A long-haul flight becomes a cinematic journey

This is a sample of The Echidna newsletter sent out each weekday morning. To sign up for FREE, go to theechidna.com.au

There are two advantages of being confined to a seat for a long-haul flight. First, you'll arrive at your destination faster. Second, you'll catch up with some fine movies you wouldn't have otherwise seen.

A daytime flight is an opportunity to binge, as long as the fare being offered by the airline is decent, as it was on my recent travels. Among the usual high-octane action, superhero and teen dross were some real gems, thoughtful visual feasts I can happily recommend to anyone who likes their movie experiences to stay with them long after the credits have rolled.

The cinematic journey began with Perfect Days, a Wim Wenders film set in Tokyo, where I was headed. The synopsis promises little - the story of Hirayama, a toilet cleaner content with his structured life who finds beauty in the world around him. But the film has stayed with me ever since. It's a slow, visually and aurally lush celebration of the simplicity found in the world's largest city. Koji Yakusho, who plays Hirayama, is brilliant, his face one of the most compelling I've seen on the big (or small) screen.

Hirayama's day begins with the sound of a bamboo broom sweeping the street outside and the cawing of crows. His routine begins as he folds up his futon, brushes his teeth and trims his moustache, dresses, steps from his apartment, smiles at the sun, buys a coffee from the vending machine and sets out for his day's work in his tiny little van. The same routine is repeated throughout the film but oddly it never tires. Every day, Hirayama records the beauty he sees on his old film camera and at night it fills his dreams.

Perfect Days is a gentle tonic and a reminder to all who watch it to slow down, absorb the beauty around them and perhaps find contentment.

Much darker but no less arresting is The Zone of Interest. It's the story of Auschwitz commandant Rudolph Hoss and his family, who build the "perfect" life in their home beside the concentration camp. It took a leap of faith to commit to this movie but I'm glad I did. Much of the story is told with sound. The murder just beyond the Hoss's garden wall is never seen but it's heard constantly. The muffled ripple of gunshots, the coming and going of trains, make the horror plain but the Hoss family is indifferent as its members enjoy the garden, the swimming pool and the nearby forest and streams.

If beauty is revealed in Perfect Days, banality is laid bare in The Zone of Interest.

Golda, with Helen Mirren in the lead role as the embattled Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir during the 1973 Yom Kippur war, is a gripping account of the conflict and the woman who led Israel through it. Mirren is utterly convincing as the ailing, chain-smoking PM as she turns an existential crisis into victory and sets the stage for peace with Egypt. Edge of your seat stuff.

Then, finally, Freud's Last Session, with Anthony Hopkins playing the father of psychoanalysis. Another slow burn, the film takes us into an encounter between Freud and author and devout Christian CS Lewis at the outbreak of World War II. As the two debate the existence of god, flashbacks from each reveal aspects of their lives which shaped their very different world views.

The script is tight but leavened with humour and Anthony Hopkins is a delight as always, revealing Freud's genius and also his dark side, especially his controlling relationship with his daughter.

All four films have stayed front of mind. They pushed the irritations and discomfort of a long-haul flight in cattle class right into the background, which made arrival at the other end so much easier.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Have you been to the cinema recently? What current movies would you recommend? Is there a movie you've seen that has stayed in your mind? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au

SHARE THE LOVE: If you enjoy The Echidna, forward it to a friend so they can sign up, too.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:

- The federal government will introduce legislation to ban deepfake pornography, fund a pilot of digital age assurance technology and pursue "long overdue" classification reforms to counter violence against women, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says.

- Years of cost-of-living pressures have led to a rise in child poverty and many vulnerable Australians are choosing between paying their landlord or paying for food, leading charities say. One in four people have eaten expired or soiled food while about 5 per cent have eaten from rubbish bins, according to a survey by the Salvation Army.

- Facebook is serving up wildly inaccurate versions of articles published by media companies to their users, using artificial intelligence to generate botched "summaries" of paywalled news articles. The revelation has added pressure for the Albanese government to force Meta to pay for journalism in Australia, after the company closed down its news tab - a dedicated tab for news in the bookmarks section of Facebook - earlier this month.

THEY SAID IT: "I think cinema, movies, and magic have always been closely associated. The very earliest people who made film were magicians." - Francis Ford Coppola

YOU SAID IT: When it comes to violence against women, the biggest challenge is prevention. One area that should not be ignored is sport and how it shapes young male minds.

Allan writes: "I suspect we'll never curb our passion for sport and our frustration when 50 per cent of the time on average our side loses. There's no doubt that alcohol and the continued advertising of it during sporting events is a huge contributing factor. At least if you buy a six pack of beer, though, you get what you paid for. I'm more and more convinced that the disgraceful blanket advertising of betting websites where your chances of coming out ahead are minuscule is a major factor in male anger leading to violence in the home. It's high time our national and state governments had the guts to ban advertising of these sites."

"This tribal membership is forced on kids from an early age," writes Kay. "Soon after our grandson moved from overseas to start school in Victoria, he came home with a beanie, scarf and other merchandise. We had no idea what was going on, but Mum was told it would soon be 'footy colours day', and so one of the teachers had given him his team's gear to wear. Is this harmless fun, or the start of indoctrination, divisiveness and radicalisation? We can no longer have religious faith education in public schools, so could we remove compulsory footy fever as well?"

Arthur writes; "Well said, Echidna. At last someone is prepared to identify a root cause of violence in our community, including violence against women. Australia has a major cultural problem. Alcohol, sport and gambling have replaced the God-given commandment 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Women are seen by far too many men as a source of sexual gratification rather than fellow human beings. Women are also the victims of alcohol-induced reduction in responsibility and self-control. The ability of governments to change attitudes and culture is very limited. The journey to make significant change will be a long and difficult one but we have to take the first step to dislodge alcohol, sport and gambling as being the best things in life and replace them with love and caring for each other."

"Absolutely correct," writes Joan. "I chastised my local paper photographers once for printing only photos of grown men viciously grabbing each other around the throat with absolute venomous looks on their faces along with other horrible confrontations. I asked where were the pics of great marks and a clever handball etc. The media could do a lot more to help stifle ugliness in whatever sport."

Erike writes: "So glad to see your email, John. I couldn't agree more. I commented on the online SMH some weeks ago about valorising contact sports being a contributing factor in the violence against women and was howled down. We have a long way to go."

"Hear! Hear!" writes Jacqui, former CEO of No to Violence. "As someone who spent eight years at the helm of our only national organisation working directly with men who use violence I could not agree more! How to get real leadership in the sporting space and deal with the harmful impacts of gambling must be central tenets. Well said!"

Deb writes: "Enough already, there is no elephant, just humans being human. And a media circus that highlights the worst in us rather than the best. Every relationship has its power struggles, always have and always will. Family violence has been around since the beginning of time. And murder has been around since the beginning of time. We have developed laws and education programs to help to address this. Around one third of all murder victims are female, that means two thirds are male, so gender equality is yet to be achieved."