The Curb

Co-directors Richard Moore and John Doggett Williams invite audiences into the space of pain, discomfort, and body exploration with their searing, curiously tender, and wonderfully life-enriching documentary Stelarc Suspending Disbelief. This occasionally profound experience follows performance artist Stelarc, a Cyprus-born Australian artist who was raised in the suburbs of Melbourne and found a path towards exploring mortality, death, and what it means to be alive through artwork that many might consider extreme or provocative, but for this pain-experiencing audience member, I found his artwork all embracing in its presentation of discomfort and finding peace within that space.

On this episode of physical media reviews, Nadine Whitney & Andrew F Peirce delve into some of the major releases from Umbrella Entertainment. They kick off the discussion looking at Jamie Blanks Ozploitation throw back gorno flick Storm Warning, before taking a darker dive into the mammoth New Extremity Collection which features High Tension, Anatomy of Hell, Frontier(s), and Martyrs. Finally, they dive into one of the must have physical releases of the year, Tarsem's The Fall.

Physical media copies were provided by Umbrella Entertainment for honest reviews.

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On this episode of the Curb review podcast, Nadine Whitney takes us deep into the realm of fighting flamethrowers with the oddly titled From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, before whisking us away into the land of dragon fantasy with the live-action spin on How to Train Your Dragon, before she takes Andrew to a remote shark expedition in Queensland with Dangerous Animals.

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Daniel Bibby's short film Half Past Midnight follows two strangers - Harper (Miah Madden) and Marcus (Mitchell Bourke) - who meet in a cinema and decide to head out for drinks after the screening. In the bar, their relationship is revealed to be something more, something where romance once flourished, a romance that is now withering, yet for both Harper and Marcus, it feels as if it's still in reach.

There's a tenderness to Half Past Midnight, one that underpins the films understanding of two adults growing to realise that the person they thought was 'the...

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Harley Hefford and Luke Thomas are two thirtysomething Naarm-Melbourne based creatives who have a background in events, festivals, and bars. Their latest endeavour is an art community spread over ten floors in a new creative space in Collingwood located in the iconic Easey's building, best known for the train carriages that sit on its rooftop. 

In the following chat, Harley and Luke talk about the foundation of Trainscendence, which kicks off with a two day grand opening experience on Friday 20 June and Saturday 21 June 2025, featuring a Monopoly style event full of live art, music, food, and d...

As I tell Gabrielle in the following interview, when a new Gabrielle Brady film emerges into the world, it is like the arrival of a gift, one that pulls us into a mindset of considering the lives of others, including those of the crabs of Christmas Island, or maybe the horses of the Gobi Desert. It's one that encourages us to see the world of truth differently. That notion of truth is something I've asked filmmakers a lot lately, and I'm conscious of its almost accusatory nature, as if documentary filmmaking must adhere to one True Reality. But it's...

Zoe Pepper mines the generational wealth divide for all its worth in the acidic WA-made comedy Birthright. Cory (a perfectly cast deadpan Travis Jeffery) and his very pregnant wife Jasmine (an equally deadpan and delightful Maria Angelico) are getting the shaft from their rental. Stuffed in more ways than one, they load up all they can into the boot of their car and trundle off to the sanctuary of mum and dad, Cory's baby-boomer parents, Richard and Lyn (pitch perfect casting of Michael Hurst and Linda Cropper).

Cory's parents live in a swanky abode in a leafy...

Judith Hancock has always felt that was different from her siblings. Having spent her youth in boarding schools, Judith felt disconnected from her family in more ways than just distance. When she returned home from boarding school, she spent most of her time with children from an orphanage where her father worked.

Judith felt other aspects of difference in her family that caused her to wonder whether she was adopted - her siblings were much older than she was, and her mother was not particularly caring or loving. This lingering lack of closure for Judith was amplified...

I remember sitting in the Mercury at the Adelaide Film Festival and watching Unspoken and getting to see a rare talent emerge on screen in the form of Kat Dominis. Her lead performance left me moved, shaken, and stunned by the depth of emotions she presented on screen. As the credits rolled, I saw she was the co-writer of this award-winning short film, a credit she shares with Mariana Rudan and director Damian Walshe-Howling. Unspoken is a story about family, it's a story about division, and it's a story built on intergenerational trauma.

Kat plays Marina, a...

Amalie Atkins loving documentary Agatha's Almanac follows Agatha Bock, Amalie's aunt, as she lives her life on a farm in southern Manitoba, tending to the vegetables, beans, and the soil. She preserves the heirloom seeds she has nurtured and maintained for decades, connecting her to her families past, and tenderly supporting herself using traditional methods. Agatha is also 90 years old, with her connection to the soil being a life-enriching experience.

The charm of the film not only comes from Agatha's connection to her farming skills, but also from the various stories about her life that she tells...

