If chant-like voices and anthems of "go, go, go, go" do in fact get you going, then The Presets live is just the ticket. Yup, those crazy kids are back on our fine shores belting out songs from Pacifica as well as less recent albums Beams and Apocalypso. Last year they were industry-voted Best Live Act at the 2012 In The Mix Awards, and this February will be joined by dancey locals Parachute Youth and Light Year. This can only mean good things for your ears and your feet: Just remember to wear shoes that enjoy a bit of movement. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Di5AT4MI6BY
Sydney is dotted with delicious breakfast spots. Whether your thing is fresh, organic produce or pancakes with a side of bacon, whether Bondi beach or the inner west is your local, or whether you're up at 7 on a Sunday or more likely to roll out of bed at midday, Concrete Playground's list of the best breakfasts in town has got you covered. 1. bills Where: 433 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst 2010 It seems almost ridiculous to introduce bills: these cafes are an institution. The first, in Darlinghurst, introduced the concept of communal dining to our nation, reputedly as a way to get around council restrictions. Bill Granger, namesake and chef, is well-known in his own right, with more than one signature dish under his belt and a plethora of cookbooks in stores worldwide. It's Saturday morning in the Darlinghurst edition, and I'm glad we've decided to come early. Within five minutes of our arrival, the entire room is buzzing with breakfasters. The small room, sparsely decorated, is filled with warm sunlight. We sit at a large table in the centre of the room (the famous communal table), and begin our meal with Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice ($6.50) and a Flat White ($3.90). For review and details, click here 2. Cafe Sopra Where: 7 Danks Street, Waterloo 2017 Cafe Sopra, literally 'above' the original Frat Fresh in Waterloo, is another level of deliciously fresh delights. Take the stairs inside and to the right of this converted warehouse, and head upstairs to an airy room with marble columns and tall windows, where the sunlight casts delicate shadows across the tops of the wooden tables. Chef Andy Bunn's policy is menu items that emphasise the best that Fratelli has to offer, focusing on fresh produce. The resulting dishes are light, fresh and exciting: a mix that is perhaps at its best in the morning hours. A highlight of the breakfast menu is the Pancakes with Lemon Curd and Strawberries: the 'pancakes' are closer to crepes, and there's a good balance of savoury and sweet. For review and details, click here 3. Three Blue Ducks Where: 143 Macpherson Street, Bronte 2024 While Bronte could be dubbed Bondi’s shy kid sister, Three Blue Ducks borrows little from the quiet beach suburb’s gene pool. It may be the vision born of a pair of local surfers (a mere mile from the sandy coast), but the restaurant captures an air that’s more street chic than shore shack and everyone — from beanie-capped twenty-somethings to suit and tie execs — seems to be digging it. Nab a table along the peaceful, sunny street side window panel or cozy up in the back nook where you’ll be in on the action amongst the five young chefs bobbing to funky background beats, pounding coffee grinders and exchanging jovial backslaps over searing flames. It’s clear people have embraced this funky slice of paradise and take their time in doing so, graduating from cappuccinos to glasses of white wine at noon and sipping straw stuffed coconut concoctions in between courses. For review and details, click here 4. Clipper Cafe Where: 16 Glebe Point Road, Glebe 2037 It’s hard not to fall a little bit in love with Clipper Cafe. Occupying the lower floor of an adorable whitewashed terrace house, fitted out with bright green doors, hanging flower baskets and a bunch of paraphernalia that adorns the walls, Clipper is a breath of fresh air on the Glebe Point strip. The space is frequently abuzz with caffeine-crazed uni students, well versed in the art of procrastination. Clipper’s pulling power can be explained by its incredibly reasonable prices and drool-worthy menu. The food is rich, the servings ample and the presentation is simple and elegant. The chefs use high quality, locally sourced ingredients and aren’t stingy when it comes to the good stuff - even the humble slice of Banana Bread ($8) is served with ricotta, berries and honey. Must-try breakfast options include the Arabian Style Bircher Muesli ($8), with pistachios, poached fruit and yoghurt, and their Baked Eggs ($11), served with spinach, feta, chorizo and herb toast. For review and details, click here 5. Porch & Parlour Where: 100-102 Brighton Boulevard, Bondi Beach 2026 Nestled between a florist and a yoga school, ‘Porch’ is a cafe, retail shop and gallery rolled into one. The space itself is rustic and laidback. Spacious wooden tables and comfy antique chairs provide ample room to kick back with a group or to power through some work, with knitted blankets and heaters on hand for those willing to brave it outside during winter. Porch’s approachable vibe and pet-friendly policy contributes to its universal appeal, made apparent by the diverse crowd it welcomes through its doors. Worth a nod is the Veggie Breakfast ($16) served with piping hot roast tomatoes, smashed eggs (a Porch original recipe), spinach and whopping big mushrooms. Add healthy lashings of bacon for those who want it both ways. Other highlights include the daily Soupe de Porch, served with your pick of the Sonoma breads on offer. Their green juice (cucumber, fresh apple and spirulina) also deserves a shout-out for being the best hangover cure this side of town. For those on the go midweek, Porch’s generous bacon and egg one-handers ($5) or fresh salad wraps ($9.50) do the trick nicely. For review and details, click here 6. The Bunker Where: 399 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst 2010 The Bunker is an appropriate title for this hole-in-the-wall, blink-and-you'll-miss-it Darlinghurst cafe. Once you've sampled the goods, however, you'll never be able to walk straight past again. The intimate feel is carried through with casual, friendly and familiar staff, and the kitsch, second-hand crockery. I can't go any further without mentioning the coffee, which (judging by the rate of take-aways) is the main appeal of the Bunker. Stretch out a bit further though, and you'll find a great range of simple menu items. Breakfast is the key meal here, with the basics often outshining the more complex offerings. You can't go past the Googs: soft boiled eggs with soldiers of toasted Sonoma bread. If you're after something a bit heartier, I'd recommend the home-style Baked Beans on Toast. For non-coffee drinkers, there's a great range of teas by the pot. My pick is the novelty Rosebud tea. For review and details, click here 7. Jed's Food Store Where: 60 Warners Avenue, Bondi 2026 The scene here is pure laid-back Bondi. Away from the ‘scene’ that is Hall Street and Campbell Parade, locals rule at Jed’s Food Store, and they come here for delicious long breakfasts (with a Mexican edge), healthy snacks and lunch throughout the day. Regulars come early in the morning for their coffee fix, perching on milk crates and mismatched chairs outside in the sun, or reading the papers at small tables inside where there is plenty of action in the open kitchen. For breakfast, try Poached Eggs with Mexican Beans and Chorizo, or a take on Huevos Rancheros, a toasted tortilla with scrambled egg. There are wholesome options like Porridge and Bircher, as well as healthy Smoothies made with the wonder-fruit-of-the-moment, Acai Berries. Coffee is intense and rich - it's worth having a second. For review and details, click here 8. Le Petit Creme Where: 116 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst 2010 The French have a reputation for being, how do you say, outrageous? Le Petit Creme fits the genre perfectly: it has a reputation and it is most certainly outrageous. If it's service you're after, this tiny cafe might not be your first pick - the waitstaff tend to be casual at best. However, if you're searching for an absurdly luxurious breakfast feast, you've found the right place. The Eggs Benedict is the star attraction. Deliciously runny eggs, rich hollandaise and your choice of ham or salmon on freshly toasted brioche. The omelettes are another firm favourite, particularly the gruyere, served up with garnish and a warm baguette. Coffee or hot chocolate is best served in 'Le Bol', a literal and very French bowl of milky delight. Consider yourself warned: after a breakfast like this, you may need to revisit bed. For review and details, click here 9. Brown Sugar Where: 106 Curlewis Street, Bondi 2026 On another one of these hot sticky days that keep exhausting us Sydney-siders, we traipse down to the dimly-lit people-packed Brown Sugar. A café-by-day, a bistro-by-night, our 7.30pm table will be for the latter fare. Sitting on Bondi’s Curlewis Street it is a perfect spot for a post-dip bite. However, the chances of one stumbling across a free table are slim. We are thankful Brown Sugar takes bookings. In an attempt to relieve myself from the stifling heat I order the special of beetroot cured ocean trout with green tahini, baby radish and fresh herbs. The beetroot curing makes the ocean trout taste more earth than ocean, yet it is sweet and refreshing. For review and details, click here 10. Bar Indigo Where: 6/15 Cross St, Double Bay 2028 Situated in the picturesque Transvaal Avenue, Indigo has a European cafe vibe complete with year-round alfresco dining. The tables on the pedestrian island are the most sought after when the sun’s out, which is almost always - thanks Sydney! It’s especially popular as a brunch or lunch spot, and you can expect to wait a little for a table on weekends. That said, they get you seated quickly and serve you even faster without ever making you feel rushed to finish. In fact, service is one of their real strengths. The team is young, friendly and very switched on. Morning favourites include the generously portioned Breakfast Bruschetta ($19.90), Bircher Muesli ($14.90) and Fluffy Ricotta Pancakes ($17.90), while the extensive lunch menu offers countless crowd-pleasers, such as the Pan Roasted Wagyu Beef Burger ($21.90), Roasted Butternut Pumpkin, Prawn and Pancetta Linguini ($29.90) and the Lemon Marinated Chicken Salad ($23.90), with avocado, Persian fetta, pine nuts and baby spinach. Everything’s prepared on-site and the freshness comes through no matter what you order. For review and details, click here
It's a sweltering summer's day in 19th century Russia. Languishing in the heat are a group of twenty-somethings, a teacher with pretensions toward greatness, his wife, a widow about to lose her estate, her stepson, an old flame, a doctor, a grocer, a criminal, a student and various others. All of them are exhausted; plagued by various existential crises. All of them have a general disregard for what happens next. Welcome to Chekhov's first serious crack at playwriting. This adaptation of Platonov by Anthony Skuse (who also directed the play) has mercifully cut two hours from the original, not to mention six characters. Although it's still a sizeable cast, everybody pulls their weight. Charlie Garber's Platonov is especially good. He strolls around the casually and mercilessly rebuking his friends as "small, useless people" and then watching in amusement as they fall over themselves to impress him. They cling to him, beguiled by his talk of a better life. What they fail to notice is that Platonov, a schoolteacher, is just as firmly mired in middle-class torpor as they. Sam Trotman's Sergei, the emptiest of several empty shirts which inhabit the play, is very entertaining with an almost canine desperation for affection and a propensity for spontaneous tears in the face of problems large and small. Sasha, Platonov's thoroughly ordinary and completely satisfied wife, is skilfully performed by Matilda Ridgway. The scene in which she finally confronts her philandering husband is devastating. The set (designed by Skuse), is a sea of wooden chairs of all shapes and sizes. They begin pleasantly clumped in small groups, prepared for a garden party. A chess board and a bottle of vodka are suggestive of the lazy afternoon to ensue. As night falls and despair and desperation take the characters one by one, the chairs are shunted to the side of the stage to form a knot, twisted and chaotic. It's somehow malevolent. Although unquestionably pacier than its parent text, there are still an inordinate number of subplots to sort through over the play's three-hour running time. More than once I found myself wondering whether another two or three characters might have been given the chop without making too much of a dent in the overall narrative. It's a shame, too, that more has not been done to tone down Chekhov's ending. As it stands, the last 15 minutes sacrifice a great deal of excellent character work by veering alarmingly into melodrama. Platonov has plenty to offer, though, particularly as the world regresses to diplomatic attitudes reminiscent of the Cold War (shirtfronting, anyone?). Chekhov's exploration of the Russian, and human experience may have been hauled into the 21st century, but it's still a potent reminder that we're all just "so many wretched souls beneath this heavy moon".
Every Mac user the world over knows the scenario: you save up, invest in a shiny new Apple product and take it home just in time to discover a newer, better version has been released. So too comes the biopic Steve Jobs, released just a few short years after 2013’s JOBS starring Ashton Kutcher. Sleeker, slicker and definitely better designed, Danny Boyle’s film is undoubtedly the kind of superior upgrade that this compelling story demands. Written by West Wing creator and Social Network scribe Aaron Sorkin, and based on the book by Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs is an intense three-act drama of such fervid dialogue and minimal action that it would not feel at all out of place on a stage instead of a screen. Each ‘act’ takes place in the minutes preceding one of Jobs’ iconic product launches, and each is filmed in an appropriately coeval format – 16mm film stock for 1984’s Mac launch, 35mm for the introduction of 1988’s NeXT 'Black Box’ and digital for 1998’s iMac. The staging is an effective device, giving the film a persistent tension by combining the inherent pre-launch nerves with heated backstage conversations between all of the key figures in Jobs’ life. Portrayed magnificently by Michael Fassbender, we find in Steve Jobs a flawed visionary, as opposed to the saccharine, almost messianic figure found in the Kutcher version. Fassbender extracts and develops every foible nestled within Sorkin’s crackling screenplay – the obsessive preoccupation with seemingly trivial details, the isolating stubbornness and the unyielding belief that he was always right (resulting in a beautifully placed third-act beat when he’s confronted by an inescapable mistake of his own making). The supporting cast is equally strong, with three outstanding performances from Jeff Daniels as Jobs’s father figure-cum-foe John Sculley, Seth Rogen as Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Kate Winslet as Jobs’s confidant Joanna Hoffman (sporting a terrific, if also inconsistent, Polish accent). Daniels, Rogen and Winslet each get their time in the light, exchanging witty quips and stinging admonitions with Fassbender. Says Jobs at one point: "It’s like five minutes before every launch everyone goes to the bar and then tells me what they really think of me.” It’s an overly convenient conceit, certainly, but one that also helps ground the story in the personal (rather than technological) demons confronted by its protagonist. All the usual Sorkinisms are there, and the script does at times feel overwritten, with its hyper-theatrics and laconic wordplay labouring to convince you it's cleverer than it actually is. Still, the performances transcend the shortcomings and allow Steve Jobs to provide a balanced and often critical perspective of a man whose determination to change the world did, for the most part, actually succeed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEr6K1bwIVs
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When the first Wednesday in June rolled around this year, something was missing. Usually, that's Sydney Film Festival's night of nights — the annual cinema showcase's opening night ahead of 11 more days of movies. But, due to COVID-19, that wasn't the case in 2020. Back in March, SFF cancelled its physical event, then announced an online replacement a month later. Dubbed Sydney Film Festival: Virtual Edition, the digital-only event isn't quite the same as watching film after film (after film after film) at the State Theatre or Event Cinemas George Street, of course. Still, running from June 10–21, it's a chance to watch 33 movies that you mightn't otherwise get the chance to see — and for audiences Australia-wide to join in. This time, you're just doing so from the comfort of your couch. That should be a familiar feeling thanks to the past few months; however, you're not going to find SFF's 2020 batch of films in your current Netflix queue. On the agenda: ten movies made by female filmmakers from Europe, ten Australian documentaries covering a broad range of topics and 13 shorts — including three as part of SFF's regular Screenability program that highlights the work of filmmakers and creatives with disability. That's a sizeable at-home offering, so we've watched and reviewed ten titles from the feature lineup. Now, all you need to do is nab an online pass, pop some popcorn and get viewing yourself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFJxW46F0YQ SEA FEVER With Sea Fever, first-time feature director Neasa Hardiman gifts viewers a richly atmospheric thriller set within the claustrophobic confines of an Irish fishing trawler. It's a film with a clear cinematic lineage, tracing back to everything from Alien and The Thing to The Abyss. It's also a movie with a timely premise purely by accident, with this isolation and contagion-focused affair first premiering in 2019 long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. More importantly, though, this is an unflinching, smart and suspenseful examination of not only extreme behaviour in close quarters, or of an attack by a monstrous organism from the ocean's depths, but of the discomfort humanity feels when easy answers aren't forthcoming. Also impressive: Hermione Corfield (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Star Wars: Episode VIII — The Last Jedi) as student scientist Siobhan, whose arrival on the Niamh Cinn-Oir coincides with a treacherous decision by its captain Gerard (Dougray Scott). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fXQm4ZLlFg FORCE OF HABIT The most striking thing about Force of Habit, a Finnish anthology film that interweaves six shorts into one potent portrait of everyday female life, is just how commonplace its scenarios are. In one, a teenager on a bus is harassed by loutish, entitled boys. In another, a young woman is forced to fend off unwanted sexual attention from a male friend. In yet another, a husband reacts more strongly to his wife's response to being groped publicly by a stranger than to the latter altercation itself. Also examining workplace politics and gossip, legal and bureaucratic barriers, and the normalisation of women as victims that's perpetuated by entertainment, this powerful feature is so filled with recognisable situations that he overall point stressed by filmmakers Alli Haapasalo, Anna Paavilainen, Reetta Aalto, Jenni Toivoniemi, Kirsikka Saari, Elli Toivoniemi, and Miia Tervo — that, for society, instances like these have just become habitual and accepted — proves absolutely searing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Npj2cIbYs MORGANA Many a big-screen drama has stepped into the existence of a middle-aged woman unhappy with the state of her life. But fiction couldn't conjure up anything as distinctive, empowering and intriguing as Morgana Muses' tale — with the Albury housewife leaving her husband and small town behind in favour of a feminist pornography career that's earned her acclaim and attention from Melbourne to Berlin. Indeed, it's no wonder that filmmakers Isabel Peppard and Josie Hess were eager to document Morgana's story and share it with the world, including her resolute determination to bravely put herself first, express her own desires, and create both sex-positive and age-positive erotica. Candid and complex, Morgana is the type of subject that all filmmakers wish they could stumble across, as Peppard and Hess continually show in their engaging film. