UPDATE, March 13, 2023: Navalny is available to stream via Docplay, YouTube Movies, iTunes and Prime Video. Man on Wire did it with The Walk, The Times of Harvey Milk sparked Milk and Dogtown and Z-Boys brought about Lords of Dogtown. Werner Herzog went from Little Dieter Needs to Fly to Rescue Dawn, too, and the Paradise Lost films were followed by Devil's Knot. One day, Navalny will join this growing list. Documentaries inspiring dramas isn't new, and Alexei Navalny's life story would scream for a biopic even if director Daniel Roher (Once Were Brothers) hadn't gotten there first — and so compellingly, or in such an acclaimed way, winning the 2022 Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award for its US doco competition in the process. When you're a Russian opposition leader crusading against corruption and Vladimir Putin, there's going to be a tale to tell. Usually only Hollywood screenwriters can conjure up a narrative like the one that Navalny has been living, though, typically in a Bourne-style spy thriller. Actually, John le Carré, Ian Fleming or Tom Clancy might've come up with something similar; still, even the former, the author responsible for such espionage efforts such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Night Manager, could've struggled to imagine details this staggering. Creating a fictional character as complicated, captivating and candid as Navalny's namesake would've also been a stretch. Indeed, there are two key aspects to this engrossing doco: everything that it explores about its subject's life, especially in recent years, which is a dream for a documentary filmmaker; and the engaging pro-democracy advocate himself. Often Navalny chats to camera about his experiences, demanding and earning the viewer's attention. In a movie that doesn't overlook his flaws, either, he's equally riveting when he's searching for a crucial truth. Another stark fact haunts Navalny from the outset: it was never guaranteed that he'd be alive to see the film come to fruition, let alone reach an audience. The outspoken Putin critic, lawyer and dissident confronts that grim reality early on, giving Roher the holy grail of soundbites. "Let's make a thriller out of this movie,' he says. "And if I'm killed, let's make a boring movie about memory," he continues. In August 2020, Navalny nearly didn't make it, after all. In an incident that understandably attracted international headlines and just as expectedly sits at the core of this documentary, he was poisoned while flying from Tomsk in Siberia to Moscow. The toxin: a Novichok nerve agent. The instantly suspected culprits: the Kremlin, as part of an assassination plot that he survived. No matter whether you're aware of the minutiae from press coverage when it happened — or of his treatment by Russia prior or since, in a country that hasn't taken kindly to his campaign against its president — or you're stepping through his tale for the first time while watching, Navalny couldn't be more gripping as it gets sleuthing as well. Among other things, it's an attempted-murder mystery. That fateful flight was diverted to Omsk because Navalny was so violently and deathly ill due to the Soviet-era toxin. His stint in hospital was tense, and evacuating him to safety in Berlin was never guaranteed. Although the poisoning is just one aspect of his story, and of this astonishing and anger-inciting film, identifying the people responsible is firmly one of Navalny's quests and Navalny's focuses. With extraordinarily intimate access, befitting his central figure's frankness and determination, Roher shot the aftermath of the incident as it unfolded; one moment in particular must be seen to be believed. Navalny takes up help from Christo Grozev, an investigative journalist from Netherlands-based group Bellingcat (or "a nice Bulgarian nerd with a laptop" as he's called here). As the evidence mounts, they start contacting the men they've worked out were involved. Most calls end promptly. Then, when Navalny impersonates a Kremlin higher-up, phoning to get answers as to why the plot went wrong, answers spill (answers that involve Navalny's underwear, in fact). With apologies to the most skilled screenwriters and authors that've plied their trade in spy narratives, this is an exchange so wild that it can only be true, as Navalny's audience witnesses while perched on the edge of their seats. This is a compulsive, revelatory, fast-paced movie, as directed with agility by Roher. There's as much of a pulse to its early summary of Navalny's career, including what led him to become such a target, as there is to his to-camera discussions and the unravelling of the Novichok ordeal. News footage and imagery shot on mobile phones help fill in the gaps with the latter, but the as-it-happens calls — and the digging before it — are so suspenseful and so deftly shot by cinematographer Niki Waltl (In the Bunker) and spliced by editors Maya Hawke (Janis: Little Girl Blue) and Langdon Page (Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures) that it's hard to see how any dramatisation could top it. Composers Marius de Vries (CODA) and Matt Robertson (a music programmer on Cats) add a nerve-shredding score, too, as part of the doco's polish. Navalny doesn't need it, as seeing its subject's flight back to Russia in January 2021 after recuperating to Germany — a flight back to charges and imprisonment — also makes plain, but the whole package is expertly assembled. There's still more in the absorbing documentary's sights, such as Navalny's relationships with his ever-supportive wife Yulia and children Dasha and Zakhar; his social-media following and the well-oiled flair for getting his message out there, including via TikTok; the charisma that's helped him strike such a wide-ranging chord; and his fondness of playing Call of Duty. Navalny is a frightening portrait of Russia, an account of battling its oppressive status quo and a layered character study alike — and, smartly and astutely, that means looking at the man in its moniker's past approach to consolidating opposition to Putin as well. Navalny has previously thrown in with far-right groups to amass a cohort against the Russia leader, a move that warrants and gets a thorough line of questioning, resulting in frustration on his part. As it lays bare what it involves to confront authoritarian power, demand freedom and fight against the state while putting your life on the line — be it in inspiring or dubious-at-best ways — this film has to be unflinching: it couldn't be as complex as it is otherwise.
Here's some news you won't read in Lady Whistledown's latest pamphlet — and a reason to frock up like you're in Regency-era London, too. In February 2023, for one day and night only, the Plaza Ballroom is playing host to party that'll whisk you back in time: the wholly unofficial but still appropriately themed The Ton Ball. If you're keen to be the talk of the ton, mark Saturday, November 5 in your diary — and prepare for the social soiree of the season. If you've binged your way through two seasons of the Netflix hit already and you're excited about more (and a Queen Charlotte prequel), consider this your chance to pretend you've stepped right into the series. On the agenda: dancing to tunes played by a string quartet, tucking into four hours of food and booze, playing games of chance, doing some life drawing and (probably) gossiping in corners while looking fabulous. Melburnians can do just that from 7–11pm, with tickets costing $235 per person. The best way to prepare: watching Bridgerton, of course. Although, surely The Ton Ball won't involve powerful families trying to marry off their children and scandal sheets getting everyone a-tutting. It will let you party like you're a duke or duchess, though. Images: Melissa Hobbs Business Photography.
New year, new in-person film festival from Static Vision. Obviously, 2022 isn't new at all now — it's September — but Metamorphoses follows 2021's Dreamscapes in enticing Melbourne movie lovers with the kind of program that you won't see elsewhere. The theme this time: transformation, as well as evolution, adaptation, shifting and changing. We'd hazard a guess that whittling down the possible movie picks into a four-day program must've been a tricky (but rewarding) process. Once again, the film collective is unfurling its curated pictures at Lido Cinemas in Hawthorn — this time, from Thursday, October 20–Sunday, October 23. Seventeen features and ten shorts will get a-flickering, including ten Australian premieres, kicking off with a 40th-anniversary screening of Paul Schrader's 1982 gem Cat People. From there, standouts include Lux Aeterna, which hails from Climax and Enter the Void's Gaspar Noé, and was funded by Yves Saint Laurent. The provocative filmmaker never holds back — see: the aforementioned titles, and the controversial Irreversible — but this time he's emulating a real-time witch-burning. Or, you can catch a fan-edited and remastered version of Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem, which was designed to go along with Daft Punk's 2001 album Discovery; fame-chasing satire Sick of Myself, which played at both Cannes and Fantastic Fest; The Sacred Spirit, about a Valencian ufology cult; and Slamdance fellowship-winner Therapy Dogs, which sees 17-year old filmmaker Ethan Eng make a high-school diary film. The list goes on; however, with Tales from the Gimli Hospital Redux, Static Vision will show Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin's (The Green Fog) 1988 feature film debut — while improvised road movie-slash-romance Magnetic Fields was Greece's entry for the 2022 Best International Feature Film Academy Award, and won five Greek Oscars.
