Any astrologer worth their salt crystals will tell you that Mercury in Retrograde is a harbinger of misadventures, technological difficulties and general pandemonium.
Astronomically speaking, it refers to when Mercury is closest to earth during its orbit around the sun, which makes it appear like it's moving backwards. The Romans were quite troubled by this event because Mercury was their god of travels and communication, hence the belief that it marks a time of glitches and inconveniences.
Mercury in Retrograde is associated with impulsive behaviour, unfortunate accidents, and tomfoolery of various degrees. While these might not be very fun in real life, let’s be real: it's precisely this type of havoc that can make a film a rollicking good time.
SBS On Demand’s is all about embracing the chaos that life has to offer, for better or for worse. The films in the collection are varied in tone, genre and language, but what they all have in common is mayhem, misadventure, and humanity’s brave attempts at overcoming all of life’s curveballs – sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
The Worst Person in the World
Mercury in Retrograde only happens three times a year, but some folk experience the universe’s meddling ‘round the clock. Enter Julie (Renata Reinsve), a young woman adrift in the world, with a confused career trajectory and even more complicated love life. Norwegian film The Worst Person in the World spans four years of Julie’s life, as she realises that finding herself might involve reimagining who she is.
The Worst Person in the World is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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The Worst Person in the World
comedy • drama • 2021
comedy • drama • 2021
Good Time
A Cannes favourite starring Robert Pattinson, heist thriller Good Time follows Connie Nikas, a criminal who robs a bank with his brother Nick (Benny Safdie), only for the burglary to go wrong: Nick is captured by police, but Connie escapes. However, this is about as far as Connie’s luck goes, because as he plans to do everything in his power to free his beloved brother, it appears the universe has other plans. The film is set in one long, frenzied night, as Connie reaches new levels of desperation in his attempt to rescue Nick by any means necessary — no matter how ridiculous or ludicrous his plotting might seem.
Good Time is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Good Time
Crime drama • thriller • 2017
Crime drama • thriller • 2017
Drop Dead Gorgeous
If there were ever a film bonkers enough to make it perfect for Mercury in Retrograde, it is Drop Dead Gorgeous. The black comedy mockumentary starring Kirsten Dunst is set in 1995 and follows a small-town beauty pageant in Minnesota, where girls competing in the pageant become subject to unexplained and deadly freak ‘accidents’, all while a film crew documents the chaos. To put it simply, Drop Dead Gorgeous is what you might expect if Jennifer’s Body and Miss Congeniality had a baby, except it was released before either of these films hit our screens. Which probably explains why it has become so popular in recent years — the campy cult classic received widespread criticism for its bananas plot when it first came out in 1999, but underneath all the mayhem is a surprisingly tender heart as it spotlights the struggles of finding success as working class teens trapped in a small town.
Drop Dead Gorgeous is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Drop Dead Gorgeous
comedy • 1999
comedy • 1999
Parasite
It’s not often that a non-English (or European) language film receives worldwide acclaim, but against all odds, South Korea’s visceral social satire Parasite took the world by storm when it was released in 2019. The film has won accolade after accolade, including Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, Best Picture at the Oscars, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Parasite is a black comedy thriller that follows the struggling Kim family, who are poor and live in a basement flat that is prone to flooding. The family hatch a plan to slowly infiltrate the household staff of the wealthy Park family, and each member successfully cons their way into a role within the home. However, one fateful evening threatens to unravel their lies — and leaves each member having to decide how far they’ll go to maintain their new lifestyle.
Parasite is streaming at SBS On Demand until 30 September.
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Parasite
Dark comedy • drama • 2019
Dark comedy • drama • 2019
Heathers
Heathers is the killer-queen-bee high school movie to rule them all. The iconic black comedy follows popular girl Veronica (Winona Ryder) as she and her shady new boyfriend JD (Christian Slater) set out to murder the bullies at their high school, planning to stage the deaths as as suicides. As you’ve probably learned to expect with this collection, things do not go according to plan and chaos ensues. The endlessly quotable film (!) is cynical and subversive, flipping the teen genre on its head at the time of its release in the ‘80s. It’s no surprise that since it came out, it’s been adapted into a musical and a TV series, and developed the following that it has. It’s truly timeless.
Heathers is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Heathers
Dark comedy • 1989
Dark comedy • 1989
You Were Never Really Here
In this tense psychological thriller, Joe (Joaquin Phoenix) is a deeply traumatised veteran who is hired to rescue a senator’s daughter, Nina (Ekaterina Samsonov), from sex trafficking. The job, which starts off routine, suddenly spirals out of control and Joe realises he has become caught up in a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. But despite the danger lurking at every turn, he will not abandon Nina — and so the two tumble into chaos together. You Were Never Really Here isn’t just a hitman thriller — it’s also about the man at the centre of it, and his struggle with suicidal ideation. It’s a heavy watch, but the tension is worth the release.
You Were Never Really Here is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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You Were Never Really Here
drama • thriller • 2017
drama • thriller • 2017
Girl Picture
Mercury Retrograde is a chaotic time, and so is teenagehood. Girl Picture follows three teenage girls as they navigate their tumultuous emotions during a dark Finnish winter. Two find love, one finds herself, but all three must reckon with the liminal space they occupy by being not quite adults, but not really kids either. It’s rough out there, but it can also be amazing — such is the contradiction of being a teenager. The dreamy coming of age film has been compared to Booksmart and praised as tender, sweet and sensitive, but still mature, so it can be enjoyed by adults of any age.
Girl Picture is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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Girl Picture
drama • romance • 2022
drama • romance • 2022
After Blue
A sexy, psychedelic, surreal, visually spectacular explosion of colour, After Blue is a riot of a film and wholly original in premise. On a planet of only women (a kind of neon pink laser lesbian utopia), a teenage girl named Roxy and her mother Zora find a mysterious, sultry woman trapped under the sand at a beach. She appears to be a criminal, but Roxy is instantly enamoured with the woman (who is named Kate Bush, for some reason) and sets her free. Kate Bush immediately begins a murder spree, and Roxy along with her mother are tasked with tracking Kate Bush down and killing her, lest they be exiled from their community. Buckle up for this ride because it is a wild one.
After Blue is streaming at SBS On Demand.
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After Blue
