Investigating the most challenging issues of our complicated times, the expansive Liveworks Festival of Experimental Art will once again take over Carriageworks for 2020 — but it'll look noticeably different to previous years. Run by Performance Space, this year's shortened program (running from October 21–25) will combine socially-distanced live performances with a huge range digital events. The 2020 festival is divided into three parts, all of which will be presented both in-person and streamed online. These include Live Now performances, Live Futures panel discussions and Live Dreams, which will present artists' works-in-progress. As part of the Live Now program, Filipinx artist Justin Shoulder is unveiling a new work titled AEON†: Episode 1 that fuses myth, puppetry and queer pageantry; Cat Jones is opening an experimental pharmacy (and hosting hands-on workshops); and a collaboration between choreographer Angela Goh and Sydney artist Deborah Kelly will culminate in a public display of devotion. A performance ritual broadcast online at sunset each day will also feature a live exchange of love letters between the Koori artist and writer SJ Norman and Cherokee writer and scholar Joseph M Pierce. As part of Live Futures, thought-leaders will get together to discuss topics like 'Why Risk Gathering' led by Sydney Festival Director Wesley Enoch, 'Caring for Always' with First Nations curator Hannah Donnelly and 'The Future of Work'. Then, the Live Dreams segment will close out the festival offering, allowing artists to present sketches and ideas focused around utopia, impossible catastrophe and wonder. For the full program, head to the Liveworks website. Top image: 'Medicament for Your Predicament' by Cat Jones.
It's as if Francis Bacon’s most violent paintings have come to life on screen. Pairing disturbing photography with jarring soundscapes, Performance Space's The Moment of Disappearance can only be appropriately described by one word: uncomfortable. The Moment of Disappearance is a multisensory installation, which identifies the underlying history of displacement and violence in Australia and nternational island cities. Visual artist Kate McMillan has created a series of large scale immersive projections, juxtaposing calming frames of flowing water cut with footage of the aggressive deconstruction of a a giant octopus. The whole piece is set to a score composed by Cat Hope and performed by The London Improvisational Orchestra — an aural journey reminiscent of sounds heard in Hitchcock films. Viewers are invited to visit the exhibition from November 6 to 29 with a few special inclusions throughout the duration of the program. On November 6 and 7, there'll be a live performance of the score by original composer Cat Hope and The Decibel Ensemble, where you're invited to plunge your body through reverberations of high-pitched screeches and sub-bass drones. On November 8 at 11am there'll be a free artist talk for viewers to learn more about the thought process behind Kate McMillian's work and her methods of creation. Finally, on November 20 at 8pm there will be an exclusive noise music masterclass with Cat Hope herself.
Either you had posters of them plastered all over your walls and had dreams of marrying one of these young blondies back in the day, or you were subjected to the words "mmmm bop" on high rotation by one of those people. Whether you were (or still are) a lover or a hater, the news that Hanson will be in town will certainly spike your interest and renew your ponderings on what the words in that song really meant anyway... These boys are no longer the pre-pubescents with long flowing manes (they appear to be brunette now) running around the streets in American suburbia like actors in a shampoo commercial. They now have facial hair and and gyrating hips. Expect slightly more grown up, but still wholesome songs like Give a Little — little bit more soulful and funky, rather than pure pop. Just one word of warning – the squealing, jumping-up-and-down female fans may have aged somewhat, but they can likely be just as frenetic. https://youtube.com/watch?v=TmG0DqhfDbY
The Griffin Theatre Company are all about championing new writing. Classics as diverse as Lantana, The Boys, and Heartbreak High were all incubated under its roof, and its current generation of premiere works, such as Silent Disco, are similarly destined to become part of the Australian lit canon. From Tuesday, June 12, to Saturday, June 16, Griffin Theatre will be putting extra emphasis on this part of their ambit with the Festival of New Writing, where you can catch forums, the announcement of the 2012 Griffin Award winner, and a night of sprawling, newly devised works that will forever change how you see the Cross. Tuesday, June 12: With nerves and excitement, the 2012 Griffin Award winner will be announced. On offer is the $10,000 prize for an outstanding new Australian play. Wednesday, June 13: Following on from last year's very popular Stables takeover The Heartbreak Hotel, this year's Studio presents the site-specific, immersive work Lovely Ugly, traversing three of the Cross's iconic buildings, the SBW Stables Theatre, Altamont Hotel, and Kings Cross Hotel. Thursday, June 14: Forum day! This is the day to find out all about advertisements, copyright and collaboration, financial planning, and general legal issues that intersect with the arts. Friday, June 15: Some of the theatre scene's finest writers — Andrew Bovell, Lally Katz, Tommy Murphy, and Vanessa Bates — will lead discussion on the topic of 'Where are we as playwrights in 2012?'. Saturday, June 16: Rounding off the week is the 24-Hour Play Project, testing the talents of the 2012 NIDA directing and playwriting students and actors.
The only thing better than a bunch of dogs in one place, is a bunch of dogs in costumes at the pub. There's no doubt about it. On Sunday, October 27, The Beresford will host its annual Halloween-themed dog show. The Surry Hills pub is teaming up with pup pampering palace Dogue to welcome humans and hounds to its courtyard for a day of fun and cuteness. There will be live entertainment, market stalls and prizes for the pups — you're buddy could be dubbed best dressed, best look-alike or best rescue story — so start your outfit brainstorming now. Vampire vizslas, ghoulish golden retrievers, alien alsatians, t-rex terriers, Jack the Ripper jack russells — the creepy costume ideas are endless for man's best friend. Even if you don't have a dog to dress, you can head along and have a gander. Howl-o-ween runs from 11am–3pm.
From its opening scene, Terminator: Dark Fate succeeds in its most important mission: to go back in time and kill off every Terminator movie that came out after Terminator 2: Judgment Day. It's not that the subsequent films were awful (well, maybe Genysis), but their heart-pumping action scenes and lore-developing stories couldn't capture the complexity of the 1984 original and its 1991 sequel. They also lacked two other key components: writer/director James Cameron, as well as Linda Hamilton's version of kick-ass hero Sarah Connor. In Terminator: Dark Fate, they both return, with Cameron producing and helping come up with the story, and Hamilton raising hell as the gun-blazing terminator of terminators. We just wish that the latter had been more of a surprise. Blame the trailer — which not revealed the film's two biggest and best character reprisals, but also almost every one of its key action moments. That's Dark Fate's biggest mistake, because none of these parts of the movie needed to be teased. Terminator is one of those rare and fortunate franchises in the enviable position of owning its audience's heart and soul. Like Star Wars, Die Hard and Harry Potter, fans of the originals can't stop seeing these films, even if their love keeps waning with each increasingly disappointing sequel. As a result, what would've rated as genuine "no... fucking... way!?!" scenes in Dark Fate are rendered entirely anti-climactic, sucking the oxygen out of every prior moment as soon as you realise "oh, this is when Sarah rocks up". And yet, while Dark Fate's best moments fail to hit home as they might otherwise have done, the sixth instalment in the Terminator series still has a lot going for it. First and foremost, director Tim Miller (Deadpool) keeps the cast noticeably small, with just five main characters and only a few minor supporting roles. The first three are all franchise newbies, each holding their own against the veterans. Dani (Natalia Reyes) is a young Mexican girl who finds herself the target of a whole different kind of terminator called the Rev-9 (a terrific Gabriel Luna). Standing in its way is an augmented human named Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a soldier sent back from 2042 to protect Dani — just as Michael Biehn's character was in the first film. Indeed, much of Dark Fate plays out in familiar territory. Like the first two Terminator pictures, it's primarily a chase movie, with some scenes feeling almost too samey (the freeway pursuit sequence, for example, except this time it features a bulldozer instead of a semi-trailer). Where the film shines, though, is in its returning stars: Hamilton's Sarah Connor and Arnie's iconic T-800 'Model 101' terminator. Hamilton, in particular, reminds us how effortlessly she can be a total badass without it ever feeling forced or exaggerated — and even leaves you annoyed that more films haven't capitalised on this fact over the last 30 years. In contrast, Arnie's return is entirely different to his previous turns in the role. The trailers haven't spoiled that side of things, at least. So we'll say no more, except to note that all the CGI in the world still can't match the menacing simplicity of an exposed metallic eyeball or finger, and it's great to have him — and them — back. For those wondering how this story can even exist given the events of previous instalments, Dark Fate does a nice job of answering its own temporal conundrums. On that front, there's a genuinely unsettling edge to the idea of an inevitable apocalypse caused by human hubris and irresponsibility. Whether research companies, the military or tech startups play an influential part, the suggestion that our actions always eventually culminate in the creation of a mechanical monster seems to echo louder in the mind every time news arrives of another breakthrough in automation and artificial intelligence. "Skynet is coming" used to be an easy punchline, but these days it feels more like a warning — and Dark Fate neatly plays around in that space. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdivOFoF8-g
Newtown has always been the mecca of the quirky, the creative, the unique and the downright strange. On November 10, it's time to celebrate that vibe of happy wackiness for the 35th time at the 2013 Newtown Festival. Camperdown Memorial Rest Park will once again be transformed into a hive of artists, musicians and all manner of creative types to celebrate the tolerance and diversity of the local community. On the main Federation Stage, festivalgoers can check out local veteran rockers Dappled Cities, plus a whole host of other homegrown acts. Then, from across the ditch, Home Brew will take to the Essential Stage. For the first time, the festival will host a Live Arts Hub, a space for local artists to show off their creative experiments to an intrigued public. One gold coin is all it takes to get into this wonderfully weird celebration, and all donations go to the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre and back into the local community. Remember, the festival has a 'no plastic water bottle sales' policy, so remember to BYO water bottles on the day and fill up at the tap. There's also no BYO, no glass and no entry after 5pm.
As its name suggests, this brand new satire presented by the Rock Surfers in conjunction with The Hayloft Project confronts one of Australia's most pressing issues head-on: The Boat People. You're asked to leave your preconceived notions onshore and plunge into the high seas for one night. With the assistance of three Sydney-based comic minds (Susie Youssef, William Erimya and Luke Joseph Ryan), writer-director Benedict Hardie explores Australia's relationship with its borders and the unpredictable lives of those seeking entry without "telling you what to think". The score and sound design comes courtesy of Benny Davis, the four-chords maestro from Axis of Awesome. "This is the funniest cast I could hope for," Hardie says, "and I still can't believe we've taken this particular subject matter and turned it into something so amusing and so unexpected. From the moment the play starts I think it pulls the rug out from under your feet, and it keeps doing it until the very end ... I can't wait to see how audiences respond." Leading independent theatre producers The Hayloft Project have recently made the move up from Melbourne to Sydney, and this is their first project developed in Sydney. They've had a brief but illustrious history, which under previous artistic directors Simon Stone and then Anne Louise Sarks saw them produce Thyestes and By Their Own Hands. This distinctly comedic turn from the company is one to catch. The Boat People is on at the Bondi Pavilion from May 29 to June 1. Tickets are $35/$25 (concession) from here, but thanks to the Rock Surfers, we have three double passes to the first preview on May 29 to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address.
You've heard the tales. Those mystical, weird-as-blazes stories of entire restaurants manned by robots in Japan, surrounded by glow sticks, frantic lasers, bejewelled dancers and robot battles. The rumours are straight-up true. But don't even think about breaking that piggy bank open for an airfare, the world-renowed Japanese Robot Restaurant from Shinjuku, Tokyo is coming to Sydney for two nights only. This is not a drill. As part of the launch of Contiki’s new 'Japan Unrivalled' itinerary kicking off in March 2015, the travel-lovin' team are bringing one of Japan's major kitschy attractions to you — battling robots included. Set to pop up at 41 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst, 'Robots Unrivalled' is the sum of your wildest, weirdest and wackiest Japanese-inspired dreams — big ol' J-pop beats, choreographed dancers, fluorescent fitout and tasty Japanese food and bevs — and LASERS. So very many lasers. The kicker? The pop-up will see giant futuristic robots doing battle while you nosh. That's right, bigass robots battling. Classic weird, wonderful Japan. This is going to be nuts. Robots Unrivalled will perform three sessions daily on February 23 and 24 at 41 Oxford St, Darlinghurst. Tickets are currently sold out. Thanks to Contiki, we have ten double passes to give away to lucky CP readers. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au. Image: Lindsay Clark, THINK Global School.
To celebrate International Margarita Day (yes, apparently that's a thing), the Norfolk is bringing back the World's Hottest Nacho Challenge. From 7pm on Sunday, contestants will gather in the beer garden to test their tastebuds by downing nachos made from a chilli known in chilli circles simply as 'Scorpion'. This is the stuff used to make crowd-controlling grenades, so we're pretty sure those nachos are going to be pretty spicy. The rules are simple, first person to eat the nachos wins. Contestants will munch to the soundtrack of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire while everyone else will no doubt be taking advantage of the $10 margaritas (all ten flavours!) and the $20 jugs of Rio Bravo margaritas. For those crazy enough to give it a go, there's no (monetary) cost to enter and the winner takes home a trophy, bottle of tequila, pub voucher and presumably a scorched oesophagus. For everyone else, pull up a stool, grab some margarita popcorn and watch the crazies do their thing because this is going to be one hilarious (and hot) night out.
You've binge-watched everything in your streaming queue, made your fair share of jigsaw puzzles, played plenty of board games and worked out a regular exercise regime. Now, as part of your new stay-at-home routine, you've decided to learn a new skill. That's understandable — who doesn't want to emerge from this current drastic change to our lives with not only their health, but a few nifty new tricks up their sleeves? If getting arty has always been on your to-do list, the National Gallery of Victoria's Virtual Drop-By Drawing sessions are here to help. They usually take place in person; however, in the current circumstances, the NGV is moving them online. Budding creatives just need to tune into the NGV Channel, watch video tutorials hosted by Victorian artists and take inspiration from the gallery's collection in the process — with a pencil and piece of paper in your hands, of course. Lily Mae Martin takes viewers into the NGV's 19th-century European paintings gallery — and spends plenty of time marvelling at the life-size marble sculpture Musidora, 1878 by Marshall Wood, while Minna Gilligan focuses on two standouts in the NGV's 20th-century galleries, with Andy Warhol's Self-portrait no. 9 (c.1986) and David Hockney's The second marriage in the spotlight. And Kenny Pittock will take you through sketching fruit and vegetables in your kitchen, using Édouard Manet's The melon. The NGV's Virtual Drop-By Drawing sessions are all available on the NGV Channel to watch. Images: Virtual Drop-by Drawing class with Kenny Pittock, Lily Mae Martin and Minna Gilligan at NGV, 2020.Image courtesy of NGV. Updated April 29, 2020.
The gym is a fitness ecosystem inhabited by various species of exercisers. The long legs of the gazelles grace the treadmills, the lions flex their muscle on the bench press and the herds trot in tandem in their step classes. Whatever fitness pack you associate with, we all have different motivations for purchasing our membership — some want to get fit, others just want to look good, and some want both. But is there more behind our desire to run on a conveyer belt and repetitively lift heavy objects? This is what Circuit explores, flexing its muscle to expose what we are truly working out whilst we are working out. Through six intersecting and relatable monologues, we learn that we often enter the gym because we are lost. Adam (Sean Corcoran) wants to become a standout fish in the sea after breaking up with his boyfriend, Justin (Tom Mesker) runs to remind himself that his heart isn't actually broken, Janine (Aimee Timmins) wants to belong and so joins the 'Zumba movement', Darcy (Grace De Morgan) is disillusioned with the world and Kelly (Anika Herbert) has some serious Jane Fonda circa-1985-inspired mother issues that she is trying to resolve. We also have Joel (Michael Drysdale), who works at the gym yet seems neither lost nor found, largely because we never get to completely connect with him. Our investment is not rewarded and this is the single grievance with what is otherwise a very enjoyable play. When we are finally exposed to what appears to be his sensitive side, our yoga mat is pulled from underneath us as his facade is revealed. And when Adam finally takes the bold step we want him to, it is abruptly blocked by the only weak joke of the entire play. Justin's story also feels unresolved, which is a shame as Mesker is arguably the standout monologuist. The play then abruptly ends, leaving us unable to complete the emotional circuit. Having said that, Circuit is an incredibly enjoyable night of theatre. The delivery of the piece makes us feel that we have been personally chosen to become each character's workout partner. The humour is also expertly scripted and delivered, with countless one-liners hitting home — especially Justin's scientific explanation of how running gets an ex-lover out of your system. Circuit is certainly the most enjoyable way to work out in the gym for two hours without raising a sweat and will leave your theatrical chakras feeling aligned.