Queensland: Beautiful one day, deadly the next! For American drifter Zephyr (Hassie Harrison) the gorgeous Gold Coast supplies her with great surfing and anonymity where she can leave her dark past behind. For psychopathic fisherman Tucker (Jai Courtney) the ocean provides him with a living, but his real interest lie in dying: the death of those he reels on to his boat to feed the sharks.

Sean Byrne’s Dangerous Animals harkens back to Ozsploiation in the best way. It’s brutal, quick paced, and one hell of a survival horror. Sharks plus serial killer – the perfect bait f...

Director Justin Kurzel has crafted a filmography built on exploring the impact of trauma and violence on a nation. Whether it be his excoriating debut film Snowtown or the acts of cautionary storytelling with Nitram and The Order, Kurzel’s work questions how violence and trauma lingers in our bodies, our minds, and in our lands. That’s a notion that he explores with impressive strength with his first foray into documentary filmmaking, Ellis Park.

There’s catharsis in Ellis Park, partially because of Warren Ellis and his healing violin, but – as the man says himself – his presen...

There's a delirious level of dark comedy that thrives in the new short film DIY from director Tony Gardiner and writer Lachlan Marks. A woman, played with a disarming ease by Claire Lovering, is mourning the passing of her dog. As she drills into the wall to hang up a picture of her pup, she is surprised to find blood coming out of the hole. Heading to the other side of the wall, she finds the dead body - the first of the dilemmas she encounters. The next is Damon Herriman's organised crime cleaner. From here, DIY unfurls in...

Part of why Coming & Going feels like a quiet revolution of a film is the manner that Andy presents vulnerability, loneliness, and tenderness on screen. 'Baby, you are gonna miss that plane' is what Julie Delpy said to Ethan Hawke as she danced in the climax of Before Sunset, creating one of cinemas finest romantic moments. Andy pulls from the echo of that scene, creating the pivotal moment within Coming & Going with a scene that has Harry taking a guitar off the wall and playing a song for Julian, gifting his momentary boyfriend lyrics and a tune that will...

Chad Freidrichs is a documentarian who has crafted a filmography built with a series of fringe stories that unveil fascinating narratives that exist just outside the periphery of normalcy. His first feature doc, Jandek on Corwood, sees a reclusive folk and blues musician gain a following, all the while he never truly engages with his followers fascination with his work. In 2011, Chad crafted the ethnographic documentary The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, which looks at the urban racism that existed in social housing in St Louis. Then, in 2017, with The Experimental City, Chad explores the rise and fall of societal ideas as...

Matthew Rankin is a Canadian filmmaker who hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His work, which includes the acclaimed award-winning 2019 feature The Twentieth Century, has often been called 'experimental' or a slice of 'absurdist comedy'. That's partially true, but I'd go a step further and say that there's a touch of humanist storytelling to his work, one that's crafted from a globalist perspective. That mindset is accentuated with Rankin's latest film, the tender and superb Universal Language, a Canadian film where characters speak in Persian rather than English or French, where a guide shows a group of bored tourists the banal...

Isabella Tree is a noted conservationist and the author of the acclaimed book Wilding, which tells the story of Isabella and her husband as they undertook the immense and impressive journey to rewild their failing four-hundred-year-old estate in England, bringing beavers and cranes back to the country for the first time in years.

Wilding, alongside the work of fellow conservationist Derek Gow, author of such books as Birds, Beasts, and Bedlam and Bringing Back the Beaver, have become foundational texts for me, having guided my perspective as a wannabe conservationist, albeit with a minimalist perspective as someone...

Co-writer and actor Archie Lush, director Alex Power, and producer Mark Zanosov take us to the streets of Fremantle, Western Australia, where their short film Blunt pushes us into the simmering heat of the kitchen. Under the spatter of duck fat and the glint of sharp knives is the mounting pressure of being a top tier chef, a notion that's amplified by Archie Lush's emerging culinary creative need to try and save his fathers struggling restaurant. Shot with a vivid realisation from one of Australia's finest emerging talents, cinematographer James Dudfield, and edited with precision by Hamish Paterson, Blunt...

Genevieve Bailey is a documentarian who has drawn attention to the impact of societal struggles with mental illness through her empathetic and nurturing body of work. With feature films like I Am Eleven and Happy Sad Man, Gen embraces a supportive mindset, using the power of cinema to bring real stories to audiences. It's that sense of support that is keenly felt in her latest documentary, Always Listening, a short film about the history of Lifeline Australia. Gen takes us to the end of the telephone where we meet the many counsellors and support people who volunteer their time...

Nadine Whitney had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Karan Kandhari and Radhika Apte about Sister Midnight and how as original and ‘weird’ as it is, it’s also representative of people who are rarely seen as (essential) inhabitants of Mumbai. Both Karan and Radhika are an absolute joy to listen to.  

