This is a heartwrenching portrayal of what it would be like to deal with dementia and a stroke by a family. Noni Hazlehurst was extraordinary in this and I thought Stephen Curry was fantastic as per usual. The cameo by Darren Gilshenan was a highlight. I'd watch this if you're a fan of Australian comedy. You won't be disappointed. I was welling up by the end!
Add a Review
-
bigrenz13 February 2022
-
gladys644 February 2022Don't normally like these type of movies as they're either very depressing or very crass. This was beautiful. Acting was superb. Please watch. You won't regret it.
-
Theponykid13 February 2022I stumbled across this movie when I flicked on Netflix one night after work and just wanted something on in the background while I caught up on social media. But within moments, the movie had me hooked and I put down the phone and settled in for what turned out to be a great movie! Something a little different from the norm, and probably one of the best Aussie movies I've seen in years, with a top group of iconic Aussie actors, who played very relatable characters. I think I could see a bit of my own family in every one of them. The plot was not glaringly predictable either.
-
My Review- June Again My Rating 7/10
I enjoyed June Again ,especially Noni Hazlehurst one of Australia's finest actresses who has based her career in Australia rather than seeking fame overseas for over 45 years . Noni Hazelhurst is superb in the title role of June which I'm sure will be included among her very best performances. I'm certain Noni Hazelhurst will be nominated for Australian awards for June Again ,she certainly deserves to be .
Her character June is an elderly woman living in an aged care home after suffering severe dementia as the result of a stroke . Five years after her dementia diagnosis June has a miraculous full mental recovery but this will only be very temporary and she makes the best of her short reprieve.
She doesn't waste time hopping in a cab and escaping from the home but soon realises that life as she knew it has changed since her illness and also the relationships within her family have changed and not for the better .
Her daughter Ginny beautifully played by Claudia Karvan is overjoyed to see her Mum well again but June's critical ,and controlling personality over her children soon becomes a stumbling block . June's son Devon also featuring a fine Australian actor Stephen Curry has suffered his own trauma since his Mum has been mentally absent and he doesn't escape June's judgement and criticism when she realises her home has been sold, her family business has collapsed and her career dreams for Devon have ended.
It sounds a bit grim but there are lots of entertaining light and humorous touches in this film .
There's romance also as June recalls happy memories of the love of her life Charley horse revisiting their special places and searching for a treasured item of furniture that he made especially for her.
I had a few misgivings with some of the plot lines but won't mention them as I hope many people see this film and I don't like spoilers .
New Zealander JJ Winlove who wrote and directed June Again has made an enjoyable film for his first feature movie he has previously been a successful short film maker and Producer. -
ross-547-58575413 May 2021Having seen The Father with Anthony Hopkins, it was with reservations I saw June Again. Another movie about old age and dementia? Am I glad I overcame my reservations.
This film was poignant and believable. Noni Hazlehurst is the rock around which this sad and funny movie is based. Her performance is outstanding and she is ably supported by Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry. In fact all the cast add to a strong cast that keeps the narrative purring along.
The premise that a woman with vascular dementia 'suddenly' comes good is apparently medically quite sound.
What June does with her short time of lucidity is the crux of the story. Her family have fallen apart and then it's June to the rescue (admittedly not with the support of her children).
The film is heart-warming, sad and funny. The fall back to dementia, though expected is very sad.
As an older person myself, this film is quite hard to watch. Still I am glad I did. Well done to all concerned. -
kwihui5 July 2022Great presentation of a very serious and touchy matter, especially because I am nearing that age so things like this subject matter causes worry.
It's possibility that can happen to any body is frightening. Hopefully I will go before I am gone that far.
Well, I doubt that a real people would get such a reprieve but it's a movie so anything is possible.
It is this disease that Robin Williams were inflicted with, that's why he'd killed himself. He could not accept going through rest of his life as a shell. I don't blame him. If I was aphasia afflicted I'd do the same. There's no cure when the brain is diseased. After all we are a thinking beings. Without that ability we are as good as amoeba, possibly less even because at least amoeba has the innate ability to survive. Aphasia person cannot even do that!
Anyway, I recommend everyone watch this film or others like it so they would be aware of it. Whether it's for the self or someone in the family, they'd know what's what! -
maccas-5636712 December 2021Probably Noni Hazlehurst's strongest performance ever. She really carried the film. She managed to balance both tender moments, with laugh-out-loud ones, all the while portraying dementia in an authentic, raw manner.
It was impossible not to think of my dear grandmother, who sadly passed from dementia years ago. In fact, June Again will probably draw parallels to The Father in its accurate and effective portrayal of dementia.
