The title is Hindi for America. This is a heartwarming but ultimately sad story about a family from a small village in India that is invigorated when one of its own travels to the USA and details his adventures through letters home. With strong overtones of Slumdog Millionaire and The Lunchbox, Umrika focuses upon a…
The title LIMBO – The Return may imply more of the same sort of circus stuff as seen in previous Strut & Fret works. However, the reality is far from it with this 100-minute show. Indeed, having toured 17 countries, the original award-winning LIMBO has come back, re-imagined and more jaw-dropping than ever, full of…
Not to be confused with the 1984 thriller that starred Drew Barrymore as a young girl who could start fires with her mind – Firestarter is a documentary that looks at Australia’s Bangarra Dance Company, one of the foremost indigenous dance companies in the world. The company was founded in Sydney in 1989 by Stephen…
Having sold more than 100 million records and amassed in excess of two billion streams, singer songwriter Cat Stevens’ laid back style of folk pop made him a leading hit maker in the 1960s and ‘70s. And now, it all comes flooding back in a superbly rendered, melodious concert by a group known as Music…
The nanny with the lot, Mary Poppins, gets to weave her magic in 70 minutes and still make it count in this cut down version of the beloved musical. It is based on the 1964 Disney film, which starred Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, and stories by PL Travers. The book is by Julian…
A sensitive and endearing tale that links three unlikely people – a student, a baker and an elderly woman – this Japanese movie was a selection for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. The title, An, refers to a sweet red bean paste, which is a favourite in Japan. Taciturn Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase)…
A heartfelt coming of age tale in 1950s Ireland and America, Brooklyn is a story of promise and choices. Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) plays Eilis, a shy, respectful, even taciturn young woman on the verge of full-blown adulthood who sets sail from small town Ireland to Brooklyn, New York. You see, opportunities are scarce in rural…
A survival story, Gold is set in an inhospitable desert in a not-too-distant dystopian future. This dark and visceral tale of greed, obsession, murder and madness comes from Anthony Hayes, an actor who has experience in directing films with dramas such as Ten Empty to his credit. Hayes co-wrote the sparse and stripped back script…
It is the future and Earth Seven is becoming uninhabitable. Too many people, too few resources. It is time to get out, but the opportunity is not there for everyone. In fact, even amongst “the chosen”, everything has to be just right … and it isn’t for Hon, otherwise known as Panther (Melanie Audrey) and Tee (Sodi…
Savage is brutal, devastating, powerful. It features a war of attrition borne of a tyrannical upbringing in New Zealand told in three time-frames over 24 years. Savages is the name given to a patched-up gang started by a couple of cell mates from juvenile detention. But let’s go back a step, Danny – known in…