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwQAqW9GW0k&feature=emb_logo CHARTER In Norwegian disaster films The Wave and The Quake, Ane Dahl Torp battled natural forces. As Alice in tense Swedish drama Charter, she battles with the natural maternal instinct to spend time with and protect her children — fighting against her soon-to-be ex-husband (Sverrir Gudnason) who, in an act of retaliation for her unhappiness, won't let her even see her distressed young son Vincent (Troy Lundkvist) or angry teenage daughter Elina (Tintin Poggats Sarri). Amanda Kernell's sophomore feature after the similarly involving Sami Blood, Charter tasks its protagonist with making drastic and difficult choices while trying to evaluate what's right for both herself and her kids. Following Alice's exploits from Sweden's rural climes to the sunny surroundings of Tenerife, this deeply felt film offers not only a blistering showcase for its lead actor, but a perceptive exploration of a parent's continual quest to do what's best even when faced with imperfect options. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roAM3tZvJvU&feature=emb_logo THE SKIN OF OTHERS Douglas Grant was an ANZAC soldier, a prisoner of the war and, during his time in Germany's Halbmondlager camp during World War I, a driving force in helping his fellow detainees. He was a draughtsman, radio journalist and human rights activist as well, fighting for the fair treatment of his fellow Indigenous Australians almost a century ago. As a child he was also taken from the scene of a North Queensland massacre during the frontier wars, brought up by a Scottish couple and, though treated well by his adoptive parents, considered an 'experiment' outside of his home. Alas, Grant's story isn't as widely known as it should be, so Tom Murray's comprehensive and informative documentary The Skin of Others recounts the crucial details — as aided by lively recreations of Grant's life starring late Australian actor Balang (Tom E.) Lewis (Spear, Goldstone, The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith) in his final film role. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsB8RFnFFGM A PERFECTLY NORMAL FAMILY In her sensitive and affecting debut feature, writer/director Malou Reymann examines a situation that's close to her heart. Following the pre-teen Emma (Kaya Toft Loholt) as her father Thomas (Mikkel Boe Følsgaard) becomes a woman, the Danish filmmaker draws upon her own story, with Reymann standing in her protagonist's shoes when she was the same age. Dramatised on-screen, the result is a thoughtful and intimate drama that charts the sudden change to Emma's world, and to the soccer-loving girl's relationship with the now football-abhorring Agnete. As well as serving up nuanced, naturalistic performances that convey the full emotional spectrum traversed by Emma and her older sister Caroline (Rigmor Ranthe) as life as they know it changes, A Perfectly Normal Family purposefully refuses to simplify the complicated family dynamics that arise from Agenete's transition. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-m8HSGrQMM&feature=emb_logo ZANA Also informed by its director's own experiences, Antoneta Kastrati's Zana interrogates the fallout of life-shattering conflict, specifically the lingering impact left by the Kosovo War. A decade afterwards, Lume (Adriana Matoshi) still struggles to cope — particularly with the expectation that she'll bear her husband Ilir (Astrit Kabashi) more children after their young daughter was killed during the combat. Her overbearing mother-in-law (Fatmire Sahiti) shuffles Lume between various healers and mystics, blames superstitions and the supernatural, and even endeavours to motivate her fertility by encouraging Ilir to take a second wife; however, Lume's scars of loss and pain run deep. Matoshi is exceptionally moving as a woman haunted several times over — by her grief, the war, societal expectations and her lack of agency — while Kastrati and Casey Cooper Johnson's script doesn't shy away from Lume's all-encompassing trauma. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d37ZkjGDSks&feature=emb_logo WOMEN OF STEEL SFF's annual showcase of Australian documentaries often skews locally not just on a national but a more intimate level. That's the case with Women of Steel, which heads to Wollongong, to the city's steel industry and into a monumental battle for equality — with women forced to fight for their right to be employed at the steel works after being routinely told that there were no jobs available for them. Through both recent and past interviews, as well as a treasure trove of archival clips, director Robynne Murphy steps through the ups, downs, ins and outs of a movement that she was a part of forty years ago, which gives her film an impassioned and vital feel. In addition to chronicling a chapter of local history that many mightn't be aware of, her documentary also sets Wollongong's Jobs for Women Campaign in context in terms of societal norms and changes, both at the time and over the decades since. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLF2zVhsLMg A YEAR FULL OF DRAMA For theatre aficionados, being paid to watch every stage production performed over the course of a year is the stuff that dreams are made of. For 21-year-old Estonian resident Alissija, it's a job — one that specifically advertised for someone who'd never been to the theatre, that requires her to move away from her family to live in Tallinn, and that thrusts her not only into a new field but also firmly outside her comfort zone. It's easy to see why filmmaker Marta Pulk wanted to document this unique story; however she couldn't have predicted Alissija's revelatory reactions to her year-long gig, her existential malaise and her overall journey as she traipses between 224 shows in 365 days. A documentary that's intricately tied to one person, one industry and one country, yet also overwhelmingly universal in its coming-of-age themes, A Year Full of Drama more than lives up to its title. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tABY6w6py6Q&feature=emb_logo THE LEADERSHIP From gender equality to climate change, The Leadership charts a course through a sizeable array of topical subjects. While this jam-packed documentary touches upon everything from toxic workplace behaviour to the destruction of the natural world, it actually focuses on the Homeward Bound program — which takes talented women working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics on a 20-day intensive leadership course while sailing around the Antarctic, with its maiden voyage overseen by Australian leadership expert Fabian Dattner. That trip was notable in a plethora of ways, as Ili Baré's debut feature documentary lays bare. There's so much to cover, so many viewpoints to explore and such a wealth of data to share that The Leadership often feels like it could go in any direction; however when it unpacks the challenges facing Homeward Bound's first participants and facilitators, it does far more than serve up familiar messages amidst scenic icy landscapes. Sydney Film Festival: Virtual Edition runs from June 10–21, with all films available to stream online. For further information — and to buy virtual tickets — visit the festival's website.
Bon Iver is on their way to Australia for their first national tour in 14 years with the trailblazing indie rock act hitting stages across Sydney, Hobart, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide in February and March of 2023. The tour will kick off on Friday, February 17 in Sydney at the Aware Super Theatre next to the ICC Sydney. Brisbane and Melbourne will also receive standalone shows on the tour — Melbourne's first Bon Iver show in 11 years — with shows popping up at the Riverstage on Thursday, March 2 and Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Saturday, March 4. There will also be three festival appearances on the tour — Tasmania's Mona Foma on Tuesday, February 21, Perth Festival on Sunday, February 26, and WOMADelaide Festival on Friday, March 10. [caption id="attachment_746634" align="alignnone" width="1920"] MONA/Rémi ChauvinImage courtesy of the artist and MONA Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia[/caption] Bon Iver is one of three acts revealed to be heading up next year's edition of WOMADelaide. Alongside the blissful falsetto of the Wisconsin band, Florence and the Machine and Gratte Ciel's Place des Anges will be appearing at the festival which is returning to Botanic Park in Adelaide between March 10 and 13. Florence will also be appearing in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland throughout March as part of her world tour supporting her latest album Dance Fever. It's exciting news for Bon Iver fans after the band was forced to pull out of a run of shows originally slated for 2020 due to the pandemic, as well as a headline appearance at the cancelled Bluesfest 2021. This tour will mark the first time for Australian fans to catch Bon Iver's latest album i,i live and marks the influential artist's first return to Australian shores since a run of four sold-out shows at the Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid 2016. Presale tickets are available from 9am, Thursday, August 25 with the code JELMORE. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Bon Iver (@boniver) Bon Iver's Australian tour will take place between Friday, February 17–Friday, March 10. Presale tickets will be on sale from 9am, Thursday, August 25 through Handseom Tours and general sale tickets will be available from 9am, Friday, August 26. Top image:danieljordahl
If you wanted to use Studio Ghibli's name as an adjective, it could mean many things, including beautiful, playful, moving, heartwarming, thoughtful and bittersweet. Thanks to the overwhelmingly delightful combination of these traits in the company's work to-date, everyone knows a Ghibli film when they see it, as has proven the case for almost four decades. But, seven years after When Marnie Was There, its last solo production — and five years since its French co-production The Red Turtle — the beloved Japanese animation house has released a movie that doesn't slide instantly and easily into its gorgeous and affecting catalogue. The studio's first film made solely using computer-generated 3D animation, Earwig and the Witch immediately stands out thanks to its plastic-looking visuals. And, despite the fact that it's about a determined young girl, features a witch, and even includes a talking cat and other helpful tiny critters, it never completely feels like a classic Ghibli film either. Earwig and the Witch boasts plenty of other ingredients that link it to the studio's past. It's based on a novel by English author Diana Wynne Jones, who penned the book that Howl's Moving Castle was based on. It's directed by Gorō Miyazaki, who helmed fellow Ghibli films Tales from Earthsea and From Up on Poppy Hill, and happens to be the son of the great Hayao Miyazaki. Also, the elder Miyazaki initially planned the project, even if he didn't ultimately write the script or step behind the camera. On-screen, the eponymous Earwig (Kokoro Hirasawa) follows in the footsteps of Spirited Away's Chihiro and Kiki's Delivery Service's titular figure. The witch referred to in the film's name recalls Spirited Away's Yubaba, too, and the movie's food-fetching little demons bring My Neighbour Totoro and Spirited Away's susuwatari to mind as well. Indeed, despite eschewing hand-drawn animation for CGI, almost everything about Earwig and the Witch is designed to scream Ghibli — calculatingly so — but that isn't enough to give the movie the depth or heart that has become synonymous with the company's cinematic output. Viewers first meet Earwig as a baby. After trying to shake off the dozen other witches chasing them along a highway, her mother (Sherina Munaf) leaves her on an orphanage's doorstep, promising to return after her never-explained troubles subside. Ten years later, Earwig still roams the facility's halls. She brags to her offsider Custard (Yusei Saito) that she knows how to get its staff and its residents to bend to her will — and whip up shepherd's pie on demand — and she actively doesn't want to be adopted by the couples who stop by looking to expand their families. But when Earwig is chosen by witch Bella Yaga (Shinobu Terajima) and sorcerer The Mandrake (Etsushi Toyokawa), she has no option but to relocate to their enchanted cottage. Bella Yaga doesn't want a daughter, however. Instead, she's after an assistant to cook, clean and crush rat bones for her spells. And so, seeing a chance to learn magic herself, Earwig isn't willing to acquiesce easily. A by-the-numbers Ghibli movie is still better than many other films, especially of the family-friendly variety. Earwig and the Witch is average rather than awful, too, but there's no escaping that the picture is trying to do two competing things at once. Ticking off as many of the studio's recognisable traits as possible is one of the movie's clear aims. Trying to squeeze Ghibli's sensibilities into the broader anime mould is the other. Accordingly, even with so much of Earwig and the Witch drawing upon the company's own earlier work, the picture's pace, energy and heavy use of theme song 'Don't Disturb Me' seem inspired by recent non-Ghibli hits such as Your Name, Weathering With You and Ride Your Wave. It's an odd mix, as is the feeling that the studio is both treading water and chasing its competitors, rather than blazing forward and carving its own path. Also doing Earwig and the Witch few favours is its thin narrative, which is as straightforward as it sounds, including in the simplistic message of acceptance that's geared towards its younger audience members. Indeed, this might be Ghibli's most child-oriented film yet — skewing firmly to one end of the all-ages spectrum, rather than layering in the texture and detail that has regaled the studio's works to adults as much as kids. Interesting plot points arise but go nowhere, for instance. A backstory involving a witchy rock group begs for more attention, as does Bella Yaga's business selling spells to townsfolk to stop rain and win hearts, and The Mandrake's secret but never sinister activities in his hidden den. There's no faulting Earwig and the Witch's fondness for talking cat Thomas (Gaku Hamada), who becomes Earwig's ally, but the movie frequently teases far more than it's willing to deliver in its 82-minute running time. It also comes to an end abruptly, making its storyline feel half-finished. That said, when Earwig and the Witch does shine, Ghibli's usual magic starts to peek through. Viewers just have to look harder than normal to uncover the film's modest charms, rather than be gifted with a non-stop, free-flowing array of the studio's wonders. More vivid and hyperreal than the company's regular nature-inspired palette, the movie's colour choices prove a highlight. So do the short flirtations with darkness and weirdness, which all centre around The Mandrake, a character who could've used more screen time. Its central tune is a welcome earworm, and when the picture leans into its sense of humour, it's all the better for it. Perhaps those joys are harder to notice, though, because so much of watching Earwig and the Witch involves spotting how different it looks. The smooth, glossy animation couldn't sum up movie better, however, appearing as generic as almost everything in this slight, bright, likeable but rarely memorable addition to Studio Ghibli's filmography. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZg2iEf-fTA&feature=youtu.be
For foragers, the chillier months of the year are all about one of the most valuable things you can find in soil: black diamonds, earth nuts, tartufo. It's truffle season, people. The time of the oh-so-aromatic ingredient that's practically an edible precious metal at its peak market price. With supplies in abundance from June to August, you'll see a lot of it at venues across Sydney, including Bar Infinita, the North Shore's most buzzing Italian eatery. From now until mid-August (truffle season, like any produce peak, doesn't have a hard end date), Bar Infinita is serving a dedicated truffle menu to celebrate this legendary fungi flavour. With fresh truffles from The Truffle Farm in Canberra, you can tuck into five sweet and savoury dishes that put truffle front and centre. Starting with a delicate gnocco fritto with truffled mortadella and buffalo taleggio cream, you'll move to the house favourite woodfired pizzetta, now served with a molten pool of parmesan fondue, before a main of deliciously decadent house-made gnocchi with truffle butter, porcini mushrooms and chestnuts rounds out the savoury courses. Save room for the finale: trufflemisu, a light and creamy dessert with coffee, mascarpone and truffle combined with surprising results. Every dish gets a shaving of fresh truffle at the table, too. To wash it down, sip on a truffle negroni — made with truffle butter-washed olive leaf gin blended with rare dry gin, orange curaçao, dry vermouth and Suze. If you prefer truffle as an accompaniment, you can get a side of 2g of black truffle for just $4 with any meal on a Friday night throughout the special's availability. Images: Take Studios
UPDATE Thursday, May 18: Due to overwhelming demand, the Sydney seasons of 'Séance' and 'Flight' have been extended until Sunday, July 2. After first spooking out Sydneysiders back in 2017, unsettling installation Séance is returning to the city. This time around, the set of shipping containers hosting the immersive experience will be set up on The Goods Line outside of the Powerhouse Museum Ultimo — and it'll be joined by a new Sydney-first experience called Flight. Once inside Séance or Flight, expected to be unnerved. If you're not familiar with the installations and didn't have the chance to visit last time, a word of warning: it's aiming to mess with your senses. Between Thursday, April 13–Sunday, July 2, participants at Séance will be able to take a seat inside the space and then put on a headset. You'll next be told to put both hands on the table. The lights go out, leaving the place in absolute darkness and, for 20 uneasy minutes, you'll be taken on an immersive journey led only by touch and sounds. Expect to feel confused, repulsed and struck with temporary claustrophobia. According to organisers, numerous participants have bailed halfway through sittings in the past. You're probably thinking that there's something dark or supernatural about the whole thing — and going by the name, we don't blame you. But the installation's organiser says that 'séance' is simply a French word meaning 'session' or 'sitting'. It's a sensory experience that looks at the psychology of both sensory deprivation and the dynamics of a group sitting together. It's also a scary indicator of how easy it is for confusion, disorientation and information overload to affect our judgement. [caption id="attachment_852678" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'Séance'[/caption] Then, with Flight, the power is placed in your hands. Taking place in a recreation of an aeroplane cabin, the experience takes you through an equally unsettling experience. At each step of the way there are two possible outcomes, some worse than others. The installation plays on the theory of the multiverse where, if you head down a more unsettling pathway, you can at least find solace in the idea that another version of yourself has made the correct decision. This new iteration of Séance at the Powerhouse Museum Ultimo will mark its first appearance in Sydney in six years after the experience originally appeared in The Rocks back in 2017. It was scheduled to make its return to Sydney in 2021 with an installation in Circular Quay, but was unfortunately cancelled. Artists David Rosenberg and Glen Neath of Darkfield (who have collaborated in other sensory deprivation projects before) are the creative masterminds behind the project, which has been described as 'disorienting' and 'deeply unsettling'. You might've also listened to Darkfield's at-home experiences in 2020, such as Double, Visitors and Eternal, and experienced a few bumps and jumps.