Stephen Curry and Claudia Karvan shared excellent chemistry with Noni. I enjoyed a brief appearance from Steve Le Marquand too.
I was engaged with this movie throughout and it really tugged at the heartstrings. June Again truly manages to effortlessly tick many boxes and is distinctively Australian at the same time. It's a beautiful story, that manages a few gentle twists and turns, while wrapping things up nicely.
I'm glad I made the time to sit down and watch this with my Mum. Can't help thinking this is quite the hidden gem and that more people should check it out! -
wilsondental6 February 2022Acting and directing in Australia is in good hands as I can see with this film. The Director avoided the larrikinism that often permeates Australian movies where people find it hard to take serious matters seriously. This larrikinism is often over represented in Australian movies and doesn't always represent the way Australian families and people interact. JJ has created believable characters and directed them very professionally. It was a serious story but fun.
Noni was a brilliant choice and there are few weaknesses in her fine facial expressions and movements and behaviour while afflicted by dementia. Then the transformation- and she shone in that role. We've all seen diminishing intellect in our loved ones.
Stephen's Devon was captivating - he really is a great actor. And Claudia held it all together with a fine balance between optimism, desperation and just dealing with stuff. The supporting cast were well cast. Sure the story was a bit cheesy but the handling of the plot had enough twists to carry it through. I laughed at Devon's backyard with the lawn. Very clever. Only a very good team could do this -,well done. -
waltermwilliams10 May 2021Who doesn't love Noni Hazelhurst?
Apart from her ex-John Jarratt of course.
She's Australia's favourite mum and the star who literally drives the narrative in "June Again" at the wheel of her dead husbands very cool Gold Valiant Convertible.
This is Kiwi JJ Winlove's major motion picture directorial debut plus he wrote the screenplay...so I can't wait to see what else he'll bring to the big screen in the future.
This movie is all about living and loving again.
Noni's June is in a Nursing Home after a series of strokes left her with dementia.
One fine day she wakes up and is lucid...a state of mind that may only last for a few hours so she takes full advantage and does a runner from the Happy Friday activities at the home to seek out her old life and try to pick up the pieces, but not in an "Average White Band" kind of way.
Only problem is it's five years since she was admitted and a lot has changed in both hers and her offsprings lives.
Her daughter, Ginny, is played by another top flight Aussie actress, Claudia Karvan.
While her son, Devon (which sounds more like cut of deli meat) is "The Castle" star Stephen Curry.
His comic timing is more precise than a Japanese movement watch in every line he delivers effortlessly.
Some other familiar faces flesh out the supporting cast including, the wonderful Darren Gilshenan, last seen on TV's "Harrow", but first came to my attention in the TV comedy "Chandon Pictures" with the award winning Rob Carlton.
So many new movies are dealing beautifully with this insidious disease.
The most famous being "The Father".
"June Again" treats dementia with respect, dignity and humour.
Noni breathes a very real performance into this 99 minute movie that will become an Australian Classic...she truly is superb.
It's a road trip that detours through the threads of the many lives it touches and dementia does touch a lot of lives and delivers a few shocker surprises.
This film will make you laugh, cry and sigh, so it's a winner covering the entertainment fundamentals. -
deloudelouvain21 August 2022Having experienced dementia up close in the family I have to say I wasn't very impressed by June Again. The whole movie is watchable but not very interesting. The fact that the main character June played by Noni Hazelhurst is an annoying woman doesn't help. I preferred her in her vegetative demented state to be honest. The flare ups of clarity were annoying to watch. The acting wasn't great either, just good enough for a tv-movie or ordinary soap, which it mostly felt like. Compared to a movie like Still Alice, which was great, this one is just mediocre and in my humble opinion highly overrated.
-
maria9race16 May 2021This is one of the best movies I've seen in a long, long time. And totally unexpected, too: I went to see it in the cinema because it was running at a time that was convenient (ie I was going to the cinema anyway) and other movies were too action-y for my liking. So I didn't expect much. But it was SO good! Funny, and thoughtful, and relatable, and kind of... warm and fuzzy, but not in a stupid way. Believable dialogue, and smart characters.
If this movie was a person, I'd want to give it a hug. -
bd-allen13 May 2021I agree with a review written about the title needing a rethink. It is a brilliant Australian production with excellent cast and script. Apparently it was filmed in 3 weeks! Shows the dedication and professionalism of the australian production team, cast etc.
The story itself is well written & has a unexpected moments that make it even more poignant and meaningful. It is a story about family, life, mistakes made & misunderstandings.
Having had a grandmother pass away from Alzheimer's it is so relatable. Insidious disease that is so hard on the family.
Noni Hazlehurst shines as June and her wit is as always worth a chuckle.
