A certain global pandemic might have limited Melbourne's creativity fix last year, but come May, the city more than make up for that artistic dry spell. Launching with the total lunar eclipse on Wednesday, May 26, the city is set to welcome Rising, a brand new festival of arts and culture and an ambitious celebration of place. Running for 12 nights and descending on venues and public spaces all across the city, it's set to deliver a huge 133 different projects and events involving more than 750 Victorian artists. Expect a large-scale celebration of music, art and performance, in what organisers are pushing to become the major cultural event for the entire Asia-Pacific region. After being forced to postpone its planned 2020 debut, Rising is now more than two years in the making. Its expansive program has been very much steered by the artists involved, with an impressive 36 specially commissioned works set to make their world premiere during the event. "We went to the artists of Victoria and asked them for bold and ambitious ideas of what a festival can now be," Co-Artistic Director Hannah Fox explained to Concrete Playground. "So that's really informed how we've programmed it. It's as much the vision of the artists of Victoria and Melbourne as it is ours. And they really were well ahead of us in understanding how to make work for a post-COVID world." Taking place across five distinct districts within the city, Rising will serve up a broad-ranging mix of music, large-scale public art, grand installations and site-specific performances, intertwined with a healthy sprinkling of food and wine. As Fox says, it's "very much about creating an experience in Melbourne that's completely unique to this place." [caption id="attachment_805136" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Patricia Piccinini by Pete Tarasiuk[/caption] And there truly is something in this lineup for everyone to sink their teeth into. Excitingly, renowned Aussie artist Patricia Piccinini returns with her first major Melbourne project in almost two decades, with A Miracle Constantly Repeated unveiling a multi-sensory art experience housed within the rarely spied spaces on the top floor of Flinders Street Station. The festival's Chinatown precinct will play host to everything from a naked disco called Club Purple to technology-driven laneway art takeovers and soaring visual projections. At its heart, the Golden Square car park building will be transformed into a multi-faceted pop-up gallery, showcasing new works from the likes of Reko Rennie, Parallel Park, Lucy Bleach and more. Over at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, it'll become a supernatural forest for The Wilds, complete with light shows, supersized sculptures, mirrored illusions and a pop-up ice-skating rink. The Capitol Theatre will play host to a performance lecture by Emmy-winning filmmaker Lynette Wallworth — and, at the Comedy Theatre, you'll catch a series of collaborations and special performances to tempt music fans of all persuasions, featuring New Zealand's Marlon Williams, Julia Jacklin, The Saints founder Ed Kuepper and loads more. Also embedded firmly throughout the Rising program is a focus on the city's connection to First Peoples' culture. "One thing that we wanted to be really clear on and committed to was about our place, and really thinking about Melbourne's history in terms of deepening the understanding of First Nations stories and living culture," Fox says. Accordingly, there'll be no shortage of opportunities to dig in deep, including works like storytelling sound pavilion Blak Box and The Lantern Company's community-made Wandering Stars — a 200-metre-long glowing eel undulating its way along the Yarra, to be enjoyed by audiences on the riverbank as they share First Peoples' knowledge of the space. Or, there's Tjanabi, one of the diverse food and wine experiences happening within the Melbourne Town Hall's Mess Hall pop-up precinct. Led by N'arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs AM, the event will see diners connecting with First Peoples' food culture as they feast their way through a multi-course dinner built around long-held techniques and much-honoured ingredients. "It's about the community coming back together again in a really major way, taking advantage of the freedom that we have and bringing the city back to life after being the hardest hit city in Australia," explains Fox. "It's a very significant kind of moment... and we feel very fortunate to be launching this now. I think audiences are absolutely ready." Rising runs from Wednesday, May 26–Sunday, June 6 at various locations around Melbourne. Head to the festival's website to check out the full program and grab tickets. Images: Wandering Stars; Blak Box, 2019, photographed by Teresa Tan.
It's distilled in a rainforest, and it features native botanicals foraged from said rainforest. Yes, that's enough to make Brookie's Dry Gin stand out. A hit since first appearing on the scene back in 2016, Brookie's is made from 25 botanicals — 17 of which stem from its Northern Rivers surroundings, such as Byron sunrise finger limes, native river mint and native raspberry. This is the gin to drink when you want to feel like you've made the journey to Byron Bay, where Cape Byron Distillery is unsurprisingly located, but can't actually head out of town at the moment. A labour of love for co-founder Eddie Brook, the distillery is actually part of his family property in Byron Bay's hinterland, where he grew up. Cape Byron Distillery hosts public tours every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It includes a gin tasting of Brookie's two gins, a G&T on arrival and a tour of the surrounding rainforest.
It seems we can definitely forget about the promised 2019 completion date for Sydney's new southeast light rail system, with the consortium behind the project advising the New South Wales Government that it'll take an extra year. March 2020 is now the projected completion date for the project, which will run from Circular Quay to Randwick and Kingsford. As reported by the ABC, the news comes just a week after the NSW Government first found itself embroiled in a legal battle with the Spanish subcontractor heading up the build, slowing down progress considerably. At the time, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian declined to share details about the delays, though said the state would "not be held to ransom" by builder Acciona, which is taking Transport for NSW to court for the tidy sum of $1.2 billion. The company is demanding the extra money because it claims it was misled about the complexity of utility work involved in the project. The two have lodged documents with the NSW Supreme Court, highlighting a particular issue with underground electricity infrastructure, which they contend pose a "critical part and key delivery risk." Acciona is proceeding with a go-slow on work at present, though Transport Minister Andrew Constance told parliament "we are not going to tolerate a go-slow so that we write a cheque to hit the accelerator". Testing on a stretch of the new 12.7-kilometre route began in February. Via the ABC. By Libby Curran and Sarah Ward.
Nearly two decades have passed since a pair of Melbourne talents made a low-budget horror flick that became a franchise-starting smash, sparking their Hollywood careers. Thanks to Saw, James Wan and Leigh Whannell experienced every aspiring filmmaker's absolute fantasy — a dream they're still living now, albeit increasingly on separate paths. Wan's latest, Malignant, is firmly grounded in those horror roots, however. Most of the Insidious and The Conjuring director's resume has been, aside from recent action-blockbuster detours to Fast and Furious 7, Aquaman and the latter's upcoming sequel. With Malignant, though, he shows how strongly he remains on the same page as his former collaborator. Anyone who's seen Whannell's excellent Upgrade and The Invisible Man will spot the parallels, in fact, even if Malignant is the far schlockier of the three. Malignant is also an exercise in patience, because plenty about its first half takes its time — and, when that's the case, the audience feels every drawn-out second. But after Wan shifts from slow setup mode to embracing quite the outrageous and entertainingly handled twist, his film swiftly becomes a devilish delight. Heavily indebted to the 70s-era works of giallo master Dario Argento, David Cronenberg's body-horror greats and 80s scary movies in general, Malignant uses its influences as fuel for big-swinging, batshit-level outlandishness. Most flicks can't segue from a slog to a B-movie gem. Most films can't be saved by going so berserk, either. Wan's tenth stint behind the lens can and does, and leaves a limb-thrashing, blood-splattering, gleefully chaotic imprint. Perhaps it's a case of like name, like approach; tumours can grow gradually, then make their havoc felt. Regardless, it doesn't take long within Malignant for Dr Florence Weaver (Jacqueline McKenzie, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears) to proclaim that "it's time to cut out the cancer" while treating a locked-up patient in the film's 1992-set prologue. This is a horror movie, so that whole event doesn't turn out well, naturally. Jump forward a few decades, and the feature's focus is now Seattle resident Madison Mitchell (Annabelle Wallis, Boss Level), who is hoping to carry her latest pregnancy with her abusive husband to term. But then his violent temper erupts again, she receives a head injury, and childhood memories start mixing with visions of gruesome killings linked to Dr Weaver's eerie hospital — visions that Madison sees as the murders occur. Bearing telepathic witness to horrific deaths is an intriguing concept, although hardly a new one — and, that aforementioned first scene aside, it's also the most interesting part of Malignant's opening half. Wan and screenwriter Akela Cooper (Grimm, The 100) play it all straight and obvious, including when the cops (Containment's George Young and Songbird's Michole Briana White) are skeptical about Madison's claims. That leaves only her younger sister Sydney (Maddie Hasson, Mr Mercedes) believing what's going on, and leaves the movie a plodding psychological-meets-supernatural thriller predicated upon routinely predictable but improbable character decisions. It makes the second half feel positively electrifying in contrast, when the big shift in tone comes, but also makes viewers wonder what might've been if that lurid look and kinetic feel had been present the whole way through. When the change arrives — with exactly why and how clearly one of those horror-movie details best discovered by watching — Malignant proves deliriously riveting. It sports a creepy yet slinky vibe, as well as a surging and hypnotic sense of physicality, all attuned to an inventive revelation that's all its own. The script's huge surprise isn't actually hard to pick, but Wan's execution is masterful and mesmerising. Here, the film becomes gloriously slick and pulpy, instead of relying upon the usual gradual zoom-in shots or sticking with an almost-house style (cinematographer Michael Burgess also lensed the Wan-produced Annabelle Comes Home, The Curse of the Weeping Woman and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It). It also evolves from a formulaically jangling score and soundscape to one with nervy purpose, embraces the kind of ridiculousness that'd be downright silly if it wasn't so well done, and adds a fresh sense of spirit to the possession-fuelled side of the genre. Wan has rarely made dull movies, after all, which is another reason that Malignant's long-gestating first section feels like a drag. Indeed, when the sagas his movies have sparked have been at their most generic, he hasn't been at the helm. That said, the fact that Malignant truly needs to grow on its audience, that it's firmly a picture of two halves, and that it starts with the unrestrained, lets it fall away, then sneaks up on the unsuspecting — that really couldn't be more apt once the film spills its narrative secrets. While Malignant isn't a character study by any means, Wallis breathes as much depth as she can into Madison in the movie's flatter half — and, in her third appearance in a Wan-related flick after The Conjuring spinoffs Annabelle and Annabelle: Creation, commits to the lunacy when it hits. Her co-stars have a much more standard time, including acclaimed stuntperson and Quentin Tarantino regular Zoe Bell (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) in a brief appearance, but this isn't a performance-driven film, either. It also isn't all that scary. Although Malignant can be sublimely off-kilter, that isn't the same eliciting genuine bumps and jumps. Still, when a horror flick shocks, delights and takes viewers on the type of wild and audacious ride that Malignant eventually serves up, it stands out. And yes, like much of Wan's work, it'll undoubtedly spawn a franchise.
This winter, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art is bringing together five artists to explore both our fascination and relationship with technology, but also the concerns of a world depended on this uncontrollable — and all-seeing — force. In The Invisible Hand, artists Simon Denny, Exonemo, Sunwoo Hoon, Mijoon Pak and Baden Pailthorpe will pose questions and alternative concepts to our current digital landscape. With artists from Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Japan, they will explore what this interconnectedness, reliability and data collection could mean for the East Asia region. The curators and gallery have put together a series of public programs that aim to challenge and expand on these ideas, including one of the gallery's congee breakfast gallery walkthroughs, which will take place on Saturday, July 20.
