Located right by the water on St Kilda Beach, Ben & Jerry's Openair Cinema is one of our favourite summer hangouts. This year's program kicks off in late November, with recent releases including The Accountant, Nocturnal Animals and Arrival alongside a smattering of classics such as Elf and Love Actually. Festivities start while the sun is still shining, with live music squeezed in before the film (plus plenty of time to suss out the bar and stock up on snacks). Head along to one of their Sundae Sessions (you guessed it, on a Sunday) to enjoy a great film, live music, and free Ben and Jerry's. No, you didn't hear wrong, that's free ice cream. The Ben and Jerry's Open Air Cinema has a much shorter run than Melbourne's other outdoor cinemas, so if you're keen on catching great film and indulging on some Peanut Butter Half Baked heaven, make sure you lock something in by December 18.
It's the kind of music event every pet lover dreams of, and it's back for another year of cute puppies and pumping sounds. That'd be Dogapalooza, of course. It does have a rather excellent name — and that merry moniker is just the beginning. After wowing crowds with their first fest last year, the dog-friendly shenanigans are bound to get tales wagging again at Richmond's Burnley Park. Expect everything from ethical eating options (including Dogapalooza's own in-house vegan barbecue) to boutique dog product vendors. Even though the music lineup isn't announced until August 26, we're betting that won't find the likes of Bow Wow and Snoop Dog on the bill, as on-theme as they would've been. That said, we're sure that the roster of acts will get your toes tapping regardless — and the paws of your furry best friend too. Dogapalooza isn't just about a day of music-oriented bliss in the sun with your pet pooch, though. All proceeds go raised will go towards helping canines in need via Oscar's Law and Melbourne's dog rescue groups Stafford Rescue Victoria, Melbourne Animal Rescue and Puppy Tails Rescue.
Fancy a Tassie wine-tasting extravaganza, but can't find the time (or cash) to make the trip? How about a quick hop over to North Melbourne instead? If you can get there with 50 bucks to spare this Sunday, August 21, you'll be living the Apple Isle dream. That's because one-day wine festival Vin Diemen is coming back to Melbourne for a second year. Your ticket will get you a take-home wine glass and access to the creations of a whole slew of Tasmanian winemakers, who are crossing the strait to show us what their island is made of. Expect to sample some of the best Pinot Noir in the nation, alongside top-shelf Chardonnay, Riesling and sparkling — cold climate varieties get a better go in Tassie than nearly anywhere else in Oz. And giving the wines the respect they deserve will be a bunch of tasty Tasmanian morsels, including fresh salmon from Huon and cheesy noms from Bruny Island Cheese.
Global warming, renewable energy, sustainable farming and animal rights — these are just a few of the big topics on the agenda at this year's Environmental Film Festival Australia. Beginning in Melbourne on September 29 before touring around the country (including stops in Sydney and Brisbane), the seventh edition of this green-themed film fest shapes up as the biggest one yet. Standout films on this year's program include Sonic Sea — about the effects of noise pollution on marine life — and Time to Choose, a climate change documentary by Oscar winner Charles Ferguson (Inside Job). Those of you with iron stomachs might also want to check out Bugs on the Menu, a sustainable food doco about exactly what it sounds like. In Melbourne they're even pairing it with a special gourmet dinner at Grub Food Van. Yum!(?)
This is a public service announcement for anyone who bakes, eats or lives and breathes cake. One of the biggest dessert shows in the country returns to Melbourne this October, featuring everything and anything in the world of baking and cake decorating. Running for three days from October 21-23 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, the event will include live demonstrations across a number of theatres, as well as shopping, challenges and — of course — lots and lots of epic, out-of-this-world cakes. From MasterChef 2016 winner Elena Duggan to international cake artist Danielle Gotheridge to Movida's Frank Camorra, the 2016 Cake Bake & Sweets Show will host a huge lineup of expert bakers. International chocolate sculptor Paul Joachim (known for his huge chocolate pieces, including a huge Harry Potter sculpture he made for J.K. Rowling's birthday) will be there too, teaching punters how to carve 15-kilogram blocks of chocolate into works of art. Visitors can make their way through the Producers' Marketplace, the temporary home to Victoria's best pastry, macaron, pie and cake makers. Visitors will also have the opportunity to purchase the latest and greatest in baking equipment, ingredients and tools. The show will run from 10am until 5pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets start from $28 for single-day general admission.
"Are you making a documentary as well?" Louis Theroux asks the mysterious cameraman who has just appeared outside of his Los Angeles base and started recording his every move. It's a simple question, but it really couldn't sum up My Scientology Movie any better. The British broadcaster isn't all that surprised that he's being followed and filmed —in fact, when he put out an open call on Twitter seeking information for his latest movie, he was warned that it might happen. The organisation established by sci-fi writer L. Ron Hubbard and long-associated with Tom Cruise isn't known for being fond of scrutiny, after all. Theroux himself adopts a different approach: if you can't film 'em, pretend to join 'em. That could be why the Church of Scientology isn't too pleased about his movie. After Theroux's requests to interview head honchos are either ignored or rejected, and his attempts to gain access to their LA headquarters rebuffed, the filmmaker teams up with disgruntled former church bigwig Mark "Marty" Rathbun and decides to get a little creative. Keen to understand what it's really like to believe in thetans, Xenu, auditing and dianetics, he turns to actors to play current leader David Miscavige and even the couch-jumping Cruise in a series of recreations. What follows is a somewhat humorous, somewhat disturbing chronicle of a journalist pursuing a story while he himself is being pursued, interspersed with approximated scenes featuring the kind of unsettling behaviour that helped inspire Theroux's investigation in the first place. In light of the former, the outlandish nature of the latter won't shock anyone — particularly those who have seen Alex Gibney's recent Scientology expose Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, or even Paul Thomas Anderson's thinly-veiled fictional effort The Master. Not knowing whether to laugh or just stare at the screen with your jaw agape is an understandable reaction — helming docos about everything from evangelist Christians and Indian gurus to neo-Nazis and sex offenders has clearly prepared Theroux well. Here, the veteran filmmaker brings his own unique twist to the re-staging techniques that proved so effective in Joshua Oppenheimer's brutal Indonesian genocide documentary The Act of Killing. But My Scientology Movie is more than just a curio fuelled by curiosity. As strange as they sometimes are, every scene helps build a probing portrait of the psychology behind Scientology. Recollections offered by Rathbun and other Church defectors help, but there's nothing quite like seeing the reality, or at least a recreation of it. Showing rather than telling suits both Theroux and his chosen subject well, and makes for a bizarre, funny and downright fascinating final product.
If you've ever used a public bathroom in this town, you could be forgiven for feeling sceptical about this particular Melbourne Fringe installation art piece. A (presumably) tongue-in-cheek tribute to Melbourne's status as a UNESCO City of Literature, The Stalls combines light, sound and video, bringing some of the city's strangest and most revealing toilet stall graffiti to a single lavatory in the Fringe Hub, which is this year located at North Melbourne's Arts House. No need to bring a magazine — there'll be reading material all over the walls.