Sip on coffee, enjoy a gin cocktail and devour goat's milk gelato in a garden oasis. You can do all three at Bar Botanica: a new cafe, bar and gelateria on the Central Coast. Breathing new life into a rustic 70s hut in the middle of Distillery Botanica's garden, Bar Botanica is the brainchild of Julia and Dan Hughes, the creators of Mr Goaty Gelato. Dan has been making Mr Goaty's gelato in the distillery — known for its Moore's gin and Mr Black cold brew coffee liqueur — for the past two years, drawing inspiration for his gelato flavours from botanicals in the garden. Before his days scooping highly acclaimed gelato, Dan was a chef at Bronte's Three Blue Ducks. Centred around the old English concept of 'elevenses' — a light snack enjoyed just before midday, and an integral part of the hobbit diet — Bar Botanica is open from mid-morning to late afternoon for small bites, drinks and gelato. The menu is inspired by Dan's experience working in kitchens around the world, drawing on his classic French chef training and using fresh seasonal produce grown from the garden. Pair a chicken liver parfait with Distillery Botanica blackcurrant liqueur, enjoy a lazy afternoon with a ploughman's lunch featuring gin-spiked cheddar and olives, or down a quick chicken and tarragon sandwich matched with coffee roasted on-site (using the same beans as the aforementioned Mr Black). Once the cafe is licensed, it'll start selling gin, wines and local Six String beer, too. Of course, you'll need to leave room for dessert, too — there are 14 house-made gelato and sorbet to choose from (as well as freshly baked pastries, tarts and cakes). The flavours rotate often, but expect the likes of honeycomb and lavender and lemon myrtle macadamia. And, while Mr Goaty's original gelato is made using goat's milk, there are cow's milk and dairy-free options, too. This winter, the eatery will play host to a series of pop-up dinners — we'll let you know when they're announced. In the meantime, road trip to the revamped, plant-filled hut for a lazy Sunday picnic, a bite to eat and an award-winning gelato cone. Find Bar Botanica inside Distillery Botanica at 25 Portsmouth Road, Erina and open Wednesday–Sunday, 10am–4pm.
You may be part of the regular after-work crowd that frequents the dapper Mode Kitchen & Bar, but on Tuesday, November 6, you'll want to sneak out of work a little earlier. The glam CBD space — designed by Luchetti Krelle (ACME, Banksii) — will take things up a notch and host a sumptuous three-course feast featuring oysters, angus beef, Champagne and Pimms cocktails. You can enjoy a day away from the desk (thanks, Melbourne Cup), settle into plush velvet banquettes and tuck into some tiptop local produce. The best part? We've got two tickets to the event (valued at $95 per person) to give away. With luxe marble and brass accents, Mode Kitchen & Bar boasts a decadent atmosphere, which is reflected on the menu — think baked zucchini flowers and beef tartare to start, your choice of woodfire-roasted toothfish, mushroom risotto or Coorong Angus medallions for a main and mango meringue with coconut sorbet to finish. And make sure you dress for the occasion — there will be prizes for the best dressed. To enter, see below. [competition]695740[/competition]
Throttle Roll is an annual celebration of all things custom motorbike culture. And apparently when you're rocking around the clock, time speeds by pretty fast, because it's that time again. In the best rockabilly getup they can muster, bike enthusiasts will head to The Vic in Enmore on Saturday, May 10, for Throttle Roll. And with a family- and pet-friendly vibe, this event is firmly on the cuddlier side of motorbike culture. It'll be kicking off first thing on Saturday for the riders, who can meet at 8.30am along Princess Highway, Tempe for a ride south to Stanwell Tops and back in time for The Vic's festivities at noon. With roots and rockabilly music provided by Pat Capocci, The Drey Rollan Band, Papa Pilko & The Bin Rats, The Tequila Twins, Big Blind Ray Trio and a handful more — and with more than 70 bikes on display — Throttle Roll is the largest festival of its kind in the country. Sunday will see the Australian film premiere of Why We Ride and the latest from Stories of Bike from 7pm, while the bikes stay on display all weekend. A spit roast will keep everyone's engines running high over the two days.
When a relationship fails, sometimes it ends with fiery passion. Sometimes, love's spark fades slowly. And sometimes, the dying embers scorch the earth. Wildlife charts the downfall of a marriage that flirts with all three phases, all while forest fires rage on the outskirts of a small Montana town. As the physical flames carve a path of destruction, Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) and Jerry Brinson (Jake Gyllenhaal) let years of resentment, frustration and disappointment ignite into a heated blaze that threatens their family. As far as metaphors go, Wildlife's is certainly appropriate. Contrary to how it might sound on the page — obvious, or even clumsy — it's also delicately deployed. Adapting Richard Ford's 1990 novel, actor-turned-writer/director Paul Dano and his co-scribe Zoe Kazan make every moment of this portrait of domestic disharmony blister with aching sadness. Wildlife is a film of haunting pain that's often left unspoken, but that crackles with inescapable force and feeling. It's 1960 when the movie introduces its unhappily wedded couple, as well as their teenage son Joe (Ed Oxenbould). The trio has moved to Great Falls for Jerry's new job as a golf pro at a country club, although any hopes of a blissful fresh start dissipate when he's swiftly fired. Drinking away his discontent and rejecting any work that comes his way, he instead volunteers to fight the flames, leaving his wife and boy at home. Joe waits for his father's hopefully safe return, but Jeanette starts blazing her own trail. First, she gets a job as a swimming instructor to make ends meet; then, she openly has an affair with one of her students, car salesman Warren Miller (Bill Camp). There's another metaphor at Wildlife's core, stemming from its title. Often, the casualties of an inferno decimating bushland aren't human — they're the smaller creatures that get caught in its way. Dano paints all three of the film's key characters as scurrying victims engulfed by a roaring disaster, however he also makes plain that Jeanette and Jerry started this all-consuming emotional fire themselves. Stepping behind the lens for the first time, the Love & Mercy and There Will Be Blood star also extracts all-consuming performances from his actors. Gyllenhaal is a ball of tortured angst, desolated by failing to realise his dreams as a man, a husband and a father, while young Australian actor Oxenbould more than holds his own as the son who can only observe as his family turns to ash. But it's Mulligan, segueing from quietly bearing a life filled with emptiness to wilfully indulging her desires, that burns brightest, and hurts and seethes hardest. Alongside her efforts in acclaimed stage production Skylight, it's finely wrought, career-best work. Indeed, Mulligan's is the kind of performance that helps Wildlife conquer what could've been its biggest obstacle: that scenes from a crumbling marriage have been splashed across the screen many times before. There's such a spark to her portrayal, even when she's in tense and restrained mode, that earns the film its own place alongside greats of the marital woe genre like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Blue Valentine and Revolutionary Road. That said, the same description also fits Dano's filmmaking, as he crafts a movie that overflows with emotion even when it couldn't feel more careful and meticulous. Just looking at its artful frames gives that very impression, with each deliberate, patient, mostly still image of nondescript interiors, smoke-filled skies and struggling faces proving as sweeping as the film's simmering sentiments. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00tyPOTDCG8
This November, the unique Sydney harbourside is set to welcome a new addition: a little bit of Ibiza in the form of a new arm of the Café del Mar franchise. Famous for its stunning beach setting and chill-out compilations, Café del Mar is one of Ibiza's most sought-after destinations — and now aims to be one of Sydney's. Rather than simply transplant one beach to another, the brand spanking Café del Mar will add a touch of Sydney flavour, with more of a focus on food than its European brethren. Chef Ben Fitton (Macleay St Bistro, Coast) has designed the menu to emphasise a distinctly Australian inflection, while Spanish-Australian celebrity chef Miguel Maestre (Network Ten's The Living Room) will blend the two cultures together. Set in an as yet undisclosed location on the CBD waterfront, the new digs are designed by Sibella Court — fitting, considering her new book, Nomad, is all about bringing travel experience into design. Plus, there's the fact that her experience extends to design work for hotel group Merivale. The most renowned aspect of the Spanish stalwart — the bangin' tunes — will be maintained, with the Ibiza location's resident DJ Shane SoS regularly spinning the vinyl at the new Sydney joint. Considering Sydney's gradual shift towards the stripped-bare approach to dining and the artisanal attitude to bars, the new Café del Mar will ask a lot of questions of Sydneysiders. Still, we're always up for something new, and soon we'll be able to soak up the Ibiza sunset, all from the comfort of our hometown. Photo credit: daveyll via photopin cc.
UPDATE, March 8, 2021: Hidden Figures is available to stream via Disney+, Foxtel Now, Google Play, YouTube Movies and Amazon Video. Every parent tells their child to dream big. Unfortunately, for many people, a world of factors conspires to stop their hopes and aspirations from coming true. For the three women at the centre of Hidden Figures, the forces blocking them from fulfilling their potential aren't just obvious — they're quantifiable. Faced with both institutionalised sexism and institutionalised racism, friends Katherine (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy (Octavia Spencer) and Mary (Janelle Monáe) know exactly what's holding them back. But, as smart, savvy human computers at NASA's Virginia headquarters in the segregated 1960s, they're also driven to find a solution. Based on a real-life tale that most won't have heard before, and sending its spirited leading ladies on a fight for equality, Hidden Figures is exactly the kind of movie that you think it is. It's warm, broad and certain to please. It's designed to rouse and entertain as it sheds light on an overlooked part of history, with soft colours and an upbeat soundtrack. It brings together an engaging cast who prove endearing individually and even more so when their affectionate rapport is in the spotlight. Most of all, though, it combines all of the expected elements together just as anyone could easily predict, and still manages to be a thoroughly good watch. Katherine, Dorothy and Mary crunch numbers in the same department, share rides to work and spend time together with their families after hours, but it's ambition in the face of oppression that truly unites them. On any given day, they're expected to be grateful for their jobs, while constantly being underestimated, undermined, ignored, overlooked, and made to use separate bathrooms and even coffee pots. That's a struggle, especially in a place that wants to defy the accepted order by putting a man on the moon. Each of the three have their own goals: Katherine wants credit for her crucial efforts when she's moved into the team trying to send an American beyond the earth; Dorothy seeks the supervisor title and pay raise that goes with the tasks she's already doing; and Mary is trying to take the classes she needs — at a white's-only school — to become an engineer. There's not much surprising about the way that writer-director Theodore Melfi (St. Vincent) brings Margot Lee Shetterly's non-fiction book to the screen, but honestly that's fine. In fact, it's rather apt. It's the sparkling individual components that comprise the ideal equation here, rather than any attempt to craft a new formula. Besides, just the fact that this story is being told at all is kind of revolutionary. Space movies and films about maths geniuses are a dime a dozen, but they're usually about one type of person: white men. Not here. A few pop up — Kevin Costner is memorable as Katherine's boss, while Big Bang Theory's Jim Parsons plays the colleague constantly putting her in her place — but, refreshingly, this isn't their movie. Instead, it belongs to the women of colour at its centre. Played with vibrancy that matches the feature's own mood, there's nothing hidden about the core trio of black female mathematicians. Their real-world determination, infectious spirit, and the fine performances behind them, ensures that Hidden Figures adds up to something really special.
Tim Burton is back — and, regardless of how you feel about the filmmaker's output of late, that's a good thing. While indulging his love of all things weird and wonderful has seen the likes of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows annoy rather than endear, the director is still capable of crafting enchanting efforts when he finds just the right level of quirkiness. Sure, they were made decades ago, but Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and his two Batman movies all remain classics for a reason. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children mightn't quite take Burton back to his strange, spirited heights, however it shares much more in common with his earlier work than his more recent fare. Of course it helps that the source material couldn't be a better fit. Boasting a title that champions its oddness, a story filled with outsider characters embracing their individual traits, and an unusual journey through both dark and delightful territory, the first book in the three-strong young adult series by author Ransom Riggs feels like it was destined to end up in Burton's hands. 16-year-old Jake (Asa Butterfield) has heard about Miss Peregrine (Eva Green) and her unusual abode from his doting grandfather Abe (Terence Stamp) ever since he can remember — although as he grew up, he stopped believing that the fantastical tales were true. Then tragedy strikes, leaving Jake with many questions — which a trip to Wales to seek out the house from his childhood stories just might be able to answer. There, with the help of the lighter-than-air Emma (Ella Purnell), the fire-starting Olive (Lauren McCrostie), the necromantic Enoch (Finlay MacMillan) and many more, Jake discovers the other side of his reality. What would happen if Burton made a mashup of X-Men, Harry Potter and The Matrix? Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, that's what. In fact, screenwriter Jane Goldman worked on X-Men: First Class and X-Men: Days of Future Past, as well as Kingsman: The Secret Service. Once the 127-minute-long movie moves past its dragging, world-building first half, the director and scribe prove a well-matched pair, blending both eccentricity and adventure to mostly charming effect. And while the film follows a very familiar path and ponders recognisable themes, it does so with an ideal dose of Burton's distinctive sensibilities. Think visions of reanimated critters, gas mask-wearing kids, sunken ships and stalking monsters – to name but a few of the movie's more memorable sights. Crucially, however, the striking imagery doesn't overpower the narrative. Instead, it helps add depth and texture, and immerses viewers in the story. Cast-wise, the youthful talent proves uniformly up to the task, although if there's ever an actor that can convey Burton's bewitching brand, it's Green. Move over, Johnny Depp, there's a new muse in town.
Sprinkling a bit of winter magic over Sydney, Vivid is back for a sixth year, and its Mechanised Colour Assemblage is tipped to be the multisensory centrepiece of Circular Quay. A collaboration between Rebecca Baumann and French-Italian collective Danny Rose, this installation is a continuously morphing listening and viewing experience. Translating Baumann’s work into an audiovisual facade is likely to prove tricky for Danny Rose. She uses unconventional materials such as tinsel, flip-clocks, fans and detonators; however, with 3D-mapping technology and an eight-channel sound system, the project will be spatially configured to conflate colour, sound and emotion. Both artists have solid reputations for pulling off large-scale interactive installations. Seeing them join forces is likely to produce a synaesthetic feast.
