The recent trend of cinemas screening 'live' showings of stage production is a strange sort of phenomenon. An imperfect marriage of mediums, these shows seem on the one hand like a rather counterintuitive concept, possessing neither the immediacy of theatre nor the aesthetic craftsmanship of film. On the other, it’s a testament to the power of great art that these screenings have proven so popular with audiences, with the quality of the productions transcending the shortcomings of the exhibition. There’s also something nicely democratic about the idea that viewers in Australia can sit down and enjoy a show from the Bolshoi Ballet or the New York Metropolitan Opera — and all for little more than the price of a ticket to an Adam Sandler movie. The latest live show to hit screens around the country is the UK Donmar Warehouse’s production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. It's one of the Bard’s longer, grimmer and generally less well known works, although perhaps that’s changed in the wake of the recent film adaptation directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes, the play tells the story of Caius Marcius Coriolanus, a fierce Roman General whose prowess as a military man is matched only by his woefulness as a politician. Perhaps in acknowledgement of the cross-over nature of her international viewing audience, Josie Rourke, both director of the play and artistic director of the trendily stripped-back warehouse theatre where it’s being staged, casts Tom Hiddleston (Thor) in the lead. It’s a little stunty, maybe, but he’s a great actor either way, bringing both gravitas and humanity to the play’s proud and prickly protagonist. Coriolanus has nothing but contempt for the common man, who the script portrays as a fickle, easily led mob. If the notion of a righteous patrician class is rather outdated, the 400-year-old text’s depiction of the two-faced politicians who connive behind Coriolanus’ back still feels right on the money. Hiddleston’s co-stars include a few recognisable TV figures, including Birgitte Sørensen (Borgen) as Coriolanus’ wife and Mark Gatiss (Sherlock) as his sole political ally. The entire supporting cast acquits themselves well, with one huge exception: Emma Freud as herself, the inanely bubbly presenter, whose fawning, superficial interview with Rourke between the end of intermission and the beginning of act two could not be a bigger or more nauseating distraction. Nothing like hearing about how Tom Hiddleston was recently voted MTV’s sexist man alive to put you back in the headspace for a violent Shakespearean tragedy. Perhaps the producers felt they had to spice up their broadcast with supplements. They shouldn’t have. The production is strong enough on its own. Coriolanus will be on screens for a strictly limited season. For a list participating cinemas and screening dates, visit www.ntlive.com.
Five minutes into Sex Idiot I had to put my reviewer’s pad and pen away — halfway through scribbling the immortal lines “pre-cum doesn’t count”. Bryony Kimmings has brought Melbourne a show that’s so tender, sly and warm that it’s impossible to look away. It’s a deceptively simple premise: Kimmings gets an STI test, discovers a common sexual disease and gets in contact with her former partners. On the surface it might sound like a familiar formula; the kind of narrative that’s convenient to market and even easier to hang jokes on. But Kimmings stretches the stale traditions of stand-up in every direction at once, making a work that straddles (and grinds) the line between comedy and her background in performance art. She wrings the story through so many different styles and costume changes with a delivery that oscillates so quickly between mock seriousness and devastating confession that we’re left reeling. The responses to emails from her partners are bound up in anecdotes about each lover, before she rebirths each in song, dance or movement. At some points the unspoken, physical narrative that pours unspoken from Kimmings’ body is so breathtaking that it’s easy to forget you’re watching a comedy. But that’s the beauty of Sex Idiot — by embracing the tragedies bound up in sex and love the show becomes as true to life as it is funny. Moreover, though most comedians like a bit of audience involvement — whether it’s making fun of punters for coming in late or inviting heckles from the floor — Kimmings leaves them all for dead in Sex Idiot’s inevitable climax. After inviting audience members to harvest their pubes, she gathers them all up and sticks them to her face as a prop moustache. See? Impossible to look away. Unmissable at this year's comedy festival. For more coverage of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, check in with our regularly updated diary.
Book-to-film adaptations can go either way. Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather was so good that the novel's author, Mario Puzo, said he wished he'd written a better book. Conversely, The Cat in the Hat made you want to push sharp, salty popcorn into your eyeballs. It's usually when a film makes artistic changes from the source material that the ire of the book's fans is most extreme, and (arguably) nobody feels more passionately about the fundamentals of their favourite book than Christians. Now, I'll admit it's been a while since I read the Bible, but — try as I might — I simply cannot remember the bit about Transformers. Maybe it was in the Book of Michael? Or was it Bay? Suffice it to say, it was more than a touch surprising to see them turn up in the opening scene of Darren Aronofsky's highly anticipated film Noah. Rather than Autobots, however, these giant fallen angels (not to be confused with 'The Fallen' from, yes, Transformers) are called 'The Watchers'. Made ostensibly from stone and speaking with about as much clarity as an underwater Bane, they mark the first of several major departures from, or least reinterpretations of, one of the best-known stories of all time (the next being Noah's propensity to dispatch entire gangs of men with nothing but a tiny blade like he was some sort of biblical Jason Bourne). Thankfully, for Aronofsky, these embellishments and emendations contribute to, rather than detract from, what is literally the epic tale of good and evil. With a budget of US$125 million, Noah has the resources of a blockbuster and a narrative from scripture yet avoids many of the trappings of both. Cerebral and unsanctimonious, it is, in Aronofsky's words, "the least biblical film ever made". God is only ever referred to as 'the Creator', and themes of environmentalism and survivor's guilt outweigh those of sin and the downfall of man. As the film's eponymous lead, Russell Crowe is simply excellent. With his eyes alone he can sparkle with joy or threaten with burning menace, and in Noah that menace increasingly captures the character's singular, unwavering fidelity to his divine cause — culminating in a horrifying personal choice. Alongside him, Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson play the loyal yet conflicted wife and adopted daughter, while Anthony Hopkins offers an amusing turn as Methuselah. Rounding out the ensemble is Ray Winstone as Tubal-cain, a descendant of Adam's son inserted into the plot to provide the film with a specific antagonist rather than relying simply on the generality of 'all sinful humanity'. Cinematically, Noah is every bit the sumptuous spectacle the story deserves, with the highlight being an enthralling time-lapse chronicle of the 'first seven days' from the Book of Genesis (albeit with an amusing cross-fade just as evolution progresses to the point of simians, whereupon — cue dissolve — man pops separately into existence). No matter your faith (or even the absence of), this is an accomplished piece of direction and a powerful story of belief, devotion and — perhaps — obsession. https://youtube.com/watch?v=UAfJulXFYlc
It's not surprising to hear that the Spanish have a fair that not only runs for six days, but from noon until sunrise the following day as well. Usually celebrated in Seville with flamenco, tapas and lots of Spanish wine, Feria de Abril is this year having its own Melbourne reincarnation at Collingwood's Robert Burns Hotel. In celebration of everything the region has to offer, the Andalucian Party will bring the Spanish summer to Smith Street. The party kicks off at 12.30pm this Sunday, February 16, with fish, cured meats, tapas and Spanish drinks and flamenco flowing all afternoon. The event is free and dishes will range from $5-10 each. Just don't forget your castanets.