Hophaus Bavarian Bier Bar Grill is hosting its annual charity dachshund race this week — and, frankly, you shouldn't need any more information to understand why that's a thing you should care about. Returning to the Southbank German restaurant, the teckelrennen is an Oktoberfest tradition, and will see sausage dogs from far and wide pumping their stubby little legs for gold and glow. The first heat kicks off at 11am on Saturday, September 24, with the grand champion expected to be crowned at around 2.30pm that afternoon. There'll also be a costume competition, because the only thing better than dachshunds is dachshunds in tiny adorable outfits. Entry is free for spectators, while all money raised from entry fees paid by competitors will be donated to Dachshund Rescue Australia. https://player.vimeo.com/video/139814129
Hop on board the Route 19 tram and make your way north to the Coburg Carnivale. Part of Melbourne Fringe, this annual street festival will once again take over Victoria Street Mall — as well as the nearby Coburg Library — for five days of performances, workshops, music, food and more. Kicking off on Wednesday, September 21, this year's Carnivale will feature a number of free and ticketed events, including the interactive storytelling experience The Little Wooded Caravan, a pair of performances by comic songwriter Justin Heazlewood (aka The Bedroom Philospher), and the world premiere of General Fiasco's Circus Spectacular. In-between shows, punters can pay a visit to the pop-up park, open every afternoon and long into the night, before grabbing a bite and kicking back under the stars.
For a long while, people have been raising issue with the lack of gender diversity in the music festival scene. Women often occupy tiny stages and small percentages of festival lineups. Up-and-coming female and LGBTIQ musicians struggle to achieve non-gendered recognition. But finally, there's a local collective taking action. Sydney-based record label Sad Grrrls Club is launching their first Melbourne showcase at the Reverence Hotel in Footscray on Saturday, October 1 — and they've pulled together a stellar non-male lineup. The event is designed to be a safe space, free from the kind of harassment that can make festivals so draining for those that don't identify as males. The event motto is: "Be good to each other and have fun". Right on. Check out the full lineup below. SAD GRRRLS FEST 2016 LINEUP Jaala Jess Ribeiro CAMP COPE Simona Castricum Alex Lahey MISS DESTINY Dark Fair Kt spit Claws & Organs Beloved Elk The Girl Fridas Shiny Coin CHELSEA BLEACH Denim Owl Dogood Plus Acoustic Artists: Rin McArdle (SA) Stellar Addiction (NSW) Rachel Maria Cox (NSW) Samara Cullen Sandy Hsu Eli Cash Jo Neugebauer Image: Matt Warrell.
Chunky Move Artistic Director Anouk van Dijk is joining forces with renowned multimedia artist Ho Tzu Nyen for an ephemeral new dance work at Malthouse Theatre. Presented in partnership with Dance Massive and Asia TOPA, Anti—Gravity is a refined, highly physical show inspired by clouds — the way they swell, the way they shift, and the way they shape the experiences of those of us on the ground. Running from March 17 to 26, Anti—Gravity will feature Chunky Move dancers James Batchelor, Marlo Benjamin, Sarah Ronnie Bruce, Tara Jade Samaya, Niharika Senapati and Luigi Vescio. Over the course of the hour-long show, the six performers will transform from 'celestial creatures' into 'terrestrial warriors'. You'll have to head along to see what that means.
If Scenes From a Marriage hadn't already been taken, it would've made a great title for most of Asghar Farhadi's movies to date. From 2003's Dancing in the Dust to 2011's Oscar-winning A Separation and his 2013 follow-up The Past, the Iranian writer-director has filled his resume with features about the struggles of not-so-harmonious domesticity. Now you can add The Salesman to the pack, just as Farhadi can add another Academy Award to his mantle. Still, a shiny new statuette can't mask his fondness for repetition. Farhadi is a master of observing just how the bonds of matrimony can unravel, but seven films in there's no avoiding the feeling that you've seen some of it before. The Salesman opens on the set of a play, with husband and wife Emad (Shahab Hosseini) and Rana (Taraneh Alidoosti) staging a revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. As Farhadi demonstrates rather unsubtly by cutting from a bed on stage to their crumbling real life home, all isn't well for the couple. That's especially true after they move into a friend's flat and Rama leaves the door unlatched, only to be attacked by a stranger. Understandably she's shaken. Just as understandably, he's driven to track down the perpetrator. Their conflicting responses sit at the heart of Farhadi's latest film, with the writer-director eager as ever to wait and watch as the couples' fraught emotions slowly but surely rise to the surface. Indeed, pumping seemingly ordinary spaces full of the kind of tension that can only spring from fraying intimate bonds is one of the things he does best. Dissecting how even a mere word, look or gesture can completely reshape, change or ultimately unravel a relationship is another. Both talents are on display as Rama takes the reserved and ultimately forgiving route, while the increasingly frantic Emad can't shake his wounded pride — or his need for vengeance. Cue a situation rife with drama, which Farhadi carefully heightens. As he's done before, he makes plain the gender lines driving the divide between husband and wife, as well as the cultural reasons for their behaviour. Here, he also stresses the fact that Iranian society will applaud a man bent on revenge but blame a woman who's a victim and judge another that's made untraditional choices, making hefty material even meatier. Throw constrained yet probing visuals into the mix alongside nuanced and multifaceted performances by Hosseini, Alidoosti and the pivotal Babek Karimi, and The Salesman can only be described as classic Farhadi territory. Still, there's a difference between ticking the usual boxes and expanding them, and here the Oscar-winning filmmaker manages one but not the other. As a result, the movie feels less like an involving effort in its own right and more like a greatest hits package. Many a director has made a successful career out of playing the same cinematic notes over and over again, but just as many have eventually stretched their usual tendencies too far. While The Salesman proves engaging, particularly in its later stages, there's a distinctive sense that next time Farhadi needs to show us something new.
Come hear the music play at the eighth annual Melbourne Cabaret Festival. Returning to Chapel Off Chapel in Prahran as well as The Butterfly Club in the Melbourne CBD, this year's festival will feature almost two full week's worth of shows from established and emerging cabaret performers from all around the country. The fun begins on Tuesday, June 20 with a dazzling opening night gala emceed by the festival's artistic director Dolly Diamond. The famous diva will also feature in her own show, Dolly Diamond: The Lady is a Tramp, featuring tales of her "life, loves and (alleged) lascivious behaviour". Other standout shows on the program include Queenie van de Zandt's Blue: The Story of Joni Mitchell and Jon Jackson's Queen of Broadway: The Ethel Merman Story, plus Australia's Boys of Motown featuring Vincent Hooper, Richard Swanson and Barnaby Reiter. You can view the full lineup here.