There are many things that the current situation is teaching us — one of the less-serious realisations being that we'll be spending more mealtimes at home. Some local eateries are still offering takeaway and delivery options, but with the government firmly advising Aussies to stay at home as much as possible, we're all going to become a lot more familiar with our kitchens. You may see this as an opportunity to crack out some of your favourite cookbooks, but with the restrictions on some grocery items, those elaborate 15-step recipes are probably going to be a little out of reach. Luckily, Queer Eye star Antoni Porowski has you covered. The Canadian, who is the food expert on the super-popular Netflix series, is hosting daily cooking tutorials on Instagram while in lockdown in Texas. The series, which he has dubbed Quar Eye, focuses on recipes that require only a handful of easily accessible ingredients with an aim to minimise waste. "It dawned on me that a lot of people in the country, and in the world, are actually going through this right now: when they go to the store and they can't find what they want. We're stuck at home so we might as well still be able to prepare good food that's good for us and makes us feel good," Porowski explained in his first video. https://www.instagram.com/tv/B90Oo5lHxYv/ Part one of the series saw Porowski create The Keep Calm-lette, an omelette served with a black bean salsa and, of course, avocado (fans of the show will know of Porowski's deep love for an avo). The punnily named dishes have continued from there, including Sequestered Salmon Squash, Cooped Up Chicken, Stripped of My Sanity Chicken Strips and Let Me Outside Leftovers. Porowski uploads his videos to IGTV and Facebook daily, so you can go back and watch them at any time. Image: Facebook
UPDATE, November 20, 2020: Maiden is available to stream via Netflix, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. "Her name is Tracy Edwards, and her dream is to compete in the world's toughest yacht race with the world's first all-women crew." They're the words of a British television presenter in the mid-80s and, as seen in documentary Maiden, they're dripping with condescension. Edwards decided to enter an entirely female team into the prestigious Whitbread Round the World yachting race after first taking part in 1985–86, when she was the cook to an all-male group. During that initial voyage, she was treated poorly — unsurprisingly given the era and the sport's male bias at the time. But those patronising, dismissive, chauvinistic attitudes and insults were like a red rag to a bull, motivating the passionate lover of the open sea to compete again on her own terms. The only way for Edwards to truly sail the 33,000 nautical miles from Southampton, England, and back — via Uruguay, Western Australia, New Zealand, Uruguay again and then America — was to recruit 11 other women to make the journey with her. The 27-year-old knew she'd be instantly mocked, and mocked she was. She assembled a committed crew of women for the 1989–90 contest, and found a boat called Maiden, but no one would sponsor them, support them or even take them seriously. In the media, they were mercilessly made fun of ("tin full of tarts," one journalist called them). In the yachting realm, their male peers bet that they wouldn't finish the race's first leg, let alone all six over its eight-month duration. At every turn, they were belittled, underestimated and considered a sideshow (and when they dared to be seen in swimsuits at one point on their watery trek, they were also shamelessly objectified). With this chapter of sporting history now sailing across the cinema screen 30 years later, one thing should be obvious: Maiden's voyage through the Whitbread race is a story worth telling. It's the ultimate underdog tale, as well as a rallying cry against sexism that's no less relevant today than when the fearless skipper and her dedicated crew hit the seas. As chronicled via archival clips and contemporary interviews by filmmaker Alex Holmes, his doco makes all of the above plain, giving this plucky story and the gutsy gals who made it happen the treatment and respect that both deserve. Holmes' task is a relatively easy one, admittedly; with real-life events this gripping, this tale almost tells itself. Recognising this fact, the director steps through the specifics in a linear, unfussy but deftly edited fashion, deploying the formidable Edwards as his anchor. He starts with her backstory, explores how teenage rebellion led her to the freedom of venturing across the world's oceans, and then follows her Whitbread efforts — from her initial inspiration to the white-knuckle on-the-boat reality in the team's secondhand vessel once the race began. Even when the film leans heavily on talking heads, the details are riveting; however the documentary steps up a gear once it weaves grainy home-video footage from Maiden's journey into the mix. Candid and unfettered as it captures women doing battle with the water ("the ocean is always trying to kill you; it doesn't take a break," Edwards notes, looking back), it puts viewers right there on the yacht with the all-female crew. The fist-pumping, cheer-worthy highs and tense, dangerous lows of Maiden's trek are best discovered by watching, with the yacht's trip serving up the kinds of thrills usually penned by Hollywood. Indeed, it's incredibly surprising that a dramatisation hasn't hit the big screen already. Never forgetting or downplaying just how appallingly Edwards and company were treated three decades ago, Holmes' doco does more than simply relive or revel in their tale. Crucially, it also gives the film's subjects a voice, letting them relay the nitty gritty of their experiences in their own way. Back in the 80s, they were asked about squabbles, surviving without makeup and whether a round-the-world yacht race was the best place for the fairer sex, all while the men were were asked about strategies, tactics, skills and accomplishments. Redressing that egregious wrong — and showing the determined sparks still gleaming in these women's eyes — this rousing and exhilarating documentary proves a stellar snapshot of an inspiring feat, a rebuke against gender stereotypes and misogynistic attitudes, and a fierce portrait of persistent ladies telling the world that they'll do whatever they damn well like wherever they damn well like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjFXdXSmGZ8
Performances are often called 'unique', but there is no other word to describe Aquasonic. Avant-garde ensemble Between Music have spent years researching the possibilities of performing music underwater. AquaSonic is the result of numerous experiments with scientists, deep-sea divers and craftspeople to develop a style of singing and create instruments capable of being played underwater – such as the hydraulophone and the electromagnetic harp. Featuring five musicians submerged in individual glass aquariums, singing and playing custom-made instruments, the result is a haunting, disquieting performance that wouldn't be out of place in American Horror Story. Image: Charlotta de Miranda
You Won't Be Alone isn't just the name of Macedonian Australian writer/director Goran Stolevski's debut feature, which hit cinemas in 2022. It's also a phrase that applies now that his second film is here. Of an Age initially premiered in the same year as well, bowing in Melbourne International Film Festival's opening-night slot — and, while it tells of growing up queer in 90s Melbourne, falling in love for the first time, then sifting through the aftermath a decade later, it's a glorious companion piece to its predecessor. No one is chosen by a sorceress here. The place isn't Macedonia, the period isn't the 19th century and supernatural shapeshifting isn't part of the narrative. But even just a mere duo of movies into his helming career, Stolevski makes pictures that profoundly ruminate upon two of life's purest truths: that absolutely everything changes and, consequently, nothing completely lasts forever. Neither You Won't Be Alone nor Of an Age fly solo in their moods of yearning, either, or in piecing themselves together from familiar elements that still feel fresh — more than that, that feel immediate and hauntingly immersive — in Stolevski's hands. Where his last flick played like a sibling to Robert Eggers' The Witch by way of The Tree of Life and A Hidden Life's Terrence Malick, his latest rich and poetic effort earns the same sensation with 2011's Weekend and 2017's Call Me By Your Name. This too is a tender love story, as both of those recent greats of LGBTQIA+ cinema are. A clock ticks inescapably, this time a single day rather than the respite at the end of the working week or a whole summer. And, in a keenly felt romance that swells and swirls with lingering emotions, two men find their lives eternally altered, while also facing the unshakeable fact that their bliss will be fleeting. 1999 is inching towards becoming Y2K when Of an Age begins, and 17-year-old Nikola aka Kol (Elias Anton, Australia Day) is only hours from taking to the floor at a Melbourne dance championship. That's how his day is meant to pan out, at least, and what he's preparing for when the film meets him practising his smooth ballroom moves in his suburban garage — conjuring up visions of John Travolta in a flick made famous two decades prior, in fact. Kol's ordinary morning fever breaks, however, thanks to friend and dance partner Ebony (Hattie Hook, Savage River) and her bender of an evening. She's awoken on the beach in Altona with no idea where she is, scrounging up change for the payphone call to say she thinks she'll miss the recital unless Kol can pick her up. Stolevski hones in on Ebony early, not because this is primarily her story — it isn't — but to commence his coming-of-age and coming-out tale with compulsive urgency. Anything can happen in the whirlwind from adolescence to maturity when your entire adult future is ahead of you. Anything can occur when you've just finished high school, as Kol and Ebony have, and the days, months and years to come seem endless and brimming with possibility. Any day can be a shock and a surprise as well, as the jittery young woman conveys while scrambling to work out what's going on, where her belongings are, what happened last night and how she'll get home. With cinematographer Matthew Chuang (another You Won't Be Alone alum), and while editing himself, Stolevski's infuses the scene with a freneticism and nerviness that could've barrelled straight out of Good Time or Uncut Gems, adding the Safdies to the picture's influences. That frenzied energy thrums when Kol dons his dance attire, rushes through the streets and looks like a Serbian Elvis all shook up as the Victorian capital wakes up. To attempt to make his big performance, he has to convince Ebony's older brother Adam (Thom Green, Eden) to play taxi — and he's still all aflutter with anxiety, and just the inertia of being so keyed up from endeavouring to sort things out, when he slides into the twentysomething's brown car. They remain in that race against time, although the reality of missing the contest slowly sinks in. Cue the aforementioned other battle with the clock, as what starts as a panicked drive between virtual strangers becomes a leisurely on-the-road chat between kindred spirits warming up. When Ebony hops in the backseat, Adam and Kol only have eyes for each other (plus mentions of music, books and movies traded as tentatively flirtatious currency, all while listening to the soundtrack to Wong Kar-wai's 1997 queer romance Happy Together). An awakening is at the centre of Of an Age, which Stolevski brings to the screen with electrifying specificity and universality in tandem. He achieves an always-sought-after but never-assured feat, making Kol's discovery that he's attracted to Adam and their blossoming bond from there feel so sincere and lived in that it could've only happened for these two characters — as thoughtfully and compellingly performed by the charismatically matched Anton and Green, too — and yet ensuring that it also feels as if it has been ripped from everyone's formative experiences, or near enough. 90s teens of Australia, prepare for a time capsule in the movie's sounds, sights and slang, plus its costuming and vibe, across the feature's first section. This isn't quite a picture of two halves but, after Kol and Adam spend an intense 24 hours in each other's orbit (including at a 21st-birthday party that leads to the moment they've been building towards), it comes with a coda in 2010. Embracing its debt to Weekend and Call Me By Your Name, Of an Age could've stayed in 1999 for its entire duration and still proven a gorgeous, heartfelt and affecting film. It cuts deeper and hits harder courtesy of its final chapter, though — and the dreamy visual sheen of its sequences in 1999, which have the intimacy and glow of fond recollections even when they're at their most fraught (with help from boxed-in Academy framing, and reminiscent of Chuang's work on Blue Bayou), is all the more powerful due to what comes next. When Kol and Adam cross paths again, both returning to Melbourne from abroad, much has shifted and transformed. That spark between them still burns bright, but confronting what it now means and how it too has evolved is another stop in Kol's coming-of-age journey. How moving and entrancing it is to tag along for the ride, and for a Melbourne-set, distinctively Aussie tour through following your heart, trying not to be alone, and understanding that perfect memories and existence-shaping delights quiver and sway just like everything else.
Sharp, savage and skewering, plus twisted in narrative and the incisive use of genre tropes alike: as a filmmaker, Emerald Fennell certainly has a type. With the Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman and now Saltburn, the Barbie and The Crown actor-turned-writer/director takes aim, blazes away giddily and blasts apart everything that she can. When she made a blisteringly memorable feature debut behind the lens — giving audiences one of 2021's's best Down Under releases, in fact, and deservingly earning a place among the Academy Awards' rare female Best Director nominees in the process — she honed in on the absolute worst that a patriarchal society affords women. Now, after also pointing out the protection provided to the wealthy in that first effort as a helmer, Fennell has class warfare so firmly in her gaze that Saltburn is named after a sprawling English manor. With both flicks, the end result is daringly unforgettable. This pair of pictures would make a killer double, too, although they enjoy neighbouring estates rather than frolic across the same exact turf. On her leaps from one side of the camera to the other, Fennell also keeps filling her features with such spectacular casts that other filmmakers might hope to fall into her good graces to bask in their glow — a fate that sits at the heart of Saltburn, albeit beyond the movie world. Fresh from nabbing his own Oscar nomination for The Banshees of Inisherin, Barry Keoghan adds yet another beguiling and astonishing performance to a resume that's virtually collecting them (see also: The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Dunkirk, American Animals, The Green Knight and Calm with Horses), proving mesmerisingly slippery as scholarship student Oliver Quick. Usually standing in his sights, Euphoria's Jacob Elordi perfects the part of Felix Catton, aka that effortlessly charismatic friend that everyone wishes they could spend all of their time with. And as Felix's mother Elspeth, father Sir James and "poor dear" family pal Pamela, Rosamund Pike (The Wheel of Time), Richard E Grant (Persuasion) and Carey Mulligan (Fennell's Promising Young Woman star, also an Academy Award nominee for her work) couldn't give more delicious line readings or portraits of the insular but shambolic well-to-do. Saltburn's first stomping ground is Oxford University, as is Oliver's as well, not that he's initially able to make the most of it. Fennell and cinematographer Linus Sandgren — who shot this after Babylon, going all-in on decadence and its dark side on back-to-back projects — spy the careful look on the film's protagonist's face as he enters the revered college among the class of 2006, and also see how he stands out from his moneyed peers. Felix isn't merely at the centre of the in-crowd; not just because his blue blood may is pure sapphire, he's the sun that everything revolves around. When a bicycle mishap threatens to make him late for class but Oliver is on-hand to assist, Felix also shines his light on his working-class outsider schoolmate. At the end of term, to save his new loyal offsider from a fraught homecoming and to treat him to a heady summer dream instead, he then extends a sympathetic invitation to while away the break with the full Catton clan at their palatial property. Cue Brideshead Revisited by way of The Talented Mr Ripley, Cruel Intentions, gothic thrillers and Fennell-esque flair, as set in the mid-00s and graced with a superlative soundtrack from the era to go with it — a wickedly entertaining and delightful blend. Butler Duncan (Paul Rhys, A Discovery of Witches) might be stern and strict rather than welcoming when Oliver decamps to their stately surroundings, but Elspeth and Sir James are as obliging as they are eccentric (one of the family matriarch's best moments, and Pike's as her, involves sharing a tidbit about her role in potentially inspiring Pulp's 'Common People'). Amid the group's nightly black-tie meals ("we dress for dinner here," Felix advises), leisurely sunshiny days, swish soirées, oozing lust and the kind of hallucinatory blowouts that you can only have if you're basically corrupting Downton Abbey, fellow Oxford student and Catton cousin Farleigh (Archie Madekwe, Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story) sits in the competitively icy camp about Oliver's arrival. Sharing the next generation's seductive vibe, Felix's sister Venetia (Alison Oliver, Conversations with Friends) is warmer, but with a seen-this-before air about her sibling's new bestie (or, in her eyes, plaything). As the name of a grand country tract where cashed-up privilege is so flavoursome that it leaves a mark, Saltburn is a brilliant choice. As the moniker for a bitingly piquant movie, it similarly couldn't be more gloriously on-target. This is a spicy and sweltering film again and again: in its cast, farce, luxuriousness, confidence, horrors, bodily fluids, pitch-perfect portrayals, devil-may-care protagonist, blooming sense of mischief, intoxicatingly opulent look, and deeply committed boldness to dig in and tear down. That secrets and lies line the walls of the eponymous property, gathering far less dust than the well-appointed library that no one appears to use — scary flicks are the Cattons' communal pastime of choice, aptly — isn't at all surprising. That eat-the-rich brutality awaits resides in the same category. But Saltburn never stops enticing jaws to the floor, then sticking them there with sweat, blood and more, as it murders a dance floor filled with posh entitlement, yearning desire, and the impulsiveness of the young and the affluent. Sophie Ellis-Bextor's best-known tune does indeed get a spin, alongside expertly deployed tracks by Bloc Party and MGMT. For the second time in as many movies, Fennell knows how to nail not only a meticulously matched playlist but the precise mood. That she could've been one of Oliver and Felix's Oxford peers given that she was also studying at the prestigious university when the feature is set helps every detail gleam, including the mid-00s fashions. Crucially, though, Fennell never forgets that her film is showing to today's audiences, not to newly minted adults nearly two decades back (or anyone transported so evocatively to the past by this film that it feels like they've never left). Whether or not Elordi boasted such a pivotal role, Euphoria is unmistakably one of Saltburn's visual touchstones. With its swooning and sultriness — and scorching obsession as well — so is Call Me By Your Name. As much as it revels in the alluring, and torridly, Saltburn is fearlessly and devilishly about tarnishing not gloss. In the pursuit of love, comfort, belonging and revenge, nothing glitters within its chandelier-lit story that can't be shattered and smeared — that doesn't deserved to be cracked and crumbled, either — even when the movie's namesake place appears to host the most carefree of times. With boxed-in frames and looking-back narration as a framing device, the film purposefully unspools as a provocative fantasy and an unreliable memory combined, as the tales we all tell ourselves about our lives in our deepest, darkest, most closely held thoughts and feelings always do. As anchored exquisitely by the enigmatic Keoghan in entertaining everyman mode, it's no wonder that Saltburn feels so potent, so haunting, so visceral, and so attuned to vulnerability and viciousness in equal doses: it's the reverie and nightmare beating inside us all with infatuating abandon if we'd let it.
