On January 26 of this year, Yuin rapper and host of Triple J's Blak Out launched We Are Warriors, a platform dedicated to inspiring and empowering Indigenous youth through a system of role models. "After experiencing racism as a kid, my Mum spoke to me three of the most powerful words I have ever heard – We Are Warriors. It instilled a fire inside of me, a sense of pride and this unimaginable desire to be successful and show the world that WE ARE WARRIORS," said Nooky. "This journey has led me to launch a platform to highlight prolific Indigenous excellence across music, fashion, sports and everything in between; a celebration of Blak excellence to empower young people in our community." As part of Vivid Sydney, Nooky is taking over the Oxford Art Factory with a huge roster of talent who share the We Are Warriors vision. On the lineup, there are local favourites like Triple One, Ziggy Ramo and The Terrys alongside the likes of Dallas Woods, Akala Newman, Jade Le Flay, Jayvy, Muggera, Roman Jody and Scraps. Plus, you can expect some special guests to pop-up throughout the night. All profits from the tickets to the We Are Warriors enterprise will go towards supporting workshops, mentoring programs and support for Indigenous youth and young Indigenous creatives. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dq-B-GhrDJs
For movie lovers further south, each Melbourne International Film Festival arrives with an extra gift: a Hear My Eyes gig. It brings beloved and classic flicks back to the big screen, accompanied by a live — and all-new, completely original — score that's played while film lovers sit, watch and listen. It's as unique a cinema-going experience as you can get, even if you've seen the feature in the spotlight countless times before. In 2022, this movie-and-music session is also coming to Sydney. And, another exceptional film is getting the Hear My Eyes treatment. Get ready to revisit the role that made Eric Bana an international movie star, and to dive back into one of the most infamous crime tales in Australian history. In other words, get ready for Chopper. Twenty-two years after it first hit cinemas, the exceptional Andrew Dominik (This Much I Know to Be True)-directed flick will grace the big screen at City Recital Hall for one night only, on Saturday, August 27. It'll also pair its visuals with a brand-new original live score, as spearheaded by Mick Harvey, member of the Bad Seeds, and the musician who originally gave Chopper its soundtrack. As well as composing the new score, Harvey will be joined by supergroup Springtime — featuring Gareth Liddiard from Tropical Fuck Storm and The Drones, Jim White from Dirty Three and Chris Abrahams from The Necks — to play it live. Tickets to this big-screen date with Uncle Chop Chop go on sale from 9.30am on Thursday, June 16.
Something chilly is headed Sydney's way on Monday, September 12: House of the Dragon-themed gelato, and for free. Two new limited-edition varieties are being whipped by up Gelato Messina, and they'll only be available for a single day at the chain's Newtown store — 3000 scoops in total, and with no wallets needed. If your tastebuds are as eager as a Targaryen about sitting on the Iron Throne, House Vanillaryon combines burnt vanilla gelato, smoked chocolate brownie and burnt honey caramel, while Heir to the Cone will feature red velvet cheesecake gelato with dragonfruit puree. (Yes, something dragon-related was always bound to pop up.) Just for the day from 12–9pm, Messina's King Street spot is also transforming into Westeros, which is set to involve appropriate decor. Given that House of the Dragon is all about the Targaryens, expect to feel like you're stepping into their world. Dragons will likely feature heavily here, we suspect — and if want to wear your best (or worst) blonde wig while you're there, that's up to you. A key caveat: Messina's collaboration with Australian streaming service Binge, which airs House of the Dragon, is a first-come-first-served event. So, while the one-day-only affair will kick off at 12pm and could indeed run till 9pm, those free gelato flavours are just available while stocks last. Also, you do need to go in-store to get your freebies, as it isn't on offer via delivery. Go on, try not to say "winter is coming" while you're there.
If you've missed Sydney Fringe Festival over its last few years of absence, you're in luck, the festival is back with one of its biggest programs to date. Included in the festivities are six weeks of everything from cabaret and drag to comedy and live tunes taking over First Fleet Park in The Rocks as part of Runaway Gardens. This beloved part of the festival returns on Tuesday August 16–Sunday, September 25 with its extravagant Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent on hand. Amid the impressive pop-up venue's stained-glass windows, velvet aplenty and yes, mirrors, you'll be able to watch boundary-pushing burlesque, laugh at big comedy names and sip your way through a mimosa-fuelled drag brunch club. Headlining the program is the previously announced Bernie Dieter's Club Kabarett, which'll unleash its second 2022 season upon Sydney — sword swallowing, hair hanging, Cirque Du Soleil aerialists and all. German kabarett superstar Bernie Dieter leads the charge, and she's been described as "an electrifying cross between Lady Gaga, Marlene Dietrich and Frank-N-Futer in sequins", if you're wondering what you're in for. Also on the lineup: the Poof Doof Drag Brunch Club, which is exactly what it sounds like. Spend your Saturdays drinking while checking out an array of drag, comedy, burlesque and cabaret performers, with your beverages included in your ticket. If you're keen on checking out the live music bill, Runaway Gardens is focusing on legendary performers playing intimate gigs, with Daryl Braithwaite, Kate Ceberano, Diesel, Renee Geyer, Richard Clapton, Ross Wilson & The Peaceniks, and The Black Sorrows doing the honours. And if you're eager to get giggling, the comedy lineup includes Arj Barker, Jimeoin, Akmal and Lawrence Mooney, as well as a Multicultural Comedy Gala featuring Dilruk Jayasinha, Georgie Carroll and Tahir. Merrick Watts will talk you through vino in the Idiot's Guide to Wine, too — and, across two Friday Up Late gigs, Odette and Jack Ladder will unleash their musical talents. Plus, there's a gin-fuelled Festival Club running a best of the fest program every Thursday night, covering comics, cabaret, circus and musos, with help from the house jazz band. As well as all the action in the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent, Runaway Gardens boasts an outdoor bar and pop-up restaurant, all with views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The precinct operates from 4–10pm Tuesday–Thursday, 12–11pm Friday–Saturday and 12–10pm on Sundays. Images: Andre Castellucci
To write notable things, does someone need to live a notable life? No, but sometimes they do anyway. To truly capture the bone-chilling, soul-crushing, gut-wrenching atrocities of war, does someone need to experience it for themselves? In the case of Siegfried Sassoon, his anti-combat verse could've only sprung from someone who had been there, deep in the trenches of the Western Front during World War I, and witnessed its harrowing horrors. If you only know one thing about the Military Cross-winner and poet going into Benediction, you're likely already aware that he's famed for his biting work about his time in uniform. There's obviously more to his story and his life, though, as there is to the film that tells his tale. But British writer/director Terence Davies (Sunset Song) never forgets the traumatic ordeal, and the response to it, that frequently follows his subject's name as effortlessly as breathing. Indeed, being unable to ever banish it from one's memory, including Sassoon's own, is a crucial part of this precisely crafted, immensely affecting and deeply resonant movie. If you only know two things about Sassoon before seeing Benediction, you may have also heard of the war hero-turned-conscientious objector's connection to fellow poet Wilfred Owen. Author of Anthem for Damned Youth, he fought in the same fray but didn't make it back. That too earns Davies' attention, with Jack Lowden (Slow Horses) as Sassoon and Matthew Tennyson (Making Noise Quietly) as his fellow wordsmith, soldier and patient at Craiglockhart War Hospital — both for shell shock. Benediction doesn't solely devote its frames to this chapter in its central figure's existence, either, but the film also knows that it couldn't be more pivotal in explaining who Sassoon was, and why, and how war forever changed him. The two writers were friends, and also shared a mutual infatuation. They were particularly inspired during their times at Craiglockhart as well. In fact, Sassoon mentored the younger Owen, and championed his work after he was killed in 1918, exactly one week before before Armistice Day. Perhaps you know three things about Sassoon prior to Benediction. If so, you might be aware of Sassoon's passionate relationships with men, too. Plenty of the film bounces between his affairs with actor and singer Ivor Novello (Jeremy Irvine, Treadstone), socialite Stephen Tennant (Calam Lynch, Bridgerton) and theatre star Glen Byam Shaw (Tom Blyth, Billy the Kid), all at a time in Britain when homosexuality was outlawed. There's a fated air to each romantic coupling in Davies' retelling, whether or not you know to begin with that Sassoon eventually (and unhappily) married the younger Hester Gatty (Kate Phillips, Downton Abbey). His desperate yearning to hold onto someone, and something, echoes with post-war melancholy as well. That said, that sorrow isn't just a product of grappling with a life-changing ordeal, but also of a world where everything Sassoon wants and needs is a battle — even if there's a giddy air to illegal dalliances among London's well-to-do. Benediction caters for viewers who resemble Jon Snow going in, naturally, although Davies doesn't helm any ordinary biopic. No stranger to creating on-screen poetry with his lyrical films — or to biopics about poets, after tackling Emily Dickinson in his last feature A Quiet Passion — the filmmaker steps through Sassoon's tale like he's composing evocative lines himself. Davies has always been a deeply stirring talent; see: his 1988 debut Distant Voices, Still Lives, 2011's romance The Deep Blue Sea and 2016's Sunset Song, for instance. Here, he shows how it's possible to sift through the ins and outs of someone's story, compiling all the essential pieces in the process, yet never merely reducing it down to the utmost basics. Some biopics can resemble Wikipedia entries re-enacted for the screen, even if done so with flair, but Benediction is the polar opposite. It must be unthinkable to Davies that his audience could simply pick up standard details about Sassoon by watching a depiction of his existence, rather than become immersed in everything about him — especially how he felt. Benediction plays like the work of someone who wouldn't even dream of such an approach in their worst nightmares. That's true in Lowden's scenes, with the bulk of the movie focused on the younger Sassoon. It remains accurate when Peter Capaldi (The Suicide Squad) features as the older Sassoon, including opposite Gemma Jones (Ammonite) as the older Hester. When the latter graces the picture's immaculately shot frames (by Harlots, Gentleman Jack and upcoming The Handmaid's Tale season five cinematographer Nicola Daley), he's a portrait of man embittered, and he's utterly heartbreaking. Lowden and Capaldi's performances are as critical to Benediction as Sassoon himself, and Davies as well. They're that fine-tuned, that tapped into the whirlwind of emotions swirling through the man they're playing, and that awash with anger, determination, longing, loneliness, defiance, despair, resentment and tragedy. (Yes, that's a complicated and chaotic mix, and 100-percent steeped in everything that's thrown Sassoon's way). As overseen by Davies, Lowden and Capaldi are also two halves of a whole, not that either actor gives anything less than their all, let alone a fraction of a portrayal. It's devastating to see how and why Lowden's charisma eventually gives way to Capaldi's loathing, but that's the plight that both men are charged with surveying, relaying and helping echo from the screen — exceptionally so. For all of the feeling coursing through Benediction — including when using archival war footage to hark back to the combat that so altered his central figure, rather than taking the 1917 re-creation route — Davies remains a rigorous, fastidious and controlled filmmaker. The feature's 137-minute running time feels as lengthy as it is. While there's a rhythm to Alex Mackie's (Mary Shelley) editing, the movie is methodically paced. Every single image seen is meticulous in its composition, too. Watching Benediction is an active act, rather than a case of being swept away. That matches everything that the film conveys about Sassoon's experiences and the turmoil they caused him, of course. Still, the art of using restraint and precision to stir up big emotions, and to whip and whisk them around so that they're inescapable, is also on display here — and it's one that this exquisite picture's driving force dispenses with as much talent as his subject did with his poetry.
