Light-hearted and fun, Footloose: The Musical is centred around change in conservative America in the 1980s. Navigating it, especially when it is forced upon you, can be mighty difficult, especially when it leaves you feeling like a fish out of water. That is the situation for the central figure in the story, Ren McCormack. About…
Confusing, convoluted and spectacular are three words I would use to describe Batman vs Superman, the showdown between two comic powerhouses. Fearing the actions of a God-like superhero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante Batman takes on Metropolis’ most revered modern day saviour, Superman. But with the pair at war, a new threat…
American cinema isn’t really noted for its absurdist films. They tends to linger around the edges of an industry dominated by other genres. But The Menu breaks that stereotype wide open; as director Mark Mylod delivers one of the most deliciously absurd – and brutal – black comedies of recent years. Mylod takes his audience…
This clever, thoroughly entertaining French comedy is the latest from co-writer and director Carine Tardieu (The Dandelions). The breakout hit of the 2017 Cannes International Film Festival, Just to be Sure premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight and received multiple standing ovations. The charming rom-com is a tale of parenthood, love and family – both lost and found….
Two 90-year-olds – both Holocaust survivors (one now dead and other not) – go at it … and at it. No, it’s not the set-up to a joke, it’s the premise of OMG – Oy Mama Gevalt. This new play from Jack Felman concerns a Jewish couple, Mania and Velvel Pszeszekowski. Having brought up four children,…
Making his English language debut, Norwegian director Joachim Trier has crafted a tricky relationship movie with deep-seated feelings at its core in Louder Than Bombs. Three years after the untimely death of celebrated war photographer Isabelle Reed (Isabelle Huppert), her eldest son Jonah (Jesse Eisenberg), married with a recently born child, returns to his family…
A portent of doom hangs over Melbourne Opera’s production of Samson & Delilah. It is largely dark and foreboding (lighting design is by Harry Cope), a pointed reference to the story that underpins it. The tale is that of strong man Samson, whose strength is a gift from God. Enslaved Hebrews are praying for deliverance…
Passion, intellectual rigour and the Holocaust collide in Joanna Murray-Smith’s intense, high verbiage, sexually charged drama Berlin. Australian Tom (Michael Wahr) has just landed in the German capital, keen to get to know the real city, not the tourist offering. He’s directed to a small, hole in the wall bar, where he meets and is immediately drawn…
The title is Hindi for America. This is a heartwarming but ultimately sad story about a family from a small village in India that is invigorated when one of its own travels to the USA and details his adventures through letters home. With strong overtones of Slumdog Millionaire and The Lunchbox, Umrika focuses upon a…
True crime and true crime podcasts are having a moment, not only in the real world but also in fiction. However, in fiction, writers can start to get behind the obsession with true crime, the ethics of these investigations and the consequences, both good and bad, of reopening old cases. Rebecca Makkai’s new novel I…
