An independent respite

My last four films in the theater had been Wonder Woman, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, John Wick: Chapter 2 and Alien: Convenant.

That's summer for you.

Add to that recent posts on this blog about two older Alien movies and Guardians of the Galaxy, and I've been surrounded by summer lately -- even as it has become frigidly cold in Australia.

Thursday night, it was time to get back to the arthouse.

That was resoundingly the case with Hounds of Love, a distinctive kidnapping thriller from Australian director Ben Young, making his feature debut. It's a rather familiar story told with a real knack for creeping us out and creating memorable imagery.

I won't say a lot more about it right now because I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I'll say about it in my review. Since my editor doesn't typically post new stuff on the weekends, it looks like I'll have the weekend to think about it.

It's the rare Australian film that "counts" -- in other words, can also be found in theaters outside of Australia. ("Counts" = is worth adding to my list so it can potentially make an apples to apples comparison with the year-end lists of American critics.) In fact, IMDB tells me it had a limited release in the U.S. a few weeks back, so maybe you -- assuming you are an American reader -- can actually find it at your local arthouse cinema.

For me, it was nice just to be reminded that not all movies seen in the month of June -- summer there, winter here -- involve explosions and familiar characters being hauled out for the umpteenth time.

Of course, I'm still walking on air a bit after Wonder Woman, so far be it from me to cast aspersions on all big budget fare.

Sometimes, though, you do need an independent respite, and I'll do my best to keep alternating little movies with big ones from here on out.

Up within about the next month: Una and The Beguiled.

And, you know, probably The Mummy and Spider-Man also.