When the end of the year hits, do you get 'Christmas is All Around', as sung by Bill Nighy, stuck in your head? Have you ever held up a piece of cardboard to tell the object of your affection that, to you, they're perfect? Does your idea of getting festive involve watching Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Rowan Atkinson and Martin Freeman, all in the same movie? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you clearly adore everyone's favourite Christmas-themed British rom-com, its high-profile cast and its seasonal humour. And, you've probably watched the beloved flick every December since it was first released in cinemas back in 2003. That's a perfectly acceptable routine, and one that's shared by many. But this year, you can do one better. A huge success during its past tours of the UK and Australia (to the surprise of absolutely no one), 'Love Actually' in Concert is returning to make this festive season extra merry. And, to the jolly delight of Sydneysiders, to the Aware Super Theatre at 7.30pm on Sunday, December 19. Here, you'll revisit the Richard Curtis-written and -directed film you already know and treasure, step through its interweaved Yuletide stories of romance, and hear a live orchestra play the movie's soundtrack. And, yes, Christmas (and love) will be all around you. Tickets go on sale at 4pm local time on Thursday, November 11, with presales from 10am local time on Tuesday, November 9.
There are plenty of things that Sydneysiders haven't been able to enjoy for much of this year, all thanks to the city's lengthy lockdown. Saying cheers with your mates with a few brews at a club is obviously one of them — but now that that's back on the cards under the city's eased restrictions, Clubs NSW wants to give you a free beer to celebrate. On Wednesday, November 10, you'll be clinking your glasses with free Together Ales thanks to Malt Shovel Brewers and Batch Brewing Co. You'll need to be double-vaccinated to take advantage of the offer, and you'll also need to register for a coupon first. Also, it's a while stocks last kind of deal, both in terms of vouchers and beer supplies on the day. The offer is valid for one voucher per person, which can only be redeemed on November 10 at participating venues — which includes a lengthy list of spots, such as Club York and Castlereagh Boutique Hotel in the CBD, and plenty of bowls clubs and RSL clubs around the place.
As its name makes plain, Huxtaburger serves up quite a few patty-and-bun combos. It also does a mean chicken sandwich, however. So, if you like tucking into fried chicken, ranch slaw and pickles on toasted sourdough, you're in the right spot, From Monday, February 15–Wednesday, February 17, you'll definitely want to make a date with the chain's Redfern store if you're feeling particularly peckish. That's when it's doing two-for-one chicken sangas, so you'll double your meal while only spending $12.50. The sangas come with your choice of mild chipotle barbecue sauce or Huxtaburger's own sauce, and they're available all day for those three times. You can grab the deal multiple times, too. And, you can choose between dining in, grabbing takeaway or ordering online and getting your sangas delivered. If you opt for the latter and spend $30 — by grabbing some chips or shakes as well, perhaps — you can also get it brought to your house without paying a delivery fee via Deliveroo.
Heading to a movie might be one of the easiest date night options there is, but it has remained a romantic go-to for a reason. Pair the right person with the right film, and the magic doesn't just happen on the big screen. And, some flicks are just guaranteed to strike a chord no matter who you're with. If you'd been thinking about falling back on this tried-and-tested date option for Valentine's Day, we're sure that you're not alone — but you don't need to watch whatever new release has just hit the screen. At Ritz Cinemas in Randwick, Sunday, February 14 will be filled with special showings of swoon-worthy classics. See one, make it a double or, if you're special someone is a bit of a movie buff, turn the occasion into your own day-long film festival. The program starts with a 60th anniversary screening of Breakfast at Tiffany's. From there, other options include 1934 standout It Happened One Night, the Cher and Nicolas Cage-starring Moonstruck, and the mind-bending Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Then, there's also Heath Ledger singing in 10 Things I Hate About You to cap the whole day off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07-QBnEkgXU
UPDATE, May 29, 2021: With Victoria in lockdown, the St Kilda Film Festival isn't hosting any physical screenings on its final day — but you can watch Australia's Top 100 short films for free online until 11.59pm today, Saturday, May 29. You'll find big things in small packages at the St Kilda Film Festival this year. That's true every year — even last year, during lockdown — but you'll also find some changes on this year's program as well. Australia's oldest short film festival, the massive event will once again physically descend upon St Kilda in 2021; however, as it did in 2020, the lineup is also jumping online and screening to movie buffs nationally. The hybrid version of the festival will still showcase works by some of the best up-and-coming filmmakers in the country, which you can watch at 11 physical events or via 15 digital sessions. Running from Thursday, May 20–Saturday, May 29, it all kicks off with opening night at The Astor Theatre, then gives student animation, family-friendly animation, Victorian-made shorts, women filmmakers and directors under the age of 21 their time to shine at ticketed screenings. As always, the backbone of the festival is Australia's Top 100, featuring filmmakers from every corner of the country competing for prizes. You can view these short flicks online this year — and for free — as broken down into themed packages. The Australian Animation Showcase highlights Aussie animation, 'Dark Matter' showcases horror, thriller and dystopian tales, 'Suburban Keyholes' is all about life in the suburbs and 'Age of Innocence' focuses on coming-of-age stories, for instance. Image: Jim Lee
UPDATE: Due to current COVID-19 restrictions in Melbourne, All Our Exes Live in Texas, Emma Donovan & the Putbacks, Wagons and Leroy Macqueen have withdrawn from the festival and the Sydney Park concert has been consolidated into one day. Head to the festival's website for more information including full set times. Country music is cool again. With cowboy hats and boots back in style, and a swath of young exciting country musicians emerging from Sydney and afar, Sydney's inner west is hosting a music festival celebrating our best and brightest country talents. The Country and Inner Western will take over the bustling inner-city area between Friday, June 11 and Sunday, June 13 as part of Sydney's latest winter arts festival Sydney Solstice. Free and ticketed sets will pop up around Newtown, Enmore and Erskineville across the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend at venues like Waywards and Kelly's on King, but for the full Country and Inner Western experience, you can head to the Sydney Park Amphitheatre on the Sunday to catch the who's-who of Australian country music. Heading up the lineup is country icon Kasey Chambers and local favourite Tex Perkins performing songs from the career of Johnny Cash. Elsewhere on the lineup, you'll find Australian music mainstays like The Morrisons and Andy Golledge alongside plenty of newer additions to the local country scene like Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys, Babitha and Lady Lyon of the band Baby Beef. The Sydney Park Amphitheatre gig is a family-friendly affair, with adult tickets starting at $65.80. [caption id="attachment_793807" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Waywards; April Josie[/caption]
Luxe hotel chain QT and beloved (and award-winning) Australian gin producer Four Pillars are coming together for a multi-sensory five-course meal in honour of their new collaborative gin, Ordered Chaos. Appropriately labelled Chaos dinner, diners can head to QT's Gowings Bar and Grill for four exciting dishes paired with cocktails, musical pairings and entertainment, hosted by Four Pillars co-founder, Stu Gregor. To begin the night, canapés including raw scallop, blood orange vinaigrette raw beef and sterling caviar will be served, before the first dish of the night is unveiled: yellowtail kingfish crudo with yuzu creme fraiche, seaweed cracker and saltbush. Across the rest of the of the menu you'll find black Berkshire porchetta, Tinder Creek duck breast with heirloom beets and a white chocolate ball designed to be cracked open, featuring coconut mousse and chocolate crumble. Kicking off at 7pm on Thursday, May 27, a spot at the five-course meal will cost you $175 per person and includes your cocktail pairings for the night. [caption id="attachment_813131" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kate Shanasy[/caption]
Already known for its bottomless vegan pizza and pasta feasts, Italian restaurant chain Salt Meats Cheese has been upping its cruelty-free food game at a monthly special event. Called Soul Meets Cheers, it serves up an entirely plant-based menu, featuring vegan versions of Italian classics. For the feast's May outing — taking place at all Sydney venues from 5pm on Tuesday, May 11 — it'll be focusing on bites to eat inspired by Venice. Think vegan antipasto platters, bruschetta with fennel dip, risotto nero (which is made with charcoal stock), and beetroot pizza with roasted cauliflower. And yes, that's just a few of the dishes on offer across the five-course meal, which finishes with a raw vegan tiramisu that features cashew cream, coconut cream, vegan chocolate and almonds. Your $49 ticket also includes a glass of vegan wine or beer upon arrival.