It seems like we've been talking about the live action remake of Ghost in the Shell for a really long time. Now that it's finally here, we're not going to waste time weighing up the quality of the source material. It's proven itself in the manga iteration, as well as the cult anime film that followed. Instead, the question is this: does the remake add anything to the discourse? And as such, should you bother paying to see it or should you give it a miss? Ghost in the Shell, in case you're not familiar, is based on a 1989 manga by Masamune Shirow. Protagonist Major Mira Killian (played here by Scarlett Johansson) is a member of Section 9, a unit of elite officers tasked with fighting cyber criminals. Major has a human brain and consciousness (a 'ghost') inside a fully cybernetic body. Her previous life is a mystery, even to herself. But when a delinquent hacker known only as Kuze (Michael Pitt) starts to infiltrate the network to which all humans are connected, a series of events are set in motion that lead Major on a classic origin chase, punctuated with shadowy memories ('glitches') from her past. Let's start with the good: the visuals in this new version of Shirow's story are stunning. Director Rupert Sanders has crafted a really good looking film, with many rich scenes and compositions. It's literally a smorgasbord of sci-fi aesthetics. But, like the model children of celebrities, it was always going to look great, because the source material is spectacular. Many of the film's most memorable images are taken almost shot for shot from the original. It's great to look at, sure, but no points for originality here. Moreover, this Americanised take on Ghost in the Shell feels decidedly more commercial (read: dumber) than its Japanese counterpart. Many of the same philosophical ideas are present, but you can't help but feel as though they're being fed to you with a spoon. Likewise, the mood here is less melancholy, less isolating. The eerie, disconcerting quality of the anime has been diluted, and the film feels weaker for it. The filmmakers have woven in extra content from the manga, shed a few of the more ambiguous scenes to resolve the narrative, and maximised Johansson's screen time. On the plus side, the score absolutely holds up, with composer Clint Mansell building on what came before while also bringing something fresh to the table. Finally, let's get to the big white elephant in the room: why was Scarlett Johansson, a Caucasian woman, cast in a role that many have said should have gone to an Asian or Asian-American actor? Sadly, whitewashing is a very real problem in the film industry, where cultural whiteness (and often white actors) is inserted into films where it simply doesn't belong. Did Scarjo bring something that a Japanese actor couldn't? Quite simply, the answer is no. Still, the sad truth is that all the controversy and talk of whitewashing in the lead up to the film may well be the most interesting about it. It may look pretty, but look any deeper and Ghost in the Shell is a bit of a fizzer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4VmJcZR0Yg
Hightail it down to Bruzzy's Farm in Tallarook and shake it all weekend long. Returning to add lots of boogies to the Eater weekend for the 11th year, this fittingly named boutique music festival is back for three straight days of dancing under the stars. The lineup is as eclectic as ever, with legendary Melbourne band Cosmic Psychos headlining, and playing alongside locals Tyrannamen and Jen Cloher. They'll be joined by US bands Strand of Oaks, Sonny & The Sunsets and Endless Boogie, among others.
Fresh from his stint in the jungle on I'm A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here, TV and radio personality Nazeem Hussain is taking the stage at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for his new show Public Frenemy. As he did time and time again in his brilliant, Logie-nominated sketch series Legally Brown, expect Hussain to carve up social prejudices, shatter expectations and break down in frank, funny terms his "love/not-so-love relationship" with modern day Australia.
There's never been a better time to be a political comedian, and the UK's Andy Zaltzman is one of the sharpest in the business. Best known as the voice of the satirical news podcast The Bugle — which he used to co-host with Last Week Tonight's John Oliver — Zaltzman will put despots and dictators to the sword with the help of some alternate facts and a few well-placed puns. Actually, it'll probably be a lot of well-placed puns. He'll also record the first ever live Bugle, featuring "live guests, people on screens, freshly-hewn satire, lies, puns and high-grade bullshit" as far of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
There are few things Melbourne likes more than good booze and stinky cheese. If you don't believe us, consider the fact that we're about to have yet another cheese and wine festival. Hot on the heels of Say Cheese and Bon Fromage, Wine and Cheese Fest is rolling into town for an afternoon of serious overindulgence. Taking over the Meat Market in North Melbourne for a second year, 2017's festival will welcome representatives from over 15 different vineyards and breweries, as well as cheesemakers, chocolatiers, meat specialists and more. Patrons will be able to sample the best food and drink from all the different exhibitors, enjoy a live performance by Jazzobell Deux, participate in a cheesemaking class or compete in the Grape Stomp Comp. It all goes down from 11.30am on Sunday, April 2.
Just this morning, Nike announced to the world that it had terminated its sponsorship agreement with boxer Manny Pacquiao on account of his offensive views towards same sex couples. It’s a timely reminder of the lengths to which corporations will go in order to protect their brand, even if it means dropping one of the biggest and most successful names on their books. The most powerful companies in the world understand that such power exists only insofar as the public continues to allow it, for without their buying power, these companies are nothing. The most famous and certainly most destructive example of this approach took place in the 1950s, when Hollywood’s major motion picture studios agreed to blacklist a group of their most successful screenwriters on account of their affiliation with the communist party. No crimes were committed, no treason alleged, yet these men were suddenly denied any ability to work in the industry to which they’d dedicated their lives and provided so many financial and critical accolades. Families struggled, many crumbled, and some of the blacklisted even died. And all of it because a few powerful conservatives including John Wayne and gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (played here by Helen Mirren) deigned to call them ‘un-American’. The best known of the so-called Hollywood Ten was screenwriting legend Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston), the highest paid writer in town and the scribe behind such hits as Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and Kitty Foyle. When he refused to comply with the infamous hearings of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Trumbo was immediately blacklisted and imprisoned, and soon realised the only way he’d be able to continue working was to write B-movies for a pittance under an assumed name. So began an extraordinary period in Hollywood’s history that ultimately resulted in not one, but two Academy Awards going to entirely fictitious writers. It's a story so fantastic it would seem to surpass the imagination of even the likes of Trumbo. Perhaps that explains why Trumbo the film falls somewhat short of the mark. A movie that not just centres on an extraordinarily gifted screenwriter, but also includes multiple excerpts of his craft, inherently sets up an unavoidable comparison with its own writers’ work, and the contrast is at times pronounced. The film’s tone, too, frequently errs on the whimsical despite its subject matter representing an incredibly dark and shameful period in America’s history. The scenes where its actors pay proper deference to this are by far the strongest – although the most moving scene of all takes place in the credits, when the real-life Trumbo pays tribute to his stoic daughter Nikola (Elle Fanning). Despite these issues, Trumbo tells a compelling tale. Led by a remarkable performance from Cranston, the extensive cast breathes much life into the story – and while it feels insufficiently told, the portrait of the man at its centre remains a moving one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gryhSJxx7I
Undoubtedly some of the best fun (and best value) events of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, the Crawl 'n' Bite nights have been a highlight in previous years. And the good news is, they've upped the ante this year with more crawls than ever — so there's still some tickets left. While the whisky bar and oriental crawls sold out quick sticks, you can still book in for one of eight crawls. Go on a tour of northside's "hippest" hotspots, which will see you scoff your gob with snack from Huxtaburger, Biggie Smalls and Belle's Hot Chicken. Or perhaps you'd rather bar hop between the CBD's rooftop bars? At the Rooftop Cocktails crawl you'll sip — you guessed it — cocktails above the city at Bomba, Loop Roof and Madame Brussels. See the full list of crawls happening here. And the best part? You don't even have to get on your hands and knees to take part.