El Camino Cantina likes tacos, which isn't new news to anyone in Melbourne that's hit up the chain over the past few years. But on one specific day, it's ramping that taco affection up a notch and giving the people what we want. If you're heading to a Tex-Mex bar and eatery, then you're clearly after a taco feast — and, ideally, you want them cheap. Enter World Taco Day's all-day $1 taco special, which is exactly what it sounds like. Head by on Tuesday, October 4 and you can tuck into a highly affordable feed in Fitzroy. Bookings are essential, and the deal runs from open till close — but there is a caveat. You'll need to buy a drink to get up to five $1 tacos. Fancy more? Then get another beverage. El Camino Cantina is known for its OTT margaritas, after all.
No director can make movies forever, but it always felt like the one and only Jean-Luc Godard just might. He helped shape an entire film movement that completely changed the face of French cinema back in the 60s. His last release, The Image Book, worked its way around the festival circuit as recently as 2018. That's 58 years from his first big-screen outing to his last. To the sorrow of cinephiles everywhere, Godard passed away in September 2022 at the age of 91 — and ACMI is processing that news in the only way possible. How do you say farewell to auteur as iconic, iconoclastic and influential as this? By letting his films wash over you in a cinema, naturally. That's what Goodbye to Godard is all about from Thursday, September 22–Sunday, October 30, with sessions of six masterpieces from the filmmaker's French New Wave period on the bill. It all starts, as Godard's silver-screen career so famously and wonderfully did, with Breathless — the ultimate crime-gone-wrong movie, and an inspiration to countless others over the past 62 years. It screens multiple times across Goodbye to Godard's run, as does the Brigitte Bardot-starring Contempt. Also on the bill, showing just once: sci-fi classic Alphaville, crime caper Pierrot le Fou, satirical romantic drama Masculin Féminin (starring French New Wave acting great Jean-Pierre Léaud) and musical rom-com A Woman is a Woman. Tickets are available per session, or in three-film passes.
If you're a fan of musical theatre, then you know the name Jonathan Larson, the creator and composer behind smash-hit production Rent. And, you likely know his story, too, with the playwright and lyricist passing away at the age of 35 on the day that that now-huge show premiered its first off-Broadway preview performance, and never seeing the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning phenomenon that it would become. Before that, Larson also created another musical called tick, tick…BOOM!; however, it didn't chart the same path. Instead, the semi-autobiographical piece was performed as a solo work before his death, following a character called Jon who worried that he'd made the wrong decision by chasing his dream of becoming a composer. After Larson died, tick, tick…BOOM! was reimagined as a three-actor show, then made its way from off-Broadway to off-West End, as well as West End itself. And, in 2021, it took the leap to the screen, too, courtesy of Netflix — in a film directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and starring Andrew Garfield, the latter turning in an Oscar-nominated performance as Larson. That's a whole lot of history behind the latest big musical announcement Down Under: that tick, tick…BOOM! will make its Australian mainstage debut in 2023. That run will kick off at Melbourne's Comedy Theatre from Wednesday, February 1–Sunday, February 5, 2023. If you're wondering about tick, tick…BOOM!'s narrative, the rock musical is set in 1990, with promising young composer Jon as its focus. He's almost 30, living in New York City, and life as an artist isn't turning out as he planned — so he has to decide what to do next. The production is an ode to theatre and a tribute to New York, too, and has kept proving popular since it premiered in its current format off-Broadway in 2001. Playing Larson in Australia: multiple Logie-winner Hugh Sheridan (Packed to the Rafters, House Husbands, Five Bedrooms), with Elenoa Rokobaro (Rent) as Susan, Finn Alexander (Urinetown) as Michael, and Sheridan Adams (Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical) and Andrew Coshan (A View From a Bridge) also among the cast. Also, tick, tick…BOOM!'s upcoming Aussie seasons will be produced by Adrian Storey from StoreyBoard Entertainment (Chess the Musical, Barnum, Follies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) and directed by Tyran Parke (Chess the Musical, Barnum, Follies, Sunday in the Park with George). Check out the trailer for the Netflix film below: Updated October 31, 2022.
If you love movies and also like bargains, Mondays are usually a great day to visit Cinema Nova. That's when the Carlton cinema drops its prices, making seeing a film more affordable — but if you're particularly keen to watch a flick on the cheap, you'd best mark Monday, August 29 in your diary now. All day, no matter what you see and when, you'll only pay $5 to see a film at the beloved Lygon Street venue. If that sounds like something that cinephiles might've paid back in the early 90s, that's because it is, with the cinema rolling back its tickets to 1992 prices. Why? Because Cinema Nova is also celebrating its 30th birthday, and it's well and truly sharing the love. Plenty has changed over that time, with the picture palace starting out as a twin arthouse venue all those years ago, and now featuring 16 screens. Wondering what to watch? Almost anything is worth it at that low cost. Cinema Nova's current lineup includes everything from Elvis and Everything Everywhere All At Once through to Nope and Where the Crawdads Sing, and it'll also be screening a retro program filled with favourites from across its three decades — such as Parasite, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Donnie Darko, Muriel's Wedding and more. At $5 a ticket, you might even want to book yourself in for a double feature. Expect to have plenty of company, unsurprisingly.
While we'd happily celebrate our furry wet-nosed mates every day of the year, there's one date that's particularly primed for it — and that's International Dog Day, on August 26. And doggos of Melbourne's inner northwest have extra cause for celebration this year, as Moonee Ponds Central hosts a weeklong fiesta dedicated just to them. The inaugural Bark Fest takes over the precinct from Saturday, August 20–Saturday, August 27, with a jam-packed program of happenings to delight both humans and their four-legged pals. Fur-shionistas can enter the Best-Dressed Photo Competition for the chance to score a $1000 Coles voucher, with the shopping centre donating $1 to Second Chance Animal Rescue for every entry. Meanwhile, doggy divas will be lining up to snap a family selfie at the pet photo pop-up, to be in with a shot at winning $250 to spend at My Pet Warehouse. On August 26 and 27, trainee pups from the Australian Border Force will be giving out cuddles while also looking for new foster parents. Right throughout the week, precinct retailers will be slinging pet-focused goodies ranging from pooch outfits to dog snacks. And while you're there, be sure to pick up a free Bark Fest doggy bag filled with treats courtesy of My Pet Warehouse.
Being a State Premier seems like it'd be a pretty tough gig at the best of times, let alone when you're navigating your people through a full-blown global pandemic with no rule book. So it's safe to say Victorian leader Daniel Andrews could probably use a big ol' socially distanced hug right about now. And that's exactly what he's about to get...give or take a few hundred thousand. One Melbourne fan by the name of Christian Bernstein is spreading the love by creating a Facebook event simply titled Give Dan Andrews a Virtual Hug. Dan devotees are invited to RSVP before Sunday, August 16 as a contact-free show of support for our Premier, letting the guy know he's got a whole bunch of people in his corner. And it is quite a crew, with already more than 182,000 people clicking either 'Going' or 'Interested'. In the event details, Bernstein also encourages people to send a virtual cuddle out to Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, though we're sure he's already pretty well stocked on validation given this new line of products emblazoned with his own face. Top image: Asia Society via Flickr.
