Melbourne International Film Festival

Prepare to be astounded as this quacktacular Marvel Comics oddity gets plucked from the depths of history for a glorious 70mm screening. Who is Howard the Duck and why is nobody talking about him?

The road to the character’s cameos in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Endgame begins with the foul-mouthed wiseacre of Steve Gerber’s Marvel comic strip from the 70s, but his story cannot be told without this infamous 1986 feature executive-produced by George Lucas – a box-office bomb that stands as one of comic-book cinema’s most singular oddities.

Hatched by Lucas, and penned by his American Graffiti co-writers Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck (whose 1973 classic Messiah of Evil will have served as forewarning), Howard is the story of your average intergalactic bird who finds himself marooned on Earth, falling for a big-haired pop singer (Lea Thompson, Back to the Future) and evading the dastardly clutches of the Dark Overlord of the Universe that has possessed a kindly scientist (Jeffrey Jones, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off).

Tarred and feathered by critics at the time, it’s a dispatch from an era when blockbusters were once strange and unruly – when a would-be family-friendly movie could be full of wild tonal shifts, wacky effects and a bizarre interspecies romance. Definitely a galaxy away from anything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe of today.

The Melbourne International Film Festival and Hear My Eyes present Two Hands with an original live score performed live by The Murlocs.

Hear My Eyes returns to MIFF as garage-rock faves The Murlocs perform their very own reimagined live score to the Aussie classic Two Hands, Gregor Jordan’s crime caper starring a breakout Heath Ledger and Rose Byrne.

SAT 23RD OCT – 6pm & 9PM and SUN 24TH OCT-3PM and 6PM | THE ASTOR THEATRE

After three hugely successful events, Hear My Eyes – MIFF’s much-loved night of sound and cinema – is back, this time to celebrate Gregor Jordan’s 1999 debut feature at the Astor Theatre. Set in a now-unrecognisable Sydney, where Kings Cross shimmered with seedy nightlife and you could make a getaway on something called the ‘monorail’, Two Hands stars a then–virtually unknown Ledger as Jimmy, an ex–street kid and strip-club bouncer. After misplacing a chunk of cash he’s meant to deliver for his boss, Pando (Bryan Brown at his absolute most Bryan Brown), he finds himself on the run from the mob, joined by the girl of his dreams, Alex (Byrne, making only her second film appearance).

A box office smash, Two Hands won Best Film at the 1999 AFI Awards, set Jordan on a path to Hollywood and propelled Ledger and Byrne to stardom, while going on to become a modern Australian classic that remains compelling more than two decades after its release.

This exclusive Hear My Eyes presentation joins two antipodean icons, with garage-rock five-piece The Murlocs bringing their salty rhythm and blues, harmonica-driven psych and unmistakeable swagger to Jordan’s rollicking, irreverent film.