In 1977, Robyn Davidson decided she would walk west from Alice Springs until she hit the Indian Ocean, taking with her only her beloved dog and four camels. She was determined to do this alone, but, finding herself in need of money, was forced to allow National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan to document her journey. Davidson was told the trek would be suicide, but, undeterred, she set out anyway on her perilous, eventful journey. Filmmakers have been trying to adapt Tracks since the early 1980s, with even Julia Roberts attached in 1993. This is the sixth (and, clearly, the only successful) attempt to bring Davidson's story to the screen, and one has to wonder: what's with all the fuss? Davidson's story is certainly remarkable in terms of human achievement, but given our cinema is notoriously awash with characters undertaking dangerous walks across the unforgiving Australian landscape, do we really need one more? 'Need' is probably too strong a word. It's made. It's here. And all told, it's pretty good. Mia Wasikowska is especially impressive as Davidson, imbuing her with a determination required to sell the character. She delivers lines with a certain brand of confidence so rare in Australian acting. Lines of dialogue that would clearly clang noisily to the ground when delivered by others float effortlessly from Wasikowska's mouth. It's pretty clear why she's enjoyed such international success. Adam Driver, best known from Lena Dunham's Girls, is equally superb as Smolan. Driver is a compelling presence, and though his character is an irritant to Davidson, he is a welcome presence to us whenever he appears. The film's biggest problem is the lack of motivation. Davidson may have felt a compulsion apropos of nothing, but the rules of film are different. If we're to invest in this journey, feel sympathy for our heroine, we need to feel some portion of what she feels. We need to care. And "I felt like it" doesn't quite get us there. This, naturally, almost undermines the entire movie. It's difficult to relate to someone doing something seemingly pointless the hard way, for the sake of doing it the hard way. I suspect Davidson's memoir does a better job selling us on this, but the audience should not be expected to read the book first. That said, it's a testament to the film that it can survive this misstep so well. John Curran's direction is effective and tangible, and Marion Nelson's screenplay depicts Davidson's isolation particularly well. Mandy Walker's superb cinematography makes the landscape seem terrifying and seductive all at once. Title cards at the end inform us what happened next, and give the proceedings an annoying retroactive feeling of unearned worthiness, souring this reviewer at the worst possible moment. Despite this, Tracks is an engaging, beautiful film that overcomes its flaws impressively. https://youtube.com/watch?v=RyDCfuYTX_U
Clare Bowditch is a pretty busy lady. She writes killer songs, acts in Offspring (haters be quiet, that show is incredible), runs Big Hearted Business (a company aiming to help creatives make money and vice versa), has two kids and boasts a knack for making you feel like you're the only person in the room when she performs. This is rather good news for you, because she's coming to The Corner Hotel. Bowditch is lacing up the tour boots this July for her Winter Secrets Tour, the perfect lure to get out and about in the middle of winter. We probably should have mentioned she has eight successful albums and a 15 year music career to pack on the tour. Why should you go? Because Bowditch describes the shows as an 'Interactive Co-Creative Transformative Absurd Joyful Experiences between Audience and Performer'. How can you say no to that? Ex-Magic Dirt frontwoman turned solo artist, Adalita, will be the opening act in each state with tunes from her latest album All Day Venus. She'll also be joining Bowditch onstage for a joint performance. Bowditch is continuing her Winter Secrets tour tradition. One local musician in each state is getting the chance to join Bowditch on stage to perform one of her songs and be in the running to win $1000. Hello music career. This year, the song to nail will be 'I Thought You Were God'. Winners will be announced closer to each date. https://youtube.com/watch?v=aqppMH8_uYQ
Howler is all about being cheap and cheerful this August, by hosting a slew of local talent in on Sunday nights for the whole month — and all it's going to cost you is a tenner. 'In For 10' nights at Howler are a great chance to check out some live and local artists in their top notch band room. Doors open at 6pm every Sunday and tickets are only available at the venue. You can check out the lineup on their Facebook page, so if there's someone you're especially keen to see, we'd recommend penciling a Sunday session into your diary. We're particularly geared up for the first Sunday, featuring Andras Fox with Oscar Key Sung. Last time we saw these two together was at Golden Plains 8, where they played a beautiful early afternoon set in matching Pharrell hats. Both acclaimed artists in their own right, when these two get together it's all about the blissful vocals. Also joining the pair for the evening is Sui et Sui and Elevator Alligators. https://youtube.com/watch?v=0ThKZfGjbqE
You could drive an Argo through the gaps in history, the discrepancies between opposing accounts, the complexities of narrative accuracy. This amnesia that exists between cause and effect is one that genuinely fascinates emerging Melbourne-based curator, Amelia Winata, in a brand new exhibition: What Follows Came Before. The recipient of the inaugural SEVENTH Gallery Emerging Curators’ Program, Winata has crafted her latest exhibition with artwork focused around diaspora — and how this term is often merged with cosmopolitanism in the age of globalisation. What Follows Came Before sees artists working in several different mediums, from painting and site-specific immersive projections to a large-scale installation. Artists featured in this exhibition include Mariana Jandova, Phuong Ngo, Nikos Pantazopoulos, Steaphan Paton and Julie Shiels. Capitalising on their respective styles, Winata's chosen artists invite viewers to reconstruct the personal narratives of others — and consider the gaps in the story.
Alright everyone, look busy; Sheezus is coming. Headlining Splendour in the Grass at the end of this month, Lily Allen will be performing just two sideshows during her stay — one in Sydney and one in Melbourne. Allen is known for putting on a furiously fun-filled live set, often featuring some pretty colourful costumes – and plenty of banter. Most recently the 29-year-old stepped in for Two Door Cinema Club at Latitude Festival, and even when put on the spot didn't disappoint. Allen's third album Sheezus was released earlier this year and while it was met with mixed reviews, it has certainly had chins wagging. Most notably the first single 'Hard Out Here' with that video clip assured fans that Allen would be as outspoken and tongue in cheek as ever. Having said that, Allen is also incredibly capable of displaying a pretty candid side in her music — it's that contrast between vulnerability and volatility that makes her such an intriguing artist. If it's straight-up entertainment and bragging rights you're after, don't miss this. https://youtube.com/watch?v=lDlofPAOZy0
This article is sponsored by our partners, Rekorderlig. Christmas in July first took hold in Australia back in 1980. An otherwise cheery group of Irish travellers hanging about in the Blue Mountains got teary when they saw snowflakes falling outside their window and, instead of moaning about it, decided to throw themselves a Christmas dinner six months early. Ever since, Australians, especially in mountainous regions, have turned July into an excuse to indulge in Yulefest feasts, knock back an eggnog or three and generally get festive. If there's one place where the celebration takes on an especially Northern Hemispher-ean flavour, it's Thredbo. Between July 20 and 26, the resort will be transformed into a winter wonderland, complete with overloaded Christmas trees, glittering tinsel, fairy lights, baubles, toasty log fires and gallons of mulled warm Winter cider from Rekorderlig. Various eateries will be hosting epic, multi-course feasts, serving up all the European goodies that our ridiculously hot December Christmases often make unpalatable. Think stuffed turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, mince pies, plum pudding and mulled wine. Plus, there'll be a steady stream of live entertainment and, of course, a visit or several from Santa Claus, who, according to rumour, has been waxing his skis in preparation.
Think about your favourite musician. Now, have a little ol' fantasise about where they rehearse, record and hang out with your other favourite musos. If you can't get a clear image in your head of such a heavenly place, relax. The legendary Bakehouse studios are throwing open the doors for an open day at their Richmond digs. With musicians the likes of Nick Cave, Tool, Beck, The Cat Empire, The Drones, Paul Kelly, Ladyhawke and a bucket-tonne more to have played within these walls, Bakehouse is a pretty special place. The Hoddle Street staple will be opening their glorious doors for the first time ever and to celebrate, Leaps and Bounds Festival are throwing a street party with plenty of music and frivolity. There's also going to be enough contemporary Aussie art to poke a metaphorical stick at, and Bakehouse have also let loose their artist buds to create innovative and immersive installations within the rooms of the studio. It's probably the hippest thing that's ever happened to Melbourne to date; you should almost certainly check it out for bragging rights alone.
