For the VFL/AFL club that has finished runner up more than any other, the continued pain of losing Grand Finals and wasted seasons (when the result was far worse) was piling up. From working class roots, Tony Shaw tried his hand as basketball, but lack of height saw him turn his energies to Aussie Rules. At least,…
This star-studded French comedy, which was a hit at the recent Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, is largely set within a retirement village. The Villa (aka Maison de retraite in some markets) is another example of those increasingly popular “grey power” films along the lines of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its ilk which…
The expression “many hands make light work” immediately springs to mind when describing the specially created “night trail” through the Royal Botanic Gardens. An enormous amount of work has clearly gone into preparing the spectacular light and sound show known as Lightscape in the finely manicured surrounds. I wandered the meandering path, which spans 1.8 kilometres, stopping…
I tend to agree with Mark Twain when he (supposedly) described golf as “a good walk ruined”. While the quote is likely apocryphal, the sentiment is understandable – the world seems to be split into golf lovers and golf haters, with few in the middle. But whatever its shortcomings, golf provides the perfect setting for…
9 to 5: The Musical is energetic, sassy and colourful. What isn’t lost in this bright and breezy production though is the underlying point of it all. To see it played out makes one wince, just as it should. Franklin Hart Jnr (Eddie Perfect) is the misogynistic and pompous CEO of Consolidated Industries. He rides rough shod…
Freedom and identity are in play in Looking for Alibrandi. It is the 1990s and 17-year-old Josie Alibrandi (Chanella Macri), of Italian origin, is a clever student in her final year at school, looking to pursue law. She isn’t enamoured by the tight reign being kept on her by her mother, Christina (Lucia Mastrantone), who fell pregnant…
Alice Clark-Platts’ debut novel was The Flower Girls, an unsettling look at children who kill other children. Her most recent book, The Cove takes the domestic thriller to a small island off the coast of Malaysia and then turns up the heat on all of its main characters. Expat Brits Lou and Adam live in…
Just how good are you at keeping secrets? If you hear something juicy, do you immediately rush off to tell your partner or best friend, or do you keep it to yourself? Let’s face it, secrets by their very nature are tantalising and, at times, it feels good to share them with someone. The five actors in…
Mexican writer-director Michel Franco’s slow-moving existential drama Sundown stars Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Roth plays Neil Bennett, who is spending a relaxing holiday in an exclusive resort in Acapulco with his sister Alice (Gainsbourg) and her two teenage children Colin (Samuel Bottomley) and Alexa (Albertine Kotting McMillan). Neil is the scion of a family…
In Juho Kuosmanen’s Compartment No. 6, the journey counts, not the destination. The film opens in Moscow in 1996. Laura (Seide Haarla) is a Finnish archaeology student in her 30s staying with Irina (Dinara Drukarova) in a beautiful flat. The pair are also lovers. Irina has forged a good life, full of friends, parties, laughter…
