Our selection of the best new music across a range of genres from the week ending 3 September 2021. Montreal band SUUNS’ fifth full-length album The Witness – their first for Joyful Noise Recordings – marks a shrewdly offbeat left turn from their previous work. The tried-and-true narrative for a band of this nature is…
A cast of non-professional autistic actors does a mighty job breathing life into an unconventional love story in Keep the Change. We meet wealthy David (Brandon Polansky) on his first day at Connections, a community for adults with autism. The other attendees confirm he doesn’t belong there … at least that’s the way David feels…
Anne Buist continues to put the psychology, and particularly the psychology of women and mothers, in the centre with what may be the final entry in her Natalie King series Locked Ward. King debuted in Medea’s Curse and two further books followed – Dangerous to Know and This I Would Kill For. In each of…
Happy End is another typically downbeat drama from misanthropic Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke (The White Ribbon). Set in the coastal French town of Calais, the film follows the affluent but dysfunctional Laurent family. Haneke works in heavy themes of death, power, the refugee crisis, social media and class. And despite the title, there is no…
I have not watched the British TV series The Office, so was not sure what to expect from this belated spin off feature length film. There have been many attempts to extend a 30 minute sitcom to feature length, such as the recent belated Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, which was unfortunately laboured, unfunny, past its…
A time of change, discovery and shock. That is what confronts Abbie (Ayesha Harris-Westman), a high school student who meets her bff in the most unlikely place. Abbie is in the bathroom at school when she has her first period and doesn’t have the necessary female hygiene product with her to deal with the situation in which she finds…
Maggie Stone is an Australian play by Caleb Lewis. It was written eight years ago. This is its first outing in Sydney. Maggie Stone (Eliza Logan), a let-herself-go, middle-aged lower rung corporate slave – small loans officer – struggles to maintain an equilibrium of pleasantness around the ‘service’ she’s meant to dole out. Coming from…
Based on a true story, Firebird is a heartbreaking queer romance is set on an air base in Soviet controlled Estonia in the late 70s. It centres around a young soldier who embarks on a clandestine romance with a handsome fighter pilot. The film is based on the 1996 memoir written by Russian actor Segei…
One of the great plays of the 20th century retains its vibrancy and bite in a stunning MTC production, headlined by a bravura showing from Nikki Shiels. Written by Tennessee Williams in 1945, A Streetcar Named Desire was first performed on Broadway two years later. Now, here I am, coming up to 80 years on,…
– The Innocents – Only in cinemas from 27 April 2017 We have 10 double in-season passes thanks to Rialto Distribution. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE Directed by acclaimed filmmaker, Anne Fontaine (Coco Avant Chanel), The Innocents is based on actual events and set in Poland at the end of World…