Of all of Earth's natural resources, it is water that is perhaps the most precious. We need it to drink; to grow food; to bathe in. It's the key ingredient in industry and agriculture. It's part of recreation, sport and religious practices all around the world. It drives our entire planet, nourishing every living thing. And so often, we take it for granted. It's a finely tuned balance, but one that can easily be thrown off its axis. Watermark isn't your typical environmental doco, although it makes the need for environmentalism clear. Directed by Canadian documentarian Jennifer Baichwal along with photographer Edward Burtynsky, the film consists of contrasting scenes and interviews, shot in every imaginable corner of the globe. Ranging from images of everyday domesticity to events of staggering scale, each sequences sheds further light on the importance of H2O. Using a variety of techniques including aerial photography, slow motion and time-lapse, the sorts of visuals the filmmakers capture are nothing short of astounding. In the opening few minutes, for example, we see millions of tonnes of water crashing through giant floodgates as part of the annual silt release at the Xiaolangdi Dam in China. One abrupt cut later, and we're looking at a desert; a grey, dried-out wasteland that was once the Colorado River. The juxtaposition could hardly be more striking. Over the next 90 minutes we're taken all around the world. On a single day in India, 30 million Hindus cleanse their sins in the holy Ganges. At Huntington Beach in California, the world's best surfers compete for fortune and fame. On the edge of the East China Sea, abalone farmers tie their floating houses together; the idea is that if a typhoon severs one anchor, the rest hold the structure in place. Elsewhere canals and tributaries weave mesmerising patterns across the land. Yet while the imagery is beautiful, its implications are often dire. In Bangladesh, toxic runoff mixes with river water. Vast areas of the world are ravaged by drought, while at the frozen polar ice caps the sea levels start to rise. Scientists studying ice in Greenland provide the film with its most explicit statements about mankind's effect on our plant. But we also hear from farmers, fisherman and leather tanner in the developing world, communities that feel the impact of environmental changes firsthand. https://youtube.com/watch?v=2FHi2n9NPPY
The Thredbo Freestyle Series is one of the few comps on the planet that calls for skiers of all levels. Whether you carve it up like Lindsey Vonn or you’re still experiencing pride at your newly acquired snow ploughing skills, you can get in on the action. And let’s face it: the more variety there is, the more fun the spectators will have. Five events make up the series — Slopestyle, Ridercross, Big Air, Banzai off the Bluff and Rails — and they’ll be happening over the course of July and August. Winners will be announced in every event, and, at the end, an overall, out-of-control Freestyle champion will be crowned. To be a part of the first chapter of the affair — Rails — rock up at the Thredbo Tennis Courts on Thursday, July 17. At 3.30pm, you’ll be handed your bib; from 4pm, training will begin; and, at 5pm, skiers and boarders of all abilities, shapes and sizes will head to Friday Flat for the starting gun. Once darkness starts to fall, spotlights will take over, keeping visible the array of specially built course features and the athletes attempting to conquer them. Live DJs will be supplying the tunes. Don’t fancy competing? Just come along and watch — it's a visual spectacle worth dragging yourself out of the Rekorderlig Hot Pool for.
While there are lots of words you might use to describe Northcote, 'magical' wouldn’t normally be one of them. But that all changes for two weeks in July, with the arrival of the largest magic showcase the Southern Hemisphere has to offer. With more than 50 different acts hosted at the Northcote Town Hall, the seventh annual Melbourne Magic Festival looks to have plenty of tricks illusions up its sleeve. The MMF Galas highlight top acts from the festival, although you'll need to act fast to grab tickets before they sell out. Of the individual shows, some of the more intriguing titles include Sarah Jones' Talking to Yourself: A History of Ventriloquism and Dane Certificate's Vanishing Elephant. High profile international performers, meanwhile, include America's Got Talent finalist Dan Sperry, and Singapore's enchanting Yong Tian. There's also a variety of family options, including the irresistibly titled Make Your Parents Disappear. Lastly, for any burgeoning wizards out there, the festival offers a heap of different workshops and classes. Just try not to set yourself on fire. For more information about the Melbourne Magic Festival, check out the website.
While Melbourne is generally the best place to be if you're a hip thespian, it's about to get a whole lot better. MTC's annual NEON Festival of Independent Theatre is back for another year, and it's bringing with it five exciting new works from up-and-coming companies (and a heap of free events to boot). Did someone say free? Yes! You’re darn right they did! A drawing card for NEON is its many free events. Broke creatives are the target audience, so these events are sure to be bustling with exciting, vibrant and upcoming kids of the theatre scene. Included in these freebies are late night play readings for NEON UP LATE run by Melbourne theatre darlings MKA. Whilst NEON EXTRA will see to it that workshops, masterclasses and public lectures provide you with the networking and arts industry knowledge you’re after. It’s free, so really you’d be losing money by not going. First company up is Little Ones Theatre. From May 29, this queer theatre collective will be re-imagining Dangerous Liaisons in a seductive, extravagant, and opulently playful start to the festival. Then from June 12 things will be getting a little more serious with Angus Cerini and doubletap. Delving into the nature of existence, Resplendence will beusing the international trade in weapons, drugs and people to springboard into an expressionistic response to everyday life. Midway through NEON audiences will be treated to the work of Antechamber Productions and Daniel Keene. From June 26, the MTC will be home to Photographs of A. This poetic production starring Helen Morse examines the life and work of Louise Augustine Gleizes, an extraordinarily influential figure in modern psychology. From the mind to the body, NEON will then present The Myth Project: Twin from July 10. Featuring a large ensemble cast from Arthur, this will be the first instalment of a highly physical work about myth and murder. Then, to finish off an amazing month of theatre Sans Hotel and Nicola Gunn will present Green Screen. Part careers expo, part social experiment, this will be a work that looks at identity and who we are we can no longer be defined by what we do. We know it's a lot to take in. It's definitely a jam-packed month for lovers of the theatre, but don't worry it'll all drift over you in a beautiful haze. Head to the NEON website to find out more, make sure to fill your quota of freebies and Q&As and, as always, check out something new. It wouldn't be a festival of independent theatre, if you didn't take a chance on a newbie.
This legendary New York duo are hitting up The Corner this Wednesday to play a set of highly entertaining indie rock. They've brought with them a string of singles from their classic album With Love and Squalor, such as 'Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt' and 'It's A Hit', as well as tracks from their new album, TV en Francais. In addition to pumping out perfect indie tunes, these guys have a great sense of humour. Check out their clips for 'Nice Guys' and 'After Hours' for proof. Along with the standard tickets, there is also the option to upgrade to a deluxe ticket. This includes the opportunity to watch their soundcheck, meet the band and get a photo, attend an intimate performance of four songs, receive a limited edition four track CD and get some merch signed. Warming the stage for the duo are local legends, Cash For Gold and Flyying Colours. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Et9llKBJdEs
OMG Philip Quast! Sorry. We know that’s an undignified way to start a review of something as venerable as an MTC production of Henrik Ibsen but the sight of Quast on the posters for Ghosts has been exciting us for weeks. For those unfamiliar with him, Quast was the first man to play Javert in an Australian production of Les Miserables and his glorious stentorian voice has a special place in the hearts of theatre nerds nationwide. In Ghosts he plays a tormented priest, which is just perfect, opposite Linda Cropper (Offspring) who delivers a commanding performance as embittered widow Helene Alving. The drama on stage is so thick you could carve it. Ghosts is about as bleak a piece of theatre as you could wish for in your darkest hour. The widow Alving is sourly planning a memorial to her late husband, who she detested. Her maid (Pip Edwards), mistreated and manipulated by her drunken father (Richard Piper), schemes ruthlessly for advancement. Alving’s son (Ben Pfeiffer) is decaying with illness. Meanwhile Quast’s priest, Pastor Manders, scarce able to control his own tangle of emotions, savagely judges everyone else. Every single character is in some way haunted by their past. The ghosts of the title are not supernatural spirits but the echoes of bygone deeds, the lasting damage done by destructive people or obsolete ideas that continue to control people’s lives. The play appalled critics when it was first performed in the 1880s. It was described as “revoltingly suggestive and blasphemous", “as foul and filthy a concoction as has ever been allowed to disgrace the boards of an English theatre,” and “gross, almost putrid, indecorum.” Ibsen gave the critics a lot to be rattled by. Not only does the story includes illicit affairs, sexually transmitted disease and incest, the play’s indictment of outdated ideas is a clear tilt at religious moralising. MTC’s production, far from being putrid, is elegantly dark. The emotional tone is emphasised by a stark set, depicting the widow’s house as a mouldering barely furnished mansion. Rain beats constantly against a glass wall, heightening the feeling of entrapment, and characters frequently appear first through the fogged glass, like phantoms out of mist. At times the show does seem to waver between trying to modernise Ibsen and milking 19th century melodrama for all it’s worth. It can feel a little disjointed at times but this works in context with the script, which is after all about people failing to break free from their past. It is as if the play is also trapped by history, trying to modernise but unable to avoid sliding back into melodrama. While there are some inescapably dated elements — the depiction of illness in particular feels antiquated — Ibsen’s rage against the societal hypocrisies of his day shines through fiercely with strong resonance to our current time. It is still a powerful drama and this production drives that home with some blistering performances. Image: Jeff Busby.