In the opening moments of Nasty Baby, we're introduced to Freddy, played by director Sebastian Silva. Freddy is a Brooklyn-based performance artist whose latest work involves him rolling around on the floor, screaming and gurgling like a newborn child. Sounds deep, huh? Among those working on the project with him are his boyfriend Mo (Tunde Adebimpe) and their mutual friend Polly (Kristen Wiig), who is also trying to convince Mo to help her conceive a child. Freddy and Polly, in particular, are revoltingly self-absorbed – older but no wiser that the characters in outwardly similar New York narratives such as Girls and Frances Ha. But there's an important difference between Silva and his would-be contemporaries. While storytellers like Lena Dunham and Noah Baumbach purport to shine a critical eye on their characters, at the end of the day they tend to pull their punches since they want their characters to be likable – at least to a degree. Silva, on the other hand, shows no such mixed emotions. From the get go it seems clear he views these people with disdain, their privilege and self-importance born of a poisonous hipster culture that indie film increasingly tends to celebrate. That disdain is really crystallised in the film's shocking final act, which we'll do our best to talk about without spoiling. Put vaguely, after an hour of relatively low-stakes drama, Silva pulls the rug out with a vicious narrative turn, leaving both his characters and his audience struggling to find their feet. It's jarring and unpleasant and viscerally effective, but most importantly it speaks to Silva's broader thematic point. People this self-centred aren't just annoying. They're dangerous. The film's three leads are all appropriately understated, with Wiig in particular showing strong dramatic chops in her most interesting film role to date. The other big highlight is Reg E. Cathy, best known for his work in various HBO shows and Netflix's House of Cards. Here he plays Bishop, a mentally unstable old man who lives on Freddy's block, who Freddy regularly antagonises, and whose actual problems throw those of Silva's protagonists into sharp relief. Nasty Baby will no doubt prove divisive. The best films usually do. But love it or hate it, recognise it for what it is: timely social satire of the most scathing and cynical kind. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__uqpDQ9ARs
Melbourne's home for passionate and intelligent talks, The Wheeler Centre, is hosting ten of Australia’s best thinkers and entertainers for a gala evening of storytelling on books that changed and shaped their thinking. Stories can leave indelible impressions, and the Gala Night of Storytelling: Books that Changed Me will cover everything – from the musing to amusing, provocative to poignant – on those fate-changing moments of communion between writer and reader. Perhaps it was Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex that convinced you that ‘one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman’. Or maybe Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment made you cancel plans to murder your local pawnbroker. Whatever may have inspired has also led others to change — and this evening is a chance to hear from Australia’s best. Actor, musician and Koori elder Jack Charles with be joined by former Australian of the Year and founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre Kon Karapanagiotidis as well as singer songwriter Sarah Blasko and SBS’s Lee Lin Chin, who will be switching her regular World News broadcast for the evening talk. Formative speakers also include Anna Funder, Russel Howcroft, Susan Carland, Tony Windsor, Graeme Simsion and Nakkiah Lui, so prepare for the profound. After all, there’s nothing quite like finishing a book that leaves you with a sense of wonder. Or better yet — hearing about your next best to read.
Chinese New Year is coming up, and in 2016 we’ll be ringing in the Year of the Monkey (goodbye Year of the Sheep, go sleep it off). And what’s the best way to partake of the celebration? We’ve got it right here and it’s more fun than a barrelful of monkeys. Well, actually it is a barrelful of monkeys. Dumpling masters Din Tai Fung are offering new limited edition ‘Monkey Buns’ for the month of February and they are literally the cutest food we’ve ever seen. Just look at them. Din Tai Fung are famous for their dumplings and are known to release beautiful and novelty dumplings for special occasions (check out these adorable little lamb buns from last year). The monkey bao buns are steamed-to-order and stuffed with a sweet filling of chocolate and banana. They’re part of a series of new dishes being added to the menu from February 1 including crispy golden seafood roll, braised Szechuan sliced beef noodle and vegetarian egg fried rice with mushroom and truffle oil. The only problem we can foresee is that eating those sweet little monkey faces may be hard…but we’ll probably manage it. Monkey Buns are available for $4.80 per piece from Din Tai Fung restaurants from February 1 – February 29.
With money to burn, the folks at Crown Casino are hosting one seriously lavish party. Set up along Crown Riverwalk by the Yarra, this three-day festival includes tons of great food and cooking demonstrations, as well as music and arts and crafts. Performers will be roaming the crowd during daylight hours, while a fireworks display on the Saturday evening should guarantee you a happy and prosperous New Year.
When a film is called Dope, you really hope that it is. Telling a hip hop-infused high school tale complete with a '90s-leaning soundtrack to match, writer/director Rick Famuyiwa's movie comes close — and when it's not quite hitting the titular mark, it is having a rather good time trying to. Malcom (Shameik Moore) acts as the feature's guide through his teenage antics, geek-style. He's from a poor, crime-filled part of Los Angeles, and he's a straight-A student in a school where being so isn't cool, but he always has best pals Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons) for company. Their movement up the social ladder comes on account of a drug dealer (A$AP Rocky), who demands that Malcolm passes on a message to a neighbourhood girl, Nakia (Zoë Kravitz). Attraction springs, and so do adventures of the drugs, delinquency and coming-of-age variety. Welcome to this decade's latest version of a 'nerds on top' comedy, as filtered through the pop culture ephemera of the past 30 years. The formula of '80s teen movies, the sounds and clothing of the '90s, and the style and interconnectivity of '00s efforts combine in a film that not only relishes each element but obviously and overtly adores stringing them all together. Indeed, Dope screams enthusiasm, be it for its episodic storyline or for its gleeful mix of genres. Laughs abound, yet so does a caper, a heist and ample race-relations drama, as well as nostalgia. In fact, there's more to Dope than amalgamating its influences: there's also both cultural specificity and ambiguity. Famuyiwa creates a movie that attempts to express both a realistic and exaggerated version of what living in crime-ridden Inglewood as the Harvard-aspiring son of single mother is really like; realistic in showing the many shades of experiences evident, and exaggerated in heightening the complexities, contradictions and differences between seemingly typical inhabitants to stress the film's point about diversity. Malcolm may seem straight outta the Bottoms, but he also likes BMX riding and playing in a punk band — or as he puts it, "white stuff". His friends prove just as multifaceted and stereotype-defying, with Jib (aka The Grand Budapest Hotel's lobby boy) refusing to identify his ethnicity, and Diggy celebrating her sexual and aesthetic androgyny. Accordingly, Dope aims high with its statement, and skews fun in its packaging. Alas, the latter sometimes lessens the former, as enjoyable as the movie proves. Chaotic is the nice way to put it; however, messy and cartoonish also fit, even though the film is always sleek, fast-paced and energetic. It's an offering where the vibe reigns, and the overall sharpness and smartness of its message and dialogue often gets swept up in it.
