As its title suggests, Queensland Theatre’s Hedda is an adaption (by Melissa Bubnic) of Henrik Ibsen’s realist classic Hedda Gabler. The original story is of a scheming Hedda. Just into a marriage of convenience, she decides to destroy the life of an old lover, jealous of his new love affair. The original story is pretty…
Director Richard Eyre crafts a moving and beautifully realised story of love and loss in The Children Act. The film concerns a highly intelligent couple at a fork in the road … and a 17 year old Jehovah’s Witness with leukemia. Fiona Maye (Emma Thompson) is an eminent High Court judge in London. She presides with…
Steve McQueen blows up the heist movie with Widows. Then he picks up the pieces and puts them back together with an Allen key. This fascinating jigsaw of a movie is definitely not what you might expect, but it’s also one of the most intriguing films of the year. It’s almost like McQueen decided to…
Three superb performances highlight Lamb. This sensitive theatrical work combines word and song, and focuses on the hardships of a family born of the land. Lamb concentrates on two generations. The first act starts with the mother’s funeral. The younger of two daughters, Annie (Brigid Gallacher) – a professional singer – has arrived home after…
The most festive of the traditional Christmas family film offerings this year is Diney’s live action stunner, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. With writing credits including the original Nutcracker storyteller, ETA Hoffman and a score of whimsically re-arranged motifs from Tchaikovsky’s much-loved ballet of the same name, this new film adaptation is a little…
Sometimes trailers can be misleading; but sometimes they’re spot on. Like the trailer for Robin Hood, for example. Its trailer made it look, well, dreadful. And it was completely accurate. Director Otto Bathurst has jerry-rigged a kinetic mess of a movie. Tightly choreographed fight scenes and a thumping score reminded me Guy Ritchie’s more bombastic…
Mash black humour with absurdism and you have the starting point for 80 Minutes No Interval. Travis Cotton writes, directs and features in this delightful left-of-centre work. It engages, even enthralls, from the opening scene. Louis (Cotton) is a theatre reviewer and failed novelist. He’s about to propose to his girlfriend Claire (Martelle Hammer) at…
At First Light is a minimalist sci-fi movie from Canada. Although it offers a rather disappointing outcome and they could have done more with the powers Alex (Stefanie Scott) has at a certain moment, it’s still worth watching. For the umpteenth time, it’s clear you don’t need a huge budget to make a fascinating film….
Often riotously funny, Shakespeare’s romantic comedy Twelfth Night is brilliantly staged by MTC and features several wonderful performances. With lots of musical ditties, it’s a tale of mistaken identities, love triangles and pranks. Here I’m indebted to SparkNotes for helping me to unravel the intricacies of Shakespeare’s Old English. The action is set in the…
One of the much-hyped books this year has been psychological suspense thriller The Nowhere Child by Christian White. The book was the winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and has been raved about for its intriguing premise (a child kidnapped in the US turns up years later in Australia). Here’s the blurb: ‘Her name is…
