The ten best films to see at MIFF this year

Queen Cate Blanchett leads us deep into the woods in this wild and weird trip from the bonkers minds of directorial trio Guy Maddin plus siblings Evan and Galen Johnson. She plays fictional German chancellor Hilda Ortmann, heading up a make-or-break meeting of world leaders (including Game of Thrones baddie Charles Dance’s suspiciously British-sounding US president) attempting to head off a zombie apocalypse that’s already at their door. Read more.

After the bruising results of last year’s Voice to Parliament referendum and the lack of alternative ideas that have followed, ease your soul with this hopeful documentary from Deadly Inspiring Youth Doing Good co-founder Semara Jose and photographer-turned-filmmaker Krunal Padhiar. They followed First Nations youth activists campaigning for a Yes vote in Cairns last year and jumped on a bus to the Freedom Day Festival some 3000km across the Northern Territory. While we all know the results, you’ll have your eyes opened by their fresh perspectives. Read more. 

Tilda Swinton leans into her magnificently eccentric energy to play a riotously self-centred art critic who is so obsessed with her late partner (rapper RZA) that she’s had him cryogenically frozen by the shonky outfit where Alejandro is grafting for a visa (writer, director and co-star Julio Torres of Los Espookys fame). When they team up to stage a posthumous retrospective exhibition, this absurdly fun New York tale becomes a camp fantasy. Read more.

No one does body horror like twisted Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg (Crash, Dead Ringers and The Fly). Delving deep into his grief after his real-life wife tragically died of cancer in 2017, he tells an uncomfortably icky story of a tech magnate (French rent-a-baddie Vincent Cassel looking a lot like his director) who can’t let go, inventing a burial shroud that allows him to view his late wife’s decaying body in the grave. What could go wrong in this chilling story that also features Guy Pearce and Diane Kruger? Read more.

If you want a love story that’s no less tragic but considerably less gory, opt for Suk Suk director Ray Yeung’s beautiful, Hong Kong-set, Berlinale Teddy Award-winning romance between two older women, Angie and Pat. One must fight the family of the other to hold onto the home they shared together for 30 years when their beloved partner dies unexpectedly. How that trauma radiates outwards is delicately drawn, with the film a timely reminder that queer rights are still tenuous at best in many places worldwide. Read more. 

Food lovers who favour slow cooking sessions should gorge themselves on the latest long-form, intimately detailed portrait from award-winning documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman. Pushing through the service door and into the high-stakes kitchen of this celebrated, three-Michelin star restaurant tucked away deep in the French countryside, you’ll be amazed by the very un-The Bear calm of the chef’s library-like hush. Prepare to leave four hours later feeling very hungry. Read more.

A major contender for best furry friend of the festival, it’s no wonder that human lead Eddie Peng (Are You Lonesome Tonight?) adopted his canine co-star Xiao Xin after shooting this shaggy dog story, attending the Cannes Film Festival together, no less. The former plays a down-and-out loner who’s just got out of jail and picks up a gig hunting stray dogs who are being cleared out of the way in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The latter might have rabies, necessitating quarantine together. That bond sparks a road trip to remember. Read more.

Produced by Margot Robbie, this great big soulful hug of American indie dramedy by writer/director Megan Park debuted at Sundance and won over hearts and minds with its lightly applied high concept. Nashville star Maisy Stella plays bisexual teenager Elliott, who’s heading off to college after a night in the woods munching magic mushrooms with her best mates. Only this summons her future self in White Lotus lead Aubrey Plaza, bearing the warning “Stay away from Chad.” Enter, stage left, Chad (Wednesday actor Percy Hynes White). Read more.

After decades of delivering outstanding supporting turns in films from Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence to Alexander Payne’s Nebraska (which nabbed her an Oscar nom), June Squibb finally gets the leading lady treatment she deserves in this kick-arse crime caper from Josh Margolin. Sick of being patronised after falling foul of a phone scam, the Los Angeles widower of the title takes to her mobility scooter to face down the crims and reclaim her $10k at all costs. Revenge is a dish best served old. Read more. 

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, trust us, you know the music of the queer, Detroit-born tomboy with a flare for the theatrical. She penned the Friends theme song and Pet Shop Boys banger ‘What Have I Done to Deserve This?’ Groovy tunes for Earth, Wind and Fire include disco swinger ‘Boogie Wonderland’. With talking heads including the luminous Cyndi Lauper, Alexis Manya Spraic’s doco is a loving tribute to a vibrantly creative spirit.  Read more.