Bestselling literary heroine Lisbeth Salander may play with fire, but unfortunately the film sequel will leave uninitiated audiences entirely in the dark. Truth be told, few will attempt this Swedish thriller who aren't already familiar with Stieg Larsson's books or the hugely successful first film adaptation The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. But be it the convoluted storyline, the clunky direction or the division of Salander (Noomi Rapace) and Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), The Girl Who Plays With Fire is disappointingly lacklustre. Looking much more like a stodgy TV crime procedural than a piece of cinema, the story picks up after rogue hacker Salander has been living the high life with her stolen millions. Blomkvist has returned to his newspaper Millennium, and has no contact with Salander save the knowledge that she keeps tabs on his computer. But when both Salander's seedy guardian and Blomkvist's newly hired writer wind up dead, the two set on separate paths to solve the crime and clear Salander's name. Though Rapace throws herself into another committed performance, much of the spark is lost where she no longer shares scenes with Nyqvist. Combined with dense, overly long scenes and a laborious set up, The Girl Who Played With Fire lacks the tension of the original. Fans of the book will probably revel in the film's attention to detail, but for the rest it will feel like a lot of unnecessary filler. https://youtube.com/watch?v=2nuLvrhuydo
Hidden Sydney is Concrete Playground's personal tour of Sydney by the locals we trust. After all, true locals know. They just know. On our latest trip to the other side of our city, we asked street artist Numskull to mark 'X' on five spots on his map of Sydney. Numskull works out of Higher Ground Studio in Annandale ("It's a private studio, but if you ask nice, we accept visitors"), and his Sydney is a mix of old and new Inner West hangouts - the kinds of places where you can grab lunch for a fiver, stock up on recycled art supplies or discover the work of a new young artist. 1. The Tate Gallery My brother Marty Routledge and Chris Loutfy run this gallery in Glebe above the Toxteth Hotel. They show a great mix of both established and emerging artists in Sydney, in a relaxed and friendly environment. Photo courtesy of Strobed Sydney 2. Redfern Skatepark Aka 'Russel Crowe' or 'Skate Sculptures', this is my favourite place to skate in the whole of Sydney. It's situated right next to the Waterloo football oval and basketball courts inside Waterloo Park. The most relaxing place for me to skate terribly but still enjoy myself. Highlights for me would be landing a heelflip, then sitting down to watch with a cold Carlton Draught longneck. Inner city paradise. 3. Marrickville Pork Roll This is one of my favourite spots to get food in the Inner West. It's cheap and without a doubt one of the tastiest pork rolls in Sydney. Whilst there, walk around and check out all the old shop signs in the area. Marrickville has the best collection of vintage sign-painting styles in Sydney. Make sure you look up when you're on Illawarra Road. There's a giant sculpture of a banana dude chilling in a hammock. 4. The Bower After I finish off my pork roll I normally roll past Reverse Garbage to visit The Bower in Marrickville. Or more specifically, the back area of The Bower. They have a great collection of salvaged tools and wood. I always walk away with at least one bit of wood. 5. Johnny Wong's Dumpling Bar Just on Taylor Square, between Kinselas and Lo-Fi. This spot is fairly new, but is definitely one place I'll be visiting quite a bit. Also known as the Wong-Tang Clan.
Every couple has in-jokes, a valuable currency in all relationships, but only Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp have turned a cute private gag into Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. The Parks and Recreation actor and the Fraud director are no longer together romantically, marrying and divorcing in the 13 years since they first gave the world the cutest talking shell anyone could've imagined; however, they've now reteamed professionally for an adorable film based on their 2010, 2011 and 2014 shorts. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On also gave rise to two best-selling children's picture books, unsurprisingly, following a familiar internet-stardom path from online sensation to print and now the big screen. Neither Slate and Fleischer-Camp's faded love nor their joint project's history are ignored by their footwear-sporting seashell's cinematic debut, either; in fact, acknowledging both, whether subtly or overtly, is one of the things that makes this sweet, endearing, happily silly, often hilarious and deeply insightful movie such an all-round gem. That inside jest? A voice put on by Slate, which became the one-inch-high anthropomorphic Marcel's charming vocals. In Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's initial mockumentary clips, the tiny critter chats to an unseen filmmaker chronicling his life, with earnestness dripping from every word. ("My name is Marcel and I'm partially a shell, as you can see on my body, but I also have shoes and a face. So I like that about myself, and I like myself and I have a lot of other great qualities as well," he advises in his self-introduction.) The same approach, tone and voice sits at the heart of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's feature-length leap, of course, but so does a touching meditation upon loss, change and valuing what's truly important. Fleischer-Camp plays the movie's documentarian, mostly off-camera, who meets Marcel and his grandmother (voiced by Isabella Rossellini, Julia) after moving into an Airbnb following a relationship breakup — and, yes, their work together becomes a viral phenomenon. With Fleischer-Camp directing IRL, plus co-penning the warmhearted script with Slate and Nick Paley (who has helmed episodes of Broad City and Inside Amy Schumer), Marcel the Shell with Shoes On spends its opening third initiating viewers into its namesake's world. Clever sight gags abound — inventive uses of everyday objects, too, with honey helping Marcel walk on walls, sneakers (not Marcel's) forming part of ziplines and a tennis ball repurposed as a mollusk-appropriate car. As rendered with a combination of stop-motion animation and live-action, the film's central setting is a delight of details, and each item that's essential to Marcel and Nanna Connie's lives says plenty about them. Theirs is a modest but resourceful and curious existence, and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's production design screams its love for that combination even when no one is speaking. Here, the movie's main figure plays tour guide, as he did in the shorts, outlining how everything operates. Dean records and asks questions, paying Marcel more attention than any of the abode's previous guests ever have. But melancholy underscores the shell's every response, with Marcel and the ageing Connie missing the rest of their family thanks to their home's owners' (Undone's Rosa Salazar and Halloween Kills' Thomas Mann) own split (aka the reason the house is an Airbnb to begin with, bringing Dean to their door). From there, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On sends its characters, human and talking, walking, kicks-adorned shells alike, on a quest to reunite Marcel and Connie with their lost relatives. That's the narrative arc, but Fleischer-Camp, Slate and Paley also keenly understand the need to accept the ebbs and flows that simply living brings everyone's way, even as their film scurries in eager search of a happy ending. The delights are in the details everywhere that Marcel the Shell with Shoes On looks, including in its slicker but still low-key visuals. A handcrafted appearance, from Marcel's single googly eye through to cinematographers Eric Adkins (SpongeBob SquarePants) and Bianca Cline's (Belly of the Beast) keen use of perspective, couldn't be more crucial to the movie's cosy allure — and those careful and caring images do feel lived-in. This is a movie about coping with seismic shifts to one's comfortable status quo, too, so the snug, homely sheen assists in communicating why Marcel isn't so fond of change. He wants to see his family again. He's interested in the world around him. He's set in his busy daily routine. And he's worried about the ailing Nanna Connie, who tends to her window garden, adores the US version of 60 Minutes and its veteran host Lesley Stahl, and has an accent explained by being from the distant location that is the garage. Marcel really just wants what we all yearn for, though: happiness we've known and lost. Ensuring that family-friendly animation is genuinely adult-friendly is a rarer skill than it might seem; just because all-ages-courting flicks reach screens with frequency, that doesn't mean they all keep both older and younger viewers equally engaged. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On has the kid-centric cuteness down pat inherently — just look at Marcel, as millions have since those first shorts — but its mature and layered storyline is just as much of a wonder for everyone else. While the picture's midsection savvily and amusingly skewers internet attention, aka the type that's followed this seashell for more than a decade (and Slate's career as well), getting the room to create something this thoughtful out of a viral hit is one of its spoils in this specific instance. Slate and Fleischer-Camp have channelled their inner Marcel, clearly, making the most of the situation and its ups and downs — and making a soul-refreshing marvel. Don't be suspicious: an online-famous critter that sprang from an in-joke about a funny voice has indeed sparked this sincere and soothing — and impressively, intelligently meta — film. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On's achievements are many, including offering a far cheerier alternative to Barbarian when it comes to folks unexpectedly sharing the same Airbnb, but its biggest might be its deceptive simplicity. Yes, it's a movie about a chattering shell dressed in footwear. Yes, it knows what worked in Marcel's early screen appearances and doesn't shy away from it. Fleshing all of that out to feature length proves just like putting your ear up to a seashell here: you can see and hear the world in this delicate, tender and disarmingly beautiful film. You can also listen to the iconic and inimitable Rossellini serve up a rich, smooth and enchanting vocal effort with an impeccable sense of comic timing, which is exactly the kind of treat that Marcel would want everyone to revel in.
"We shall fight on the beaches," Winston Churchill told British parliament on June 4, 1940, as World War II raged in Dunkirk. "We shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." His impassioned words came at the end of a heated speech, after a heated month of political debate, in the heated early days of the global conflict. Churchill had been Prime Minister of England for mere weeks, and spent that entire time caught up in arguments about the country's response to Hitler. His colleagues wanted to negotiate, but he refused. It certainly seems as though filmmakers have taken Churchill's words to heart over the past 12 months. They won't give up on bringing this tense period to the big screen, whether in movies about Churchill, the Battle of Dunkirk or both. With Their Finest, Lone Scherfig came at it with a light, romantic drama about morale-raising movies. With Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan delivered a stunningly immersive account of war at sea, in the air and on the shore. Australian director Jonathan Teplitzky took a slightly different approach, with intimate biopic Churchill focusing on the lead up to the D-Day landings in 1944. It's not hard to see echoes of the latter film in Joe Wright's Darkest Hour, however, which recreates the cigar-smoking, whiskey-swilling politician's other crucial moment in power. With Gary Oldman in the lead role, Darkest Hour steps through the turbulence that awaited Churchill when he took on the nation's top job in such troubled times. With colleagues Neville Chamberlain (Ronald Pickup) and Lord Halifax (Stephen Dillane) certain that a peace treaty with Nazi Germany is the only way to save Britain from bombing, mass casualties and catastrophe, he has a considerable fight on his hands. The film includes glimpses of the ordeal at Dunkirk, but speeches, rather than bullets, are the main focus. In between verbal scuffles, Churchill seeks support and advice from his wife Clementine (Kristin Scott Thomas), has cautious lunches with King George (Ben Mendelsohn) and initially overwhelms his young secretary (Lily James) with his erratic nature. While both Churchill and Dunkirk are clearly no strangers to cinemas of late, Darkest Hour has one particular weapon all of its own: recent Golden Globe winner Oldman. The veteran actor gives a captivating performance, even coming hot on the heels of Brian Cox's excellent work in Churchill just months ago. Lured out of retirement by Oldman, special-effects makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji creates flawless prosthetics; however it's the man beneath them who always commands attention. Rumbling through terse confrontations, showing Churchill's tender side at home and letting his anxieties seep out in brief, quiet moments, Oldman delivers a vibrant and complicated portrayal not only marked by its impressive imitation, but by the immense range on display. The film as a whole doesn't prove quite as consistent. Tackling Dunkirk for the second time following 2007's Atonement, Wright serves up several acutely judged and thoroughly engrossing scenes, as well as an array of inventively composed shots. Frustratingly though, he also wades into moments of easy comedy and unconvincing sentimentality — most egregiously in a sequence where Churchill takes public transport without his minders and receives some down-to-earth wisdom from his constituents. In his defence, the filmmaker is partly trapped by the straightforward script, with The Theory of Everything screenwriter Anthony McCarten checking all of the expected boxes. Thankfully, Darkest Hour can always rely on Oldman, whose performance stands out above the formula. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpKvpSr7p1g
When it was revealed that Watchmen was returning — with the comic book series getting the HBO treatment a decade after the movie of the same name — it felt like obvious news. Caped crusaders are big business on screens both small and silver, and every old superhero becomes new again at some point. But no one could've predicted just how this nine-part series would turn out, how timely it'd feel and how it'd take on an identity of its own. Set 34 years after the events of Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons and John Higgins' graphic novels, there's a reason that it has been scooping up all the awards for the past year. This version of Watchmen is still set in the same alternate reality; however, under showrunner Damon Lindelof (Lost, The Leftovers), it turns its focus to racially motivated violence and vigilantism. It's brought to the screen with a top-notch cast (including Regina King, Jeremy Irons, Don Johnson, Hong Chau and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and a bucket load of murky complexity.
