On top of psych-rocking out the Meredith Music Festival this past weekend, Brian Jonestown Massacre are setting off onto seven other dates around Australia this month, supported by The KVB. Since forming in San Francisco in 1988, BJM have recorded 12 studio albums and seven EPs. Starting out as shoegazers, it wasn't long before they started broadening their horizon, delving into blues, folk, Indian music and eventually, electronica. BJM's most recent offering is Aufheben, released in May last year and recorded in East Berlin. The title is a German word that holds a variety of meanings, including 'to lift up', 'to transcend' and 'to abolish'. Given BJM's haphazard history and numerous incarnations, it's pretty representative of their history. Middle Eastern-inspired instrumentation, Finnish vocals and Beatles-style shuffle rhythms all get a look in, but Pitchfork still describe the album as "the band's most consistent, welcoming and sonically lustrous album in years".
This February, Abbotsford's c3 contemporary art space is showing a massive multi-disciplinary show spanning photography, painting and sculpture. Housed within Abbotsford Convent, the arts space is a special hybrid gallery that combines the works of large-scale, publicly funded galleries and the ethics and structure of smaller, artist-run initiatives. Spanning three galleries, the February show is diverse and large. In gallery one you’ll find a photography exhibition by James Voller, which examines the suburban housing facades of North Melbourne, as well as Ruby Brown's works exploring race, sexuality and mythology in her exhibition, enigmatically named Multi-Purpose Gap Filler. In gallery two is Oracular Vernacular, a group exhibition composed of the work of over ten artists and curated by Jake Adam Treacy. To make things interactive, the viewer can engage with the exhibition using their smartphone. Travers Nash takes over gallery three, manipulating objects found on the side of the road to question art and its value. And there's more. So wear comfy shoes — and while you’re there, the grounds at the Covent are the perfect spot for a post-art day picnic too. Image: Ruby Brown.
Tokyo Tina's first birthday is fast approaching (they grow up so fast, don't they?), and to celebrate they're inviting their sashimi-loving patrons to join them for a poke party. On Sunday, February 28, they'll be giving away their new summer dish to the first 450 diners to order it between noon and 4pm. But what even is poke, we hear you say. Well, we had no idea either, but we're told it's pronounced po-kay for one, and is a Hawaiian dish of raw fish, citrus, avocado, mango, lime and coconut. It's big in LA apparently. Tokyo Tina's version of the bowl was introduced at this December's Royal Croquet Club, and is a new addition to their summer menu. They'll be using raw salmon for Sunday's bowls, which are incidentally gluten free and sound worth the trip even if they weren't going for free. So get there early and enjoy — just be sure to be a good guest and say happy birthday.
Looking for something retro and rare? Then you'd best be heading to Sunday Social. For five years, they've been bringing the best vintage threads and other finds to Brisbane, after all. Now, not content with decking out the Sunshine State capital with cool outfits and accessories, they've turned their attention down south. Melburnians, it's your turn to experience the Sunday Social fun in pop-up form. Fitzroy's Gertrude Street is the place to be for the month of January — and in classic Sunday Social style, they're throwing a shindig to celebrate. Expect drinks and general merriment at their launch celebration, as well as music by Pillow Pro. For those keen on shopping rather than partying, the store is open until 4pm every day. The length of their stay is yet to be announced, though their Instagram feed indicates that they'll be around for a while. We'd recommend checking out their cardboard-adorned, architect-designed digs asap anyway, and keeping an eye on their Facebook page as well. Image: Sunday Social.
Alejandro G. Inarritu follows his Oscar-winning Birdman with a down-and-dirty western inspired by true events. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the role that many believe will finally win him his Oscar, The Revenant is a violent, unrelenting slog through the mud and snow of the untamed American frontier. It's raw and elemental and masterfully shot, capturing bloody, frenzied action with astounding fluidity and grace. Sounds incredible, right? Actually, that's where you'd be wrong. For all its viscera, and despite its technical merits, this over-hyped backwoods adventure left us feeling bored. Now admittedly, that boredom took a while to set in. For much of the first hour of the film's two and a half hour running time, it's hard not to be floored by what Inarritu and his long-time cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have achieved. When a hunting party comes under attack by a Native American tribe, the camera weaves and pivots in and out of the action, dodging extras and arrows in a series of long, unbroken takes. Later, DiCaprio's character Hugh Glass is almost mauled to death by a grizzly bear, in another bravura one-shot sequence that will leave audiences wondering how Innaritu pulled it off. Like Birdman, this is bold, ambitious filmmaking, and we'd be lying if we said we weren't initially impressed. But the comparison to Inarritu's previous film is an importance one to make, for the reason that Birdman feels like more than just a technical exercise. Strip away the showy camerawork, and you still have characters and ideas that are actually worth caring about. The Revenant, on the other hand, has neither. With Glass on the edge of death, Captain Henry (Domhnall Gleeson) has the villainous Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) stay behind so that the dying man might receive a proper burial. Fitzgerald promptly buries Glass alive, and murders his teenage son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck) for good measure. But of course Glass doesn't die, and instead hauls his wounded backside through the unforgiving wilderness so he might get his chance at revenge. As you might have gathered, the narrative is pretty thin – but that wouldn't be an issue if we could get behind the characters. DiCaprio, to his credit, gives it everything he's got, wheezing, snarling, screaming and putting his body through the ringer. It's exactly the kind of performance that Academy voters love, and to a certain extent it's easy to see why. But again, there's a difference between what's bold and what's actually interesting. As hard as DiCaprio tries, he never succeeds in making Glass anything other than a one-dimensional protagonist, who we're meant to root for simply because the screenwriters put him through hell. The borderline insane Fitzgerald proves a little more interesting – and like DiCaprio, Hardy commits fully to the role, reaching yet again into his seemingly bottomless bag of absolutely baffling accents. In the end though, Glass and Fitzgerald are just archetypes – a goody and a baddy destined to hack one another to pieces. Because the duality of man. Or something. There are times when style alone is enough to carry a movie. Unfortunately, this isn't one of them. Without characters to latch on to, or much in the way of deeper thematic content, the novelty of Inarritu's formal work eventually begins to wear off. Strange as it may seem given their disparate settings, but the recent film to which The Revenant suffers most by comparison is Mad Max: Fury Road. Both movies deliver immersive action and stylish cinematography, but only one manages to couple it with awesome characters and a modicum of brains. Plus, y'know, Mad Max had female characters with actual lines of dialogue. So there's that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRfj1VCg16Y
One of the grimmer works on the Midsumma program, Member chronicles the spate of gay hate crimes that plagued Sydney throughout the '80s and '90s, a period when as many as 80 gay men lost their lives at the hands of roaming gangs. Weaving in witness testimony, legal transcripts and other archival material, writer and performer Ben Noble tells the tale of Corey, a former gang member forced to confront his shameful past when his son comes out as gay. While the material will no doubt be hard going, Member promises to provide an unflinching look into a piece of Australian history that we can't afford to forget. Image: Luke Cadden
More than 70 Australian music acts will perform by the shore this Sunday, when St Kilda Festival returns for another year. A regular feature on the suburb's cultural calendar for three decades and counting, this summer celebration of music, culture and food is all going down on Sunday – which also happens to be Valentine's Day. Not a bad date idea, if we do say so ourselves. And best of all, it won't cost you a penny. The free fun begins at 11am and runs well into the night. Briggs, The Bombay Royale, Ivan Ooze, Neighbourhood Youth, The Grates, Hayden James, The Harpoons and The Beards are just a few of the acts you can expect to see across a total of ten separate stages, stretching from Catani Gardens to the south end of Acland Street. In addition to the music, the festival will host a ton of extra events and activities, ranging from bubble soccer to disco yoga, wrestling demos and ice cream giveaways. For more information, visit their website.
