In a crucial scene in Anatomy of a Fall, Sandra Voyter (Sandra Hüller) tells her son, “Everything you hear in the trial it’s just… it’s twisted. It wasn’t like that.” Indeed, a lot about Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning drama isn’t what it seems. This multi-layered film presents a complex narrative web that invites its…
Starting in Georgia in 1909 and spanning 38 years, The Color Purple is based around the struggles of African-American woman Celie Harris (Fantasia Barrino). Celie and her sister Nettie (Halle Bailey), are brought up by their abusive father Alfonso (Deon Cole) since their mother died some time ago. Alfonso marries off Celie to an equally…
Set a generation after the height of the AIDS crisis, The Inheritance looks at what it is like to be young and gay in New York. It explores love and legacy and what we owe to those that came before us. At the heart of the work is the decent and caring Eric Glass (Charles Purcell),…
Electrifying rhythm, dance, drums and more, Argentina’s Malevo is mesmerising machismo. 13 artistes extraordinaire and a four-piece band hold the audience in the palms of their hands for 80 minutes. Created by director, choreographer and dancer Matias Jaime in 2015, the all-male group specialises in what is known as Malambo. That is a traditional Argentinian folk dance…
British author Francis Spufford travels to America in 1922 for his latest novel, Cahokia Jazz, but it is not an America that readers will know. The alternative world of Cahokia Jazz is one in which smallpox did not decimate the indigenous population of the North America. As a result, when European settlers started to arrive…
It’s a case of feathers meeting fluro when performers in Polytoxic’s new work, Dangerous Goods, initially ensemble in movement of feathered fans to ‘light our fire’. Continuing with theme of the collective’s 2021 Brisfest show, Demolition, the fluro comes from the hi-vis tradie uniform costumes… and also the more revealing hints from beneath them. It’s…
For those who like the unconventional, Sophia = (Wisdom): The Cliffs is heaven-sent. Promoted as “Part dada, slapstick comedy, part philosophical vaudeville interrogation into the human psyche and fully a production of the true avant-garde”. I couldn’t have put together a better word-salad myself. Written by American playwright Richard Foreman, the play falls into a…
Do you remember what your last day of school was like? You’d just finished your final exams and freedom was there for the taking. The future was uncertain, but it was one of possibilities. Regardless, now was party time. These are the thoughts in the minds of the 17-year-olds at the centre of Matthew Whittet’s heartfelt play. The twist is…
It’s been a boom time for new films from some of cinema’s great stylists. In the past 12 months, we’ve had new movies from the likes of Wes Anderson, Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese. Now we have a new release from Sofia Coppola in Priscilla; a layered, impressionistic portrait of the relationship between Priscilla Presley…
The sensitive fantasy-romance All of Us Strangers concerns two lost souls. Based on a novel by Taichi Yamada, the film is written and directed by Andrew Haigh (Lean on Pete). It’s a reflective, slow-burning and mysterious work. One night a triggered fire alarm sees screenwriter Adam (Andrew Scott) evacuate his apartment building temporarily. Staring up,…
