Janine Hosking’s The Eulogy provides a compelling portrait of an virtuoso Australian pianist who died far too young. This intriguing film is among the finest documentaries of the year. The starting point is the controversial eulogy former Prime Minister Paul Keating delivered at Geoffrey Tozer’s memorial service (which the ex-PM agreed to re-enact for this…
Hustlers is a comedic drama about savvy strip club employees who turn the tables on their Wall Street clients. At the start of 2007, Destiny (Constance Wu) is struggling to make ends meet. She needs to provide for herself and her beloved grandmother, who brought her up. But it’s not easy: the managers, DJs and…
Acclaimed director Ang Lee employs cutting edge technology in the big-budget actioner, Gemini Man. But it seems his shiny new toys might have distracted the director from some more prosaic concerns – like a credible story. The tech is pretty impressive. Lee uses what’s known as HFR 3D. The process combines 3D techniques with a…
Courtney Love (Rebeka Hill) meets Lindy Chamberlain (Dana Miltins) – two women who have suffered loss and are feeling guilty because of it. The deaths that affected them happened 13 and a half years apart, one in August 1980 and the other in April 1994. A dingo took Chamberlain’s nine-week-old baby daughter Azaria, while Love’s…
For the first time in some years, Liam Gallagher sounds hopeful on his sophomore solo outing Why Me? Why Not. Sure, the title of the record has attitude, which is expected with Liam’s projects, but what in the past might be thought of as arrogance now comes off as confidence. The rolling and big chorus…
A fascinating, at times most humorous insight into a dystopian future, what is in play here is a power struggle. Ultimately, Control is about attempting to subvert a dehumanising system and allowing natural instincts to dictate the way forward. The play – a world premiere work written by Keziah Warner – is divided into three…
Perhaps you are bit late to the party and have not yet powered through this most clever and British of TV series. You may think that reading a quick online review of the first season might get you up to speed fast enough but we wouldn’t want to rob you of the absolute pleasure that…
Melbourne International Arts Festival was first staged in 1986 under a different name – Spoleto Melbourne – and has carried several other names since. Covering dance, theatre, music, visual arts and multimedia, as well as free and outdoor events, it is held every October. The 2019 Festival runs from the 2nd to the 20th of…
It’s a bit daunting knowing that in order to try a new-to-you series author (that everyone else raves about), a reader faces ploughing through quite a long back catalogue. It was good news to discover that the award-winning author Ann Cleeves has created a fresh protagonist for this brand new British crime series. Crime and…
Black is the New White, not to be confused with the television series Orange is the New Black, is about racism, class and identity. Humour is the principle vehicle used to highlight inequity, but perhaps not as you might have expected it. Charlotte Gibson (Miranda Tapsell) is a hot shot young aboriginal lawyer who has…