Nobody translates the teenage psyche to film better than John Hughes. Nobody. We have this genius to thank for the 80s classics such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles - the latter two of which are playing back to back at The Astor Theatre this Saturday night. That’s right: strap in for some quality Molly Ringwald. After briefly closing down earlier this year, The Astor Theatre was thankfully saved and given new life under the management and craftsmanship of General Manager Zak Hepburn. Their most recent calendar is fun, clever, and a little off-beat in an absolutely glorious way. If you’re after a pair of classics that get more enjoyable after every watch, don’t miss this John Hughes double feature for an awesome date night or a nostalgic evening with your pals.
The latest slate of films from the chilly Nordic north is headed to a Palace Cinema near you. Returning for just its second year, the Scandinavian Film Festival will showcase 22 movies from Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Norway. Expect kitchen-sink dramas, edge-of-your-seat crime stories and a road movie about a struggling furniture salesman who hatches a plan to kidnap the founder of Ikea. That last one is actually Norwegian, not Swedish, but should make for a fun watch on opening night. Other comedies in the lineup include oddball Icelandic film Rams, which won the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes earlier this year; as well as the middle-aged rom-com Hello Hello, which proved an audience favourite at festivals in its native Sweden. Those after something a little bit more serious can check out Danish police procedural The Absent One or drug-fuelled Finnish thriller They Have Escaped, among numerous others. The festival comes to a close with a documentary about Ingrid Bergman, the Swedish actress who went on to become one of Hollywood’s brightest stars. Image: Young Sophie Bell.
Wouldn't it be nice to see a music biopic that does its subject justice? One that understands that telling the tale of a rock or pop star requires something other than splashing songs over scenes of arguing? Focusing on conflict is what most movies end up doing, but they don't always elicit much interest. While Love & Mercy does plenty that toes the genre line, thankfully it's more interested in the man behind the band than the usual unhappy group shenanigans. That man is Brian Wilson, and his band is the Beach Boys, the '60s and '70s surfer-themed act turned '80s collaborators with John Stamos. There's much, much more to them than that, of course, and to Wilson. Many consider his innovation, experimentation and harmonies, as evidenced on the widely acclaimed 1966 record Pet Sounds, as markers of musical genius. At first glance, his story reads like a typical before and after snapshot of fame and stardom, including the obligatory drug benders and erratic behaviour, as well as the later fading out of the scene. What simmers beneath the early parties and the eventual burnout is the extent of his musical abilities and its interplay with his fragile mental state. In fact, Love & Mercy makes his mindset the main attraction, rather than the career highs or lows. The film cobbles together a portrait of Wilson from two points in his life, and they comprise quite the contrast. Wide-eyed in his twenties (as played by Paul Dano), he retreats from touring to invest his talents not just in new songs, but in creating the greatest album ever made. Over-medicated in his forties (now in the guise of John Cusack), he tries to rebuild a sense of normality with the help of a new girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) and his psychologist (Paul Giamatti), the former offering a more nurturing relationship than the latter. You need not be a Beach Boys fan to become invested in his plight, nor fond of Wilson's songs to enjoy an engaging ride through his history. For aficionados and the uninitiated alike, filmmaker Bill Pohlad makes Love & Mercy a personal tale first and foremost. Yes, the movie uses the expected soundtrack, but only when the music suits the on-screen events depicted. Singles such as the iconic 'God Only Knows' take on an entirely new meaning when they're given context by Wilson's troubles and moods. The film also attempts to match its style to its subject, collages combining the two time periods, and mimicking the ups and downs of Wilson's energy. It's a smart, immersive and entertaining move from a director who last made a movie way back in 1990 and is actually better known as a producer of Brokeback Mountain, Into the Wild, The Tree of Life and 12 Years a Slave. His choice of leads similarly proves savvy and well suited, and while Dano and Cusack look nothing alike, they do perfect the one thing that could've made or broken the entire feature. That'd be the vibe of a singer and songwriter who attempted first to thrive, and then to survive, the roller-coaster that is the music industry. Wilson's vibrations aren't always good, befitting the ebb and flow of his reality — but as sensitively transferred to the screen, they do inspire more than enough excitations.
From those Melburnians who are still mourning the loss of their once-favourite shop Alice Euphemia, we’ve got some news that is sure to brighten your day. For one week only they’re opening up their doors (on Gertrude Street this time) to offer up to 70 percent off much-loved independent Australian fashion brands. With a mix of seconds, samples and end of season stock, you’re sure to come across some rather unique pieces. On top of that, there will be designer vintage pieces and designer fabric if you’re more of the DIY type. Some of the designer wares you can look forward to include Celeste Tesoriero, Gary Bigeni, Vege Threads, Yevu, Karla Spetic, Tlux, LP33.3, Rouda, Serpent and the Swan, iinco, Soot and many others. This fashion event focuses on designers who use ‘best practice’, which includes fashions that are made locally, use organic fabric and dyes, ethically recognised production, recycling and so on. There will be both men and women’s fashion available so there's no and support fashion with a conscience.
Fans of Tom Cruise, actors doing their own stunts and impressive action setpieces, prepare to take a trip to the cinema. If you've seen a Mission: Impossible film over the past two decades (or the television series before that), you know what to expect. In fact, if you've watched any of the previous installments, you've essentially already seen this one as well. A different writer/director takes the helm this time around, and a fresh foe threatens the Impossible Mission Force. Yet it still feels like a case of new movie, same ol' stuff. Cruise's super spy Ethan Hunt is hot on the trail of a shadowy, multinational organisation called the Syndicate, chasing a cluster of seemingly unrelated disasters, and hopping from London to Vienna to Casablanca and back again trying to track them down. There's more to Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation, of course — including an unhappy CIA boss (Alec Baldwin) intent on closing the IMF; the Syndicate's ever-crafty, always-one-step-ahead head honcho (Sean Harris); and the intriguing Ilsa (Rebecca Ferguson), who could be either friend or foe. Hunt's trusty colleagues Benji (Simon Pegg), Brandt (Jeremy Renner) and Luther (Ving Rhames) help out, particularly after he goes rogue. But the details don't really matter. They're simply the filler that joins the film's standoffs, heists and fist fights together. That's not to say that filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie, reteaming with Cruise after directing Jack Reacher and writing the scripts for both Valkyrie and Edge of Tomorrow, doesn't craft an engaging-enough and unexpectedly lighthearted feature. It's just all too obvious that he's adhering to a tried-and-tested formula, leaving everything else — the characters, especially, as well as the dialogue — feeling a little too thin. That Baldwin both seems like he's reprising 30 Rock's Jack Donaghy and is forced to claim that "Hunt is the living manifestation of destiny" with a straight face provides the perfect example. Thankfully, what the Mission: Impossible franchise does often (and over and over again), it does well. Zipping through the slick mechanics of a never-really-impossible mission proves as well-handled as ever, notably in opera-set and underwater sequences that are sure to become the film's calling cards. Exuding an energy and urgency that the rest of the movie is lacking, the choreography of the action and the camerawork that captures it is in top form. The same can also be said for the returning cast, including the almost instantly shirtless Cruise, all playing to their strengths even if they are saddled with one-note roles. When Ghost Protocol arrived in cinemas in 2011 after a five-year gap in the series, its pace, smarts and thrills both surprised and impressed — and while none of those stand out in Rogue Nation, the feature does have one trick up its sleeve other than its spectacle. That would be Swedish actress Ferguson, last seen in Hercules, and the welcome addition that the film sorely needs. In an effort that's largely going through the motions, she is certainly not. Enjoying her time on screen is easy; finding anything more than been-there, done-that antics otherwise — now, that's your mission, should you choose to accept it.