Going back to uni after an extended break can be an intimidating prospect. But, the stereotype of all students as bright-eyed eighteen-year-olds fresh out of high school is outdated. While it's true that a large number of students (670,000) in Australia are in the 18–22 years age bracket, the latest available figures from 2015 show that there were over 270,000 students aged 30–49. This means that thousands of Australians know the mixed feelings associated with returning to uni but also ultimately feel the rewards of finishing a degree they really want. Some study on campus, others study online; whichever you prefer, here are five hacks to help get you back into the rhythm of uni life. START WITH THE SUBJECTS THAT INTRIGUE YOU MOST Make it fun. If you know what degree you want to do, but are worried about finding that initial drive to kickstart that self-motivated study mindset, start off with the subjects that seem the most engaging to get back in the swing of things. Alternatively, if you're not set on doing a whole degree, you can take a single subject with no entry requirements. Seriously. Try studying in a particular area and see if online study suits you, or upskill in a specific career-related subject or two. Head to the single subjects and degrees page at Open Universities Australia and start perusing. CHOOSE A DEGREE YOU'RE REALLY PASSIONATE ABOUT The number one way to make uni work for you is to pick a course that excites you. So select something you like regardless of whether or not it's in fashion or earns you status points from your extended family. Maybe the first time you went to uni, you picked law or commerce because it sounded 'good'. Or dentistry, because that's what your parents did and you frankly didn't have a clue what to do straight out of school. Fair — but this time around, find something that fits more with your true passions. Because, at the end of the day, it's you doing the degree, not anyone else. GO PART-TIME AND STUDY ONLINE Going back to uni doesn't have to mean fully adopting the classic student identity of all study, endless caffeine and extreme budgeting. If you love your current job and want to keep one toe in the workforce, but also want to finish a degree, why not have the best of both worlds? Instead of going back to full-time student status, opt for part-time and study online. Take your degree at your own pace outside work hours, and enjoy a bit more flexibility when it comes to studying and completing assignments. Plus, you'll get the exact same degree that you'd get on campus. IDENTIFY ANY CREDITS THAT COULD CARRY INTO YOUR NEW DEGREE If you've started a course in the past, but didn't end up finishing for whatever reason, all is not lost. You may very well be able to count some of your previous study towards completing your new choice. If a previous course is related to your chosen degree, you can potentially use these as credits to reduce the number of subjects you will need to complete. And even if you don't have any previous study that relates to your new degree, you may be able to use those credits toward elective and non-core subjects. Being able to use previous credits will help you finish your studies faster. You can identify any potential credits you may already have here. CONNECT WITH OTHER STUDENTS IN THE SAME SITUATION AS YOU Solidarity is crucial for getting through any experience. University is meant to be challenging — that's where the growth is — but not to the point of feeling so tough you can't get through it. Connecting with other students via Facebook groups and IRL is key to building a support system. Even if your squad is just you and one other person to talk over assignments with, having that help can change the game. There are so many other people also feeling that mixture of excitement and trepidation about going back to uni — you're not alone! Take the plunge and explore all the degrees on offer from leading Australian unis, online through Open Universities Australia. You've got this.
It can be hard to feel festive when it's 35 degrees in Sydney, but there's no reason we can't indulge in traditional Christmassy flavours in summer. Ahead of the busy party season, Grey Goose's La Vanille has returned to three Sydney bars for a short period of time. The vanilla-flavoured vodka is made from concentrated vanilla beans with enough natural sweetness and a heavenly aroma that could melt hearts, and this coveted line is sure to bring a festive feel to this season's summer catch-ups. The premium French vodka uses vanilla beans harvested in Madagascar — and there's no added sugar. The flavour was first released in 2003, subsequently achieving a cult-like status among bartenders, and though it's not available to buy in shops you can taste the bold caramelised toffee notes in three specially created cocktails in Sydney. Here's where you treat yourself to an exclusive cocktail with a vanilla twist. MAYBE SAMMY: LADY LUCK Widely considered one of the best bars in the country — and recently voted as one of the World's Top 50, Maybe Sammy is heaven for cocktail lovers. The new Lady Luck cocktail marries Grey Goose La Vanille with curaçao and passionfruit for tropical flavour, and maraschino for the retro feel. It's shaken with egg whites and soda to give the drink a salivating souffle vibe. Located in the heart of The Rocks, this 50s-inspired bar is home to a team of bartenders obsessed with all things alcoholic, dedicated to finding new and creative ways to get you tipsy while exciting those taste buds. Pair it with the Flamingo Burrata, which comes with rhubarb and orange compote. [caption id="attachment_679868" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Katje Ford[/caption] MRS SIPPY: MISS DOUBLE BAY A premium vodka needs a fancy setting, so Double Bay's Mrs Sippy is the perfect spot to park yourself, grab one of its ultimate signature cocktails and soak up all the decadence the harbourside suburb has to offer. Aptly named the Miss Double Bay, the new cocktail exudes class and flavour without the guilt of a sugar overload. It's made with the naturally sweet Grey Goose La Vanille, pear liqueur and a lemon cucumber juice — and it'd be very easy to sip on all day. With such a fresh cocktail, order the Sydney rock oysters with ponzu dressing followed by the yellowfin tuna tartare. [caption id="attachment_651158" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Kitti Smallbone[/caption] SMOKE: ENDLESS SUMMER (2.0) The eternal summer struggle is trying to find the perfect cocktail bar, one with harbour views and enough breeze that you feel cool and comfortable to linger for a while. We're pretty sure the struggle is over at Smoke in Barangaroo House, where you can try the new Endless Summer (2.0) cocktail. It's been revamped for a limited time offering Grey Goose La Vanille with Aperol (it shouldn't work, but it does) and a tarty passionfruit purée. The result is a sweet-bitter delight with a fluffy, lemony egg white finish that's light enough to soothe any heat-induced blues this summer. Take advantage of Smoke's tapas-style dining and order share plates of grilled asparagus skewers, Fremantle octopus or chicken liver parfait. Each Grey Goose bottle is distilled and bottled in France, and the high-quality vodka has a 100-percent traceable production process, from crop to cork. Upgrade your weekend by choosing the premium vodka — with a vanilla twist — in your classic cocktail. Top image: Maybe Sammy by Trent van der Jagt.
For a couple of months between mid-May and early August, around Melbourne's multiple lockdowns, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image became one of the happiest places in Australia. Hosting a huge Disney exhibition will do that, with the venue unleashing Disney: The Magic of Animation — complete with more than 500 original artworks, including paintings, sketches, drawings and concept art from the Mouse House's beloved catalogue of movies. In great news for Melburnians, and for Australians still keen to immerse themselves in a big dose of animated magic, Disney: The Magic of Animation will reopen again on Saturday, October 30. In even better news, it's hanging around for an extended season, and will now run until Sunday, January 23. So, whether you've always been a fan of Mickey Mouse, you can remember how it felt when you first watched Bambi, you're able to sing all of Genie's lyrics in Aladdin or you fell head over heels for Moana more recently, you'll find plenty worth looking at among ACMI's halls and walls. And in its doors, too, actually — because walking beneath mouse ear-shaped openings to move from one area to the next is all part of the experience. Of course it is. Disney: The Magic of Animation also explores everything from 1928's Steamboat Willie — the first talkie to feature Mickey Mouse — through to this year's Raya and the Last Dragon. Obviously, a wealth of other titles get the nod between those two bookending flicks. Fantasia, Alice in Wonderland, Lady and the Tramp, The Jungle Book and The Lion King also feature, as do Mulan, Frozen, Big Hero 6 and Zootopia. And yes, many of these movies have been remade in live-action or photo-realistic CGI; however, ACMI's showcase is only about the animated films. The big drawcard: art from the Mouse House's hefty back catalogue of titles, and heaps of it. The entire lineup has been specially selected by the Walt Disney Animation Research Library, and will let you get a glimpse at just how the movie magic comes to life, how some of Disney's famous stories were developed, and which animation techniques brought them to the big screen. Get ready to peer at hand-drawn dalmatians (which is timely, given that Cruella released this year), stare closely at Mickey Mouse's evolution, examine Wreck-It Ralph models and pose next to Snow White. Wall-sized artworks pay tribute to a number of movies, too — The Little Mermaid piece is particularly eye-catching — and feeling like you're stepping into a Disney movie is an unsurprising side effect. The extended season will also feature screenings, including sing-along sessions of The Little Mermaid, Moana, Frozen and Frozen 2 — plus a viewing of Disney's upcoming release Encanto. Disney: The Magic of Animation is actually ACMI's first big exhibition since it originally reopened back in February this year following its $40 million transformation. It's also an Aussie exclusive, so you won't be able to be its guest or ponder its tales as old as time anywhere else. Given that Melbourne just came out of lockdown mere days ago, these kind of announcements are popping up with frequency at the moment, after Patricia Piccinini's latest exhibition just extended its run — and Moulin Rouge! The Musical locked in its delayed dates as well. So, Melburnians and Melbourne visitors alike, you're about to have quite jam-packed calendar. Disney: The Magic of Animation will reopen on Saturday, October 30 at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Federation Square, Melbourne — and will now display until Sunday, January 23. For more information or to buy tickets, head to the ACMI website. Images: Phoebe Powell.
After just under a month of statewide stay-at-home conditions, much of regional New South Wales will come out of lockdown at 12.01am on Saturday, September 11. The move will apply to regional areas that are deemed low risk and have had zero COVID cases for at least a fortnight — and that date should sound familiar, as that's what was targeted when the regional lockdown was last extended at the end of August. Obviously, nothing substantial will change in Greater Sydney until 70 percent of the state has received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine; however, Premier Gladys Berejiklian had previously signalled that some regional parts of the state could move to eased conditions before then. So, that's exactly what's happening — although life won't be returning to pre-lockdown normality just yet. Announcing the news at the state's daily COVID-19 press conference today, Thursday, September 9, Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional NSW John Barilaro said "while unfortunately many regional LGAs will remain in lockdown due to COVID case numbers, for other parts of the state, stay-at-home orders will be lifted." He continued: "this decision is based on NSW Health advice, and the LGAs which remain in lockdown will continue to be monitored and we will update those communities on a regular basis." If you're wondering which spots will no longer be under stay-at-home rules, it's actually easier to name which Local Government Areas will still be in lockdown — which is what the NSW Government has done. It's a hefty list, and spans Bathurst, Bega, Blayney, Bogan, Bourke, Brewarrina, Broken Hill, Cabonne, Central Coast, Central Darling, Cessnock, Dubbo, Dungog, Eurobodalla, Forbes, Gilgandra and Goulburn Mulwarre, as well as Kiama, Lake Macquarie, Lithgow, Maitland, Mid-Coast, Mid-Western, Muswellbrook, Narrabri, Narromine, Newcastle, Orange, Parkes, Port Stephens, Queanbeyan-Palerang, Shellharbour, Shoalhaven, Singleton, Snowy Monaro, Upper Hunter, Walgett and Wingecarribee. The NSW Government has also put together a map, outlining in white the areas that won't be in lockdown — and marking the places that'll remain under stay-at-home conditions in red. If you live in a regional LGA that's coming out of lockdown, you'll no longer need to abide by the stay-at-home rules from Saturday, September 11, and will instead be able to go out whenever you like. Also, five-person at-home and 20-person outdoor gatherings will permitted, so get ready to see your family and friends. Hospitality venues can reopen, too, with the one person per four-square-metres rule applying inside and the one person per two-square-metres rule outside. And if you're eager to stand up and drink (yep, hello vertical consumption), you'll need to do that outdoors only. When it comes to shopping, retail stores can reopen under the one person per four-square-metres rule. Hairdressers, nail salons and other personal services businesses can open with one person per four-square-metres as well, with a maximum of five clients at each premises. Keen for a workout? Gyms and indoor recreation facilities will reopen under that one person per four-square-metres requirement as well, and can host classes with up to 20 people. Sporting facilities including swimming pools can also reopen. Eager to head to a show, watch some sport or see a movie? Major recreation outdoor facilities — which spans stadiums, racecourses, theme parks and zoos — will be under the one person per four-square-metres rule, with a cap of 5000 people. At other outdoor ticketed and seated events, 500 people can attend. And, indoors venues such as cinemas, theatres, music halls, museums and galleries will be allowed to reopen with the one person per four-square-metres rule in place, or by filling to a maximum of 75-percent fixed seated capacity. LOCKDOWN LIFTED IN PARTS OF REGIONAL NSW pic.twitter.com/XFCNffmNER — NSW Health (@NSWHealth) September 9, 2021 Regarding weddings, they'll go up to 50 guests and allow dancing, but you'll only be able to eat and drink while sitting. The same caps will apply for funerals as well, and churches and places of worship will be able to open under the one person per four-square-metres limit. Caravan parks and camping grounds will be allowed to open also, so regional travel is back on the cards for resident of regional LGAs coming out of lockdown. And, masks will be required in all indoor public venues, including public transport, front-of-house hospitality, retail and business premises, on planes and at airports. Outdoors, though, only hospitality staff will be required to mask up. The news about ending the regional lockdown in most areas comes as New South Wales recorded 1405 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm yesterday — and also as the Premier announced the first stage of the state's roadmap out of lockdowns moving forward. When the roadmap kicks in for locked-down areas at the 70-percent fully vaxxed mark, they'll move to the same conditions that are coming into place in much of regional NSW this week. As has been the case since the beginning of the pandemic, NSW residents are still asked to continue to frequently check NSW Health's long list of locations and venues that positive coronavirus cases have visited. If you've been to anywhere listed on the specific dates and times, you'll need to get tested immediately and follow NSW Health's self-isolation instructions. And in terms of symptoms, you should be looking out for coughs, fever, sore or scratchy throat, shortness of breath, or loss of smell or taste — and getting tested at a clinic if you have any. Parts of regional New South Wales will come out of lockdown at 12.01am on Saturday, September 11. For more information about the status of COVID-19 in NSW, head to the NSW Health website.
Extinction isn't permanent, apparently. Sydney's Night at the Museum-like party, Jurassic Lounge is being resurrected for a one-off after-hours event to celebrate Mardi Gras. Returning to the Australian Museum for one night only, following their recent Halloween Dia de los Muertos party, The Festivalists' beloved after-hours event will once again take over the entire museum on Thursday, February 19. Presented in partnership with Sydney Mardi Gras and samesame.com.au, Jurassic Lounge's Mardi Gras edition plans to transform the Australian Museum into a jaw-droppingly colourful party, celebrating Sydney's vibrant queer culture. Creating a playground for grown-ups in the hallowed museum halls, the night will see performances from drag artist Carmen Geddit, Andea Darling (and her pet python), DJ Sveta cranking out sets, performers from beloved Sydney underground queer party Unicorns, alongside your Jurassic Lounge staples — the ever-popular silent disco, loved-up Date Roulette, live reptiles casually hangin' around, those well-used photobooths and more. The one-night-only resurrection of Jurassic Lounge is most excellent news from The Festivalists, the Sydney-based, non-profit company who just wrapped up their new after-hours night, Hijinks, at Sydney Aquarium. In true Festivalists style, there's sure to be plenty of happenings and Easter Eggs planned for the night.