Pier One is looking to get your mind ticking over a bit more this month with a new program of creativity-focused events. The Creative Hub is a three-week event series running from Friday, May 7 through until Monday, May 31 which includes insightful chats with industry experts and a series of workshops for those looking for a dose of self-improvement this May. The Creative Hub will be held in Pier One's Bridge Marquee, which will be transformed into the Art Bar as part of the festivities. The marquee has been reimagined for the festival by Goldberg Aberline Studio with inflatable art, fun furniture and a pop-up cocktail and champagne bar. Each week at the Art Bar you can catch a series of panel discussions with a range of successful Sydney creatives. Between Thursday, May 13 and Sunday May 30, you can join the audience for Creative Sydney Icons in Conversation with an array of panelists including Sydney Fringe Festival CEO, Kerri Glassock, National Art School Executive Producer and former Mardi Gras CEO, Terese Casu, Bangarra Dance Theatre Executive Director Lissa Twoomey and fashion designer Frida Las Vegas. Tickets to the panels are $25 and include a drink at the bar. Budding interior designers can join former Vogue Living Creative Director Jack Milenkovic and Atelier business owner Luke Bonano for a styling and interior design masterclass. Attendees can listen to the principles of bedroom and lounge room design, plus tips on how to include your personal style into your home. Tickets are $150 and include a $50 bar and dining voucher. [caption id="attachment_812595" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kerri Glasscock by Sally Flegg[/caption] Top Image: Frida Las Vegas by Eamon Donnelly
Earlier this autumn, Sydney's CBD got a new precinct. Dubbed YCK Laneways, it encompasses 15 bars located across York, Clarence and Kent streets — and it's turning up the heat this winter. Across the 13-night program, the bars and their surrounding outdoor areas will come alive with live music, tarot readings, crime stories, DJs, drag queen bingo and 90s-themed music nights. You'll be able to boogie to Caribbean tunes at The Lobo, Latin American melodies at Esteban, live jazz at Stitch Bar and deep house in Since I Left You's courtyard. Or, wander over to Barrack Street's outdoor stage, where different musicians are performing each night. The centerpiece of the two-week program is Live from YCK, a night of live music that will see three of Australia's brightest young talents take over Martin Place. Singer-songwriter Odette will be bringing songs from her albums To a Stranger and Herald to the pop-up CBD stage alongside breakout Tweed Heads rapper JK-47 and local R'n'B rising star Liyah Knight. DJ Levins (Heaps Decent, Halfway Crooks, The Dip) will be on DJ duty from 5pm to provide the tunes between sets, while a pop-up bar will be serving Patrón margaritas and Bombay Bramble Fever Tree G&Ts. [caption id="attachment_799349" align="alignnone" width="1920"] JK-47[/caption]
Fabbrica, the high-end pasta and wine shop from the crew behind CBD standout Raggazi, is coming together with lifestyle brand Alex and Trahanas to bring Sydneysiders two fun limited-edition pastas to enjoy during lockdown. The pair of pastas are shaped like ropes and yacht sails to coincide with the launch of Alex and Trahanas' new Festa della Pasta range of tableware. The range is inspired by Italian coastal islands and Mediterranean holidays and includes hand-painted ceramics from Puglia, Italy, as well as beeswax taper candles, carved wooden serving trays decorated with gold leaf and woollen knit jumpers. The nautical-shaped pastas are paired with two rich Fabbrica pasta sauces. The first is a cime di rapa ragu with pork and fennel sausage, while the second is a sardine, fermented chilli and olive combination. You can order the pasta and sauce in a two-person pack from Alex and Trahanas' website, pick them up from Fabbrica or get them delivered through UberEats.
When Succession roves over New York's skyline — in its opening credits, as set to that bewitching theme tune, or just during its episodes — it gleams with wealth and privilege. Depiction doesn't equal endorsement, however, with the stellar HBO satire sharply cutting into its chosen world at every chance it gets. As one of the show's supporting cast members, Dasha Nekrasova slides into that realm, too, but that's not her only dalliance with the city's architecture, power brokers and all that both represent. The Scary of Sixty-First, the Red Scare podcast host's feature directorial debut, also savages the rich and seemingly consequence-free. It clasps onto a real-life story that's made that case inherently, abhorrently and monstrously. There's no gentle way to put it, but the fact that Nekrasova plays a woman investigating if a bargain Upper East Side duplex was one of Jeffrey Epstein's "orgy flophouses" says much about this purposefully provocative conspiracy thriller horror-comedy. College pals Addie (Betsey Brown, Assholes) and Noelle (the film's co-screenwriter Madeline Quinn) can't believe their luck when they find the cheap property, even if it does visibly need a clean — and have mirrored ceilings, as well as some questionable lock choices — and even if they don't appear completely comfortable with committing to live together. But from night one, the literal nightmares begin. Soon they're spying blood stains, scratched walls and eerie tarot cards, and feeling unsettled in a variety of ways. Enter Nekrasova's stranger, who comes sporting a dark-web rabbit hole's worth of paranoia and bearing the Epstein news. Addie and Noelle take the revelation in vastly different fashions, with the former seeming possessed by one of Epstein's child victims, and the latter diving deep into potential theories with her unnamed new friend. Letting a headline-monopolising sex offender loom large over the plot is an instant attention-grabber — and, while The Scary of Sixty-First doesn't lunge straight down that path, it feels like Nekrasova and Quinn's starting point. Their movie smacks of conjuring up a controversial premise, then fitting parts around it; thankfully, they have more than one target in their sights, plenty to ponder, and Nekrasova's bold vision bringing it all together. From the outset, there's much to mine about the hellishness of finding somewhere to live in your twenties, and in NY especially. The things you'll settle for in that situation clearly also earns the feature's focus. The same rings true of post-college life and its intrinsic awkwardness in general — and being expected to act like a fully functioning adult, and make pivotal decisions, without yet amassing the experiences to match. By contemplating the hostile real-estate market and the ordeal that is trying to find your place in the world (emotionally, intellectually and physically), The Scary of Sixty-First immediately unpacks power, money and privilege. If Addie and Noelle could afford somewhere else or had other support at their disposal, there wouldn't even be a story. When Nekrasova appears and drops Epstein's name, that excavation digs down several levels. Again, there's no shortage of ideas, directions or tangents to explore, and the script explodes as many as possible. This is a movie about a dead billionaire paedophile, the wealth of theories that've sprung up around him and the 24-hour news cycle that's made his tale inescapable. It's also about how doomscrolling has become routine, the grim routes incessant web searches can take you down, the normalisation of true-crime obsession, the proliferation of conspiracy-driven rhetoric and relentless chaos as the natural state of the world. Addie has an interminably unpleasant boyfriend, Greg (Mark Rapaport, Pledge), who also sparks an array of questions — because even when he's turned off by her descent into inappropriate baby talk during sex, he still sees his own needs as more important than anything else. Indeed, while The Scary of Sixty-First is messy by choice, and also lets its 16-millimetre frames frequently look the part, nothing here is accidental. That's true of outdoor masturbation scenes and out-there theories alike, all of which make a statement. Usually, the movie isn't coy; as the possessed Addie gets more forceful with every action, her sloppy kissing of Prince Andrew's photo couldn't be more overt. Repeatedly, though, the film sends multiple messages at once; when her glistening fingers, fresh from a stint of self-pleasure, caress Epstein's initials outside his apartment building, The Scary of Sixty-First also comments on how taboo such feverish displays of female sexuality still prove on-screen. It's still easy to see the influences coursing through Nekrasova and Quinn's screenplay, and in Nekrasova's directorial choices. If the movie itself was haunted, it'd be by 70s and 80s horror flicks and thrillers, Italian giallo cinema, every picture that's probed New York's underbelly and, quite pointedly, by Eyes Wide Shut and Rosemary's Baby as well. Making his feature debut, too, cinematographer Hunter Zimny synthesises that hefty list of touchstones into a visual style that takes little bits from everywhere, but also fittingly makes it all feel like a dreamy swirl, jittery onslaught and tormented experience. Aesthetically, The Scary of Sixty-First just keeps spiralling from the uncertain and the otherworldly to the uncontrollable, mimicking another of the script's strong observations about 21st-century life. Careening wildly is one of The Scary of Sixty-First's key traits, intentionally so, as also seen in its central performances — Brown, Quinn, Nekrasova and Rapaport all turn in committed portrayals — and its sense of humour. There's no shaking the pitch-black comedy of it all, again by design, but even the film's most absurd moments and farcical touches are steeped in reality in one way or another. Its most nightmarish inclusions are as well, and that's part of the feature's knowing, winking seesaw ride. Yes, a global paedophile ring among the elite sounds like the sickest kind of fiction and an unhinged conspiracy. Yes, there's elements of truth to such horrendous sex-trafficking. The Scary of Sixty-First doesn't always completely come together, but Nekrasova has crafted an uncompromising and compelling movie that acknowledges both, plays like a slap in the face and isn't easily forgotten.