An antihero in a spiral of self-destruction? Here we go again. In The Gambler, Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) descends into a dangerous gambling addiction from privileged heights, risking more than most people dream of. He comes from a rich family and has a plum associate professor job teaching literature. He also has two big debts to the type of people you don’t want to owe money to, is thinking about taking on a third and walks around scowling beneath his sunglasses. A good guy with good vibrations Jim is not, as his put-upon mother (Jessica Lange) would confirm. He isn’t anything special either, as he admits in rants on genius to his students — including star pupil Amy (Brie Larson) — about his failed novelist career. His story has been seen before, quite literally given that the film remakes the 1974 movie of the same name. And yet, there’s something fascinating about Jim, The Gambler, the drifting and grifting, and the overall mood of just not giving a damn. Perhaps it is seeing Wahlberg as a different type of character, relying on looks and glances rather than muscle and weapons. He’s more than a step away from the well-intentioned heroes he usually plays. He is also paired well with The Wire’s Michael Kenneth Williams and John Goodman, both standouts as two of the formidable loan sharks trying to collect their cash. It isn’t a coincidence that Marky Mark does his best work with conflicted protagonists caught in dubious situations; think Boogie Nights and the more recent Pain & Gain. He may not show the depths of compulsion others have managed, but he convinces as someone given every advantage and opportunity to make the right choice, yet constantly, selfishly and damagingly, opting otherwise. Also effective is Rupert Wyatt’s direction, a clear change of pace from making Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The script, by The Departed’s William Monahan, relies on the gimmick of time, giving Jim seven days to settle up or get killed, but Wyatt’s ‘70s-influenced look and feel — favouring patient pacing, wide spaces and lingering moments — helps patch over a story that’s often more than a bit too convenient. The Gambler isn’t without its troubles, almost unforgivingly furnishing Larson and Lange with little to do, their talents wasted on their slight roles. The film also hits the audience over the head with its blunt themes and a few silly twists, not to mention heavy-handed music cues. Pulp’s Common People as Larson’s supposedly normal Amy walks along campus? A choral rendition of Radiohead’s Creep as Wahlberg’s Jim ponders his actions? We get it. There’s a reason that antihero stories just keep on coming, feeding viewer interest in complicated folks in tricky situations. The Gambler may not sell everything about its scenario, but it embraces its grating character and its familiar circumstances with style and assurance. Like Jim, the film goes all in, never playing it safe or hedging its bets. There are worse things to take a punt on.
Tonight, tonight, there's only Steven Spielberg's lavish and dynamic version of West Side Story tonight — not to detract from or forget the 1961 movie of the same name. Six decades ago, an all-singing, all-dancing, New York City-set, gang war-focused spin on Romeo and Juliet leapt from stage to screen, becoming one of cinema's all-time classic musicals; however, remaking that hit is a task that Spielberg dazzlingly proves up to. It's his first sashay into the genre, despite making his initial amateur feature just three years after the original West Side Story debuted. It's also his first film since 2018's obnoxiously awful Ready Player One, which doubled as a how-to guide to crafting one of the worst, flimsiest and most bloated pieces of soulless pop-culture worship possible. But with this swooning, socially aware story of star-crossed lovers, Spielberg pirouettes back from his atrocious last flick by embracing something he clearly adores, and being unafraid to give it rhythmic swirls and thematic twirls. Shakespeare's own tale of tempestuous romance still looms large over West Side Story, as it always has — in fair NYC and its rubble-strewn titular neighbourhood where it lays its 1950s-era scene. The Jets and the Sharks aren't quite two households both alike in dignity, though. Led by the swaggering and dogged Riff (Mike Faist, a Tony-nominee for the Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen), the Jets are young, scrappy, angry and full of resentment for anyone they fear is encroaching on their terrain (anyone who isn't white especially). Meanwhile, with boxer Bernardo (David Alvarez, a Tony-winner for Billy Elliot) at the helm, the Sharks have tried to establish new lives outside of their native Puerto Rico through study, jobs and their own businesses. Both gangs refuse to coexist peacefully in the only part of New York where either feels at home — even with the threat of gentrification looming large in every torn-down building, signs for shiny new amenities such as Lincoln Centre popping up around the place and, when either local cops Officer Krupke (Brian d'Arcy James, Hawkeye) or Lieutenant Schrank (Corey Stoll, The Many Saints of Newark) interrupt their feuding, after they're overtly warned as well. But it's a night at a dance, and the love-at-first-sight connection that blooms between Riff's best friend Tony (Ansel Elgort, The Goldfinch) and Bernardo's younger sister María (feature debutant Rachel Zegler), that sparks a showdown. This rumble will decide westside supremacy once and for all, the two sides agree. The OG West Side Story was many things: gifted with a glorious cast, including Rita Moreno in her Academy Award-winning role as Bernardo's girlfriend Anita, plus future Twin Peaks co-stars Russ Tamblyn and Richard Beymer as Riff and Tony; unashamedly showy, like it had just snapped its fingers and flung itself off the stage; and punchy with its editing, embracing the move from the boards to the frame. It still often resembled a filmed musical rather than a film more than it should've, however. Spielberg's reimagining, which boasts a script by his Munich and Lincoln scribe Tony Kushner, tweaks plenty while also always remaining West Side Story — and, via his regular cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (The Post) and a whirl of leaping and plunging camerawork, it looks as exuberant as the vibrant choreography that the New York City Ballet's Justin Peck splashes across the screen, nodding to Jerome Robbins' work for the original movie lovingly but never slavishly. From the famous first whistle that's always opened the tale, West Side Story feels like it's dancing through the narrative instead of merely telling it. The savvy realisation that gang struts and brawls suit balletic movements — a notion from when the idea first hit the stage — pairs marvellously with the peppier visuals, too. Spielberg's fluid and kinetic stylistic approach springs from the same source as many of his other touches, with the director aiming not just to finally make a musical, bring the playfulness of his action scenes to the genre, or to give a work he loves his own stamp, but to ground the story in notions that are pressingly relevant today. Viewers here see more of the west side, get a bigger sense of the place, tap into its energy, and glean a more grounded view of the poverty, racism, factionalism and violence that's always sat at West Side Story's core. Switching some of the film's Leonard Bernstein-composed, Stephen Sondheim-penned songs between characters and locations makes this a more thoughtful and textured movie as well. See: the on-the-street version of earworm 'America' led by Hamilton veteran Ariana DeBose as the new Anita, and transforming 'Somewhere' into a community-focused ballad sung by the returning Moreno as a new figure. Both are magnificent. Still, as delightful as almost everything about Spielberg's film is — its inspired changes and passionate tribute to the first feature alike — it has an Ansel Elgort problem. He's a bland island in a sea of spectacle, and the lack of chemistry between him and the radiant Zegler would be a killer if examining the place, time and struggles that give rise to Tony and María's love didn't take precedence over the romance itself. Make it a 1950s NYC R+J, but about why its tragedy unfolds: that's another of Spielberg and Kushner's clever choices. And, while it takes a lifetime of unfortunate moves to strand the Jets and Sharks in their bloody turf war, thankfully one bad casting decision can't taint everything that glimmers about their latest big-screen outing. Indeed, enough praise can't be slung Faist, Zegler, Alvarez or DeBose's way, in what deserves to be a movie star-making effort for all four. Faist's turn as Riff is sinewy, smooth and vulnerable all at once — the film is electric every time he's on-screen — and Zegler's woozy and hopeful performance as a woman in the throes of first love is equally revelatory. Bringing EGOT-recipient and all-round entertainment icon Moreno back is touching, as well as exactly the right kind of nostalgic; looking both backwards and forwards is another of this sublime achievement of a feature's many successes, after all.
The Sydney Opera House will transform into a salsa-dancing Manhattan neighbourhood for five nights this January. Part of Sydney Festival, In The Heights is a quadruple Tony Award-winning musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, Moana), which made its Sydney debut at Hayes Theatre last year. At the centre of the action is Usnavi, a bodega owner drowning in debt and dreaming about moving to the Dominican Republic. But he's not the only one yearning for change — a family is also desperate to send their daughter to a prestigious university and a woman longs to have a roof over her head. Watch their stories unravel, punctuated by plenty of salsa dancing soundtracked by a live Latino band. To celebrate the launch of the musical at the House, the Northern Foyer will host a fairy light-lit, flag-decked pop-up known as the Fiesta Bar, where you're invited to dance the night away, while sipping on margaritas and feasting on tacos and empanadas. The pop-up bar is, however, only accessible to those who have tickets to the musical. Images: Grant Leslie.
We Steal Secrets is the story of Wikileaks, and from the outset it fast becomes apparent how little you know of an organisation dedicated to transparency and the sharing of information. Directed by Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), the documentary mirrors the real-world by focusing on two key individuals: Wikileaks' Australian founder Julian Assange and Bradley Manning, the US soldier whose disclosure of classified documents thrust Assange onto the world stage. The stories of the two men are told with surprising sensitivity, particularly in the case of Manning, who — on account of his ongoing incarceration — is represented exclusively by typed words on a screen. Sent over the course of his deployment in Iraq, the catalogue of Manning's brief online exchanges with various hackers reveals an extraordinarily lonely soul unable to reconcile serious questions about both his own identity and what he perceived to be the ongoing cover-up of atrocities by the US Government. "I want people to see the truth," he wrote, just before leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to Assange. "It affects everyone on earth." The altruistic tone of Manning's narrative seems entirely genuine, particularly when set against the supposedly similar motivations driving Assange. The now infamous 'hacktivist' refused to be interviewed for the film unless he was paid $1 million; however, his willingness to jump in front of cameras over the preceding years provided Gibney with more than enough material with which to paint a fascinating portrait of the Wikileaks founder. Coupled with interviews from the organisation's supporters, employees, detractors and pursuers, Assange emerges as a largely paranoid narcissist, championing free speech whilst doing everything he can to ensure no one speaks freely about him. And yet, as is pointed out during the film, Assange's paranoia isn't necessarily always unjustified. The rhetoric (and hypocrisy) of the US Government's condemnation of him is at best fascinating and at worst quite concerning. Both the New York Times and the Guardian collaborated on the publication of the leaked documents, yet neither of those organisations' editors have been indicted or even publicly criticised. In all, We Steal Secrets achieves a fine balance in its depiction of two men whose lives became inextricably linked and, thereafter, changed almost certainly for the worse. Assange sits seeking political asylum within a small room inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and Manning's trial has only now just begun in the United States. In attempting to justify his impending leak, Manning ultimately wrote: "I...care?" This documentary will compel you to do the same, though where you'll fall in your opinion will depend on who you choose to believe. https://youtube.com/watch?v=SdezJrNaL70
The man who helped Amsterdam maintain its nightlife will travel to Sydney in November, as one of the major guest speakers at this year's Electronic Music Conference. As the Night Mayor of Amsterdam, for the past few years Mirik Milan has built connections between business owners, residents and various government entities, creating a safe and prosperous environment under which the city's after dark culture could thrive. Huh. Must be nice. With its world famous lockout laws, the City of Sydney has obviously taken a slightly different approach to its citizen's nocturnal activities — something we're sure Milan will touch on in his opening keynote address. "We believe Milan's knowledge and experience will be invaluable in our own city's pursuit of a vibrant and safe nightlife," said EMC programmer Eric Flanagan. "Amsterdam has shown us and the rest of the world that it is possible to achieve this." Although Night Mayor isn't actually an official government position — rather, Milan is the head of an advisory NGO — that hasn't stopped the former club promoter from having a significant impact on policy. In the past few years he's helped clarify Amsterdam's drug laws, introduced 'soft enforcement' services to try and deescalate potentially dangerous situations, and pushed hard for 24-hour licences in certain nightclubs which, since their introduction, have led to a significant reduction in street noise. He's been so successful that several other cities around Europe, including Zurich and Paris, have introduced Night Mayors of their own. Now in its fifth year, the Electronic Music Festival will run from November 28 until December 2 at the Ivy complex in Sydney, and will feature panels, workshops and masterclasses including Milan, Alison Wonderland, Martin Phillips (Bionic League), Nic HP (Majestic Casual) and Raj Chaudhuri (Boiler Room) amongst many others. Then, on Wednesday November 30, EMCPlay takes over four Sydney venues with over 65 artists, a heaving electronic lineup programmed by Dave Ruby Howe.