The latest cookout at Melbourne's historic Prahran Market pays tribute to the humble snag. From noon on Friday, January 22, some of the finest butchers and poulterers in town will offer up their very best wurst at the second annual Prahran Market Sausage Fest. Yeah, we're not sure we would have called it that either. Unfortunate name aside, this pre-Australia Day grill promises to be a tasty affair. Members of the public will vote for their favourite sausage in a blind taste test at Blanco Kitchen in Harvest Hall. Will last year's winner, Gary's Quality Meats, claim the top prize once again? Or will one of the other competitors serve up a superior snag? You'll have to be there to find out. And besides, who are you to say no to free sausage?
The Melbourne Showgrounds are about to become one of the most caffeinated places on Earth, with the return of the Melbourne International Coffee Expo. Now in its fifth year, this massive event is one of the largest of its kind anywhere on the planet — which, when you consider how much Melburnians love their coffee, isn't really all that surprising. While MICE technically begins on Thursday, March 17, the first two days are reserved for industry pros. Luckily, on Saturday it's open to the public, ensuring all you addicts can get your fix. Pick up tips from baristas and cafe owners on how to make the perfect cup of Joe, check out the wares from more than 120 exhibitors, and catch the climax of the 2016 ASCA Roasting Championship. And drink coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
87. Just hold onto that number for a moment. We’ll come back to it. In the meantime, some science, for it is in the science of Concussion where this movie shines brightest. Science, and specifically statistical analysis, is not a precise art. It recognises that there will always exist the possibility of chance being the driving factor behind any set of results. Accordingly, for a theory to gain credence, it must first secure what is known as statistical significance – a minimum threshold above which results are deemed to be more than coincidence. But what if the only way for you to meet that threshold – the only way to prove to the world that you were right – was for people to die? Such was the fascinating (if also deeply disturbing) dilemma facing Nigerian-born American forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu in 2002. Omalu had been called upon to autopsy a beloved former NFL player named Mike Webster, and concluded that the cause of Webster's death was cognitive disfunction resulting from repeated and severe blows to the head – a condition Omalu ultimately named chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Put another way, Omalu theorised that playing NFL was akin to almost guaranteeing some form of brain damage. Webster’s case alone, however, was not enough to prove CTE’s existence. Omalu needed a minimum of three, and since CTE could only be established post-mortem, he had to wait for more NFL players to die in order to test it. Of the many tragedies outlined in Concussion, perhaps the most confronting is quite simply how little time Omalu had to spend waiting. Concussion, then, is to football what The Insider was to cigarettes, with the National Football League playing the role of Big Tobacco. The Outsider, in fact, would have made an equally appropriate title for this film, because if being Nigerian in America wasn’t already hard enough on Omalu, the NFL’s attempts to brand him 'the man who wants to kill football' rendered him about as un-American as could be imagined. And yet he persisted, and such is the substance of this tale. As already indicated, the science of Concussion is compelling and extraordinary, matched only by the performance of its leading man, Will Smith. Sporting a disarming smile and an impressively consistent accent, Smith puts in his best performance in years – a fine accomplishment made all the more impressive given the less-than-spectacular script he had to work with. Concussion, in its efforts to render this a one man vs the world saga, spends far too much time dealing with Omalu’s home life and not nearly enough grappling with the two biggest questions raised by his research: how much did the NFL know, and how long did they know it? For a film about the extreme, even fatal impacts in NFL, Concussion lands an unreasonably soft blow against the corporation that kept these dangers a secret from its players. Which brings us back to the number 87. That’s where the count now stands in terms of deceased former players who’ve tested positive for CTE. Even more shockingly, that’s 87 out of a total of 91 tested – a statistical return of 96%. Concussion tells merely the opening stages of a story that is still alive and well to this day. Tragically, that's more than can be said of many of the characters who’ve taken part in its telling. As such, while the film is undoubtedly confronting, it's not nearly critical enough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io6hPdC41RM
Another week, another film, another hero clad in spandex. For the past decade and a half, Hollywood has churned out an unrelenting stream of superhero movies. Some, like Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight or Joss Whedon's first Avengers film, manage to rise above the pack. Others, like the laughably self-important Man of Steel or the disastrous new Fantastic Four, scrape the bottom of the barrel. The rest, for the most part, are merely okay. More to the point, almost all of them stick to the same predictable playbook in which everything is taken way, way too seriously. That's where Deadpool promises to be different. This long awaited film about the popular Marvel antihero arrives in cinemas on the back of an absolutely ingenious marketing campaign, one that stresses to punters unfamiliar with the character that he is anything but your typical superhero. Decked out in red, wielding katanas and a big ass gun, Deadpool swears, cracks jokes and murders his enemies with glee. Not only that, but he knows he's in a movie, and frequently delivers his X-rated quips directly to the camera. Most importantly, he's entertaining. He doesn't mope about his dead parents, or whinge about how great power means great responsibility. In an era of increasingly reluctant and angst-riddled crusaders, he makes being a superhero look fun. That's not to say that director Tim Miller has reinvented the wheel. The same familiar narrative formula is still very much at play here, even if the specifics are different. Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is a low-level mercenary whose life with his prostitute girlfriend Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) seems doomed after he is diagnosed with terminal cancer. A lifeline comes in the form of an offer from a shady organisation, who promise to make Wilson indestructible. Unfortunately, the process also leaves him horribly disfigured, looking roughly akin to – in his own words – "a testicle with teeth." And when the people behind his transformation inevitably betray him, he's left with no choice but to become the one thing he never thought he'd be: a hero. So yeah, Deadpool isn't exactly the second coming of the genre. Luckily, it's also so relentlessly enjoyable that its flaws are easy to forgive. The script, by Zombieland co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, is absolutely brimming with knowing, foul-mouthed humour – indeed, this is much more a rude, crude, fourth-wall breaking comedy than it is a standard action film. There are dick jokes and pop-culture gags aplenty, but the biggest laughs come from references to Deadpool's fellow superheroes. When a couple of ancillary X-Men try and convince Deadpool to meet with Professor X, he asks whether they mean James McAvoy or Patrick Stewart. The writers also lay mercilessly into the recent Green Lantern movie, which of course starred none other than their own film's leading man. Frankly, it's hard to fathom that Reynolds ever wore another costume, since it feels like Deadpool is the role he was born to play. His performance is the other big reason the movie works as well as it does, his irreverent, snark-laden line delivery helping keep us on side with a protagonist whose behaviour is totally reprehensible. Not that you'd want him any other way. Hell, we'll take this nutcase over that bland boy scout Superman any day of the week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIM1HydF9UA
Albert Hammond Jr., guitarist for The Strokes, is on the road again. But, this time, he's headlining in Australia as a solo act for the first time ever. On top of appearing at Mountain Sounds Festival on Saturday, February 20, he'll be passing through Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne for his first ever headline tour. Hammond Jr.'s third solo album, Momentary Masters was released in July 2015 to critical acclaim. Five years had passed since his previous work, ¿Cómo Te Llama? and seven since his debut, Yours to Keep. Snap up tickets to his only Melbourne show at The Corner this Sunday, February 21.
This exhibition at Edmund Pearce Gallery embraces its defiance to categorisation. Curator Sharon Flynn wrangles some disparate responses to the themes of rupture and identity by seven artists whose work operates across a vast spectrum of forms – from lens-based media to live art. It is also the first time this gallery has allowed the use of live bodies and performance within the space. This show was one of our top picks for Midsumma 2014, see our full list here.