With its cheesy slices and hearty bowls of pasta, Matteo's Pizza Parlour has become one of Highett's dinnertime go-to's. But now, the restaurant is turning its attentions to the lunchtime crowd, with a new daytime takeaway window popping up at the Railway Parade venue. Open 11am to 2pm, Thursday through Sunday, Matteo's Sandwich Shop is slinging an Italian-leaning menu of hefty sambos, salads and calzone. You might find yourself sinking those teeth into a soft ciabatta filled with crisp porchetta, broccolini, chilli and asiago; the panko-crumbed chicken cotoletta on a soft milk bun; or, perhaps, a salt and pepper calamari panini finished with kewpie mayo and iceberg. Meanwhile, calzone are fried to order, made on Matteo's signature three-day fermented Neapolitan-style dough. There's a vegan-friendly mix of endive, olives, capers, chilli and pinenuts, and another layered with mozzarella, ricotta and casalingo salami. You can grab a lunchtime coffee, to, courtesy of Co-Owner Matt Ward's own roastery, These Days Coffee Roasting. Under stage four restrictions, only one person per household can leave the house, once a day, to get essentials within five kilometres. So, this pop-up is just for those who live nearby. Matteo's Sandwich Shop is open from 11am–2pm Thursday–Sunday.
Hamer Hall's doors might be physically closed to the public, but its music vault is very much open. And it's pumping out a cracking lineup of virtual gigs to see you happily through the next few weeks of lockdown. The Vault Sessions are now streaming every Thursday evening, featuring a curation of much-loved local artists teleported right to your living room. Arts Centre Melbourne has assembled a top-notch collection of home-grown talent for this weekly digital concert series, next featuring the blissful sounds of rising star singer-songwriter Alice Skye, on Thursday, July 23. The Wergaia and Wemba Wemba woman has been throwing down the hits since her 2018 debut album Friends With Feelings and is gearing up for the release of her next Jen Cloher-produced album later this year. There'll be more gold to follow, with Sydney hip hop artist Ziggy Ramo taking the stage on Thursday, July 30 and the legendary Cash Savage and The Last Drinks streaming on Thursday, August 6. The virtual gigs are free to watch and will kick around online for two weeks after the initial stream goes live. And best of all, you won't have to battle anyone for a front-row seat. Images: Teresa Noble
You're watching a movie and, suddenly, you spot a familiar location. It isn't just a place you've spied on-screen countless times before — it's somewhere you've been, because it's local. This mightn't happen as often for audiences in Australia as it must for viewers in Europe and the US (or even for viewers who've visited Europe and the US), but we all know the feeling of seeing one of our favourite haunts on the big screen. And, thanks to a hefty number of movies lately, Victorians should know this sensation well. In recent years, flicks as varied as Crackerjack, Ali's Wedding and Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears have been shot locally. So have Romulus, My Father, The Dressmaker and Ride Like a Girl. And if you'd like to know more about them from the folks that made them happen, then you'll want to tune into the new online Victoria on Film series. You won't be watching the movies, but rather hearing from the likes of Osamah Sami, Don Hany and Helana Sawires from Ali's Wedding; Essie Davis, Nathan Page and Isabella Yena from Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears; and Rachel Griffiths, Michelle Payne, Stevie Payne and Teresa Palmer from Ride Like a Girl. A new interview will hit the Victoria Together website every fortnight from 6.30pm on Saturday, September 26, with Shane Jacobson and Beverley Wang rotating hosting duties. It all kicks off with with Mick Molloy and Judith Lucy Crackerjack, should you be in the mood for something light — which we all are this year. And, as well as all of the above live-action films, delightful animation Mary and Max will also feature, via interviews with interviews Eric Bana and director Adam Elliot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVdivjF-9nw Victoria on Film kicks off at 6.30pm on Saturday, September 26, then runs fortnightly — watch along via the Victoria Together website.
Melbourne's current lockdown has got lots of us seeking comfort in life's simple pleasures. Mountains of chocolate. Takeaway pizza. Maybe a healthy dose of gin. Well, how do you feel about upping that mood with artisan cheese — plus some wine to wash it down with? From 5pm on Friday, October 2, That's Amore Cheese is indulging Melburnians' love of vino and cheese in two ways. Firstly, in what it's calling a virtual aperitivo session, you can Zoom in for a tour of Mornington Peninsula vineyards. Also, if you want to do more than just watch, you can order an aperitivo pack — filled with wine and cheese, obviously — to eat and drink your way through at the same time. The Zoom part of proceedings is free — so virtually wandering around Elgee Park and Baillieu Vineyard won't cost you a thing — but you do need to register online. As for the pack, it costs $110 and includes multiple cheeses, antipasto, and both Baillieu rosé and Elgee Park pinot noir. You'll need to order by Wednesday, September 30 in order for it to be delivered in time. If you live within 15 kilometres of Thomastown, bringing it to your door won't cost any extra; however, for the rest of Melbourne (within 25 kilometres of Thomastown), you'll pay an additional $10. That's Amore Cheese's virtual aperitivo session takes place from 5pm on Friday, October 2, with aperitivo packs available to order until Wednesday, September 30.
We’ve got such a strong, stereotypical sense of what 'circus' is: lion-tamers, ringmasters, and glitter galore. So coming to S with no previous experience of seeing Circa’s work, I’m blown away by the company’s approach — one that puts the spotlight on the sheer, immediate physicality of acrobatics by stripping away the trappings of the big top. What’s remarkable is that it manages to do all this without losing circus’ fundamental appeal. Far from closed off, emotionally short-circuited contemporary dance, the movement on show is joyous and often playful. Loosely themed around the sinuous curves of the letter S, the work is scored by a combination of recorded music from Kimmo Pohjonen, Samuli Kosminen, and the Kronos Quartet, together with occasionally incorporating live amplification. As well as book-ending the show, the mics are used to foreground the effort and strain that the acrobatics place upon the performers’ bodies. In one sequence, Casey Douglas has microphones strapped to his chest and the inside of his mouth before being pummelled by Kimberley Rossi. Although most of S is made up of scenes in which the entire ensemble perform together, director Yaron Lifschitz breaks up the action with these more intimate moments, either complete scenes as above or having some performers (especially Brittannie Portelli) find moments within the action to inject moments of play. The brave display of acrobatics on show wows the opening night audience, made up largely of Melbourne’s close-knit circus community. Based in Brisbane, Circa were founded in 2006; since then they’ve toured in 29 countries, and at the beginning of this year they picked up the prestigious Sidney Myer Performing Arts Award. With a show like this, it's easy to see why.
As we walked through the streets of North Melbourne, my date turned to me and asked, “Is this actually a fight club you’re taking me to? How is this even a thing?” I had no real answer for him. Although I had done some research, I hadn't been able to find much information disclosing the nature of the event itself (first rule of fight club etc) and now, even after attending, I still don’t know if I could answer his question. Once arriving at the venue, we sat on a large platform stage and waited. Two charming men from Amsterdam (New Heroes company director Lucas de Man and performer Michael Bloos) leapt up on stage, and with the help of a good ol’ PowerPoint display, began by listing social and entrepreneurial movements made in recent years by young people. It was more entertaining than you think, but how it tied into the rest of the show still slightly baffles me. The evening progressed with re-enactments of scenes from Fight Club and before long they had half the audience signing waivers. So began the fighting part of the night — seriously, it was like “Brad Pitt this, Edward Norton that, LET’S KICK EACH OTHER". Admittedly it was exciting, and despite being a generally unfit and passive person, I did feel the urge to join the action. One after another, Melbourne hipsters took to the mats and wrestled each other. As entertaining as it was, it was difficult to understand how they were going to give the evening any more meaning than 'sometimes beating someone up feels good' and to be honest, I have a real issue with that mentality. Following the fighting, Bloos and de Man attempted to workshop what felt like a sort of self help-anarchistic-literary appreciation-arts student-cult meeting. Every three minutes we were being told that the world is crumbling around us and the only way to truly be ourselves was to beat each other up. Herein lies the major fault with the show. It seeks to address serious social and political issues in an inspiring and assertive manner, but somewhere between being told the '90s were better because you could blow shit up and Darwinism limits self expression (okay, that was an audience member, but still) it felt like a poorly orchestrated student protest. The show ended with a strange and unexpected 'wherever you go, there you are' style activity, which added to the confusion of the whole evening. On the walk home, my date and I spoke about the events of the night, and while the point of the performance had been lost on us, we still appreciated whatever it was we had just been a part of. If nothing else, I can guarantee this is the best people-watching event going 'round. This event appeared as one of our top picks for the 2014 Next Wave Festival. See the full list here.