Don't let the three-kilometre return hike to Pieries Peak fool you. It may not be long but it is steep. The challenging trail starts at Youngville campground and launches straight into action, climbing through rocky ridges, snow grass and rainforest. Once you reach the top, kick back and enjoy views across Hunter Valley and Lake Saint Clair. The peak gets pretty cold in winter so check the forecast and make sure it's not arctic up there before you commit. In general, the region's weather is unpredictable, so come prepared for all scenarios. Image: Susan Davis, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment
Defiance Gallery has been delivering an ever-changing roster of premium local and global artwork to Newtown for over two decades. While its reputation is built around being one of the leading sculpture galleries in the city (and country), the space is not limited to this form. The gallery showcases work from newcomers to internationally-acclaimed artists also covering paintings and works on paper. Exhibitions vary in length but usually last three to four weeks making Defiance Gallery are haunt for art-lovers.
Back for January 2019, Opera Australia's popular Opera in the Domain returns to for a wonderful night of opera under the stars — and it's absolutely free. Some of Australia's top vocal talent will have you whistling along to famous tunes you didn't even know you knew. Gather the crew (and your trusty picnic basket) and settle in for a night of some of opera's most famous and most beautiful moments. But don't worry if you don't actually own a picnic basket — a whole heap of the city's best food trucks will be there cooking up a storm and the garden bar will be slinging all sorts of summer drinks. As for the soundtrack, a parade of famous arias, duets and overtures is sure to delight all music fans, whether you are an opera aficionado or you don't know Bellini from a bellini. If nothing else, it's a perfect cheap date idea.
Snowtown. Everyone seems to have an opinion on whether or not this film should have been made and it usually ends with, 'Oh, I just don't think I could sit through it.' And rightly so. It is the horrific true story of the murders of twelve people over a seven year period in the outer housing commission suburbs of Adelaide. It is not easy viewing, certainly not The Hangover 2. Australian cinema has historically done bleak quite well though. Our stories are often dark, sparsely dialogued tales of the interior and for whatever reason (PhD anyone?) we know how to frame these fables. And Snowtown is no exception. For a whole bunch of feature film first timers (director, producers, screenplay writer, local actors plucked from malls), Snowtown is a beautifully lit and cold, blue hued film about the horrors elicit in circumstance. Told from the viewpoint of young, Jamie Vlassakis, a sixteen year old boy who becomes involved in the murders through the charismatic charm and the three meat and veg stability of ringleader, John Bunting, Snowtown is not a gore fest reveling in the details of the bodies in the barrels. Rather, the film explores the way in which silence was an occupying force in Jamie's life and that of the community surrounding the hideous events. At times, it is extremely hard to believe just how forcefully silence set up camp but the power of the film ultimately stems from the fact that this happened, this is how people reacted, this is what they did, it is our history. Be prepared for a couple of scenes that will probably go down on par with the roo shooting scene in Wake in Fright. They are not gratuitous but serve to illustrate the power that John Bunting yielded in the absence of a masculine force in Jamie's life. No empathy is ever sought from the audience but perhaps an understanding of the way in which circumstance permeates every decision we make. https://youtube.com/watch?v=sJY6X8utM8A
Are you ready to get back on the school bus? The We and the I is a 2012 American dramedy directed by Michel Gondry, the idiosyncratic French filmmaker responsible for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In this fictional film, Gondry recruits a handful of talented kids from the Bronx, the infamous Fort Apache neighbourhood and fashions a script around them. These Bronx high-schoolers play out real stories on a fictitious bus line, the BX66, and as the bus shudders through real South Bronx neighborhoods old friendships shatter, flirtations begin, secrets spill over and bullies jeer. There's anger, there's profanity, and there's tenderness — all presented without teen-movie romanticism or moral judgment. The We and the I perfectly captures the freewheeling, hormonal chaos of being in high school, not to mention the joy of profanity, and the conflict between the desire to be oneself and the need to fit in. Go see it; there might be somebody in this jumbly group that you recognise. The We and the I is a Sydney exclusive for the Golden Age Cinema & Bar.
Calling all Amy Poehler fans — the beautiful tropical fish, powerful musk ox and noble land mermaid of Netflix flicks is here. The Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation star has directed her first film, a comedy that'll hit the streaming platform in May. Here's hoping it'll earn all of the unusual compliments that Leslie Knope has showered upon Ann Perkins. Turning a vino lover's dream weekend getaway with the gang into a movie, Wine Country follows a group of friends who head to Napa to celebrate Rebecca (Rachel Dratch)'s 50th birthday. Poehler plays Abby, the organiser of the gang; Maya Rudolph co-stars as a worn out mother desperate for a break; and fellow Saturday Night Live on-screen alum Ana Gasteyer, plus ex-SNL writers Paula Pell and Emily Spivey, all round out the besties. Also featuring: Tina Fey (of course) and Jason Schwartzman. If you've had a Parks and Recreation-shaped hole in your life since the acclaimed sitcom ended, adored Sisters or just can't get enough of these funny ladies in general, prepare to chuckle and celebrate as the film shows just what happens when a boozy break, lifelong friends and facing a huge milestone all mix. The first trailer has just dropped, and it comes with plenty of laughs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW_0MO-XKog Wine Country releases on Netflix on Friday, May 10. Image: Colleen Hayes.
By turns brassy and classy, exotic and demotic, exquisite and coarse, malevolent and melancholy, the extraordinary phenomenon that is Smoke & Mirrors will return to the Seymour Centre for one final season. Presented by Lunar Hare Productions, described as "rock 'n' roll cabaret with a scorching live band," Smoke & Mirrors sold out at Sydney Festival, Adelaide Cabaret Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. It's a breathtaking vaudeville fantasy; a glorious melange of physical spectacle, pantomime characters and strobe lights. Supported by a four-piece band, the curious cast of characters includes a red-ruffed ringmaster, a twisted chanteuse, a sublime aerialist, a mesmerising magician and some giant, gambolling bunnies. It's a sexy jounce through Edwardian music halls; a theatrical knees-up to centuries past. It teases out the myriad yearnings and dangers of modern sexual relations through saucy songs and balancing acts, transforming them into an artful cabaret turn. Smoke & Mirrors is a lushly disturbing piece of theatre that was one of The Famous Spiegel Garden’s headline shows. Go see it at the Seymour Centre before it disappears in an exquisite puff of smoke.
Jason Roberts, the renowned chef and author, is on a mission to put Bondi back together; what better way to do it than over a plate of (very) good food? In news that has us salivating and scrambling to clear our calendars, Roberts has taken over Mexican eatery, Calita, for a limited-time culinary event with views of the beach. Roberts isn't on this mission alone, with cake creator Elisa Pietranonio who has also contributed to carefully crafting a menu with the intention of connecting the community in an intimate communal dinner. On October 12 and 19, the pop-up dinners at Calita will feature communal tables, share platters and free-flowing wine and mezcal. The food is a showcase of fresh Mexican flavours made with the highest quality local and sustainable ingredients. One of the hero dishes features wild caught Australian lobster and avocado tostadas (scooped straight out of the shell with crisp tortilla chips). Then there's shared platters of barramundi espache and braised beef cheeks served with tortillas so you can make your own soft tacos. But make sure you save room for dessert. The chilli chocolate tarts and Pietranonio's deliciously balanced cinnamon rice horachata with pineapple are both pretty special. You'll be able to wash it down with wines from Geyer Wine Co and Gentle Folk, two sustainable wineries from South Australia, as well as Calita's signature cocktails and mezcal offering (because what's a true Mexican feast without margaritas and mezcal?). This collaboration intends to heal the still-open wounds of the pandemic and months of isolation. Milpa Collective co-founder Liber Osorio says, "After the pandemic, we noticed some negative impacts in the social interactions of people in general and in Bondi particularly. We think it's important to come together as neighbours and try to bring back some of this sense of community to our public spaces." It's not too late to get a seat at the table, with two sessions remaining, on October 12 and 19. Tickets are $149 pp, and bookings are essential, with limited space available.
Spandex leotards and feathered hair at the ready: it's time to get active, 80s-style. Longtime Sydney favourite Retrosweat is giving its throwback aerobics classes a summer twist, jumping out of the gym and into the pool with a special series of aqua aerobics sessions. Transporting its fluoro fun and energy to the Ashfield Aquatic Centre as part of Sydney Festival, Retrosplash! will deliver three days of workouts, throwback fashion and killer 80s tunes. Find your favourite set of retro swimmers and get your body moving to the likes of 'Let's Get Physical' and 'Club Tropicana'. If you're new to the concept, Retrosweat was founded by Shannon Dooley, who studied at the Fitness Institute Australia and also at NIDA (training under Baz Luhrmann's official choreographer John 'Cha Cha' O'Connell, among other teachers). The vibe really is all there in the name, combining bending, stretching and all the usual aerobics moves, and soundtracked by 80s tunes — aka a fitness-fuelled step back in time. The 40-minute aerobics workout is designed for people of all ages and fitness levels. There will be extra instructors in attendance ensuring that everyone in the pool is being attended to. You can also expect colourful themed inflatables on-site, as well as a grassy section by the water in case you fancy a photo shoot in your outfit.