Good news, sleepyheads: the Tour de France is about to touch down on the streets of France (and late night SBS), and we have the perfect place to huddle up and watch it. Presented by the legends from The Shadow Electric, Domestique is a pop-up bar now in its fourth annual form, dedicated to all things Le Tour. This year the pop-up takes over Mighty Boy on Gertrude Street, with a live-feed of the all important Alps stage (July 23-26), plus music, drinks, food and, most importantly of all, heating. Hide away from the winter chill, dose yourself up with beer and bar snacks, and start mingling with all the other deranged humans staying up late for sport. Domestique will be open 5pm till late from July 23-26, and will also host an opening night party of July 18. Head to their Facebook page for more details.
Commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Gallipoli campaign with a brand new exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. Starting April 18, The World War One Centenary Exhibition will showcase more than 350 objects from the Imperial War Museum in London, marking the international premiere of the IWM exhibit that attracted more than 8000 UK entries a day. Visitors to the exhibition will be greeted by the one-tonne Royal Horse Artillery Gun that fired the first British shots on the Western Front. Other significant items include Herbert Hillier’s sketch of the Gallipoli battleground drawn just hours after the initial Allied landing, as well as fragments of the Red Baron’s fighter plane shot down over Northern France. The multi-room exhibition space will be divided by a life-size re-creation of a WWI trench, while video footage and audio production will help bring the wartime experience to life. The World War One Centenary Exhibition runs April 18 – October 4. For more information and to book tickets, visit ww1exhibition.com.au
From gripping war stories to feel-good suburban romances, the 2015 Turkish Film Festival Australia once again promises a program full of cinematic delights. Now in its fifth iteration, this year’s festival has been brought forward to April to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Anzac campaign. Fittingly, the festival will open with WWI film Last Letter, a drama about a nurse and a fighter pilot drawn together on the Gallipoli battlefield. Other standout films include the sizzling romantic drama Let the Music Play, as well as the sweet coming-of-age tale Mixtape. Melbourne audiences will also get the chance to check out actress Melisa Sozen, star of the critically-acclaimed Winter Sleep, in her latest feature Once Upon a Time. For the full program and session times, visit the festival website.
One big ol' picnic party is coming to the Mornington Peninsula, with a day-long luncheon filled with great food, wine and music. The Peninsula Picnic will feature tasting plates and dishes from some of Melbourne’s best chefs, including The European’s Ian Curley, Terminus at Flinders Hotel’s Pierre Khodja, and Pope Joan’s Matt Wilkinson. The delicious foodie offerings are then matched with peninsula wines from vineyards such as Monalto, Circe and Crittenden Estate. If you’re interested in getting better acquainted with Peninsula produce, there'll be the Produce Patch food stalls, as well as the Hayseed craft markets for you to peruse. There’s even an area designated for lawn games. Speaking of entertainment, expect the likes of The Waifs, Paul Dempsey, Pierce Brothers, Tinpan Orange and Hayden Calnin to serenade you as you sprawl out on the picnic rug in the sunshine. Sounds delightful, doesn’t it?
One of the biggest standouts of last year’s comedy festival was The Reunion, the manic, preposterous and yet oddly touching two men show from UK comic duo Max and Ivan. Their follow-up once again invites audiences on a madcap journey through the personal lives of an array of colourful weirdos, this time in the sleepy English town of Sudley-on-Sea. There’s just one small problem: the world is about to end. With pitch perfect timing and a daggy sense of humour, Max and Ivan are as funny as they are endearing.
One of the bright stars of Canadian comedy, the pint-sized, high-energy, ukulele-playing DeAnne Smith (self described as looking like “a nerdy Justin Bieber”) is back at MICF for the fifth time in her career. Get Into It is the name of her latest show, one that she says you’ll enjoy “if you like super fun and great things that make you laugh and also feel less alone in the knowledge that everything is meaningless”. Despite that, she’s probably one of the cheeriest comics you’ll see at the festival. She even has a song about love... sort of.
Grab hold of your joysticks gamers. Australia’s oldest and largest independent video game festival is back for another year. Celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2015, Freeplay will once again descend on venues around Melbourne; with more than two dozen (mostly) free events ranging from panels to late night parties. Whether you’re an aspiring game designer or are just looking for an alternative to Call of Duty, this is the festival for you. Standout events on this year’s Freeplay program include the Freeplay Fete, featuring gaming sessions and workshops, as well as the Hovergarden Party at RMIT. ACMI, meanwhile, will host a screening of the Australian-made documentary GameLoading, while also representing the analogue world with a board game night. Additionally, 2015 marks the launch of the Freeplay Online Festival, featuring a program of symposiums and panel discussions broadcast live on the web. Discussion topics run the gamut from cultural diversity and queer representation to digital depictions of war, with speakers weighing in from all around the globe. For the full Freeplay program, visit their website. Image: GameLoading.
Making a movie about the life and work of Sebastião Salgado might seem like a rather easy task. For more than 40 years, the Brazilian social documentary photographer and photojournalist has travelled the world chronicling the people and places most don't ever see — the sights well off the beaten path. He has captured and collated thoughtful, contemplative long-term studies on topics such as work, migration and the interplay between nature and humanity, as seen in both books and exhibitions around the globe. The images snapped by his camera are as detailed, delicate and sometimes devastating as any seen on film, and look just as breathtaking when projected onto a cinema screen. It is far from surprising, then, that The Salt of the Earth emphasises his output in all its glory. Blowing his pictures up big is a marvel no filmmaker could resist, not even seasoned veteran Wim Wenders (of Pina and Buena Vista Social Club fame) and his co-director Juliano Ribeiro Salgado (Sebastião's son). They understand the extraordinary power of the images they have to work with, and use them accordingly. Their film lovingly lingers on a series of carefully selected snapshots that epitomise his entire career. And yet, even when gifted with such stunning visuals as an obvious starting point — and an apt ending point, too — Wenders and Juliano Ribeiro ensure The Salt of the Earth never merely lets the photos do all of the talking. Though each picture says plenty and then some, the tales behind them aren't just interesting asides used to make the movie more than a feature-length slideshow or bulk up its running time; they're integral to the broader story. Sharing insights into specific images, Sebastião's many memories are filled with twists and turns. The intrigue continues as he speaks about how he came to his profession after starting out working in economics, and how things have panned out since. He is frank and generous in looking back at his life, never sugar-coating the details nor avoiding the difficulties. This isn't only his story, however, with the photographer's anecdotes joined by those of his wife and long-term collaborator, Lélia Wanick Salgado, and of Juliano Ribeiro, too. That's what helps make The Salt of the Earth so engaging and so effective in ranging beyond Sebastião's always-arresting output. The film gets to the heart of the interplay between the art and the artist, as well as the ripple effect throughout his family. It may seem like a son crafting a tribute to his father, yet intimacy isn't the same as sentimentality. Instead, the documentary is really a textured portrait of a man who has dedicated more than just his career to taking textured portraits.
