Director of the Month: Jane Campion
Though she went on to create a string of brilliant films, Jane Campion will always be remembered for her stunning debut feature, Sweetie, which focuses on the hazardous relationship between the buttoned-down, superstitious Kay and her rampaging, devil-may-care sister, Sweetie—and on their family’s profoundly rotten roots. A feast of colorful photography and captivating, idiosyncratic characters, the tough and tender Sweetie heralded the emergence of a startlingly gifted filmmaker, and people took notice: Roger Ebert offered, “Sweetie is a story with a realistic origin, told with a fresh and bold eye… Most movies slide right through our minds without hitting anything. This one screams and shouts every step of the way.” The film also heralded an international renaissance of Australian cinema, which would take the film world by storm in the nineties.