Leichhardt's quiet Norton Street is now home to a small bar and restaurant heroing Aussie ingredients thanks to The Little Guy owner Dynn Smulewicz and its longtime bartender Daniel McBride. They've joined forces to bring a much needed new player to the suburb. And, after opening its doors just last month, Golden Gully is already looking to be a hit with locals. "The demographics have changed pretty rapidly over the last few years [in Leichhardt]," says McBride. "There are a lot of young people — including our friends — in the area, so we feel a neighbourhood small bar has its place now." At first glance, the bar has bit of a Little Guy vibe — the two-storey terrace is squeezed into a commercial strip, the narrow ground level has a long bar to one side and the large bi-fold window overlooking the street is lined with stools. But, as McBride assured us, the Gully is no Little Guy 2.0. "The Gully is really 'Australiana' with a focus on all-Aussie products and a full service vegetarian kitchen upstairs," says McBride. The two-storey, 100-seat venue is decked out with tropical green walls and brass accents throughout. Downstairs, you'll find a sleek timber bar and aged leather-backed booths, while the upstairs restaurant is clean and simple, with a pitched roof and exposed beams. The bar runs on a 'something for everyone' mentality, and the team takes this mantra seriously with a rather extensive drinks list to choose from. "We don't want to alienate anyone and we're trying to communicate that through all of the menus," says McBride. "We had to have a big Aussie shiraz for mum, for example." Apart from shiraz, the bar also pours more than a few drops for natural wine lovers, including a few pét-nat and biodynamic numbers. Regions span Adelaide Hills, McLaren Vale, Hunter Valley, Orange, Yarra Valley, Margaret River and Tumbarumba, to name just a few. There's also a long list of Australian-made gins, vodkas and whiskies, and a seven-strong cocktail list using those same Aussie spirits. On it, you'll find the Norton St Sour ($19) — made with Sydney's Mobius Distilling Company vodka, Adelaide Hills' Italian bitters, lemon and aquafaba — and the Aussie Negroni ($19), a concoction of Poor Toms Gin, sweet vermouth and Applewood Okar (a South Australian take on Italian amaro). [caption id="attachment_707936" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt.[/caption] The Gully is also just as much a restaurant as it is a bar. In the kitchen is Emma Evans, who hails from Woolloomooloo's plant-based eatery Alibi. She's creating an elevated vegetarian menu and is "a real boss lady", according to McBride. "Dynn and I are both vegetarian and we hate when people forsake flavour in vegetarian or vegan food," says McBride. "Emma is really good at playing with flavours and creating food that you wouldn't even notice is vego." Evans is turning out European share plates using all-Australian ingredients. Favourite menu items include the almond-based ricotta gnocchi with crispy oyster mushrooms and wattleseed in a wild mushroom broth ($24); tea and pepperberry-smoked potatoes with chives and parsley aioli ($11); and roasted pumpkin wedges, dusted with a native dukkah spice mixture and doused in herb cucumber yoghurt ($19). [caption id="attachment_707934" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Trent van der Jagt[/caption] "Australia is very internationally inspired, and now you can get European-style wines and American-style gin and whisky, but all produced in Australia," says McBride. "The same goes for produce. If you want a burrata on the menu, it doesn't make sense to import it from Italy when there's a Marrickville factory that makes it." And they do have that burrata ($17) on the menu, too, topped with balsamic, a side of sliced figs and served with sourdough. "We tried to make the venue be as comfortable as possible, so people can get stuck in — we're not trying to just turn over tables," says McBride. "You can eat at the bar or go upstairs and smash a bottle of wine without getting any food. There are no set rules." Find Golden Gully at 153 Norton Street, Leichhardt from 4pm–midnight, Wednesday–Friday; midday–midnight, Saturday; and 4–11pm, Sunday. Images: Trent van der Jagt.
Sydney's museum scene is undergoing a significant shake-up. First, the New South Wales Government announced that it's moving the Powerhouse Museum to Parramatta. Now, it has revealed that Australian Museum will take a 12-month hiatus. The popular William Street site will close from Monday, August 19, with a $57.5 million makeover on the cards. The revamp is part of the facility's huge renovation, called Project Discover, which'll add a new touring hall as well as new education spaces. When it's complete, the museum will boast 1500 square metres in exhibition space across two levels — meaning that it can play host to a massive major showcase across the entire multi-floor space, or house two exhibitions at the same time. With Tutankhamun: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh due to open in February 2021, Australian Museum will certainly make good use of the extra facilities. Heading to Australia for the first time, it'll feature more than 150 objects from the ancient boy king's tomb as part of the world's largest Tutankhamun exhibition outside of Egypt. Included in that tally are 60 objects that have never before left their homeland. As well as an increase in exhibition space, Australian Museum will also gain new education facilities, a new museum shop and a second cafe — plus an expanded Members' Lounge, cloaking and new amenities. Its current community and school outreach programs will continue during the temporary shutdown. With the museum's public spaces closing until around August 2020, its usual August exhibition will find another home for this year. Fans of the annual Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year will find it at the Powerhouse Museum from Friday, August 16, and it'll be free to attend with a general admission ticket to the museum. The Australian Museum will close on Monday, August 19, re-opening approximately 12 months later. For further details, visit the Project Discover website.
Over the past few months, Sydney has scored quite a few new sky-facing spaces, including the foliage-heavy Manly Greenhouse, Erskineville's pink frilly umbrella-dotted Slims Rooftop and Erskineville's art deco Imperial Up. Now, Westfield Sydney is getting in on the game, with the announcement that it will open not one, but two new venues on its level seven rooftop. From April, inner-city workers and shoppers will be able to slip upstairs to feast on Middle Eastern and Cantonese fare, while soaking up panoramic views. The first of the two is Babylon, a Middle Eastern-inspired venue with a whopping 800 capacity. Among its spaces are a 216-seat restaurant, two expansive bars, an outdoor terrace and private dining areas. The kitchen will be fuelled by fire, with many dishes cooked over wood and charcoal, on the rotisserie and in a huge Turkish grill will pump out charry Adana-style kebabs, cabbage kebabs, and a 72-hour slow-cooked wagyu trip-tip with smoked eggplant puree and mushroom. The bar will also stock over 200 whiskies and 300 bottles of wine. [caption id="attachment_711258" align="alignnone" width="1920"] The dim sum at Duck & Rice. Shot by Steven Woodburn.[/caption] Then, at the end of April, a 400-seat contemporary Cantonese restaurant will open on the rooftop. Duck & Rice will specialise in dishes from regional China — think lots of dim sum, spicy noodles and Cantonese roast duck pancakes. You'll be able to dine — and drink G&Ts on tap — in the 1930s-inspired space or outside in the outdoor lantern room. The Mantle Group Hospitality (MGH), has leased the rooftop and owns both Babylon and Duck & Rice. Having been busy in Brisbane for nearly 40 years, it moved into Sydney in May 2018 with the opening of The Squire's Landing at the Overseas Passenger Terminal in The Rocks. Babylon will open mid-April and Duck & Rice will open late April at level seven of Westfield Sydney, corner Pitt Street Mall and Market Street, Sydney.
There's the parade, yes. But before that, nearly a month of cultural and celebratory events of all stripes makes up the festival of Sydney Mardi Gras, and there's something for everybody, even Straighty McStraight-Straight. Who relates absolutely and 100 percent to the social expectations of their gender and sexuality? Nobody, probably. And that's something to love, savour and take away from this most iconic of Sydney events. This year, there's a fair day, art you can dance to, an intergalactic gay wizard and some steamy literary readings, among all the parties between February 20 and March 8. With gay marriage rights firmly on the agenda again this year, 2015's Mardi Gras will definitely be one that's remembered. Check out our picks of the ten best events of the festival here.
Giant food art installations and a pair of cooking demonstrations from beloved celebrity chefs are coming to Chatswood as part of a new two-week food event. Between Friday, September 16 and Friday, September 30, the Chatswood Food Trail will take over Westfield Chatswood with a range of activations. Headlining the event will be two free celebrity food demonstrations from Dan Hong and Adam Liaw. Beloved MasterChef alumni and SBS presenter Adam Liaw will be appearing from 6pm on Wednesday, September 28, while Dan Hong of Mr. Wong, Ms G's and MuMu will be running his demonstration from 6pm on Thursday, September 29. Other cooking demonstrations for both adults and kids will be on the program between Monday, September 26–Friday, September 30. Throughout the two weeks, fantastical, larger-than-life art installations resembling bubble tea, noodles, eggs and other food and drink items will also be popping up at the centre. Visitors can collect a Chatswood Food Trail Passport and visit all six of the installations to go into the draw to win a $1000 Westfield gift card. Plus, retailers around the centre will be offering special offers throughout the festivities. Check out the full schedule at the Westfield website.
Founded as a way to promote happiness and health, this five-kilometre-long run involves splashes of colour to distract you from the fact that you're, you know, exercising. All participants are asked to wear white t-shirts and embrace the colour pigment that's blasted at them at various points during the race. This is sweaty exercise disguised as straight-up fun. With a party at the beginning, a party at the end, and four colour zones to dance your way through — the fun never stops, and neither do your legs. The Color Run now takes place in more than 35 countries worldwide, attracting six million runners across the globe. This year it'll run its Sydney race on Sunday, October 7 at Cathy Freeman Park in Sydney Olympic Park, kicking off at 8.30am.
Burger battles, immersive cocktail parties and European-style laneway feasts are just a few of the delicious events March Into Merivale has brought us over the past decade. And the restaurant group-wide shindig is back for 2017. But, this time, it'll be squeezing what was a month's worth of eating, drinking and experimenting into one glorious night. Taking over the whole ivy complex and its surrounding laneways on Wednesday, March 22, the festival will transform Ash Street into an Asian street food market. Expect to see legendary chef Dan Hong hovering over sizzling platters and smoking barbecues. Wandering around, you'll discover stalls selling tasty morsels with origins all over Asia, from pillowy bao and dim sum to sushi and oysters with jalapeño and ginger nuoc cham. Palings will be spending the night dishing out all things weird and wonderful. Chefs Patrick Friesen and Christopher Hogarth — who are on the pans at the newly opened Queen Chow — have joined forces to create the menu. A whole lamb on the spit will be centrepiece, ambushed by quesadillas, fish tacos, nachos supreme tostadas and the pair's famous Papi Chulo burgers (which won last year's aforementioned burger battle). When you're full up on savouriness, move onto The Den for high tea, loaded with pastries, sweets, desserts, Champagne and cocktails. Meanwhile, the ivy ballroom will be turned into a European garden. Sitting among greenery, you'll be treated to dishes from John Wilson, Merivale's dedicated events chef. And get poolside for whole pork bellies cooked over the fire by chef Jordan Toft along with patatas bravas cones and warm creme Catalan. "Since its inception nearly a decade ago, March into Merivale has offered Sydney a spectacular feast of culinary events and food experiences, evolving each year with our expanding portfolio," said Justin Hemmes, CEO of Merivale. "This year, fresh from the biggest period of growth in Merivale's history, we want to deliver one exceptional experience that celebrates the group's diversity and quality of offering, as well as the talent and creativity leading Merivale into our exciting future." Tickets for March into Merivale 2017 are just $60, and include all food as well as three drink tokens. They're on sale now — we reckon you'd best be speedy to snap one up.