Dining experiences, long lunches and one-off feasts are popping up across Sydney on Friday, December 3. Aiming to give the city's hospitality sector a boost, Open for Lunch is an event series all about spending a day out of the house as Sydney recovers from this year's lengthy lockdown. Sydney dining precinct in South Eveleigh is hosting one such event, complete with a menu curated by Kylie Kwong. Re's Matt Whiley will be on cocktail duty, and you can expect to pair hokkien noodles and five-spiced tofu salad with tipples made with surplus whole fruit, gin, whole mango, ancho chilli and more. The event runs from 10am–10pm, and there'll also be a dance floor — with a mirror ball, and The Original Roman vs Boogie Fingers, Levins vs Joyride, Ayabatonye, Deepa and Tyson Koh on the decks. Elsewhere in the city, YCK Laneways is putting on a luncheon at Barrack Street, Parramatta Square is hosting a 400-person meal featuring dishes from CicciaBella and Lilymu as well as live music, and 600 diners will take to the middle of George Street for a three-course long lunch. Tickets to the South Eveleigh Alfresco Disco are $30 and can be purchased through Ticketek.
When Beauty and the Beast typically graces the screen, it doesn't involve a rose-haired singer decked out in a matching flowing dress while singing heart-melting tunes atop a floating skywhale mounted with speakers. It doesn't dance into the metaverse, either. Anime-meets-Patricia Piccinini-meets-cyberspace in Belle, and previous filmed versions of the famed French fairytale must now wish that they could've been so inventive. Disney's animated and live-action duo, aka the 1991 musical hit that's been a guest of childhood viewing ever since and its 2017 Emma Watson-starring remake, didn't even fantasise about dreaming about being so imaginative — but Japanese writer/director Mamoru Hosoda also eagerly takes their lead. His movie about a long-locked social-media princess with a heart of gold and a hulking creature decried by the masses based on appearances is firmly a film for now, but it's also a tale as old as time and one unafraid to build upon the Mouse House's iterations. At first, there is no Belle. Instead, Hosoda's feature has rural high-schooler Suzu (debutant Kaho Nakamura) call her avatar Bell because that's what her name means in Japanese. That online character lives in a virtual-reality world that uses body-sharing technology to base its figures on the real-life people behind them, but Suzu is shy and accustomed to being ignored by her classmates — other than her only pal Hiroka (Lilas Ikuta of music duo Yoasobi) — so she also uploads a photo of the far-more-popular Ruka (Tina Tamashiro, Hell Girl). The social-media platform's biometrics still seize upon Suzu's own melodic singing voice, however. And so, in a space that opines in its slogan that "you can't start over in reality, but you can start over in U", she croons. Quickly, she amasses an audience among the service's five-billion users, but then one of her performances is interrupted by the brooding Dragon (Takeru Satoh, the Rurouni Kenshin films), and her fans then point digital pitchforks in his direction. Those legions of interested online parties don't simplistically offer unwavering support, though. Among Belle's many observations on digital life, the fact that living lives on the internet is a double-edged sword — wielding both opportunities to connect and excuses to unleash vitriol, the latter in particular when compared to the physical experience — more than earns its attention. That said, all those devotees of Suzu's singing do rechristen her avatar as Belle, and she starts living up to that fairytale moniker by becoming fascinated with the movie's Beast equivalent. He's mysterious to the point that no one in U or IRL has been able to discern who he really is, but the platform's self-appointed pseudo-police force is desperately trying. Suzu is also mortified about the possibility of anyone discovering that she's Belle, although she's drawn to Dragon because she can sense his pain. Hosoda has repeatedly proven an inspired filmmaker visually — one just as creative with his stories and storytelling alike, too — and Belle is no exception on his resume. After the likes of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children and Mirai, he's in especially dazzling form in a movie that wields its images in two distinctive modes. In U, Belle is an epic onslaught for the eyes, its animation lively, busy and hyper-real in a way that cannily mirrors the feeling of wading through always-on online realms. This is where that whale swims through the air, concerts are held in what appears to be a hollow planet and Disney-style castles turn gothic. When it's in Suzu's reality, the film opts for naturalistic tones in a look that notices the everyday beauty in the flesh-and-blood world, even amid daily routines in fading small towns filled with average teens and their families. Hosoda revels in the contrast between the two, in fact, because that clash constantly sits at the film's core. A wealth of juxtapositions echo through Belle, so much so that Hosoda may as well paint with them as he does with his mix of hand-drawn animation and pixels. Collisions between the virtual and actual, genuine connection and online ease, perceptions and truth, anonymous freedom and reality's trappings, being anyone and accepting yourself, and happiness and trauma all bounce through the movie — and never, befitting its vibrant visuals, in a black-and-white fashion. Indeed, while the film's top-level insights into the solace we seek online, the faux coat of armour it affords and the horrors it can also unleash don't reveal anything new, Belle is both deeply felt and disarmingly attuned to tiny details. Those two traits apply in its piercing emotions and background minutiae, and also in bigger strokes such as in Suzu's and Dragon's backstories. She suffered a great loss when she was younger, and the grief it still causes shapes everything about her every move in devastatingly astute ways, for instance. Some other pitch-perfect bits and pieces: the chorus of text clouds, incessantly bubbling up on computer and phone screens, that the feature uses for both worshipping and cruel online chatter; the scars Dragon sports, as imitated in IRL tattoos by his aficionados, but also emblematic of the motives driving him; and repeated vistas as Suzu wanders through Kōchi Prefecture, where she lives, and her surroundings don't physically change but her feeling within them shifts depending on what else is colouring her life. That's the level of intricacy that Hosoda is working with as he also spins a coming-of-age tale complete with teen angst and schoolyard gossip — the offline parallel to digital witch-hunts — over Suzu's long-running friendship with now-class hunk Shinobu (Ryô Narita, Remain in Twilight), and doesn't stop using Belle's bangers to convey a world of emotion. Studio Chizu, which Hosoda co-founded with producer Yuichiro Saito in 2011, isn't yet a household name as fellow Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli is — but as it keeps growing with each of the director's releases, it really should be. Belle deserves to be the new go-to Beauty and the Beast adaptation, too, although three decades of Disney domination means that it'll likely never supplant the Mouse House's versions. Hosoda might find that apt, however, because Belle sings loudest about being brave enough to know and embrace who you truly are in an existence where it's now ridiculously easy to pretend you're someone or something else. And while it mightn't seem like it'd need courage to create this lush, grand, generous and captivating film — and gorgeous as well — but bold, insightful and transfixing takes on stories as old as rhyme just don't come around that often. Top image: Studio Chizu.
This summer is set to be a wet one thanks to our friend La Niña coming to visit, so summer in Sydney will probably be spent in art galleries and coffee shops. Though, we're not complaining because, this summer, celebrated American artist Doug Aitken will be exhibiting one of his largest video installations, Song 1, at the Museum of Contemporary Art as part of the Doug Aitken: New Era exhibition. In tandem with his other work, Aitken is internationally recognised for his experimental practice using light, reflection, photography, sound and multi-screen environments where time and space are fluid — and Song 1 (2012/2015), is no different. In this 35-minute installation, you can expect a 360-degree experience of sound and projections focused around varied performances of The Flamingos' classic track, I Only Have Eyes For You. The installation features a range of talent from everyday people to professional performers like Beck, Tilda Swinton, Devandra Banhart and James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. [caption id="attachment_835137" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Doug Aitken, SONG 1 (still), 2021/2015, commissioned with generous production support by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, courtesy the artist; 303 Gallery, New York; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; and Regen Projects, Los Angeles, copyright the artist.[/caption] Song 1 opens at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Friday, December 3. For more information and to book, visit the website. Top Image: Doug Aitken, SONG 1 (still), 2021/2015, commissioned with generous production support by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, courtesy the artist; 303 Gallery, New York; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; and Regen Projects, Los Angeles, copyright the artist.
Pedro Almodóvar has made many a fantastic film over the past four decades. In 2019, however, the Spanish director added one of his greatest movies yet to his resume. We're talking about Pain and Glory. If you saw it, you likely loved it. And, if you hadn't already watched your way through the inimitable auteur's back catalogue before then, the Academy Award-nominee should've inspired you to do just that. You've had a couple of years to start your viewing, of course — and plenty of time over the past two years, in fact. But whether you still have some gaps or you're fond of the big-screen experience, the Randwick Ritz is giving you a chance to check out Almodóvar's entire filmography in a cinema. Every Friday night between January 14–June 10, you can swoon over the filmmaker's emotionally charged dramas and rove your eyes over his colourful frames. No one makes movies quite like him, as this retrospective shows. Get ready to spend plenty of time staring at two of his favourite actors, too, with Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz each popping up regularly in the director's work. On the lineup: Banderas being exceptional in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, The Skin I Live In and the aforementioned Pain and Glory, plus Cruz at her stellar best in Volver, Broken Embraces and Oscar-winner All About My Mother — and Almodóvar's also-phenomenal brand new movie Parallel Mothers, too. Yes, the list goes on.