Please go see it take a tissue but tell your friends to go tell everyone to go. -
As per my review title, this movie represents a 'truly' Masterful Performance by the lead actor in Noni Hazlehurst. It is an enchanting but confronting story of dementia & the fleeting period of lucidity which is experienced. Although the family found it 'challenging' to suddenly to have to deal with the sudden re-emergence of a mother (the matriarch) who they been resigned to having lost many years ago, the intriguing plot keeps the viewer 'glued' to the screen. Although this confronting story is at times sad, it also gives hope to some day medical science solving this mysterious disease of the brain.
From my viewpoint this Australian movie definitely receives a 'resounding' recommendation. -
david-rector-8509213 October 20212021 has certainly seen its fair share of feature films about dementia. The brilliantly staged 'The Father', the intimately moving 'Supernova'; the yet to be released Australian movie 'Ruby's Choice' and the title reviewed here: 'June Again' starring Aussie acting legend Noni Hazelhurst.
With quite the mix of tonal shifts through its duration, 'June Again' also stretches believability and does cut corners at times, but its heart is absolutely in the right place and it gives Noni her best role in decades. I gather that the Writer/Director JJ. Winlove did research into the subject matter, and a short term respite from the ravages of dementia can occur in certain cases, but as the device used here to explore family and estrangement within relationships, it felt a little at odds with the veering from gravitas to comedic sequences and be tackling dementia.
'June Again' is made most enjoyable by the leading lady and Noni Hazelhurst gives a tour de force in the title role and reaffirms why she is a national treasure. Having won a pair of AFI awards for Leading Actress in the 1980's, this film gives her the opportunity to reach into her acting toolkit and creates a wonderfully vivid and inimitable figure; one that is sure to earn the showbiz veteran another prize.
Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry give wonderful supporting turns as 'June's' offspring and both have some terrific scenes with the star as well as with one another. Notwithstanding some of my concerns about the construct of the movie, there is much to relate to in the family dynamics. Curry is especially good here.
There are some brilliantly written and directed sequences that effectively convey what must be the indescribable experience of losing one's cognitive functions. Having marveled at Anthony Hopkins in 'The Father', Noni Hazelhurst also gives a master class in facial and vocal expression to depict the tyranny of dementia. For this, the movie excels.
So a mixed bag for me, tonally, but there is no denying the cogency of the performances by the central trio, and the fact that the condition is so pervasive in contemporary life, stories like 'June Again' even with some credulity issues, are essential viewing. -
"June Again" is a disaster. JJ Winlove has written and directed a film here that is a slap in the face to the fine sense of storytelling from beginning to end, and is heartily supported by the impossibly bad performances of the actors, who could hardly be more wooden and listless.
The film is about a woman, June (Noni Hazlehurst), you could call her a matriarch, who suffers from dementia after several strokes and has been in a very well-heeled nursing home for 5 years. The opening scenes of the film are clichéd, but still promising. The staging of the dementia in the opening scene is in principle very cleverly done, the scenery still fits and also the whole dementia kitsch, which has been incorporated here from other films, is still bearable. As a viewer, however, you don't linger long in this depressing situation in which the main character ekes out an existence, because the woman quickly comes to her senses again, as it is with Alzheimer's, and escapes from her retirement home. This is also where the only good joke comes into play, as the joke that the doorman makes with the usually very excited June regarding the exit code on the secured door to the nursing home backfires this time. June is not only feeling a bit better, no, she has regained her senses. The naturally energetic woman, who also seems to be physically very fit, because dementia, as we know, has no effect on the physical condition of the people suffering from it, goes off to look for her old life - and from then on it gets really stupid. The first stop is the getaway cab, which she boards without money and also leaves without, because June establishes a connection with the driver in seconds, who waives her expenses. A hint with the fence post, which should make clear to the viewer very quickly what a sympathetic being this tough June is after all. She seeks out her old house, now sold by her children, where another family now lives. Without shame, she invades the house via manipulation of the child who is alone in the house and borrows a designer wardrobe, which of course she never returns. Even here, the poor writing style of the script becomes very apparent. No child would ever behave the way it takes place here, and no human would in truth find it comprehensible or sympathetic what this old woman is doing. She is then picked up by her daughter, who first wants to take her back to the home to inquire further about her health and desire to spend some safe time with her mother until the surge of health fades. Of course, June refuses and the daughter's will is abandoned faster than an infant's confession to the priest. From then on, it's really all about mother June's meddling in her children's lives, her fastidious and pedantic behavioral disorder, and a whole bunch of outrageousness she indulges in. There are, for example, rash judgments, lack of reflection, costing the son his job at the first conscious contact after 5 years and complete disregard for the children's life choices. The problem is that the script and direction seem to have intended that the character be marked as sympathetic and strong in this way, while just watching it should make the anger rise up in one at such a bossy and arrogant woman. The equal treatment of the sick does not mean that everything they do is perfectly okay and acceptable. Further underpinning all this are flat jokes that hurt to watch, pathetic slapstick interludes and, of course, the half-hearted reuniting of the family in June's glorious, all-surpassing light and her infinite wisdom. She half-heartedly acknowledges a mistake here and there, but a coherent narrative for character development simply doesn't happen in this film. The finale shows what the makers were going for here: Quite a lot of tearjerking, on old familiar things in even worse packaging and on blind solidarity with Alzheimer's patients.