Contemporary art is so often buzzy and fast. Trends change, innovation is the only thing that's sacred, and the more glitz and excitement the better. For a group of people stereotyped as contemplative and morose, it's strange we don't see more artists delving into the past. This latest exhibition at MUMA takes issue with exactly that. Marking the centenary of the First World War, sixteen artists from Australia and abroad have been tasked with examining the fleeting nature of time. In these works they create a solemn and considered monument to impermanence. With varied focusses on the destruction or abandonment of various social and geological phenomena, the artworks featured in the collection examine the nature of both memory and construction. In Comparative Monument, Tom Nicholson catalogues Australian war monuments that feature the word 'Palestine'. In Un-resettling, James Taylor re-erects Indigenous settlement areas along the Australian countryside. It's an earnest collection of works that admittedly aren't going to provide a pick-me-up on a weekend afternoon, but they will give your mind a workout. With social and physical changes in constant motion around us, it's important to take a moment to reflect. What better place to do so than the sacred space of the art gallery?
One of world cinema's great comic geniuses will be the subject of a career retrospective at the iconic Astor Theatre this week. Beginning on Saturday, June 14 and continuing over the follow two weekends, a trio of double features will showcase the complete works of Jacques Tati. After beginning his career as a mime, Tati turned to directing during the mid-1940s. While he only ever made six feature films in his lifetime, the Frenchman is widely held as one of the all-time greats, beloved for combining the irrepressible visual humour of the bygone silent era with a sly social commentary on the fast-paced modern age. Synonymous with his films is the beloved character of Monsieur Hulot, a pipe-smoking, umbrella-wielding forbearer to Mr Bean, who appeared in many of Tati's works including Mon Oncle and his masterpiece, Playtime. It'll be a treat to see such cultural history played out on the medium it was intended — the big screen at one of our most iconic theatres. For the complete Astor Calendar visit their website.
Looks like we have a new winter arts festival to get excited about, and it’s all going down on the south side. GLOW Winter Arts Festival will hold 50 events — many of which are free. It's happening over 11 days in August, and will feature everything from circus performers and comedy clubs to musical performances and art exhibitions. One highlight open throughout the festival is Architects of Air's Exxopolis, a cathedral-like luminarium that visitors can immerse themselves in. It’s about half the size of a football field, made with 3,000 square meters of plastic and will be placed on the Jam Factory rooftop for those curious for a new experience of colour and sound. Other parts of the festival to look forward to are the Shot in the Dark photographic exhibition, featuring images of people and places of Stonnington after dark. The images will be located in store windows and will only be viewable with a smartphone or tablet; figure that one out. For film buffs there is Flicks 'n' Feasts, which will pair delicious food offerings and free films in an outdoor laneway of the Prahran Market. Think kung fu and dim sum, Godzilla and sushi, and Bollywood and Indian curry. While there are many musical adventures to partake in during the festival, our pick would have to be The Rhythm Spectacular: The Music of Beyoncé where Adam Hall and The Velvet Playboys will reinterpret Beyoncé pop songs through the prism of R&B, New Orleans street beat and jazz. Intrigued? So are we.
Since we last heard from Jonathan Boulet, he's shaved off his beard, parted ways with Modular Recordings and swapped his electronica-dashed folk for rock. The Sydneysider also spent a year living in Berlin, where he recorded new studio album Gubba, released on July 18. "The new music will be described as post-pop, punk rock, chocolate-chip sludge, crust pop, rock pop, pop cock and cock stop in the rock blot bop," he explains in the promo video, "but it is neither of those things. For our children's sake, we shall henceforth categorise this music as rock." Gubba is Boulet's third release, following 2009's self-titled debut and 2012's We Keep the Beat, Found the Sound, See the Need, Start the Heart. For those familiar with his bass contributions to power violence band Snakeface, the album's driving guitars and distorted vocals might not come as too much of a surprise, but they're certainly a dramatic deviation from previous solo work. "I've always been a fan of trying to surprise people or get a reaction out of them," Boulet told the SMH. "I don't feel that my musical ventures are unpredictable, but there are lots of roads you can take and sometimes it's easier to take one road over another and sometimes you're presented with a new road you haven't had access to, and that's definitely more inviting." In August, he'll be hitting Melbourne's Northcote Social Club on Friday 15, Adelaide's Pirie and Co. on Saturday 16, Sydney's Goodgod Small Club on Thursday 21 and Brisbane's Black Bear Lodge on Thursday 28. https://youtube.com/watch?v=FOcziciUnr0
When Jurassic Park opened in 1993, Steven Spielberg presented us with dinosaurs of such terrifying and spectacular realism, they've not been bested in the more than two decades since. So too the giant, wreathing CGI tornados of 1996's Twister, upon which Spielberg acted as executive producer. Special effects have come a long way since then, and one unfortunate corollary has been the proliferation of movies based on them rather than bolstered by them. Consider the latest offering: Into The Storm — another 'nature attacks humans' film where the only twist is it wasn't directed by Roland Emmerich. Here, a series of twisters are on a collision course with a small American town, imperilling not only its inhabitants but also the storm chasers determined to film from within the eye of the tornado. Some kids get stuck in a mill, more get trapped in their school and… that's it. There's the plot. Storm come. Storm big. Storm destroy. Most annoying of all, this is another addition to the found footage genre of film — an entirely unnecessary device that's almost always ignored as soon it becomes too difficult to explain how or why someone was filming every single moment (in this case, a dramatic shot of 747s swirling around inside a giant tornado was not, presumably, filmed by a pigeon with a Go-Pro). Found footage also has a knack for making even decent actors look rubbish, as is the case here with Richard Armitage, aka The Hobbit's Thorin Oakenshield. His dialogue, whether scripted or improvised, seems horrifically forced throughout, representing a sort of poor-man's Frank Underwood narration. There is one drawcard here, and it's the weather. The menacing skies are spectacular and the force of the winds is well captured in the action sequences, yet it's nothing we'd not already seen all the way back in 1996. So, if it's a twister film you desire, save your money and revisit the only one actually worthy of the name. https://youtube.com/watch?v=A_kj8EKhV3w
In modern day Iran, filmmaking and censorship go hand in hand. Before a director can start work, their script must receive government approval, which means none of the material can be explicitly critical of the regime. In spite of this, Iranian filmmakers have been delivering a string of powerful works over the past few years, many of which rank among the best of what world cinema has to offer. Inspired by such success, Australia's Iranian Film Festival will this year emphasise the work of the country's young and emerging directors. The opening night film I'm Not Angry!, the sophomore effort from Reza Dormishian, chronicles a tumultuous love story set against the heated political protests of 2009. Other highlights include The Paternal House, a recently unbanned film that explores how an honour killing reverberates through the generations of a single family; and Fish & Cat, an existential horror movie shot in one unbroken take. Check out the full program at the Iranian Film Festival website.