Kandhari’s film is a marvel of inventiveness. The work itself breaks the rules of what is considered genre cinema by never settling on one. Sister Midnight is much like the artist who performed the song after which it is named. Igwald Popstar – known to people who h...

Lorcan Finnegan's wild and weird trip-fest flick The Surfer is one that's had local audiences salivating at the prospect of its arrival. That anticipation went into hyperdrive when Oscar winning actor and walking cult-factory Nicolas Cage was announced as the leading man, a bloke returning home to the South West to buy his family home, reconnect with family, and surf a little. His idea of a Christmas sojourn is scarpered when 'the locals', headed up by Julian McMahon at his career best, thwart his chance of escaping the heat and securing the home he has his eyes on.

Jacob Richardson's feature film debut The Aegean sees the Queensland based writer-director embrace the Grecian story of a widower, Hector (Costas Mandylor), who finds himself in the orbit of Khristos (Light), a refugee who finds himself in the waters of the Aegean Sea. As Khristos finds himself becoming embedded in Hector's life, he discovers an unexpected bond that will give him a sense of place and purpose that he was missing.

In the above interview, Jacob talks about the personal connection to the narrative of The Aegean, how he worked with Costas Mandylor and Light to create...

With her essential website Infinite-Women.com, Allison Tyra has built a deep database that contains more than 6000 biographies from around the world and throughout history, documenting the biographies of women who have made a mark in history. Her debut book, Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work, expands on the database within Infinite Women and explores the stories of over 600 women who have had their work or achievements be overlooked, misattributed, or stolen, ultimately leaving their legacy as an uncredited and unacknowledged one.

In the following interview, Allison talks about her creative process of documenting the bi...

Kelly Schilling's feature debut film With or Without You is the powerful and impactful story of a mother, Sharon (Marta Dusseldorp) and a daughter, Chloe (Melina Vidler), who are forced to navigate the complicated reality of alcohol addiction, an affliction that Sharon uses to manage her anxiety alongside Valium and men. For Chloe, the man in her life, an ex-boyfriend, turns violent and aggressive, inflicting abuse on her by burning down her caravan, destroying her life savings and home in the process. In a bid to get to some kind of safety and sanctuary, Sharon and Chloe head on...

One of the more exciting news points in recent weeks has been the announcement of the new First Nations initiative Damulgurra Stories. Founded by Larrakia man Cian Mungatj McCue, of Moogie Down Productions, and award-winning casting director and producer Sarah Price of Castaway NT, Damulgurra Stories aims to transform the way productions work with First Nations cast, crew and creatives both on and off screen— providing resources, protocols and training rooted in cultural integrity, collaboration and empowerment.

Andrew caught up with Cian and Sarah ahead of the launch of Damulgurra Stories at Screen Forever on the Gold Coast...

Lars and the Real Girl is Craig Gillespie's 2007 indie comedy-drama about a man who has an unconventional relationship with a sex doll. That man is a young Ryan Gosling, who is supported by Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Patricia Clarkson, and Bianca the Doll.

Umbrella Entertainment have released an impressive collectors edition of the film which features custom artwork, a poster, artcards, essays, an audio commentary by Thomas Caldwell, and more.

Nadine Whitney reviews the film, the disc, and the extras in this podcast discussion.

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are...

Before commencing her career as a filmmaker, Jane Larkin was an Australian representative sprinter, pushing her body to the limits on the track. In the moments of preparation, cooldowns, and every minute in between, Jane was building friendships, learning from fellow athletes, and seeing a world of sports that we rarely get to see in cinema.

After shifting over to acting in 2018, Jane embraced roles in films like Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives and the Netflix series Boy Swallows Universe, before commencing on her biggest creative project yet: The Edge. Jane wears multiple hats on her feature film...

Andres Veiel's latest documentary, Riefenstahl, delves into the dark and deep archive of the private estate of Leni Riefenstahl, exposing the deep ties the filmmaker had with the Nazi regime. Andres uses footage and correspondence from Riefenstahl's own personal records, including hidden interviews and documents that present a different side of a director who has been both acclaimed and criticised for her role in the rising Nazi regime.

Riefenstahl is a powerful and impactful film that shows just how deep the director was within Hitler's regime, and how much she tried to micro-manage her own public facing...

Saskia Archer is an actor on the rise. From the streets of Sydney, to the turf of Tasmania where she embarked on a path to become a paramedic, to a shift to WA where she built her acting skills at the WA Academy of Performing Arts, and now, to the bustling city of New York, Saskia is seeing the world and forging a path in acting doing so.

Genre-fans might know Saskia from the 2022 flick The Reef: Stalked, where she played Annie, while others might know her as her turn as Hanabeth in Bali 2022. For these roles...