Robert De Niro tries to inspire laughs, Zac Efron takes off his shirt and Aubrey Plaza fires off ample snark. They're the obvious parts of Dirty Grandpa — or, more accurately, the most obvious parts. There's little within the film's frames that could be called subtle or surprising, or appropriate or amusing for that matter. Given that the movie follows a randy, rowdy, rude and crude senior citizen and his straight-laced lawyer grandson, its lowest common denominator approach is hardly unexpected. What's more tiresome is the been-there, seen-that nature of it all. Audiences who have seen Bad Grandpa, Spring Breakers, The Hangover or any party flick will already be more than familiar with the tired material the movie trots out. When Dick Kelly (De Niro) is widowed and seemingly bereaved, he claims to needs his grandson Jason (Efron) to drive him down to Florida. Though Jason's wedding to the demanding Meredith (Julianne Hough) is mere days away, he reluctantly agrees. But once they're on the road, Dick reveals his true boozing and womanising plans. Along the way, the duo cross paths with Jason's former high school classmate Shadia (Zoey Deutch) and her pal Lenore (Plaza), aka new romantic prospects for both men. Yes, it's all as formulaic as it sounds — and yes, the gags are as well. Showcasing terrible male behaviour is the clear aim of the game, all in the name of apparent hilarity that never comes to fruition. Alas, there's little that's humorous about De Niro pleasuring himself, pairing up with Plaza or physically assaulting Efron's genitals, or about scenes of drinking and drug-taking that could've come from any similar offering. Director Dan Mazer may have co-scripted Ali G Indahouse, Borat and Brüno, and writer John Phillips might be helping pen the upcoming Bad Santa sequel, but neither man demonstrates the cleverness of those films in their work here. Instead, they craft the kind of visually shiny, emotionally soulless movie that trades in standard scenarios and stereotypes, attempts to shock just by being as outlandish as possible, and appears the result of very little effort. And yet, as lazy as the bulk of Dirty Grandpa proves, the same charge can't be levelled at De Niro. Swearing like he's in a Martin Scorsese film, he's as committed to his role as he has been in years, though he's firmly in over-the-top mode. The same can be said of Plaza, who furthers the movie's problematic portrayal of women, but still rattles off filthy chatter with relish. Efron, sadly, mostly just looks bored, clearly having had more fun impersonating De Niro in Bad Neighbours than he does acting opposite the real thing here. Viewers will likely share his pain, particularly when the feature tries to mix its taboo jokes with sentimental heart-to-hearts. There's a supposedly soft centre underneath Dirty Grandpa's vulgarity and music video aesthetics, but it's as ill conceived as everything else.
Here's one for all you meatheads out there: Texan barbecue chef Tom Micklethwait is heading to Melbourne. The man behind Austin's famed Micklethwait Craft Meats will join his friend (and one-time pupil) Chris Terlikar of Lygon Street's Bluebonnet Barbecue, where the duo will show off their slow-cooking, wood-smoking expertise to a restaurant full of hungry diners. Set for Tuesday, February 2 and Wednesday, February 3, this pair of four-course ticketed dinners will give card carrying carnivores the chance to sample world class barbecue in Bluebonnet's newly renovated dining room at the John Curtin Hotel. Each course will be paired with a different beverage, provided by the folks at Nant Distillery, Yak Ales and Pepperjack Wines. And to top it off, 2015 Australian Bar Awards Rookie of the Year Winner Will Sleeman, from Fitzroy's Black Pearl, will be on-hand mixing drinks. Pitmasters Reunited: An Evening with Bluebonnet BBQ and Micklethwait Craft Meats will be held at the John Curtin Hotel at 29 Lygon Street, Carlton on February 2 and 3. Tickets cost $98 plus booking fee, and are available through Moshtix.
Embrace your inner teenager at ACMI this week, with a selective look at the work of Lucas Moodysson. The most celebrated Swedish filmmaker since Ingmar Bergman, who himself described his young contemporary as a "master", few directors capture the angst and agony of adolescence with greater authenticity or understanding. The season begins, fittingly enough, with Moodysson’s debut, the queer coming of age film Show Me Love. His sophomore effort Together, a comedy set in a hippie commune during the 1970s, is also in the program; as is his third film Lilya 4-Ever, a stark drama about a teenaged girl from the Soviet Union forced into prostitution. Rounding out the retrospective is Moodysson's most recent work, last year’s We Are The Best! Set in 1980s Stockholm, the feel-good comedy follows the exploits of three rebellious thirteen-year-old girls as they endeavour to start a rock band —despite not knowing how to play their instruments. The Lukas Moodysson on Film Program runs from May 22 – 26. For more information and session times, visit the ACMI website.
Gentlemen of Melbourne, this one's for you. You are hereby summoned to learn how to perfect the art of being a modern day dapper lad. The Festival of Steve has returned. Before we go on any further we should also point out that the event welcomes females who appreciate a discerning gent; Steve leaves no one behind. This year's Festival ambassador is comedian and radio host, Tommy Little. The day will consist of free forums on everything from style to men's health to choosing the right cufflinks; covering every last realm of gentlemanliness. Starting the day off will be 'Rebel Without A Beard', where Lord Coconut's Mark Boldiston and bespoke tailor Carl Navè will examine how the 'hipster' phenomenon has influenced facial hair the world over. 'All quiet on the men’s front' will be an open discussion focusing on men's health and wellbeing with guest speakers such as psychologist Tom Pietkiewicz and personal trainer Talia Pranskunas. Finally, a panel of both men and women, including Nathan Jancauskas from Men's Biz, dating and lifestyle expert Chris Monak of Manic Workshops, and Little Miss Melbourne Sarah Harrison, will rain down knowledge on how to make an impression that lasts long after the first date for the single modern man. All the events are free to attend (with donations to Beyond Blue strongly encouraged) and held at the Kelvin Club, as well as involving some of Melbourne’s specialist retailers to help you become the modern gentlemen you long to be. Image: Arthur Hidden CC.
A trio of female photographers will tackle issues of migration, xenophobia and privilege, in a new photographic exhibition as part of this year’s Human Rights Arts and Film Festival. Presented by HRAFF in association with Chapter House Lane, and hosted in an unlikely pop-up gallery inside St. Paul’s Cathedral, I Am, You Are, We Are will explore what it means to be an outsider in contemporary Australia. Curator Anna Louise Richardson has tapped a trio of photographers: Olga Cironis, Eva Fernández and Marziya Mohammedali. Each artist will draw on personal experience, using their photography as a way to consider alternative notions of home in the face of Australia’s highly politicised attitudes towards ethnicity and migration. The exhibition runs from May 7 until the end of the month, and will be included as part of the HRAFF Visual Arts Walking Tour on Saturday, May 16. It's open Sunday to Friday 8am– 6pm, and on Saturdays 9am– 4pm (and you won't be able to see the exhibition during cathedral services. For more information about I Am, You Are, We Are as well as the full HRAFF program, visit the festival website.
