In Full Time, Julie (Laure Calamy) is a single mother who works as the head chambermaid in a prestigious five-star hotel in Paris. She lives in the outer suburbs and daily commutes to and from work. She juggles the demands of her job with raising two young children (Nolan Arizmendi and Sasha Lemaitre Cremaschi). She…
Céline Sciamma (Portrait of a Lady on Fire) is back with a breathtakingly beautiful film about childhood, loss and memory. Petite Maman (which translates to Little Mummy) focuses on an eight-year-old girl’s relationship with her mother. Nelly (Josephine Sanz) has just lost her grandmother. She and her mum Marion (Nina Meurisse) and father (Stéphanie Varupenne)…
Much like the protagonist of Weike Wang’s debut Chemistry, Joan is the child of Chinese immigrants. But while the protagonist in Chemistry was having trouble getting her life together, Joan is very much in control of hers, possibly too much control. Joan’s world only starts to unravel a little when her father dies and she…
Director Pedro Almodóvar and actor Penélope Cruz are a match made in heaven. The pair have been mainstays of Spanish cinema for decades, and their collaborations stretch back to Live Flesh (1997). Along the way, they’ve given audiences classics like All About My Mother (1999), Volver (2006) and Broken Embraces (2009). The latest Almodóvar film…
Magic, mayhem and mirth combine for a delightful family offering in Clifford The Big Red Dog. Emily (Darby Camp) is a smart 12-year-old who lives with her paralegal single British mother Maggie (Sienna Guillory) in a small New York apartment. They have just moved there from upstate and Emily is friendless. More than that, she…
Hijinks abound in The Australian Shakespeare Company’s fun-filled treat The Wind in the Willows at the Royal Botanic Gardens. Populated by favourites from British novelist Kenneth Grahame’s 1908 book, families on picnic rugs are given much to smile about during the 90-minute show without interval, set in magnificent surrounds. The first location is by the lake and…
Disney enlists Lin-Manuel Miranda for Encanto, an animated family adventure that comes off a bit like In the Heights transplanted to rural Colombia. While this is a film filled with colour and energy, its rather muddled plot and lashings of treacle diminished its impact for me. Jared Bush, Byron Howard and Charise Castro Smith share…
– A Boy Called Christmas – Only in cinemas from 25 November 2021 We have 5 double in-season passes thanks to StudioCanal Australia. *(Tickets valid in Australia only)* Watch the trailer HERE Lucy The origin story of Father Christmas is re-imagined in Gil Kenan’s live action A BOY CALLED CHRISTMAS. An ordinary young boy called…
Take your gallery experience to the next level with Van Gogh Alive, a multi-sensory experience focused on the life and works of Vincent Van Gogh. This global touring exhibit / event opened runs in Brisbane from October 2021 to January 2022 (at the time of publishing), at the emerging new event precinct Northshore Hamilton. The…
The Norwegian comedy Diana’s Wedding really puts family values to the test. This small film offers some hard truths, wrapped in that peculiarly Scandinavian sense of humour. Director Charlotte Blom doubles as the screenwriter. She brings a sharply observational style to what is essentially a kitchen-sink dramedy, but doesn’t seek to inject any great flair…
