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Zak Hepburn

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, all of us strangers.

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The surreal almost supernatural atmosphere of Andrew Haigh's "All of Us Strangers" is present from the first shots, where the sunset light streaming through the windows of the new apartment building seems piercingly gold, almost molten. There's something weird about the light, like it's sentient, reaching out for this building in particular. Then there's the building itself. It's mostly empty. There are only two residents.  It's like the building is floating in a spacewhere time either collapses or stretches out like an accordion. Things become possible, things like forming a fragile and unexpected love connection, or, stranger, like being able to speak and meet with the dead. "All of Us Strangers" does these things, creating a sense of uncanniness from the first time we see the golden light hit the building windows, like it's come across the vast abyss of space specifically for this time, this place.

Andrew Haigh's other work shows the director's interest in relationships and intimacy (although not in an otherworldly way). "Weekend" was about a one-night stand's transformation into something more substantial, occurring, as the title suggests, in a compressed timeframe. " 45 Years ", on the other hand, showed the devastating crack-up of a relationship. Both films showed Haigh's sensitivity to human behavior, as well as the good care he takes of his actors, the room he gives them to feel and create. Charlotte Rampling was nominated for an Academy Award for "45 Years" and no wonder. Haigh loves actors. "All of Us Strangers" is a quartet, featuring four memorable performances by Andrew Scott , Paul Mescal , Claire Foy , and Jamie Bell .

Scott plays Adam, first seen basking in that eerie molten glow, as though being pulled towards it. He's a screenwriter, supposed to be working on a new script, but instead puttering about and procrastinating. One night the only other resident of the building knocks on his door. This is drunk, flirtatious, charming Harry (Mescal), looking for a hookup. Nothing happens that night but a delicate thread is established.

On occasion, Adam gets on a bus and travels to the house where he grew up in a nearby suburb. Inside live his parents (Foy, Bell), who died in a car crash when Adam was 12. They are the age when they died. Adam shows up at the door, and his parents are eager to hear about what he's been doing with himself all this time. It's a reunion, but the intensity of feeling is too much. This sense of "too much" floods the film: every interaction spills over into the next, and the next, with scenes between Adam and Harry, Adam and his mum, Adam and his dad, alternating. There's no filler, no downtime. It's one heavy catharsis after the next.

Haigh's touch is light, though. He has removed the extraneous and distracting. Loosely based on the 1987 novel Strangers, by Japanese novelist Taichi Yamada (who died just last month at the age of 89), "All of Us Strangers" is about a man coming out of hiding, facing his past and his present, simultaneously. Losing both your parents in a car crash at the age of 12 is, of course, a life-altering event. He has gone through his whole life without witnesses. The reunion is not without its hiccups. When he tells his mother he's gay, she is shocked. It's like she's never even heard of such a thing. She worries it will be a "sad" life for him, a lonely one. Her views are outdated. (The flipside, though, is her fears are not unfounded. Adam is sad, Adam is lonely.) When he breaks the news to his dad, the interaction goes a bit differently. (Jamie Bell, always an interesting actor, is just heartbreaking here.)

This potentially maudlin stuff is elevated by the work of all of the actors. What matters here is not just what is being said, but the emotions underneath. All four performers pour pure, undiluted feeling into their performances. The emotion gives the supernatural "All of Us Strangers" a feeling of reality. This is how it might go if you met your dead parents again. You'd want them to know you. You have so many things you didn't get to say. You'd want to try to say them. There'd be no pussy-footing around, no small talk. You'd have the courage to get to the point.

In real time, the relationship between Harry and Adam unfolds with tenderness and care. Adam, nearly celibate, is uncomfortable with sexual touch and yet yearning for it. The generation gap is present. Harry has no concept of associating sex with a possible death sentence. They talk things out. These scenes, too, are amazing (and make you really feel the lack of frank adult romances in cinema). If there's no small talk between Adam and his parents, the same is true with Adam and Harry.

Some of "All of Us Strangers" might not work, particularly the ending, which felt convoluted and pre-determined. The premise may seem hokey to some, an artificially generated family therapy session. I can see how this could be the reaction. But I'll come clean. When I have a strong response to a film, as a critic I interrogate it, whether the response is positive or negative. I look for my blind spots, I question resistance, I ask myself what the film is trying to do and whether or not it does it successfully (as opposed to wishing for a whole other film to have been made). "All of Us Strangers" generated such a strong personal response it obliterated my ability to interrogate it. I had no distance. I'd love to talk to my father again, and let him know I'm doing okay, tell him he doesn't have to worry. I'd love to see his face again and hear his laugh. Through "All of Us Strangers" I lived out that fantasy vicariously. The emotion was overwhelming.