Death is everywhere in The Book Thief: sometimes shown, usually implied and — every so often — speaking as its narrator. There is death in the film's opening scene, and there is death again at its end, yet early denunciations have labelled it 'Holocaust lite' or 'Holocaust kitsch', with one critic going so far as to call it "a preposterously sanitised portrait of hardship and war". If these criticisms (of which there have been many) were to be distilled into one pure, refined quibble, it would be that The Book Thief is simply too nice for a story that, at least in part, touches upon the Holocaust. Is it Schindler's List? No, but let's be clear: it's not even remotely trying to be. Directed by Brian Percival (Downton Abbey), this is a PG film, based on a young adult novel and told from the perspective of a 13-year-old German girl. Neither the bestselling book by Markus Zusak nor the film adaptation ever set out to tell the same old conventionally harrowing and affecting war narrative, because — presumably — that story has already been told so many times before. Instead, it presents the moving, imaginative and even charming tale of a child's profound love of literature and its ability to transport, enlighten, incriminate, incite and inspire its reader. That child is Liesel Meminger (Sophie Nelisse), who's put up for adoption after her communist mother is forced to flee the Nazi purge. Liesel's brother dies en route to their new home with the elderly Hubermanns (Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson), and from the outset it's clear she has an ally in the playful Hans and a challenge in his irascible wife Rosa. She also quickly befriends her snowy-haired neighbour and champion runner Rudy (Nico Liersch), whose idolisation of African-American sprinter Jesse Owens places him at odds with local the Nazi Party officials. Most importantly, though, Liesel begins to learn how to read, and together with Hans she quickly discovers the infinite joys and rewards to be found in books. Her first is picked up on the day of her brother's funeral, the next, rescued from the ashes of a book burning event. Each book tells a story, yet also has a story of its own, and none more so than the copy of Mein Kampf possessed by Max (Ben Schnetzer), a Jewish man kept safe and hidden by the Hubermanns. Which brings us again to the accusation of 'Holocaust kitsch'. Max's torment is prolonged and palpable, drifting close to death on multiple occasions through exhaustion, malnourishment, exposure and the unremitting threat of discovery. Worst of all, he spends — quite literally — years living in the Hubermanns' basement without even a single opportunity to breathe fresh air or once see the sky. Had The Book Thief been told from his perspective, it would have been every bit the despairing and wretched tale so many apparently seek, yet it would not have been the tale told to Zusak by his grandparents and which he, in turn, wished to tell the world. If many of these critics are to be believed, the only way you're permitted to tell a Holocaust story is through bleak imagery, solemn dialogue and a complete lack of tenderness. The Book Thief, much like 1997's Life Is Beautiful, offers a different perspective. Through the extraordinarily talented Nelisse, we see a scared, confused and compassionate girl attempting to make sense of the senseless. The horrors befalling so many around her aren't explicitly shown, but our knowledge of them, matched with the meticulously recreated settings, contributes to a beautiful and largely original tale of one family's bravery, decency and humanity. https://youtube.com/watch?v=hEnLF-pCybw
It's worrying the way we deride films aimed at an older audiences as simply being a Best Exotic Marigold Hotel facsimile designed to snare seniors, given how we largely ignore the fact that the majority of mainstream cinema over the past 30 years has been made for 12-year-old boys. Philomena, with its poster depicting a smiling Judi Dench alongside a stoic Steve Coogan, will no doubt be dismissively lumped in with this crowd. It is, however, a million miles away from the likes of Best Exotic (which, for the record, was actually rather good). Based on a true story, Philomena follows ex-political spin doctor Martin Sixsmith (Coogan), who, in an attempt to revive his journalism career, chases the "human interest story" of Philomena (Dench) an elderly woman searching for her long-lost son. In flashbacks, we see the younger Philomena (Sophie Kennedy Clark) as she becomes pregnant out of wedlock, and is forcibly kept in servitude by nuns, who then sell her son to a wealthy couple. As the pair investigates, the truth behind the forced adoption becomes all the more shocking. Coogan, who not only portrays Sixsmith but also co-wrote the screenplay, strikes a perfect tone with such sensitive material. The revelations are powerful and honest without being gut-wrenching; the comedy is welcome and consistent without being inappropriate. It's a remarkable juggling act, directed beautifully by Stephen Frears, who atones for recent disasters Lay the Favorite and Tamara Drewe. Coogan's sardonic Northern charm makes Sixsmith a compelling lead, and his relationship with Dench's Philomena is wonderfully developed. It's Dench who is the real standout here. At this point in her career, she could easily get away with sleepwalking through roles, relying on her undeniable presence to carry her performances. But as in 2006's Notes on a Scandal, she creates a character unrecognisable from her previous roles. Philomena is pleasant, vague, forceful and compellingly well-rounded. Dench's energy and attention to detail elevates this film to something even more remarkable. The depiction of the Catholic structure both past and present is one of the most fascinating elements of Philomena. It's caused controversy, with many accusing the film of being anti-Catholic. To make such an accusation, however, fundamentally misses the point, and excuses the crimes committed in the name of the church. The film does not shy away from Philomena's piety or Sixsmith's atheism, and argues strongly in favour of both. Sixsmith is deeply compassionate without religion, whilst Philomena embodies the ideals of Christianity that the Church and its representatives so often and so demonstrably forget. Disinterested in a sanitised "I'm okay, you're okay" message, the film manages to extol the best elements of both atheism and Christianity whilst unrelentingly and unapologetically shining a light on the darker side of organised religion. It is truly impressive stuff. Be not fooled by the marketing materials, which make the film look like an aged-up version of The Trip with Judi Dench in place of Rob Brydon. (Although, thinking about it, that would be brilliant.) Philomena is a terrifically made, entertaining work that stands head and shoulders above many of the films being forced upon us this Christmas. See it. https://youtube.com/watch?v=rD8f9kn7D2U
From Thursday 'til Saturday this week, Next Wave Festival — those biennial bringers of greatness and good times — are asking for your help. Yes it's money, but no, it's not really charity. In a very fitting fashion, Next Wave are hosting an exhibition of visual art donated by artists involved in the festival, past and present. Everything will be available to buy — from 2-metre long prints down to the unsuspecting coffee cup. With the work of more than 20 artists on display, there will be a bit for everyone's tastes (and budgets) too. Abdul Abdullah, an artist who has been twice shortlisted for the Archibald Prize will have work on display. As will Phuong Ngo, an artist exhibiting in the currently showing NGV exhibition Melbourne Now. Each artist in this Next Wave crop fact has an impressive rap sheet behind them in fact. There's Megan Cope and her entrancing work on decolonisation, Laura Delaney's calming art steeped in nostalgia, and Eugenia Lim, an artist whose work across video, photography, and installation is always heavily tapered to place and a heavy sense of belonging. From its first festival in 1985, Next Wave has always sought to "create art for an unknown future"; a pretty admirable pursuit. Show up and at the very least have a drink — make their future a little less unknown. Image: Abdul Abdullah
This is one of those ideas so infuriatingly superb that it invokes anxiety at the fact you're not already signed up for it. Of course this exists! Of course! Just like the invention of the cronut or the fact that you can now order liquor to your house, the fact that there is now a class to teach us to dance like Beyonce exists means that we are moving one step closer to utopia. A utopia fairly ruled by our divine and ever-present Queen Bey. Just off Sydney Road in Broken Mirror Studios, this class is led three times a week by dance teacher Lizzy Cahalan, a lady with a completely bootylicious background having performed in Bey-themed shows at Melbourne, Adelaide and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. With full routines being taught in six-week blocks, you will have the opportunity to not only successfully learn all the 'Single Ladies' routine to the envy of all your friends, but also get some bonus exercise. Alternatively, for those that followed the madness that was Beyonce in Brunswick, this may be a little way to let her legacy live on. Classes run on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays weekly at 8pm, 7.30pm and 8.30pm respectively. For more details, check the group's Facebook page or contact Liz via email.