There's an undeniable MC Escher-esque quality to Christopher Nolan's films: a recurring preoccupation with infinity, architectural impossibilities and mathematical paradoxes that explodes (if also confounds) on the screen. For the director and his brother, time and space are not constrictions but ideas to be played with, and engaging with them unconventionally is a device that often underscores their scripts, or — as was the case with Memento — forms their entire plot. Interstellar, Nolan's ninth and newest film, once again places time as the driving force behind the story. A lack of time, to be precise, because earth's days are numbered. In the near future, climate change has finally, fundamentally and — as we soon learn — irrevocably imperilled the planet and its remaining citizens. Farming is now the industry, and almost everyone does it. If you've ever had a taxi driver tell you he was formerly a surgeon in his own country, imagine that, but that on a global scale. Even former NASA pilots like Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) find themselves toiling the fields and ducking the sandstorms. But the crops are dying, and pretty soon there'll be nothing left to produce the oxygen required to sustain life. Earth's last hope, it turns out, is a secret NASA plan to seek out appropriate new planets for humans to live on in the far reaches of the galaxy. "Ahh," you might say, "that's all good and well, but the nearest ones are lightyears away." True, but hope springs forth courtesy of a wormhole that one day simply appeared in our solar system: a secret backdoor to viable new planets that the NASA team can only presume was 'sent' to us by a higher intelligence. So, Cooper makes the heart-wrenching decision to leave his kids behind and give both them and the planet one last chance at salvation. The crux, of course, is time. The distances and physics involved with interstellar travel — especially when relativity comes into play — mean time is measured in almost impossible scales. An hour on Planet X equates to seven years on the spaceship orbiting just above it, just as a day to Cooper represents a lifetime to the family he left behind. It's a device reminiscent of the 'dream within a dream' world of Inception, only here the stakes are so much higher. Naturally for a film of this scale, Nolan elected to shoot more than 100 of its 180 minutes in 70mm IMAX, and the result is breathtaking. Matched with a Hans Zimmer soundtrack that's so epic it sounds like the composer simply threw himself on a giant organ and writhed around for a few hours, Interstellar is a film that's experienced as much as it's watched. With clear allusions to its predecessors, including 2001, Contact and even Event Horizon, Interstellar still manages to forge its own unique style and story, albeit with 'revelations' that most will predict a long way off. Performance wise, McConaughey is solid in the lead and finds ample support from a packed ensemble featuring Michael Caine, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Topher Grace, John Lithgow, Wes Bentley, Casey Affleck and Ellen Burstyn. The standouts, however, are Mackenzie Foy as Cooper's rambunctious daughter Murph (named after Murphy's Law), and a faceless, wise-cracking robot named TARS. The conceit sounds cringeworthy, but the result is amazing, boasting some of the funniest, smartest lines in any film this year. In all, this will surely prove a divisive picture, with debates certain to arise over its science, storyline and ultimate resolution. Time-travel films inevitably involve paradoxes that, in turn, must (by tradition if not by law) spark heated arguments over causality and order and the misconception of time being linear and… well, you get the idea. It's not Nolan's best film, but it's perhaps his most ambitious, and it's to be applauded for its determination as well as its technical achievements. https://youtube.com/watch?v=0vxOhd4qlnA
When Martin Scorsese says a film is worth seeing, you damn well better pay attention. With a directing career that spans more than five decades and includes the likes of Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Raging Bull and The Departed, he's undoubtedly one of the greatest filmmakers to have ever walked the earth, and, as The Wolf of Wall Street showed us, every bit as edgy and vital in his 70s as he was in his 30s and 40s On top of all that, Scorsese is also a major player in the preservation and restoration of classic cinema, having helped establish both The Film Foundation and The World Cinema Foundation. His latest passion project is a showcase of classic Polish Cinema, which will be presented at ACMI over three weeks in October. Spanning from the '50s to the '80s, Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema features 13 seminal works, including Krzysztof Kieslowski international breakthrough A Short Film About Killing and Andrzej Wajda's WWII film Ashes and Diamonds. The latter entry is one that Scorsese considers among the greatest motion pictures ever made. For the full Masterpieces of Polish Cinema program, visit the ACMI website.
Master sommelier Madeline Triffon describes Pinot Noir as 'sex in a glass', while winemaker Randy Ullom calls it 'the ultimate nirvana'. One of the most challenging grapes in the world of vinification, it's also one of the most surprising and rewarding. No wonder Bottle Shop Concepts — the good folk who brought Game of Rhones our way in June — are coming back to town with Pinot Palooza, an epic travelling wine festival celebrating all things Pinot Noir. For just one day, wine connoisseurs in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will have the chance to sample more than 150 drops, direct from the Southern Hemisphere’s best producers. Think Ata Rangi, Yabby Lake, Bay of Fires, Rippon, Kooyong, Mount Difficulty — and that’s just the first few leaves on the vine. Whether you’re a newbie who wants to start with something light and inviting, or a Pinot pro ready for the biggest, most complex mouthful on the menu, there’ll be an abundance of selections at either end — and plenty along the spectrum, too. You’ll even be able to vote for your favourite and go in the draw to win some wine-driven prizes. If, at any point, you need to take a pause in your tasting adventures, you’ll be able to pop into the Alfa Romeo Lounge. There’ll be cosy places to sit and mull over your chosen Pinot, loads of food and the epic Burgundy Bar – a kind of Pinot Noir mecca where you’ll be able to sample bottles worth $150+ at affordable, by-the-glass prices. Expert sommeliers will also be on hand to help you make selections. What's more, those keen to fuel their brains (and not only their tastebuds), can indulge in a 'Back Stage Pass'. It's a chance to partake in a master class with some of Australia's smartest wine educators and learn all about what's happening in Burgundy, France — Pinot Noir’s spiritual home. Pinot Palooza will hit Melbourne on Saturday, October 4 at St Kilda Town Hall, Sydney on Monday, October 6 at Carriageworks and Brisbane on Sunday, October 12 at Light Space. Tickets are $60, which includes tastings, a take-home Riedel 'Heart to Heart' Pinot Noir glass and the latest issue of Wine Companion magazine. You can buy tickets right here.
Generations of Australian artists and comedians have spun parochial gold out of Queensland’s reputation as our country’s 'Deep North'. Queensland’s sub-tropical atmosphere might have suited a state with fertile ground for corruption, but Brisbane also played host to a thrilling punk music scene, which flourished in spite of the conservative repression presided over by Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen from 1968-1987. During that time the city gave birth to one of the world’s first punk anthems, The Saints' '(I’m) Stranded', as well as scores of iconic Aussie artists like The Go-Betweens and Xero. In Prehistoric, produced by Elbow Room and written by Marcel Dorney, four actors are taking up unfamiliar instruments in an ambitious attempt to recreate the raw vitality of Brisbane’s punk scene. The work premiered to rave reviews at Brisbane’s Metro last year and is now heading down south. Melbourne audiences might think that the play’s material sounds unfamiliar — a world away from the Glorious Socialist Republic that is our city’s inner north. But as the Coalition Government makes Australia a whiter shade of Joh each week, there’s no escaping the lessons that the era has to offer Australia in 2014. Together with Elbow Room’s enviable position as one of the country’s leading indie outfits, Prehistoric looks like an unmissable offering in this year’s Fringe. For more works at the 2014 Melbourne Fringe Festival, check out our top ten picks.
Dysfunctional siblings come together after ten years apart in The Skeleton Twins. Hardly the most original of storylines, but while it's true that this film could have easily fallen through the cracks like so many other Sundance dramedies no matter how well it was written — and make no mistake, this is a fantastic screenplay — it was to the film's incredible fortune that Saturday Night Live alumni Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader signed on to play the titular twins. The two clearly built up a rapport working together on the famed sketch comedy series for so long, and watching these two wonderful comedians play depressed sad-sacks who find comfort in each other's comedic company is a joy. They're believable as the troubled twins whose lives come crashing down in unison, and a sequence in which they mime their way through Starship's 1987 hit 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now' is a stellar, funny example of their unmatchable chemistry. Hader is Milo, so distraught over his nonexistent career in LA and a broken romance that he attempts suicide to the blaring tunes of Blondie. Wiig is Maggie, Milo's no less fragile sister, who we're introduced to with her own pile of pills in her hand and who lets Milo move in to recover alongside her and her husband, Lance (Luke Wilson). In their quaint hometown there is also Rich (Ty Burrell), a former teacher with whom Milo had an illegal affair during high school; their new-age mother (Joanna Gleason), who they blame for their problems; and an Australian scuba instructor (Boyd Holbrook) who Maggie has sex with to numb the sadness of her own disappointing life. The real surprise of the film is Hader, graduating from more juvenile cinematic entries like The To Do List and Men in Black 3 and giving a beautifully crafted performance that allows his knack for voice and facial expressions to shine in the stronger material. His reading of a line where he equates himself to a "tragic gay cliche" hums with melancholy as much as it made me guffaw. Wiig, finally finding an appropriate post-Bridesmaids vehicle, gives excellently matched work. The Skeleton Twins is a massive step forward for each of the principal talents involved and ought to make sophomore writer-director Craig Johnson a star, as well as propel Hader and Wiig into the big(ger) leagues. Perhaps more importantly, just like other recent comedies Obvious Child and Happy Christmas, Johnson's film proves that Hollywood needs to step up their game. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Bn4VpK0gdyU
Don your communist red, grab a megaphone and possibly swipe some rotten fruit on your way there — this is exactly what it sounds like. Brought to Fringe by Joshua Ladgrove (AKA Dr Neal Portenza), this simple but genius work involves pinning a picture of the maligned Federal Treasurer to the front wall of the theatre, letting in a bunch of pissed off people, and watching the beautiful and inevitable unfold before your eyes. It's a concept he's tried before. At last year's Fringe, Come Heckle Christ appealed to the filthy heathens among us and made for quite the show. This one understandably has a broader appeal. As Ladgrove himself states, it's really for "anyone not earning $500,000 or more". This event was chosen as one of the top ten things to see at this year's Melbourne Fringe Festival. See the full list here.
