Australian films to watch out for in October 2024:
- The Moogai
- Audrey
- Memoir of a Snail
- My Freaky Family
- Left Write Hook
- Like My Brother
- He Ain’t Heavy
- Mozart’s Sister
The best new films of October 2024:
2 October
Coldplay Global Theatrical Listening Event
Coldplay are inviting fans to a special, one night only global theatrical experience, where they will be among the very first to hear the band’s hotly-anticipated new record, Moon Music, in selected cinemas around the world.
Director: N/A
Cast: Coldplay
Classification: CTC
Country: UK
Runtime: –
3 October
I, The Executioner
Rookie detective Park Sun Woo and Seo Do-Cheol, a veteran of the Violent Crimes Investigation Division team chases after a serial killer who shakes up their world.
Director: Ryoo Seung-wan
Cast: Dal-su Oh, Hwang Jung-Min
Classification: CTC
Country: South Korea
Runtime: 118m
Joker: Folie à Deux
Joaquin Phoenix returns to the role that earned him an Academy Award, reuniting with director Todd Phillips for this sequel to 2019’s Joker. Co-stars fellow Oscar-winner Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. Institutionalised at Arkham, Arthur Fleck is awaiting trial for his crimes as Joker. While struggling with his dual identity, Arthur not only stumbles upon true love, but also finds the music that’s always been inside him.
Director: Todd Phillips
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga
Classification: R
Country: USA
Runtime: 138m
Six Inches of Soil
The inspiring story of British farmers standing up against the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food – to heal the soil, benefit our health and provide for local communities.
Director: Colin Ramsay
Cast: David Morrissey, Adrienne Gordon, Anna Jackson
Classification: CTC
Country: UK
Runtime: 90m
ScreenHub: Best new shows streaming this week on Netflix, AMC+, ABC iview, BritBox, Stan, SBS, Binge and more
Stand By Me (2024)
Ma Liang, a wandering boy, met Xuan Xuan, a child who was forgotten by his family and had no one to care for him. The similar fate brought the two lonely teenagers closer and closer. They built a small home together in the wind and rain.
Director: Ruoxin Yin
Cast: Karry Wang, Yongshen Chen
Classification: CTC
Country: China
Runtime: 127m
The Critic
Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton and Mark Strong star in this story of ambition, blackmail and desire with an anti-hero at its dark heart. A whodunnit wrapped in a Faustian pact which winds tighter and tighter. Based on the novel Curtain Call by Anthony Quinn, the film follows an actress who finds herself in a dark situation involving a theatre critic and his paper’s editor in 1930s London.
Director: Anand Tucker
Cast: Ian McKellen, Gemma Arterton, Mark Strong
Classification: M
Country: USA/UK
Runtime: 99m
5 October
Your Fat Friend
Your Fat Friend charts Aubrey Gordon’s journey from anonymous blogger ‘Yrfatfriend’ to NY Times bestselling author and podcast host and the complexities of making change. It’s a film about fatness, family and the deep, messy feelings all of us hold about our bodies.
Director: Jeanie Finlay
Cast: Aubrey Gordon
Classification: CTC
Country: UK
Runtime: 94m
10 October
Ghostlight
When a construction worker unexpectedly joins a local theatre’s production of Romeo and Juliet, the drama onstage starts to mirror his own life. Nominated for the Audience Award at SXSW.
Director: Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson
Cast: Dolly De Leon, Keith Kupferer, Tara Mallen
Classification: M
Country: USA
Runtime: 115m
Greedy People
Himesh Patel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Lily James star in this crime comedy following the residents of a small island town who must navigate a sensational murder, the discovery of a million dollars, and a series of increasingly bad decisions.
Director: Potsy Ponciroli
Cast: Himesh Patel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lily James
Classification: MA
Country: USA
Runtime: 110m
Hellboy: The Crooked Man
Jack Kesy (12 Strong) dons the horns as Hellboy, the rookie BPRD agent created by comic book artist Mike Mignola. Stranded in 1950s rural Appalachia, Hellboy discovers a small community haunted by witches, led by the Crooked Man.
Director: Brian Taylor
Cast: Jack Kesy, Jefferson White
Classification: MA
Country: USA
Runtime: 99m
My Hero Academia: You’re Next
Deku, Bakugo, Todoroki and the rest of U.A. High Class 1-A face off against Dark Might and the obscure crime organisation under his control, the Gollini Family.
Director: Tensai Okamura
Cast: Mamoru Miyano, Kaito Ishikawa
Classification: M
Country: Japan
Runtime: 110m
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Never-before-seen home movies and extraordinary personal archives reveal how Christopher Reeve went from unknown actor to iconic movie star as the ultimate screen superhero. He learned the true meaning of heroism as an activist after suffering a tragic accident that left him quadriplegic and dependent on a ventilator to breathe.
