Art Smitten: Reviews - 2016

The first half of the Melbourne International Film Festival has flown by, and I've already seen some great films like Cosmos, Paterson and The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki. Among the films I've seen, though, there's been a fantastic selection of horror films, and I thought I'd spotlight four of them: three narrative features, all by first-time filmmakers, and a documentary. First up, The Eyes of My Mother. An American film, but with occasional Portuguese dialogue, it's one of the first films I got to see and it's still stayed with me. One day, a little girl witnesses some terrible violence in her home; an intruder shows up but is subsequently overpowered, and from that moment that violence seeps through to her brain as she grows up and her life spirals into chilling psychopathic behaviour. Shot in black-and-white, there's a wistful, melancholy, poetic tone enshrouding the on-screen horror. With echoes of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the film delves into some very dark places, both explicit and