Director Terry Gilliam goes back to the future in the third and final chapter of his so-called Orwellian triptych. An existential tragedy in the guise of a sci-fi black comedy, The Zero Theorem explores many of the same dystopian concepts seen in Brazil in 1985 and 12 Monkeys a decade later. This is unmistakably the weakest of the trio, although in fairness the other two are amongst the best science fiction films of each of their respective decades. It's a messy and sometimes frustrating film, full of big ideas that don't always get the treatment they deserve. You certainly can't fault Gilliam's ambition though, nor the quality of the pieces with which he's working. Christoph Waltz, minus his eyebrows, plays an agoraphobic computer programmer by the name of Qohen Leth. Employed by the omnipresent ManCom Corporation, Leth's sole duty is crunching the numbers on the Zero Theorem, an intricate mathematical equation that, if solved, will prove that life in inherently meaningless. For the shut-in Leth, whose nightmares are already dominated by a terrifying black hole, the task soon transforms into an obsession. Theorem sees Gilliam, a satirist at heart, aim his guns squarely at the commercial establishment. Bucharest masquerades as futuristic London, a city in which advertisements will literally chase you down the street. Visually, the director draws on everything from Metropolis to Lewis Carroll, not to mention, of course, a healthy dose of Nineteen Eight-Four. The world he creates is full of absurd whimsy, yet a lingering sense of oppression always remains. It an environment we only see in glimpses, however. The bulk of the film takes place in Leth's home, a dank, rat-infested, fire-damaged church. It's here that he toils, the Quasimodo of the future, observed via surveillance camera perched atop a headless statue of Christ. It's not what you'd call a subtle visual, but then again, no one ever accused Gilliam of being subtle. Nor would you call him a particularly focused filmmaker. At times there's a sense he's throwing everything at wall in the hope that some of it will stick. Questions of faith, purpose and reality are interesting in their own right, but never quite coalesce into an entirely satisfying whole. In his first true starring role, Christoph Waltz gives a fantastic performance that's quite different to what we've seen in his collaborations with Tarantino. French actress Melanie Thierry, meanwhile, seems likely to break out as Leth's potential love interest, a mysterious cyber-seductress named Bainsley. Their dynamic gives the film some much-needed emotional stakes. Yet the plot that surrounds the relationship remains oddly lacking in momentum. The Zero Theorem is nowhere near Gilliam's best. At the same time, in a lot of ways it feels like his most definitive film, in that it represents all of his good and bad tendencies simultaneously. It's as bold and intriguing as it is cluttered and confused. In the end, it contains just enough interesting elements to justify the cost of a ticket. https://youtube.com/watch?v=rae7_O_6EtU
Get your fix of free art and live music this July, when Unplugged Live returns to the National Gallery of Victoria. Over six consecutive Sunday afternoons at the NGV Ian Potter Centre in Fed Square, curator and musician Jae Laffer will present public discussions with a variety of contemporary artists, followed by an in-gallery performance by a different local musician or band. While a complete list of featured artists is yet to be revealed, we do know it’ll include faces from current NGV exhibitions including Indigenous Art: Moving Backwards into the Future, and Follow The Flag: Australian Artists At War. And we do have the full roster of musicians, starting with Indigenous singer-songwriter Thelma Plum on July 5. Other acts include Melbourne’s own Olympia on July 12, ARIA winner Megan Washington on August 2, and Big Scary/#1 Dads vocalist Tom Iansek on August 9. For more information about Unplugged Live, visit the NGV website. Image: Thelma Plum
Women flouting society's expectations, men unsure about how to react, and trouble springing in response: Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd may have been published 141 years ago, but the text's gender politics certainly don't seem a century old. In adapting the Victorian novel for the modern movie-going masses, The Hunt director Thomas Vinterberg and One Day writer David Nicholls clearly agree. Their condensed take on the tale may find its basis in classic literature, but it feels undated. Given the headstrong heroine they're working with, it is far from surprising that the duo thinks that writings from times gone by will resound with audiences of today. Bathsheba Everdene (Carey Mulligan) is a woman who acknowledges her disdain for her name at the outset, as well as the slim likelihood of her doing the done thing. She'd be happy being a bride but not a wife, she says. She values independence over affection, as her choices continually demonstrate. First, when assisting on her aunt's farm, Bathsheba attracts the attentions of a kindly shepherd, Gabriel Oak (Matthias Schoenaerts), then rejects his marriage proposal. Next, after inheriting her own property, a reversal of fortune sees her acting as Gabriel's boss while coping with the competing advances of a wealthy landowner, William Boldwood (Michael Sheen), and a charming soldier, Sergeant Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge). A simple account of a woman trying to choose from a trio of men, this is not, though the film does focus on Bathesheba's flitting between the three. That her suitors don't quite know what to make of her gets to the heart of the story: she may be quick to tell others what she does and doesn't like, but she doesn't quite know what she really wants. Here, Far From the Madding Crowd doesn't just do what every movie today is expected to, i.e. subvert feminine stereotypes and champion a strong lady as its lead. In its portrait of a character who astonishes even herself, it does something better, showing a complex woman complete with flaws, and capable of both making mistakes and learning from them. It helps that Mulligan — adding to her recent spate of great work in Drive, Shame, The Great Gatsby and Inside Llewyn Davis — makes for an equally fragile and fearless protagonist. Whether her hands are trembling with uncertainty or her face can't quite conceal a wry smile, she's ever the enthralling picture of complication. The actress also sets a high bar for her co-stars, though the quietly commanding Schoenaerts and the stately yet adoring Sheen are each up to the task. That Sturridge doesn't fare as well is partly a reflection of his role, playing the least sympathetic of the bunch by far. Of course, the cast's to-ing and fro-ing is perfect fodder for Dogme co-founder Vinterberg. He might be helming his first period film, but he's already shown that he knows a thing or two about labyrinthine relationships and ambiguous motivations from his Danish movie output. His eye for the countryside and fondness for close-ups similarly get another outlet, with Far From the Madding Crowd as simultaneously pastoral and intimate as a feature can be. In fact, the blend of swelling sentiments and handsome scenery suits the director so completely, there's little wonder he has crafted an offering that's beautiful and timeless in both emotion and imagery.
The team at La Mama Theatre are pulling all the right strings, as the hosts of the 2015 Melbourne Festival of Puppetry. Presented in association with the Lemony S Puppet Theatre, this six-day festival features a dozen different shows, including a dedicated after-dark program that is decidedly unsuitable for children. The daytime lineup consists of plenty of family-friendly acts, including a pop-up picture book show and a puppet-making workshop. But it’s the evening stream that’s really grabbed our attention, with a number of performances designed specifically for grown-ups. A surreal, cross-disciplinary examination of human mortality, Post Mortem was a highlight of last year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival. Augustine’s Circus Spectacular combines time travel with gallows humour, while things get even more morbid in Nightmare, a creepifying sideshow performed to an audience of just eight. For more information including the full festival program, visit the La Mama website.
Grab your vomit bag: one of the most notorious and disgusting franchises in the history of horror movies is slithering into cinemas for round number three. From the demented mind of writer-director Tom Six, The Human Centipede 3 is being touted as the most extreme film in the series so far, featuring a centipede more than 500 people in length. It’s also currently sitting at a whopping 7% on Rotten Tomatoes, which is roughly seven percentage points more than we expected. The Human Centipede 3 will have its Melbourne theatrical premiere at the newly opened Lido Cinema in Hawthorn on Friday, June 26, followed by an encore screening at Cameo Cinemas in Belgrave the following day. Actor Laurence R. Harvey will be on hand for both screenings for a post-film Q&A, assuming the entire audience hasn’t already fled the theatre.
The Fed Square Atrium will be bustling with activity this weekend, when Melbourne’s Mystery Market makes the space its own. Kicking off at 10am sharp this Sunday, June 28, more than 50 local designers will descend upon the pop-up bazaar’s latest temporary location, offering great deals on handmade craft products, vintage clothing items and more. With a focus on independent design and ethical production, confirmed stallholders include eco-friendly fashion brand Lauren & Angie, scented candle makers Bon Lux, paper bouquet artists Miss Poppins and ceramic-jewellery designers And O Design, as well as Twice Drunk glassware — a one-man operation that specialises in turning empty wine and spirit bottles into lamps. Just make sure you leave yourself enough money to buy lunch from one of the market’s many food stalls. The event hits Federation Square just a week after it hosted the Melbourne Design Market. Here’s hoping the city’s most avid shoppers aren’t feeling too fatigued (or broke). For more information about Melbourne’s Mystery Market, check them out on Facebook. Image: Miss Poppins.