Director: Peter Ettedgui
Cast: Christopher Reeve, Ian Bonhôte
Classification: CTC
Country: UK, USA
Runtime: 104m
Terrifier 3
The third Terrifier film, the fourth featuring disturbingly violent clown Art (who also featured in All Hallows’ Eve), and the first to be set during Christmas.
Director: Damien Leone
Cast: David Howard Thornton, Lauren LaVera
Classification: R
Country: USA
Runtime: 125m
10 October
The Apprentice
Emmy nominee Sebastian Stan plays a young Donald Trump opposite Emmy winner Jeremy Strong as his infamous lawyer Roy Cohn in this biographical drama examining how Trump started his real estate business in New York during the 1970s and ’80s. From the director of 2018 Oscar nominee Border.
Director: Ali Abbasi
Cast: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong
Classification: CTC
Country: Canada, Denmark, Ireland, USA
Runtime: 122m
11 October
Jigra
Vasan Bala directs this Indian prison break thriller. A series of unfortunate events leads to a woman going on a journey of excruciating pain, vigour and a will that cannot be bent until her brother is free.
Director: Vasan Bala
Cast: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina
Classification: CTC
Country: India
Runtime: 180m
16 October
Taeyong: Ty Track In Cinemas
Experience NCT’s Taeyong in his first solo concert Ty Track on the big screen.
Director: Yoon Dong Oh
Cast: Taeyong
Classification: CTC
Country: South Korea
Runtime: 96m
17 October
Memoir of a Snail
Director: Adam Elliot
Cast: Sarah Snook, Eric Bana, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Classification: CTC
Country: Australia
Runtime: 94m
From Academy Award winning animator Adam Elliot comes this bittersweet memoir of a melancholic woman called Grace Puddle – a hoarder of snails, romance novels and guinea pigs. Grace’s life is plagued with misfortune and loss, until she befriends an elderly eccentric woman called Pinky. Through an enduring and colourful friendship, Pinky teaches Grace many life lessons and ultimately the courage to let go of the things that clutter her home and her mind.
ScreenHub: Memoir of a Snail, MIFF review: triumph of the human thumb-print
Bocchi the Rock: Recap Parts 1 & 2
Aki Hamaji’s coming-of-age manga sensation made its way to TV, which has now been re-edited into this feature-length movie. The story follows a high-school band, which leads to an actual album called KESSOKU BAND that ascends the charts.
Director: Keiichirô Saitô
Cast: Yoshino Aoyama, Sayumi Suzushiro
Classification: CTC
Country: Japan
Runtime: 165m
From Hilde, With Love
Historical drama telling the true story of a young German woman drawn into the anti-Nazi resistance movement during WWII.
Director: Andreas Dresen
Cast: Alexander Scheer, Emma Bading
Classification: MA
Country: Germany
Runtime: 104m
He Ain’t Heavy
A desperate woman kidnaps and enforces rehab on her violent brother in a last-ditch effort to save their lives.
Director: David Vincent Smith
Cast: Leila George, Sam Corlett, Greta Scacchi
Classification: MA
Country: Australia
Runtime: 103m
Knox Goes Away (Assassin’s Plan)
Michael Keaton plays a contract killer diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia. Presented with the opportunity to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged adult son, he must race against the police closing in on him as well as the ticking clock of his own rapidly deteriorating mind.
Director: Michael Keaton
Cast: Michael Keaton, James Marsden, Al Pacino
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 114m
Like My Brother
Four talented Tiwi Island Indigenous girls dream of AFLW stardom, and with the support of their community, face the social and physical obstacles standing in their way. Filmed over six years, the documentary explores the different worlds that the girls must traverse from the remote Tiwi Islands to mainland Australia as they are selected by the Essendon Football Club for their talent and unique style of play.
Director: Danielle MacLean, Sal Balharrie
Cast: Jessica Stassi, Arthurina Moreen
Classification: G
Country: Australia
Runtime: 93m
19 October
MetOpera: Les Contes d’Hoffmann (2024-25)
An ensemble of leading lights take the stage for Offenbach’s fantastical final work. The poet E.T.A. Hoffmann is in love with Stella, a renowned opera singer. Lindorf, a rich counselor, also loves her and has intercepted a note she has written to Hoffmann. Lindorf is confident he will win her for himself.
Director: The Metropolitan Opera
Cast: Erin Morley, Christian Van Horn
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 246m
23 October
Whitney Houston: The Concert for a New South Africa (Durban)
In 1994, Whitney Houston took the stage in Durban, South Africa, making her the first major Western musician to visit the newly unified, post-apartheid nation following President Nelson Mandela’s winning election.
Director: Marty Callner
Cast: Whitney Houston
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 115m
24 October
A Different Man
Sebastian Stan stars in this Berlin Golden Bear-nominated A24 film as a man who, after undergoing a facial reconstructive surgery, becomes fixated on an actor in a stage production based on his former life.
