We all know that Aussie summers mean days at the beach, barbeques with friends and endless cricket matches. It also means stinking hot days and even hotter offerings of Australian cinema.
When you need to escape the heat and spend a few hours lost in a captivating story, there are plenty of options available at the movies.
So grab your mates and head to the cinema and cool down with a choc top or two.
The Dry
(Now Showing)
Eric Bana makes his return to Aussie cinema with this film adaptation of Jane Harper’s debut novel.
Federal Agent Aaron Falk (Bana) returns to his home town after an absence of over twenty years to attend the funeral of his childhood friend, Luke, who allegedly killed his wife and child before taking his own life – a victim of the madness that has ravaged this community after more than a decade of drought.
When Falk reluctantly agrees to stay and investigate the crime, he opens up an old wound – the death of 17-year-old Ellie Deacon. Falk begins to suspect these two crimes, separated by decades, are connected. As he struggles to prove not only Luke’s innocence but also his own, Falk finds himself pitted against the prejudice towards him and pent-up rage of a terrified community.
Penguin Bloom
(In cinemas Jan 21)
Naomi Watts and Andrew Lincoln star in this is the incredible true story of how an injured baby magpie (Penguin) saved an Aussie family from their darkest time.
A young couple’s lives are upheaved when Sam (Watts) suffers a near-fatal accident and is unable to walk.
As their three sons and Sam’s mother (Aussie screen legend Jacki Weaver) attempt to adjust to their “new normal,” an injured baby magpie comes into their life and slowly starts to help the family heal.
For Sam, in particular, Penguin proves to be the most unlikely of confidantes as she finds herself saying things to the bird she can’t otherwise articulate.
Occupation: Rainfall
(In cinemas Jan 28)
A wild and war-torn dystopian vision of the land down under comes to life in the most ambitious sci-fi film ever produced in Australia.
Luke Sparke‘s highly anticipated follow-up to 2018’s Occupation, Rainfall picks up two years into an intergalactic invasion of Earth where survivors in Sydney, Australia are fighting back in a desperate ground war.
As casualties mount by the day, the resistance and their unexpected allies uncover a plot that could see the war come to a decisive end. With the alien invaders hell-bent on making Earth their new home, the race is on to save mankind.
Dan Ewing, Temuera Morrison, Daniel Gillies star.
The High Ground
(In cinemas Jan 28)
Set against the stunning landscapes of 1930s Arnhem Land, High Ground chronicles young Aboriginal man Gutjuk (Jacob Junior Nayinggul), who in a bid to save the last of his family teams up with ex-soldier Travis (Simon Baker) to track down Baywara — the most dangerous warrior in the Territory, who is also his uncle.
As Travis and Gutjuk journey through the outback, they begin to earn each other’s trust, but when the truths of Travis’ past actions are suddenly revealed, it is he who becomes the hunted.
Long Story Short
(In cinemas Feb 11)
Just in time for Valentines Day, here’s one for the rom-com lovers.
Serial procrastinator Teddy (Rafe Spall) thinks he has all the time in the world, but after an odd encounter with a stranger (Noni Hazlehurst), he wakes up the morning after his wedding to discover that he’s jumped forward a year in his life to his first anniversary.
His wife Leanne (Zahra Newman) is now heavily pregnant, with a full year of marriage behind them that he doesn’t remember living.
With the help of his best friend Sam (Ronny Chieng), Teddy must learn how to live life in the precious moments to win back the woman he loves, even if it’s just for a second.
Don’t miss your chance to experience these homegrown Aussie films on the big screens at HOYTS this summer.