The best thing about festivals like Next Wave is that art pops up all over the place. A drink with friends at the festival club can easily turn into a makeshift audience for a roaming performer; at the Fringe club I was even pulled into a closet for an intimate one-on-one performance. But Next Wave is going one step further and taking art to the corridors, stairwells and lobbies of venues all over the city — furthermore, it's art you can't even see. From May 1 - 11, artists will be hiding distinctive aroma diffusers around their shows, capitalising on the strong link between scent and memory. Two weeks after your festival experience you'll smell an apple and cinnamon pie and suddenly feel compelled to talk about a particular artwork. Magic! This event originally appeared as one of our top picks for the 2014 Next Wave Festival. See the full list here.
New media artworks about "the internet" and "the Facebook" and the "total lack of privacy in our networked society leading to a enormous cultural and artistic shift in our generation" can often be a bit naff. Everything always leads to Skynet references and inevitable doomsday predictions. What's refreshing about this show is its light tone. Can We Play the Internet is a joint exhibition at West Space featuring the work of Janine DeFeo & Paul Zaba (pictured), Andrea Buren & Eleonora Sovrani, Angus Tarnawsky & Nathan Liow and Ilya Milstein. If you've ever wanted to see Google Image search results printed and mounted on all four walls of a white room, this is the show for you. This event originally appeared as one of our top picks for the 2014 Next Wave Festival. See the full list here
Somewhere, between the heady romantic drama of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise trilogy and the good-natured bawdiness of the American Pie franchise, sit the films of Cédric Klapisch. Released in 2002, Spanish Apartment first introduced us to Xavier Rousseau (Romain Duris), a French university student on exchange in Barcelona. Four years later, Russian Dolls picked up with Xavier again, as he continued to search for love and direction in an increasingly complicated world. Chinese Puzzle turns the series into a trilogy, although Klapisch ensures the story is more or less accessible to newcomers. Now an author at the tail-end of his 30s, Xavier is marginally more mature than the last time we saw him, although no more lucky in the romance department. As a matter of fact, the film begins just in time for us to witness his marriage, to Englishwoman Wendy (Kelly Reilly), fall apart. When she takes their kids to live in Manhattan, Xavier decides to cross the Atlantic as well, crashing with his old friend Isabelle (Cécile de France) and her new girlfriend, Ju (Sandrine Holt), until he can find accommodation of his own. As with the previous films, Klapisch keeps the tone buoyant, livening Xavier's voiceover musings — on life, love, family, ageing and the cultural stewpot in which all of us are ingredients — with plenty of visual whimsy. Xavier's hunt for an apartment unfolds through a montage of Google Map graphics, even as the ghosts of German philosophers pop by to offer him relationship advice. French DJs Loik Dury and Christopher Mink aka Kraked Unit provide the score, a joyously infectious mix of jazz, hip hop and soul. For all its entertaining energy, Chinese Puzzle can feel rather messy. The film's multitudinous story threads — including a green-card marriage scheme, sperm donation and Xavier's lingering affection for his old girlfriend Martine (Audrey Tautou) — frequently get tangled up, or are left idle for long stretches of time. Meanwhile, at least one major subplot, involving Isabelle's attractive babysitter (Flore Bonaventura), gets no resolution at all. Then again, perhaps the film's lack of direct drive is a reflection of its protagonist's headspace. Xavier is by no means perfect, but he has only the best intentions and is difficult not to root for. Likewise, Chinese Puzzle is so breezy and charming that it's easy to overlook its faults. https://youtube.com/watch?v=M2a8vuQABd8
Zoe Coombs Marr is quite the multi-tasker. You may know her as part of performance trio POST, who recently drenched Sydney's Belvoir St Theatre in fake blood with their gory death scene-extravaganza Oedipus Schmoedipus. This time around, the award-winning comedian will be flying solo in Melbourne to star in DAVE, a standup drag parody she wrote with Charlie Garber. Given Coombs Marr's long-standing passion for the genre (she eschewed schoolies in favour of staging a drag musical), it sounds like material she'll handle with aplomb. In a self-professed wacky show that describes itself as "a hysterical endurance drag adventure into the dark pits of Dave," Coombs Marr transforms herself — with deliberate transparency — into a bearded stand-up comic dude. A dystopian version of the Aussie everyman, the character is inspired by Coombs Marr's experiences as a female comedian in the male-dominated realm of standup. There's talk of pizza, lesbians and cats. And there may, or may not, be another sterling example of onstage death technique. Last year's preview run of DAVE sold out and scored some five star write up's from those in the know, with The Age celebrating it as "A comedy turducken of gross-out gags, absurdist humour and sharply observed parody." No, we're not explaining what a "turducken" is; just see the show. For more coverage of this year's MICF, see our rolling festival diary.
Have you ever taken a group drawing course and felt a little disappointed? Was your teacher's main artistic qualification a beatnik ponytail and an endless love affair with the word 'chiaroscuro'? Well, here's your chance to get taught by the pros. ACCA is opening its doors after dark to host a series of intimate drawing lessons led by the industry's best. On the last Wednesday of every exhibition season, Drawn will nestle up in the iconic Southbank gallery and give you an intensive course in everything from sculptural drawing to life drawing (clothed or otherwise). For $40 per session (or $140 for all four), you'll be provided with all relevant materials as well as the all important ingredient — wine. As if a night of intimate art and invaluable lesson learning wasn't good enough, now you have the chance to get a little boozed with some of your favourite artists!
