For anyone who’s ever had a dream, Theater Camp (yes, it’s the US spelling) is essential viewing. This wildly entertaining mockumentary from co-directors Molly Gordon and Nick Lieberman pays homage to Christopher Guest, but with more heart and less snark. Gordon and Lieberman have specifically referenced Guest’s films as a major influence. Indeed, you can…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 1 September 2023. Acclaimed psych indie rocker Karina Rykman has dropped her debut album, JOYRIDE, available everywhere now via AWAL. JOYRIDE expertly captures Rykman’s jubilant brand of sonic exploration, bridging an array of genres to arrive at her own…
Writer-director Celine Song delivers a stunning debut with Past Lives. This thoughtful, compelling film gives a fresh voice to the migrant experience, while also working as a contemplative character study. Song’s previous experience was as a staff writer on the fantasy TV series The Wheel of Time. This film bears little relationship to that series….
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 25 August 2023. The songs that make up Jump for Joy — the sharpest and most autobiographical that M.C. Taylor has written under the Hiss Golden Messenger name — read as a sort of epistolary, postcards between the present-day…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 18 August 2023. The three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn presents her new recording of Eugène Ysaÿe’s Six Sonatas for Violin Solo, op. 27. Inspired by the example set by J.S. Bach two centuries earlier, legendary Belgian violinist and…
You only have to watch commercial TV one evening to know that Australians love their dogs. I think it’s also fair to say Australians don’t mind a bit of ribald comedy. So Josh Greenbaum’s new comedy Strays should find a willing audience. Greenbaum recently directed the well-received Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 11 August 2023. The story of Cordovas is one of rock ’n’ roll seekers, hammering away in search of not only their ideal freewheeling sound, but also for some greater truth about the human experience. Lead-singer Joe Firstman, with…
The consummate stylist of the American cinema is back and in top form. Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City is another excellent entry in the director’s canon and is probably his most accessible work since Rushmore. As I’ve said in these (digital) pages before, Anderson is a love-him-or-hate-him proposition. If you’re in the “hate-him” camp, you can…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 4 August 2023. Drummer, composer, and bandleader Johnathan Blake follows up his acclaimed 2021 Blue Note debut Homeward Bound with Passage, an uplifting sequel that once again features his band Pentad with Immanuel Wilkins on alto saxophone, Joel Ross…
Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 28 July 2023. On the debut solo album from Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, the Los-Angeles based singer/songwriter takes close account of the endless catastrophes and upheavals of modern life, offering a high-minded and open-hearted response that makes room for…