When you know your city inside out, things can get a little stale. Summer rolls around and you head to the same rooftop bars, the same full-to-the-brim beaches and crowded parks. But what if we told you there's a whole side of Sydney that you may not have discovered yet; the Sydney which resides beneath the waves. There's a whole underwater world just waiting to be explored, and, summer is prime time. To help you get acquainted with The Big Blue, we've partnered with the team at Gage Roads Brewing Co, in celebration of the Single Fin summer ale, to bring you five underwater experiences to dive into this season. From sub-aquatic rugby to an underwater scooter tour, we've got you water lovers well and truly covered. So, jump in and get ready to see our harbour city through a watery lens. [caption id="attachment_663537" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Clovelly, Paros Huckstepp.[/caption] MEET THE SYDNEYSIDERS OF THE DEEP Sure, you may come to us to find out what's going on on the surface, but let us introduce you to the happenings going on in Sydney down below. There's a whole other city beneath the glittering water that surrounds us and there are many spots where you can get acquainted with it. All you need is your snorkel (and some flippers if you wanna be a pro). From north to south, you can easily visit the Sydneysiders of the deep. Spy seahorses and weedy sea dragons at Silver Beach in Kurnell; spot the mythical 1.2-metre-long blue groper, Bluey, at Clovelly; or make it a full weekend of exploring to see the tropical species who've descended on the city for summer at The Basin in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Oh, and wherever you go, make sure to pack the SPF 50+; no one wants a snorkel-shaped sunburn. SWIM WITH SHARKS If you're keen for an underwater activity with a bit more bite — metaphorically speaking, hopefully — head to the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium and swim among a swarm of sharks. This exhilarating experience puts you eye-to-eye with grey nurse and seven-gill sharks — hopefully, they're more like the loveable Bruce from Finding Nemo and less like the savage beast from Jaws. You'll also get to float along with the slow-moving sea turtles, giant stingrays and tons of exotic fish. Both certified divers and newbies can partake in the dive, with fully qualified instructors ensuring your experience is both memorable and safe. After you've finished with your fine-finned friends, tuck into a Single Fin, or two, to calm your nerves. The experience takes approximately 2.5 hours and costs $239 per person. Book here. PLAY A GAME OF UNDERWATER RUGBY Water polo? So passé. It's all about underwater rugby now, a fast-paced, somewhat ruthless, team sport designed to keep you fit and fierce. The rules are relatively straightforward: two baskets sit at the bottom of the pool like goals, and there are two teams of six who must try to get the ball into their respective goals. (We think it's a bit more like underwater Quidditch than rugby.) UNSW runs mixed training sessions every Wednesday on campus or Thursday and Sunday in the deep pool at Revesby — and sometimes even in the ocean at Clovelly or Gordons Bay. The first session is free, all you need to bring is your swimmers and a towel. Jump in, try it out, then reward yourself with an ice-cold brew for all your hard work. TAKE A SCOOTER TOUR THROUGH GORDONS BAY No, you won't be zipping around the ocean floor on a Vespa or Razor — this is a different kind of scooter. The underwater scooter, which kind of looks like a hand-held fan, propels you through the sea without you making any real effort. It's like a lazy version of snorkelling or scuba diving — just relax and take in the sights below. And, since the tour takes place in thriving Gordons Bay, there's plenty to see. This protected aquatic reserve is home to an intricate natural tapestry and vibrant underwater world teeming with marine life, including the famous eastern sea blue groper, octopus, cuttlefish, sea turtles, stingrays and even dolphins. Once you've got your aquatic fix, see some fins on dry land and grab a couple of Single Fin to enjoy with your friends. Tours run for two hours and cost $159 per person. Book here. JETPACK ACROSS A LAKE So you won't technically be 'underwater' for this one (unless you're really terrible at using a jetpack), but this aquatic activity will make you feel like that part-fish guy from Waterworld flying across the water as the jetpack blasts you as high as ten metres above the surface. You can also try the jetboard, which will see you channelling those dolphins you may have spotted at Gordons Bay, diving in and jetting out of the water as you please. You'll find all these water jetting experiences at Jetpack Adventures, about 50 kilometres west of the CBD in Penrith. The experience takes approximately 45 minutes and costs $175 per person. Book here. Make your next summertime fling a Single Fin. The light-bodied ale is packed with plenty of hoppy flavour to keep you smiling all season.
If your commute to work usually involves catching the bus, we're sorry. Not just because it's a tedious process in general, but because today — Thursday, May 18 — Sydney's bus drivers have gone on strike, leaving many routes delayed or just not running at all. The main area to bear the brunt of the strike is the inner west and south, with buses that usually depart from the Leichhardt, Burwood, Kingsgrove and Tempe depots most affected. This includes buses that run up King Street, go to Macquarie Uni and the 440 Rozelle to Bronte. Transport for NSW has urged commuters to take alternative transport this morning, which will of course see crowding on other types of transport, including the train and light rail, and more people on the road. The bus drivers' strike, which is expected to last for 24 hours, is to protest NSW Government's plan to privatise some of Sydney's bus services. The strike has gone ahead despite the Industrial Relations Commission last night deeming the strike illegal, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. These are the bus routes affected. For more details and update, check Transport for NSW. 400 401 406 407 408 412 413 415 418 422 423 425 426 428 430 431 433 436 437 438 439 441 442 444 445 460 461 462 463 464 466 470 473 476 477 478 479 480 483 487 490 491 492 493 495 502 504 508 526 L23 L28 L37 L38 L39 M20 M30 M41 X04 X25 Via The Sydney Morning Herald. Image: Kim Navarre via Wikimedia Commons.
One-man shows are a tricky enterprise to pull off. And it takes a brave, talented and personable actor to do it well. Enter Damian Callinan. Nominated for the Barry Award for most outstanding show of the Melbourne Comedy Festival, Callinan brings The Merger to Sydney audiences at the Seymour Centre. A show about one man's venture to save his town's football team, it’s a strange marriage of sport and theatre, but it somehow works. Set in the tiny country township of Bodgy Creek, the show features bogan accents, Afghani accents, and a radio broadcaster whose sponsors are as desperate as he is. Director Matt Parkinson calls Callinan a “natural storyteller, a gifted clown and terrific character actor” in his director's notes, and I couldn’t agree more. The protests over the American film insulting the prophet Mohammed may be dominating the news, but Callinan’s show rips through these recent tensions, as it’s Australia’s brightest moments of multiculturalism that shine through. The coach enlists asylum seekers to fill the footy team and stop Bodgy Creek having to merge with their arch rivals, the Hudson’s Flat Redbacks, and we find ourselves laughing and crying with these foreigners who have found a home and new friends in regional Australia. If you only like 'theatre' in the sense of plays and drama, then this might not be for you. In a combination between stand-up and theatre, Callinan breaks the fourth wall and makes friends with the audience by learning their names, planting jokes for later in a Ross Noble-esque manner. In this 75-minute show, we move between listening to Bodgy Creek radio, experiencing the footy team's coach Troy Carrington slag the teammates (coincidentally the audience members) and turn the team around, and seeing the action unravel through the (mimed) lens of a charmingly infantile documentary maker. Though it could probably be enhanced with a few more props and a stagehand, The Merger is still a fun and well-devised show. Self-referential and softly mocking, Callinan jested at the size of the audience, stating "I'm really big in Melbourne, you know? Maybe you guys up here don’t know me as well..." It’s well worth getting to know him in this intimate space and clever production. But Callinan, despite your talent, you really are a bad ventriloquist — and your puppets probably told you that already. Concrete Playground has two double passes to give away to The Merger. To be in the running, make sure you're subscribed to our mailing list then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address.
Last year, Best Coast popped out of the vast collection of bands like Wavves and Vivian Girls riding the wave of '60s surf rock nostalgia and noisy lo-fi, and rose straight to the top of the pile. A lot of that was due to lead singer Bethany Cosentino's lush, relaxed melodies and her charming fixation with her cat. 2010's debut album title Crazy For You pretty much sums up what Best Coast are about: being in and out of love, and the laid back, girlish optimism of the Californian summertime. The girls in their songs drop out of high school, have crazy crushes on bad boys and do little else but get high and lie in the sun. In March, Best Coast, as part of the Golden Plains festival, are bringing their foot-tapping, noisy lo-fi to Australia for the very first time, and playing just one Sydney side show at Oxford Art Factory. Their first Sydney show has been the cause for much excitement. For those lucky enough to have got their tickets quickly enough, Best Coast are bound to be a highlight of the end of the summer, an occasion for dancing barefoot and falling in love a little bit.
A big Friends reunion just hit streaming. Sex and the City is getting a television sequel. Saved by the Bell returned to the screen last year, too. Yes, it's still 2021 — and no, you haven't hopped in a Delorean or phone booth and ventured back to the past. Based on plenty of recent and upcoming TV and streaming options, though, you'd be forgiven for looking at your viewing choices and wondering if a bit of time-travel trickery was afoot. The latest revived series heading to your streaming queue won't dispel that notion, but you know you'll love it anyway. Come Thursday, July 8 on Binge, you'll be saying XOXO to Gossip Girl once again. The new series has been billed as both a reimagining and an extension — which means that it will take place in the same world, but with different characters. Gossip Girl circa 2021 is set nine years after the eponymous and anonymous blog went dark. As the just-dropped first teaser trailer makes plain, it's obviously back in some shape or form — otherwise the series wouldn't have a premise. This time, a new bunch of private school-attending teenagers are at the ever-present, seemingly all-knowing gossip blogger's mercy, all while they navigate New York's Upper East Side and its non-stop dramas. Whether any familiar faces will pop up is yet to be revealed; however, in the most important news there is regarding this revival, Kristen Bell is returning to voice the titular figure. She's already revisited Veronica Mars a couple of times now, so bringing back another of her famous characters fits the trend. Bell will narrate the comings and goings of a group played Jordan Alexander (Sacred Lies), Eli Brown (Wrath of Man), Thomas Doherty (High Fidelity), Tavi Gevinson (Halston), Emily Alyn Lind (Every Breath You Take), Evan Mock, Zion Moreno (Control Z), Whitney Peak (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and Savannah Lee Smith. The cast has changed, but the social-climbing chaos is bound to be familiar. And, if you were a particular fan of the threads worn by Blake Lively, Leighton Meester and company during Gossip Girl's original 2007–12 run, you'll be pleased to know that costume designer Eric Daman (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) is back for a second go-around. The creators of the initial show, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (The OC), have nabbed executive producer credits on the revival — so they'll have a hand in yet another adaptation of Cecily von Ziegesar's books. And the new series' showrunner, Josh Safran (Smash), was a writer and executive producer on the original series. Check out the new Gossip Girl trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reiGW6LTLok Gossip Girl will start streaming via Binge from Thursday, July 8.
It was always going to be a challenge adapting On the Road, a book which is so intensely loved, has been so integral to the minds of so many people for so many years, and written in a language which burns and pulses and pierces the heart like stone cutting glass. We've been waiting years for it, and now the film version of Jack Kerouac's novel, starring Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund as Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty respectively, criss-crossing the country and trying to live as honestly and as passionately and as freely as they can, is finally upon us. And we can say that it's good. Very good. On the Road is the seminal novel of the Beat Generation, a semi-autobiographical account of Kerouac's time hoofing it across the country in the late 1940s and infamously written over three Benzedrine-fuelled weeks on a 120-foot roll of teletype paper. Francis Ford Coppola bought the rights to the novel in 1979 and has been tinkering about with it to no avail until signing up Walter Salles and Jose Rivera, the pair who directed and scripted The Motorcycle Diaries. The influence of that film haunts On the Road, and just as The Motorcycle Diaries captures the stark beauty of South America, On the Road shows every corner of the United States in its most exquisite detail. The performances from nearly all the actors are outstanding, particularly Riley and Tom Sturridge (as the lovelorn Carlo Marx), with Hedund's turn as Dean Moriarty the big, beating heart of the film. He also, as it happens, is on screen naked on a number of occasions, as are Kristen Stewart's boobs, if you're into that. Viggo Mortensen also provides some of the best lines as Old Bull Lee, a thinly veiled William S. Burroughs — Lorraine is a good name for a bat, don't you know. What will bother some is that the exuberance of the Beats in the novel, "the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk and mad to be saved," dissipates in Salles' slower-paced, golden-toned approach. The best bet, as with all film adaptations, is not to get too caught up in the accuracy of the interpretation, and simply appreciate it for what it is. https://youtube.com/watch?v=etr7upn35E4
The movies have come to Downton Abbey and Violet Crawley, the acid-tongued Dowager Countess of Grantham so delightfully played by Maggie Smith (The Lady in the Van) since 2010, is none too fussed about it. "Hard same," all but the most devoted fans of the upstairs-downstairs TV drama may find themselves thinking as she expresses that sentiment — at least where Downton Abbey: A New Era, an exercise in extending the series/raking in more box-office cash, is concerned. Violet, as only she can, declares she'd "rather eat pebbles" than watch a film crew at work within the extravagant walls of her family's home. The rest of us mightn't be quite so venomous, but that's not the same as being entertained. The storyline involving said film crew is actually one of the most engaging parts of A New Era; however, the fact that much of it is clearly ripped off from cinematic classic Singin' in the Rain speaks volumes, and gratingly. When the first Downton Abbey flick brought its Yorkshire mansion-set shenanigans to cinemas back in 2019, it felt unnecessary, too, but also offered what appeared to be a last hurrah and a final chance to spend time with beloved characters. Now, the repeat effort feels like keeping calm and soldiering on because there's more pounds to be made. Don't believe the title: while A New Era proclaims that change is afoot, and some of its narrative dramas nod to the evolving world when the 1920s were coming to a close, the movie itself is happy doing what Downton Abbey always has — and in a weaker version. There's zero reason other than financial gain for this film to unspool its tale in theatres rather than as three TV episodes, which is what it may as well have tacked together. Well, perhaps there's one: having Lady Mary Talbot (Michelle Dockery, Anatomy of a Scandal) proclaim that "we have to be able to enter the 1930s with our heads held high" and set the expectation that more features will probably follow. A New Era begins with a wedding, picking up where its predecessor left off as former chauffeur Tom Branson (Allen Leech, Bohemian Rhapsody) marries Lucy Smith (Tuppence Middleton, Mank) with everyone expected — the well-to-do Crawleys and their relatives, plus their maids, butlers, cooks, footmen and other servants — in attendance. But the film really starts with two revelations that disrupt the Downton status quo. Firstly, Violet receives word that she's inherited a villa in the south of France from an ex-paramour, who has recently passed away. His surviving wife (Nathalie Baye, Call My Agent!) is displeased with the arrangement, threatening lawsuits, but his son (Jonathan Zaccaï, The White Crow) invites the Crawleys to visit to hash out the details. Secondly, a movie production wants to use Downton for a shoot, which the pragmatic Mary talks the family into because — paralleling the powers-that-be behind A New Era itself — the aristocratic brood would like the money. With Violet's health waning, she stays home while son Robert (Hugh Bonneville, Paddington 2) and his wife Cora (Elizabeth McGovern, The Commuter) journey to the Riviera — as part of a cohort that also includes retired butler Mr Carson (Jim Carter, Swimming with Men), who's determined to teach his French counterparts British standards. And, as the Dowager Countess remains in Yorkshire exclaiming she'd "rather earn a living down a mine" than make movies, potential family secrets are bubbling up abroad. That subplot takes a cue or two from Mamma Mia!; Downton Abbey creator and writer Julian Fellowes must've watched several musicals while scripting. Violet also notes that she "thought the best thing about films is that I couldn't hear them", because the production helmed by Jack Barber (Hugh Dancy, Late Night), and led by stars Guy Dexter (Dominic West, The Pursuit of Love) and Myrna Dalgleish (Laura Haddock, Transformers: The Last Knight), has hit a period-appropriate snag: talkies are the new hot thing, but their flick is silent. 2022 marks two decades since Fellowes won an Oscar for writing what remains his finest achievement yet: the fellow upstairs-downstairs affair Gosford Park. It doesn't do A New Era's viewers much good to dwell on that fact while watching his latest, which is directed by My Week with Marilyn, Woman in Gold and Goodbye Christopher Robin's Simon Curtis as if he simply had a job to get on with. Noticeably, despite the lavish setting and decor that's a fixed part of the franchise, as well as the handsome costuming, Curtis' vision of Downton looks flat and functional rather than gleaming — almost like being stuck with a TV with the always-abhorrent motion-smoothing settings left on. The French-set scenes appear lighter and brighter, purely due to the switch from old-world stateliness to coastal airiness, but hardly dazzle visually either. If a Downton Abbey movie doesn't make the most of its bigger canvas, serves up stories cobbled together from other films, gets soapier otherwise and doesn't have all that much of Maggie Smith in it — even if she makes the utmost of the time she does get on-screen — it's always going to prove a lesser jaunt. That can't be patched over by the winking knowingness of tasking Downton's residents with verbalising how inelegant it is to make a picture there, while also recognising how great the cash is; instead of tongue-in-cheek, that meta choice just lands awkwardly. And, although the returning cast do exactly what their parts call for, with so many players to shoehorn in this can never be a performance-driven piece. Unsurprisingly, some of the feature's best work comes from its newcomers, with Dancy and West both fine additions — and enjoying romantic threads that, while thin, don't just tick boxes as the majority of the screenplay does elsewhere. Also blatant: that the servants are firmly shortchanged, but butler Barrow (Rob James-Collier, Fate: The Winx Saga), kitchen maid Daisy (Sophie McShera, The Queen's Gambit) and Mary's maid Anna (Joanne Froggatt, Angela Black) fare best. Sometimes, A New Era imitates thumbing through a photo album — spotting adored faces fleetingly, recalling old times in the process and, well, that's it. For the most ardent of Downton Abbey devotees, getting another go-around with the show's figures may be enjoyable enough, but this film is all about that easy comfort, nostalgia and familiarity above all else. It's there when John Lunn's score kicks in early, lingers through the all-too-neat ups and downs, and remains when Dockery virtually announces that if this flick does big-enough box-office business, then more's likely to come. Top image: Ben Blackall / © 2021 Focus Features, LLC.