Eli Craig smashed onto the slasher scene with his genre-defying comedy event Tucker & Dale VS Evil, and he's back with another slasher that upends expectations: Clown in a Cornfield.

Clown in a Cornfield is based on the first entry in Adam Cesare's Frendo series which chucks a group of teens into the mayhem of a Midwestern American town where they find themselves picked off by a growing group of killer clowns. Eli Craig then takes that terror from the page and supplants it brilliantly with a satirical and savvy stance, making one of the most enjoyably subversive...

Every so often, you sit down to watch a film, and find that it unexpectedly fills a hole you didn't know you had in your life. You might not know you needed a charming, dose of positivity in that moment, but as the seconds tick over, you find yourself being swept along in a wave of joy that your day shifts and things that would usually bother you suddenly bounce off you, even if it's just for a day.

That's what I experienced when I watched Jesse Leaman's delightful short film, Mother of Chooks, a pure hearted...

And we're back with another review discussion with myself, Andrew, and my colleague Nadine Whitney. In this episode, we discuss the work that we both did on the Umbrella releases of Eyes Without a Face and Hounds of Love, while also discussing the importance of the supplementary materials that come with physical media releases, alongside the work that goes into writing or creating essays for physical media releases.

We also discuss other current releases from Umbrella, including Metal Skin, and the upcoming release Storm Warning.

Our cinematic recommendations include Bob Trevino Likes It and Every...

ion to our humanity. At twelve years of age, Darwin won the award for Best Film by a Child Producer, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing at the KidzFlicks awards for his short film Red Panda Man. He had previously made a claymation short film called My Eco Friendly House. Darwin then also was a Tropfest Jr finalist for his short Milk. Again, he was only twelve years old at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIZDIpQoomY

Flash forward a decade and Darwin's creative streak continues with his latest short film Bluebird, a...

In December 2013, Australian journalist Peter Greste, alongside fellow Al Jazeera colleagues Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, were arrested in Cairo, Egypt under charges of holding illegal meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood, an organisation declared as a terrorist group by the Egyptian Interior Ministry. 

Kriv Stenders is a prolific Australian filmmaker, with his work spanning features, documentaries, and TV series. His latest film, The Correspondent, translates this period of Greste's life, as documented in his 2017 memoir The First Casualty, to screen, with Richard Roxburgh portraying the award winning journalist. 

The Correspondent is a sa...

Aussie band Kingswood are rock royalty, having played shows with AC/DC and The Hives, tearing down the rooves of Aussie venues in equal measure with their unique brand of raucous rock. In 2024, the band undertook a record-setting road trip across Australia with the Hometowns Tour, the longest ever music tour, encompassing 112 shows over six months, with everywhere from the outer regions of Western Australia to the sticky floors of Sydney getting a taste of their guitar licks and long hair. 

Knowing what a historical moment this would be for the band, Kingswood tapped emerging director D...

In 2024, director Natalie Bailey and writer Lou Sanz unleashed Audrey onto audiences in Australia and America. Here's a film that I called a caustic comedy that rains like refreshing acid rain. Here's the story of a mum, Ronnie (played by Jackie van Beek), who opts to literally take over the life of her daughter Audrey (Josephine Blazier) when she ends up in a coma after an accident.

This immaculately layered comedy film arrived in a time where Australian audiences are calling for more Aussie comedies, yet they're simply not paying attention to their existence, or if they...

At just twenty years old, transgender wunderkind Alice Maio Mackay has crafted a filmography that would make most seasoned professionals envious. Alice's filmography is built within a defiantly independent space that centres queer stories on screen. From 2021's short film The Serpent's Nest, to the run of genre defying horror and sci-fi feature films that includes 2021's So Vam, 2022's Bad Girl Boogey, 2023's T-Blockers and Satranic Panic, and 2024's Carnage for Christmas, Alice has showed other filmmakers the possibilities of independent cinema within Australia.

Alice follows in the footsteps of fellow Aussie trans filmmaker Dee McLachlan...

For decades, David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz were Australian film reviewing royalty, having built up a loyal following with their weekly show on SBS, The Movie Show. The 90s and early 00s was the peak of David & Margaret’s influence over Australian audiences. What they recommended, people would head out and go and see.

Both David and Margaret are staunch supporters of cinema, becoming advocates for all kinds of cinema and decrying the impacts of censorship. While both have played roles in the way that film censorship in Australia has impacted what we see, it’s Marga...

This podcast is also recorded in Naarm, Victoria, with fellow critic Nadine Whitney reviewing two of the films screening at the 2025 Alliance Française French Film Festival.

In the following reviews, Nadine discusses Anne Fontaine's Bolero and Éric Besnard's Miss Violet.

For all the festival details and to purchase tickets, visit AFFrenchFilmFestival.org.

If you want to find out more about the work we do on The Curb, then head over to TheCurb.com.au. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers ju...