If Vincent van Gogh can do it, and Claude Monet and his contemporaries like Renoir, Cézanne and Manet as well, then Frida Kahlo can also. We're talking about being the subject of huge, multi-sensory art exhibitions — the kind that takes an artist's work and projects it all around you so you feel like you're walking into their paintings. First came Van Gogh Alive, which has been touring the country for the last few years. On its way next is Monet & Friends Alive, launching at Melbourne's digital-only gallery The Lume at the end of October. And, after that, Frida Kahlo: Life of an Icon is heading to Sydney as part of the hefty Sydney Festival program for 2023. Frida Kahlo: Life of an Icon will make its Australian premiere in the Harbour City — and display only in the Harbour — from Wednesday, January 4, 2023. For two months, it will celebrate the Mexican painter's life and work, taking over the Cutaway at Barangaroo Reserve with holography and 360-degree projections. The aim: turning a biographical exhibition about Kahlo into an immersive showcase, and getting attendees to truly understand her art, persistence, rebellion and skills — and why she's an icon. Visitors will wander through seven spaces, and get transported into the artist's work — including via virtual reality. That VR setup will indeed let you step inside Kahlo's pieces as much as VR can, although the entire exhibition is designed to cultivate that sensation anyway, with digital versions of Kahlo's paintings expanding across every surface. The showcase hails from Spanish digital arts company Layers of Reality, alongside the Frida Kahlo Corporation, and will feature historical photographs and original films as well — and live performances of traditional Mexican music. As part of the interactive component, attendees will also be able to make their own flower crowns, and turn their own drawings into Kahlo-style artworks. And, you'll be able to immortalise the experience in souvenir photos, too.
Vivid Sydney did it. Bluesfest and Splendour in the Grass, too. So, given the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak across New South Wales, it should come as no surprise that Bondi's super-popular Sculpture by the Sea is the latest big event to ditch its 2021 plans and start working towards a 2022 return instead. Just like the other events that've taken this path, this'll mean that Sculpture by the Sea hasn't been staged since 2019 due to the pandemic. When October rolled around each year before COVID-19 hit, the two-kilometre Bondi–Tamarama coastal walk would become home to a huge free outdoor sculpture exhibition, with the always busy event placing its latest works along the shoreline. But in 2020, that didn't happen — and it won't in 2021 either. Sculpture by the Sea organisers have advised that the popular exhibition can't currently return under the present public health orders, so it won't unveil its artworks sometime next year. Exactly when that might occur — in its usual October slot, or earlier — hasn't yet been ascertained. "Plans are being considered for when it might be possible to stage the exhibition in 2022," the event's team said in a statement. Back in January, organisers actually advised that this year's event would forge ahead in October as usual — but, as both 2020 and 2021 have taught us again and again, things can and do change during a pandemic. It's the latest shift for the fest over the past two years, after it initially planned to go ahead as normal in October 2021, and then aimed for an early 2021 berth. It did successfully stage a CBD spinoff, Sculpture Rocks, this autumn, however. When it does return, the event will be able to use just-awarded funding from the Federal Government's $200 million Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) scheme to help cover the cost of implementing COVID-safe protocols, including cleaners and marshalls. In 2019, the Sculpture by the Sea attracted approximately 450,000 visitors over three weeks, with crowds that size obviously posing a sizeable social distancing problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the current global health situation interrupted its annual plans, it had been an eventful few years for Sculpture by the Sea. To rewind a little, in mid-2019, organisers were at loggerheads with the Council over the construction of a new path, and were scoping out alternative locations for the long-running art exhibition. Indeed, it was only early in 2021 that the parties came to an agreement to remain in Bondi until 2030, with the organisers and Council agreeing to a ten-year deal. Sculpture by the Sea is aiming to next take place sometime in 2022, with rescheduled dates not yet announced, on the Bondi–Tamarama coastal walk. For more information, head to sculpturebythesea.com. Images: Sculpture by the Sea 2019 by Trent Van der Jagt
For a movie this bad, a standard review is more than it deserves, so instead we’re giving it the treatment of something less dignified. Here are ten reasons why The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies fails in every possible respect. Despite fierce deliberation, our pros list stands at zero. The prequel tension vaccuum Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins, Legolas, Galadriel, Elrond and Saruman: they're all familiar characters from Lord of the Rings that feature heavily in this film. Why is this relevant? Because as a prequel to LOTR, it means we know every single one of them survives. Not even a war involving five armies can inject tension into scenes involving any of these characters because they’re cinematically invulnerable. Fifteen Minutes of Freeman It doesn't seem entirely unreasonable to think that a film (a) about the hobbit, and (b) called 'The Hobbit', would at some point feature the hobbit. Well get ready for unreasonable, because Martin Freeman’s Bilbo Baggins (just about the only thing that held these films together), is given so little screen time, this should simply be called: 'The Battle of the Five Armies And Nothing Else, Okay? So Just Shut Up'. Smaug Remember the climactic cliffhanger ending of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, in which Smaug took to the skies headed for Lake Town to finally do some desolating? Well… he dies. Like, right away. He’s Steven Segal in Executive Decision, that’s how quick it is. Lisa Needs Braces ‘The Last Exit To Springfield’ is regarded by many as the greatest Simpsons episode of all time, featuring the iconic, echoey memory montage of voices in Homer's head screaming: “Lisa needs braces / Dental Plan!” The same thing happens in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and it’s hilarious, but it’s certainly not meant to be. Alfrid the Pointless In Tolkien’s novel, the character of Alfrid Lickspittle is unnamed and rates little more than a cursory mention. In The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Jackson has made him a significant secondary character despite him having no point whatsoever. To call him 'this film’s Jar Jar Binks' would almost be unfair to Jar Jar. We’ll give you a moment to let that sink in. Five Armies Is Three Too Many Speaking of The Phantom Menace (something few people ever do), remember that clusterfuck of a final battle involving cloned robots, Jedi, Sith, human space pilots and Gungans? It was confusing, distracting and largely irrelevant to the overall… I wanna say ‘plot’? So too the battle in this film. Tolkien gave it only slightly more attention than those unnamed characters, yet Jackson's done an entire film about it. Its scale is impressive, but inherently it requires most of its thousands of combatants to be computer generated and, as such, is about as emotionally engaging as a screensaver. Fuck You, Sir Isaac Newton Legolas runs up a series of falling bricks as they tumble down a gaping ravine. It’s strange to talk about ridiculous implausibility in a movie featuring orcs, necromancers and invisibility rings, but this was just one crumbling-step too far. Like Sands through the Hourglass What do you get if you combine the hackneyed writing of a daytime soap with the protracted, intense stares and closeups of a daytime soap? Clue: it's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. In fact, one exchange through a hole in a wall between Thorin and Bard the Bowman ends with a head turn of such unbelievably contrived drama, the entire cinema laughed. On The 8th Day, Jackson Created Tauriel In order to stretch a 19-chapter book into almost nine hours of cinema, you need to embellish, and in this trilogy Peter Jackson invented the character of Tauriel (played by Evangeline Lilly). Setting aside her redundancy, the fearsome warrior with complicated romance issues was actually fun to watch, so it’s mystifying why she’s given about as much screen time as Bilbo. On the upside, Jackson will probably give Tauriel her own trilogy in a year or two. Ultra High Def As we’ve noted previously, the astounding clarity of 4K HD film makes the world of Middle Earth an absolute joy to behold, and is pretty much the only format of 3D that doesn’t exhaust your eyes. But it also makes films shot in this format feel entirely un-cinematic and more like live community theatre. Coupled with the terrible writing and hammy acting, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is a perfect Christmas movie in that it’s basically a pantomime.
Cabaret superstar Lady Rizo brings her huge voice and incisive wit to bear on her relationship with America, her "very bad boyfriend". If we are indeed witnessing the slow death of the USA, Red, White & Indigo is a musical eulogy to that big, bizarre, beautiful country. A hippie child turned teenage punk turned trained actor with a big soul voice, this hugely versatile performer has previously collaborated with Moby, Reggie Watts and legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Needless to say, Lady Rizo racks up awards and praise everywhere she tours.
Get ready this WorldPride for The Pleasure Arc, a 24-hour party packed with some incredible talent set to immerse you in an extravagant queer utopia. Enjoy the likes of some of Australasia's best queer artists including House of Sle, House of Silky, Marcus Whale, Basjia Almaan and imbi during the opening weekend of Sydney WorldPride across February 18 and 19, at Carriageworks. In charge of keeping the tunes rolling during the overnight extravaganza will be the Your Pleasure DJs, featuring the likes of Boris, Stev Zar, Stereogamous, Rebel Yell and Kilimi popping up behind the decks throughout. [caption id="attachment_887918" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Alex Davies[/caption] Performance artist Betty Grumble will also be hosting her unique dance journey event, 24 Hour Grumble Boogie, in Bay 20. So you can bundle your tickets for a full weekend across the whole venue, or dip in and out of the partnered events as you please. The weekend will host a myriad of queer ceremonies and bring together artists, performers and musicians to take you on a journey from day to night (and day again). Celebrate queerness and pleasure while dancing the night away. Tickets are on sale now and will set you back $65 for a single event ticket or $76 to bundle Day for Night x 24 hour Grumble Boogie. Top Image: Alex Davies
If you prefer your meals handheld and mobile rather than indoors and table-bound, the good folks at the Entertainment Quarter (home of markets, movies and a Sydney mainstay for touring shows like Cirque Du Soleil and Van Gogh Alive) have decided to give you a Christmas present you didn't know you wanted: a two-month festival dedicated to all things street food. From the December 1 to the January 26 — minus a brief break for Christmas and New Year — Thursdays at EQ are all about street food. That's right, every Thursday from 5–11pm will host street food vendors, beverage vendors to pair, live music and all-ages play experiences. The roster of hot n' hearty food vendors includes Agape Organic, Bar Positano, FIREPOP, Sisterscatering Gozleme, The Hotdog Bite Food Truck, The Kofte Lab, Loaded Gourmet Hotdogs, Emmy's Gourmet Gozleme and Natas & Co. The drink options (strategically chosen every week to pair with the food) include just about every kind of beverage you can think of. We're talking craft beers, local wines, premium cocktails and plenty of non-alcoholic choices, too. Soak all this up with music from the likes of Ella Haber, Don Glori, Simon TK, Zjoso and more. We also mentioned playing. In this case, that means table tennis, life-size board games and a pop-up cupboard of tabletop classics. The EQ Dining Festival will run on December 1, 8, 15, 22 and then on January 12, 19 and 26. Tickets are free, but registration is recommended due to limited capacity. Visit the website for more information and use #EQDiningFestival in any social content.
With Vivid 2021 under three months away, this year's lineup has begun to trickle through. The annual festival of lights, set to take place a little later than usual this year, has already announced its first three art installations, and now, Sampa the Great has been named the first act of the festival's 2021 live music program. As part of the program, the Zambian-born musician will take to the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday, August 8 for the world premier of her new stageshow, An Afro Future. Sampa was set to premier the new show with special guests including Genesis Owusu and Barkaa as part of Live at the Bowl in Melbourne, Summer in the Domain in Sydney and Womadelaide, however was forced to cancel the shows due to border restrictions. While no special guests have been announced for the Vivid edition of An Afro Future, attendees can expect to be treated to songs from Sampa's critically-acclaimed debut album The Return. Released in 2019, the album received universal praise on release, winning Best Hip Hop Release and Best Independent Release at the 2020 ARIA Awards, and being named the eighth best Australian debut album of all time by Double J. [caption id="attachment_811633" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lucian Coman[/caption] Sampa's 2021 appearance will mark her return to the festival after supporting Hiatus Kaiyote in 2016 and performing as part of The Avalanches' Since I Left You Block Party back in 2017. In previous years, Vivid's live music lineup has included the likes of The Cure, Solange, Ice Cube, Bon Iver and The Pixies, however with Australia's international borders still tightly shut, music fans can expect a more Australian-focused lineup in 2021. According to the Sydney Opera House, the remainder of the Vivid live lineup will be released "soon", with Sydney Opera House Head of Contemporary Music and Vivid LIVE Curator, Ben Marshall, stating, "Sampa The Great is coming back – it's time to breathe and dance again and I cannot wait to share the rest of this year's Vivid LIVE program with you." Vivid Live will take place at the Sydney Opera House between Friday, August 6 and Saturday, August 28. Tickets for Sampa the Great's An Afro Future are on sale from 9am, Friday, May 14.