May Barrie is 93 and takes delight in bare existence — the boulders that surround her Calderwood property, Callemondah, represent the way her internal and external worlds interconnect. She has passed her passion for shape and form onto her daughter, Tori de Mestre, who lives with her in simplicity and seclusion. May studied sculpture during the Australian Modernist period of the 1950s and has been shaping hulky rocks into abstract, sensual forms for more than fifty years now. Her hefty, three-metre-tall Moruya granite carving was awarded the Balnaves Foundation Sculpture prize at the Sculpture by the Sea judging at Bondi in 2009. It received widespread praise and David Handley, the founder of the annual exhibition, bemoaned the fact that May has been hidden literally under a rock. This grandmother of stone sculpture is what you might call a compulsive artist; she believes her art practice informs her self-actualising process. Tori, who has recently made her foray into the medium of sculpture with the Farmgate series, shares her mother talent for allegory and metaphor; land and mythology. Image: Tori de Mestre, Farmgate 7
A literal underdog tale about scrappy canines, a plucky orphan and a pooch-hating politician with an evil scheme, Isle of Dogs isn't just Wes Anderson's latest movie. Filled with heart, humour and witty dialogue, this doggone delight is the most Wes Anderson-esque movie the acclaimed filmmaker has ever made. Anyone who's seen any of his previous flicks knows exactly what that means, with the writer-director's work almost comprising its own genre. Think quirky quests about spirited characters following their own paths, set in worlds that cleverly expose humanity's desires and fears. Then there are his signature visuals, complete with symmetrical compositions that look like they belong in a gallery, and distinctive colour palettes anyone would love to plaster all over their own walls. Constructed with the tail-wagging enthusiasm of man's best friend, all of these familiar components fall into place in the stop-motion animated wonder that is Isle of Dogs. And that's before Anderson trots out his other trademark: an A-list cast. For this walk around the block, he's joined by regular collaborators Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Tilda Swinton, Bob Balaban, Harvey Keitel, Frances McDormand and Edward Norton, plus Anderson newcomers Bryan Cranston, Greta Gerwig, Scarlett Johansson, Liev Schreiber, Yoko Ono and Ken Watanabe. Throw in a story written with The Darjeeling Limited co-scribes Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman as well as The Grand Budapest Hotel actor Kunichi Nomura, and the end product couldn't feel more like an Anderson movie if it tried. Set 20 years into the future, Isle of Dogs begins in the fictional Megasaki, as the Japanese city faces a difficult doggy dilemma. Its howling furballs are infected with dog flu and snout fever, sparking fears that the virus could soon spread to humans. Hailing from a long line of cat fanciers and hardly keen on pooches, Mayor Kobayashi (Nomura) decides to banish all canines to Trash Island. To demonstrate his commitment to the cause, he even exiles his own family pet: a short-haired oceanic speckle-eared sport hound by the name of Spots (voiced by Schreiber). That's the setup. But Anderson's film really starts barking once the action moves to its offshore garbage pile — the actual isle of dogs. There, abandoned pooches fight for food, form packs and try to survive, as the mayor's orphaned 12-year-old nephew Atari (Koyu Rankin) discovers on his mission to find Spots. He's assisted in his task by Rex (Norton) and a ragtag gang of misfit mutts, including ex-baseball mascot Boss (Murray), one-time dog food spokesdog King (Balaban) and admitted gossip Duke (Goldblum). Gruff outsider Chief (Cranston) isn't thrilled about helping the boy they dub 'the little pilot', but he knows a lost puppy when he sees one. With a former show dog (Johansson), an oracle pug (Swinton), robo-hounds, and a crusading American exchange student (Gerwig) also playing their parts, Isle of Dogs isn't short on antics. Anderson fills his narrative to the brim like an overflowing bowl of dog treats, spoiling viewers like he'd spoil his own animal companion. It's an approach that matches his lovingly detailed images, which surpass even Fantastic Mr Fox's animated splendour. Aesthetically, every second of the movie delivers something gorgeous and glorious — be it the lifelike puppetry of its central canines, a particularly meticulous sushi scene, or fond odes to Japanese filmmaking icons Akira Kurosawa and Yasujirō Ozu. Indeed, even if Isle of Dogs hadn't paired its eye-catching contents with smart, timely parallels — a power-hungry leader, discarded population and trash-filled land mass make it impossible to miss the film's political, social and environmental commentary — it'd still make an ace addition to Anderson's oeuvre. That said, there's one area where the director shows his own limits. While Anderson is a seasoned master at combining exquisite visuals, lively voice work, an engaging story and a memorable message, a couple of his choices give pause (not paws) for thought. Isle of Dogs oozes affection for its location in every intricate element and never uses Japanese culture as decoration – but translating canine chatter into English while offering Japanese dialogue without subtitles threatens to marginalise the country the film is paying tribute to. Similarly problematic is Gerwig's character, who swoops in to help Megasaki's residents battle the mayor's nefarious plan, and sticks a little too closely to the white saviour trope in the process. Thankfully, she's never the main attraction, in what proves an otherwise charming tale about a determined boy, his undying love for his beloved pet, and a whole island of adorable dogs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlakrjfzCig
Whether he's co-writing and starring in sketch comedies, directing two of the best horror films of the past few years, producing an Oscar-nominee or reviving a science-fiction classic, Jordan Peele has amassed an impressive resume. So, whenever he adds a new project to the lengthy list, it's worth paying attention. After Key & Peele, Get Out, Us and The Twilight Zone — and producing BlacKkKlansman, too — he's now lending executive producing skills to upcoming Amazon Prime Video series Hunters. It stars Al Pacino, it's about hunting down Nazis in the 70s and it's inspired by real events. As first glimpsed in the show's initial teaser back in November and now explored in further detail in its just-dropped first full trailer, Pacino plays Meyer Offerman, the leader of a group of Nazi hunters who are intent on stopping a Fourth Reich taking hold in America. They've discovered that hundreds of escaped Nazis are not only living in the US, but have genocidal plans — and Offerman and his vigilante pals plan to thwart this conspiracy by any means necessary. Expect violence, tensions, action, thrills, and a fight between good and evil. Not just calling out oppression, injustice and hatred, but tackling it through film and television is firmly in Peele's wheelhouse, as his filmography shows. Accordingly, Hunters slots in nicely, with a ten-episode first season due to drop on February 21. Fresh from his excellent turn in The Irishman — his first collaboration with Martin Scorsese, somehow — Pacino is in less theatrical, more nuanced mode here. He's also joined by a well-known roster of co-stars, which includes Logan Lerman (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Carol Kane (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Josh Radnor (How I Met Your Mother), Lena Olin (Vinyl) and Australian actress Kate Mulvany (Lambs of God) as a kick-ass nun. Check out the full trailer for Hunters below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBGkjmfIzAw Hunters will hit Amazon Prime Video on February 21.
We usually picture Tasmania as Australia's sleepiest state — but when they go and pull off a weekend rager in a remote meadow, you've really got to question why we think this. We probably should have realised when they upped festival standards by giving us MONA FOMA. Set in White Hills, a beautiful, forested area about 20 minutes from Launceston, Party in the Paddock brings a punchy list of international and local artists to the island state. When not at the stage, Party in the Paddock's Vibestown is the place to head for gourmet Tassie nosh, comedy, art, yoga, glitter and skateboarding. And, for its sixth year, PITP has stuck an extra day onto the festival — on Thursday night there's a Funk in the Forest psychedelic rave that will continue over to Friday and Saturday nights. PARTY IN THE PADDOCK 2018 LINEUP Gang of Youths GROUPLOVE The Avalanches (DJ Set) Meg Mac Ball Park Music Client Liaison The Preatures Tkay Maidza Holy Holy Aunty Donna Crooked Colours Tired Lion
Who better than frank, lively and charismatic First Nations artist Richard Bell to sum up what You Can Go Now is truly about: "I am an activist masquerading as an artist," he offers. The Kamilaroi, Kooma, Jiman and Gurang Gurang man says this early in Larissa Behrendt's documentary about him, because he and the Eualayai/Gamillaroi After the Apology and Araatika: Rise Up! filmmaker both know how essential and inescapable that truth is. They're not here to reveal that Bell's art is layered with statements. Neither is the feature itself. Rather, in a powerful instant must-see of an Australian doco, they explore and contextualise what it means for Bell to be an activist spreading his advocacy for the country's First Peoples around the world by being an artist, especially when the Aboriginal art realm is so often dominated by white interests. They address and examine not just what Bell's work says but why, what it responds to and how it's significant on a variety of levels, including diving deep into the personal, national and global history — and modern-day reality — informing it. Seeing what Bell's art literally expresses — simply taking it in, as splashed across the screen instead of hanging in a gallery — is still crucial to Behrendt's film, of course. In an array of pieces that frequently use heated words on intricately and colourfully painted canvases, his work utters plenty. "I am not sorry". "Give it all back." "We were here first." "Ask us what we want". "Aboriginal art — it's a white thing." Among these and other declarations, You Can Go Now's title gets a mention, too. Every piece sighted — works that riff on and continue a dialogue with styles synonymous with American artists Roy Lichtenstein and Jackson Pollock among them — conveys Bell's activist-artist raison d'être overtly, unflinchingly and unmistakably. Excellent art doesn't end conversations, however, but continues them, pushes them further and prompts more questions. Not that this is You Can Go Now's main takeaway, but Bell makes excellent art, with Behrendt helping to fuel and unpack the discussion. It's impossible to peer at Bell's work without feeling its anger and frustration, sharing that ire and exasperation as well, and wanting a great many things — more details about his creations, the fair and just treatment of Indigenous Australians that should already be a given anyway, and to live in a world where the nation's traumatic past isn't what it is, for starters. It's also impossible to watch Behrendt's unfurling of the circumstances behind the artist's art, which intertwines Bell's own story, Australia since British colonisation and the fight against racial oppression globally, without appreciating the immense importance of his work. He boasts accolades and international acclaim, but nothing cements the potency of Bell's efforts like Bell. Hearing him talk about his childhood, then witnessing what those formative experiences have inspired: it's what this doco thrives on. So it is that You Can Go Now listens to Bell describe growing up in a tin shack in central Queensland, where he lived until he was a teen, only for it to be bulldozed by the government eight months after the 1967 referendum recognising Indigenous Australians as citizens. In tandem, the movie watches him recreate such a shanty, run it down, film it and play that video piece in another tin shed installed at the Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea in Turin in Italy. With a broader view, You Can Go Now enjoys Bell's paintings of key images from the fights for rights at home and in the US, then shows the photographs that Bell draws upon. And, it steps through the history of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy as a protest, plus Bell's replica Embassy — which has been displaying and hosting chats in Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Cairns, Moscow, Jakarta, New York, Venice, Kassel in Germany and more, and adds London's famed Tate Modern to its stops in 2023. Also filling this deftly penned, directed, shot (by The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone's Vincent Lamberti) and edited (by 2040's Jane Usher) film: addresses by the infectiously engaging Bell to camera, letting his playful but determined personality shine; text on-screen to emphasise the most pressing takeaways in his monologues; a cast of talking-head interviewees, spanning everyone from his Brisbane gallerist Josh Milani to friend and activist Gary Foley, plus current Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney; and a wealth of archival footage. Behrendt's approach is straightforward, but made dynamic and gripping through her subject, his story, the history behind both and the snippets focused on. And while Bell is an executive producer, ensuring this is his vision of himself, that doesn't make the end result any less thoughtful, passionate or compelling. In the feature's big picture, a portrait emerges of First Nations activism spread across half a century, both heartbreakingly and vitally so. In its Bell-centric guise, so too does a chronicle of activism channelled into his art to keep agitating for change, recognition and a better future. You Can Go Now's snapshot of both is thorough, so much so that it adds another want to its audience's list: wanting more time to sift through it all, something that no lone 82-minute documentary can deliver. Thankfully, this movie has company elsewhere in fellow docos such as Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra and Wash My Soul in the River's Flow. The former hones in on the pioneering and applauded Indigenous dance theatre, the latter on iconic musicians Ruby Hunter and Archie Roach, and both also survey Australia's attitudes towards its Traditional Owners, the creativity such a history has sparked, and how those resulting works are pieces of activism through and through. Indeed, You Can Go Now slides into stellar company, and into an expanding group of Aussie documentaries that will never lose their urgency as similar flicks keep emerging. Not that they can't stand alone, or don't, but You Can Go Now and its cohort actually gain strength from the fact that they're relaying a common tale. The impact of Australia's colonisation, and the prejudice and persecution that has followed, is vast. It always requires constant interrogation and confrontation. Across a life that's traversed gaining a political voice on Redfern's streets, working for the Aboriginal Legal Service, winning the 20th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, and gatecrashing the 2019 Venice Biennale, too, Bell knows this — and so does this filmic tribute.
Right now, Adore Beauty is a huge Aussie-owned retailer known for offering up deals on thousands of beauty products exclusively to online customers. It's also much-loved for its generous free samples and for giving away Tim Tams with every single purchase. But come Saturday, February 1, Adore Beauty will officially have a permanent bricks-and-mortar shop in Melbourne's Westfield Southland. The new store will house skincare, haircare, fragrances, makeup and a heap of other wellness items from over 300 beauty brands — both Australian and international. But team is seeking to make the most of the in-person shopping experience by not merely setting up a bunch of aisles full of products and leaving it there. At the centre of the flagship Adore Beauty store, visitors will find a large curved table that will host regular masterclasses, activations and even the odd live podcast recording. There'll even be a leading-edge digital skin analysis system, which will help punters gain a deeper understanding of their personal skin type and needs. You'll also still get a free Tim Tam with every purchase — thank the chocolate gods. And to entice folks in on the opening day, the Adore Beauty crew is giving the first 250 visitors a free goodie bag chock-full of 20 samples. This is the first retail store out of many more to come for Adore Beauty, with plans for a national store network set to roll out over the next few years. Adore Beauty's CEO Sacha Laing shared, "The Southland store is the first step in a new and exciting chapter for Adore Beauty that will see us bring our online experience that our customers know and love into physical settings where they can explore, learn and play with beauty with the guidance of our in-store experts." Adore Beauty's first-ever retail store opens on Saturday, February 1, and can be found at Level 2 of Westfield Southland, Cheltenham. For more details, you can check out the company's website.
Give us a film to which we attach some pleasant nostalgia yet not enough critical status to warrant preciousness, and we may be up for the remake. Put this baby — here, 1985's Fright Night — in the good hands of screenwriter Marti Noxon (veteran of that other landmark vampire franchise, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Australian film director Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl, United States of Tara), who clearly has some affinity for the weird, and we'll be properly excited. Fright Night (2011) has the great vampire-story setting of Las Vegas. The city is already otherworldly, comes alive at night, is normally populated by temporary workers and blow-ins, and contains the creepiest thing of all, manufactured suburban compounds in the middle of nowhere. Here, local teenager Charley Brewster (Anton Yelchin) has had the good fortune of moving up the social ladder when his skin cleared and high school alpha female Amy (Imogen Poots) showed interest. Now he's desperate to avoid the uncool antics of former best friend and terminal dweeb Ed (Chistopher Mintz-Plasse), who's trying to convince him that next door lives a murderous vampire, in the form of husky night construction worker Jerry (Colin Farrell). By the time Charley realises the truth and barricades his house with garlic, Jerry has him in his ruthless, creatively barbaric sights. In an effort to save himself, his girl, his mother (Toni Collette) and scores more, Charley goes into battle, enlisting self-styled vampire hunter Peter Vincent (David Tennant), really a cowardly Vegas illusionist of a Russell Brand-esque disposition, to help. The film's real drawcard is Farrell. He's fabulous to watch — creepy, predatory, reptilian, transformed, in every action just a little bit wrong. Seeing the 10th Doctor strut around swearing in naught but leather pants also provides many kicks. There are plenty of laughs; in fact, Fright Night hasn't really put the fear factor on its agenda, which is only a pity because Farrell is so grippingly scary in this, and it feels like the rest of the film should rise up to meet him. Instead, the story arc sometimes works to sabotage what could be chilling reveals and suspenseful build-ups. It also doesn't help that other films out there are doing the knowingly B-grade thing (schlock violence, cinephile in-jokes) better. Other films are doing the geek-cool thing (the unlikely hero, the too-sharp banter, the interminable pop-culture references) better. What Fright Night can genuinely boast to be is a lot of fun (especially in 3-D, where staked vampires explode in your face) and a nice break from the "I'm just misunderstood" vamps that rule the current mythos. But more than an original film, a remake has to really mount an argument for its own existence, and without nailing every item on its brief, this one doesn't quite. https://youtube.com/watch?v=txgGhyjPZGg
Community station Eastside Radio 89.7FM has been providing Eastern Sydney ears with the best of specialist music, community and arts programs over the airwaves since 1983. On Saturday 26 May they’re having their bi-annual record fair, Black Gold, at Darlinghurst’s The Local Taphouse. With thousands of “Black Gold” vinyls for sale, your record collection is about to get a bulk injection. Amongst the plethora of audio joys available are jazz, soul, funk, disco, hip-hop and electronic records. Be amongst it, grow your library and get spinning.