The past couple of weeks haven't just been wet in New South Wales and Queensland. They've been catastrophically drenching, with the two states weathering not only torrential rain but also widespread flooding. And if you've been lucky enough to avoid the worst of it, you're probably eager to help out however you can — including with your next schooner, pint or several. At Australian Venue Co locations around Australia — all 180-plus pubs and bars around the country, including a heap in Sydney — your next beer will help flood-affected folks in need. In NSW specifically, the hospitality company is donating $1 per schooner and $2 per pint from every Furphy beer to the Red Cross Qld and NSW Floods Appeal. Yep, in a time that hasn't had much in the way of good news, that's something to say cheers to. The whole thing has been dubbed Beers for Mates, and it's running till the end of the month. So, to lend a hand by sinking a few brews, all you need to do is hit up your local AVC venue and order a Furphys between Wednesday, March 9–Thursday, March 31. Top image: Untied, by Daniele Massacci.
Maybe G&Ts are your favourite tipple and, if you're sipping drinks at your favourite bar, you always have one within reach. Perhaps you've never found a vodka cocktail that you haven't loved, or you've made it your life's mission to try all the whiskies (yes, spanning both whisky and whiskey) that you can find. Or, you could simply like broadening your horizons when it comes to knocking back the good stuff, and supporting independent producers while you're at it. Since 2015, the boozing sipping party that is Indie Spirits Tasting has covered all of the above — and it's back in 2022 after a couple of pandemic-affected years. Move over, craft beer — at this east coast event, which'll return to Sydney in September, it's craft spirits' time to shine. Everyone has been to plenty of days dedicated to brews, brews and more brews, but this touring shindig is solely about all the whisky, gin, vodka, rum, tequila, vermouth and mezcal you could ever want. More than 30 exhibitors and master distillers are on the bill, showcasing over 200 craft spirits. Clearly, your booze-loving tastebuds will be in heaven. As well as tasting away, attendees will also be able to chat to the folks behind the craft and independent tipples on offer, listen to talks on booze-related topics and buy bottles to take home with you. Taking place at Potts Point Hotel from 1–4pm on Sunday, September 4, this year's Sydney event will feature brands such as Never Never Distilling Co, Poor Toms, Boat Rocker, Wolf Lane and Archie Rose, some of which will be pouring limited-edition tipples. And while the big focus is on homegrown spirits, a few international names will be on the bill as well — taking your tastebuds on a trip, including through French cognacs and American gins.
If you're a sucker for craft beers and hinterland views, we have some excellent news for you. Wandana Brewing Co in Mullumbimby is hosting a beer- and food-fuelled event as part of the North Coast Festival of Flavour. Make tracks to Mullumbimby on Saturday, June 4 for an introduction to matching craft beer with artisanal food at Bites and Brews. Throughout the 1.5-hour session you'll learn how each beer is uniquely fermented to the vibrations of music and discover which foods complement the flavours of each brew. Plus, produce from regional, small-scale producers will be curated by Table Under A Tree, providing everything from fine cheeses to aged charcuterie to snack on as you sample the tasty tipples from Wandana Brewing Co. The location itself is spectacular and features sweeping views of the hinterland and beyond. And, being a short drive from Byron Bay and its neighbouring beachside towns, this is the perfect excuse to plan an escape to this picturesque region. Bites and Brews will take place on Saturday, June 4, as part of the North Coast Festival of Flavour. For more information and to book your ticket, visit the website.
When Australia's last Blockbuster store closed its doors back in 2019, it marked the end of an era — especially if you spent your childhood and teenage years trawling through racks of VHS tapes, renting as big a stack as you could carry, then gluing your eyes to the TV every weekend. Every Aussie city also has its own stories about losing beloved independent video shops and, if you're still a fan of physical media in the streaming era, you might even have a few ex-rental bargains from closed-down stores sitting on your shelves at home. It's these fond feelings for a part of life that's now gone that new live cinema performance Coil aims to tap into, all while paying tribute to all the long-lost spots that once celebrated and nurtured cinephilia. Video stores were more than just places to rent tapes — they were havens of filmic discovery, sources of inspiration and thriving local communities — and that's all baked into this production. Coil made its world premiere at this year's Mona Foma, and now brings its tribute and farewell to Australia's video shops to Sydney — playing PACT in Erskineville from Thursday, February 10–Saturday, February 12. The latest work from re:group, a collective of artists based between Hobart, Wollongong and Sydney, Coil stages its show in a set that recreates a 90s-era video shop. The focus: telling a tale of nostalgia, loneliness, friendship and viability that pays homage to those gone-but-not-forgotten spaces and celebrates the communities forged within them. It's a performance designed to ponder questions — including what we've lost now that we browse online sites for flicks instead of physically walking the aisles. And if you're wondering how a live cinema performance with a one-person cast works, Coil takes place live on stage before its audience, but deploys video design that lets its lone performer play every character in cinematic scenes. You'll be watching all of that happen, with the show combining verbatim interview material with real-time filmmaking — all to make the kind of performance that you definitely won't see on streaming. Images: Rosie Hastie.
Jane Bodie understands mental illness. She doesn’t exploit it for the sake of dramatic impact; she doesn’t romanticise the links between suffering and art. But her characters do. Music, which is making its world premiere at the Stables, could only have been written by someone with intimate knowledge of what it means to live with an unstable mind. “My brother was my hero for most of my childhood,” Brodie writes in the program liner notes. “As an unfeasibly good looking, cool teenager, he began to suffer from a mental illness, tragically pulling the family apart and bringing us back together.” Even though she firmly states, “The play is not about my brother, or a commentary on a specific illness,” there’s no doubt that her personal experience illuminates this sensitive, intricate and truthful work. Adam (Anthony Gee) lives alone in a small, dishevelled studio (skilfully designed for the Stables’ tiny stage by Pip Runciman). Surrounded by piles of letters and unwashed dishes, he spends his time wearing trackies, overcooking one-minute meals and listening to cassettes. Enter Gavin (Tom Stokes) and Sarah (Kate Skinner), two actors working on a play about mental illness and hoping to “study” Adam. Just how much “study” they have to do becomes painfully evident. Ignorant of the achingly narrow line between health and sickness, focused on their own 'art' and "fascinated”, they don’t hesitate to throw themselves into Adam’s life. The results are torturously unpredictable. Under the perceptive direction of Corey McMahon, Gee brings a powerful authenticity to an incredibly demanding role, traversing warmth, humour and explosive anger without losing us for a second. Stokes is a suitably self-obsessed yet well-meaning and potentially not-so-stable Gavin, while Skinner nails Sarah, oscillating from gregarious frivolity to fear. Sam O’Sullivan delivers a subtle and convincing interpretation of Adam’s long-standing and more knowing friend, Tom. Then, of course, there’s the soundtrack. The Clash and Siouxsie and The Banshees tell the story every bit as much as the words do. Image by Kurt Sneddon.
If Shakespeare had lived in the 21st century, there's a good chance he would have been a rapper. Not only was he a master of rhymes, but he had dissing down to a fine art, with gems like "I'll beat thee, but I should infect my hands" (Timon of Athens) and "Thou art a boil, a plague sore, an embossed carbuncle in my corrupted blood" (King Lear). Chicago-based theatre company The Q Brothers' are all about creating 'ad-RAP-tations' of Shakespeare plays. In their latest offering, Othello: The Remix, MC Othello is a rapper turned music mogul engaged to singer Desdemona — sort of a Shakespearean Jay-Z and Beyonce. After Othello releases up-and-coming MC Casio's latest album on his label, the jealous, Eminem-esque rapper Iago decides he has a beef with Othello because and manipulation, betrayal and murder ensues. The show premiered in Chicago last July, and has since been taken to the UK and South Korea, even winning a Jeff Award for Best Ensemble. Image by Michael Brosilow.
There’s no better place to be during summer’s late-night sunsets than outside enjoying them. With that in mind, North Sydney Oval will be transformed from January 17 into the IMB Sunset Cinema. The opening night gets underway with a screening of the new film by Richard Curtis (Notting Hill, Love Actually), About Time, preceded by the soulful, funk stylings of Uncle Jed. Later in the season, look out for popular new releases Gravity, Anchorman 2, August: Osage County, Dallas Buyers Club and The Wolf of Wall Street. It’s a great opportunity to take a picnic, kick back and enjoy the show, but the Sunset crew have got you covered for food as well, if you feel like taking a night off the domestic chores. There’ll be Maggie Beer Ice Cream, 4Pines beer, Crabbies Cider and MadFish Wines, as well as mouth watering Crust Pizza available on site. Tickets are available online for the whole season, which extends until March 9, so get in quick to watch the screen go up as the sun goes down.