"All of Us Strangers" flattened me. Interrogation canceled.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O'Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master's in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

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All of Us Strangers (2023)

105 minutes

Andrew Scott as Adam

Paul Mescal as Harry

Jamie Bell as Dad

Claire Foy as Mum

Carter John Grout as Young Adam

• Andrew Haigh
• Taichi Yamada

Director of Photography

• Jamie D. Ramsay
• Jonathan Alberts

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Gold review – Zac Efron fries in a tough and tense outback thriller

Director-actor Anthony Hayes and his famous co-star deliver strong performances but this dystopian vision becomes gratingly thin

A nthony Hayes is far from the first film-maker to have realised that the Australian outback provides great scaffolding for sparse dystopias, his tough and tense survival thriller Gold emphasising the vast, screen-buckling nothingness. Led by a grubby-looking and banged-up Zac Efron , continuing a long tradition of actors seeking critical acclaim by messing up their photogenic faces, the film is introduced with the text: “SOME TIME. SOME PLACE. NOT FAR FROM NOW…”

This is another way of saying that this South Australia-shot production is set during what the Mad Max director, George Miller, describes as “next Wednesday”: a time in which “all the bad things we read in the news come to pass”. Happy happy joy joy Gold is not, in other words, with its vision of an ecologically ruined world that’s gone to the dogs. Hayes makes it abundantly clear from the unsubtle opening shot – a pair of vultures – that this will be a rather different vision of sand and sun than the 2017 Baywatch remake Efron starred in, torpedo buoy in hand, pectorals glistening.

Although Gold is a new addition to a genre I call the “bugger dead, it’s hot” action thriller (which includes the terrific TV series The Tourist ), Hayes makes the point that the story is not necessarily based in Australia but the aforementioned “SOME PLACE”. This handily saves Efron from impersonating an Aussie and from the potential embarrassment suffered by those (like Bill Nighy , Quentin Tarantino and Kirby Howell-Baptiste ) who have tried to wrap their tongues around a speaking style once described by Winston Churchill as “the most brutal maltreatment that has ever been inflicted on the mother-tongue of the great English-speaking nations”.

Hayes, a veteran character actor himself, co-stars as a bloke billed as Man Two, opposite Efron’s Man One. This reflects an intentional lack of humanity in the film’s outlook, with its tendency to view people through a misanthropic lens. The two men are in the outback because Man One has discovered a huge chunk of gold in them thar desert, which leads to an awkward conversation between them thar men, about who should stay and who should go get the excavator. Efron insists on staying with the gold, despite him being an inexperienced stranger in this land, with nary a solar-powered portable fan or six pack of brewskis to make the impending experience more palatable.

Gold has elements of a chamber piece, but also long stretches in which a hot and bothered Man One becomes increasingly, well, hot and bothered, fending off various hallucinations. It’s clear early on that Efron is in good hands, with Hayes being a talented director of other actors, as he demonstrated in his 2008 hard-hitting directorial debut Ten Empty. Hayes also clearly trusts Efron, who delivers a strong, gloomy and tetchy performance. It’s smart, rather than exceptional, acting: Efron understands he doesn’t need to say and do too much here; he can internalise emotion and let the atmosphere and intensity of the film wash over him.

The cinematographer, Ross Giardina, depicts heat in an interesting way, scaling back the palette to such an extent that many scenes appear virtually colourless. Early on, when Hayes is shown having a cigarette, the smoke he exhales is almost the same colour as the sky: a chalky white more commonly seen in ice and snow. The inference of heat here comes from other places: the barrenness of the land, sweat, the clogging intensity of the drama itself.

Gold is a minimalistic production, story and setting wise, with an interesting kind of contextual ambiguity: we know there is a wider world beyond the frame, though we don’t know what it looks like. Sparseness is intriguing, but this film is so damn sparse. With so little going on, for such a long time, the experience becomes gratingly thin. I admired the craft of Gold but left feeling cold – unlike, of course, Efron, who is cooked like an overripe piece of fruit tossed into an incinerator.