A neighbourhood dispute turns into all-out suburban warfare in Bad Neighbours, the raunchy, raucous, rapid-fire new comedy from director Nicholas Stoller (The Five-Year Engagement, Forgetting Sarah Marshall). Adding the word 'bad' to its title in Australia in order to avoid confusion with a certain iconic soap opera, the film marks another sure hit for one-man comic industry Seth Rogen, who slots comfortably into another role that basically amounts to playing himself. Yet it's Rogen's co-stars Rose Byrne and Zac Efron who are the movie's biggest standouts. Indeed, while the advertising material sells Bad Neighbours as a strictly Rogen versus Efron affair, the film is very much a triple act, with the more dramatically inclined Byrne clearly relishing the chance to cut loose. With a cast game for just about anything, Bad Neighbours accelerates from one over-the-top set-piece to the next. It's ridiculous, juvenile and very, very funny. Rogen and Byrne play Mac and Kelly Radner, a newlywed couple with a bouncing baby daughter, whose suburban peace is threatened when a college fraternity moves in next door. Chief dude-bro Teddy Sanders (Efron) seems agreeable enough at first, promising to keep the noise to a minimum and even inviting the couple to the frat's inaugural blowout, where a great time is had by all. But when the partying starts up again the following night and continues into the morning, the Radners decide to call the cops. From there, things escalate quickly. Teddy swears vengeance, and soon the two households are exacting increasingly crass and elaborate acts of sabotage in an attempt to bring the other side down. Screenwriters Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien pack a staggering number of gags into the film's tight 90-minute runtime, although arguably the more impressive feat is that the vast majority of them land. Stoller allows his cast ample room to improvise, but never to the extent that the movie loses momentum. Frankly, the performances are all the better for it. Byrne, in particular, seems to feed off the film's breakneck energy, the Australian actress frequently stealing the show from her more seasoned on-screen husband. Likewise, Efron exhibits great comedic instincts as the antagonistic Teddy, a villain who you simultaneously love to hate and actually genuinely kind of like. That's the other thing about Bad Neighbours: although the script is incredibly vulgar, it's very rarely mean spirited. As insane as their antics are, these characters feel like real people, and as the story careens towards its climax, a big part of you just wants to see Teddy and the Radners hug it out. The biggest part, however, knows that watching them fight is just too damn funny. https://youtube.com/watch?v=4zEUuzj3a2g
Patience is rewarded in this latest Hollywood take on the Godzilla tale, with the eponymous giant taking almost an hour before his first appearance. It is, if you'll permit, a case of 'Waiting for Godzilla', and the eventual reveal is a genuine delight. The film begins in 1999, where a series of sudden and inexplicable catastrophes — most notably the collapse of a Japanese nuclear facility — are categorised as 'natural disasters' and dismissed, leaving in their wake unanswered questions and shattered lives. Among those affected is nuclear engineer Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), along with his wife, Sandra (Juliette Binoche), and his son Ford (Kick-Ass's Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Joe refuses to accept the official line, and — as his obsession grows — he soon becomes both an outcast and absentee father as he embarks upon a one-man crusade to discover the truth. Fast-forward, then, to the present day where, to Joe's horror, the same seismic anomalies that preceded the last disaster suddenly recommence. It's a slow burn kept alive almost entirely courtesy of Cranston and Binoche, but one whose dramatic ignition comes with the full force of a 3D IMAX experience. It's also a pleasant surprise, because the creature awakened is not Godzilla. It is, rather, a MUTO — or Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism — perhaps best likened to a 300ft cockroach possessed of electromagnetic pulses and an appetite for radioactive materials. He'd be the solution to so many of earth's environmental concerns, were it not for his complete disregard for buildings or the earthlings inside them. What, then, of Godzilla? Instead of acting as the film's traditional villain, he is something more transcendent — an ancient, imposing yet graceful leviathan whose place on this earth is, seemingly, to ensure its equilibrium. With a design aesthetic far more aligned with the original Godzilla of 1954, he is truly awesome in scale and defined most crucially by his iconic scream (a two-part, roar-and-rumble experience created first by leaving dry ice to sublimate on a metal vent, then dragging a giant wooden crate across a polished floor). Sound is, in fact, the star of this film, with utterly rib-rattling resonance an almost constant companion throughout. It is, in short, a silly but fun film whose human characters are wholly tangential to its CGI stars. With a cast that also boasts the largely underused Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen and David Strathairn, the decision to entrust its least recognisable and accomplished actor with the lion's share of screen time is a curious misstep, and despite all the MUTO's menace, the most ominous element in Godzilla remains its opening titles and their use of archival nuclear test footage. In a film centred around the destructive power of giant monsters, nothing manages to quite live up to the terror and devastation reminded to us in those few, opening seconds. It is a nuclear device, too, that provides the film with its greatest source of tension in the climax. Still, it's nice to have Godzilla back in our lives after 1998's disappointing attempt, and, as far as blockbusters go, this has almost everything you're looking for. https://youtube.com/watch?v=vIu85WQTPRc
Triple j’s One Night Stand is ready to crank it for one night only for another year, this time heading to Mildura. It's an all ages show, so it promises to be some good, clean fun. Constantly high-fiving local talent, the gig's six artists featuring this year include Illy, Rüfüs, Violent Soho, Dan Sultan, The Jungle Giants, and WZRDKID. Known for bringing One Night Stand to a different regional town every year, triple j have chosen the Victoria/New South Wales bordering town of Mildura to play host this time. Take advantage of the downtime before the gig and enjoy some waterside vino at the meeting of the Murray and Darling Rivers, or head to the racetrack if you're feeling a tad more adventurous. If you can't make it to Mildura, the concert will be broadcast live on ABC TV and triple j. If you want to relive the whole shebang in your own time, the entire event will be up on iView afterwards.
Wael Zuaiter: Unknown explores the untold story of Wael Zuaiter, a Palestinian who was killed in 1972 for allegedly leading a terrorist group to kidnap and murder Israeli Olympians at the Munich games. Many theories surround this particular killing, but as Wael was never found guilty for his apparent crime, his relatives are left to wonder what happened. Wael Zuaiter: Unknown is the brainchild of production company Creative Nonfiction’s Jesse Cox. So it should be, as the story itself stems from his own personal quest to understand the murder of his great uncle and the title character of the show. With a background in radio, story telling and producing, it is no wonder Cox’s production values go above and beyond your standard evening at the theatre. Expect audio interviews layered with sound design, music, projections and animation. Describing themselves as a “dramatic collision of documentary, graphic novel and theatre”, Wael Zuaiter: Unknown promises to be ambitious, confronting and exciting. This show is run in collaboration with Next Wave's Kickstart program. For more about the 2014 festival, check out our top ten picks.
Games of Thrones is the world’s most pirated TV show, The Avengers made more than $1.5 billion at the box office and even the President of the United States once collected Spider Man comics. In other words, it’s pretty cool to be a nerd these days. Just ask avid Dungeons and Dragons player Vin Diesel. The ultimate celebration of everything geeky, the Supanova Pop Culture Expo hits the Melbourne Showgrounds on April 11 - 13. From cosplay comps to comic book signings and photo opportunities with sci-fi and fantasy icons, it’s a three day mecca of uninhibited, unironic nerdiness that attracts thousands of eager pilgrims every year. Of course such an event can seem overwhelming, especially to the uninitiated. So, whether you’ll be attending in your fully functioning Iron Man costume, or experiencing the convention for the very first time, check out our recommendations before you go.
The genre-bending Devendra Banhart is coming Australia for this year’s Bluesfest, and is stopping into Melbourne for a sideshow. It’s been a couple of years since the bearded troubadour graced our shores, and it seems we’ve got a lot of catching up to do. Mala, Banhart’s eighth studio album, was released last year and has been largely regarded as his finest work in a while. All the more reason for us to get him down here stat. While Banhart certainly marches to the beat of his own drum, taking us on whacky lyrical adventures, he encourages listeners to get on his level. However you decide to define this Venezuelan American singer songwriter, (we’re going to go with alternative folk) his playful nature makes him accessible despite his eccentricities.
Marco Delgado and Nadine Fuchs are two extremely svelte performers whose brand of erotic dance-comedy is moist with ambiguity. Watching footage of their past work it’s clear they're out to mock the seriousness of their own artform, recognising that humour’s often the first emotion sacrificed on the altar of contemporary dance. At the same time their shows never appear like simple pisstakes of high art — it’s the tension between their obvious talent and their playful approach that’s characterised Delgado Fuchs’ work in the past. Arriving from their native Europe (where Delgado worked as a stripper in Brussels while training as a dancer), they’re hosted in Melbourne by Australia’s leading experimental dance venue, Dancehouse.
Arty parties are the very best kind of parties. With exciting installations, decent dancing, and free glitter; arty people just know what needs to be done. Nothing proves this more so than Next Wave's latest undertaking. To launch their 2014 festival program, this group of beautiful art lovers are bringing you a big, free party in the heart of the CBD. From 6 - 11pm this Friday night, the open-air space at Testing Grounds will be taken over with video projections from Channels Festival, face painting, dance podiums, roving performances and a surprise musical guest. There will even be free surfing lessons (with the help of mechanics in lieu of water) courtesy of Next Wave artist Henry Jock Walker. Head along and hear more about this year's festival — themed 'New Grand Narrative' — or just enjoy the arty party while it lasts.