The Powerhouse Museum's new blockbuster exhibition Game Masters celebrates some of the world’s most influential game designers, groundbreaking consoles and beloved characters. Whittle away the day with over 100 playable games, including Pacman, World of Warcraft and Asteroids. The exhibition will be divided into three sections. Charged with '80s nostalgia, 'Arcade Heroes' invites you to relive the joy of traditional arcade games, spotlighting pioneering designers such as Shigeru Miyamoto (Donkey Kong) and Tomohiro Nishikado (Space Invaders). It's a rare and exciting opportunity to be reunited with these seminal machines. 'Game Changers', meanwhile, focuses on the influential designers that have shaped the medium as we know it. And finally, 'Indie' highlights the trend towards independently developed games, and their innovative approaches to aesthetics and gameplay. Fruit Ninja, Minecraft and Angry Birds are some of the success stories of this category. Over 170,000 people visited this incredibly popular exhibition at ACMI in Melbourne and Te Papa Museum in Wellington, New Zealand. So you'd better book if you want a slice of priceless nostalgic gameplay.
Before David Bowie wrote 'Life on Mars?', before Vangelis released Albedo 0.39 and even before the original Star Trek, Sun Ra was preoccupied with outer space. "I never wanted to be a part of planet Earth," he said. "But I am compelled to be here, so anything I do for this planet is because the Master-Creator of the Universe is making me do to it. I am of another dimension. I am on this planet because people need me." The fact that his legal birth certificate doesn't exist has added fuel to the fire of the theory that Sun Ra may well have descended from Saturn. For someone who believed he didn't belong here, he contributed more than his fair share. The Solar Arkestra, formed in the 1950s, was the first big band to explore total collective improvisation. Underpinned by Sun Ra's philosophy, which combined ancient Egyptian spirituality with space age possibilities, the group also became known for its striking theatrical elements — sci-fi headdresses, multicoloured robes, metallic capes and dancers were all part of the show. With Sun Ra having passed away in 1993, the Arkestra now performs under the directorship of legendary saxophonist Marshall Allen. They'll be bringing their blistering energy, powerful free-form improvisations and unearthly visuals to the State Theatre for just one night as part of the Sydney Festival. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1qjiQwD7VCI
This article is sponsored by our partners, Flickerfest. It's a nice story that Flickerfest had its humble beginnings 23 years ago at Balmain High School, but its new home on Sydney's most Instagrammable beachfront is a way more awesome place to sip some brews before your screening time. Sunset Bar is this 2014's on-site watering hole, setting up inside the iconic Bondi Pavilion. Besides panoramic sunset views you can enjoy tasty organic food from partners including misschu and a daily 5-6pm happy hour. Crystal Head Vodka, Little Creatures Beer, Pipsqueak Cider, Rosnay Organic Wine and Phoenix are doing the drinks again this year. It's the perfect way to enjoy a sunset dinner and drinks overlooking the beach without getting sand stuck to your rice paper rolls.
Live music. Outdoors. It’s what Sydney’s made for. So it’s no surprise that the Festivalists' Courtyard Sessions are back. As debate continues to rage over what we can do to boost the scene, the Seymour Centre’s leafy courtyard will demonstrate at least one way of doing it. And doing it well. Starting January 17 and finishing up as the autumn starts to have its way at the end of March, an upcoming acoustic act will play between 6pm and 9pm. Entry is free — for you, your children and your dogs, all of whom are most welcome. There’ll even be vintage games and roaming performers to keep them entertained while you’re making the most of the bar and the barbecue. Masters of atmosphere Twin Lakes will come down from Newcastle to open proceedings with their shimmering, melodic offerings. Other highlights of the season include symphonic-minded multi-instrumentalist Christo Jones, lyrical storyteller Forster Anderson, vintage pop makers Goldsmith and folk-blues-bluegrass-roots outfit the Green Mohair Suits.
The Laugh Stand's FBi Social shows have proved so successful that the team is ready to take over the inner west. Starting December 10, they'll be occupying Glebe's Harold Park Hotel on a monthly basis. Back in the '80s and '90s, the pub was a comedic hub, playing host to the likes of Adam Hills, Ben Elton, Tom Gleeson, Jimeoin and Merrick and Rosso. A star-studded launch party is promised. Queenslander Lindsay Webb will be taking on the role of emcee. Not only has he appeared on Good News Week, The Footy Show and the Sea FM Morning Crew, he also holds the Guinness World Record for the Longest Show by an Individual — 38 hours and 6 minutes. Arizona-raised Sydney resident Tommy Dean is the headline act, with Darren Sanders hot on his heels. Plus, there'll be performances by a handpicked selection of emerging artists, including Andrew Wolfe, Dane Hiser, Scott Dettrick, Michele Betts, Jared Jekyll and Nick Capper, as well as two-for-one meals.
This review is of the Melbourne run of this production in August 2013. When we think Shakespeare, we think tragedies of misfortune, histories of sovereigns and comedies of error. The latter of which is obviously the most fun — especially when it's put on by Australia's leading classical theatre company, Bell Shakespeare. The Comedy of Errors is a high-octane, crude-innuendo, neon-lit, slapstick-laden romp through mistaken identity, class structure, gender politics and table tennis etiquette. It takes Shakespeare's couplets and transports them to a sleazy, red-light port-town called Ephesus, which kind of looks like Sydney's Kings Cross if it got mongrelised with Melbourne's Chapel Street. Now, the plot: a father is so proud of his two identical twin boys that he decides it will be a lark to adopt a second pair of identical twins for them to keep as man-servants. Bascially, Egeon has considerable wealth but not much common sense. On the squally waters home, a shipwreck separates him and two of the boys from his wife and their matching twins. But that's not enough to ensure confusion and chaos for the rest of their lives. This is Shakespeare we're talking about — so he obligingly doubles up on the doubling up and gives each set of twins the same damn name. Cue chaotic hilarity over the course of a single night many years later when both sets of twins mooch around Ephesus without once meeting each other. They confuse, enrage and arouse each other's lady-friends, and make multiple entrances and exits through many doors, eventually culminating in an outrageous chase scene. The busty, rumbustious Adriana (Elena Carapetis) is a stand-out in this scene with her gift for slow-motion hilarity and comical facial expressions. Shakespeare's script hasn't been tampered with. It's remarkably clear and surprisingly relatable. Puns and one-liners fly fast and furious, and the flashing strobe lights in a club scene turn every cast member's face just the right shade of sickly green before they vomit splashily over the stage. The effortless appeal of this new take on the Bard is due both to the timeless device of mistaken identity and director Imara Savage's terse nods to notions of immigration and 'errors' of judgement. Designer Pip Runciman has created a visual fiesta of colour with floral jackets, leopard-print bustiers, pink vinyl and bunny ears, and the debauched climax that will make you laugh until you are incontinent. Go — before your doppelgänger gets there first. Image by Matt Nettheim. https://youtube.com/watch?v=0VMgBqPUH-Y
From November 14, for 11 days and 11 nights, Sydney's major icons, from the Bangarra Dance Theatre to the Botanic Gardens to the Opera House, will be transformed for Corroboree 2013. Australia's finest Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander writers, artists, musicians and dancers will gather for a festival that celebrates the nation's rich culture — both past and present. The pop-up Corroboree Club at Wharf 2/3 is the place to experience this new festival's different edge. The cool social hub showcases Indigenous arts without the traditional trappings, and features two sets a night mixing music, comedy, hip-hop, drag shows and Koori-oke. It's curated by David Page (of Page 8 and Bangarra Dance Theatre), whose handpicked selections include Archie Roach, Frank Yamma and Casey Donovan. Corroboree also features a film festival-within-the-festival, featuring the premiere of Warwick Thornton's The Darkside, and an epic new dance production, Dance Clan 3, commissioned by Stephen Page, Bangarra's artistic director. The event will be launched on Friday, November 15, with The Firelight Ceremony, a commissioned artwork that acknowledges Sydney Harbour's custodians, the Eora people. The official lighting will take place at Pier 2 at sunset (7.36pm), with the flame being kept alight until the festival closes. There'll also be talks, walks, art exhibitions, food events, markets and workshops.
Sculpture by the Sea has to be one of the world's most spectacular outdoor exhibitions. The annual event heralds the beginning of the warmer months, with over 100 sculptures by artists from 17 different countries setting up along the beautiful cliff walk between Bondi and Tamarama beaches. 2013 marks the 17th anniversary of the exhibit which seems to grow in popularity every year. Contemporary sculpture and a seriously gorgeous view? It's a pretty winning combo and Sculpture by the Sea certainly doesn't disappoint. Your Instagram account will most definitely benefit from a visit. The most successful works are the ones that take advantage of the setting and actively interact with their surrounds. Matthew Harding's, The Cheshire's Grin, is a standout. The cheerful, slim metallic arc reflects the sky; the sly cat's face has become the ocean. Lucy Humphrey's Horizon has also proven to be a crowd favourite. The large glass orb inverts the sea, horizon and the sky in the most breathtakingly beautiful way. You could stand there and watch the waves roll in, upside-down, for hours. David McCracken's Diminish and Ascend is another must-see. The artist has built a stairway which seems to rise indefinitely into the heavens. It's absolutely spectacular. Many artists have used the exhibition as an opportunity for social and environmental commentary. It's a location that lends itself well to this kind of exploration. One of the most interesting works in this vein is the sculpture by Marina DeBris, Aquarium of the Public Gyre. The large glass box houses a bunch of sassy sea-creatures made from trash. Another benefit of outdoor exhibitions is that the works benefit from varying light and weather. Each of these sculptures is constantly shifting and changing. It's one of those shows you can keep returning to. Each visit will offer you up something new. The downside? Sculpture by the Sea is popular. Really, really popular. The paths aren't overly wide and you're competing with a lot of visitors, tourists and school-groups to see the works. That particular stretch of land is also a very well-known jogging track and you will, most likely, have more than one encounter with a disgruntled runner. That said, this is one of those exhibitions you can't miss. Pack a picnic, a bottle of wine and your camera. Head east. Image: Matthew Harding, The Cheshire's Grin. Photo by Gareth Carr
Crochet is good for all sorts of stuff. You can fix animals up. You can yarn bomb. You can hook together a practical model designed to help you understand the complex mathematics involved in a hyperbolic plane. At Crochet in 3D, Alex Falkiner wants to teach you how to use this traditional craft to create some physical things as well. 3D crochet makes objects out of whorls of plastic bags, string or anything. In her own art, Falkiner has drawn organic shape from loose silk, ribbon or confetti. And while there'll be plenty of thread on hand at the workshop, she encourages participants to bring strange stuff of their own to work the craft on. If you're into the maker movement, but would rather just do the making out of old fashioned tech, this may just be your moment.