Tales of honour and vengeance will light up the screen in a blood-splattered new film program at ACMI this month. With a focus on one of the most influential film genres of all time, Samurai Cinema: The Way of the Warrior features 13 classic and contemporary samurai films from some of cinema's greatest auteurs. Unsurprisingly, the backbone of the program consists of four films by the legendary Akira Kurosawa. 1950's Rashomon introduced Japanese cinema to the West, while later masterpieces The Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and The Hidden Fortress would go on to serve as inspiration for The Magnificent Seven, A Fistful of Dollars and a little-seen film called Star Wars. Likewise, fans of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill will recognise its bloody origins in Toshiya Fujita's 1973 film Lady Snowblood, which screens as part of an R-rated double bill with Kenji Misumi's Lone Wolf and Cub. Action devotees might also like to check out Takashi Miike's recent epic 13 Assassins. On the other hand, those looking for something a little less gory can try Yoji Yamada 2002 Oscar-nominated Twilight Samurai, or Jim Jarmusch's philosophy-laden mafia/samurai mash-up Ghost Dog. Both films offer a more meditative take on the genre, one that's so often dominated by decapitation and disembowelment. For the full Samurai Cinema program, visit the ACMI website.
Get ready to feel insecure about your age. That dynamo 17-year-old with the Grammys and the dance moves and the best friend named David Bowie is set to finally hit our shores in July. Lorde will play eight massive shows across the country including Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane. After a heartbreaking cancellation and an illness postponement earlier in the year, this will be Lorde's first Australian stadium tour after playing smaller clubs and the Laneway circuit. Ever the social media savvy teenager, Lorde announced the rescheduled tour dates with a Twitter pic, sprinkled with crystal ball and lightning bolt Emojis. While we're sure to get the full Royal(s) treatment from her 2013 breakthrough album Pure Heroine, the highly-anticipated tour is said to have some big surprises in store. It's been announced there will be a large-scale light show component, but we're keeping our fingers crossed for a cameo from Ziggy Stardust. In good news for wunderkinds nationwide, every show on the tour will also be all ages. Stands to reason, really — if the main act is underage why should you have to flash ID? https://youtube.com/watch?v=f2JuxM-snGc
Technology, hedonism, and performance seem like the making of a great party, but the work of Brisbane collective Golden Solution is a little more complex than that. From May 2 - 10, Michael Candy, Kiah Reading and Andrew McLellan will be confronting their audience with some particularly trying social experiments. Hosting Shower Party at Goodtime Studios on May 2, the group have crafted a system where guests can serve themselves cocktails, but each drink adjusts the correspondent water level in a giant martini-shaped goldfish tank. To induce further guilt, both the lighting and music are also controlled via motion detectors in the tank. Other happenings include a drones hovering over your head at BUS Projects, and a public symposium "for the future automation of our civil life". This event originally appeared as one of our top picks for the 2014 Next Wave Festival. See the full list here.
What do Franz Kafka and a misspelt offensive YouTube comment have in common? Usually nothing. But in the magical world of theatre — and more specifically, Malthouse Theatre's 2014 Helium program — the realms of high and low culture are coming into proper alignment. Like the recently-ogled red moon, this five-show program is casting an exciting glow on Melbourne; unlike the scarlet lunar moment, it's sticking around until early November. Now in its third year, Helium is a celebration of independent theatre-makers and original ideas. Partnering up with Next Wave and the Melbourne Fringe for certain productions, this year's initiative from the highly respected Malthouse Theatre is quickly building momentum and looks to be a major player in this year's already bustling cultural program. First cab off the rank is SEETHrough. Run in collaboration with Next Wave, this multimedia production from Sean Jorvn and the Ilbijerri Theatre Company tells a story of a friendship between a "blackfella" and a "whitefella", and the differing journeys they take on the path from childhood to adulthood. However the real innovation is to be seen in its audiovisual work. Containing hypnotic videography and soundscapes, Next Wave artistic director Emily Sexton describes the piece as both "menacing and fantastical". Helium's second production, Intimacy, will continue this contemplative style. Telling the story of Michelle Ryan, a dancer diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 30, the show will be a fictionalised version of real life events and performed by Ryan herself. Devised by Torque Show, the piece will feature a live score by Lavender vs. Rose and will no doubt continue the hybridity of the Helium program with some inclusion of dance. After these two, the program gets a little weird (in a good way, of course). In what's been described as a "multimedia This is Spinal Tap", Applespiel Make A Band and Take On the Recording Industry is a live-action rockumentary from Sydney performance group Applespiel. The show follows a fictional eight-piece indie band who crave success, complicated riders and "truckloads of cocaine". Needless to say, things don't work out for them, but an insight into their downfall will prove to be amusing nonetheless. In September, the Fringe brings with it some trademark strangeness; this time in the form of The YouTube Comment Orchestra. Presented by The Last Tuesday Society, this show represents months of sifting through the dark underbelly of YouTube for lyrical gold. Like a real-time, musical Google Poetics this stage spectacular will no doubt provide some srs lolz (and if you don't like it, I'm sure there's some kind of video platform you can anonymously criticise them on). Last but not least, Kafka gets an appropriate reimagining in The Second Cousins' META. Dragging the classic surrealist tale of Metamorphoses into the modern day, Samara Hersch and co. tell the story of Gregor Samsa — a family man whose mundane world unravels into a "multi-sensory nightmare". Spoiler (because you've now had 99 years to read the original): he might turn into a giant cockroach. Malthouse Theatre's 2014 Helium program: April 30 - May, 11 — SEETHrough August 13 – 23 — Intimacy September 3 -13 — Applespiel Make A Band and Take on the Recording Industry September 17 – 27 — YouTube Comment Orchestra October 22 - November 1 — META For more information including ticketing see the Malthouse website.
The audience waits in the cavernous dark of the Meat Market theatre, while portentous music plays and spotlights rake the stage. Madonna Arms is coming. The music builds. The audience wait. The music keeps building. The audience keep waiting. This goes on for a while. It goes on so long it becomes funny, then even longer until it stops being funny, then keeps going until it becomes funny again. Whatever is about to start, there is no way it can justify this much buildup. Which is of course the gag. From the very beginning Madonna Arms embodies the overblown but hollow hype of modern pop culture. Performed by experimental feminist theatre company I’m Trying To Kiss You, the show is a chaotic satire. Three performers — Zoey Dawson, Anna McCarthy and Ella Harvey — work together like a well-oiled machine to turn out oddball scenarios playing with media representations of gender. Surrounded by screens which, courtesy of an on-stage green screen, show them against digital backdrops, the energetic trio create scenes that seem to come from a media hyper-reality: a reality TV show that appears to be shot on a space station, a film clip portraying a medieval battle march, and an alien invasion action movie. The structure is essentially that of a sketch show, with some callbacks but no underlying narrative connecting the sequences. Narrative is not remotely necessary, in fact the lack of it is central to the show. Madonna Arms is a portrayal of style without substance, the grandiose presentation of trivia, hyperbolic charade and false empowerment. The overall effect is like flipping through late night cable television in a foreign country. It's never quite fully comprehensible, it's frequently furiously odd but it is endlessly fascinating nonetheless. I don’t know if what I’m watching is a hot mess or sheer magnificence. It's probably a bit of both. One thing that does get a bit much is all the talk about sex, of which there is an awful lot. While it's clearly the intent of the show to satirise a media obsession with sex, there’s only so much talk about orifices, penises and bodily fluids you can listen to before it gets tiresome. The show works best when the performers are simply having fun and playing the satire at fever pitch. When it falters is when it's self consciously trying to be controversial or in-your-face. While not everything this show throws at the wall sticks, it is nonetheless quite an experience to watch it all being thrown. There is a determined shake-your-fist-at-the-mainstream spunk to it all that makes it strangely irresistible. Saturated in pop culture references, crass for the sheer love of being crass, at once outrageously silly and charged with impassioned politics — this is exactly the kind of thing young performers should be doing with their time. Going to see it and feeling equal parts baffled, amused, affronted and inspired is exactly what you should be doing with yours. This show is running as part of Next Wave 2014. For more events at the festival, check out our top ten picks.
