The price of fame drives one of the most intense and remarkable films of the year. The Substance is about physical beauty, adoration, self-love and loathing. It explores the lengths someone will go to remain relevant. Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) used to be a movie star, before transitioning to hosting a successful workout show on…
Regrets and letting go are the cornerstones of The Midwife. This French drama looks at a fractured relationship between a straitlaced woman and her free-spirited elder. Cesar-winning writer/director Martin Provost’s (Séraphine) film pairs two of French cinema’s most beloved stars, Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Frot. Gifted midwife Claire (Frot) has led a quiet, focused life. She’s…
If you want to have a laugh and a bit of fun in the frenzied days leading into the festive season look no further than the latest offering at The Owl and Cat Theatre. After Party was written by Michael Thebridge, his first produced play, and is skilfully directed by Gabrielle Savrone. It is the…
The documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy (now available on Docplay) explores the influential and groundbreaking animated series Ren & Stimpy, as well as the rise and fall of its controversial creator John Kricfalusi, through archival footage and extensive interviews. Patrick Scott sat down with the directors Kimo Easterwood and Ron Cicero to talk about the…
Boys in the Trees is another local coming of age story that joins a growing number of recent Australian films exploring familiar themes of the pain of growing up, friendship, angst, romance, the loss of innocence, memory. However, this one is suffused with a surreal quality, quirky touches and an unsettling supernatural element. It has…
Now that Robert Downey Jr has said farewell to Iron Man and the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe he is obviously looking for another potentially lucrative franchise. And he may have found one in the adventures of Dr Dolittle, the Victorian era veterinarian with the unique ability to communicate with animals of all shapes and sizes….
Shocking, racially motivated fires – arson – in Germany in 1993 resulted in the death of five Turks. More than 30 years later, Mehmet Akif Buyukatalay’s clever satire Hysteria – the centrepiece of the German Film Festival – fans the flames of discontent. Buyukatalay’s second film focuses on a movie being made about those real-life…
Adapted from the bestselling novel by American author Celeste Ng, Little Fires Everywhere was another swift and savvy snap up by Hello Sunshine, the media production company owned and founded by actor/producer Reece Witherspoon. Ng’s fictional drama of motherhood, social expectations and economic divides was optioned for TV even before it hit the bookstores in…
In the foyer, one is posed a question to consider before entering the Antigone theatre: “How do the unwritten laws of personal conscience survive when set against the laws of a society and a nation?” Something to ponder in 2016. Sophocles’ play Antigone, was written c. 441 BC in Athens. In it the sons of…
Savage is brutal, devastating, powerful. It features a war of attrition borne of a tyrannical upbringing in New Zealand told in three time-frames over 24 years. Savages is the name given to a patched-up gang started by a couple of cell mates from juvenile detention. But let’s go back a step, Danny – known in…
