Four disparate individuals enter a twilight zone. No, that’s not the starting point for a gag. In fact, far from it. Rather, it is the beginning of what could turn out to be a long journey back. Each of the quartet – strangers to one another – has attempted to take their own life by different methods…
If the recent See How They Run was a movie for theatre nerds, Amsterdam is a movie for history nerds. This hugely ambitious project from writer-director David O. Russell provided a potted but pointed history of the United States between 1917 and 1935. Along the way, he hits some of the more outrageous historical notes…
Ira Sachs is better known for his queer themed films like Keep the Lights On and the wonderful Love is Strange, starring Alfred Molina and John Lithgow. His latest film is a subtle, accessible, enjoyable and charming New York set coming of age story exploring the blossoming friendship between two thirteen year old boys from…
The Belair Lip Bombs are an indie band from Naarm/Melbourne, led by frontwoman Maisie Everett (vocals, guitar, keys) alongside Mike Bradvica (guitar), Liam De Bruin (drums), and Jimmy Droughton (bass). Over the past few years, they’ve steadily built their presence, performing live across Australia and making appearances at SXSW and BBC 6 Music. These efforts…
A finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, American playwright Sarah Delappe has crafted a portrait of female adolescence through a girls’ soccer team. The story unfolds as a group of 16 and 17-year-olds has regular work out sessions to prepare for upcoming games. As the nine youngsters warm up, their discussions are many,…
Apparently, Joseph Stalin was an enthusiastic reader and loved the theatre. Of course, he was also acutely paranoid and one of the most evil dictators in history. In Collaborators, writer John Hodge portrays an almost-likable Stalin (or ‘JS’ as he was affectionately known by the secret police) as a contrast to the monster he is…
Olivia Ruggiero is talented. No doubt about it. She is operatic and she is adept at musical theatre, but at times there is a struggle between the two. I noted that very early on in Broadway Diva, when she sang a medley of show tunes. The operatic tended to overwhelm what I would call traditional musical theatre and…
I had seen Ai Weiwei’s work advertised on TV and was curious to see his big works, like his mountain of stainless steel bike frames and his masterpieces built from Lego blocks, but Warhol’s “pop art” had never held any appeal with what I saw as crude drawings with a wash of colour. French Impressionism…
“There’s nothing original about the skeleton of Honour, the play” says its writer Joanna Murray-Smith. I would agree. Its subject has been tackled over and over – in film, theatre and book form – for centuries. It goes like this: Ageing male in long term marriage is seduced by young and exciting vixen. He leaves…
Do you like your period dramas to be fussy affairs filled with ruffles, secret courtships and proper manners? If you said yes, then The Favourite probably isn’t for you. Compared to traditional costume dramas, this is the cinematic equivalent of a Molotov cocktail. Idiosyncratic Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos steps tentatively into the mainstream with this…