This time last year Tkay Maidza received a bunch of international attention for her release of 'Brontosaurus' (ft. Badcop). But to us, she sounded just like any another artist making miscellaneous party noises reminiscent of that act who plays those festivals we try to avoid. That being said, within the year she's developed into something special. Her latest EP Switch Tape offers '90s inspired breaks, with interesting production and confident vocal performances throughout. Adelaide's answer to Azealia Banks, Maidza brings so much energy to her recordings and we can't wait to see her on stage. After touring the UK and US, she's now returning home and hitting the road with a national tour for the new EP. Hitting up Sydeny's Chinese Laundry, Melbourne's 170 Russell and Brisbane's Alhambra Lounge, Maidza's sure to bring a pretty big party. Even Adelaide is getting some love — this local kid definitely has definitely done good.
Visual artist Lisa Roet has a long-running history with using images of primates to comment on environmental issues, genetic discoveries and the evolving place of humanity within nature. This time, Roet has created jewellery that is both beautiful and unusual to explore these themes in Humanzee. Roet’s work has a very scientific feel to it, so it’s no surprise she has worked with everyone from zoologists to taxonomists for her art. Some of the pieces from the exhibition include silver bracelets made from caste gorilla skin, and a gibbon hand that wraps itself around the arm or wrist of the wearer like it was clinging to a tree branch. Materials used to create the jewellery include gold, silver, bronze, bone carved and caste. If jewellery as art is your jam, Pieces of Eight Gallery is also running the exhibition Compact Museum Gacha-Gacha, which features small-scale objects and jewellery by Nicholas Bastin.
Earlier this year, acclaimed Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad released Omar, a blistering dramatic thriller about a reluctant Palestinian informant, and his dangerous relationship with his handler in the Israeli secret service. Arriving just a few months later, Yuval Adler's debut feature Bethlehem tells a similar story, but does so from the perspective of the Israelis. The film is filled with mostly non-professional actors, all of whom do marvellous work. Tsahi Halevi, an actual former member of an elite Israeli military unit, plays Razi, an agent with the Shin Bet counter-terrorist unit. Tasked with the capture or assassination of an elusive Palestinian militant, Razi relies heavily on the information of a single source: his target's teenage brother, hot-headed 17-year-old Sanfur (Shadi Mar'i). The crux of the drama comes from the relationship between Razi and his informant. It's a complicated dynamic, one that frequently feels less like the one between a spymaster and his agent, and more like the one between a surrogate father and son. Razi show Sanfur the patience and understanding that the boy's own family never has and obviously feels a genuine sense of responsibility for him. That he's still willing to exploit and endanger the teen in spite of his paternal feelings demonstrates the ends-justify-the-means mentality that is so heavily ingrained in the conflict. Indeed, the moral murkiness of the real-world situation feels at times uncomfortably well suited to the espionage genre. Internal power disputes within both Shin Bet and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, for whom Sanfur's brother fights, means that violence frequently occurs without any warning. On the technical front, unpolished digital camerawork heightens the feeling of uncertainty and danger, felt most viscerally during a foot-chase sequence midway through the film. Of course, the sense of fear and desperation speaks to the nature of the Israel-Palestine conflict. Adler, to his credit, remains pretty even-handed, showing both camps make moral compromises for the causes that they believe in. In doing so, the director discredits the simplistic, goodies-versus-baddies perspective that partisans on both sides would have the world believe. At the same time, there's a bleak sense of inevitability to the paths his characters take that suggest little sense of hope for a peaceful resolution. https://youtube.com/watch?v=WSwPlEhA308
What happens when you throw a rotating roster of 10-15 of Brisbane's biggest shredders and wailers in a studio together and let the music sort itself out? The super slick, self-titled debut from garage-pop powerhouse Velociraptor, an album oozing with snappy beats and boundless swagger (released August 15 via Dot Dash/Remote Control). To celebrate their debut LP — their first release since 2012's The World Warriors — Velociraptor are hitting the road, set to make a pit stop at Northcote Social Club. This is your best chance to get amongst the catchy crooning of frontman Jeremy Neale in the flesh, with lead singles 'Ramona' and 'Sneakers' guaranteed to be crowd favourites on the night. With support from Bloods, Dorsal Fins and Sunbeam Sound Machine, this is one gig you want front and centre on your agenda this week. https://youtube.com/watch?v=VqtxLk3Co5M
Nite Art is a contemporary art event for budding artists, enthusiasts and those searching for something to do on a Wednesday night that isn't watching cats waking up their owners on YouTube. Galleries and art institutions swing open their doors at once and keep them open until late into the night (not White Night late, but late). This year eight precincts, 28 art sites, 35 exhibitions and upwards of 80 artists are involved, so it's by no means a small 'artsy' evening. There will be art walks, talks, exhibition openings, artist-run spaces as well as access to notable art institutions, galleries and museums. Partnering up with Open House Melbourne, The Ian Potter Museum, ACMI and the University of Melbourne, Nite Art has all the right foundations for an engaging and inspiring night out. If looking at work isn't your thing, then listening to interesting people might be. With talks from artists and curators at numerous venues across the city as well as readings, there really is something for everyone. Nite Art will be running from 6pm to late, so you've got enough time to run home, change, download your site map and get out there.
Walking into the Bigness celebrates many stories inspired by the life of writer, singer, filmmaker and Aboriginal activist Richard Frankland. From humble (although gruesome) beginnings as a child working in an abattoir to life as a soldier, a fisherman and an officer for the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, the production follows Frankland's experiences through storytelling and song. Co-directed by Wayne Blair (The Sapphires, Redfern Now) and Chris Mead and featuring a small stellar cast (Tammy Anderson, Paul Ashcroft, Luisa Hastings Edge, Rarriwuy Hick and Tiriki Onus), Walking into the Bigness is an intimate exploration of knowledge, adolescence, growth and the unknown. With music performed by Frankland himself, the production is an "intimate, emotive and humorous work that will take you through the undulating terrain of a life".
Vintage clothes + proceeds going to disadvantaged women = perfection. Dear Gladys is a not-for-profit shop that supports Fitted for Work, an organisation which supports women in hardship to secure employment through mentoring, interview preparation, outfitting, work experience opportunities and much more. This Friday, July 1, Dear Gladys will be expanding its online stock and holding a pop-up store at QV Women's Centre Melbourne. This is your chance to snap up some super cute vintage outfits and homewares while supporting a worthwhile cause. Not only will the online stock be available, but there's extra goodies and sale items being thrown in as well. Swooooon. The clothes are glorious (dibs on this.....and this), the homewares are adorable (seriously stop it), and the deals are so good you'd almost be losing money if you didn't go. Plus, it's supporting those who need it, so you have zero excuses not to check it out. Happy shopping!
Like the producers of expensive Swiss watches, artisanal chocolate and complicated pocket knives, Movenpick ice cream is committed to Switzerland's seemingly national standard of perfection. If you haven't yet sampled the gourmet brand's indulgent flavours, (made from real Swiss cream), then what better time to taste test than on the country's national day? On August 1, Movenpick is offering the first 250 customers to their NSW, Victoria and Queensland stores a complimentary scoop of Switzerland in a cone (or a cup, if that's more your thing). Be torn between 24 flavours, such as velvety caramelita, crunchy meringue in double cream or their famous classic Swiss chocolate. Head to the following stores for your free scoop: NSW: Bondi, Darling Harbour, Manly, Newcastle. VIC: Doncaster, Boxhill, Melbourne Central, QV Melbourne (Highpoint). QLD: Brisbane CBD, Brisbane Emporium, Portside, Surfers Paradise, South Bank, Broadbeach, Cairns, Carindale, Harbour Town, Paddington, Indooroopilly. Opening times and locations vary; see the website for details.
The super-adorable Finders Keepers travelling market is returning to the Royal Exhibition Building once more for their autumn/winter edition. The biannual, designer-centric, come-one-come-all mini-festival has managed to bridge the gap between local market and exclusive exhibition, creating a space for independent designers to engage with the wider community. You'll be able to nab some marvellous treats difficult to find anywhere else. From bespoke leather goods to bespoke stationary, upcycled journals to upcycled bicycle reflectors, every stall will be a unique shopping experience that combines innovative design with grassroots feel-goodery. As usual, there will be live music, a cafe, a bar and thousands of other Melburnians celebrating independent art and design. The markets are open on Friday from from 6pm-10pm and Saturday from 10am-5pm.
