The latest album from Daniel Lanois, established producer to the stars (Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris, Peter Gabriel, and along with Brian Eno, some of U2’s biggest hits), can be described in one word: haunting. While the recordings that have gotten the most attention from Lanois tended to be singer/songwriter affairs like Acadia (1989),…
Sexuality (some might call it perversion) appears to be a constant theme in young playwright Thomas Ian Doyle’s work, which is inevitably confronting. Fortunately, he has a ready outlet for it in the form of the theatre he and director Gabrielle Savrone operate, namely The Owl and Cat. Wash Room is set entirely in a…
Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now. This firecracker of a novel details the sparkling but short life of a very successful 70’s band who once flew so very close to the heat of the…
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…
There is acting and then there is ACTING. Phillip Vandarploeug (Brendan Fraser) is an American actor who has lived in Japan for the past seven years. Thus far, his big claim to fame is playing a superhero in a toothpaste commercial. In other words, he is still looking for a meaty role and his funds…
There is a dark heart to American playwright Samantha Cooper’s world premiere work, Dawn, being staged at The Owl and Cat Theatre. It starts out with Laura’s parents wanting to have a family dinner with her, but things quickly turn sour … and it is soon clear why. Laura has told her mother, Jo, that her…
A feelgood, against-the-odds dance movie set in Sydney and New York, Dance Academy – which continues the storyline from the twice Emmy-nominated Australian TV series of the same name – has energy and dynamism. On television, the show saw a group of teenagers through the ups-and-downs of elite training at the National Academy of Dance….
Ghosts of old Hollywood and demons of contemporary life both hang heavy over David Fincher’s Mank. This ostensible biopic of Citizen Kane screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz does a great job of exploring a troubled character struggling with his problems and his art. But it also delves into what Fincher sees as the root of America’s…
The Cutting Cove Currawongs is a proud club steeped in tradition stained only by the lack of a premiership. With this as the focus, its team members are excited about the season ahead and the fresh opportunities offered by recruitment of two talented aboriginal players, cousins Jayma (a fine performance from Queensland Theatre newcomer Ngali…
Despite perceptions to the contrary, art and crime are never far apart. Dark deeds plagued Renaissance painters like Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi. The artist Walter Sickert has been accused (posthumously) of being Jack the Ripper. And the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre is one of many “crimes of the 20th Century”….