The built-in love story joins the countless side stories and aberrations of this film. Anemic and pale is too kind a word for this, but to label the resolution as predictable fits like a glove.
"June Again" is a facetless story with a script that doesn't deserve the name, a loveless production and bad actors whose conversations all seem as if they were out of this world. An incredibly embarrassing misadventure that should be avoided at all costs. -
itsazor27 June 2022Gut-wrenching. In the best of ways. As an avid movie buff, and someone who has relied on IBDM for reviews for years, I have never written a review myself. But as I sit here in tears (the best kind), having just watched June Again, I had to sit down and write a review. This movie is near perfect. The story is amazing, and will hit home with anyone who has a relative suffering from Dementia, or who's family has drifted apart, who yearns for lost love, or...who has lost themselves. This movie speaks on so many levels. The acting was stellar, down to even the minor characters. Every performance feels of truth, like you're actually watching these people and their lives. Not just acting, but living it. It's a complex story, but with a simplicity in it's delivery. It reminds you that no matter who you are, or what your lot in life, things return -- family, friendships, lost love, emotions, and....memories. I feel that this movie has a message for everyone, and will touch a part of your heart and your mind in a way that not many movies can. And, if nothing else, it will bring you to your own sense of joy. Where many movies wrap up the story leaving you feeling like the end was cheesy, forced, or just disappointing, June Again is the tidiest of endings. The perfect ending. Watch it. You'll be glad you did.
-
kwclients18 September 2021This movie was one of the best movies I've yet seen that is so realistically and brilliantly played by this wonderful actress and a supporting cast that is a combination of what this devastating illness actually brings, sadness, heartache, comedy and memories! It did bring tears and happiness all a hodgepodge of emotions and I just relived it but this was the most poignant movie telling a story that I've ever seen. I loved "The Father," but this one be will be a classic forever! Big KUDOS to the screenwriter etc. A 10+
-
shell-5387519 June 2021Absolutely loved this movie it was such a beautiful story and each character was captured exceptionally .. though it was tinged with sadness it was also extremely funny and joyous.
-
ocscharlie19 March 2022What a world wide quality movie ..in all areas..what a everday real life story..with.
'from the heart 'preformances !!
Should be promoted and shown on commercial channels!
Absolutely well done!!.
Noni...no words to describe your amazing performance!! No words Thankyou..thankyou all !
Charlie & Mary...grandparents of 5 Bundaberg QLD. -
emmashorten11 July 2021But the film was average at best. Making movies about such a terrible disease, well there is just nothing funny about it. The writer makes it out like it's all such a funny thing. All these comments about deeper meaning.
While it's targeted at the over 50's crowd, I'm sure it gives them something to chuckle at, but it's poorly shot, edited and needed further development.
I'm not a huge Aussie Drama fan, I think they should stick with generic comedies like Muriels Wedding, and alike. -
davyscottishtolmie6 October 2021I have not reviewed a film before, but felt so moved by June Again that I felt I had to write a few words. Noni Hazlehurst. As June is fantastic, I must look for more of her work. The whole cast were great in a well told story, please watch this, you wont regret it.
-
caronbc11 February 2022I loved this movie. Noni Hazelhurst is brilliant as June. Claudia Karvan and Stephen Curry, are also great as her offspring.
It broke my heart at times with June's dementia, but it was also often heartwarming and at times funny.
Great story; told well, acted well.
I think if my Dad had had respite from his dementia he would have been like June. -
krunyon-208-70412629 June 2022I was doubtful when Amazon recommended this to me. But I was delighted with this film. The characters are believable and multidimensional. The script is more complex than I expected. Asa woman of a certain age I don't relish dementia as a plot device, but This was so well done. Give it a chance, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
-
janajcareer14 July 2022I enjoyed the movie and was so incredibly moved by the ending that I cried. It was a "twist" of an ending ... and it could not have been better. I just loved it.
-
okeeferodney17 May 2021Moving, profound, acting heaven, dramedy, fast-moving, world class.