With summer just around the corner, Redfern Surf Club is kicking off the fun a little early with a massive summer block party at its Australiana–themed bar this Saturday, November 30. Its car park will transform into a block party with pop-up bars, summery tunes and even an old-school handball comp. You'll be able to grab $5 sour raspberry tinnies by Wayward Brewing Co and glasses of natural wine for just ten bucks. There'll also be loads of cocktails and slushies, including Passiona of the Ice — a frozen passionfruit margarita — and the Sour Dog, made from a mix of Campari, grapefruit and the aforementioned Wayward raspberry beer. [caption id="attachment_738251" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Redfern Surf Club by Pat Stevenson[/caption] PigOut food truck will also be dishing out a bunch of cheesy, stoner food snacks for the day, including jalapeño mac 'n' cheese spring rolls, Tex-Mex burgers (with crushed corn chips) and veggie options, too The party all kicks off at 12pm (and runs all the way through to midnight) so grab your mates and celebrate the start of summer this weekend.
UPDATE, March 8, 2023: The Banshees of Inisherin is now available to stream via Disney+, Google Play, YouTube Movies and Prime Video. In The Banshees of Inisherin, the rolling hills and clifftop fields look like they could stretch on forever, even on a fictional small island perched off the Irish mainland. For years, conversation between Padraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell, After Yang) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson, The Tragedy of Macbeth) has been similarly sprawling — and leisurely, too — especially during the pair's daily sojourn to the village pub for chats over pints. But when the latter calls time on their camaraderie suddenly, his demeanour turns brusque and his explanation, only given after much pestering, is curt. Uttered beneath a stern, no-nonsense stare by Gleeson to his In Bruges co-star Farrell, both reuniting with that darkly comic gem's writer/director Martin McDonagh for another black, contemplative and cracking comedy, Colm is as blunt as can be: "I just don't like you no more." In the elder character's defence, he wanted to ghost his pal without hurtful words. Making an Irish exit from a lifelong friendship is a wee bit difficult on a tiny isle, though, as Colm quickly realises. It's even trickier when the mate he's trying to put behind him is understandably upset and confused, there's been no signs of feud or fray beforehand, and anything beyond the norm echoes through the town faster than a folk ballad. So springs McDonagh's smallest-scale and tightest feature since initially leaping from the stage to the screen, and a wonderful companion piece to that first effort. Following the hitman-focused In Bruges, he's gone broader with Seven Psychopaths, then guided Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell to Oscars with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, but he's at his best when his lens is trained at Farrell and Gleeson as they bicker in close confines. There's no doubting who's behind the camera of The Banshees of Inisherin from the get-go, with McDonagh speedy and concise in setting his scene, and showing his knack for witty dialogue and clever character-building in the process. The year is 1923, and the time — at first — is 2pm on an ordinary day. Except, after Pádraic calls on Colm's fisherman's cottage for their usual bar jaunt and gets no answer, nothing about it plays out as it typically would for the film's two main figures. Pádraic can see Colm sitting inside, in fact, smoking but not opening his door. He tries to talk it through with publican Jonjo (Pat Shortt, Pixie) after heading for a drink anyway, and with his sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon, Better Call Saul) later at home. It's the next day when Pádraic gets the response no one wants to hear from the man he thought was his best friend, but that's hardly the end of their rift. A tragicomedy that lives up to both halves of that term without a whiff of formula, The Banshees of Inisherin twists Pádraic and Colm's hostilities in circles — not to be repetitive or due to any lack of plot, but because life's cycles keep spinning both within the duo's fractured bond and around them. Endings are never easy but neither is life, McDonagh has his film contend, doing so with intelligence, humour and an unshakeable unwillingness to shy away from bleakness. Take the inclusion of village oddball Dominic (Barry Keoghan, The Batman), for example. He buzzes around the movie's central quarrel, endeavouring to use it to become Pádraic's BFF and make his romantic intentions for the single Siobhán known, and he's frequently a source of overt laughs. And yet, as his backstory with his drunk cop dad Peadar (Gary Lydon, Brooklyn) is fleshed out, he proves as sorrowful a resident as Inisherin has, in a feature that sees life's small joys and heartbreaking woes alike with clear eyes. McDonagh is a master at packaging the grim with the chucklesome, however, as Pádraic's attempts to cope with his rejection convey. The writer/director has his dejected protagonist go through several stages of grief — but once he's done being shocked, denying his friend's rebuffs, getting angry, trying to bargain his way to a new outcome, feeling depressed and hoping Colm will change his mind, seeking revenge becomes his baseline. The alternative: feeling uncomfortable at the pub and in general; and badgering the protective Siobhán to spend more time with him, ignorant to her yearning to leave an island that embodies everything to most of its inhabitants but offers far too little for her. Or, Pádraic can accept his beloved miniature donkey Jenny and the ever-present Dominic as his new chief sources of company. Simply watching Farrell's eyebrows as Pádraic faces his changing circumstances is entertaining, emotional and evocative; the depths and shades he can relay with a twitch, many actors can't muster with their entire bodies. Watching Gleeson's exhaustion and despair is equally revelatory — indeed, while Farrell plays Pádraic as constantly searching for a silver lining and eagerly proud of being the village nice guy, his co-star conjures up a man who doesn't expect to find anything much to smile about even after making drastic choices. In Bruges sparked it and now The Banshees of Inisherin cements it: Farrell and Gleeson are one of cinema's very-best pairs, and they're mesmerising to an awards-worthy degree here. Also exceptional is Condon as the kind but frustrated woman who can see both sides. "He's always been dull; what's changed?" she replies to Colm when he admits his boredom with Pádraic. Amid the grand performances, scenery, cinematography (by The King's Man's Ben Davis) and score (from Catherine Called Birdy's Carter Burwell), McDonagh hasn't anchored this griping, one-upping, apologising, pleading and vengeance-seeking a century ago for fun. He hasn't made the move to avoid technology, either, although this'd be a lesser movie with phones and apps fuelling fires and gossip. As poignant and resonant as it is amusing — and sometimes horrifying — The Banshees of Inisherin works sparklingly as an odd-couple decoupling comedy, a slice of insular small-town life, a bittersweet musing on mortality and an interrogation of masculinity, but it's also firmly a product of its homeland. Despite being Irish, this is McDonagh's first film set in the country, and harks back to the 1920s Civil War. The conflict rages across the bay from Inisherin without disrupting the isle's daily life, but Pádraic shouts tellingly at its gunshots: "good luck to you, whatever it is you're fighting about".
In news as certain as Han Solo's swagger, C-3P0's disapproval and Leia Organa proving the fiercest princess in the entire galaxy, another round of orchestra-scored Star Wars screenings is making its way across Australia — and this time, Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi will be unleashing the force. What was originally the final flick in George Lucas' space saga is headed to Sydney's ICC Sydney Theatre on Saturday, September 7, 2019, and Melbourne's Hamer Hall on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2019. While Brisbane details have yet to be announced, we'd expect them to arrive soon. If you've been hiding out on Tattooine and aren't quite sure what's in store, this climactic instalment features a second Death Star, a tribe of Ewoks on Endor, Han Solo imprisoned by Jabba the Hutt, plenty of family baggage and one heck of a father-and-son battle — so, classic Star Wars thrills. And, it's all set to John Williams' iconic score, which each city's symphony orchestra will recreate right in front of attendees' eager eyes and ears. As always, we've got a good feeling about this mix of movies and music, which should help fill the gap between this year's Solo: A Star Wars Story and next year's Star Wars: Episode IX. Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi will screen at Sydney's ICC Sydney Theatre on Saturday, September 7, 2019, with tickets now available — and Melbourne's Hamer Hall on Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9, 2019, with tickets on sale from Wednesday, September 26. Details of a Brisbane session have yet to be announced.
