Two actors, some props, lighting… sounds rudimentary – but the result in The Woman in Black is astounding. This storied play remains the second-longest running production in London’s West End, racking up over 13,000 performances between 1989 and 2023. (The longest-running is The Mousetrap.) Now this localised version of the London production is touring the…
A searing look at female homelessness in Australia over the age of 55, Way, written and performed by Sally McKenzie, is as powerful theatre as it is shocking reality. In short, it is distressing but important to watch what unfolds. McKenzie – an MTC stalwart in the early 1980s who moved back to Melbourne from Brisbane as…
Fremont is the fourth feature from Iranian born filmmaker Babak Jalali. This low-budget, low-key indie drama follows Donya (played by newcomer Anaita Wali Zada), an Afghan refugee who has relocated to the town of Fremont in California. She used to work as a translator for the US military in Afghanistan before the withdrawal of troops….
Fifteen-year-olds Arvy (Jess Sofarnos) and Thea (Megan Mitchell) are besties. They met in a science class and have been inseparable ever since. At their weekly sleepovers, they share intimate secrets, swap stories and say they love each other. You’re Being Dramatic juxtaposes one such rainy overnighter with a meeting at a pub they have many years later. By…
A loving but dysfunctional family is put through the wringer in Andrew Bovell’s Things I Know To Be True. Bob Price (Ben Grant) has worked from the age of 16. Now 63, he spent 30 years at a car manufacturing plant before he accepted a redundancy package four years ago. A keen gardener, he is generally empathetic…
Abigail is a gory hybrid of crime drama, horror and comedy with a black streak of humour. And it proves to be one of the guilty pleasures of the year. A disparate group of six people are assembled to carry out a kidnapping. The man organising the kidnapping is Lambert (Giancarlo Esposito). The team consists…
The father of psychoanalysis meets a feted author to discuss whether God exists in Freud’s Last Session. Sigmund Freud (Anthony Hopkins) is in failing health. With death approaching, he remains heavily opinionated. He has taken issue with British author CS Lewis (Matthew Goode), who has come out as “a believer” and written about it. Even…
On the dark web, thousands of people connect. One such encounter involves a deeply troubled 14-year-old girl, played by Matilda Gibbs. She reaches out to see whether anyone can teach her about witchcraft, so she can cast a spell over those that choose to ignore her. She loves dancing, is depressed, invisible, friendless and keen to lose weight….
So imagine for a minute, you’re Luca Guadagnino. Your last three features have been the cannibal road-movie Bones and All (2022), the blood-spattered remake of Suspiria (2018) and the sensitive love story Call Me By Your Name (2017). What do you do next? What’s that? Tennis? Yep, tennis! The mercurial director’s new project is Challengers,…
A sweeping period drama, Jeanne du Barry covers the rise and fall of the eponymous mistress to a former French king. The real Jeanne du Barry was born Jeanne Bécu in 1743; the illegitimate daughter of a monk and a cook, brought up by her mother. In the film, Jeanne’s (Maïwenn) road to the king’s…