We like our cities big, bustling and constantly changing. But it doesn't hurt to sit down every so often and have a think about what we're actually doing. What does this new skyscraper mean for life in the city? How can we improve on design and function? Thankfully, this is exactly what is happening this week. Inspired by the forthcoming construction of the MPavilion in the Queen Victoria Memorial Gardens, The Wheeler Centre are hosting two talks with local and international designers, architects and thinkers. Architecture and Cultural Identity on Monday, September 15 will see David Gianotten in conversation with Virginia Trioli. Gianotten is a world-renowned architect based out of Hong Kong who has in the past done research for the Venice Architecture Biennale. During the one-hour session he will be advocating a case for local design culture — he claims you must totally familiarise yourself with a city if you intend to design for it. On Thursday, September 18, Creating a City with Meaning will see a panel of local architects give their perspective on the state of Melbourne's skyline. Debating issues like modern design, the importance of heritage, and the problems of Melbourne's impending population growth, they'll explore the role of architecture in our everyday lives.
There's a particular texture to Los Angeles after dark that suits stories of crime and self-interest to a tee. A desolate urban badland of freeways and fast food joints, there's this eeriness; this unnaturalness; this inescapable sense of menace; that seems to creep out of the concrete and set your nerves on edge. You can feel it in Michael Mann's Heat, or in Collateral a decade later. You can feel it in sections of Nicholas Winding Refn's Drive. And you can feel it in Nightcrawler, from writer-director Dan Gilroy, as it glides out of the darkness and seizes you by the throat. Always at his best when playing characters gripped by obsession — Jack Twist in Brokeback Mountain, Robert Graysmith in Zodiac, or Detective David Loki in last year's masterful Prisoners — Jake Gyllenhaal is in career-best form as Lou Bloom, Gilroy's unsettled protagonist, and our tour guide through the sordid LA underbelly. Inspired after witnessing a car accident, Lou decides to carve out a career as a 'nightcrawler', videotaping crime scenes and selling them to a local TV station for broadcast on the 6am news. As a portrait of the ratings-driven news industry, Nightcrawler is scathing, and brutally unsubtle. "Think of our newscast as a screaming woman, running down the street with her throat cut." That's the advice of Nina (Rene Russo), Lou's tough-as-nails contact at Channel 6 News. The fact that LA crime stats are actually going down is of little concern to her. In fact if anything, it makes Lou's footage ever more valuable. Watching the two of them negotiate the price of video from a triple homicide scene is so sickeningly callous that you may find yourself driven to laugher. To that end, it's tempting to call Nightcrawler a satire; a pitch black comic exaggeration of reality. And yet you can't help but wonder just how exaggerated it really is. Likewise, it's frightening to consider whether or not people like Lou actually exist. In an era in which film producers and marketing executives stress 'likability' above everything else, Nightcrawler strides boldly in the other direction. It's hard to remember the last film featuring a protagonist as flat-out sociopathic as Mr. Bloom. Hell, even Travis Bickle had good intentions. Full of wisdom cribbed from online self-help guides, Lou's wide grin and friendly demeanour is a bad approximation of humanity; a mask that hides a monster incapable of compassion or remorse.
The story behind Melbourne folk foursome Husky's new song, 'I'm Not Coming Back', sounds pretty damn cute. It's something to do with looking up at the stars in the night sky, seeing the lights of airplanes gliding under them and the universal need to leave parts of ourselves behind. Swoon. This whimsically starry-eyed vision fits perfectly with the soaring sounds of the track itself. But contrary to the song's title, Husky are indeed coming back — with a show at The Hi-Fi on November 29. The folk-fuelled whiz kids stole our hearts back in 2011 with their debut LP Forever So. Husky then became the first Aussie band to be signed to Seattle label and arbiters of cool Sub Pop, then toured pretty much non-stop around Australia, the USA and Europe for a couple of years. It's a good thing they stopped to take a break, because now we're privvy to a whole lot of new Husky — as well as promising to play much-loved tracks from Forever So, they'll be showing off their new album Ruckers Hill. Half a decade later and we're still swooning. https://youtube.com/watch?v=FkkSw4HM0_8
As The Delta Riggs return home for their national tour one wonders if these Brit rock look-a-likes from Melbourne, in their extra skinny jeans, Vince Noir haircuts and lyrics about winklepickers and marmalade shoes, will miss the Notting Hill scene they seem so at home in. The four-piece band, known for their gritty blend of blues, psychedelica and classic Brit rock are fresh off the plane from this year's CMJ Music Marathon — New York's five-day music mecca — keeping up the brutal momentum of an epic year in which they've hit over 20 European gigs and toured Australia with their long-time idols Kasabian. The new album Dipz Zebazios is described by lead singer Elliot Hammond as a "sonic shift" from their previous work, with singles 'The Record's Flawed' and 'Supersonic Casualties' dialling up the psychedelic guitars and keyboard to give an intoxicating, almost sinister sound. It's sure to be a high-energy, whisky-drenched tour as The Delta Riggs endeavour to perfect their unique Brit-rock-from-Fitzroy sound. https://youtube.com/watch?v=KEgB2ra5su8
Sibling rivalries and scandalous family secrets come bubbling to the surface following the death of a Moroccan business man, in this amusing and insightful (if mostly predictable) comic drama set at the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea. Heavily indebted to the collected works of Jane Austen, the new film from writer-director Laila Marrakchi distinguishes itself via a purposeful sense of cultural specificity within a more broadly relatable story. Rock the Casbah offers some shrewd observations on a society caught between the Islamic world and the West, particularly in regards to the role of women. At the same, Marrakchi's portrayal of familial dysfunction feels so maddeningly familiar that you'd swear it all took place around your parents' dining room table. Born in Casablanca but educated abroad, one imagines that Marrakchi feels a certain connectedness with her protagonist Sofia (Morjana Alaoui), the youngest daughter of wealthy Tangier businessman who now works as an actress in Hollywood. She's the only member of her family to have left Morocco, and as such, finds herself feeling decidedly out of place when she returns home to attend her father's funeral. Amidst the gossip and judgements of her sisters Miriam (Nabine Labaki) and Kenza (Lubna Azabal) and the cold stoicism of her mother Aicha (Hiam Abbass), Sofia is forced to confront her strained relationship with her late father, as well as the demons surrounding the suicide of her other sister, Leila, under mysterious circumstances years before. The film's opening titles established the contradiction of Tangiers, as women in conservative religious garb relax on the beach alongside others in bikinis. Although still governed by long-standing patriarchal traditions, there's a sense that the country's value structures are becoming increasingly outdated. Marrakchi, an outspoken feminist, laces her mannered domestic comedy with no shortage of scathing social criticism, including a contemptuous portrait of a deadbeat uncle who stands to inherit the family fortune simply because he's a man. Nor does she show any qualms in calling out the exaggerated assumptions many westerners have about the Muslim world: one of the great recurring jokes of the film revolves around Sofia's inability to find an acting job playing anything other than a terrorist. The film is at its best when poking fun at cultural stereotypes such as these. Even as religious men prepare the deceased man's body for burial, his crotchety old mother-in-law chows down on a McDonald's value meal in the other room. We watch the sisters drink like fish, joking and giggling about sex. Likewise, we watch them argue, bitterly and without any sense of decorum. In other words, they're a family, probably a lot like your own. Loud. Judgmental. But mostly brutally, agonisingly honest. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Zud2_-im5aM
Tony Mahony's The Mule is a film about a universal human experience. Its message of determination is one that anyone can relate to, regardless of their gender, their colour or their creed. In some ways, its protagonist Ray Jenkins epitomises the common man. He's not a superhero or a crime fighter, or even particularly smart. He just really, really needs to use the toilet. Such is the conceit of this '80s-set Australian crime comedy, one that gives new meaning to the words 'stomach churning'. Angus Sampson plays Mahony's eponymous drug mule, a dim-witted TV repairman detained by airport customs with a kilogram of heroin nestled snugly in his guts. It's a huge bust for the authorities, except for the fact that the only physical evidence remains trapped inside their suspect. Legally prohibited from x-raying his stomach without his consent, the only other option is to keep Ray in custody, and hope he goes to the bathroom before the seven-day holding period expires. So begins the longest week in Ray's pathetically misspent life. Strong-armed into drug-trafficking by a teammate on his local footy team (Leigh Whannell), Ray's a far cry from a criminal mastermind, and woefully ill-equipped for the pressures of police interrogation. Sampson — who co-wrote the screenplay with Whannell and Jaime Browne — does a good job of making his characters seem sympathetic, even if it's mostly in a sad, flop-sweaty kind of way. Ewen Leslie and Hugo Weaving, meanwhile, play the pair of federal police officers who are tasked with monitoring Ray's case. Both performances are excellent, although it's Weaving who's particularly funny as the moustachioed Detective Croft, a bullying old-school copper who grows more and more frustrated with every scene. The sheer absurdity of the situation lends the film an air of satire; there's something deliciously twisted about watching cops, crims, judges and lawyers all awaiting the outcome of a single, stubborn shit. Mahony and the trio of screenwriters also turn their lens on some of the worst and/or most cringeworthy elements of 'true blue' Australian culture. Even as Ray fights to keep his buttocks clenched, the country sits glued to the television, watching the last days of the 1983 America's Cup yacht race. The rampant nationalism is enough to make you squirm — as is the old Holden TV jingle that blares merrily across the airwaves. Football, hot pies, kangaroos and Holden cars? What a load of crap. The Mule will screen in Melbourne on Wednesday, November 26 with Hugo Weaving and Angus Sampson in attendance for a one-off Q&A session at Cinema Nova. This film releases on Tuesday, November 18.
