On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age. First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing. Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation .
To paraphrase Moira Rose, “If you love female rage as much as I do, you’ll thrill to Kate Winslet in the underseen Australian movie ‘The Dressmaker. ‘” “ The Dressmaker ” exists in an odd lull in Winslet’s career. Post-Oscar win for “The Reader,” she appeared in a slew of OK period films (“A Little Chaos,” “Labor Day,” “Steve Jobs”) and the “Divergent” series — which meant no one was really looking for the next great Winslet performance.
Too bad, because one of her best is at the center of Jocelyn Moorhouse’s pitch-black revenge comedy-slash-drama-slash-fashion show. (Also a period piece, as it happens.) Returning to her small, dusty hometown in rural Australia, Tilly (Winslet) is greeted by furious townsfolk (Sarah Snook!), an aging mother (Judy Davis!), and a very hunky Hemsworth (Liam!) who doesn’t seem at all troubled by the cloud of gossip and scandal hovering over Tilly’s impeccably coiffed head.
You see, Tilly was accused at the age of 10 of killing a classmate and has spent the subsequent decades in Europe. Now, she’s an ice-cold revenge factor.