Gold will screen in select cinemas from 13 January and premieres on 26 January on Stan

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Zak Hepburn & The Astor Theatre

• Episode aired Mar 27, 2020

Melbourne's historic Art Deco movie palace, The Astor Theatre, hosts Rob and the team on this very special episode of VIDEO HOARDERS. General Manager, Programmer and ABC News Breakfast film ... Read all Melbourne's historic Art Deco movie palace, The Astor Theatre, hosts Rob and the team on this very special episode of VIDEO HOARDERS. General Manager, Programmer and ABC News Breakfast film critic Zak Hepburn takes us on a guided tour behind-the-scenes of the cinematic landmark a... Read all Melbourne's historic Art Deco movie palace, The Astor Theatre, hosts Rob and the team on this very special episode of VIDEO HOARDERS. General Manager, Programmer and ABC News Breakfast film critic Zak Hepburn takes us on a guided tour behind-the-scenes of the cinematic landmark and fills us in on its 84-year history. If you're a fan of cinema, cinemas and Australian c... Read all

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Dream Job: The Astor Theatre’s Zak Hepburn

Zak Hepburn

The 80-year-old Astor Theatre is one of the most-loved in the country, known as much for its double bills and cult programming as it is for the 1936 heritage-listed building itself. The Astor is as beautiful a place to watch a film as you’ll find, and after a protracted battle over its lease , it is back. The man in charge is Zak Hepburn.

For as long as he can remember, Hepburn knew his dream job would involve movies. It’s just that, originally, he thought he’d be making them.

“I was studying a Master of Arts and Cultural Management at Melbourne University when I realised I needed a job,” says Hepburn. “I started working front of house at the Palace Westgarth cinema in Northcote when it re-opened in 2006. I was really exposed to the day-in, day-out side of cinema programming, and as much as I loved making films, I loved showing people films.”

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Hepburn introduced a late-night program to the Westgarth called Cult Vault, screening exploitation movies on 35-millimetre film. After finishing his degree, Hepburn moved up to national programming assistant at Palace Head Office, which led to programming streams across various film festivals operated by Palace Cinemas. In 2015, when Palace took over the struggling Astor after a heated public battle to keep the St. Kilda institution alive , Hepburn found himself uniquely placed to realise a local film buff’s fantasy, and stepped into the role of the Astor’s general manager.

Hepburn now looks after the everyday operations at the last-standing single-screen cinema in Melbourne. This includes choosing the films, running special events and even restocking the candy bar with its much-loved chunky choc tops.

Taking over a cinema with as strong a history as the Astor was a daunting challenge, but Hepburn never saw it as simply maintaining a legacy. “One of the main things I wanted to do was, not so much change the program, as put my own stamp on it."

While practical experience was crucial to landing the role, Hepburn says his experience at university was formative in teaching him how to navigate the sensitive demands of taking on a much-loved business. “The masters degree equipped me with two things,” Hepburn says. “It gave me a broader understanding of how films are read as text, and it opened up a range of peer and networking possibilities. You need to have a strong network of connections in this industry.”

Now, Hepburn is combining those relationships with his personal experience to help usher the cinema into a new era. “The only way a single-screen environment like the Astor can survive is as an event cinema,” says Hepburn. “It’s not just watching a film – it’s the experience you have, right down to the music and the lighting. The Astor is good at showing films in a way you can’t experience anywhere else.” For example, its sing-along sessions for films such as Grease and Frozen , at which 1000 people belt out the songs along with the stars on screen.

Duke, the Astor’s resident cat, is also a big part of the Astor. Brought in from the Lost Dogs Home as part of its program to place shelter cats and dogs in workplaces to help reduce stress, Duke has become a favourite with cinema-goers. “It was great to have Duke come on board and live here,” says Hepburn. “As well as increasing awareness of the Dogs Home program, he’s really happy.” It’s also Hepburn’s job to feed Duke.

Not many people get to play 70-millimetre film on a huge 19-metre-wide screen as their job. It’s an enviable role. For those interested in working in a similar position, Hepburn has some advice. “You just have to be passionate about what you do,” he says. “Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.”

This article was produced in partnership with The University of Melbourne .

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7 New Movies Our Critics Are Talking About This Week

Whether you’re a casual moviegoer or an avid buff, our reviewers think these films are worth knowing about even if you’re not planning to see them.

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By The New York Times

Critic’s Pick

A hot-button movie people are arguing over.

‘Civil War’

Alex Garland’s “Civil War” is set in a near-future when the United States is at war with itself and something called the Western Forces, made up of Texas and California, is fighting the federal government.

