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Sometimes it's fun writing a negative review when you're trashing a corporate product or the delusional mess of a self-indulgent auteur. But when it's a local, independent production whose passionate cast and crew were present at the screening, there's no joy in explaining why a movie doesn't work. Unfortunately, despite its technical prowess where both the sound design and costumes are very well-done, Petrol features a subpar narrative filled with poorly written dialogue and derivative attempts at ambiguity and surrealism.
Petrol insists that the enigmatic Mia is the most charismatic person ever but we're simply told this without feeling her unique presence; she curates a so-so art exhibition and does some vampiric roleplay on the beach…
"Or you'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them. I mean you'd be different in some way—I can't explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it." – Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye
It's a shame that MIFF's program notes have attempted to sell Lodkina's film as a piece of dark millennial quirk, calling it "the lovechild of Round the Twist and David Lynch", leading to the mass misinterpretation of what is really Rivette's Duelle mushed into a deliberately messy and and diarist portrayal of early adulthood social complications. Confounding in its insistence on doubling-down on certain thematic details while leaving others a…
can guarantee no other film at miff will provide the fleeting spectacle of seeing the back of my head projected on an imax screen.... dreams do come true!!!!
alena lodkina is one of the most exciting aussie filmmakers to crop up in ages, but if you saw strange colours then you already knew that. obsessed with the way she so precisely captures the soul of these rich, insular worlds on screen, and the myopic characters inside them who yearn for purpose. incredible casting choices and images on display - genuinely remarkable to see an aussie drama with actual fucking style, complete with beautifully alienating compositions and the most alluring zooms i've seen all year.
if the q&a is anything to go by, maybe the key to making one of the best films about melbourne is to fundamentally find it ugly lol
A real banger of a movie - so incredibly energising to watch supreme talent on full display. A GOATed masterpiece by epic cinema Chads. Extremely staunch and low-key genius. Big respect.
A little bit uhh… Naarm cinematic universe. Everyone is bisexual and boring and the parties look like they fuckin’ suck.
What does it mean to be an empty vessel guided solely by vague ideals of creative integrity? Not a whole lot — though there’s a confounding sense of compassion for this aimlessness at the heart of Lodkina’s POV. This conflict is coyly nudged at throughout without too much presupposition to give us an easily digestible takeaway. Like we’re just a couple notches off satire. Maybe this hits different if ur an aspiring “self-made” artist?
Soooooooo crazy to watch this tonight in my apartment across from Flagstaff Gardens and see the park looking back at me on my telly. Cinema.
Petrol, the tale of film student Eva and her enigmatic friend Mia, is an eidetic and peculiar film posing questions about what is art and artifice, and how memory and dream might be refracted in conscious reality. Petrol is ambitious, arty and leaves many questions intentionally unanswered. The film looks wonderful with fabulous light and textures augmented by great cinematography.
It’s always a bit cute watching a film made in your home city, spotting all the familiar locations — some even just down the road from your own home… That’s about all I can say in favour of “Petrol”. 😬
While this is clearly a very independent film made by a team of passionate emerging creatives, it’s just such a bland and boring watch sadly.
The dialogue is bordering on atrocious at times and the two principal leads aren’t compelling (or strong) enough actors to make it work — especially Lynch, who is either just gravely miscast, or I dare say, cannot act a lick otherwise. The film seems to think the character of the ‘mysterious’ Mia is fascinating enough…
I've banged on about this elsewhere, but I'll do so again: it is such a pleasure and a relief to see contemporary Australian cinema being released that doesn't fall into one of the three main categories that we've had to endure for what seems like at least a decade or so, those being:
a) prestige period dramas that grapple with our colonial legacy. Yep, these are important and let's see more of them from First Nations filmmakers, but they're not the only stories we need to be telling, b) gritty crime dramas and psychological thrillers about criminals, seemingly popularised in an effort to combat our national/global perception as easy-going, laid back larrikins. Animal Kingdom killed Yahoo Serious, and c) polished,…
Lost between self-loathing and actualisation. A movie filled with gorgeous imagery with an especially keen eye for making Melbourne mysterious and foreboding (peaking with the stunning shots of Flagstaff gardens at night, possums and imposing skyline in the same frame), and admirably few resolutions or answers. It’s like floating in discontent, like how I often felt at arts school. I wished for just a little more genuinely freaky payoff but I respect that the overall low-key simmer is part of the project.
