You're at the screening, will be your thoughts on that. Look.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
I really really feel for Rebel Wilson with this film.
It feels like this is a movie that could have worked.
I mean, when you think about who directed that movie.
This is the man that brought us films like tomb
Raider and stuff like that. But it feels like Rebel
Wilson has been wrongly cast in this film. She's just
not believable as that CIA agent slash spy. Early on, though,
(10:22):
I thought the jokes kind of worked, but then as
the film went on they became more dad jokes, and
I felt that kind of let it down. But this
is one of those films where it really feels and
it's I'm surprised someone during the pre production or even
the production itself didn't say, Hey, I think we've cast
the wrong person in the lead role here.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
Yeah, it's not a perfect piece of casting, even as
a satire of the action genre.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Rebel Wilson, right, that was just.
Speaker 4 (10:57):
A upcoming preview, a mixed to show here on the
other of the FF but debut, you're still there. I
am mate, Yes, I am so if you if you
want to hangarf the disco show, there's a pre velvet there,
but not a great piece of casting, and a film that,
(11:17):
as some more review, clings on by its fingernails to
achieve meteorography rather than becoming a complete sort of make
it fested Turkey.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Look, it does enough things for you to be able
to sit there and watch it and not think I
really want to leave the cinema right now. But there
were so many different things that I found as the
film went on seemed to get progressively worse, including the
fight sequences, the green screen. At one point it felt
like it was a high school production green screen that
(11:48):
they were acting in front of it. It really was
weird for a film that has such a high profile
director that's worked with big budgets to find him working
on a film that seemed to have little on budget
at all.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Absolutely, yeah, one of the unfortunate movies so far this year.
I needed something to Turkey list and it's made the
grade there. Dave, many thanks for staying with us tonight.
A few difficulties along the way, but really appreciate your
insights into the wonderful program and myth this year, some
(12:23):
great films to check out.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
You've let us not out.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
There and definitely go along and have look at the
diverse program on offer.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
That's not Brightheart.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
You can give that one a miss, but if you can,
definitely check out Dave Griffiths from the Book of the Film,
the t Shirt, The Good About the Ugly Film Show
as well and many other.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Outlets. We thank very much for giving your cinema wisdom tonight.
Thanks though,
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