Art, public housing, gentrification — they're all inextricably linked ingredients in a constantly simmering cauldron of debate about what our urban spaces should or should not look and be like. So, story activist Jordan Byron has decided to shed a little light on the matter by providing the public with an intimate view of the world of public housing. Jordan's curated a travelling installation titled TURF: public housing goes public. It's a purpose-built replica of a public housing unit, showcasing art made by residents. All in all, 21 stories are told through various media, including paint, photographs, video, word and sound. “In gentrified inner city suburbs, public housing and prime real estate are side by side but worlds apart. TURF is where these worlds collide,” Jordan explains. “Most people want nothing to do with public housing — it’s dirty, it’s dangerous, it’s different. Sure it can be all of those things but it’s so much more. TURF opens the doors and invites everyone in to see public housing for what it really is: a cocoon of diversity, dreams and dilemmas.” TURF will be open to the public in two different locations: Gladstone Park, Balmain, from 9am-6pm between Thursday, November 28, and Monday, December 2, and Surry Hills Library Forecourt, from 9am-10pm between Thursday, December 5, and Monday, December 9. There'll be a launch party on Sunday, November 30, with live music, performances, food and drink.
'Provocative' and 'disturbing' are two adjectives that frequently accompany discussions concerning art maverick, Mike Parr. Tackling the timidity of Australian art, he became an integral element of the burgeoning global fervour surrounding performance and body art during the 1970s. His infamous and confrontational arm chop has come to represent a strong foothold in mapping the rise of contemporary Australian art. Over the decades, Parr’s bold fusion of self-mutilation and theory has made him one of our most fearless and important living artists. Parr’s art is intrinsically of the physical self and his current exhibition Easter Island is no exception. In addition to his performances, he has always maintained a strong practice in drawings, prints and etchings, in which the self-portrait is ever-present. Easter Island features 96 wall-to-wall 'blown to buggery' self-portraits. With depictions of Parr as both adult and child, this leaves a distinct autobiographical impression. The title of the exhibition evokes the stone megaliths of Easter Island and Jared Diamond's account of the end of this civilization. This sense of ending makes the exhibition feel like a retrospective. And upon closer attention, many of the works are pervaded with subtle markers of Parr's previous works and continuations of his trademark methodologies. Easter Island is a space-hungry installation perfectly suited to the industrial scale and aesthetic of Anna Schwartz Gallery. In their whopping glossiness, many of these photo-drawings are distorted in their original form. Of the vast montage of faces, some are elaborate in their fleshly detail and wrinkly precision, Parr’s ravaged face crowds the frame. Others appear as preliminary sketches, constructed as a barrage of raw spiky lines, equipped with scrawled statements. In this way, the exhibition strikes as a catalog of artistic processes. The works in which the face is heavily abstracted and swamped by brushstrokes evoke some of Parr’s earlier performance works. He commonly utilized a technique in which he would sew his own face. In one work, using it as a mock canvas, he built a cubist artwork from the taut lines, simultaneously pushing aesthetic and bodily boundaries and parodying high modernism. Other works were deeply political, such as Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi (Democratic Torture) – a provocative comment on Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers. It comprised of Parr’s mouth wired into a fearful grimace, forcibly silenced and captive in the gallery space. This querying of self and mutilation is present in the harsh lines of Parr’s self-portraits. It could easily be said that the extremity of his performance pieces filters into his drawings by way of these intensely convoluted faces. Another curious aspect is Parr’s statements, among which are: “shoulder replacement” and “decapitation i.e. head on a plate,” which can be figured as contemplating a deconstruction of the body, both medically and violently. These sorts of micro-poems or condensed ideas were the genesis of Parr’s early performance works, using them as instructional snippets he would act them out in all their stipulated pain and suffering. There are also various manipulations in photographically documenting the drawings that enact a transparency of process. For example, the masking taped borders of canvases are visible. Whilst in another work, the image seems partially magnified, warping the bottom third of Parr's face. While other artists and intellectuals of his generation, such as Brett Whiteley and Germaine Greer, sought out the avant-garde by immersing themselves in the swingin' sixties of London, Parr cultivated the contemporary on home soil, inducting Australia to the radical idea of art as behaviour. Easter Island is thematically consistent with Parr's rich oeuvre and its investigation of body and self. Nevertheless it retains an incisiveness and brutal honesty that has ongoing value.
Self-taught Samoan choreographer Lemi Ponifasio and his internationally acclaimed company Mau will return to Carriageworks in 2014 with the Australian premiere of Stones in Her Mouth. Featuring an ensemble of ten Maori women, the piece is inspired by the strong Maori tradition of women authoring poetry and chant. Incorporating Maori language, spirituality, ceremony and genealogy, it explores themes of female oppression, silence, outrage and resilience. Mau has become recognised internationally for their beautiful, unnerving and hypnotic creations grounded in native Pacific cultures and their ancestral, elemental worlds. Stones in Her Mouth — combining choral work, dance and oratory — looks set to continue the company’s habit of sidestepping traditional expectations, refusing to sit neatly within categories of 'theatre' or 'dance' and instead striving to reach a near-spiritual plane through performance. Ponifasio, who was once a philosophy student before he formed his "company of people", told the Australian earlier this year "I try to activate the space. To create a sort of cosmological space where we can somehow realise that we are part of the whole process of earth." To get a little taster of what they do, watch this video of Mau's Carriageworks performance of Birds with Skymirrors.
When you hear the word ‘culture’, botany probably isn’t the first things that come to mind. Art, music and literature sound slightly more familiar. But that’s all about to change with the launch of The Planthunter, an online magazine that explores the organic connection between plants and people. It’s like culture gets a dose of your mum’s House & Garden. And you know it’ll be cool, since its run by the woman behind the delightful string gardens workshop, Georgina Reid. The theme of this first issue: death. Sounds ironic, but the careful eye can recognise the beauty of vegetal life that springs from death and decay. The November 14 launch party will commence in the ever-so-fitting cemetery of St Stephens Anglican Church in Newtown. Join Reid and forager Diego Bonetto for a promenade amongst the trees, weeds and graves as they share stories of life, death and plants. If cemeteries creep you out, join them for a sunset rooftop soiree later on to celebrate while sipping on botanical cocktails and nibbling on vegetal treats. The cemetery tour will commence at 6pm and the afterparty begins at 6.30pm at 243 King Street, Newtown. RSVP by November 8 to events@theplanthunter.com.au.
That Shaun Tan has done a bit. He writes and illustrates dystopian kids books, taught himself what a graphic novel was in order to draw a groundbreaking, wordless comic and he won a bit of an Oscar. And then there's the museum stuff. Four years ago Tan collaborated with the Powerhouse to make the Odditoreum. Obscure and interesting objects from the bowels of the Museum collection were plucked out of obscurity and put on display. Tan wrote up the information cards, ever so slightly completely making up new uses for old broom machines or other odd implements. And he drew a book. With this year's Oopsatoreum, he's back for more. The Oopsatoreum looks at some of the stranger remnants of the Powerhouse vaults through the lens of possibly-not-real inventor Henry Archibald Mintox. Mintox's also-ran inventions include mouse slippers, his fat suit and a handshake gauge. (These efforts also compiled into a biographical a book.) And, judging by previous efforts, Tan's accompanying text is sure to be very plausible.
If you happened to be in Moscow last year for the city’s 5th Biennale of Contemporary Art (and why wouldn't you have been?), you may have spotted the ever-compelling video work of Queensland-born twins Gabriella and Silvana Mangano. Now, after another period away completing an artist residency in New York with the prominent not-for-profit International Studio and Curatorial Program, the duo is back at the Anna Schwartz Gallery at Carriageworks, exhibiting new video works freshly inspired by their time in the Big Apple. Like their past collaborations, the videos that make up Of Objects or Sound draw on the relationship between body, space and time — though here the overriding focus is on found objects. Sheets, rods, wheels, balls — forgotten and thrown away — have been radically reinterpreted, lending structure to the unchoreographed performances that play out to disjointed music of repeated beats, in and out of sync. Of Objects or Sound is only showing until July 18, so drop into the Anna Schwartz Gallery to get a taste of the sisters’ renowned video art before they jet off again — this time to the TarraWarra Biennial in Victoria. Image from Gabriella and Silvana Mangano's Performance Compositions for Sculpture (8) (2014), single channel video. The gallery is open Wednesday – Friday, 10am – 6pm and Saturdays 1pm – 5pm.
