The Good.film Goodies - November Edition
There might be sleigh bells in the distance, but we’re too focused on the sweet sounds of cinema and the newest TV releases reaching our ear-holes this month!
good.film
2 years ago
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From a lush symphony orchestra with a secret, to a virtual-reality world set 8 decades from now, here’s a little taste of some cause-centred entertainment we think deserves your attention.
We’ve also unpacked an environmental message from a legend we’ve dubbed The Planet’s Granddad™, and put together the GOAT (or should that be ‘goatee’?) of Impact Lists to raise awareness for a very timely health cause. Mo power to ya!
CateHoven’s Symphony
You’d struggle to find anything magnificent that hasn’t already been said about the luminous Cate Blanchett, but here goes. This week at good.film we were lucky enough to be treated to an exclusive pre-release screening of Cate the Great’s new symphonic triumph, TÁR. Cate plays the titular Lydia Tár, widely considered one of the greatest living composer-conductors on Earth - and the first-ever female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. And boy, does she smash it out of the park (or concert hall).
There may only be 8 female conductors in the world’s top 100 - a stat that’s thankfully improving year on year - but for director Todd Field, there was only one woman to play his star, vowing he wouldn’t have made the film at all if Blanchett had turned the script down. “Cate [has] one of the greatest brains I’ve ever met,” Field told IndieWire. “I had no backup plan.”
No backup needed, gang. Oozing tension like an ice-cold coiled spring - not to mention whipping out some utterly convincing conducting while speaking fluent German - it’s an astonishing, titanic performance that, if you ask us, could have the 2-time Academy Award winner clearing space on her heaving shelves for even more hardware in the months to come.
That’s not to say Cate’s got another Oscar in the bag - this year’s already been stellar for cause-driven female lead performances. Michelle Yeoh punched out a career-best turn in the multi-universe shattering mental health hybrid, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and newcomer Danielle Deadwyler is drawing rave notices in the US for her grief-stricken mother role in the biography of real-life racism victim, Emmett Till.
Over on the bloke’s side, and Australia has another great shot at awards recognition here too (represent!), with Hugh Jackman at his best playing a father to a depressive teen in The Son. And it’s short odds that Hugh would face up against Brendan Fraser, in his incredible comeback transformation as a reclusive, 600-pound writer looking to reconnect with his daughter in The Whale.
With the Oscars still 4 months away, you could label us keen and we’d cop it - but with performances like these in the mix, you can’t blame us for getting excited.
TÁR releases in Australia on January 26, 2023.
Legacy of a Legend
Anyone with even a passing interest in the natural world - or just a television - knows the face above: Sir David Attenborough. He’s like our planet’s guardian, spokesman and granddad all rolled into one. At age 96, the legendary broadcaster, biologist and author may have scaled back his globetrotting in recent years - but when he speaks, he grabs the world’s attention.
Sir David’s message at the conclusion of his latest BBC documentary series, Frozen Planet II, has made an emotional impact: urging us that, on the issue of curbing human-led climate change, “We can do it. It’s within our power to do it. We must do it.”
We love a good proverb at good.film, and we’re reminded of this one: “Blessed is he who plants trees under whose shade he will never sit.” Now in his twilight years, it couldn’t be more relevant. Some have viewed Sir David’s piece to camera as somewhat of a ‘final plea’, pressing us to redouble our efforts to meet the COP26 target of 1.5 degrees, and pull our world back from the brink of collapse. “Then,” Sir David signs off, “there will be a future for the planet.”
Discover other great Earth-aligned content on our Environment, Climate Change, Marine Conservation and Wild Animals cause pages.
Peripheral Vision
If you’ve already burned through The Boys and smashed Star Wars: Andor, don’t sink into cryosleep yet: here’s your next dystopian, cyberpunk binge! The Peripheral has already been hailed as a “bravura adaptation”, a “stunning sci-fi bursting with ideas” and “unlike any other sci-fi on TV right now”.
Chloë Grace Moretz plays Flynne, a young woman caring for her unwell Mum who happens to be amazing at advanced, VR-style video games. So far, so Ready Player One… until we learn that Flynne uses VR not just as her escape, but the only real way to fund her Mum’s expensive medication. A sly nod to the future of the US healthcare system…?! As the story unfolds, the questions come flying faster than the pixels whizzing into Flynne’s futuristic headset. Is everything she sees just programming… or is she controlling an avatar in another world? Is the game just incredibly detailed and lifelike… or is Flynne somehow travelling into the future for real?
With a “trust no one” vibe and edgy themes covering online safety and science & technology (not to mention female empowerment), there’s plenty of tension in The Peripheral’s narrative to keep you hooked. But we’d be lying if we said we weren’t equally as drawn to its crisp aesthetic - a lot of which spins to life in the (eerily empty) streets of London, 2099.
We won’t spoil it further, but let’s just say CGM may have grown up since her 12-year-old, purple-haired Hit-Girl turned the air blue, but she’s still kicking ass!
The Peripheral is streaming now on Amazon Prime.
Nice Mo’ing You!
If you’ve noticed a whisker more “80s” in the air lately (and a few less upper lips on display) there’s a great reason: Movember is go! Yep, it’s the movement that inspires a stack of Aussies to look like their hairy Uncle Terry for a month, all in the aid of well-deserved men’s health causes like prostate & testicular cancers, mental health and suicide prevention.
As a platform, we struggled to grow a convincing mo - but we did the next best thing and combed together a list of our fave on-screen moustaches! From hirsute handlebars to the thinnest of pencils, this isn’t just lip service… we reckon our list covers all the hairy bases.
Hit the link to check out some of film & TV’s most famous soup strainers and cookie dusters… and if you’re feeling inspired, you can donate to the worthy cause of Health & Medicine and help save a life while you’re admiring the view.
We’d love you to forward this article to a fellow movie-lover to help grow our community! Let them know they can match movies and streaming series to causes they care about… create & share watchlists to keep the conversation going... and inspire others to donate via the good.film platform to support the causes that matter. Thanks!