At about 70 calories per shot, gin is among the lowest-calorie alcohols out there. It provides cocktail aficionados all the more reason to pair it with something comparatively unhealthy. Like, say, ice cream. With that in mind, let us introduce you to the Negroni Float, a cocktail created by the fine people at Melbourne Gin Company. The innovative drink combines the Italian stallion cocktail (that is, the Negroni), with vanilla ice cream to create what is essentially a soft drink spider, but alcoholic for adults. If you're convinced that gin is your arch-nemesis and will never grow to like the spirit — this is an excellent gateway drink. The sweetness and slight bitterness of the Campari and blood orange soda is a concoction that may just win you over. We can't promise that you'll be able to successfully order it over the bar, but you can sure make it at home. Here's how. THE NEGRONI FLOAT INGREDIENTS 30ml Melbourne Gin Company dry gin 30ml Campari CAPI blood orange soda vanilla ice cream blueberries ice (optional) DIRECTIONS Over a scoop of vanilla ice cream, add the gin, Campari and blood orange soda. Garnish with blueberries, and it's good to go.
Arguably the best weekly comedy room in Sydney, The Comedy Lounge at Surry Hills' Cafe Lounge is fast becoming a comedy institution. Having recently rung in their fourth birthday, Monday nights at The Comedy Lounge are always enjoyable, and for just $10 – or $8 if you're a penny-pinching student – we can see why. However, despite the consistent funnies being served up every Monday, it's Sunday nights that have recently been making a splash. On the Sabbath, Barry Award-nominated (that is, nominated for the best show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival) comedian John Conway hosts John Conway Tonight, an absurd deconstruction of a late-night TV show done live. Joined by regular collaborators and comedy young guns, Sam Campbell, Aaron Chen and Will Erimya, and boasting guests like The Chaser's Craig Reucassel, there truly is no other show like it in Sydney. Oh, and best of all — it's free. If eccentric live pseudo-chat shows aren't your thing, stick to Mondays and you never know who might 'drop in'. Recent surprise appearances by Wil Anderson and Stephen K. Amos show that The Comedy Lounge is always worth checking out.
The radio play has become somewhat of a neglected art form since television moved into homes. Why listen to descriptions of the visual when you can turn on the television and have the picture painted for you? The answer is because they are truly excellent. Listeners get to enjoy their own visual interpretation of the piece as they allow us to use our imagination and construct worlds and characters unique to our minds. Thankfully there are artists like the award-winning Nick Coyle (Me Pregnant!, Rommy) still writing radio plays. For one night only on Friday, June 14, he is performing his most recent work Batfeet, the radio play "not good enough" for the ABC, with Anna Houston and Tom Campbell. If you want the opportunity to (mentally) practice your artistic license then this is definitely for you.
As part of NAIDOC Week, a week-long celebration of Indigenous Australians' and Torres Strait Islanders' culture, the Museum of Contemporary Art is hosting two free lunchtime movie screenings. The screenings kick off on Tuesday, July 10, with We Fight (Guniwaya Ngigu) a documentary following Aboriginal Australians' protest of the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games. The film shows the gathering of Aboriginal peoples from all over the country in resistance of and solidarity against the inequality shown to them by the Games and the government. It's also one of the first documentaries both directed and produced by an entirely Aboriginal company. Jedda, one of the first Australian feature films with an Aboriginal lead, will play on Thursday, July 12. The 1955 film focuses on the struggle of a girl caught between her Indigenous heritage and her upbringing by a white woman. The movie is also known as the first colour film made in Australia depicting the Australian landscape. Viewings for both films start at 12.30pm in the MCA Lecture Theatre on Level 2 and no bookings are required. The free lunchtime screens are part of the gallery's week-long NAIDOC celebration.
Science is magic. It's a study and practice that we can't live without, designed by us to make sense of the nonsensical. It's a sky full of stars, an impossible reaction of elements, a brightly coloured coral plume or the miracle of our own lives. And if that's not worth celebrating, I don't know what is. The Sydney Science Festival is almost upon us, that annual celebration from the good people at the Powerhouse Museum that treats curious humans to nine glorious days of uninterrupted science. The theme for this year is 'Trace', exploring the trace of humanity and our impact on the world. If you don't have time to explore the festival's full program, fear not, dear reader. We've gathered a must-see hit list of events across the festival, from Parramatta to Ultimo. POWERHOUSE UP LATE: SCIENCE One of the final events of the festival is an after-dark entry that brings a light-hearted and entertaining approach to science with an evening of conversations, performances, workshops, live music and a fully stocked bar. Spend your evening being educated on botany, philosophy, sonification and more. There'll also be 'The Drag Experiment', a performance exploring LGBTQIA+ talents in STEM, a drawing workshop with a leading Aussie artist, live music from DJ Mistry and drinks from beloved Marrickville brewery Grifter. Powerhouse Late: Science takes place in the Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo on Thursday, August 17 from 5.30pm to 9pm. To register and find more information, visit the website. [caption id="attachment_911455" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Cassandra Hannagan[/caption] FAMILY SCIENCE DAY If you've got any aspiring junior scientists in your life then bring them to Parramatta Square for this family-oriented addition to the festival program. It's built around local scientists sharing their knowledge through hands-on activities and interactive performances that spread the good word of science to younger audiences. Ranging from live experiments, storytelling, musical performances and insightful demonstrations, attendees will learn about temperature, solar power, sustainable food practices, clean water, coding, medicine, rockets, 3D printing and much more. Family Science Day will take place in Parramatta Square on Saturday, August 19 from 10am to 3pm. Visit the website for more information. 'FROM EARTH TO ORBIT' — DR MEGANNE CHRISTIAN — AUSTRALIAN ASTRONAUT This keynote conversation is between two scientific experts, one a multi-award-winning journalist and the other an astronaut reservist who will soon be one of the first Australian women to travel to Earth's orbit. The latter, Dr Meganne Christian, holds a Bachelor's and PhD from UNSW and has years of experience in the field, including a year of atmospheric research in Concordia Station, Antarctica. She is part of 17 ESA (European Space Agency) reservists chosen from over 22,000 applicants and will be talking about her career and missions to come with celebrated journalist Rae Johnson. Johnson is known for her coverage of topics around science and technology and all things geek for NITV at SBS, plus her work in television, radio and multiple podcasts. From Earth to Orbit will take place in PHIVE, Parramatta on Saturday, August 19 from 11am to 12pm. Secure your tickets here. 100 CLIMATE CONVERSATIONS This one is a bit different. 100 Climate Conversations isn't a single event, it's a podcast series that profiles scientists leading the net-zero carbon revolution. Journalist Nate Byrne will be interviewing several scientists in live recordings during the festival. Those scientists include Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, chief scientist of The Great Barrier Reef Foundation and one of the first figures to warn the world of the risks climate change poses to our reefs. Hoegh-Guldberg will be recording his conversation on Friday, August 11. Another will be with climatologist Professor Neville Nichols who used decades of experience to create a revolutionary early-warning heat wave system that has been saving lives since 2009. He'll be recording his conversation live on Friday, August 18. 100 Climate Conversations will be taking place across various sessions in the Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo. Visit the website for more information and to book tickets. 'ATMOSPHERIC MEMORY' Created by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, this multi-sensory installation is designed to immerse and educate on the wonders of our world. Lozano-Hemmer was inspired by an idea of 19th-century scientist Charles Babbage, the idea that air is a 'vast library' containing records of every word ever spoken. That idea is stretched across 18 immersive artworks that are made with cutting-edge technology from the fields of AI, robotics, 3D printing, nanotechnology and more. Those artworks include the world's first 3D-printed speech bubble, thousands of speakers playing individual field recordings, a ripple tank and a huge 360º projection chamber. It will be very cool indeed. Atmospheric Memory will run in the Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo from Saturday, August 12 to Sunday, November 5. Book your tickets here. 'PACIFIC ODYSSEY' — DR NICOLE YAMASE This keynote turns our eyes down from the stars to the depths of our ocean. This session is hosted by Dr Nicole Yamase, a leading ocean scientist who was born in the island archipelago of Micronesia. She took her heritage and ocean-going childhood and turned it into a career worthy of celebration, graduating with a PhD in Marine Biology from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, specialising in the study of macroalgae and nearshore plants, now dedicating her life to the conservation of our oceans. Dr Yamase achieved new heights in 2021 by becoming the first Micronesian woman to visit Challenger Deep, the deepest point in all of Earth's oceans. She's also a community leader and part of the team behind the Madau Project — a community group that works with diasporic Micronesian youth to teach them about their rich heritage and their people's history of wayfinding across the Pacific. Pacific Odyssey will take place in the Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo on Saturday August 12 from 6pm to 7pm. Secure your tickets here. RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER IN CONVERSATION As mentioned, one of the biggest parts of the festival is 'Atmospheric Memory', an installation in the Powerhouse Museum in Ultimo. The artist behind the installation is Mexican-born Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and he'll be joined in this keynote by Matthew Connell, Director of Curatorial, Collections and Programs at the Powerhouse Museum. They'll discuss Lozano-Hemmer's career and past works and how it intersects with the extensive collection of works owned by the Powerhouse. Lozano-Hemmer's work has been a part of over nine Biennale showcases and 75 solo exhibitions worldwide. Now he brings that experience to the Sydney Science Festival and is keen to tell us all about it. Rafael Lozano-Hemmer in Conversation will take place in the Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo on Sunday, August 13 from 3pm to 4pm. Secure your tickets here. 'COUNTRY AND SKY' — DR ALICE GORMAN AND KARLIE NOON Humans have been looking up at the sky for as long as we've existed, but what knowledge did our ancient ancestors draw from it? That's a focus of this talk between leading space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman and First Nations Astrophysicist Karlie Noon. Their conversation will unravel the festival theme of Trace by exploring topics of space junk and preservation, the connection between astronomy and cultural heritage and the future of Aussies in space. If you have a love for history or astronomy, you should definitely keep this on your radar. Country and Sky will take place in the Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo on Monday, August 14 from 6pm to 7pm. Secure your tickets here. The Sydney Science Festival runs in various venues across Sydney from Friday, August 11 through to Sunday, August 20. Some events will run beyond those dates. For more information and to book tickets to select events, visit the website.
Brothers, we have something special to show you and no, it's not kitty cat man. US comedy duo Tim and Eric are bringing their bizarre sense of humor to Australia and New Zealand for a national tour. The Tim and Eric – 'Stralia – Zealand Experience will be making stops at Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Auckland. Since meeting at uni in 1994, the pair have gone on to create an animated series, a hilarious sketch series for Adult Swim, a feature film and even a book. You might not have heard of them, but you've definitely seen their kooky comedic genius before; how about the Vodka movie with Zach Galifianakis for Absolut or their Old Spice commercials with Terry Crews? Grab yourself a ticket and bear witness to the pair's crazy directing style, unique sketches and DJ Douggpound. Celebrate getting tickets by dancing like celery man (you won't be the only ones). Shiny suit and bolo tie optional. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maAFcEU6atk[/embed]
You may already know that the Stockton Beach sand dunes are the largest in the Southern Hemisphere. But, it's hard to truly appreciate the sheer size of them until you hop on a sandboard and start sliding down one of the hills — and you just keep sliding. There are a few companies that offer sandboarding experiences in the Port Stephens region, but Sand Dune Safaris is our pick for a couple of reasons. It's a family owned and operated business, and because it doesn't accept large inbound tour groups, the team are able to offer a more intimate experience — and this includes allowing you to stand on the board and 'surf' down the dune if you're game. You'll also get to travel to Sand Dune Safaris' spot on the dunes in 4WDs which, they say, is "half the fun". Normally, the company has a continuous shuttle service heading out to the dunes and back every 15 minutes, so you can stay and play as long as you please. It also a shaded picnic area out on the dune, so you can take along an esky with drinks and snacks when you need a rest. Also be sure to pack sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat as the sand is extremely reflective due to its high silica content, so it can get mighty toasty out there. Due to current COVID-19 restrictions, Sand Dune Safaris is now running six two-hour sessions per day. Bookings are essential with a limit of nine people per group. Sessions are subject to change as restrictions are lifted so keep checking the website for the latest info. Images: Destination NSW
If you're someone who loves chocolate and hazelnuts, and doesn't have an allergy to either, the odds are that you're rather fond of Nutella. Most folks fall into that category, which is why the world has seen everything from Nutella food trucks and dessert bars to Nutella hotels and festivals pop up — and plenty of eateries slathering the spread on and in other food stuffs, too. Your new way to get your Nutella fix? In bar form. Until now, you might've thought of Nutella bars as places that you can visit — because, as outlined above, they have definitely existed over the years. From Monday, January 4 at Australian supermarkets and convenience stores, however, Nutella bars are also something that you can buy and eat (and carry around with you in multi-packs for a Nutella-on-the-go situation). Nutella's new product is called B-ready, and it squeezes the spread into a wafer shell — with some wheat puffs as well. So, when you bite into one, you'll taste some Nutella, and get quite a crunch in the process. The Nutella B-ready bars are now available either individually, or in packs of six — if you can never seem to stop yourself when it comes to the choc-hazelnut spread. They'll cost you $2 for one, or $4.99 for a six-pack. Nutella B-ready bars are now on sale at Australian supermarkets and convenience stores.
It looks like the NSW Government's lofty plans for its Sydney Metro rail project won't come cheap, with the makeover of Central Station alone estimated to cost a whopping $3 billion. As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, the information's been revealed in leaked documents from Transport for NSW, suggesting that even increased revenue from the station's proposed retail precinct, five-star boutique hotel and high-rise offices won't ever be enough to cover the costs of the ambitious project. The government's expected to drop an estimated $750 million just on incorporating the city's new train line into the station, which is Australia's busiest and clocks in at a huge 20 hectares. The leaked documents show other extensive plans for the project include a $120 million hotel development to transform the main terminal's upper levels, a colonnade and retail arcade on Pitt Street, three commercial towers in the space currently home to YHA's Railway Square hostel and a plaza on Eddy Avenue. While the plans would take place over the next 20 years, a Transport for NSW spokeswoman confirmed with SMH that nothing would be given the go-ahead until after extensive public consultation and approval. "Any decision to proceed with development at the station will have to be subject to rigorous economic appraisal and Cabinet consideration," she said. Via The Sydney Morning Herald.