Carrie Bradshaws of Melbourne, it's time for a little celebration. Miss Louise is having a massive sale and if you're a shoeaholic (own it) you'll be wanting to get down to Collins Street stat. While it's cold and miserable out there, this is one golden opportunity opportunity to update your wardrobe before spring — and reward yourself for not entirely hibernating. Serious shopping sprees mean serious fashion names. Chloe, Balmain, Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Balenciaga — the gang's all here and they'll be treating you to some pretty special discounts. Think up to 70% off. Our tip? Get in early and snap up the best deals before everyone else twigs. And prepare yourself for a spot of confrontation — let's be honest, some people will do anything for good shoes. There's never been a better moment to create your own urban shoe myth, let your inner Carrie out and saunter to Miss Louise where all your favourite fancy foot friends will be waiting.
Everyone remain calm. There are robots at the NGV. Real life robots. Robots that look disutrbingly like Daleks in dresses. A well-known purveyor of the absurd, Dr. Wade Marynowsky is an Australian artist and researcher who specialises in experimental and emerging art forms. As a researcher, Marynowsky's topics of interest include contemporary art, media and technology in art, and experimental performance work. So really, it's unsurprising that his work reflects his research. His recent projects have included There Goes the Neighbourhood where Marynowsky mixed computer games and urban spaces with a dead kangaroo, and The Acconci Robot which featured a shipping crate robot which followed you every time you turned away from it. Much like robots themselves, his work is unnerving, funny, self-aware and occasionally very confronting. Marynowsky has made a name for himself as a leading artist in the field of experimental digital art and has been exhibited all across Australia. In this latest show at the NGV, he's letting his dolled up Daleks (note: not actual Daleks) loose in the NGV foyer while treating us to audiovisual installations, performances and sound sculptures. If there's one robot-themed contemporary art exhibition you go to this year, make it this one.
If you casually visited a swamp at twilight at the full moon, encountered an otherwordly swamp queen who hypnotised you into a state of delirium and tried to coax you into murky waters, she'd probably sing you something like Willow Beats' newest single 'Merewif'. The Sydney duo's latest release features lyrics derived from stories of Hare Krishna folklore which, combined with shore-lapping wave sounds, twisting synth and solid baseline, give the whole thing a disturbed nursery rhyme vibe (in a good way, not a Ring Around the Rosy way). You can get a little closer to this weird futuristic fantasy as the uncle-niece duo set off on a national tour this August. The Aussie dates will be their first live appearances in seven months, long anticipated by the very respectably-sized fanbase the two won with the release of their debut EP Alchemy last year — along with their elemental, naked dancing-inducing sets at Falls and Strawberry Fields. 'Merewif' is the first release from their forthcoming Willow Beats EP (due for release later in the year), which means there's plenty of mystical, lush electronica from this duo to look forward to. For now, catch them at Northcote Social Club on August 16. https://youtube.com/watch?v=PLKF8b_bpSw
Melbourne's hypnotic four-piece are returning home to take you through heir latest album. After recently touring with Chet Faker for his national Built On Glass tour, Rat & Co will be setting up their night of audiovisual delights at the Shadow Electric Bandroom. The lads will be joined by renowned beatmakers Silent Jay and Lucianblomkamp and accompanied by a 30-minute visual performance by Blunk. Both transfixing and transcendental, Rat & Co's music is perfect for getting lost in your own little world far, far away from here. Having said that, the tunes are by no means sleep-inducing; latest single 'Samurai' and previous single 'Vocal Insanity' are more beat-driven, boasting flawless production. In short, don't expect to sit still. Rat & Co released their second album Binary in May this year, and enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive response to their sophomore efforts. As well as producing their own music, they've also worked on some fantastic remixes of the likes of Chet Faker, Snakadaktal and I'lls — their Soundcloud is certainly worth checking out. If underground hip hop, house beats and precisely-selected samples are your jam, you'd better head along to this gig and enjoy your audio-trip. https://youtube.com/watch?v=_k82xzdkBaw
In 1999, You Am I frontman Tim Rogers broke out on his own to record his first solo album, What Rhymes with Cars and Girls. Fifteen years later, playwright Aidan Fennessy has turned the album into a stage play which examines the blossoming of an unlikely romance in contemporary Australia. Tash (Sophie Ross) is a feisty singer in an indie rock band. Johnno (Johnny Carr) is a pizza delivery guy 'from the wrong side of the tracks'. Then one fateful night — yep, you guessed it — their worlds collide (to a Rogers-arranged soundtrack). If you’re looking to see Timmy Rogers treading the boards than you're sadly out of luck, but to hear his songs transformed into theatre will undoubtedly bring new life to a classic album. What Rhymes with Cars and Girls will run at the MTC until the end of March. This raw, complex and highly relatable tale of urban romance is sure to make you feel all the feels.
Much like its seemingly ageless leading man Keanu Reeves, the tale of The 47 Ronin is both several centuries old and beloved in Japan. Combining some of the most startling exemplars of courage, loyalty and honour, it's a sort of Kelly Gang meets Custer story in which a group of disavowed and banished Samurai (known as Ronin) stoically vow to avenge their master despite its absolute promise of death. From a production standpoint, 47 Ronin unexpectedly delights, with the costumes in particular showcasing the very best union of imagination and authenticity. Alongside some extraordinary set design, the extravagant armour of the Samurai, ornate dresses of the concubines and opulence of the Shogun all inject dazzling colour into an otherwise entirely dark affair. Even the cinematography feels more dramatic and dour than might be assumed for an action movie, which largely represents both 47 Ronin's strength and failing. That's because this is an entirely joyless film, and while no one should expect a story about retribution and mass suicide to be a laugh riot, there's almost always a little wriggle room for fun in an epic tale of witchcraft and warriors such as this. Truly, there is perhaps only one moment of levity in the entire movie and it comes at the expense of a fat man's 'moobs'. As a result, there's a certain lifelessness to 47 Ronin which saps it of the potential to be a tremendously enjoyable movie. It is, instead, a bleak and brooding affair that plods from scene to scene instead of gallopping. Much is made up for in the final battle which, to be fair, is excellent and one of the better set pieces seen in recent times; however, it leaves you wishing the rest of the film had been delivered in a similarly spectacular manner. https://youtube.com/watch?v=47_-pqoPDVQ
Australia’s oldest, largest and most celebrated queer film festival is back for another year, showcasing the very best of LGBTQ cinema from all around the world. With screenings at ACMI and Hoyts Melbourne Central, the Melbourne Queer Film Festival is the premier event for queer cinema in Australia, with dramas, comedies, documentaries, shorts and now, in its 24th year, a lesbian werewolf movie with a cameo by Kylie Minogue. There will also be speed dating, gay bingo and a 20th anniversary screening of that quintessential Australian queer film Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, complete with an audience costume competition. For more information, check out our list of the five best films or see the festival program.
There's always something going on at Federation Square. Maybe there's some sport on the big screen, a street clown intent on including you in his act, or perhaps there's an old man asking you to play a game of giant chess. It's one of the few areas in our CBD where we really connect with each other. And this weekend, things are about to get a lot more communal. The Fresh Air Festival is an annual event run by excitable purveyors of good times, Pop-Up Playground. Also known for their month-long offering, This is A Door, the Melbourne-based group specialises in interactive and participatory games often in public spaces. If you're intent on being a spectator, this is not the event for you. This year will involve scary games with torches played at night, a very public game of truth or dare, and the biggest round robin thumb-wrestling tournament you've ever seen. All games and events are free, and to register just head to the Atrium from 11am each morning. As if you've never wanted to be the thumb-wrestling champion of the city? For more information on dates and times, check the program. Otherwise, just turn up and roll the dice.