Written by Scottish playwright Anthony Neilson, a proponent of the rough and ready ‘in-yer-face’ theatre of the 1990s, Stitching is the tale of a paralytic relationship that is wedged somewhere between love and bitterness. Co-founders of Little Spoon Theatre Company Lara Lightfoot and Wade Doolan play Abby and Stuart. Struck by an unplanned pregnancy, the couple debate whether or not to procure an abortion. As circular conversation and vindictive blame games ensue, the messy threads of their relationship appear. Throughout the play, it seems depraved sexual fantasies spark and rekindle their lust for one another. In fact, Nielson crams in an almost unfathomable array of taboos, from Auschwitz to the Moors Murders to genital mutilation. It’s a lot of weight to throw around. It seems the playwright is retracing Edward Albee's footsteps, navigating through the tatters of an irreparable relationship and the grief of a lost child, though peppering his path with more grit and masochism. Doolan and Lightfoot tackle the material with admirable gusto. Lightfoot is particularly assured in her stubborn and stony portrayal of the enigmatic Abby. There are humorous moments, such as the scene in which the couple pass a notepad back and forth, scrawling increasingly indignant messages. This absence of verbal dialogue means the narrative unfolds through their reactions alone. At the same time, a parallel couple get darker and dirtier. As they both wade through infidelities and psychosexual oddities, the toxicity of the relationship becomes more visible, whilst the thin thread that binds them together becomes less visible. This analogy of stitching (or unstitching) becomes a macabre reality by the end of the play. All in all, there doesn't seem to be quite enough glimmers of genuine love or tenderness to counterbalance the masochistic exploits. At times, it seems these perversities are slightly pointless, repelling rather than facilitating access to the characters' motives. Call me a 'coward', as Nielson would say, but for me there wasn't enough reward to justify being hauled through a smorgasbord of debauchery.
The First Lady of hip hop, Ms. Lauryn Hill, has been this lineup's biggest talking point. Known not only for her groundbreaking 1998 album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill but also for her subsequent 'disappearance' from the music scene, she's back — with plenty to say. Two Opera House shows are scheduled for May 27 and 28 and the good seats are evaporating, so skip the pricey night out this weekend and book yourself in. https://youtube.com/watch?v=T6QKqFPRZSA
The Beach Road Hotel has now been bringing free music to the eastern suburbs for 21 years. Not just your run-of-the-mill covers bands, but the groundbreaking, original stuff — Coldplay, Public Enemy, Salmonella Dub and The Presets have all treated Bondi locals to a show at some point. Not too many of Sydney's live music venues can claim such a continuous history. It's definitely a milestone worth celebrating, and that's why the Beach Road has teamed up with party specialists SOSUEME DJs to organise its "once-in-a-lifetime" 21st Birthday Mega-bration. There'll be sets from Bloc Party's Kele, PEACE (UK), DZ Deathrays, the Thundamentals, a mystery headline DJ and loads of other acts, as well as everything you could possibly expect of any respectable party: kissing booths, tarot card readers, magicians, contortionists, face painting, hula hoopers, fairy floss, popcorn, jelly shots, a silent disco and free hugs. Doors open at 8pm. https://youtube.com/watch?v=n844ryqmh0c
Tequila is distilled from agave nectar, and, like champagne, it's only really Tequila if its drawn from some specific parts of Mexico. If you can't tell Jalisco from mescal, then early starters in the Sydney taco wars Mad Mex are eager to steer you down the smart path when it comes to downing this Mesoamerican delicacy. They're running two free Tequila Masterclasses in their King Street store, which should leave you ready to mix a better margarita and feel at home sorting out Hornitos from Patron. Read the rest of our top ten picks of the Sydney Fringe Festival 2013.
Off the Wall is an arty Sydney Street Art Project that is literally going to go off. Off the wall that is. But not before it goes on the wall. Off the Wall gives a public canvas for street-based artists to do their thing on. These exhibitions will explore the true nature of street art. Here one minute, gone the next. Either scrubbed off or painted over. Part one of the series opens Friday, featuring the art of Hules and the Dirt, with photography by Devlin Azzie (to capture the transient works before they disappear). With Dirt, expect loads of skeletal forms, with a lot of black and white. Whereas Hules is concerned with typography and design, using aerosol and various mediums plus a bit more colour. The show launches Friday, September 13 at 6pm. Art by the Dirt.
The Antenna Documentary Festival features the hardest-hitting and most provocative international documentaries created over the past 12 months. Now in its third incarnation, it's comprised of 37 full-length works, ten shorts and seven free Doc Talk sessions. This year will also see a Kim Longinotto Retrospective and a tribute to legendary filmmaker Dennis O'Rourke. Plus, the winners of three major awards will be announced: SBS Best International Documentary, Best Australian Documentary and Best Australian Short. With a fine field to select from, deciding on a top five was no easy task, but here are our picks of the pack nonetheless. 1. THE NETWORK Festival opening night (Wednesday, 2 October) will feature the Australian premiere of The Network. Directed by now LA-based Aussie Eva Orner, who produced 2008 Oscar-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, it follows the establishment of the first television station in post-Taliban Afghanistan. It's a journey driven by hope, underpinned with fear and challenged by the horrors of endless warfare - from suicide bombings to sporadic street battles. 2. ARE YOU LISTENING! If there's something frightening about climate change, it's the potential for entire nations to be wiped out. Current predictions suggest that Bangladesh, for example, won't exist at all by 2113. Filmmaker Kamar Ahmad Simon explores what this means at grassroots level, following the struggles of a family who, along with 100 others, are forced to inhabit a dyke after their village is destroyed by a cyclone. Simon will appear at the festival as a guest, conducting a Q&A session after the screening of Are You Listening! 3. BA NOI (GRANDMA) This dreamy, at times otherworldly, work combines past, present and future. Vietnamese-born, Canadian-raised filmmaker Khoa Le travels to his homeland, where he speaks with his 93-year-old grandmother and explores New Year's rituals, examining the elements that influence our sense of cultural and familial belonging. Ba Noi (Grandma) won the 2013 Hot Docs Inspirit Foundation Pluralism Prize. Khoa Le will be in attendance as a festival guest, delivering a Q&A after the screening. 4. THE PUNK SINGER What Searching for Sugar Man has done for Rodriguez, The Punk Singer does for Kathleen Hanna. Fearless feminist icon and frontwoman for both punk outfit Bikini Kill and electronica trio Le Tigre, she vanished from the music industry in 2005. Filmmaker Sini Anderson reveals what happened. 5. THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF DORIS PAYNE This year's festival will close with the Australian premiere of The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne. Born into the USA's then segregated Southern States, Payne became a highly successful jewellery thief, having stolen $2 million worth of goods from Cartier and Tiffany's to date. She's now in her eighties and about to go on trial. Filmmakers Matthew Pond and Kirk Marcolina (a special guest of the festival) examine the complex history and identity of Doris Payne. Images courtesy of the Antenna Documentary Festival website.
When preternaturally handsome and implausibly named financial-whiz-kid-turned-Princeton-post-grad Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) loses his last twenty grand in an online poker match, he flies to Costa Rica and is immediately offered an eight-figure salary by preternaturally handsome and implausibly named shady entrepreneur Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). So it's safe to say that having a relatable character and storyline is not a priority for Runner Runner, a film which is largely about attractive wealthy people being attractive and wealthy at one another. As Richie discovers that running an online poker empire in Central America is more fruitful than working hard back in New Jersey, the seedier elements of Block's empire soon present themselves. The dangers, as with the successes, come far too easily, and Richie quickly learns the adage that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. This rather speedy film isn't quite edited in the hyperventilated manner of something like Now You See Me, but there are a number of odd jumps that suggest a fair bit of post-production tampering, and it's this tampering that shows Runner Runner at its most interesting. When Richie tries to convince Rebecca Shafran (Gemma Arterton) to let him into Block's impossible-to-get-into party, he stumbles over some strained charm before finally spitting out his request. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" says Arterton, and we slam cut to Richie strutting his stuff at Block's luxurious pad. Either the writers gave up at that point, or Richie's smooth talkin' jive as filmed wasn't remotely convincing. The lesson is that the quickest way to get into a high-end party is with a fast edit. The film is littered with awkward cuts such as these, and sporadic, clumsy narration from Richie attempts to paste over the cracks. The most prominent sign that these voice overs were written in a hurry comes from the film's absolute highlight, a laugh-out-loud moment in which Richie injects some faux-philosophy into the climax: "This isn't poker. This is my life, and I have one play left. Put all my chips in and-" Apologies for cutting it off there, but I couldn't hear the rest of the quote over my own laughter. To clarify: Richie's life is nothing like poker, and here's a poker metaphor to drive that point home. This is what happens when you write your dialogue the night before the premiere. Look, Runner Runner isn't terrible, and with a runner-running time of 91 minutes, it's far from an endurance test. The problem is that it's so very dispassionate as it goes through the usual rise-fall-redemption motions, it's impossible to really engage with it at all. Ultimately, Runner Runner is really just a movie designed to provide some background noise as you update your Facebook. https://youtube.com/watch?v=UFPqyNvNzvU