The Irishman screens in cinemas from Thursday, November 7, and will also stream via Netflix from Wednesday, November 27. Is Martin Scorsese cinema's foremost purveyor of pissing contests? In the posturing men that fill the filmmaker's frames, penis-measuring and ego battles keep bubbling up. The urge to assert one's superiority and claim one's domain pulsates through gangster classics such as Mean Streets, Goodfellas and The Departed. It's also evident in The Wolf of Wall Street, which takes aim at the need to one-up everyone and everything. But, spread across six decades and told with a deeply melancholy sense of contemplation, this notion seeps through The Irishman with particular weight and purpose. It's impossible not to notice it when, surrounded by mob heavies on one side and a corrupt labor union leader on the other, the film's central hitman observes these two opposing forces agitating for supremacy — by any means possible, and frequently to their own detriment. That hitman is Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro), after the World War II veteran-turned-truck driver crosses paths with Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci). Taken under the crime boss's wing, he rises through the ranks as far as any non-Sicilian can — becoming, at his mentor's behest, the mob's conduit to outspoken Teamsters head Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino). Adapted by Steven Zaillian (The Night Of) from Charles Brandt's 2004 non-fiction text I Heard You Paint Houses, Scorsese's film is told from the octogenarian Sheeran's perspective, as he reflects on his life's volatile ups and downs while remembering a pivotal road trip, and the events that led to it. It's no spoiler to say that, in bookending scenes, he's whiling away his remaining days in a nursing home. And even if you don't know your 20th century American history, it's no spoiler to say that Sheeran's cronies don't all enjoy the same fate. Sometimes, Scorsese introduces bit-players via text outlining their name, date of death and its cause, stressing the cutthroat nature of the gangster world. In the process, he illustrates the cost of behaviour that's as common as breathing in The Irishman, and that his protagonist becomes accustomed to. As Sheeran progresses from stealing steaks to grease mob wheels, to "painting houses" (read: killing), to taking on a union role to help control the headstrong Hoffa, he's thrust into the thick of ego-driven conflict. He not only adapts, but prospers at the expense of many a life, with this violent true tale doubling as an indictment of the destructive deeds and mindsets that remain baked into society. It's telling that, when a remorseful Sheeran finally confronts the fallout from these constant power struggles, he's no longer cool, calm and collected. It's just as potent when, after seeing her dad at his worst, his daughter Peggy (played by Lucy Gallina as a child and Anna Paquin as an adult) makes the movie's biggest statement by shunning this dog-eat-dog regime, and refusing to even really speak. Scorsese ruminates on the consequences of acquiescing, and the strength required to avoid being complicit — ideas that reach far wider than Sheeran's story. The director has probed the murky basis of American life in complex gangster flicks for half a century, with The Irishman proving a meaty musing on the subject as filtered through one mobster's recollection. And, what a gangster flick this is. Nearing 80 himself, Scorsese is as stunning a filmmaker as ever. The Irishman swaps the endless energy of his earlier output for a more patient but still lively unravelling across three-and-a-half hours — and revelling in the minutiae, hearing conversations that seem to go nowhere, and spying the cycles and repetition is all by design. Stylistically, the film is classic Scorsese from the opening tracking shot that recalls Goodfellas through to the devastating final image, all thanks to cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Silence). As she's done since Who's That Knocking at My Door and Raging Bull, editor Thelma Schoonmaker not only gives the movie its pace, but moves seamlessly between time periods as Sheeran's story jumps back and forth between decades. What would a Scorsese film be without his on-screen muses, though? De Niro is a powerhouse, taking the ebbs and flows of Sheeran's life in his stride, and acting his way past the barely noticeable de-aging special effects that help wind back the clock. Somehow, this is Scorsese and Pacino's first pairing, but the director and actor are on the same wavelength, especially when they're at their most boisterous. Harvey Keitel steps in front of the filmmaker's lens for the sixth time, and Vinyl's Bobby Cannavale and Ray Romano make an imprint as fellow mobsters, too. If one star acts as weathervane for The Irishman, though, it's the inimitable Pesci in his welcome return. He has barely acted since Casino, and he's in quietly menacing rather than frenetically ferocious mode, which sums up this compelling epic perfectly. Gangster chest-beating resonates through every second of the phenomenal crime drama, which earns its lengthy running time — but the toll that's left unsaid echoes far louder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHXxVmeGQUc
What's better than watching a heap of top Australian talent sit around and talk about music? Watching them do all of the above while answering questions, competing for points and just generally being funny, too. That's the concept behind ABC TV show Spicks and Specks, which took a few cues from the UK's Never Mind the Buzzcocks, pit Aussie musos and comedians against each other, and has proven a hit several times over. A weekly favourite when it first aired between 2005–2011, it just keeps coming back — including its current series of new specials. When the program was first revived back in 2014, it returned with a new host and team captains. This time, it's back with its original lineup. That means that Adam Hills, Myf Warhurst and Alan Brough have all stepped back into the quiz show realm yet again. When the trio did just that back in 2018, for a one-off reunion special, it became the ABC's most-watched show of the year. Unsurprisingly, that huge response played more than a small part in inspiring this new comeback. If you're already eager to show your own music trivia knowledge and play along — we all know that's as much a part of the Spicks and Specks fun as seeing the on-screen stars unleash their own skills (or lack thereof) — then you probably lapped up the show's Ausmusic Month special last year. And, back in February this year, you probably enjoyed its 90s episode as well. Next, in April, comes a whole episode dedicated to early 00s tunes, naturally focusing on all the tracks, bangers, one hit wonders and more that released right up until 2010. Airing at 7.40pm AEST on Sunday, April 19, expect questions about the period that made Guy Sebastian, Lady Gaga, Kanye West and the Black Eyed Peas stars — and expect not just Adam, Myf and Alan, but Killing Heidi's Ella Hooper, Nic Cester from Jet, and comedians Joel Creasy and Sarah Kendall as well. The Katering Show and Get Krack!n's Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney will be on hand to take part in one of the episodes' games, old Nokia mobiles will find a new lease of life and Thirsty Merc perform as well. The 00s episode marks the third of Spicks and Specks' specials, with a fourth one still to come at a yet-to-be-revealed date. Its focus: the ten-year period we've all just lived through. And, if you need a refresher in the interim, this comedic chat about a Star Wars Christmas album will do the trick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KNMtDu7TAY Spicks and Specks: 00s Special will air on ABC TV on Sunday, April 19 at 7.40pm. The show's Ausmusic Special and 90s Special are both currently available to stream via ABC iView.
As the arts and entertainment industry continues to climb back to its previous heights following the devastation brought by COVID-19, a welcome addition of $125 million is set to be injected into the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) fund. The extra funding was announced today, Thursday, March 25, and is aimed at supporting "around 230 projects and up to 90,000 jobs". While a further $10 million will be added to the charity Support Act, aimed at providing crisis support to artists and other workers across the creative sector. The $125 million will be available until Friday, December 31, 2021, and will effectively triple the size of the original commitment of $75 million from the government, raising the total amount of funding available to $200 million. The initial funding has already been put to good use, with Sydney's Hamilton, Melbourne's Harry Potter stage show, Tasmania's Dark Mofo and Byron's Bluesfest all scoring $1 million each. RISE has also helped fund a slew of COVID-safe music events including Next Exit, Fresh Produce and Summer Sounds. [caption id="attachment_789711" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Hamilton. Image: Joan Marcus via Destination NSW[/caption] Federal Arts Minister Paul Fletcher names RISE as a driving force behind the creative industry's economic resurgence as venues re-open and shows are booked in. "Our focus has turned to stimulating activity so the work opportunities can flow," Minister Fletcher said in a statement. "This new funding comes at an important stage in the resurgence of Australia's arts and entertainment sector. The purpose of the RISE program is to get shows put on, bringing employment to performers, crews and front-of-house staff." The government has also updated RISE's program guidelines to make it easier for businesses and organisations to access the funding, and to encourage projects from as low as $25,000 to apply (the bar was previously set at a minimum of $75,000 for funding applications). Find out more about the RISE fund here. Top image: Frankies by Katje Ford.
Want to invest in crypto but aren't sure where to begin? Or are you already investing and want to avoid paying those pesky trading fees? Whether you're a crypto pro or total novice, you can now start investing in crypto sans trading fees via the Finder app. To celebrate the launch of Finder's new fee-free crypto-trading function, it's throwing a Bitcoin Drop Party where it'll be giving away a share of Bitcoin to everyone who signs up to the app. Once you've joined, you'll then have the chance to score even more Bitcoin via daily prize drops until the virtual party wraps up at 5pm on Monday, March 7. There's $200,000 worth of Bitcoin in total to be won, so don't worry, there's plenty to go round. Keen to join the party and to nab yourself some free Bitcoin while you're at it? The Finder Bitcoin Drop Party is happening online until 5pm, Monday, March 7. For more information and to read the terms and conditions, visit the website.
When the Sydney Film Festival last happened in-person back in 2019, it awarded its annual prize to the movie that everyone had been talking about since its Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or win a few weeks earlier: Bong Joon-ho's Parasite. Returning to Sydney's cinemas after a year's gap — longer, actually, after a few delays this year — SFF 2021 has declared another international festival favourite its latest Official Competition winner: Iranian drama There Is No Evil, which also nabbed Berlinale's Golden Bear in 2020. Receiving SFF's annual $60,000 award, the anthology film explores capital punishment and its impacts, with writer/director Mohammad Rasoulof examining the ripples that state-sanctioned killing has upon Iranian society. Pondering the threats and freedoms of life under an oppressive regime, it steps through the stories of a stressed husband and father (Ehsan Mirhosseini), a conscript (Kaveh Ahangar) who can't fathom ending someone's life, a soldier (Mohammad Valizadegan) whose compliance causes personal issues and a physician (Mohammad Seddighimehr) unable to practise his trade. Headed by Animal Kingdom, The Rover and The King filmmaker David Michôd, and also including actor Simon Baker (High Ground), NITV Head of Commissioning and Programming Kyas Hepworth, director and producer Maya Newell (Gayby Baby, In My Blood It Runs) and filmmaker Clara Law (Floating Life), the 2021 SFF Official Competition jury selected There Is No Evil "for its moving, multi-angled exploration of a singular theme, about the ways in which an entire culture can carry the burden of institutional cruelty." "Picking a winner from a collection of films as diverse as this one is never easy," said Michôd in a statement. "It's a movie adventurous with form and genre, beautifully performed and realised with a deft touch for simple, elegant filmmaking craft." Rasoulof has actually been banned from filmmaking in Iran, all for examining the reality of his homeland — and, after 2013's Manuscripts Don't Burn and 2017's A Man of Integrity, There Is No Evil continues the trend. "I want to thank the jury. I am really happy there is something more than a simple appreciation in this prize," the filmmaker said, accepting the award virtually from Tehran. "Being heard and understood is what keeps hope alive." In winning the Sydney Film Prize, Rasoulof's film follows in the footsteps of not only Parasite, but of other past winners The Heiresses (2018), On Body and Soul (2017), Aquarius (2016), Arabian Nights (2015), Two Days, One Night (2014), Only God Forgives (2013), Alps (2012), A Separation (2011), Heartbeats (2010), Bronson (2009) and Hunger (2008). SFF announced There Is No Evil's win at its closing night ceremony, as well as a Special Mention to fellow Official Competition title Limbo — and a number of other awards spanning the rest of the 2021 program. The $10,000 Documentary Australia Foundation Award for Australian Documentary went to I'm Wanita, a portrait of the self-described 'Australian queen of honky tonk', while producer and director Karina Holden received the $10,000 Sydney-UNESCO City of Film Award. In the Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films, Sophie Somerville's Peeps won the Dendy Live Action Short Award, Taylor Ferguson received the Rouben Mamoulian Award for Best Director for tough and Olivia Martin-McGuire's Freedom Swimmer nabbed the Yoram Gross Animation Award. As previously announced before and during the festival, filmmaker Darlene Johnson received the 2021 Deutsche Bank Fellowship for First Nations Film Creatives, while Australian documentary Burning, directed by Eva Orner, scored the first-ever Sustainable Future Award. The 2021 Sydney Film Festival ran in-person from November 3–14, with the festival's online program SFF On Demand now streaming until November 21.
Back in the 2000s, if you weren't listing to Interpol and Bloc Party, were you really in the 2000s? No, no you weren't. The former arrived out of Manhattan in the late 90s, then helped define the city's turn-of-the-century indie music scene with The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio and The National. Hailing from Britain and also coming together just before Y2K, the latter initially scored some hefty approval in 2003 via Franz Ferdinand's lead singer Alex Kaprano. From those beginnings, both bands became indie rock greats. Next, they're heading to Australia to remind music lovers why. Busting out everything from 'Slow Hands' to 'She's Hearing Voices', the two groups will share the same bill on a co-headlining tour of the country's east coast in November, including two shows at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion across Saturday, November 18–Sunday, November 19. For Interpol, it'll be their first visit Down Under since 2019, plus their debut chance to play 2022 album The Other Side of Make-Believe in Australia. Tracks from past records such as Turn on the Bright Lights, Antics and El Pintor will also feature. Bloc Party are making the trip after last rocking Aussie stages in 2018, and will perform songs from Silent Alarm, A Weekend in the City, Intimacy and 2022 LP Alpha Games. Bloc Party images: James Kellegher. Interpol image: Ebru Yildiz.
Netflix's green light has just swung into action, with the streaming platform finally confirming that Squid Game is definitely returning for a second season. The compulsively watchable South Korean series was one of the best new TV shows of 2021, and proved enormously popular for the service — becoming its most-watched show ever, in fact — so this news is hardly surprising. Getting the official word is still far better than playing Red Light, Green Light with the series' killer doll, though, clearly. Netflix co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos made the announcement as part of a video call about the platform's fourth-quarter earnings, advising that there will "absolutely" be a second season of the hit program. "The Squid Game universe has just begun," he said — although exactly what that might mean in terms of future episodes beyond the now-confirmed second season, spinoff shows or even movies wasn't mentioned. Netflix also started moving into games in 2021, so perhaps digital rounds of sugar honeycombs, marbles, hopscotch and tug of war could be in the franchise's future. When a second season of Squid Game will reach your streaming queue hasn't yet been revealed, either; however, given that creator Hwang Dong-hyuk started chatting about it in 2021, fingers crossed that it occurs sooner rather than latter. Yes, if news of the show's renewal sounds familiar, that's why — but today's announcement is the first time that Netflix has officially said that it's happening. Back in November, Hwang also advised that lead actor Lee Jung-jae (Deliver Us From Evil) was set to return as main character Seong Gi-hun. As for what else the second season storyline will follow, nothing has been revealed as yet — although Hwang has chatted through possibilities, including maybe giving another character the spotlight, with The Hollywood Reporter. If you somehow missed all things Squid Game last year, even after it became bigger than everything from Stranger Things to Bridgerton, the Golden Globe-winning series serves up a puzzle-like storyline and unflinching savagery, which unsurprisingly makes quite the combination. It also steps into societal divides within South Korea, a topic that wasn't invented by Parasite, Bong Joon-ho's excellent Oscar-winning 2019 thriller, but has been given a boost after that stellar flick's success. Accordingly, it's easy to see thematic and narrative parallels between Parasite and Squid Game, although Netflix's highly addictive series goes with a Battle Royale and Hunger Games-style setup. Here, 456 competitors are selected to work their way through six seemingly easy children's games. They're all given numbers and green tracksuits, they're competing for 45.6 billion won, and it turns out that they've also all made their way to the contest after being singled out for having enormous debts. That includes aforementioned series protagonist Seong Gi-hun, a chauffeur with a gambling problem, and also a divorcé desperate to do whatever he needs to to keep his daughter in his life. But, as Squid Game probes the chasms caused by capitalism and cash — and the things the latter makes people do under the former — this program isn't just about one player. It's about survival, the status quo the world has accepted when it comes to money, and the real inequality present both in South Korea and elsewhere. Filled with electric performances, as clever as it is compelling, unsurprisingly littered with smart cliffhangers, and never afraid to get bloody and brutal, the result is a savvy, tense and taut horror-thriller that entertains instantly and also has much to say. So yes, bring on more. Squid Game's first season is available to stream via Netflix. We'll update you with a release date for season two when one is announced. Top image: Noh Juhan/Netflix.
