Writer-director Elegance Bratton’s own story of overcoming fierce odds to become a US marine inspired his film The Inspection. We’re in New Jersey in 2005 and 25-year-old Ellis French (Jeremy Pope) leads a threadbare existence. Estranged from his mother, Inez (Gabrielle Union), he’s been on his own since the age of 16 and the one…
A new Australian work, The Critical Marriage by Mark Andrew is the inside story of a relationship between a couple of intellectual heavyweights. The wife and narrator, Imogen, is an economist. She first set eyes upon her German husband Bernhard, an evolutionary psychologist, in an Oxford University lecture theatre. The sparks flew instantly and wedded bliss followed soon…
Set against the backdrop of the Holocaust, Driftwood The Musical is a deeply moving tale of tribulation and triumph. The starting point for creator Tania de Jong AM was her mother Eva de Jong-Duldig’s 2017 memoir “Driftwood – escape and survival through art”. The musical focuses on the true story of Eva’s mother (Tania’s grandmother), Slawa Horowitz-Duldig….
Political rivalry between church and state might seem like a dry subject for a movie, but writer-director Tarik Saleh turns into a compelling drama in Cairo Conspiracy. As well as directing episodes of Westworld and Ray Donovan, Saleh directed Chris Pine in the 2022 actioner The Contractor. So he knows his way around intrigue. Cairo…
Essendon supporters (including me) can rejoice in the long and storied history of the club, which has resulted in a record equalling 16 Premierships. But along with the adulation, there has been a fair share of bruises along the way. Most notably, of course, was the supplements’ saga of the early to mid 2010s that resulted in…
We are in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2013, as the US troops are starting a major withdrawal from the country. Taroon (Khisraw Jones-Shukoor) is in hiding from the Taliban. He’s been targeted after working as an interpreter for the American military. Effectively caged for four months, he dare not set foot outside his sister Afiya’s (Nicole Nabout) small apartment….
Cain and Abel – biblical brothers at loggerheads. In American playwright Sam Shepard’s searing, black comedic drama it is well educated Hollywood screenwriter Austin (Justin Hosking) and his older brother Lee (Mark Diaco) – a drifter, thief and drinker – in conflict. The pair hasn’t seen each other in five years and find themselves together in their…
Zach Braff is probably still best-known as Dr JD Dorian on the very funny TV series Scrubs. But he’s also directed several films – including the well-regarded Garden State (2004), Wish I Was Here (2014) and Going in Style (2017). Now after a few years working in television, he’s back with A Good Person. Braff…
Joanna Murray-Smith’s remarkable insight, attention to detail and writing prowess are front and centre in a captivating production of Berlin at The MC Showroom. Australian Tom (Lachlan Hamill) has just landed in the German capital, keen to get to know the real city, not the tourist offering. He’s directed to a small watering hole, where he meets…
Nominated for eight Oscars, David Lynch’s 1980 dramatic biographical film The Elephant Man – featuring Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft and John Gielgud – remains seared into my consciousness. Now a clever and creative group of writers and composers (Marc Lucchesi, Sarah Nandagopan and Jayan Nandagopan) has taken the story’s essence, twisted it and turned…