This exciting double bill sees painter Andre Hemer and designer Elliott Bryce Foulkes up on the walls of Darlinghurst’s Chalk Horse gallery. Hemer is known for his exploration of the intersections between painting and digital media, with works that look a bit like really advanced Kid Pix experiments (in the best way possible). Foulkes is inspired by techniques of graphic design, with a flat, collaged pop art approach to making, having previously worked in print magazines and advertising. Opening night for these exhibitions is Thursday, February 5, at 6pm. Image by Elliott Bryce Foulkes.
UPDATE, August 21, 2022: Cyrano is now available to stream via Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube Movies and iTunes. Love can spring quickly, igniting sparks instantly. Or, it can build gradually and gracefully, including over a lifetime. It can be swift and bold like a lightning strike, too, or it can linger, evolve and swell like a gentle breeze. In the sumptuous confines of Cyrano, all of the above happens. The latest adaptation of Edmond Rostand's 1897 play Cyrano de Bergerac, this time as a musical via playwright Erica Schmidt's own song-filled on-stage version, lends its attention to two men who've fallen for the plucky Roxanne (Haley Bennett, Hillbilly Elegy) in opposite ways. Charming soldier Christian de Neuvillette (Kelvin Harrison Jr, The Trial of the Chicago 7) gets the fast-and-infatuated experience, while the movie's namesake (Peter Dinklage, I Care a Lot), a poet also handy in battle, has ached for his childhood pal for as long as he can remember. Roxanne's two suitors make a chalk-and-cheese pair, with their contrasting approaches to matters of the heart — specifically, to winning her heart and helping ensure that she doesn't have to marry the rich and ruthless De Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn, The Outsider) to secure her future — driving much of Cyrano's drama. Also present and accounted for, as all takes on the tale have included (see also: 80s rom-com Roxanne with Steve Martin, the Gérard Depardieu-starring Cyrano de Bergerac, 90s rom-com The Truth About Cats & Dogs with Uma Thurman and Janeane Garofalo, plus recent Netflix teen flicks Sierra Burgess Is a Loser and The Half of It): insecurities about appearance, a way with words and a ghostwriting gambit. Short in stature given Dinklage's casting, Cyrano can't even dream that Roxanne could love him. But he wants her to be happy above all else and knows that she's smitten with Christian, so he secretly lends his romantic rival his letter-penning abilities to help woo her by lyrical prose. This Cyrano may have a different reason for not believing that Roxanne could reciprocate his feelings, even as she gets giddy over the correspondence he scripts for Christian — traditionally, a large nose gets in his way — but his slow-and-steady affection is especially apt in this particular film. The latest period piece from Joe Wright, it slips into the British director's resume alongside Pride & Prejudice, Atonement and Anna Karenina, and initially seems as standard a silver-screen staging of Cyrano as a musical as he could reliably muster. But all three of those aforementioned movies are stunning in their own ways, especially the gutsy Anna Karenina. Unsurprisingly, his newest feature is as well. Doing his best work since that Tolstoy adaptation, and clearly back in his comfort zone after Pan, Darkest Hour and The Woman in the Window, Wright lets Cyrano take its time to bloom and blossom. And, when it flowers partway through, it makes viewers realise that it's been a gorgeous gem of a film all along. Like on-screen love story, like surrounding flick, basically. That said, the routine air that initially seems to float through Cyrano's first act can't have been by design. Rather, the film winds up to its full heart-wrenching powers so patiently that it appears a tad too expected while its various pieces are being put into place — a fact hardly helped by how often this exact narrative or variations of it have made it to screens — until it's just simply and unshakeably wonderful. Wright doesn't change anything in his approach, helming a handsome, detail-laden, rhythmic piece of cinema from the outset, but the emotions that truly make the movie sing strengthen minute by minute. And yes, when it all clicks in just so, it's with its three main players literally crooning, conveying so much about their huge, swirling, all-encompassing feelings that normal dialogue couldn't have done justice to. That swooning sensation — because this is a feature that it's easy to tumble head-over-heels for — helps answer the obvious question that needs asking whenever a famed tale gains songs. That query: why? Wright and screenwriter Schmidt, the latter of whom is married to Dinklage and wrote her crooning-heavy stage version for him in 2018, reply by making it rousingly plain how much yearning and desire resides in each musical number. The movie's tunes come courtesy of The National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner, fresh from their efforts scoring C'mon C'mon, and prove worlds away from big, barnstorming Broadway numbers. Emotionally sweeping, they survey the full range from longing to heartache, while also navigating an immensely tricky task: relaying what simmers inside each character that not only goes unspoken, but isn't inked in the feature's back-and-forth love letters. Thank goodness for not just Wright's finessed handling of these musical scenes, which lets those sung-about feelings echo with weight and heart-swelling resonance, but also for his clear passion for the musical genre. This marks his first entry, although both rhythm and music have been key to so much of his back catalogue — not the least of which being spy thriller Hanna with its melodic Chemical Brothers score — and he whirls properly into the fold like he was always meant to dance there. Even when no one is singing, Cyrano has the soul of a musical in its lush staging, Seamus McGarvey's (Bad Times at the El Royale) fleet-footed cinematography, the pace instilled by Valerio Bonelli's (The Woman in the Window) lithe editing and its performances. It has its own beat and vibe, and every element drums and hums along in time. Also trilling the right tune, regardless of whether they're singing (which they each do well): Dinklage, Bennett and Harrison Jr. Australia's own Mendo still gives exceptional villain, and darkly and cunningly so; however, being enamoured with Cyrano's main trio is inescapable. The decision to cast Dinklage and Bennett straight from the stage production is a winner. He imparts melancholy, wit and spark into his romantic lead, as he so consistently did in Game of Thrones, too, while she ensures that Roxanne's quest for a big and fulfilling life — and love — cuts deep. And, as much chemistry buzzes between the two, enlisting Luce and Waves' standout Harrison Jr as the man between them is another masterstroke. Indeed, Cyrano adores Roxanne and Christian's romance as much as it feels its eponymous figure's pining, loves his rhapsodic words and wants his heart's desire to come true — and sharing it all comes, gradually but still overwhelmingly, with the cost of admission.
1987's Predator is so much better than you remember, even if you remember it being pretty bloody great. Written by Shane Black (who also scribed Lethal Weapon before writing and directing Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Nice Guys), Predator was framed as just another action blockbuster vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger, yet proved a surprisingly smart and masterfully constructed thriller with equal measures of horror, science-fiction, eternally quotable lines and laugh out loud comedy. Best of all, its villain was something entirely new: a sneaky, lethal and superior hunting machine that could turn invisible as it hunted humans for sport like the antagonist from an alien version of The Most Dangerous Game. Sequels followed. The first wasn't bad. The rest were. They even tried spinoffs, hoping the success and popularity of the Alien vs. Predator comic book series would translate to the big screen. It didn't. Now, some 31 years after the original, Black returns as both writer and director with The Predator. At the end of the day though, things probably would have been better if he hadn't. If the original Predator defied easy categorisation, The Predator proves even harder, shifting from extreme gore and violence one minute to 80s-style quips and blokey banter the next. The hero this time round is Narcos star Boyd Holbrook, whose vanilla performance matches his vanilla character - a grizzled sniper who finds himself on the wrong side of a shady government agency after inadvertently establishing first contact with Earth's latest predatory guest. He's soon bundled in with a bunch of PTSD-affected military rejects as part of a smear campaign, only to have these so-called loonies become his reluctant allies in a desperate effort to stop the extraterrestrial killer and save his autistic son (whose savant abilities – surely one of cinema's most tired cliches – allows him to read and interpret the alien language). It's a mess of a movie, uncertain from its opening scene whether it wants to make you laugh, wince or hide behind your hands. Black's strength has always been dialogue, so it's no surprise The Predator's less action-oriented scenes are also its strongest. Even in these moments, though, the jokes a wildly inconsistent, with every witty high point undermined by a crude, racist, bigoted or sexist jibe. Yes, soldiers are far from saints and doubtless many speak exactly like those presented on screen. Less so scientists whose behaviour in The Predator is often distinguishable from the soldiers around them thanks only to their white lab coats. Performance wise, Olivia Munn does what she can with limited resources (including having her introductory sequence edited out of the film after she discovered her co-star in the scene was a registered sex offender and raised objections with the studio). She's one of a number of talented actors stuck with thinly-crafted actors, including Moonlight's Trevante Rhodes and Key & Peele's Keegan-Michael Key. Jake Busey also makes a cameo, marking one of the film's many tips of the hat to the preceding films (his father was in the sequel), with playful quotes, musical cues and various props all there to reward long-time fans. The gritty action-comedy genre could well do with a comeback, and nobody would seem better placed than Black to make it happen. With The Predator, however, he falls short, delivering something that's entertaining at times but ultimately feels entirely forgettable. Certainly, it's a far cry from the brilliance of his original. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaG1KZqrLvM
They start off in text, drawing in readers with their mysteries, twists and psychological thrills. They focus on women in murky situations, and make that fact known in their titles. Then, after literary success, they jump to the screen. That's the path that Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train both took — for better in one case, for worse in the other — and now it's The Woman in the Window's turn. Based on the 2018 novel by AJ Finn, The Woman in the Window follows Dr Anna Fox (Amy Adams, Hillbilly Elegy), a psychologist who also suffers from extreme agoraphobia. After befriending Jane Russell (Julianne Moore, After the Wedding), the woman who lives across the street, she cries foul when her new pal disappears — but neither Jane's husband Alistair (Gary Oldman, Crisis) nor the cops (including Godzilla vs Kong's Brian Tyree Henry) are willing to listen. As well as firmly falling into clear genre — aka mystery-thrillers that reference women in their monikers — The Woman in the Window is obviously taking some cues from Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. And, in both the initial theatrical trailer and the just-released Netflix trailer, director Joe Wright (Atonement, Hanna, Darkest Hour) doesn't shy away from that comparison. Whether it's worthy of being mentioned in the same breath as one of Hitchcock's best films or suffers a fate closer to The Girl on the Train won't be discovered until the movie hits Netflix on Friday, May 14 — a year to the day it was originally scheduled to release in cinemas, but then the pandemic hit. Now, The Woman in the Window is going straight to streaming, as the likes of Hamilton, Mulan and Soul all have over the past year. However it turns out, The Woman in the Window has amassed a wide-ranging cast, with Possessor's Jennifer Jason Leigh and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier pair Anthony Mackie and Wyatt Russell all popping up. Lady Bird and Little Women alum Tracy Letts pops up too, and wrote the film's screenplay. Check out the latest trailer below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_0GJg_Jnlo The Woman in the Window will be available to stream via Netflix from Friday, May 14. Top image: Melinda Sue Gordon.
Halfway through summer, Sydney's outdoor movie scene is in full swing, showcasing all your favourite blockbuster films at a number of locations. If, however, you think that's just one too many showings of Harry Potter to handle and you're looking for something a little different, take a look at Chinatown's pop-up cinema. Swapping moonlight for streetlight and popcorn for dumplings, 4A's Cinema Alley will coincide with Chinese New Year festivities to celebrate the Asian-Australian cultural identity. Instead of blockbuster hits, this cinema night will showcase five significant short films plus a selection of animation shorts from filmmakers around Asia and Australia. Experimenting with black & white, 35mm and Super 16mm, each artist presents a portrait of their own city and the impact that migration and globalisation has had on them. Some stories tackle the hardships of Taiwanese factory workers and the fate of once-rural Chinese regions. Best of all, this is open-air cinema is free — giving you plenty of change to enjoy spicy pork buns throughout the night. *Bookings essential
Thanks to the chaotic weather that saw out summer, the past month has been immensely difficult across Queensland and New South Wales. That includes in the Northern Rivers region, which has been impacted by the floods to a devastating degree. Eager to help? Not sure where to start? Here's an event that'll get you to Byron Bay, showcase the area's fresh produce and put some cash towards flood-relief efforts. Just block out your calendar on Saturday, March 26 and prepare to do your part by attending a long lunch. Taking place at Crystalbrook Byron at 1pm local time, this Flood Relief Long Lunch says it all in the name. You'll hang out at the hotel's restaurant Forest, eat your way through a leisurely two-hour meal, sip cocktails and assist an enormously worthy cause. Menu highlights include oysters paired with a granita made from Brookie's Byron Slow Gin and davidson plum; hand-stretched Byron Bay mozzarella with house-made pickles; that cheese outfit again, this time with a ricotta gelato atop treacle tarts; and zucchini flowers stuffed with green and sundried olives, them battered in Stone & Wood Pale Ale. Your $160 ticket includes two cocktails — and the complete price will be donated to aid locals via Givit.
Winner of the Comic's Choice Award at last year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and one of the founding members of the True Australian Patriots, Anne Edmonds is fast becoming one of our favourite Australian stand-ups. Ribald and energetic with a healthy-dose of sarcasm and self-deprecation thrown in, her latest show, That's Eddotainment, focuses on two key themes: despair and humiliation. Not the easiest subjects for an hour-long comedy show, but Eddo well and truly delivers.