Catch iiiiiiiiit! If summer for you was all about hitting the crease and making sure you yelled "out" as loudly as possible, you'll want to stop hitting refresh on your email and take a little break to reminisce over the good times. Together with TikTok, who ran a summer-long activation called #ClassicCatch in Australia, we've picked out five TikTok videos that have us wishing we'd spent more time perfecting our bowl. Here are five legends who did just that, showing us how to land the perfect catch on the sand to hitting a six in the sweltering Aussie heat. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@fairmoodz/video/6785779214101630214?lang=en[/embed] According to TikTok maker and photographer Joel (@fairmoodz), old mate Doug here has never played cricket before, yet he smashes it — only to be caught out. What a catch. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@harlsmalone/video/6745028181704625413?lang=en[/embed] What can we say? Harley has clearly been smashing the Weet-Bix for brekkie. No, you didn't just flip the dial to Channel Nine, @harlsmalone has only gone and given his beach cricket match an upgrade to professional level with a little audio. And why the hell not? Did you see that catch? Right between his teeth. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@kaybawa/video/6716017780166102277[/embed] Melbourne-based TikToker Kaybawa has opted for some truly inspired slo-mo action to show off his sweet bowling skills. He's also paired it with R Nait's beats, a stormy looking sky and the facial expression of a master. What a ledge. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@cricketdistrict/video/6900918387866619138[/embed] Hear that encouraging clap? These cricktokkers are not messing around. Cricket District posts hours of spins, bowls and LOLs on its page. This mid-air catch is a classic. [embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@bigmads/video/6813258573473238277[/embed] One of our personal faves, AFLW player Maddi Newman isn't just an all-rounder on the sports field but she's also a fan of Lizzo. Here, she brings three loves together in one clip (her dad, cricket and Lizzo) to show it ain't just the fellas hitting it out of the backyard this summer. Onya, Maddi. Download TikTok to watch more #ClassicCatch videos and look for TikTok's cricket themed activations in your city. Top image: Lochie Blanch; Unsplash
Hear ye! Hear ye! Let it henceforth be known that Sky Ferreira has a voice to be reckoned with. Shuffling awkwardly on stage last Friday at the Metro Theatre for one of only two Splendour in the Grass sideshows, and without even acknowledging the crowd or their rapturous applause, the pint-sized pop powerhouse exploded into an anthemic rendition of '24 Hours'. The impressive intensity of this explosive opener was slightly undermined by Ferreira having to stop almost immediately so the sound engineer could fix the feedback thundering forth from the guitarist's amp. However, nothing if not a consummate professional, Ferreira immediately reset and — without missing a beat — all was forgotten as we were carried away by the Californian's angelic voice. Having flawlessly punched out her opening number, all the lights were then cut and Ferreira left the stage without explanation (presumably to berate the sound engineer) and returned a minute or so later, muttering something inaudible that sounded vaguely apologetic. Now, normally these kinds of antics and a seeming disregard for the people who paid to see you perform would relegate an artist to the ill-fated realm of 'get the fuck over yourself', but it’s not often you see a performer whose flawless delivery is as pitch-perfect as their recordings. Ferreira is one such performer. After completely switching lanes and launching into the toned-down industrial sound of 'Ain't Your Right', to a more than underwhelming response from the crowd, Ferreira admitted to being "very nervous". The earnestness with which she said it helped win back the crowd and gave the impression that of everyone there, Ferreira was being the hardest on herself. From here on in, and with the aid of a truly mental backing band, Ferreira’s performance picked up considerably with crowd favourite 'I Blame Myself', eliciting an enthusiastic, but decidedly out-of-tune, singalong from the crowd. Incidentally, the audience — who appeared to consist exclusively of rabid underage fans intent on moshing despite the distinctly un-mosh-inducing music, and soon-to-be-settling-down thirty-somethings standing in the drinking section resolutely refusing to dance — somehow managed to overcome their antithetical approaches to being an audience and provide Ferreira with more positive feedback than the Metro's malfunctioning sound system. While her near absolute silence throughout the set may have added to her indie-chanteuse allure, Ferreira’s lack of stage presence meant that every technical error was amplified (ba-doom-tish), and despite being out of her control, made her performance seem shambolic. As she seemed to lose interest in the show so did the audience, and not even crowd-surfing while smashing out 'Nobody Asked Me (If I Was Okay)' was enough to eventually win them back. And that's a real shame, because to do that without missing a single note takes genuine talent, if only it had been better showcased. Image: Justin Ma (SITG)
Skip the gym tonight and get your endorphin rush with one of the incredible dance classes at Sydney Dance Company. Whether your skills end at a little two-step or you can channel your inner Beyoncé with ease, you'll be sure to find a class that suits. Choose from over 70 options — including contemporary, tap, and hip-hop — and get ready to shake that bod for a good hour. Even better? The SDC studios overlook the Sydney Harbour so you can soak in the sunset while you shimmy across the floor. While classes ($22) are run on a drop-in basis, they're understandably pretty popular, so make sure to book your space online beforehand.
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. C'MON C'MON The last time that Joaquin Phoenix appeared in cinemas, he played an overlooked and unheard man. "You don't listen, do you?" Arthur Fleck asked his social worker, and the entirety of Joker — and of Phoenix's magnetic Oscar-winning performance as the Batman foe in the 2019 film, too — provided the obvious answer. Returning to the big screen in a feature that couldn't be more different to his last, Phoenix now plays a professional listener. A radio journalist and podcaster who'd slide in seamlessly alongside Ira Glass on America's NPR, Johnny's niche is chatting with children. Travelling around the country from his New York base, C'mon C'mon's protagonist seeks thoughts about life, hopes, dreams, the future and the world in general, but never in a Kids Say the Darndest Things-type fashion. As Phoenix's sensitive, pensive gaze conveys under the tender guidance of Beginners and 20th Century Women filmmaker Mike Mills, Johnny truly and gratefully hears what his young interviewees utter. Phoenix is all gentle care, quiet understanding and rippling melancholy as Johnny. All naturalism and attentiveness as well, he's also firmly at his best, no matter what's inscribed on his Academy Award. Here, Phoenix is as phenomenal as he was in his career highlight to-date, aka the exceptional You Were Never Really Here, in a part that again has his character pushed out of his comfort zone by a child. C'mon C'mon's Johnny spends his days talking with kids, but that doesn't mean he's equipped to look after his nine-year-old nephew Jesse (Woody Norman, The War of the Worlds) in Los Angeles when his sister Viv (Gaby Hoffmann, Transparent) needs to assist her husband Paul (Scoot McNairy, A Quiet Place Part II) with his mental health. Johnny and Viv haven't spoken since their mother died a year earlier, and Johnny has previously overstepped when it comes to Paul — with the siblings' relationship so precarious that he barely knows Jesse — but volunteering to help is his immediate reflex. As captured in soft, luxe, nostalgic shades of greyscale by always-remarkable cinematographer Robbie Ryan (see also: I, Daniel Blake, American Honey, The Favourite and Marriage Story), Johnny takes to his time with Jesse as any uncle suddenly thrust into a 24/7 caregiving role that doesn't exactly come naturally would. Jesse also reacts as expected, handling the situation as any bright and curious kid whose world swiftly changes, and who finds himself with a new and different role model, is going to. But C'mon C'mon is extraordinary not because its instantly familiar narrative sees Johnny and Jesse learn life lessons from each other, and their bond grow stronger the longer they spend in each other's company — but because this tremendously moving movie repeatedly surprises with its depth, insights, and lively sparks of both adult and childhood life. It's styled to look like a memory, and appreciates how desperately parents and guardians want to create such happy recollections for kids, but C'mon C'mon feels unshakeably lived-in rather than wistful. It doesn't pine for times gone by; instead, the film recognises the moments that linger in the now. It spies how the collection of ordinary, everyday experiences that Johnny and Jesse cycle through all add up to something that's equally commonplace, universally relatable and special, too. Conveying that sentiment, but never by being sentimental, has long been one of Mills' great powers as a filmmaker. He makes pictures so alive with real emotion that they clearly belong to someone, and yet also resonate with everyone all at once. With C'mon C'mon, the writer/director draws upon his own time as a parent, after taking inspiration from his relationship with his father in Beginners, and from his connection to his mother and his own upbringing in 20th Century Women. Read our full review. FLEE When Flee won the World Cinema Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, it collected its first accolade. The wrenchingly affecting animated documentary hasn't stopped notching up deserving acclaim since. A spate of other gongs have come its way, in fact, including a history-making trifecta of nominations for Best International Feature, Best Documentary and Best Animated Feature at this year's Oscars, becoming the first picture to ever earn nods in all three categories at once. Mere minutes into watching, it's easy to glean why this moving and compassionate movie keeps garnering awards and attention. Pairing animation with factual storytelling is still rare enough that it stands out, but that blend alone isn't what makes Flee special. Writer/director Jonas Poher Rasmussen (What He Did) has created one of the best instances of the combination yet — a feature that could only have the impact it does by spilling its contents in such a way, like Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir before it — however, it's the tale he shares and the care with which he tells it that makes this something unshakeably exceptional. Rasmussen's subject is Amin Nawabi, an Afghan refugee using a pseudonym. As his story fills Flee's frames, it's also plain to see why it can only be told through animation. Indeed, the film doesn't cover an easy plight — or a unique one, sadly — but Rasmussen renders every detail not just with eye-catching imagery, but with visuals that flow with empathy at every moment. The filmmaker's protagonist is a friend of his and has been for decades, and yet no one, not even the director himself, had ever previously heard him step through the events that the movie chronicles. Amin is now in his 40s, but he was once a kid in war-torn Kabul, then a teenager seeking asylum in Copenhagen. His life to-date has cast him in other roles in other countries, too, on his journey to house-hunting with his boyfriend as he chats through the ups and downs for his pal. That path — via Russia and Sweden — is one of struggle and acceptance. It's a chronicle of displacement, losing one's foundations and searching for a space to be free. It's also an account of identities fractured and formed anew, and of grasping hold of one's culture and sexuality as well. Flee explores how global events and battling ideologies have a very real and tangible impact on those caught in their midst, a truth that the feature's hand-drawn look underscores at every turn. And, it's about trying to work out who you are when the building blocks of your life are so tenuous, and when being cast adrift from your family and traditions is your status quo. It's also an intimate portrait of how a past that's so intertwined with international politics, and with the Afghan civil war between US-backed rebels and the nation's Soviet-armed government, keeps leaving ripples. Plus, Flee examines how someone in its complicated situation endures without having a firm sense of home, including when acknowledging he's gay after growing up in a place where that wasn't even an option. Clearly, Flee is many vivid, touching, devastating things, and it finds an immense wealth of power in its expressive and humanistic approach. There's a hyperreality to the film's animation, honing in on precisely the specifics it needs to within each image and discarding anything superfluous. When a poster for Jean-Claude Van Damme's Bloodsport can be spied on Amin's 80s-era Kabul bedroom, for instance, Rasmussen draws viewers' eyes there with exacting purpose. There's impressionistic flair to Flee's adaptive style as well, with the movie firmly concerned with selecting the best way to visually represent how each remembered instance felt to Amin. A scene set to A-ha's 'Take on Me' presents a fantastic example, especially given that the Norwegian group's pop hit is famed for its animated music video — something that Rasmussen happily toys with. Read our full review. QUO VADIS, AIDA? Films about war are films about wide-ranging terror and horror: battles that changed lives, deaths that reshaped nations, political fights that altered the course of history and the like. But they're also movies about people first, foremost and forever: folks whose everyday existence was perpetually shattered, including those lost and others left to endure when hostilities cease. Quo Vadis, Aida? is firmly a feature about both aspects of war. It homes in on one town, Srebrenica, in July 1995 during the 1992–95 Bosnian War, but it sees devastation and a human toll so intimate and vast in tandem that heartbreak is the only natural response. A survivor of the war herself, writer/director Jasmila Žbanić (Love Island, For Those Who Can Tell No Tales) knows that combat and conflict happens to ordinary men and women, that each casualty is a life cut short and that every grief-stricken relative who remains will never forget their magic ordeal — and she ensures that no one who watches Quo Vadis, Aida? can forget the Srebrenica massacre, or the fact that 8372 civilians were killed, either. A teacher-turned-interpreter, the eponymous Aida Selmanagic (Jasna Đuričić, My Morning Laughter) is Žbanić's eyes and ears within the demilitarised safe zone established by Dutch UN peacekeepers. The film doesn't adopt her exact point of view aesthetically — we see Aida, and plenty; Quo Vadis, Aida? wouldn't be the same without the tenacity and insistence that radiates from her posture and gaze — but it lives, breathes, feels, roves and yearns as she does. What she translates and for who around the UN base varies but, as she roves, she's primarily a channel between innocents scared for their lives and the bureaucracy endeavouring to keep the Bosnian Serb Army away. She visibly feels the weight of that task, whether speaking for the injured, scared and hungry all crammed into the facility or passing on instructions from her superiors. Aida has a mother's and wife's motivations, however: above all else, she wants her husband Nihad (Izudin Barjović, Father), a school principal, to be with her and to be safe — and the same for their sons Hamdija (Boris Ler, Full Moon) and Sejo (Dino Barjović, Sin), obviously. It's a mission to even get them in the base, with Colonel Karremans (Johan Heldenbergh, The Hummingbird Project) and his offsider Major Franken (Raymond Thiry, The Conductor) determined to not show any appearances of favouritism, especially with so many other refugees pleading to be allowed in outside. But Aida hustles, including getting Nihad sent to negotiations with Serbian General Ratko Mladić (Boris Isaković, Last Christmas) as a town representative. And as the General's brash, cocky, swaggering troops start escorting out the base's inhabitants and putting them onto buses depending upon their gender following those talks, Aida makes every desperate move she can to save her family. Quo Vadis, Aida? equally chronicles and shares Aida's reaction to the chaos and trauma around her. With Nihad, Hamdija and Sejo's lives at stake, the peacekeepers that Aida is helping refusing to assist by expanding the protections she enjoys to her loved ones, and the UN making moves that bow to Mladić — refusing to act otherwise, more accurately — Žbanić's film was always going to bustle forward in lockstep with its protagonist's emotional rollercoaster ride. That said Quo Vadis, Aida? is also an exacting movie in laying bare the complexities bubbling within the base, and the broader scenario. Unflinchingly, it sees how ineffective the UN's actions are, as ordered from far away with no sense of the reality on the ground. It recognises how outnumbered the peace effort is in Srebrenica, too. It spies the ruthlessness of the General and his forces, as was destined to happen when given even the slightest leeway. And it also spots how determined Aida is to safeguard her family, all while hurrying around thousands of others in the same precarious circumstances but without the possibility of anyone even trying to pull strings in their favour. Read our full review. UNCHARTED Some movies sport monikers so out of sync with their contents that someone really should've had a rethink before they reached screens. Uncharted is one of them, but it was never going to switch its name. The action-adventure flick comes to cinemas following a decade and a half of trying, after the first Uncharted video game reached consoles in 2007 and the journey to turning it into a movie began the year after. Accordingly, this Tom Holland (Spider-Man: No Way Home)- and Mark Wahlberg (Joe Bell)-starring film was fated to keep its franchise's title, which references its globe-trotting, treasure hunting, dark passageway-crawling, dusty map-coveting storyline. But unexplored, unfamiliar and undiscovered, this terrain definitely isn't — as four Indiana Jones films to-date, two National Treasure flicks, three Tomb Raider movies, 80s duo Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, and theme park ride-to-screen adaptation Jungle Cruise have already demonstrated. Uncharted mightn't live up to its label, but it is something perhaps unanticipated given its lengthy production history — a past that's seen six other filmmakers set to direct it before the Zombieland movies' Ruben Fleischer actually did the honours, plenty of screenwriters come and go, and Wahlberg once floated to play the saga's hero Nathan Drake rather than the mentor role of Victor Sullivan he has now. That surprise? Uncharted is fine enough, which might be the best likely possible outcome that anyone involved could've hoped for. It's almost ridiculously generic, and it sails in the Pirates of the Caribbean flicks' slipstream as well, while also cribbing from The Mummy, Jumanji and even the Ocean's films. Indeed, it borrows from other movies as liberally as most of its characters pilfer in their daily lives, even nodding towards all things Fast and Furious. It's no worse than the most generic of its predecessors, though — which isn't the same as striking big-screen gold, but is still passable. The reasons that Uncharted just hits the barest of marks it needs to are simple and straightforward: it benefits from Holland's charms, its climax is a glorious action-film spectacle, and it doesn't ever attempt to be anything it's not (although reading a statement of intent into the latter would be being too generous). It also zips through its 116-minute running time, knowing that lingering too long in any one spot wouldn't serve it well — and it's as good as it was going to be given the evident lack of effort to be something more. While you can't make a great movie out of these very minor wins, they're all still noticeable pointers in an okay-enough direction. Getting audiences puzzling along with it, delivering narrative surprises even to viewers wholly unfamiliar with the games, asking Wahlberg to do anything more than his familiar tough-guy schtick, making the most of the bulk of its setpieces, providing