Director: Aaron Schimberg
Cast: Sebastian Stan, Adam Pearson
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 112m
Lee
Kate Winslet leads this biopic as photographer Elizabeth ‘Lee’ Miller, a fashion model who became an acclaimed war correspondent for Vogue magazine during World War II. Co-stars fellow Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone) and Oscar-nominee Andrea Riseborough (Birdman) alongside Emmy-winners Josh O’Connor (Challengers), Alexander Skarsgård (The Northman) and Andy Samberg (Brooklyn Nine-Nine).
Director: Ellen Kuras
Cast: Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Andy Samberg
Classification: M
Country: USA, UK
Runtime: 117m
Left Write Hook
Documentary following eight female survivors of childhood sexual abuse who participate in a two-year experimental recovery program that combines the physicality of boxing with the emotional power of expressive writing.
Director: Shannon Owen
Cast: Aubrey Plaza, Maddie Ziegler
Classification: MA
Country: Australia
Runtime: 93m
My Freaky Family
On the cusp of her 13th birthday, Betty Flood – budding musician and magical being – just wants to be like the rest of her fabulous, but very different family, so why is her magical Mum so against it? As Betty wrestles with this, she also learns the amazing truth about her family and discovers that the not so normal, the magical and the musical are all a part of her fabulously freaky family.
Director: Mark Gravas
Cast: Rupert Degas, Sarah Aubrey
Classification: PG
Country: Australia, Germany, Ireland
Runtime: 87m
Tears for Fears Live (A Tipping Point Film)
Tears For Fears cinema concert film captured during The Tipping Point Tour Part 2 in 2023. The hits including Everybody Wants To Rule The World, Shout, Sowing The Seeds Of Love, Mad World and Head Over Heels along with new fan favourites from The Tipping Point – their first album in 17 years.
Director: Vincent Adam Paul
Cast: Tears For Fears
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 120m
Venom: The Last Dance
Tom Hardy returns for this third Venom film, as does BAFTA-nominated writer Kelly Marcel who also directs. Also stars Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange) and three-time Emmy nominee Juno Temple (Ted Lasso).
Director: Kelly Marcel
Cast: Tom Hardy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 140m
31 October
Here
Tom Hanks and Robin Wright play a couple throughout the ages in this odyssey through time and memory from director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump). The story’s centered around a place in New England where – from wilderness, and then, later, from a home – love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Paul Bettany
Classification: CTC
Country: USA
Runtime: 104m
My Favourite Cake
Mahin lives alone in Tehran since her husband’s death and her daughter’s departure for Europe, until an afternoon tea with friends leads her to break her solitary routine and revitalize her love life.
Director: Behtash Sanaeeha, Maryam Moghaddam
Cast: Lili Farhadpour, Esmaeel Mehrabi
Classification: CTC
Country: France, Germany, Iran, Sweden
Runtime: 97m
Saturday Night
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air) helms this depiction of the down-to-the-wire lead-up to the recording of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live. Set at 11:30pm on October 11th, 1975, the film follows a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers in the 90 minutes leading up to a broadcast that would change television forever.
Director: Jason Reitman
Cast: Gabriel Labelle, Rachel Sennot, Dylan O’Brien
Classification: MA
Country: USA
Runtime: 108m
Mozart’s Sister
Like her younger brother, Maria-Anna Mozart was a keyboard genius from an early age and the siblings toured Europe performing as wunderkinder to royalty. As a child it was acceptable for Maria-Anna to play in public. But when she reached 15, societal norms compelled her to retire. Tantalising clues exist of her continued virtuoso playing as well as her interest in composing music. Using recreations and expert interviews, Madeleine Hetherton-Miau explores the fascinating theory that Maria-Anna Mozart played a larger role in her brother’s music than is previously known.
Director: Madeleine Hetherton-Miau
Cast: N/A
Classification: CTC
Country: Australia
Runtime: 98m
The Moogai
A malicious spirit enters the home of a young Indigenous couple with a newborn baby and the mother must protect them at any cost. Based on his award-winning short of the same name, writer-director Jon Bell’s striking feature debut arrives from SXSW, Sundance, SFF and MIFF.
Director: Jon Bell
Cast: Shari Sebbens, Meyne Wyatt, Tessa Rose
Classification: CTC
Country: Australia
Runtime: 86m
Audrey
A dramedy following self-appointed Mother of the Year, Ronnie Lipsick, who is living a life she never wanted, with a derailed career, a husband whose love for life has gone limp and two daughters who she struggles to connect with. When an accident lands her eldest daughter Audrey in a coma, Ronnie gets a second chance at life by taking on her daughter’s identity – only she’s not the only one in the family who sees Audrey’s comatose state as an opportunity.
Director: Natalie Bailey
Cast: Jackie van Beek, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Hannah Diviney
Classification: CTC
Country: Australia
Runtime: 96m