You know a show is a big deal when you have to Google whether the musician is still alive or not. Thankfully for us, the legendary tambourine man is still very much alive and kicking. And, to celebrate his 73rd birthday yesterday, Bob Dylan is embarking on a month-long run of Australian and New Zealand tour dates kicking off in August. Though this birthday would signify the age of retirement for many, this world-renowned singer-songwriter is showing no signs of slowing down. Having last toured the country with his 2012 album Tempest, Dylan has recently been leaking new content on his website. After releasing a cover of Frank Sinatra's 'Full Moon and Empty Arms', some have suggested the prolific musician's next album — number 36 — could be a compilation of covers. Either way, it'll be a treat to see this living legend perform live. But be sure to get in early! With an iconic sound that has spanned generations, these all ages shows are bound to sell out quick. https://youtube.com/watch?v=e7qQ6_RV4VQ
Are you full of weird obsessions and obscure cultural knowledge? Do you love art and supporting local artistic institutions? Can you claim, to a reasonable degree of certainty, that you are in possession of nine or more friends? If your answer to all three of these questions is 'yes', then it sounds like you're the perfect match for the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art's 2014 Mega Quiz. A big-brained battle royale, the ACCA Mega Quiz is a bit of a step up from your local pub trivia — hence of hefty ticket price of $250 for a 10 person table. On the upside, the trimmings are a hell of a lot better than a stock-standard parma and pot, with a selection of gourmet finger food and a wide variety of drinks. Likewise, the prizes, which include weekend getaways, opera tickets and ACMI film memberships, blow a slab of Victoria Bitter out of the water.
If lighting design (including installation, photography, video, projection or object-based works) is your thing, then have we got something to brighten your day. Globelight is a program solely dedicated to showcasing the talents of both upcoming and established young lighting artists and designers. Lighting as a medium often blurs the line between art and design, and this sparky showcase celebrates this ambiguity. With 22 artists exhibiting in this year's program, there are three locations you can check out the Globelight works: old favourite The Abbotsford Convent, the Anita Traverso Gallery in Richmond and Incinerator Gallery in Moonee Ponds. Check out the program, find the nearest show and head along for a spot of enlightenment.
It's a region in the throes of political and cultural upheaval, but now you can get a nuanced glimpse inside the contemporary Arab world at the 2014 Arab Film Festival Australia. With documentaries, narratives and a selection of shorts from countries including Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, the films at this year's festival are connected by the theme of social change. A Jordanian-Palestinian co-production, opening night film When I Saw You transports audiences to Jordan in 1967, as the nation was faced by a sudden influx of Palestinian refugees. Also from Jordan comes May in the Summer, an indie dramedy about a young Arab-American woman returning to Amman from New York, to inform her family of her engagement. On a darker note, Lebanese documentary Scheherazade's Diary takes viewers inside the Baabda Women's Prison. Through dramatic therapy sessions organised by director Zeina Daccache, inmates recall harrowing personal tales of false imprisonment and domestic abuse. For the full program, visit the Arab Film Festival website. Image: May in the Summer. https://youtube.com/watch?v=tCHijjRwChs
It's 29 years since Queen last had Aussie crowds belting out their favourite lyrics at a live show. In that time, the Brit legends have endured the tragic loss of Freddie Mercury and struggled to find a replacement. In fact, since his death in 1991, no fewer than eleven singers have made appearances with the band, including David Bowie, Annie Lennox and Robbie Williams. However, it's 2009 American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert who's made the grade for this year's world tour. Before heading to Australia, he'll front Queen over the course of nineteen dates throughout the US. "The thought of sharing the stage for a full set in Australia is so beautifully surreal," Lambert said. "I'm honoured to be able to pay my respects to Freddie's memory. He's a personal hero of mine and I am deeply grateful for the chance to sing such powerful music for fans of this legendary band." The tough part, of course, will be getting your hands on a ticket. New shows have been added but the seats have been pretty much snapped up quicker than you can say "Yeah, I'm smelling like a dried fish bone." https://youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM
There's really no need to even convince you of this one. From 10am until 4pm on Saturday, August 30, beloved speciality grocers Aunt Maggie's will host an event for the ages in their Sydney Road store. Bringing together an amazing crew of established cocoa artisans, Brunswick Chocolate Festival is your number one destination for all things sweet this weekend. And the best thing about it? They offer free samples. With an emphasis on local, organic, and fair trade ingredients, Aunt Maggie's are uniting chocolate makers from all over Melbourne and beyond. Bearing the delicious fruits of their labour, folks from Conscious Chocolates, Pana Chocolate, Green & Black's, Wholly Cacao and more will all be in attendance. But this isn't just an opportunity to stuff your face with heavenly mousse and ganache. Each chocolate expert will also be there to talk you through the finer details of their craft. It's the perfect opportunity to grab some DIY tips while sipping on one of the most mind-blowing hot chocolates of your life.
The Queen Vic markets are embracing Melbourne’s artsy community once more in a joint venture with Craft Victoria. New Craft, a new design market held on the first Sunday of every month, is a goldmine if you’re on the hunt for handmade quality jewellery, ceramics, furniture, artwork, accessories, and other knick knacks. Some of the stall holders in May include ceramic and homewares specialists Bind | Fold, the clever design folk at Steller Atelier, the imaginative jewellery of One Sunday Morning and the colourful bags of Cassia Essentiels. Stallholders change every month, so each Sunday brings with it new designers and creatives to A Shed (located on the corner of Peel and Victoria Street). Like all things at Queen Vic, prices are reasonable and you won’t break the bank for quality pieces to decorate yourself or our home. Go on, treat yo' self and support local artistic talent. For an updated list of artists each month, check the New Craft website. Image: Steller Atelier.