Don’t pack away your Halloween get-up so fast; Melbourne’s 10th annual Zombie Shuffle is right around the corner, and they’re coming for your brains. Starting at Treasury Gardens at 1pm, zombies will shuffle for an hour to wind up at Alexandra Gardens skate park. If you want to see the exact route, hit up their Facebook page. Despite the fact that zombies are often considered to be a lawless bunch, there are a few rules to abide by at this year’s shuffle. It may seem obvious, but this is a ZOMBIE shuffle, so don’t come dressed up as anything other than dead. Also, zombies don’t (often) use weapons during an apocalypse, and it’s requested you don’t bring any either, no matter how fake they are. Finally, respect your fellow zombies and non-zombies you might run into in the street; there is a no dickhead policy and road rules need to be adhered to. The best thing about the Zombie Shuffle every year is that people go all out, so embrace your inner undead and shuffle through the city like it’s the end of days.
Bringing together the best in blues and roots, Brunswick's annual music festival returns for yet another season. Now in its 27th year, 2015 sees an even bigger and more diverse lineup of both international and local acts. Across two weeks, venues across the suburb will play host to some of the best soulful acts to grace our shores. So what can you expect from Melbourne's only folk-centred festival? Iconic Aussie singer-songwriter Archie Roach, Canadian social activist Buffy Sainte-Marie and blues-rock guitarist Bombino, just to name a few. Taking place across multiple locations, attendees won't be short of things to see with an array of gigs, live street entertainment plus food outlets to keep you fuelled up for every single set. Let your hair down and swing by to one or all of the shows for a festival like no other.
April de Angelis’ Jumpy is an ode to middle-age anguish, with its central mother figure, Hilary (Jane Turner) caught up in a growing sense of disempowerment. It’s a play that taxis around the runway for hours, makes several abortive attempts at taking off, and returns its audience safely to the departure gate. What are the stakes at play here? Hilary’s fractious relationship with her daughter? Dissatisfaction with her mild, boring husband? The possibility of romance with another man, who’s somehow even more insubstantial and weak-willed than her own partner? There’s no reason that middle-class ennui can’t make for thrilling, vital and compelling theatre; after an hour I can’t escape the memory of Jumpy’s director Pamela Rabe performing in the same company’s 2009 production of God of Carnage. We’ve seen it before, we know it’s possible. At one point in Jumpy, a gun is brought onstage only to be accidentally fired and quickly taken off. Is the conflict here the absence of one? Is drama something that these characters (and this audience) want to fetishise and control; to parcel out and ingest in safe communion? As a comedy, the play’s banal humour trades in stereotypes that would be offensive if they weren’t so wilfully implausible: “Have you lit a barbecue before?” “I must have, I’m a man.” Beyond these interchangeable, Men are from Mars jokes, the play’s teenage characters are hollow caricatures, phones always in hand, and often impossibly frank with adults about fake IDs and underage drinking. Even the cheapest jokes can be forgiven. But Jumpy’s politics are just as painfully unconstructed. De Angelis’s female characters make wispy invocations of distant feminist protests in their youth, feelings that never run deeper than shoehorned references to Greenham Common. It all adds up into a two-hour long shrug; the characters’ lingering feeling that this was not how our lives were meant to be. Towards the end, the deflating revelation that explains the play’s title is enough to provoke physical despair for this text. It’s as if the emotional impact of Citizen Kane’s central "Rosebud" had been dissolved in a thousand parts of water like a homeopathic cure. But the audience is pleased, filling the theatre with murmurs, gurgles, and harsh intakes of breath. They repeat lines to their neighbours, either in cloistered disbelief, or because they didn’t quite catch them the first time around: “What was that?” “She said mental-pausal!” I know that Jumpy is not meant for me, not to my taste; that it’s catnip for these MTC subscribers. And all of this criticism is no slight against a solid cast who actually acquit themselves well. In particular, it’s great to see some of the city’s exciting young actors like Dylan Watson and Tariro Mavondo make compelling mainstage debuts. But when all those performances are in service to a turgid script, what’s the point? Menacingly, the company’s Artistic Director Brett Sheehy invites us to treat Jumpy as a “taster” of MTC’s season to come.
One of the most prominent events of its kind outside of China, the Golden Koala Film Festival is back for another year. With engagements in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, this annual festival will once again showcase a selection of critically acclaimed Chinese movies — including multiple Australian premieres. A black comedy about a reformed gangster who decides to open a kindergarten, Uncle Victory won the Grand Jury Prize at last year's Shanghai Film Festival. Other standouts include Tsang Tsui Shan's multigenerational documentary Flowing Stories and the critically acclaimed drama Blue Sky Bones (shot by award-winning Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle). All films in the program will compete for the prestigious Golden Koala Award, which is bestowed by a jury of Australian filmmakers. Best of all, because the festival is designed to promote Chinese cinema, all the screenings are absolutely free.
Every family has its own stories, but how many can you remember? Every Thursday for over 50 years, Ab Solomons drew a picture on his weekly wage packet for his wife to keep, creating a series of more than 3000 drawings that chronicled their daily life in London's East End. It wasn't until Danny Braverman discovered his great-uncle's doodlings, stored in an old shoebox, that these forgotten memories found a new life on stage. In his disarmingly simple, one-man production, Braverman projects a series of selected drawings and relates the stories behind them. After success at the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe, winning the British Way Award for best new play that same year and then premiering in Australia at Sydney Festival, Wot? No Fish!! has come to Melbourne. Don't miss this honest portrait of the ups and downs of family life – a production that reveals both the comic and affecting moments of the everyday, while exploring ideas of storytelling, forgotten memories and family secrets.
Ready to get Freudian? Darebin Arts year-round theatre program, Speakeasy, is celebrating its third year of innovative performance with a new dance work from emerging company Phantom Limbs. Their latest work, Dreamlogic, explores the subconscious to engage with the 'shadow self'. While the subconscious is an area often studied by psychologists, this performance draws on scientific research to examine our neurological perceptions and their connections to our bodies, minds and the world around us. From founding fathers Jung and Freud to modern day neuroscience and MRI technology, the subconscious appears to be something we're endlessly fascinated by. Dreamlogic purposefully plays with the mind, creating visual illusions with two bodies that'll leave you questioning your own eyes. Artistic duo James Welsby and Amy Macpherson have choreographed the work, which is performed by Welsby and James Andrews. This March, Phantom Limbs want you to explore the darker corners of your mind. Image credit: Ashley McLellan.
It's not a food festival without food trucks, right? Well, apparently. As part of this year's Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, the city's most-followed food trucks will congregate on the lawn of the Melbourne Convention Centre over one weekend. All your favourites will be making an appearance, including Taco Truck (phew), Beatbox Kitchen (thank heaven), Gorilla Grill and Greek Street Food. Lil Nomnoms and TOASTA will be there too, but only on Sunday. If you don't head down South Wharf-way much, this is our chance — and if it's a nice day, you could incorporate a stroll down to the South Melbourne Market too.
