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I went to the Cinema Nova in Melbourne to see the screening of Hot Mess and immediately fell in love with its charm. Its made on next to nothing and using just the basics of any indie film maker's under-resourced smorgasbord, but for what it is, a small independent film addressing the age old question of 'will you love me?' I thought it was really fun and recommend anyone to see it. There are some nice moments in there which sit well and the lead actress who plays Loz is so relatable to my early 20s that its like looking at a mirror. I guess that's why I liked it because it reminded me of me so much. We had the chance to talk to the cast and director at the end of the movie who were really sweet, making me enjoy this movie so much more just hearing about how they made the film. Its light and funny and something relatable especially if you've bee Loz in a former life! Would love for this to be a series on Netflix if possible.

Black Garden is a great movie to watch in a Covid-19 lock-down when all you have late at night is a bottle of vodka and a sense that we're actually at the start of the end in the real world. I love dark movies, and being a big fan of Dogs in Space, this had the same thread. Its certainly the slowest movie I've ever seen but that worked for me because of the subject matter and the music and sound effects create a dull constant nagging to remind me and maybe others too that this could happen at any second. I love the acting from the lead Kate and the older guy made me really hate him. I guess that what a good performance is in movies. Getting to the end was like a psychological endurance test and the last shot gutted me. Its super depressing but I guess that's the point of the movie? Don't watch this film without understanding what its going to do to you afterwards when you start to think about movies as a beacon of what its talking about is a little too real in reality. It's like On the Beach with a baseball bat to the head from slowness and the understanding we're in this situation now.

Dogs in Space to me seems like the older cousin of Romper Stomper partially because it was filmed near the same locations but also it has the same destructive critique of Australian, and Melbourne sub culture. I don't think you can say there's anything nice about the movie or even pleasant to watch but it had a powerful impact on me when I first came across it. Michael's role was just as it should have been and the music was so fitting to the genre. I could see parallels to Trainspotting as the third connection especially in its concept of addiction and death. I think this film made me have an interest in miserable movies. I just loved how it made me feel, skin crawling and tense moments of 'what did I just watch?' Just how good cinema should be. For me that is.