the product of more than just-competent direction: alas, none of these turn out. In a film that acts as a prequel to its button-mashing counterparts, Holland plays Drake as a 20-something with brother issues, a vast knowledge of cocktail histories that's handy for his bartending gig, an obsession with 16th-century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and the gold he might've hidden, and very light fingers. Nate's elder sibling dipped out of his life after the pair were caught trying to steal a Magellan map as orphanage-dwelling kids, in fact, which Sully uses to his advantage when he first crosses his path in a New York bar — and, after some convincing, Nate has soon signed up to finish the quest he's been dreaming about since childhood. Naturally, this newly formed duo aren't the only ones on the Magellan treasure's trail. The wealthy Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard) is descended from the explorer's original financiers and boasts a hefty sense of entitlement, while knife-wielding mercenary Jo Braddock (Tati Gabrielle, You) and enterprising fortune-hunter Chloe Frazer (Sophia Ali, India Sweets and Spices) are each chasing a windfall. Read our full review. ALINE In a 1997 ballad that'll forever linked with the on-screen sinking of the world's most famous ship, Celine Dion told us that her heart would go on. Whether the Canadian singer's ticker will physically defy mortality is yet to be seen, but Aline, the fictionalised biography based on her rollercoaster ride of a life, certainly takes the idea to heart by overextending its running time. It's easy to see why the 'Because You Loved Me', 'The Power of Love' and 'Think Twice' crooner demands a lengthy feature. Also, compared to the big-budget superhero blockbuster standard, Aline's 128 minutes is positively concise. At every moment, however, this Valérie Lemercier (50 Is the New 30)-directed, -co-written and -starring film feels like it's going on and on and on. Near, far, wherever you are, it limps along despite packing plenty of ups and downs into its frames. A key reason: it primarily plays like the result of Lemercier simply opening up that door to Dion's Wikipedia page. Dion's story has everything from childhood fame and enormous career achievements to relationship scandals and personal tragedies, and Lemercier and her co-scribe Brigitte Buc (who also co-penned the filmmaker's 2005 featured Palais royal!) don't overlook any of it. But Dion's immense success doesn't necessarily make her overly fascinating, and nor do the many twists and turns her path has taken since she was born into a large Quebec family — arriving as the youngest of 14 children — and then found fame as a teen. Or, in her defence, they don't make her particularly interesting in a movie that's content to tick through everything that life has thrown her way like it's marking off a checklist rather than fleshing her out as a person. Viewers glean all of the necessary biographical details from Aline, but little sense of its subject, especially buried under Lemercier's unconvincing blend of soapy comedy and loving affection. The name Celine is mentioned in the film, as one of the script's gags — and Aline Dieu (Lemercier) is quick to correct the record. But before anyone is calling her anything much, she's a gifted singer crooning at her family's bar and proving in big demand locally, which sparks one of her brothers to record a demo. The tape's recipient, manager Guy-Claude Kamar (Sylvain Marcel, Les Honorables), can't quite believe that the slender girl in front of him comes with such a voice, and soon helps guide her career from strength to strength. Pitstops along the way include a pause so Aline can enjoy being a teenager, her mother Sylvette's (Danielle Fichaud, District 31) dismay when she falls for the much-older Guy-Claude, vocal troubles that require a three-month break from even speaking and the struggle to get pregnant. Among the highlights: winning a singing contest in Dublin, a big Hollywood awards ceremony, a lengthy US residency and all that chart-topping. Eurovision isn't mentioned by name in Aline, and nor is Titanic or the Oscars, mirroring the change to Dion's moniker (and those of her loved ones and key figures in her life). But the film does weave in the star's own songs, which makes its altered details elsewhere feel uncanny, and like the movie is caught between a parody and a love letter. The montage-esque handling of big and small moments alike doesn't help, cramming in minutiae from Dion's real-life tale but never giving anything room to resonate. Neither does the perfunctory direction and by-the-numbers dialogue, which can't elevate the film beyond Behind the Music-style recreations. Lemercier's choices, including playing Aline at all ages — from childhood through to now — could've resulted in goofy inspiration. Perhaps that's what, every night in her dreams, she saw and felt. But while happily absurd, the movie that results is an over-packed jumble and drag, like getting 'My Heart Will Go On' stuck in your head for head for a quarter-century. A STITCH IN TIME When A Stitch in Time begins, it's with weary veteran musician Duncan (real-life veteran musician Glen Shorrock) playing his weekly gig at a Sydney RSL. But the crowd is sparse, inspiring the venue's newly installed manager to proclaim that it's time for a change to draw in a bigger and younger audience. The silver-haired Liebe (Maggie Blinco, The Nightingale), Duncan's long-standing partner, is singled out as the type of patron that the bar wants to move past — an observation that's rightfully and instantly met with anger. But when they're alone, Duncan's demeanour towards the woman that's been by his side for decades through jousts at fame and a lifetime of dealing with unrealised dreams is hardly affectionate. He wants acclaim and praise, and still to make the record he's always fantasised about, all while Liebe simply keeps quiet and cooks bacon for breakfast. A Stitch in Time tells Liebe's story as she finally finds the courage to step away from the toxic relationship that's defined her life, all thanks to a trip to a local market and the resulting encouragement from up-and-coming Chinese Australian designer Hamish (Hoa Xuande, Cowboy Bebop). A skilled dressmaker, she once had her own dreams of success, but let them slip aside to support Duncan. Now, his utter contempt for her renewed interest in rekindling her fashion prowess is the push she needs to seek a change after all these years. In first-time feature writer/director/producer/editor Sasha Hadden's hands, Liebe's path from there charts both an expected and a bleakly complex path — stitching together setbacks, roadblocks and miseries as part of a pattern for a brighter future and a predictably feel-good ending. One part schmaltz, one part domestic grit: that's the combination at the heart of the nonetheless sunnily hot A Stitch in Time, with the film teetering between the two accordingly. It's an awkward mix, despite the movie's efforts to lay bare the reality facing Liebe in trying to start again after living the bulk of her life — attitudes faced, financial difficulties and internal struggles among them — and its mission to spin a heartwarming story about a character and demographic often relegated to the big-screen sidelines. Again and again, the feature's script layers heartstring-pulling complications on top of each other, such as Liebe's childhood escape from Nazi Germany and her health woes after moving into a sharehouse with Chinese university students. It similarly adores saccharine moments, and uses the gimmick of going viral not once but twice. Thankfully, A Stitch in Time pays far more respect to its ageing protagonist than its recent equivalents (see: Queen Bees, Never Too Late, Poms, Dirty Grandpa and The War with Grandpa). That said, it still doesn't trust that viewers would feel for Liebe and her plight without either the laundry list of traumas thrust her way or the cheesy twists of fate that arrive to save her. The roster of talent that Hadden has amassed both on- and off-screen do their best to lift the material, however. That includes via spirited performances from not just Blinco but also Belinda Giblin (Home and Away) as Liebe's long-estranged pal Christine, plus the warm rapport between Blinco and Xuande — and also crisp lensing from legendary Australian cinematographer Don McAlpine (an Oscar nominee for Moulin Rouge!). THE LAST MOUNTAIN In films about humanity's undying yearning to conquer the planet's towering heights, what goes up doesn't always come down — to tragic results. But the quickly growing genre of documentaries that's sprung up around scaling mountains, or trying to, does traverse both the highs and the lows. It spans tales of life-altering success against the odds, chronicling all the hard work and near-fatal slips along the way, as seen in Oscar-winner Free Solo and the similarly uplifting The Dawn Wall. It also includes clear-eyed accounts of disaster, with the phenomenal Sherpa easily at the peak. And, it covers accounts of mountaineers who strived to climb lofty peaks and their own dreams, but ultimately saw their lives cut short doing what they love, such as The Alpinist. The Last Mountain falls into the latter camp and twice over, stepping into the stories of British mother-and-son duo Alison Hargreaves and Tom Ballard. In 1995, 33-year-old Hargreaves aimed to scale the three highest mountains on the globe: Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga, all without the help of bottled oxygen or Sherpas to transport her gear. She achieved the first in May, becoming the first woman to do so. Next, she attempted the second in August, but died on the descent. In the aftermath, to help process their grief, Hargreaves' husband Jim Ballard, seven-year-old son Tom and four-year-old daughter Kate made a pilgrimage to K2, a trip that unsurprisingly left an enormous imprint upon her children. Tom was in his mother's womb when she climbed the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland, so he was perhaps fated to love the pastime with the same passion. He became an acclaimed alpinist himself, until a February 2019 trip to Pakistan's Nanga Parbat, at the age of 30, to attempt the never-before-completed Mummery Spur. Twenty-four years elapsed between Hargreaves and Ballard's final climbs, at mountains that sit less than 200 kilometres apart — and the symmetry in their lives, loves, passion for alpinism, untimely demises and final resting places is nothing short of haunting. That's how it feels to watch The Last Mountain, all the more so because the documentary devotes much of its running time to unpacking how haunted his sister Kate, also an avid rock-climber, feels after the deaths of both her mother and brother to doing what they adored. With filmmaker Christopher Terrill (Britain's Biggest Warship) along for the trip, she once again heads to Pakistan and Kashmir, this time to get as close as is safely possible to where Tom met his end. Symmetry abounds here as well, including in a tearful reunion with Big Ibrahim, the local guide who carried her on his back for the trek the first time around. The Last Mountain doesn't simply rely upon its heartbreaking echoes, or the Hargreaves–Ballard family's personal plight, as bolstered with archival material and interviews both of Alison and Tom. (Given the passage of years and the change in technology since, there's more and better footage of Tom in action, and it's a spectacular sight to behold.) A lesser film would've been happy with all of the above and still proven gripping; however, Terrill also unpacks the intricacies around celebrating extreme alpine and rock-climbing feats, then looking for someone to blame when treks finish badly — even without examining how the media backlash that swelled around Alison for dying and leaving her kids behind more than a quarter-century ago. Indeed, the back and forth that steps through the events leading to Tom's death, after uncharacteristically taking on a climbing partner in Italian Mummery Spur fanatic Daniele Nardi, is as complicated as the emotions that visibly course through Kate every time that she's in front of the camera. The Last Mountain is a clear tribute, and another ode to humanity's pull to the mountains, but it's also willing to be as thematically complicated as the terrain that looms so large within its frames. 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 October 7, October 14, October 21 and October 28; November 4, November 11, November 18 and November 25; December 2, December 9, December 16 and December 26; January 1, January 6, January 13, January 20 and January 27; and February 3 and February 10. You can also read our full reviews of a heap of recent movies, such as The Alpinist, A Fire Inside, Lamb, The Last Duel, Malignant, The Harder They Fall, Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, Halloween Kills, Passing, Eternals, The Many Saints of Newark, Julia, No Time to Die, The Power of the Dog, Tick, Tick... Boom!, Zola, Last Night in Soho, Blue Bayou, The Rescue, Titane, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, Dune, Encanto, The Card Counter, The Lost Leonardo, The French Dispatch, Don't Look Up, Dear Evan Hansen, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Lost Daughter, The Scary of Sixty-First, West Side Story, Licorice Pizza, The Matrix Resurrections, The Tragedy of Macbeth, The Worst Person in the World, 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 and Death on the Nile.
Remember when the Sydney CBD was the last place you'd want to hang out after work? Perhaps not, if you're the young or short-term-memoried among us. Much has changed in the last few years, and now the CBD is bursting with places that offer good tipples and damn fine atmosphere. It's almost hard to narrow it down to just the ten best, though we managed it in the end. Whether you're looking to settle in for the night on a first date, talk shop at a post-work debrief, indulge a solo unwind, or finally get around to that long overdue catch-up with friends, you're sure to find one among these to tickle your fancy. 1. Bulletin Place Bulletin Place is a prodigious example of in-the-know barman strutting their stuff. And let's be honest, it's really Philips' cocktail expertise that makes this place stand out. Scribbled across a sheet of butcher's paper that hangs behind the bar will be any given evening's cocktail selection, inspired by whatever produce is freshest at the time. First floor, 10 - 14 Bulletin Place, Circular Quay; www.bulletinplace.com/ 2. Grasshopper Cocktails are the real drawcard at Grasshopper. All the drinks are numbered instead of having names, and they're just about all served in jars. The No.19, which features orange liqueur, cranberry juice, passionfruit and vanilla vodka, tastes like the sort of gelato you would find at Messina or Pompeii's. The No.14 — comprising blackberry juice and Fanta — is also a Butter Menthol-tasting highlight. 389-391 George St, Sydney; www.thegrasshopper.com.au 3. Grandma's There's no place like home. Except Grandma's. Grandma gives you a big hug, sits you down in her best, chintz-covered chair and gives you a treat. The "grandchildren" are a helpful and friendly lot, and shake their cocktails with wide-eyed glee. Start off with one of Grandma's favourite tipples — the Pink Pepper Martini, a mix of strawberries and a wink of gin that's truly delightful. But the drinks list is seemingly endless, with ingredients including Greek yoghurt, chocolate bitters, and elderflower cordial. Basement 275 Clarence Street, Sydney; www.grandmasbarsydney.com.au 4. Stitch Bar Stitch might be hard to find and you might have to wait awhile to get in, but once in you won't regret it. Stitch is a tiny, pumping, crowded spot with comfy booths on one side and small, hotly contested tables on the other, where hot dogs and strong cocktails are the bar fare of choice. 61 York Street, Sydney; www.stitchbar.com 5. Assembly The drinks from mixologist/general manager Ben Taouss make this out-of-the-way cocktail haven one of Sydney's best. Admittedly, Assembly is tucked away in a bit of a strange spot, namely Regent Place, a shopping hub with the feel of a shopping centre. You're really here for the cocktails and after-work good times. One word of advice? Try the Lavender Hill Cappuccino cocktail ($17), a martini with Pop Rocks and an apple foam. 488 Kent Street, Sydney; www.assemblybar.com.au 6. Shirt Bar When you step inside Shirt Bar, tucked away on Sussex Lane, the phrase "all shirts and no suits" springs to mind. Unpretentious and a charmingly refreshing spot for a post-work beverage, Shirt Bar is a trifecta of Australian shirts, coffee, and international whisky. Definitely worth a visit. 7 Sussex Lane, Sydney; www.shirtbar.com.au 7. Uncle Ming's At Uncle Ming's they have really committed to the Eastern aesthetic and it's the lavish decor that makes this bar. Of a weekday evening, both after-work suits and jean-clad partygoers can be seen dotted around the small floor space. Darkly lit nooks filled with mismatched Oriental chairs and rough-hewn tables are often already filled by 7pm. Lower Ground, 55 York Street, Sydney; www.unclemings.com.au 8. York Lane After dark York Lane transforms into a trendsetter's bar all set to whet your whistle after a tough day at the office. The wine list is small but varied and the list of craft beers will entice both hipsters and beer snobs alike. If you need something with edge, there's a short cocktail list including the classic Negroni ($16) and the refreshing Dark and Stormy ($12). York Lane, Sydney; www.yorklane.com/ 9. The Fox Hole Perched on the corner of Kent and Erskine Streets in the CBD, here's what we believe epitomises an unpretentious drinking hole. The front room is cosy with patrons bunked down at hazily candlelit tables sipping their wine as they watch the world go by through large windows. Expect table service delivered by friendly staff, because that’s what’s on offer. And let it be known that these guys are experts in their field, too, so don't shy away from asking for a recommendation. 68A Erskine Street, Sydney; www.foxhole.com.au 10. Mojo Record Bar Tucked away behind Mojo Records on York Street lies this inner-city drinking cave. Descend the stairs past the record store and you'll find yourself transported to '90s New York. Mojo Record Bar has a sumptuous retro feel to it: the walls are lined with vintage records and boast framed concert posters of legends such as Sonic Youth, Tom Waits, and The Black Keys. The drinks menu offers up an extensive selection of Australian craft beers, a few boutique ciders, and a small cocktail list. The cocktails are original and heavy on the gin blends. Basement level, 73 York Street, Sydney; www.mojorecordbar.com By the Concrete Playground team.
Next time you sip a G&T, or whichever other gin cocktail takes your fancy, you could be drinking a new Australian label that puts homegrown ingredients to great use. That'd be Taka Gin, a brand that's just hit the market thanks to Melbourne's Niyoka Bundle — who has branched out into the world of spirits from her Indigenous-fusion catering company Pawa Catering. Like plenty of recent new businesses, the idea behind Taka Gin came about in lockdown, with Indigenous woman Bundle and her husband Vincent Manning inspired to take on a new project — and to continue to highlight First Nations people's native foods in the process. That's why their tipple heroes lemon-scented gum leaf and native lemongrass, two plants that the duo consider underutilised. They're paired with a base of seven other botanicals: juniper, coriander, angelica root, cassia chips, finger lime, orris root and desert lime. Taka Gin's key ingredients have been foraged from around Melbourne, and sourced from Indigenous wild harvesters, including via Natif Super Foods and Warndu. The gin is then distilled by Gypsy Hub at Collingwood's Craft & Co, and sold online via the brand's website, with a 700-millilitre bottle costing $90. In terms of taste, this is a smooth gin. Expect soft citrus flavours, as well as a fragrance that helps bring out the tipple's flavour. The brand takes its name from the Gunditjmara language, which hails from southwest Victoria, with 'taka' meaning taste. And, its eye-catching labels are designed by Bundle's mother and Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong artist Vicki Couzens. Against a white background, the minimalistic images represent the phytochemical molecular components that comprise Taka Gin's flavours. Handily, Taka Gin is doing free shipping Australia-wide, too, if you need another reason to expand your gin shelf. For more information about Taka Gin, or to buy a bottle, head to the brand's website. Images: Marcie Raw Studio.