From our review:

It’s mourning again in America, and it’s mesmerizingly, horribly gripping. Filled with bullets, consuming fires and terrific actors like Kirsten Dunst running for cover, the movie is a what-if nightmare stoked by memories of Jan. 6. As in what if the visions of some rioters had been realized, what if the nation was again broken by Civil War, what if the democratic experiment called America had come undone? If that sounds harrowing, you’re right.

In theaters. Read the full review .

The rare reboot that gets it right.

‘don’t tell mom the babysitter’s dead’.

After the babysitter hired to watch them for the summer keels over, a 17-year-old slacker named Tanya (Simone Joy Jones) is forced to support her even lazier younger siblings.

Don’t tell helicopter parents, but the gleefully transgressive flicks that entertained a generation of latchkey wildlings are coming back in style. Wade Allain-Marcus’s rollicking update of the 1991 cult favorite keeps the plot … and amps up the immoral humor. It’s a snappy, gutsy comedy about how kids are spoiled and ignorant, and yet the adult workplace is only passingly more mature.

A deceptive horror film where the good guys aren’t so good.

‘in flames’.

In Pakistan, 20-something Mariam, her widowed mother, Fariha, and her younger brother are struggling when Uncle Nasir suddenly becomes very interested in the relatives he had been neglecting.

As the women scramble to save their home, the walls close in on them, and that’s the point: “In Flames,” a confident feature debut written and directed by Zarrar Kahn, is one of several recent films from around the world that frame patriarchy as a nightmare. … When the film finally gives way to full horror, the pace picks up, and we see what the movie’s been doing all along.

Time travel courtesy of a few bops.

‘the greatest hits’.

Since her boyfriend died in a tragic accident, any song Harriet (Lucy Boynton) hears attached to memories of him catapults her, quite literally, back to the moment in their relationship when that song was playing.

“The Greatest Hits” proceeds slowly and repetitively, which doesn’t have to be a problem: The gentleness of the pace and storytelling gives the cast space to breathe and react to each other, to build relationships that feel reasonably authentic. Similarly, the music choices (which are all over the map both in genre and era) are fun and fresh, lacking the on-the-nose quality that a film with more bang-on choices might have provoked. But as it goes on, the movie begins to feel mired in its own high-concept conceit without space to develop it further.

Watch on Hulu. Read the full review .

A movie about sasquatches. Either you’re in or you’re not.

‘sasquatch sunset’.

This tale of sasquatches follows a pack of four of the creatures through a wordless year of mating, childbirth, death and discovery.

A sincere gift to Bigfoot believers or a surreal cinematic prank, “Sasquatch Sunset” mimes the familiar beats of the nature documentary. This may be a one-joke movie, but it’s an oddly endearing jest, the beasts’ resemblance to primates tweaking our empathy.

Like ‘A Quiet Place,’ only not as good.

On a remote farm, Paul (Nicolas Cage) and his teenage sons scavenge during the day; at night they’re besieged by feral beasts, who may be the mutated victims of an epidemic.

From the review:

The director [Benjamin Brewer] builds tension in brief pockets of silence, and when we do see the monsters, they look quite good — sticky and spindly in a tactile way, like the aliens in John Carpenter’s “The Thing.” But a competent director can do only so much with a poor script, and “Arcadian” is littered with shortcuts and screenwriting clichés.

Tutu-wearing street kids meet the ghosts of old wounds.

This trippy ensemble drama set in Kinshasa explores Congolese society through magical realism and four loosely connected stories.

To say “Omen” is ambitious feels like an understatement. The film begins with a mystical interlude in which a woman pours her breast milk into a river, and sustains this vivid symbolism throughout, making details with natural explanations (a birthmark, a seizure) take on an otherworldly heft. In its best moments, a quiet element of absurdity grounds the spectacle.

An earlier version of this article misidentified an organization in the Civil War in the movie. It is the Western Forces, not the Western Front.

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As “Sex and the City” became more widely available on Netflix, younger viewers have watched it with a critical eye . But its longtime millennial and Gen X fans can’t quit.

Hoa Xuande had only one Hollywood credit when he was chosen to lead “The Sympathizer,” the starry HBO adaptation of a prize-winning novel. He needed all the encouragement he could get .

Even before his new film “Civil War” was released, the writer-director Alex Garland faced controversy over his vision of a divided America  with Texas and California as allies.

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