Earth Hour is a symbolic action. Although there is carbon saved by turning things off, the point is the unmissable demonstration that a huge chunk of the world's population caring about the same thing at the same time. If we can manage this for Earth Hour, why not for grander environmental things? The Hour started in Sydney in 2007, and has become an international event in the years since. There are Earth Hour events in Kenya, India and Ireland these days, but you don't need to travel so far afield to find a way to join in this time around. At its simplest, all you need to do is stay home and turn off the lights. But if you'd like to have a more social darkened moment, you can head to a candlelit restaurant or one of a raft of other lights-off events. Image of Earth Hour Switch Off 2010 by Sewell / WWF.
It is with a triple bill as spectacular as it is diverse that the Sydney Dance Company erupts into its 45th year. Interplay opens with the measured elegance of 2 in D Minor, an exquisite physical imagining of Bach's solos for the violin, before exploding into the formidable visceral chaos of Raw Models. Utilising the entire company, L'Chaim rounds out the evening with a colourful comment on the life and art of the modern dancer. Artistic director Rafael Bonachela's own choreography in 2 in D Minor lends a stunning physicality to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Prodigious violinist Veronique Serret gives voice to Bach's extraordinary Partita 2 in D Minor, while the soloists, duos and trios of dancers around her lend it a compelling physical form. The staging is simple and powerful. Fluorescent white light cuts through an oppressive darkness, while dancers dressed in homogeneous black suits evoke the anonymity and uniformity of the urban worker. Bonachela plays poetically with the fluctuating relationship between music and dance. Weaving agonisingly beautiful solos, Veronique is alternately obeyed, feared and ignored by the dancers: is she directing or describing them with her music? Electronic interludes by composer Nick Wales expose the harsher undercurrents of Bach's masterpiece and of the dancers themselves, whose movements become raw and animalistic without losing any of their grace. With the commencement of Raw Models, the animal within the dancer finally takes over. A reimagining of Jacopo Godani's well-received 2011 work, Raw Models fuses a bold, industrial electro-acoustic score with Godani's intensely primal choreography to create a stark portrait of "how weak, fragile, empty and programmable we are". Raw Models allows just enough softness into its dissonant landscape to underscore the humanity of its powerful contortionists bathed in alien green light. Godani's masterful, futuristic creation is an unnerving expression of the battle between who we are and who everybody else expects us to be. Finally, Gideon Obarzanek's L'Chaim is a kaleidoscope of colour and symmetry. Based on the Socratic notion that "an unexamined life is not worth living", L'Chaim exposes its dancers to the questioning of an initially unidentified voice in the audience. Is it a casting agent? A choreographer? Or is it you, interrogating the dancers to find the meaning that their movement holds in your own life? David Woods' comedic script is fresh and fun and will have you laughing out loud but also makes a darker comment on the dancer as a replaceable commodity. This is thrown into starkest relief with the question to the eldest member of the cast, David Mack at 32: "How long do you have left, David?" Accessible, provocative and entertaining from start to finish, Interplay's triumphant triple bill will delight contemporary dance connoisseurs and newbies alike, and makes clear why the Sydney Dance Company remains Australia's darling after 45 jam-packed years in the business. This review was written about the Sydney performance of Interplay at the Sydney Theatre in March 2014.
The Melbourne market scene is understandably getting a little saturated. Along with poached eggs, organic single origin coffee and outdoor cinemas, markets are kind of our thing. But the Northern Regards Artisan Market may have found a way to set itself apart — it has beer! Hosted at Northcote Social Club on the first Saturday of every month, this clever little arts and craft specialist is a welcome addition to Melbourne's market glut. Co-hosted by the Thornbury Women's Neighbourhood House, the market specialises in recycled and sustainable items and has a healthy mix of vintage fashion, homewares and handmade jewellery. Our pick of this month's stallholders are the folks from Creating a Welcome. Pick up their protest brooches in action against the government's policies on seeking asylum, or get a hold of some cute crafts in support of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. Up-cycled crafts with a conscience and a beer in your hand — what could be better?
Following the success of their Open House projects, The Design Files are christening a new gallery in Brunswick with work from local abstract artist, Barbara Kitallides. The recently opened TDF Collect is a small gallery that will work to foster emerging artists and provide a space for affordable local work to thrive. Colour us impressed. Kitallides work — which has previously appeared in The Design Files Open House — fits in neatly with the overall aesthetic of the popular blog, proving a smart choice for founder and curator Lucy Feagins. Bold colours pop loudly against the traditional white gallery walls and the space offers a clean simplicity with which to let your mind ooze into the abstract creations. Citing her key influences as inkblot tests, Andy Warhol and "the romantic undertones of Australian landscape artists", Kitallides work marks an interesting start to an exciting new venture. Definitely one to keep an eye on. Decoding the Jungle will be on display till April 3. The next exhibition, featuring the work of Sydney artist Laura Jones, will be held in early July.
Cam Knight gives new meaning to the phrase 'giving 100%', in that he does everything to the fullest. His aptly titled new comedy show, 100 percenter, discusses his goal of saying yes to anything, trying to live in the now and experiencing absolutely everything the world has to offer. Knight is a fixture in the Australian comedy scene, making appearances on Foxtel and The Comedy Channel programs. He has previously hosted two seasons of Stand Up Australia. Knight also performs with Sydney-based band ManChoir. His performance will be in conjunction with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. The 25-day festival features some of the best and brightest international and homegrown comedic talent. With venues throughout the city and beyond, MICF is accessible easily accessible to Melbournites that need a little laughter in their life. https://youtube.com/watch?v=vl_nMq_Tt1Q
Ex-boxer Henry 'Razor' Sharp (Sylvester Stallone) is reluctantly lured out of retirement to settle old scores with long-time personal and professional rival Billy 'The Kid' McDonnen (Robert De Niro) in an exhibition fight. The pair must resolve a disputed match from 30 years earlier, as well as the fact that they were both in love with the same woman, Sally (Kim Basinger). The inciting concept for this film is right there on the uncanny valley-esque photoshopped poster: it's Rocky vs Raging Bull! (Colleagues assure me that others have beaten me to the Rocky and Raging Bullwinkle gags, so there's really little pleasure to be gained here.) You have to wonder what they would have done if De Niro or Stallone had said no. Although given the last decade or so of their respective careers, perhaps this wasn't a huge concern. But one need only imagine the producers turning to, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Al Pacino to realise that the film's sole purpose for existing is its very specific casting. Perhaps the Alan Arkin mentor role was originally offered to Kirk Douglas, whose boxer Midge Kelly feature in 1949's Champion. But like Stallone's Expendables franchise, the idea of De Niro and Stallone settling old scores in a boxing ring is an idea that would have been far more exciting about 20 years ago. In 2013, it feels like an afterthought. It's an odd compliment to give a comedy, but I'm going to do it anyway: I like that it's not all that funny. Some of the jokes work, but most fall flat. What's heartening about this is that the film is confident to go for long stretches where they don't even try for a laugh. You can easily imagine the alternate version in which it's simply wall-to-wall bad jokes, and you become thankful you're not watching that version. The ratio of drama to comedy is an odd one, as if the movie can't decide which genre it wants to plant its flag in. It shouldn't work, but sort-of does. If this feels like muted praise, it's deliberate. Grudge Match is one of those ideas that works as a passing joke rather than an actual film, and the finished product should be a gigantic car crash. But the film's brazenness is admirable — it knows why it exists, and wastes no time apologising for the fact — and it is possible to have a good time with it. Just make sure your expectations are suitably lowered first. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1bQSOBJCPQE
Cinema Nova will once again play host to the Transitions Film Festival, screening docos from around the globe with a focus on sustainable living. Beginning February 15 with a free screening at Federation Square, the documentary fest will then take root at the Lygon Street location for eight straight days of socially conscious cinema. This year’s schedule contains plenty of highlights, including multiple Australian premieres. In Project Wild Thing, a worried father attempts to market nature to his kids, while Musicwood sees three famous guitar manufacturers travel to the Amazon in an attempt to stop over-logging and save the acoustic guitar. On the local side of things, Aim High in Creation! follows Anna Broinowski, whose crusade against coal seam gas mining takes her from Sydney to North Korea, where she learns propaganda filmmaking from the nation’s leading directors. A majority of festival screenings will also be followed by Q&A discussions, either with the given film’s director, or academics and social entrepreneurs. Environmentally friendly patrons can also get tickets at concession prices by presenting their bike helmets, or by recycling their old mobile phones at the Cinema Nova box office. For the full Transitions program, including Q&A speakers, visit their website.