A day in the life of a business owner revolves around decision making. Does this web design look right? Have we ordered enough stock? When is the right time to move to a bigger space? With so many priorities to juggle, it's tough to consider the bigger picture. But, thinking about the long-term impact of our day-to-day decisions is essential — small actions add up and have the power to create powerful change. Sustainability can be too often overlooked when building a business. So, we've gathered some sage advice from sustainably focused local businesses. Discover their simple strategies for making eco-friendly choices and practical sustainability tips — and see how you can apply them to your own business (or everyday life). [caption id="attachment_731492" align="alignnone" width="1918"] Kimberley Low[/caption] CREATING WITH LONGEVITY IN MIND In a small Surry Hills laneway, Nina Cueva and Cesar Cueva co-founded their contemporary jewellery and objects gallery space. Over the past 15 years, the duo has navigated the everchanging bricks-and-mortar landscape. Now, boasting three spaces across The Strand Arcade, their ethos of community, craftsmanship and innovation remains unchanged. Courtesy of the Artist represents over 80 artists from Australia and around the globe. Here, sustainability comes to life as a celebration of bespoke treasures. In store, you'll find exclusive one-off pieces that are designed to last and crafted using sustainably mined gemstones and gold from Western Australia. Plus, regular talks, workshops and demonstrations allow shoppers to meet and engage directly with artists. Over the years, Courtesy of the Artist has introduced other sustainable practices into its business. All tax invoices are sent digitally and a paperless tracking system for orders is used. These simple, practical changes serve to reduce waste, cut unnecessary costs and simplify the retail experience. [caption id="attachment_731472" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] CHAMPIONING SUSTAINABLY PRODUCED FOOD In 2001, finding vegan products on supermarket shelves was a tough ask. So, Jessica Bailey founded The Cruelty-Free Shop. This one-stop shop for vegan-friendly food, beauty and home goods. It's an online store turned bricks-and-mortar supermarket with locations around Australia, including a Sydney store in Glebe. Leaping offline wasn't without its challenges though. Bailey quickly learned the value of asking for a helping hand. With the mentorship and guidance of the City of Sydney's Retail Innovation Program, Bailey uncovered the need to delegate and expand her team. "The program helped me see the big picture and step away from the minute detail which freed up my time to come up with new ideas," explains Bailey. With her creative juices flowing, The Cruelty-Free Shop has grown from strength to strength. For Bailey, sustainability means empowering shoppers to make the switch to a plant-based diet. In store, you'll find vegan recipe cards and information to inspire more sustainable food choices. Plus, Bailey is committed to supporting animal rights charities that align with her core business values through events and fundraisers. "Last year alone, we raised $80,000 for these charities," she reveals. SEEKING OUT ETHICAL SUPPLIERS For most of us, slavery and human rights are abstract concepts. But these abuses happen every day, and The Freedom Hub is one business set up to address them. On top of being an ethical cafe, events and retail space, it's also home to the Survivor School, which rehabilitates victims of modern slavery. Across its two cafe locations (Sydney's Waterloo and Palm Beach on the Gold Coast), the business focuses on having an ethical supply chain and ensures its suppliers are free from slavery or environmentally damaging manufacturing methods. In store, you'll find smashed avo with sourdough from The Bread and Butter Project on the menu and stacks of 100 percent recycled Who Gives A Crap toilet paper in the restroom. Plus, it's actively giving back to organisations that work towards social good. With 100 percent of all cafe proceeds going directly towards its Survivor School, the business model ensures everyone has the opportunity to do good. [caption id="attachment_731483" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] USING AUTOMATION TO SAVE RESOURCES One in three pieces of clothing ends up in landfill. That quite sobering stat is what sparked co-founders Zoltan Csaki and Eric Phu to create Citizen Wolf. The 'smarter casual' Sydney fashion label delivers tailored t-shirts made to order. The best bit? It uses a 'magic fit' algorithm and machinery to remove the manual labour of traditional apparel production. Plus, this customisation means a perfect fit every time — working towards its goal of being a zero-waste business. The range is a focused offering of men's and women's tees. Each piece is made in a Darlinghurst factory using fabrics sourced from a series of Melbourne-based mills. "It is important to us that we can keep the supply chain as short as we possibly can," explains Csaki. As far as fashion brands go, Citizen Wolf is undeniably going against the grain. It's invested in sourcing biodegradable and natural fibres for all of its garments and ensures zero labour exploitation across the business. Plus, making pieces on demand ensures there's no unsold inventory going to landfill. [caption id="attachment_731479" align="alignnone" width="1918"] Kimberley Low[/caption] HARNESSING 100 PERCENT AUSTRALIAN INGREDIENTS Flocking to the markets is how Sydneysiders prefer to do their groceries. And for those who frequent Bondi Farmers Market, you'll be familiar with hemp foods provider Senzu Roots. This Sydney-based startup delivers a range of sustainable hemp-driven products. Offering everything from protein powders to oils, plus a new range of gourmet nut bars and smoothies, founder Romain Hannequin hopes to make a positive impact on the environment one bliss ball at a time. "Our hemp is 100 percent Australian-grown. And, our 'raw products' (seeds and protein powder) are offered in biodegradable and compostable packaging," Hannequin explains. The commitment to working alongside local farmers and suppliers means lower food mileage, less energy usage and fresher produce for consumers. In its commitment to shopping local, Senzu is keeping its offline presence to just a handful of markets alongside limited online sales. "I believe that consumers are going to support smaller, local businesses offering ethical and sustainable products, and that's why we will focus on working with small businesses instead of big chains," says Hannequin. Top Image: Trent van der Jagt.
Something delightful has been happening in cinemas in some parts of the country. After numerous periods spent empty during the pandemic, with projectors silent, theatres bare and the smell of popcorn fading, picture palaces in many Australian regions are back in business — including both big chains and smaller independent sites in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. During COVID-19 lockdowns, no one was short on things to watch, of course. In fact, you probably feel like you've streamed every movie ever made, including new releases, Studio Ghibli's animated fare and Nicolas Cage-starring flicks. But, even if you've spent all your time of late glued to your small screen, we're betting you just can't wait to sit in a darkened room and soak up the splendour of the bigger version. Thankfully, plenty of new films are hitting cinemas so that you can do just that — and we've rounded up, watched and reviewed everything on offer this week. FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE SECRETS OF DUMBLEDORE What a difference Mads Mikkelsen can make. What a difference the stellar Danish actor can't, too. The Another Round and Riders of Justice star enjoys his Wizarding World debut in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, taking over the part of evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald from Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald's Johnny Depp — who did the same from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them's Colin Farrell first, albeit in a scripted change — and he's impressively sinister and engagingly insidious in the role. He needs to be: his fascist character, aka the 1930s-set movie's magical version of Hitler, wants to eradicate muggles. He's also keen to grab power however he must to do so. But a compelling casting switch can't conjure up the winning wonder needed to power an almost two-and-a-half-hour film in a flailing franchise, even one that's really just accioing already-devoted Harry Potter fans into cinemas. Capitalising upon Pottermania has always been the point of the Fantastic Beasts movies. Famously, this series-within-a-series springs not from a well-plotted novel, where the eight Boy Who Lived flicks originated, but from a guide book on magical creatures. That magizoology text is mentioned in the very first HP tome, then arrived IRL four years later, but it was only after the Harry Potter films ended that it leapt to screens. The reason: showing the Wizarding World's powers-that-be the galleons, because no popular saga can ever conclude when there's more cash to grab (see also: Star Wars and Game of Thrones). For Fantastic Beasts, the result was charming in the initial movie and dismal in its followup. Now, with The Secrets of Dumbledore, it's about as fun as being bitten by a toothy textbook. Nearly four years have passed since The Crimes of Grindelwald hit cinemas, but its successor picks up its wand where that dull sequel left off. That means reuniting with young Albus Dumbledore, who was the best thing about the last feature thanks to Jude Law (The Third Day) following smoothly in Michael Gambon and Richard Harris' footsteps. Actually, it means reuniting Dumbledore with Grindelwald first. And, it involves overtly recognising that the pair were once lovers. The saga that's stemmed from JK Rowling's pen isn't historically known for being inclusive, much like the author's transphobic statements — and it's little wonder that getting candid about such a crucial romantic connection feels cursory and calculating here, rather than genuine. The same applies to The Secrets of Dumbledore's overall message of love and acceptance, which can only echo feebly when stemming from a co-screenwriter (alongside seven-time HP veteran Steve Kloves) who's basically become the series' off-screen Voldemort. Referencing Dumbledore and Grindelwald's amorous past serves the narrative, of course, which is the real reason behind it — far more than taking any meaningful steps towards LGBTQIA+ representation. Years prior, the two pledged not to harm each other, binding that magical promise with blood, which precludes any fray between them now. Enter magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne, The Trial of the Chicago 7) and his pals. Well, most of them. Newt's assistant Bunty (Victoria Yeates, Call the Midwife), brother Theseus (Callum Turner, Emma), No-Maj mate Jacob (Dan Fogler, The Walking Dead), Hogwarts professor Lally (Jessica Williams, Love Life) and Leta Lestrange's brother Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam, Stillwater) are accounted for, while former friend Queenie (Alison Sudol, The Last Full Measure) has defected to Grindelwald. As for the latter's sister Tina (Katherine Waterston, The World to Come), she's spirited aside, conspicuously sitting Operation Avoid Muggle Genocide out. Read our full review. AMBULANCE Michael Bay movies, Michael Bay movies, whatcha gonna do? Since the action-film director leapt from commercials and music videos to his big-screen debut Bad Boys more than a quarter-century back, there's only been two options. Slickly and unsubtly dripping with gleeful excess, his high-concept flicks embrace explosions, chases, heists, shootouts, jittery chaos and perpetual golden-hour hues with such OTT passion that you surrender or roll your eyes — having a blast or being bored by the bombast, basically. Too often, the latter strikes. That proved true of all five of his Transformers films, which are responsible for more cinematic tedium than any filmmaker should legally be allowed to crash onto screens. That his pictures are lensed and spliced as if lingering on one still for more than a split second is a heinous crime usually doesn't help, but it's what Bay is known for — and yet when Bayhem sparkles like it mostly does in Ambulance, it's its own kind of thrilling experience. Following a high-stakes Los Angeles bank robbery that goes south swiftly, forcing two perpetrators to hijack an EMT vehicle — while a paramedic tries to save a shot cop's life as the van flees the LAPD and the FBI, too — Ambulance is characteristically ridiculous. Although based on the 2005 Danish film Ambulancen, it's Bay from go to whoa; screenwriter and feature newcomer Chris Fedak (TV's Chuck, Prodigal Son) even references past Bay movies in the dialogue. The first time, when The Rock is mentioned, it's done in a matter-of-fact way that as brazen as anything Bay has ever achieved when his flicks defy the laws of physics. In the second instance mere minutes later, it's perhaps the most hilarious thing he's put in his movies. It's worth remembering that Divinyls' 'I Touch Myself' was one of his music-clip jobs; Bay sure does love what only he can thrust onto screens, and he wants audiences to know it while adoring it as well. Ambulance's key duo, brothers Will (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, The Matrix Resurrections) and Danny Sharp (Jake Gyllenhaal, The Guilty), are a former Marine and ostensible luxury-car dealer/actual career criminal with hugely different reasons for attempting to pilfer a $32-million payday. For the unemployed Will, it's about the cash needed to pay for his wife Amy's (Moses Ingram, The Tragedy of Macbeth) experimental surgery, which his veteran's health insurance won't cover — but his sibling just wants money. Will is reluctant but desperate, Danny couldn't be more eager, and both race through a mess of a day. Naturally, it gets more hectic when they're hurtling along as the hotshot Cam (Eiza González, Godzilla vs Kong) works on wounded rookie police officer Zach (Jackson White, The Space Between), arm-deep in his guts at one point, while Captain Monroe (Garrett Dillahunt, Army of the Dead), Agent Anson Clark (Keir O'Donnell, The Dry) and their forces are in hot pursuit. Everything from Armageddon, Pearl Harbour and The Island to 2019's Netflix flick 6 Underground has trained viewers in what to expect from Ambulance — plus the movies name-checked in Ambulance's frames, obviously — but Bay is also the filmmaker who gave cinema 2013's exceptional Pain & Gain. His latest doesn't reach the same savvy heights, and it's both boosted by its hearty embrace of Bayhem and occasionally a victim to it, but it's rarely less than wildly entertaining. As the director's best efforts have long shown, he boasts a knack for heist-style films. Capers about break-ins of various sorts, even into Alcatraz, suit Bay because they're typically about chasing hefty scores no matter the cost. Ambulance was made for only $40 million, which is a fifth of most Transformers movies and somehow around half of non-Bay-directed recent release Morbius' budget, but bold moves with eyes on a big prize aren't just fiction in Bay's orbit. Read our full review. MEMORIA When Memoria begins, it echoes with a thud that's not only booming and instantly arresting — a clamour that'd make anyone stop and listen — but is also deeply haunting. It arrives with a noise that, if the movie's opening scene was a viral clip rather than part of Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's spectacular Cannes Jury Prize-winning feature, it'd be tweeted around with a familiar message: sound on. The racket wakes up Jessica Holland (Tilda Swinton, The Souvenir: Part II) in the night, and it's soon all that she can think about; like character, like film. It's a din that she later describes as "a big ball of concrete that falls into a metal well which is surrounded by seawater"; however, that doesn't help her work out what it is, where it's coming from or why it's reverberating. The other question that starts to brood: is she the only one who can hear it? So springs a feature that's all about listening, and truly understands that while movies are innately visual — they're moving pictures, hence the term — no one should forget the audio that's gone with it for nearly a century now. Watching Weerasethakul's work has always engaged the ears intently, with the writer/director behind the Palme d'Or-winning Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and just-as-lyrical Cemetery of Splendour crafting cinema that genuinely values all that the filmic format can offer. Enjoying Memoria intuitively serves up a reminder of how crucial sound can be to the big-screen experience, emphasising the cavernous chasm between pictures that live and breathe that truth and those that could simply be pictures. Of course, feasting on Weerasethakul's films has also always been about appreciating not only cinema in all its wonders, but as an inimitable art form. Like the noise that lingers in his protagonist's brain here, his movies aren't easily forgotten. With Weerasethakul behind the lens and Swinton on-screen, Memoria is a match made in cinephile heaven — even before it starts obsessing over sound and having its audience do the same. He helms movies like no one else, she's an acting force of nature, and their pairing is film catnip. He also makes his English-language debut, as well as his first feature outside of Thailand, while she brings the serenity and magnetism that only she can, turning in a far more understated turn than seen in the recent likes of The French Dispatch and The Personal History of David Copperfield. Yes, Weerasethakul and Swinton prove a beautiful duo. Weerasethakul makes contemplative, meditative, visually poetic movies, after all, and Swinton's face screams with all those traits. They're both devastatingly precise in what they do, too, and also delightfully expressive. And, they each force you to pay the utmost attention to their every single choice as well. As Jessica, Swinton plays a British expat in Colombia — an orchidologist born in Scotland, residing in Medellín and staying in Bogota when she hears that very specific din. After explaining it in exquisite detail to sound engineer Hernán (Juan Pablo Urrego, My Father), he tries to recreate the noise for her, but only she seems to know exactly what it sounds like. At the same time, Jessica's sister Karen (debutant Agnes Brekke) is in hospital with a strange ailment. Also, there's word of a curse that's linked to a tunnel being built over a burial ground, and Jessica consults with an archaeologist (Jeanne Balibar, Les Misérables) before heading from the city to the country. Grief echoes as strongly through Jessica's life as the bang she can't shake, and she wanders like someone in a dreamy daze, whether she's roaming around an art gallery or crossing paths with a rural fisherman also called Hernán (Elkin Díaz, Besieged). Read our full review. NOBODY HAS TO KNOW Before Belgian actor and filmmaker Bouli Lanners started gracing screens big and small — writing and directing projects for the former as well — he trained as a painter. If you didn't know that fact, it'd be easy to guess while watching Nobody Has to Know. He helms and scripts, as he did 2011 Cannes award-winner The Giant, plus 2016's The First, the Last. He acts, as he has in everything from A Very Long Engagement and Rust and Bone to Raw and Bye Bye Morons. But it's the careful eye he brings to all that fills Nobody Has to Know's frames that immediately leaves an impression, starting with simply staring at the windswept Scottish scenery that provides the movie's backdrop. It's picturesque but also ordinary, finding visual poetry in the scenic and sweeping and yet also everyday. That's what the feature does with its slow-burning romantic narrative, too. On a remote island, Philippe Haubin (Lanners) has made a humble home. Working as a farmhand, he stands out with his arms covered in tattoos and his accent, but he's also been welcomed into the close-knit community. And, when he's found on the beach after suffering a stroke, his friends swiftly rally around — his younger colleague Brian (Andrew Still, Waterloo Road), who spreads the word; the latter's aunt Millie (Michelle Fairley, Game of Thrones), who ferries him around town; and her stern father Angus (Julian Glover, The Toll), who welcomes him back to work once he's out of hospital. But Phil returns with amnesia, which unsurprisingly complicates his daily interactions. He doesn't know what Brian means when he jokes about Phil now being the island's Jason Bourne, he has no idea if the dog in his house is his own, and he has no knowledge of any past, or not, with Millie. As a filmmaker, Lanners splits Nobody Has to Know's attention between Phil and Millie as they're drawn to each other — through natural chemistry, thanks to her kindness in helping him learn to navigate his life again, and courtesy of secrets and twists that speak to emotional truths even if they involve lying. And, it's due to finessed performances on both parts that the film always resonates with both tenderness and authenticity, befitting its restrained but still affecting tale of pain, guilt, regrets, isolation, identity and yearning. He plays a man who quickly made an imprint in a new place, but has a past he's been fleeing, and now finds himself facing them both anew. She plays a woman cruelly nicknamed 'the Ice Queen' because she's single, quiet and of a certain age, and remains just as eager to unearth her true self. Indeed, as she copes with Phil's new situation, she makes a bold leap to follow her heart. In lesser hands — with lead actors who weren't so adept at understatement, or didn't possess as convincing natural chemistry; with a writer and/or director more fond of leaning into melodrama; with a cinematographer other than the poised Frank van den Eeden (Patrick, Girl), too — Nobody Has to Know could've been relegated to a movie-of-the-week-style weepie. Thankfully, that isn't Lanners' film, which cannily eschews the easy for the deep and evocative. He takes as much care with the feature's sensitive pace, reflecting how tentatively his characters have been willing to embrace their real feelings, as he does with that painterly scenery that makes the utmost of the Scottish islands of Lewis and Harris, and with key performances that convey a lifetime of worries without uttering a word. His is a picture that builds in impact, quietly but unmistakably, like taking the time to truly stare at and soak in everything about a piece of art hung on a gallery wall. If you're wondering what else is currently screening in Australian cinemas — or has been lately — check out our rundown of new films released in Australia on January 1, January 6, January 13, January 20 and January 27; February 3, February 10, February 17 and February 24; and March 3, March 10, March 17, March 24 and March 31. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as Ghostbusters: Afterlife, House of Gucci, The King's Man, Red Rocket, Scream, The 355, Gold, King Richard, Limbo, Spencer, Nightmare Alley, Belle, Parallel Mothers, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Belfast, Here Out West, Jackass Forever, Benedetta, Drive My Car, Death on the Nile, C'mon C'mon, Flee, Uncharted, Quo Vadis, Aida?, Cyrano, Hive, Studio 666, The Batman, Blind Ambition, Bergman Island, Wash My Soul in the River's Flow, The Souvenir: Part II, Dog, Anonymous Club, X, River, Nowhere Special, RRR, Morbius, The Duke and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Top image: ©Kick the Machine Films, Burning, Anna Sanders Films, Match Factory Productions, ZDF/Arte and Piano, 2021.