If you’re a fan of quality television, this upcoming ACMI panel discussion is guaranteed to hold you captive. Inspired by the recent commercial and critical success of jailhouse comic-drama Orange is the New Black, Live in the Studio: TV Behind Bars will examine our morbid fascination with life under lock and key. Hosted in ACMI’s Studio 1 on the evening of February 27, TV-savvy speakers Clementine Ford, Byron Bache, Jess McGuire and Ben Pobjie will be on hand to dissect 2014's first season of US programming. They’ll also be talking about Australia’s own forays into the 'women in jail' genre, in the form of the iconic '70s series Prisoner as well as its recent quasi-reboot, Wentworth. No word on whether Channel 9’s ratings bomb Schapelle will get a mention. I suspect we’re all sick of hearing about it.
The only thing wrong with Cut Snake is that it's over too soon. If you blink, you're likely to be sorry you missed something in this outrageously fun yet poignant 50-minute acrobatic, theatrical rollercoaster from independent theatre company Arthur. The script revolves around three maverick characters. There's Jumper (Kevin Kiernan-Molloy), a loveable, devil-may-care 19-year-old who, at the play's opening, is drinking his way around Europe on a Contiki tour. His sudden death, caused when the bus on which he is travelling swerves to miss a dog, introduces the bittersweet tension between risk and hope that drives Cut Snake's dramatic energy. For the rest of the play, Jumper's closest friends, Kiki (Catherine Davies) and Bob (Julia Billington), must cope with this tragedy. Through puppetry, acrobatics and dance, they recount and enact various scenes from their past and future lives. Kiki tangos with a bearded lady on Mt Kilimanjaro, Bob longs to know who would win a fight between a horse and a hippo, Jumper juggles between his feelings for a talking snake named Trix and his love for Kiki. Yes, it is as crazy as it sounds, and that's just the start. The highly skilled Kiernan-Molloy, Davies and Billington never miss a beat, delivering lines that depend on microsecond timing and maintaining a pace that would keep Usain St. Leo Bolt on his toes. Davies' fluent somersaults, tumbles and twirls are particularly lovely to watch. Patterned cotton sheets and doona covers that look as though they've been pulled out of your mother's favourite cupboard form the backdrop, which extends all the way around the theatre. Walking in, you feel like you're entering a secret cubby house, an experience that sets the atmosphere for the play's magical realist world in which time is no longer linear and anything is possible. Death is the only certainty. Indeed, mortality's sadness hovers over the play, but overwhelmingly, Cut Snake reminds us that we can make life as daring, exciting and unpredictable as we imagine it to be. It's all about leaving a story behind that might be worth the telling. This review was written about the 2013 production of Cut Snake at the Bondi Pavilion Theatre in Sydney.
No nation did Beatlemania quite like we did. Perhaps that's because we had just one chance to express our adoration. The Fab Four's only tour of Australia started with 1,000 fans, 100 journalists and a rainstorm at Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport on the morning of June 11, 1964 and finished up with John Lennon's summation, "It was good", on July 1. For two weeks, the country demonstrated a never-before-seen capacity for obsession (with the possible exception, of course, of '60s "egg man" Bob Katter). Fifty years later, we're invited to relive the fervour via The Beatles in Australia exhibition. Both Sydney's Powerhouse Museum and Melbourne's Art Centre are to be transformed into sites of Beatlemania. There'll be rare objects sourced from fans, collectors and museums; newsreels; television footage; radio excerpts and press clippings, exploring the before, during and after of the visit that, according to some, altered the Australian cultural landscape forever.
Argh! Cannibals! Aargh! Clowns! Both of these things are horrible, who thought it would be a good idea to make a show that combines them? And why did I think it would be a good idea to see it? It’s not like it didn’t give due warning. The show’s name stems from the phrase 'long pig' — said to be the euphemism Polynesian cannibals used for human flesh — and every poster for the show has leering clown faces on it. It promises cannibal clowns and that’s exactly what it delivers. Three of them in fact, in butcher’s garb, with their clown noses black instead of the usual red. They scuttle round a murky stage, squabbling as they alternate between processing cannibal meat — in this context, red clown noses — and performing slightly warped versions of traditional clown acts. Despite the grotesque possibilities of the premise, the show is actually quite pedestrian. The cannibal theme has little bearing on the action for most of it, apart from informing the overall gloomy aesthetic and bleak energy-sapping soundtrack. Those expecting something visceral will not find it here. Nor is the clowning anything out of the ordinary, dependent on a familiar repertoire of slapstick, squeaky noses, silly sound effects, novelty size props and goofy facial expressions. There’s a lot of what you might call 'silly business': trivial onstage activity that looks quirky but doesn’t really advance anything. There are a few decent visual set pieces, such as a scene where a clown gives birth to a banana or one in which the trio briefly try to reclaim the persona of happy clowns in inflatable suits but find their dream literally deflating around them. They also get a bit of audience mileage with an extended parody of the crucifixion — though why cannibal clowns are being analogised to Jesus is anyone’s guess. One gets the feeling that there is a message intended here, about the tarnishing of the once jolly image of the clown into an icon of horror, or of people striving against their base natures or something of that order. It doesn’t come across though. The stronger visual scenes are disconnected without enough to tie them together and overall the show achieves neither the horror nor the poignancy it seems to be aiming for. It does seem to get enough laughs from the audience, so clearly the old bag of clown tricks still works for some. If seeing someone getting hit repeatedly on the head with a comically large hammer sounds like a good time to you, then you may well eat this show up as there’s plenty of that kind of thing. For me, the outlandish premise calls for something more adventurous in terms of comedy and dressing up stale gags in cannibal makeup doesn’t make them fresher. I would not have thought cannibal clowns could be anything other than horrible but it turns out they can in fact be simply dreary. Less "argh", more “ehh.”
Condensing the life story of Nelson Mandela into a single film is a daunting task. This is not just because the man went from being an agitator to a political prisoner to the first black president of South Africa (spoilers), but because the emotional connection the entire world has with one of the most significant anti-racism warriors is not a light one for a film to take on. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is not exactly up to the task. If this film is undone by anything, it's the biopic form itself. No film exists in a vacuum, and it's impossible to ignore that this biopic possesses basically the same narrative structure as most other activist/musician/politician/author biopics: begins, falls, rises. Which was the tagline to the Dark Knight trilogy, now that I think about it. The problem isn't that the film is reductive in its portrayal of Mandela's life — especially as it at least appears willing to show him at both his best and his worst — but that it is too reverential of its form. Director Justin Chadwick, best known for 2008's The Other Boleyn Girl, does not take any strong stylistic liberties with Mandela's story, but given the film feels frustratingly familiar, I rather wish he had. Idris Elba is very good in the role, and looks far more like Mandela than you might initially think. Oddly, he seems more comfortable playing the aged Mandela than the youthful one; the film itself echoes this feeling, significantly more at ease with Mandela the Forgiving Leader than Mandela the Righteous Terrorist. Winnie Mandela, who has, in many quarters, been retroactively painted as a villain in Nelson Mandela's life story, is given a much fairer shake here, in what is one of the film's better decisions. Although Winnie is depicted in the same generic strokes as everything else in the film, it at least acknowledges her best and her worst aspects, and that fairness is Mandela's saving grace. It doesn't hurt that Winnie is played by Naomie Harris, one of the UK's best actors, although her natural charisma is not given much room to shine through. The best thing that can be said of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is that it refuses to play in the same sandpit that the media did following the man's death last year, refusing to engage exclusively with the picture of Mandela as the genial statesman. The film is prepared to explore the elements of Mandela's past that would see him labelled a terrorist, and even if these are dealt with only perfunctorily, this sandpapering comes across as a result of the storytelling form rather than a politicised motivation. The worst thing that can be said of the film is that it is only superficially illuminating, briefly informative; the drama is only mildly engaging, the imprisonment distantly horrific. It insists upon keeping us at an arm's length for its not inconsiderable running time. Like a sign language-faking impostor at a funeral, the moves all look right to the untrained eye, but are, ultimately, devoid of all meaning. https://youtube.com/watch?v=hmm-aazQQKA