The year is 2028, and Detroit crime is out of control. At least, that's what we're told. The city, frankly, has never looked better. But trust us: lots of crime. Omnipresent corporation OmniCorp is trying to get its new robot cops approved for use in the US, but Washington won't allow machines to have control over life and death. Enter noted human Alex Murphy, An Honest Detroit Cop who, thanks to a pesky explosion, is now in desperate need of a robotic suit that will keep him alive and also help fight crime. The two were meant to be together! If you haven't seen the original 1987 RoboCop, then fix that right now. It combines the two best things about 1980s cinema: a dystopian science fiction setting and a cop taking out drug dealers and other corrupt cops. But it's remembered as a classic, however, because of how sharply it satirises American culture. It may look like a dumb action film, but it's clever as hell. This 2014 remake is, at least, clever enough to aim for the same target. It opens with a right-wing talk show pundit and a futuristic — but all too familiar — Middle East war on terror. Rather than simply imitating classic scenes from the original, this new film sets out to do its own thing, to update the references, and that attempt is admirable. The problem is that this satire — which we'll come back to — is hung upon a fairly piecemeal story. There's little that propels it forward, and we're never left wondering how things could possibly turn out for our heroes. The mysteries are barely concealed; the nefarious plots, basic; the villains, flagged in the opening scenes. Minutes after the film is over, you'll be left with a few key images, but no idea what actually happened. Joel Kinnaman plays Murphy/RoboCop, and does a decent job with it. Murphy's hardly the most compelling character, but the struggle to maintain his humanity is handled with more care than most films of this ilk would bother with. The rest of the cast is more recognisable, filling out supporting roles with the likes of Samuel L Jackson, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Jackie Earle Haley, Michael K Williams, Jennifer Ehle and Jay Baruchel. The satire, though welcome, ultimately fails. Samuel L Jackson's talk show host gives the feeling that they reverse-engineered a conservative pundit based on Stephen Colbert's famous parody, and his appearances consistently bring the film to a screeching halt. Not only could these scenes be lifted out without any noticeable change to the story, but the film would actually flow better without this particular social commentary. And maybe that's the most trenchant point of all. https://youtube.com/watch?v=xPLSpmAtc1Q
Melbourne, clear your schedule — it's time to make some dinner plans. Melbourne's biggest gastronomic event starts this week, with food makers, wine tasters and cocktails shakers descending on the city, with you in the middle of it all. Running from February 28 - March 16, the 2014 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is celebrating the bounty of the water and all its delicious offerings, accompaniments and possibilities. Centred around the theme of water, festival hub The Immersery will take leave from solid ground and feature as a three-storey barge anchored on the banks of the Yarra, and a range of masterclasses, street parties, dinners, lunches and wine tastings are sure to keep you busy. With over 200 events poised to take place all over Melbourne and Victoria, you're sure to be sufficiently filled to the brim — check out our top picks for the 17-day food frenzy that aren't sold out here.
I’m watching Oscar Wilde eat what may be his last meal before police drag him away on charges of sodomy and I’m wondering if he has the right cutlery for lobster. This probably shouldn’t be what’s on my mind at this point. The first act of David Hare’s The Judas Kiss is a set up that should be bursting at the seams with tension. Wilde (Chris Baldock), having failed to quash accusations of sodomy with a defamation case against his male lover’s outraged father, faces imminent arrest. His friends are urging him to flee the country. Wilde however has holed himself up in a hotel room, paralysed with despair and the desire to be near his beloved, the dissolute Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas (Nigel Langley). Yet, as the first act comes to its finale, with a mob outside the hotel and fear running high, I’m thinking about table settings. Somewhere here the drama’s not doing it’s job. The Judas Kiss is a play with a somewhat chequered history. It was reportedly a flop when first performed in England in 1998, while its Australian debut the following year drew sell-out crowds, protest and police attention for its onstage nudity and simulated sex. This production by Mockingbird Theatre doesn’t seem set to be as explosive. After the initial (and to be fair to the prudes of the '90s, really quite gratuitous) cunnilingus scene, the first act falls into a kind of surly drawing room drama groove. Baldock’s Wilde is blustery and pompous and his friends all fret and shout a lot, mostly about action happening off stage involving characters you won’t meet. It doesn’t feel very Wilde at all, even as a depiction of the man in extremis. While Hare’s script does a decent job of mimicking the poet’s acid tongue, emotional nuance is lacking in the performances, which oscillate from twee to raging with no shades between. Bosie’s odiousness is so transparent he is hard to credit as a plot-driving love interest and it all becomes a bit of a slog. The second act, which takes place after Wilde’s imprisonment, when he and Bosie are living in impoverished exile in Italy, is substantially better. The drama is more immediate and personal, being driven by onstage action rather than events off stage, the characters are shown in a more complex light and the nudity, while even more louche this act, is at least justified by the story. While a certain lack of chemistry between the leads remains a problem, Baldock works much better as the broken man Wilde is by this stage and the act builds to a satisfying emotional climax. At two and a half hours, the show is pretty long, especially as it tends to revisit the same emotional territory. You’ll also probably get more out of it if you brush up on Wilde’s biography beforehand, as it does somewhat rely on assumed knowledge. Both the script and the delivery could be tighter but it is still an interesting work which offers a novel and poignant view of the man himself.
I've been dreaming of this moment for years, but I don't know that I ever truly believed it would happen. But one of the most-beloved hip hop ensembles of all time are reuniting to return to Australia six years after their breakup. With four MCs and two DJs (including the wonderful, world-famous Cut Chemist), the ensemble is incredibly versatile, and their chemistry and the speed of their overlapping wordplay gives the impression of one single, unified organism rather than a series of individuals. Combining incredible lyricism with huge party tunes (like 'What's Golden', 'Quality Control' and 'Concrete Schoolyard'), there ain't no party like a J5 party. https://youtube.com/watch?v=XsZKrctSDaw
Tristan Meecham has a reputation for grand theatrics, and this — one of the most talked about acts of the Festival of Live Art — is no exception. In Game Show, Meecham is quite literally giving away all of his personal possessions. Really. Each night, 50 contestants will compete in a game show (orchestrated and hosted by Meecham himself) in order to win his television, his CDs, and even his car. The second instalment of his Coming Out Trilogy, Game Show belongs to a series of works that explore and undermine grandeur (the first work, Fun Run, consisted of Meecham running a marathon on an on-stage treadmill at the 2013 Sydney Festival). An unsettling combination of entertainment and distress, Game Show is set to be an apt critique on materialism and competitiveness (and you might just win some free stuff in the process). This event was featured in our top ten things to see at the Festival of Live Art. See the full list here.
