Lonesome is the sexually explicit sophomore feature from writer/director Craig Boreham, one of our finest exponents of queer cinema at the moment, and it follows his 2016 debut Teenage Kicks. The low-budget film looks at the commonality of the LGBTQI+ young men drawn to the big city and the allure of bright lights and excitement…
“One of the most internationally acclaimed films of the decade,” declares the advertising blurb. Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard that before, right? But in the case of Burning, the hype is real. This is absolutely one of the best films you’ll see this year. Asian cinema sometimes gets marginalised in our Hollywood-obsessed popular culture. But with…
Don’t play games you can’t afford to lose. We all know them. Those pushy people who come into established groups such as book clubs and attempt to impress themselves upon everybody in the room immediately upon entering. They seek to change the agendas without any prior knowledge of the practices of the group. We loathe…
A man haunted by his past is forced to face his demons in the slow-moving horror film, The Vigil. Yakov Ronen (Dave Davis) is a shadow of a man in the aftermath of a tragedy that befell his younger brother. He was present; but he didn’t intervene and before he knew it, it was too…
Very smartly written and cleverly performed, Kitty Litter concerns friends who used to be more than that who fall out over a black cat. Robin (Sian Crowe), 27, surprises Dan (Hamish Johnston) when she turns up at his apartment unannounced. He has literally just returned from a six-month trip to Europe and South America. After…
Sensory deprivation, in particular that of sight, results in acuity of sound in the four-part immersive experience that is Darkfield. The venue is four purpose-fitted white shipping containers at 138 Little Bourke Street – a vacant lot transformed – each with the name of the show on the outside. I speak of Séance and Flight, both of…
It is October 1915. Private James Martin (Oliver Tapp) is lying in bed on the hospital ship the Glenart Castle coughing his lungs out. Memories of his family back home in Australia come flooding back. This is the story of a boy who, after blackmailing his parents, enlisted in the Army, having falsified his age….
I have read a couple of Tami Hoag books but none in the Kovac and Lista series. Sometimes starting a series when it’s well established can be an issue, but I didn’t have a problem at all with The Bitter Season. Instead, I found myself caught up as the two detectives, former partners and now assigned to…
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…
If you are in the mood for some light-hearted fun and hijinks, head for The National Theatre to see theatrical’s production of School of Rock. Debuting on Broadway in December 2015, it is based on the 2003 film, which was a hit for Jack Black, who played the most unlikely of teachers. The musical features…