The jolliest time of the year is almost here. And, that means the most festive movie-viewing window of the year is nearly upon us, too. We all know that it wouldn't be Christmas without rewatching a heap of suitably themed flicks, whether you've loved Elf since you can remember, prefer a classic such as It's a Wonderful Life or will only watch Die Hard — but Stan is hoping that you'll add a new Australian comedy to your end-of-year rotation. Sometime around Christmas, the streaming platform's subscribers will be able to watch festive Aussie flick A Sunburnt Christmas. And yes, you are probably just now realising that Australian doesn't actually have that many Christmas films to its name. This newcomer will join the likes of Bush Christmas, both the 1947 and 1983 versions; the animated Around the World with Dot; and recent horror movies Red Christmas and Better Watch Out — and it seems to be really leaning into the fact that it's a seasonal Aussie film. Directed by Christiaan Van Vuuren (Bondi Hipsters, The Other Guy), A Sunburnt Christmas follows a group of kids who mistake a runaway criminal for the real Santa. Daryl (Snowtown and Acute Misfortune's Daniel Henshall) happens to be dressed appropriately, red suit and all. He has also just crashed a van full of toys. But as well as not being Father Christmas, he's being chased by a mobster called Dingo (Animal Kingdom and Ride Like a Girl's Sullivan Stapleton). Kids, crims, hijinks — if you're currently thinking about Home Alone or Bad Santa, that isn't surprising. But these children live on an outback farm with their a single mother (The Gloaming's Ling Cooper Tang), and neither Joe Pesci nor Billy Bob Thornton are anywhere to be seen. The all-ages-friendly flick doesn't yet have a release date, but you can obviously expect it to hit your streaming queue just as you're breaking out the eggnog. A Sunburnt Christmas will be available to stream via Stan later in 2020 — we'll update you with an exact date when one is announced.
Ending the nine-to-five grind with a beverage can make any working day better. Pair that tipple with cheap seafood, and you'll be counting down the minutes until knock-off time. Fratelli Fresh is clearly keeping that idea in mind this August — by serving up $1 oysters all month long. You don't just have to head by after work, however, with the deal on all day, every day throughout the whole month. And there's no missing numeral in the price, although you do need to order a minimum of six and buy a drink as well. If Champagne is your tipple of choice, you can nab your half-dozen oysters with a glass of Chandon for $14. That's not your only choice, though, with the offer available with any drink purchase. You can also order as many oysters as you like, if six just isn't enough. Fratelli Fresh's $1 oysters are available from Thursday, August 1 to Saturday, August 31 across all of its Sydney stores.
Beau is afraid. Beau is anxious. Beau is alone. Beau is alive. Any of these three-word sentences would make a fitting name for Ari Aster's third feature, which sees its titular middle-aged figure not just worry about anything and everything, but watch his fears come true, concerns amplify and alienation grow — and then some. And, in the Hereditary and Midsommar filmmaker's reliably dread-inducing hands, no matter whether Beau (Joaquin Phoenix, C'mon C'mon) is wallowing in his apartment solo, being welcomed into someone else's family or stumbling upon a travelling theatre troupe in the woods, he knows that he's truly on his own in this strange, sad, surreal and savage world, too. More than that, he's well-aware that this is what life is inescapably like for all of us, regardless of how routine, chaotic or grand our individual journeys from emerging out of our mother's womb to sinking into death's eternal waters happen to prove. Aster has opted for Beau Is Afraid as a moniker, with this horror-meets-tragicomedy mind-bender a filmic ode to existential alarm — and, more than that, a picture that turns catastrophising into a feature. Psychiatrists will have a field day; however, experiencing the latest in the writer/director's growing line of guilt-dripping celluloid nightmares, so should viewers in general. Even with Chilean The Wolf House helmers Cristóbal León and Joaquin Cosiña lending their help to the three-hour movie's midsection, where animation adds another dreamlike dimension to a picture book-style play within an already fantastical-leaning flick frequently running on dream logic, Aster embraces his favourite deranged terrain again. He makes bold choices, doesn't think twice about challenging himself and his audience, elicits a stunning lead performance and dances with retina-searing imagery, all while pondering inherited trauma, the emotional ties that bind and the malevolence that comes with dependence. Death, the bonds of blood, life's onslaught of damage, long-kept secrets, wild and weird groups, odd rituals, unnerving altercations: yes, they're all present and accounted for in Beau Is Afraid as well; yes, this is unshakeably and unmistakably an Aster joint. When he slides into suburbia in the second act, he also gets as Lynchian as he ever has — that Beau Is Afraid springs from a ravenous mind fed a diet of Eraserhead, Twin Peaks and Inland Empire isn't in doubt long before Mariah Carey's earworm 'Always Be My Baby' scores a Blue Velvet-esque spin. Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York and Anomalisa, Darren Aronofsky's mother!, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales: they're equally among this movie's melange of peers, ambitious and impressive company that offers a litmus test for viewers. Swimming through someone else's mindscape is never easy, after all, and doesn't Aster love sharing that feeling. Beau Wassermann is an average Joe with a rundown flat in a dilapidated neighbourhood, his therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson, Causeway) on speed dial, and O'Loha frozen dinners — an incredulous mix of Hawaiian and Irish cuisines — for sustenance. He's also the son of a wealthy and controlling businesswoman, Mona (played by American Horror Story's Patti LuPone, plus The Craft: Legacy director Zoe Lister-Jones in flashbacks), another mainstay on his call list (Moviefone, the US number for obtaining cinema session information that's been defunct since 2014, is another). And, he's wracked with stress whenever he leaves his house, which doesn't seem that far-fetched given there's a nude killer dubbed 'Birthday Boy Stab Man' by the news on the loose. That said, after Beau Is Afraid shows its namesake's birth from his perspective, obligatory slap on the rear and all, then meets him nearing 50 and nervous about a trip home, he's just fretful all the time anyway. Thanks to an escalating series of unfortunate events — another string of words that could've doubled as Beau Is Afraid's title; Disappointment Blvd was the actual original moniker — the basis for that apprehension is similarly swiftly apparent. From the tiniest minutiae to the biggest change, Beau's existence keeps getting worse, then bleaker still, then even more grim and hopeless. He's prescribed anti-anxiety pills that he's told absolutely must be taken with water, but doesn't have any and his building's supply is shut off. When he sprints to the convenience store across the road, everyone on his crime-riddled street slips into his apartment and trashes it. Aster begins Beau's malaise in the everyday, but becomes hellish quickly, a pattern constantly repeated when he's hit by a van and taken in by the married Grace and Roger (Only Murders in the Building co-stars Amy Ryan and Nathan Lane), watches that aforementioned theatre production, reflects upon his time as a teenager (Armen Nahapetian, NCIS) on a cruise holiday falling for his first crush (Julia Antonelli, Outer Banks) and seeks answers about his father. In only his second on-screen role since winning an Oscar for Joker, Phoenix plays Beau with deeply internalised sorrow, so much so that spying his shoulders do anything but slump in the character's uniform of pyjamas seems like the most fanciful thing that could happen — and this is a movie overflowing with eccentric, imaginative and absurd touches. It's a fascinating performance, both vulnerable and primal at once, as situations exceeding Beau's foulest terrors keep bubbling. Crucially, whether Beau Is Afraid is in Freudian and Oedipal mode, or bringing Misery or Station Eleven or Lord of the Rings to mind in Aster's unceasingly distinctive way, or having its central figure wrestle naked in the bath, Phoenix is committed to the ride and to being the everyman. He's in an often bitingly funny black comedy as much as he's in a horror flick, and he's both game and empathetic as Beau overtly endeavours yet struggles to keep it together. Ideally, no one watching is discovering intruders perched above their baths and monsters in attics, but they'll always understand Beau's panic, shame, dismay and humiliation. Of course, when Aster gets amusing, it's in largely while getting so distressing that you really can only laugh, as Beau's mushrooming plight forever is. If every possible development in your life is always the most miserable, what else are you meant to do? That's Beau Is Afraid in a smart, dark, cerebral, gut-punching, hope-crushing, relatable, hilarious and horrific nutshell. Aster packs in humour wherever he can, though, demanding the utmost attention to his returning Hereditary and Midsommar cinematographer Pawel Pogorzelski's purposefully disorienting frames for slapstick silliness, dick jokes and brief flashes of background wordplay (Asstral Projection and Erection Injection are the names of the peepshows next to Beau's building, for instance). Beau is afraid of it all, and teeming with anxiety over it. He's alone in it all, but that's what being alive is. It'd be the film's biggest surprise if Aster wasn't chuckling — and having the ultimate fever dream.
If your design tastes run towards the unique, the locally made and the sustainable, you should make a swift beeline towards Darlinghurst's Foley Street. An all-too-easy to miss laneway off Crown Street, this small pocket of Sydney is a veritable promised land of gorgeous homewares, fashion and accessories. Whether you're hunting for the perfect porcelain ceramic vase, in the market for a pair of handmade shoes or craving some artful cushions to festoon your sofa (and prop you up during your Netflix binging), odds are you'll find it in on Foley. We spoke to the passionate artisans and creative minds currently occupying the curated spaces about their origins, what makes their brand tick, and what they do to ensure their business is as ethical as it is aesthetically appealing. Have a read, and then go check it out for yourself. CLARA HO: FINE FELLOW For Clara Ho, the ebullient founder of men's lifestyle store Fine Fellow, it's all about "buying less, but buying better". Stocking a luxurious array of carefully curated, exclusively Australian designs, style-savvy blokes — or anyone whose sense of style favours the sleek and masculine — can find everything here from accessories to fashion to homewares to grooming (fancy beard oil alert!). Whether she's discovered their wares at a market, spied them on Instagram or been introduced through mutual friends in the industry, Ho works closely with the designers she stocks, actively seeking those that share her values and aesthetic, which revolve around high quality design and sustainability. "The styles we stock are timeless and the quality is really impeccable. It's not going to fall apart after one summer," she says. Her favourite recent addition to the store? Handmade, gold-rimmed whiskey glasses and decanters from KAH, aka Sydney-trained, Adelaide-based glass artist Katie Ann Houghton. Fine Fellow is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday 12–5.30pm, Thursday 12–7pm, Saturday 10am–4pm and Sunday 12–4pm. MARINA ROORDA: BERMUDA BLACK Founded in 2016 by former graphic designer Marina Roorda, Bermuda Black is a label that seduces fans of refined, minimalist fashion incorporating subtle detailing and an avant-garde twist. Think elegant black leather brogues with hot pink lining (they exist here). From shoes to clothing to handbags, Roorda's aesthetic manages to strike a balance "between rawness and precision", combining her love of the conceptual with the practicalities inherent to hand-made design. Which, FYI, requires stamina: a single pair of shoes takes a minimum of 15 hours. The brand takes care to source ethically produced materials, and minimises scraps by refashioning or donating smaller pieces — if you drop by, you'll most likely be able to catch a glimpse of Marina at work at the in-store atelier. Self-described "behind-the-scenes guy" Adrian Roorda says their inspiration to position the atelier in the rear of the store came from wanting people to "be able to experience first-hand what goes into making a pair of shoes, as well as the design process — that's not something you see very often". Bermuda Black is open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 11am–6pm, Saturday 11am–5pm and Sunday 12–4pm. [caption id="attachment_682841" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Supplied.[/caption] NAOMI TAPLIN: STUDIO ENTI Ceramicist Naomi Taplin grew up with clay. Her mother was a potter, and after studying fine arts, she made an instinctive journey towards ceramics. Since moving into her first shared studio space five years ago to her recent move into the spacious store on Foley Street, Taplin's elegant porcelain tableware, lighting and accessories have garnered a loyal following. Studio Enti's designs are beautiful, but they're also sturdy. They last. And like her neighbours, Taplin is diligent about working with local materials (Australian porcelain, to be exact) and embracing sustainability via a classic design aesthetic. "Once something's fired, it's permanent," she says. "If it's something faddy, it's a waste of material." Moving into Foley St was a thrill for the designer, who relishes the interaction it permits. "Ceramics are something people want to touch, pick up and hold in their hands before they invest in it. I feel really lucky to get to talk to people and have a real conversation about the process." Studio Enti is open Tuesday to Friday 10am–6pm and Saturday 10am–4pm. BEX FROST AND CHRISTIAN OLEA: SPUNKY BRUISER For those not already familiar with fashion and accessories moniker Spunky Bruiser, its founders Bex Frost and Christian Olea sum up the brand's aesthetic as "distinctive, lusciously gritty and unapologetic". Celebrating sustainable design, the duo use recycled and reclaimed materials to hand-make one-off garments for men, women and kids, taking a firm anti-mass production stance and proudly turning the usual shopping experience on its head. Trends are ignored ("Our designs are made to be eternally relevant," say the couple), as is standard sizing (garments come in "you size"). Instead, the pair specialises in custom making pieces to suit not only a person's frame, but their personality too. This often means incorporating sentimental materials belonging to the client into the work — they're particularly known for re-working tapestries into eclectic, eye-catching jackets. They even offer to patch up any wear and tear for the lifetime of the garment! As Bex and Christian say, there's nothing quite like it out there. Spunky Bruiser is open daily 11am–6pm. Images: Steven Woodburn.
