Bloodlust features prominently in Sisu, an anarchic actioner, set towards the end of WWII. It is 1944. Finland has signed an armistice with the Soviet Union and the Germans are in full retreat. However, the Nazis have adopted a scorched-Earth policy, destroying everything in their wake. A legendary Finnish warrior – Aatami (Jorma Tommila) –…
In this family friendly tale, an ambitious, self-serving, 35-year-old Sydney TV weather presenter makes an unexpected sea change. Inspired by the true story of Chris ‘Brolga’ Barns, he has been reimagined as Chris Masterman (Ryan Corr). Chris has his eyes on a television hosting role when he inadvertently becomes public enemy #1, after a weather…
She could light up a room like no other and yet her tragic fate was sealed early on. I speak of the sparkling, enthusiastic Lucia Joyce, daughter of famed author James (Ulysses – 1922). This is her story, as it is that of the relationship between her and Samuel Beckett, and between Beckett and James Joyce. Lucia…
Released in 1975, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest was arguably the most searing and memorable motion picture of my youth. The film starring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher, helmed by Milos Forman shone a light on mental illness and claimed five Oscars in the process. With a title drawn from a nursery rhyme, Ken Kesey’s…
After a break of 16 years (since 2006’s Pulitzer Prize winning The Road), award winning author Cormac McCarthy returns with a pair of connected novels. The first of these is The Passenger – centring on salvage diver Bobby Western. McCarthy sets the scene with a suicide, an event that is central to Bobby’s life. This…
Strong, emotive performances are the hallmark of Venus in Fur. This sado-masochistic two-hander is brim full of verbiage. It’s a play within a play, during which the power shifts. New York theatre director Thomas (Darcy Kent) is trying to cast the lead female role for a play. It’s a play he’s adapted from the 19th century book…
A loved-up couple, but not everything is right in the intense relationship between Kali (Amy Bradney-George) and Todd (Seton Pollock). The elephant in the room is fear, jealousy and distrust. She has a mighty big chip on her shoulders. When things are good, they are very good, when they are bad, they are horrible. How…
It’s always a treat to see a David Williamson play. But with Nearer the Gods, set in England in 1684, there is not a vulgar Australian joke to be heard, nor a can of beer to be seen. In fact, the only reference to a “pot” is in Isaac Newton’s chamber. Instead, using the backdrop…
Sitting there watching Fifty Shades Freed, the final instalment in the Shades of Grey trilogy, I could only think, “Lame, tame and who to blame?” So very little happens … for so much of the film. Yes, the characters have sex – most of it conventional and a few turns in the red room – but that,…
This is a new production of Carmen, by John Bell for Opera Australia (OA), opening the 2016 Winter Season. A major event , then. I had had, as a kid, a copy of an old 78 recording of Lawrence Tibbett, singing his ‘swaggering’ Escamillo’s Toreador Song – played ad nauseam , according to my siblings,…