Summer is usually the time when we let go of our culinary pretension. Dirty fish and chips on the beach? Why not. Eat nothing but overripe mangoes all day? Sounds good. But this year, you won't have to sacrifice any of that trademark Melburnian foodie love. The guys behind Huxtable and Huxtaburger have teamed up for a mouth-watering new venture on Smith Street, and they'll be serving up cheap lobster rolls all summer long. That's right — not flake, not prawns, but lobster. Running next to the group's ever-popular Collingwood burger joint, Mr Claws will be slingin' rolls stuffed with pieces of lobster meat and dripping with your choice of three sauces: miso and wasabi, Sriracha spiced mayonnaise or buttermilk ranch. A single roll will set you back just $12, or $15 if you feel like adding straw potato chips and pickles. While the organisers say it's an idea they got while in London, we've seen a bunch of places take an interest in these small kinds of luxuries. It's no longer unusual for lobster to pop up on your local pub menu occasionally and restaurants in Sydney are all over it. It's definitely a trend we can get behind. Just like Huxtaburger there will be limited seating available in store, but if you do find the space they'll be serving a bunch of tasty drinks to wash down all that decadent goodness. We're talking craft beers, Pimms and Gordon's Elderflower Spritz. Proper lush stuff. Mr Claws was first tested out at Taste of Melbourne earlier this month and punters predictably loved it. In a press release this week they've stated the Smith Street store will be open "indefinitely", but "updates on the duration of the pop up can be found on the Mr Claws Facebook page". They're also scouting out permanent sites for 2015. But all that's besides the point — the sun is out and the smell of cheap lobster and Sriracha is in the air. Get down to Smith Street ASAP. Mr Claws is located at 104 Smith Street. It's currently open Monday-Friday 12pm-3pm and 5pm-9pm.
Celebrated in Mexico and the USA, Cinco de Mayo is a holiday that fits in seamlessly with our ongoing obsession with everything Mexican, so we partnered with Corona to throw Cinco de Mayo celebrations in Melbourne's best Mexican bars. Here's how the night went down.
So. You've watched all the documentaries on VICE's YouTube channel. You're up to your second viewing up just about everything on SBS's Food Network. You definitely don't want to watch A Current Affair. What's a news-hungry millennial to do? In answer to your free-to-air TV dreams, SBS and VICE today launched not only a new show, but a whole goddamn TV channel for your viewing pleasure. The new channel was announced earlier this year, but was set live at 4pm today, Tuesday, November 15, replacing SBS 2. It will be an extension of VICE's online TV channel VICELAND, and will be called by the same name. Along with some of SBS 2's news, sport and entertainment programs, VICELAND's programming will include VICE's own newscasts and doco series including Black Market (starring The Wire's Michael K Williams), Ellen Page's Gaycation, and F*ck That's Delicious with Action Bronson. VICELAND launched online earlier this year with a collection of Spike Jonze-produced docos. You can view the full schedule here or switch on your TV to SBS 2.
If you're going to run an annual genre festival, then you're also going to want to push some boundaries. Opening with a controversial film that has already caused fainting and walkouts overseas, this year's Monster Fest is challenging its audience right from the get-go — or catering to their extreme horror tastes, perhaps? In fact, if you have an interest in film festivals — or can't help stumbling across headlines about strange things happening in cinemas — then you might've already heard of Julia Ducournau's debut Raw. As well as inspiring buzz and picking up an award in Cannes in May, the French director's first film garnered plenty of attention in Toronto just this week. There, paramedics were called to a midnight screening after multiple people reportedly passed out while watching. Whether the reaction was genuine or a publicity stunt has already been questioned; however if you're not a fan of gory flicks, a coming-of-age effort about a young vegetarian participating in a carnivorous activities after enrolling in veterinary school just might cause you to feel a little queasy. Raw, which is set for a general release around Australia in March 2017, joins already-announced, similarly out-there closing night offering The Greasy Strangler as a high-profile highlight of this year's Monster Fest. The event will also host a selection of movies directed by veteran helmer Ted Kotcheff, including classic Aussie outback thriller Wake in Fright and dead body comedy Weekend at Bernie's, with the filmmaker attending the festival in person. A program of events and screenings focused on genre narratives made for the small screen will also feature — complete with a Nightmare VHS Board Game Party, much to the delight of anyone who grew up in the '90s — with the full lineup set to be revealed in the coming weeks. Monster Fest 2016 runs from November 24 to 27 at Melbourne's Lido Cinemas. For more information, visit the festival's website.
Everyone's favourite coffee wizards Everyday Coffee are moving up in the world and have just thrown the doors open to a second cafe in the CBD. Everyday Coffee II: The Revenge of the Coffee (or, as they like to call it, Everyday Midtown) are the newest residents of Little Collins Street. The new fit-out is as sleek, understated and effortlessly cool as their Collingwood flagship, so you can expect the same insane level of service and quality coffee we've come to expect from the OG Everyday. And Fitzroy's Donut Shop will be providing the decadent treat menu. They're calling the new venture Everyday Midtown which is cool because it implies Melbourne has a midtown, like it's some sort of New York or San Francisco. And with hip coffee joints serving up doughnuts, we might soon be. Everyday Midtown is now open at 213 Little Collins Street, Melbourne. It's open 7am - 4pm Monday to Friday and 9am - 4pm on Saturdays. For more information, visit their Instagram.
We've heard of moving-out parties; however Barack Obama's version of a final celebratory shindig is about to put everyone else's to shame. What do you do when your time as the most powerful man on the planet is just about up, and you're about to vacate the world's most famous home? You bring SXSW to the White House. Obviously. The event is called SXSL, with the last two letters referring to the south lawn of Obama's not-so-humble presidential abode. As announced on the White House blog, South by South Lawn will bring together creators, innovators, and organisers for a one-day shindig on October 3. And as far as heading along is concerned, eager attendees can apply online. Yep, the Pres is throwing his very own festival, complete with interactive, film and music components. SXSL-goers will listen to panel discussions and learn about new technologies, watch shorts at the 3rd Annual White House Student Film Festival, and groove along to live performances by well-known and emerging artists. While there's no word on a lineup just yet, Obama's summer playlist could possibly provide a few clues. Clearly, both the US commander-in-chief and First Lady Michelle Obama had a mighty fine time when they attended and spoke at SXSW earlier this year. And clearly, once Obama out of office, nothing quite like this is likely to happen anytime soon. Image: Zach Rudisin.
Tim's Bookshop in Kew has been in business for nearly 40 years. The family-owned store is practically a cultural institution in Melbourne's east, particularly for literature lovers who still enjoy turning the pages of a physical book. Whether you're after a heart-stopping crime thriller by the likes of Michael Connelly or an award-winning page turner from Vicki Laveau-Harvie, you'll have no trouble finding something to capture your heart and mind amid the store's shelves. Although, if you do need a little help the staff are always keen to lend a hand. Children's books are a specialty at Tim's, so it's perfect if you need something for the little readers in your life. Images: Tracey Ah-kee.
Jewellery can be hard to get right for someone else — looking at you, weaved plastic rope bracelets we all made for mum when we were younger — but there are some places which make it a little easier for you. Blackfinch is one of them: the handcrafted jewellery store was established by Raymond de Zwart and Davina Adamson in 2007. The pair produce beautiful, collaborative pieces that tell a story, to suit whoever you're gifting — this is where you can get your significant other a ring that says "thanks for not getting angry at me leaving the towels on the floor all the time" etc. Blackfinch specialises in ethically sourced Australian stones, so you'll leave its Northcote studio space with something both precious and enduring (hopefully like your relationship).
A few years ago, North Melbourne got its own stylish pet supply store, right in the heart of Errol Street. The store has everything from organic pet food and health and wellbeing products, to accessories, beds and grooming supplied. As well as a selection of fancy leads, harnesses and collars, there's also a selection of pet outfits for special events, costume parties and the beach. And if you're shopping with a thirsty dog, there's usually a bowl of water out the front.
This is one for the foodies out there who love local produce and the freshest of fare. Owner of Pope Joan Matt Wilkinson has stocked Hams & Bacon with goodies from his favourite farmers and producers so you can bring something extra special to the dinner table for the festive season. Matt’s own product range, aptly named Mr Wilkinson’s, are the perfect Christmas stocking-stuffers and include relishes, chutneys and sauces. They’ve even ordered in extra Christmas stock for those who’ve left ordering the ham, turkey or prawns a little late this year, as well as some exceptional hampers that are sure to make your mouth water.