Everyone likes going to movies, but let's face it: when it comes to in-theatre dining, your options are fairly limited. Sure, an extra large choc-top combo is fine if you don't mind day-old popcorn and taking a hacksaw to your savings account, but where's the variety? For that matter, where's the flavour? Well, this Wednesday at least, it's at the Village Cinema Drive-In out in Coburg. The first of what looks set to become a monthly tradition, the Coburg Drive-In Food Truck Festival will bring together some of the finest motorised meal vendors Melbourne has to offer, from Mr Burger and his Argentinian cousin Senor BBQ to Nem N' Nem Vietnamese and many more. After dinner, pick between one of three new releases: Sex Tape, Hercules and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Okay, fine, so they're not exactly classics, but we can recommend at least one of them. And at the very least, you're guaranteed to have eaten well.
You might not know the name Eddie Marsan, but odds are you'd recognise his face. With a list of film credits that includes The World's End, War Horse, V for Vendetta as well as the Mission: Impossible and Sherlock Holmes franchises, he's the kind of unflashy, underappreciated character actor who disappears into whatever role he's given. Still Life, the new film from Full Monty producer Uberto Pasolini, marks a rare opportunity for Marsan to take centre stage. The result is so beautifully affecting you'll wonder why it doesn't happen more often. Indeed, Marsan's part in Still Life feels like the one he was born to play. A middle-aged London municipal officer, John May's job is to see to the affairs of people who have recently died. He goes about his work with minimal fuss and in return gets little thanks for his efforts. He's a quiet man, dignified but lonely, and seemingly more comfortable around the dead than he is the living. Early on in the film, May's smarmy new boss calls him into his office and informs him that he'll be downsized out of a job. May, being the man that he is, doesn't protest, only asking that he be able to finish his last case: tracking down the relatives of a grizzled military serviceman who just happened to reside in the same crumby apartment block as he does. As the title suggests, Still Life isn't particularly fast paced. Concerned with the sad, solitary minutiae of everyday life, Pasolini's direction is intentionally reserved — the drab whites, greys and blues of May's office and empty flat a reflection of his unremarkable life. Yet the film is not boring or bleak; on the contrary, Still Life possesses a tenderness and humanity that is extraordinarily powerful. It's a film that celebrates selfless acts of kindness, and going beyond the call of duty because it's simply the right thing to do. A few moments skew towards mawkishness, admittedly, but for the most part the balance is just right. In a turn that pays tribute to thousands of unremembered lives, Marsan's performance could hardly be more perfect. It's in large part thanks to his wonderful work that Still Life resonates to the degree that it does. If more filmmakers entrusted their projects to actors like Marsan, their movies would be all the better for it. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Gt9CsXrlO8Y
New York punk rockers Skaters are a throwback to the sound that defined their home city decades ago. Blasting out tunes stripped back to their bare bones and exuding pure energy, it's no surprise that the band's debut album Manhattan is being critically acclaimed — especially with tracks like the uncontrollable-dance-inducing 'Miss Teen Massachusetts'. Thankfully, those good folk over at Splendour in the Grass convinced the American quartet to bring their sound to Australia. The lads have subsequently decided to take in the sights while they're here and you can catch them at their sideshow at The Corner Hotel in all of their pre-festival glory. No exhaustion, just pure, thrashing-about excitement. Joining Skaters are fellow Splendour band Darlia, who were last year described by BBC Radio 1's Nigel Harding as "the most exciting new guitar band in the UK" — and Harding knows his stuff. Having only been in the game for a year, the British trio have headlined for the impressive likes of The Libertines. Their sound has been described as the eclectic blend of flavoursome Britpop and Seattle nineties grunge. Nineteen-year-old lead singer, Nathan Day, says that he has been preparing music since the tender age of ten. In an interview with BBC he explained that he composed music with intimate venues in mind. He likens the endurance of rock music to that of mould. "The longer you look at mould and don't do anything about it… it will just get bigger." Weird, but we'll take it. Two hypeworthy acts for a bargain price? Right on. Words by Matt Watson and Natalie Freeland. https://youtube.com/watch?v=WSaPHFsZTZo
This latest work from Natalie Abbott is all about extremes. Big and small, toned and flabby — for something so diverse, it's nothing short of amazing that our bodies all operate in much the same way. In Maximum, Abbott is set to explore these differences and push them into the extreme. Joined on stage by a bulky male body-builder, this small lithe dancer will investigate the universal nature of the body and test its limits via the oh-so-gruelling medium of physical movement. Featuring dance, posing, lifts and even fake tan, Maximum seems more like a durational live art piece than a formal show. This is exacerbated by the fact it has nearly 10 performances in under two weeks. Yikes. Our muscles are hurting already (but we can't wait to see the results). This event originally appeared as one of our top picks for the 2014 Next Wave Festival. See the full list here.
Next Wave Director, Emily Sexton, once described this artist's work as having an "eloquent politics", and this latest offering is no exception. From March 1 - 11, Phuong Ngo will be living in plain sight at No Vacancy Gallery with the same rations his parents had on their 10-day boat journey to Australia in 1981. In an act with obvious but important political implications, Ngo invites audience members to sit with him during the work and fold origami boats out of bank notes while listening to narrative recordings of other Vietnamese refugees. On the final night these boats will be burned in a huge, ritualistic fire. This event originally appeared as one of our top picks for the 2014 Next Wave Festival. See the full list here.
Few festivals in Australia have the energy and dynamism of Next Wave. Even though its just hit 30 years of age, the festival is still bouncing around in fluoro lycra, staying out in galleries all night, finding the best emerging artists from home and abroad. This year Next Wave boasts a lineup of 239 artists over a month-long program in locations all across the city. And, with a real life fight club and a yoga dance party, the work on show is unlikely to disappoint. Themed 'New Grand Narrative', festival director Emily Sexton defines this year's offering as "a rallying call". "Many institutions that operated throughout the 20th century are cracking," she says. "These institutions have deep, deep flaws, and in this time of transition – to what, we don’t know – we offer this festival and these artists, as a series of potent visions for a new world, and the relationships within it." Accordingly, much of the work on show is concerned with outsider stories. From the festival's keynote initiative Blak Wave to a puberty-themed games arcade made by transgender artist Jackson Fydim Stacy — Next Wave tackles the big issues with thoughtful detail and a little bit of a cheeky grin. For more information, check our top picks of the festival or see the Next Wave website.
"What really matters is what you like, not what you are like. Books, records, films — these things matter." - Rob Gordon, High Fidelity. Every muso at one point in their life has wanted to be Rob Gordon from High Fidelity. Not so much for the heartbreak and thirtysomething life crisis, but more for the fact that his job required him to chill with Jack Black and let good music like The Beta Band sell itself. The record store is a place of refuge for creative types like us and now, once a year, we congregate to worship at its dusty vinyl feet. Record Store Day Australia will be happening this Saturday, April 19. For those not yet acquainted with this most auspicious occasion, it brings with it specials on stock, free live music and general good times. TITLE on Gertrude Street, Fitzroy will be hosting three bands from 3.30pm; Polyester Records on Brunswick Street will feature guest DJs in store as well as taking a special event to the Evelyn Rooftop at 2pm; and Readings St Kilda will be blessed with a special performance from Record Store Day ambassador Dan Sultan. Aside from all that, the best way to experience the magic will be to visit your local record store. Even if there aren't any big events going on, it's important to take time to appreciate the fact such a great creative oasis still exists at all. For a full lineup of gigs around Melbourne check the Record Store Day website.
If her previous work is anything to go by, then Polly Borland’s Wonky should be a pretty outrageous exhibition. For an artist not many Melbournians would be familiar with, Borland has smashed the international stage with her portraits of famous faces such as Cate Blanchett, Nick Cave, Germaine Greer and Queen Liz II, not to mention that series where she photographed a bunch of dudes dressed as babies. Born in Melbourne but living overseas, the undeniably eccentric Borland often focuses on the psychology of her subjects and the artificiality of the world that exists around them. She’s a big fan of kitsch and it’s an aesthetic that continues to pop up in her work. In this exhibition at the Centre for Contemporary Photography, Borland explores different modes and mediums of her practice. She even combines her documentary photography styles with objects found from closed mental health institutions across Victoria. If we’re lucky Nick Cave will be hidden somewhere amongst the rubble... in a blue wig.