Dessert king Reynold Poernomo is expanding his sugary empire, with the former MasterChef contestant and co-owner of Chippendale's KOI Dessert Bar opening a second location on the other side of town. KOI Ryde will sling the same decadent creations Poernomo's fans have come to expect, while also offering cooking classes with some of Sydney's best dessert chefs. The Ryde dessert bar will be run by Reynold along with his mother Ike and his brothers Ronald and Arnold, but it won't be a carbon copy of the Chippendale venue. Although it will function as a cafe where you can eat your cake straight out of the cabinet, the team hopes to also introduce a brand new menu offering (brunch is on the cards) and even monthly chef's table dinners. The space will also function as the production facility for all the cakes and pastries sold at both KOI locations and a masterclass kitchen, which will host classes by Sydney's best bakers, along with Poernomo himself. As for what you'll be scoffing on, expect KOI staples including the bright green mango yuzu made with mango mousse, yuzu curd and almond sable, and the coconut kalamansi featuring coconut mousse, white cheese, kalamansi (like a Filipino lime) curd and chocolate sable.
Milo Rau's adaptation of Sophocles' Antigone reimagines this classical tragedy in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Here, the future of humanity and the planet is weighed in the balance. Rau is known for daring productions that bulldoze boundaries and howl for justice, such his 2021 staging of Orestes in Mosul, the former capital of the Islamic State, which explored the story of a woman defying the status quo to speak truth to power. Bringing together Indigenous groups, Brazil's Landless Workers Movement and European actors, Antigone in the Amazon is an arrestingly powerful production that highlights the urgent global climate crisis. Rau is one of theatre's most influential and provocative visionaries, whose work continues to challenge norms with this dark, relevant and unflinching storytelling.
Whether they riff on fairy bread or turn lamingtons into something cold and creamy, plenty of Gelato Messina's popular desserts transform other foods into a frosty sweet treat. Who doesn't love a culinary mashup? Not this chain and its devotees, clearly. And, since 2021, the brand has been taking that process a step further by whipping up a chocolates based on its already-inventive gelato flavours. With 2022 now here, Messina is kicking off the new year the way it always goes on — with a fresh batch of one-off specials, starting with a return to its gelato-inspired choccies. This time, there's four varieties available, all in one box. So yes, you'll get to try them all without having to choose which one you'd prefer. Love Messina's take on Iced Vovos, Coco Pops, lamingtons and fairy bread? They're all accounted for here. And they all look the part, because of course they do. They all look delicious, too. The Vovovroom bar comes filled with layers of raspberry cream, raspberry jam, desiccated coconut and sablé biscuit, then coated in raspberry chocolate. With the Just Like a Chocolate Milkshake bar, you're getting chocolate malt cream, milk chocolate-panned rice bubbles and chocolate sablé biscuit, all coated in milk chocolate. Obviously, the fairy bread bar is coated with 100s and 1000s — and includes layers of toasted breadcrumb cream and sablé biscuit coated in white chocolate as well. Or, for the lamington, you'll get chocolate cream, raspberry jam, chocolate-dusted desiccated coconut and chocolate sablé biscuit, as wrapped in dark chocolate. Boxes cost $40 each and you'll need to place your order on Monday, January 17, with times varying depending on your state. You can then pick up the choccies between Saturday, January 22–Sunday, January 23. Gelato Messina's chocolate box will be available to order from on Monday, January 17, from 9am local time in Queensland and the ACT, 9.30am in Victoria and between 10am–11am in New South Wales.
Think about the satisfaction of an epic growing out of the tiniest, most humble of origins. Whether it's the highbrow whiff of Proust's madeleine or the spunk'n'egg cocktail of human history, the romantic notion of 'from little things great things grow' is an appealing motif. In the case of Life and Times, the current mega work by New York-based theatre company Nature Theater of Oklahoma, the starting point was a phone conversation between co-artistic director Pavol Liska and company member Kristin Worrall. Worrall's brief was simple — tell her life story — and yet in the years since that first request in 2007, the verbatim results of her conversations with Liska have expanded into 15 hours worth of theatrical performance out of an anticipated 24. The art of conversation The casual language of phone conversations has formed the basis of two previous NTOK productions, No Dice (2008) and Romeo and Juliet (2009), and Liska and his partner, co-artistic director Kelly Copper, regularly chat with an impressive cohort of international artists in their podcast, OK Radio. The art of conversation it seems is, for now at least, a recurring principle of the company's process. "My education comes from my encounters with all different types of people," says Liska. "As a child you grow up and you meet this person and this person and this person, and I don't want to shut that process down. I know that I can't talk to everybody, so the people I do choose to talk to, I try to talk with them as deeply as possible. I use conversation as a springboard to unbalance myself, to derail myself. Ultimately, I could just lock myself in the closet and talk to myself, but there would be no resistance. So I use the other person to question my own ideas, to unbalance me and derail my own train of thought, and I do that to them as well." It is this deep process of conversation that provides the wealth of material for NTOK's Life and Times, of which Episodes 1–4 (out of an eventual ten) will be performed at this year's Melbourne Festival. Worrall's life story is not a chronologically linear autobiography, but rather a stream of recollection that fabricates a self-aware state of cause-and-effect as she links events through talking with Liska. The result is, for Liska, a kind of language that "does not belong in the theatre", and one that requires transformation before it is fit for an audience. Bringing theatre to the everyday "The more loose the text is, if it's a meandering conversation about something, the harder we have to work in the opposite direction [to formalise it], otherwise it's invisible," says Liska. A clear example of NTOK's approach to adapting conversational brain-dumping for the stage can be found in the earlier work Romeo and Juliet, which emerged from Liska and Copper calling friends and recording their attempts to recount the plot of Shakespeare's famous tragedy. "In order to make [these recordings] pop and to open them up, we felt like we needed to use a really formal mode of presentation, that over-the-top, cliched Shakespearean performance style," recounts Liska. As a contrast, after the show's curtain call the company then performed Shakespeare's original version of the balcony scene — in the dark, and understated, as the language was already so theatrical. “It just wouldn't be enough to present a phone conversation,” says Liska, “maybe some people who work with documentary theatre are okay with that, but ultimately I sit in rehearsal and I go to every performance and I have to find that it's opening something up for myself. It's not a purely humanistic effort — we're not just presenting the conversation and saying, hey, look at how wonderful people are — it's an aesthetic manifesto and an exploration.” Audiences and the clap Liska is genuine when he talks about the company exploring language through experimentation with aesthetics, and Life and Times already features a manic diversity in its presentation styles from episode to episode, including a couple that depart from traditional audience-actor theatre experiences altogether. "Obviously the audience doesn't talk back," says Liska, "but I want the exchange in the room to be a conversation, and my goal is never to allow the audience to forget that they are playing a role in the event. That's why it's so long — so that all these preconceived notions fall away. Something else happens." While Melbourne audiences will be able to see individual episodes separately, the ideal experience is to front up for the ten-hour marathon and in some way merge meaningfully with Liska, Copper and the gang. “If I have a conversation with you, I don't want you to clap for me at the end,” says Liska. Although there will be a curtain call at the end of the Melbourne marathon session, it's more because the actors end the fourth episode onstage and to not have applause would just feel weird. However, in between each episode, the cast can be found serving food in the foyer. “People can actually talk to them,” says Liska, “rather than do this — CLAP.” The Great Nature Theater of Oklahoma is calling you! There is poetic resonance in this idea of Liska's, given that the Nature Theater of Oklahoma first appeared in Franz Kafka's unfinished novel Amerika as a theatre company that had a place for absolutely anyone who came along. It also rings true with Liska's experience of Eastern European theatre-makers taking action for their community — not simply making art to be consumed. For Liska the important thing is to "stay open and playful and flexible. I wouldn't say that I'd never do a Chekhov play again, or a Greek tragedy — there just has to be a really strong reason to do something, I think that's what the audience finds inspiring.” For now such inspiration may dwell in a humble, late-night phone conversation, but it's anyone's guess under which pebble NTOK's next epic may be found. Life and Times is on at the Arts Centre Melbourne from October 22-26. Tickets are available from the Melbourne Festival website.
What better way is there to end your week than a cleansing boogie on the dance floor. Reset yourself for the coming week with a Sunday session presented by Sydney party people Picnic. After a successful stint at Opera Bar, Picnic Social has moved to a new home at the Kings Cross Hotel rooftop. Gather the gang, farewell your weekend and psych yourself up for the week ahead with a few drinks, an openair rooftop, something to eat and a soundtrack of live tunes. That's all on offer as part of this weekly event's lineup, which takes over the venue each Sunday from 3pm–midnight. The bill changes weekly, but you can look forward to a heap of local talent. The first iteration of Picnic Social saw the likes of Setwun & Soulstranauts, Marco Vella and Lazywax grace the stage, plus DJ sets from Simon Caldwell, Kali and Lauren Hansom. The inaugural lineup for Picnic Social 2.0 in Kings Cross will feature a live set from Kiri, plus local DJs Bocconcini, Simon Caldwell and Clutch 4 Love. Images: Carlos Walters Updated Friday, December 10
Hot on the heels of last year’s Emerald City from Griffin, the Sydney Theatre Company have exhumed another child of the '80s with a production of Andrew Bovell’s awkward comedy After Dinner, directed by Imara Savage. The setting is a dreary pub bistro (is there any other kind?) in which a lacklustre mural of ferns and a trough of dishevelled foliage compete to look the least like living objects. At two separate tables, the patrons — Gordon (Glenn Hazeldine), a bespectacled, timid-looking fellow on his own, and a waspish woman, Dympie (Rebecca Massey), and her fidgeting, energetic companion, Paula (Anita Hegh) — complete the ghastly aesthetic of pink tablecloth, fake flowers and leather-bound menus in their own ways; the former folds a small flock of paper cranes from the napkin supply, and the latter contemptuously pitches the plastic flora in with the flagging plants behind them. But it is only when the girls are joined by Monica (Helen Thomson), and Gordon by Stephen (Josh McConville), that the play truly gets under way. It is revealed that this is Monica’s first night out since the death of her husband and that Gordon has been coaxed into the open with promises of deep discussion about his recent divorce. Neither are in for much sympathy; it’s difficult to tell whether Dympie is ordering dinner or trying to run a small dictatorship, and the only talking Brendan wants to do is with someone he can have sex with anywhere between shortly and immediately afterwards. But as friends trade ugly truths and despair sets in, the two groups find themselves drawn together by more than terse pleasantries and the odd, disastrous pick-up line. It never really seems like love is on the table, but comfort, whether physical or emotional, is definitely up for grabs. After Dinner has aged pretty well. With its soundtrack of '80s hits and deafening costumes, there is a strong sense that the nostalgia card is being played to its full value, but Bovell’s text is still a wonderful farce and is faithfully (read: uproariously) portrayed by a cast of great comic actors. There’s a bit of a sag in the middle and some of its bawdiness wears pretty thin, but the night I saw it, the audience laughed right through to an ending which set them cheering. There’s comedic embellishment aplenty here, but there is also an inelegant honesty to the characters which keeps the play grounded. Don’t get me wrong, pineapple fritters are still the bomb. But After Dinner is the best thing I’ve found at a pub bistro in years.
Every now and then the opportunity comes your way that you just simply can't say no to. You find yourself coming up with all the excuses in the world into why you shouldn't take it, only to get slapped across the face and kicked in the shins by your mates asking how stupid you actually are. All the facts and figures point towards the only option. Pick up your nuts and go for it. The opportunity? I've been nominated as one of five international bloggers undertaking one of the latest regional tourism engagement campaigns, this time from Destination NSW. The campaign is called The Unmapped Roadtrip. The locals are asked to recommend where we should be going in NSW, who we should see and what we should do throughout the entire month of March. Someone has recommended already that we dive with sharks. Sceptic Kiwi right there. Anyway, I'll be on a bus, with 4 other strangers who will no doubt become good friends, travelling around the great state. This is all I know at this point. I leave on Thursday 1 March at 6am for Sydney and I believe we're heading along to the infamous Mardi Gras for our first weekend, with none other than Kylie Minogue headling. Stop it! I should be so lucky alright. https://youtube.com/watch?v=haoCgGzS0wY To be clear, I'm not really a sceptic Kiwi, but in light of the recent Air New Zealand campaign, I thought I would take this approach in order to lay down the challenge to all New South Welsh Men and Women, and say "come on, show us what you got". I arrive back on Sunday 1 April, where I will ultimately arrive at my conclusion of the Ten Best Things to do in New South Wales. In the meantime, you can follow me on our Twitter page (@PLAYGROUNDNZ) and for those that are that way inclined, I'll also be regularly posting via the Concrete Playground Instagram account. I promise to be entertaining and represent New Zealand responsibly. Is that possible? I guess you will have to find out.
French, Spanish, German, American, Japanese: Australia has no shortage of film festivals categorised by country. But what about the stories of those with no nation at all? Lighting up screens for the second year as part of Refugee Week, the films in the Refugee Film Festival will explore the trials and tribulations of people fleeing persecution and war. The festival will be held at Dendy Opera Quays from June 21 to 24.Standout titles include Hope Road, which chronicles the efforts of a Sydney-based Sudanese refugee to raise funds to build a school in his village; Stop the Boats, about the slogan used to condemn those seeking asylum in Australia; and Human Flow, Ai Weiwei's immensely moving portrait of the global refugee crisis. Cinephiles outside of Sydney and Melbourne can also put their hand up to host a screening themselves. For more information on how to make that happen, as well as the full festival program, go here.
On the lookout for a dope new denim jacket? Or do you want to be rid of that weird-looking lamp taking up space in the living room? Then, by golly, you're in luck. The Garage Sale Trail works with local council partners Australia-wide to get as many trash-and-treasure troves happening on the same day as possible. In past years, more than 400,000 Aussies have taken part, and held more than 18,000 sales. While life is a little different in 2021, a huge array of events are still expected to open their doors to bargain hunters, selling more millions items. And, when the event returns across three weekends between Saturday, November 6–Sunday, November 21, online garage sales will also be part of the trail. According, whether you're buying or selling, you have two options: do so in person, or take the virtual route. It's only the second time ever that the Garage Sale Trail is going digital, too. And, digital tutorials are also on the bill, so you can learn everything from DIY wardrobe tips to hosting the best sale. Aside from the retro goodies up for grabs, the Trail is all about sustainability. Instead of ending up in landfill, unwanted clutter becomes a fantastic find. So get that tight pair of sunnies for peanuts and help the environment at the same time. The Garage Sale Trail began humbly in Bondi in 2010 and is growing bigger every year. There'll be a right slew of sales happening all around Sydney, so keep your eyes on the event website — or register online to make a quick buck from your old junk and hang out with the friendly folks in your hood. [caption id="attachment_783811" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Jo Lowrey[/caption] Images: Garage Sale Trail.
Since COVID-19 hit and forced the closure of live music venues and cancellation of festivals, Australians working in the music industry have lost $340 million worth of gigs, according to I Lost My Gig. To help re-employ some of these musicians, managers, venue operators and production workers, the NSW Government is hosting 1000 gigs across the state in November in an initiative dubbed Great Southern Nights. Shockingly, despite the name, the lineup does not (yet) feature Icehouse, but it does already include 20 Aussie music legends. Former Cold Chisel frontman Jimmy Barnes, alt-rock band Birds of Tokyo, singer Thelma Plum, electro duo The Presets, Tones and I of 'Dance Monkey' fame and rock hero Paul Kelly will all take to the stage at venues across the state as part of the program, as will Missy Higgins, The Jungle Giants, Amy Shark, Tash Sultana, The Teskey Brothers and The Veronicas. [caption id="attachment_738932" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Destination NSW[/caption] The program has been overseen by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and will culminate with its annual music awards night. While NSW's music scene — and its workers — need more than 1000 gigs to see through the year, Great Southern Nights' organisers are hoping the initiative will help kick start the industry. "Live music events bring visitors, culture and excitement to communities," ARIA Chief Executive Officer Dan Rosen said in a statement. "This initiative will provide an invaluable boost for the artists, crew, venues and music community that make gigs happen." The events will be hosted at venues across Sydney and in regional NSW areas, with bars, pubs and theatres keen to take part invited to submit an expression of interest via the Great Southern Nights website. All gigs will have to abide by the state's COVID-19 restrictions at the time, of course, but, looking at current trends, that could mean some of the shows are quite big. From July 1, the 50-person cap on venues will lifted and replaced by a one person per four-square-metres rule and outdoor stadiums with a capacity of up to 40,000 will be allowed to fill up to a quarter of seating — so, 10,000 fans. Great Southern Nights will see 1000 gigs happen across NSW this November. For more information and to submit an expression of interest visit the website. Top image: Bec Taylor