The Australian film world has a striking new talent. Scooping up a best director gong at the Sundance Film Festival in January and winning the prestigious Crystal Bear in Berlin the following month, Adelaide's Sophie Hyde has with her debut feature, 52 Tuesdays, produced a powerful and progressive piece of cinema that defies formal, social and narrative expectations. With memorable characters and exceptional performances helping to shore up an intriguing structural gimmick, it's a bold and original coming-of-age drama that discerning local audiences should hurry to the cinema to see. Newcomer Tilda Cobham-Hervey plays Billie, a 16-year-old high-school girl struggling to find her footing after her lesbian mother Jane (Del Herbert-Jane) announces her intention to become a man. The transition, which involves a regimen of testosterone along with surgery, will take a year, during which time Jane — now going by James — requests that Billie go and live with her father (Beau Travis Williams). Billie agrees, on the condition that she can still visit every Tuesday after school. If nothing else, 52 Tuesdays is noteworthy for its approach. Fully committed to her year-in-the-life premise, Hyde shot the film in chronological order, one scene every Tuesday, over the course of an entire year. The result, captured on consciously uncinematic digital video, has a particular kind of lived-in realism; the actors were given a new piece of the script every week, allowing for performances that feel both spontaneous and authentic. Through a long and sometimes arduous process, Hyde and her writing partner, Matthew Cormack, handle James' transition frankly and without judgement. Herbert-Jane, an actor who identifies as gender non-conforming, is excellent in the role, conveying each and every moment of excitement, frustration and doubt. Interviews with other trans individuals, captured by James on a trip to San Francisco, further contextualise his experience for his daughter, who in turn serves as a kind of surrogate for the audience. The year sees big changes for Billie as well, particularly as her friendship with a pair of students in the year above her (Sam Althuizen and Imogen Archer) evolves into sexual experimentation. A soulful screen presence, there's little doubt that Cobham-Hervey, like Hyde, has a big future ahead of her. As Billie, she gets us on side with a potentially unlikeable character, whose own adolescent drama seems to dwarf everything happening around her. Honest, insightful and bravely against the grain, 52 Tuesdays is a magnificent debut for cast and filmmaker alike. Expect big things going forward. What were the unexpected effects of filming one day a week for a year? Find out in our interview with director Sophie Hyde and actor Tilda Cobham-Hervey. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y5WcMzEYRGU
If Melbourne Spring Fashion Week has left you in a dizzy headspin of colours and fabrics and prints and jackets cut so perfectly your body simply aches for them — or if, y’know, you just like some fancy new clothes now and then — you might have already heard that the annual Big Fashion Sale is coming up pretty soon. The name pretty much says it all. This thing is big. You’ll find lush items from past collections, samples and one-offs from over 30 cult Australian brands, both well-known and emerging, including Karla Spetic, LP33.3, Elke Kramer, Gary Bigeni, Verner, Uniform, Benah, Celeste Tesoriero and many more. This latest instalment will also feature international designers Alexander Wang, Kenzo, Marni, Christopher Kane, Helmut Lang, Mary Katantzou, Opening Ceremony, Erdem, Stella McCartney, ALC, Elizabeth & James and Lanvin. With discounts of up to 80% off, this is one way of upping your street cred with designer threads that’ll leave your bank balance sitting pretty too. Prices this low tend to inspire a certain level of ruthlessness in all of us, though, so practise that grabbing reflex in advance. This is every man and lady for themselves. Opening hours are: Thursday, October 15 — 8am - 7pm Friday, October 16 — 10am - 6pm Saturday, October 17 — 10am - 6pm Sunday, October 18 — 10am - 5pm
The glorious Golden Age Cinema in Surry Hills will host a screening of Australian cult film Muriel's Wedding as part of their new Film Club program. Selected by special guest Leigh Sales, the film will be preceded by a live Q&A with the journalist, author and current 7.30 host, who will no doubt spill the beans on why she chose this particular movie. It's a cracker of a film, emerging in the '90s during a special time for Aussie cinema, alongside classics like The Castle and Strictly Ballroom. Playing Muriel Heslop of Porpoise Spit pretty much launched Toni Collette's career. There's also a stellar supporting cast, including Bill Hunter as Muriel's philandering father, Rachel Griffiths as her spunky friend Rhonda and a hilarious Sophie Lee as the mega-bitch Tania Degano. Who could forget the memorable refrain "You're terrible Muriel"? Or Rhonda and Muriel's fabulous ABBA performance? You may not know that the character of Muriel was actually based on director PJ Hogan's sister. Apparently she did a lot of crazy things to please her father — some of which were too unbelievable to be included. Film Club is a regular collaboration between the Right Angle Studios ventures Two Thousand and Golden Age Cinema. Twice a month they're inviting a local hero to guest program one of their all-time favourite films. Next up is American Beauty guest programmed by writer Benjamin Law. https://youtube.com/watch?v=eTFCFThbwbo
UPDATE, December 16, 2022: Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths screens in Australian cinemas from Thursday, November 17, and streams via Netflix from Friday, December 16. Everyone wants to be the person at the party that the dance floor revolves around, and life in general as well, or so Alejandro González Iñárritu contends in Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths. In one of the film's many spectacularly shot scenes — with the dual Best Director Oscar-winning Birdman and The Revenant helmer benefiting from astonishing lensing by Armageddon Time cinematographer Darius Khondji — the camera swirls and twirls around Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho, Memoria), the movie's protagonist, making him the only person that matters in a heaving crowd. Isolated vocals from David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' boom, and with all the more power without music behind them, echoing as if they're only singing to Silverio. Iñárritu is right: everyone does want a moment like this. Amid the intoxicating visuals and vibe, he's also right that such instances are fleeting. And, across his sprawling and surreal 159-minute flick, he's right that such basking glory and lose-yourself-to-dance bliss can never be as fulfilling as anyone wants. That sequence comes partway through Bardo, one of several that stun through sheer beauty and atmosphere, and that Iñárritu layers with the disappointment of being himself. Everyone wants to be the filmmaker with all the fame and success, breaking records, winning prestigious awards and conquering Hollywood, he also contends. Alas, when you're this Mexican director, that isn't as joyous or uncomplicated an experience as it sounds. On-screen, his blatant alter ego is a feted documentarian rather than a helmer of prized fiction. He's a rare Latino recipient of a coveted accolade, one of Bardo's anchoring events. He's known to make ambitious works with hefty titles — False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is both the IRL movie's subtitle and the name of Silverio's last project — and he's been largely based in the US for decades. Yes, parallels abound. While dubbing Bardo as semi-autobiographical is one of the easiest ways to describe it, simplicity isn't one of its truths, even if the film champions the small things in life as existential essentials. Another easy way to outline Bardo: Silverio faces his choices, regrets and achievements as that shiny trophy looms, and ponders where his career has taken him, who it's made him and what that all means to him. From the filmmaker who first earned attention for telling narratives in a fractured, multi-part fashion (see: his debut Amores Perros, plus 21 Grams and Babel), and lately has loved roving and roaming cinematography that unfurls in the lengthiest of takes (see: Birdman and The Revenant), this was never going to be a straightforward affair, though. And so he weaves and wanders, and has the silver-haired Silverio do the same, while weighing up what's brought them both to this point. Bardo opens by visibly recalling Birdman, with a bounding force casting a shadow upon an arid land, but it's an early glimpse at a house from above that encapsulates Iñárritu's approach best. The home initially resembles a miniature, which Silverio then flits through — and, given its lead often segues between places and times like he's stepping through a doorway, the movie functions in the same manner. Sometimes, he's in a hospital corridor as his wife Lucía (Griselda Siciliani, The People Upstairs) gives birth to a baby boy who whispers that the world is too broken for him to want to live in, and is then pushed back into the womb. Or, he's picturing how a big TV interview with a bitter ex-colleague could go wrong, or shrinking down to childhood size to chat with his deceased father. Sometimes, Silverio is in Los Angeles holding a bag of axolotls, or striding through Mexico City streets that are empty except for corpses. Elsewhere in Bardo, Silverio has an argument with a US Customs Agent about whether he can say he lives in America, as part of the feature's interrogation of what it means to straddle two countries. But, he also refuses to fight when the family's housekeeper isn't allowed to join them at a swanky resort, with the film carving into its protagonist's contradictions. Also popping up: Silverio and Lucía's twentysomething daughter Camila (Ximena Lamadrid, On the Rocks) and teenage son Lorenzo (first-timer Íker Sánchez Solano), who are similarly tussling with the chasm between their heritage and the nation they've mostly called home, in the movie's multigenerational flourish. And, Bardo includes a recreation of the Mexican-American War, albeit with a brass band; a conversation with Aztec Empire-toppling Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés; and news reports about Amazon buying Baja California, as approved by the US Government. As ideas to unpack, enforced control over Mexico and willingly giving up ownership of one's Mexican identity never stray far from the picture's gaze. A film can deeply contemplate weighty topics, personal and universal alike, and be told with rampant self-indulgence. Bardo is one such movie. Its best moments pull its audience into the frame emotionally and psychologically, and into Silverio's shoes, but it's also meandering and blighted by distance. Iñárritu isn't alone in trying to understand who he is by excavating his own story, of course. 'Tis the time for it, as James Gray has also done with Armageddon Time, Paul Thomas Anderson with Licorice Pizza, Kenneth Branagh with Belfast, and fellow Mexican filmmaker and two-time Best Director Oscar-winner Alfonso Cuarón with Roma. Iñárritu's first movie in the seven years since The Revenant, and his first set and shot in Mexico in more than two decades since Amores Perros, Bardo stands out by imagining its guiding force now looking back, rather than just looking back itself — and by veering so sharply between overdone and brilliant. Thankfully, whether Bardo is at its trippiest or laying its thoughts and feelings bare — nodding to Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 and Paolo Sorrentino's The Great Beauty no matter what fits — Giménez Cacho demands attention. In a performance that's never a case of an actor flattering his director, self-critical sadness radiates from his eyes as Silverio processes his trauma, plus confidence and ambition when he's wading through applause and acclaim. He's electric in that standout party scene, and thorny and tender when the feature calls for either, all seamlessly. Bardo doesn't want to be a seamless movie overall, though. It wants to gyrate, drift and whirl, and for that sensation to sweep up its audience like a man cutting loose at a shindig in his honour. It also wants to ruminate on battles internal and external, and jostle its viewers in every direction like a man conflicted. It does both and, as its title references, it loiters and lingers. Top image: SeoJu Park/Netflix © 2022
Obsessing over mysteries is human nature. We're hard-wired to piece together puzzles, trawl through murky terrain and look for answers; in fact, you could say that's what life is all about. Gothic tales understand this. They take audiences to dark, strange, far-from-straightforward places, and as a rule we're more than willing to go along. They unsettle, unnerve and ooze with unease — and that's precisely what makes them so alluring. These are the sensations conjured my My Cousin Rachel as it immerses viewers in a story of love, death, money and mistrust. For Philip (Sam Claflin), that's also the feeling he gets from the film's title character (Rachel Weisz), his cousin by marriage. When she arrives at the Cornish estate he'll inherit upon his upcoming 25th birthday, he's bubbling with anger and intent on vengeance, believing that she murdered her husband. And yet Philip soon finds himself mesmerised by the new woman in his life, even if he can't quite quell his suspicions. A Gothic romance penned by Daphne du Maurier back in 1951 (and first brought to the screen one year later), My Cousin Rachel leans into its enticing climate of wariness; this is a movie where a stiff gust of wind leaves everyone shaken, and where flickers of candlelight cast telling shadows. Writer-director Roger Michell (Le Week-End) successfully bathes every frame of the film in tension, using his handsome period staging to further the mood. A grand old house in the English countryside — and one typically seen during the daytime, too — has rarely elicited such feelings of seductive discomfort. Simmering beneath the feature's mastery of tone, however, is an exploration of both the power of perception and the battle of the sexes. It shouldn't escape attention that Philip is quick to condemn a woman he doesn't know based purely on conjecture, nor that he mostly changes his mind — becoming determined to help her, and unable to hide his affection — when she pays him attention. Similarly, noticing the response that Rachel receives for wanting to live her own life, have her own money and make her own decisions is crucial. Indeed, for all of its talk of potential poisonings, subterfuge and betrayal, as well as its pondering of Rachel's true nature, perhaps the most perturbing element of the film is the bewildered reaction directed towards her for daring to be independent. Is she a killer? Does she deserve Philip's doubts? They're questions that My Cousin Rachel asks; questions that Weisz's inscrutable performance makes it impossible to answer. Ambiguity is often the key to Gothic narratives, drawing you in to themes and situations that have no easy answers. Weisz expresses that conflict perfectly. That probably wouldn't have been the case in another actor's hands, but, as she's made a career of doing, she inhabits the role of Rachel so completely that it's hard to imagine anyone else doing it justice. While Claflin does well playing the naive but stubborn Philip, the movie's real point of interest is right there in its name: an enigmatic woman, the talented actress that brings her to life, and the mystery that follows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C-q7by64mA
Based on the story of an erotic dancer and three tramps who try to use her to earn money, Bela Bartok's ballet The Miraculous Mandarin (1926) was banned immediately after premiering in Cologne, Germany, on the grounds of its scandalous morality. Rarely performed since then, the one-act show will be taking over Lower Town Hall on Friday, August 17. The event is a collaboration between student-run orchestra Ensemble Apex, conducted by Sam Weller, and dancers from Sydney Dance Company's pre-professional year program, directed by choreographer Nelson Earl. Also on the program are the world premieres of pieces by young composers Lewis Mosley and Josephine Macken, as well as Strauss's 'Dance of the Seven Veils' and Ravel's 'Introduction' and 'Allegro' for wind, strings and harp. Every ticket — $30 for adults; $10 for students and under 30s — includes a free drink, courtesy of Newtown-based brewer Young Henrys Images: Christie Brewster
The fact that it took 50 years to bring Misbehaviour's true tale to the screen is nothing less than remarkable. Following the protests staged by the women's liberation movement at the 1970 Miss World Pageant in London, it harks back to a noteworthy and important chapter of history — so much so that you would've expected filmmakers to have been clamouring to give it the cinematic treatment. A plethora of compelling topics are baked into this story, after all, including calling out the gross sexism inherent in objectifying women and ascribing their worth according to their looks, questioning society's narrow view of beauty and making plain the racial prejudice that's also frequently in play. But you don't need a movie about all of the above to tell you the obvious, and also the probable reason that a film about this incident hasn't existed until now. Much may have changed in the past half-century, but the feminist quest for recognition, fairness and equality in every way isn't over yet. Indeed, it's galling how many of Misbehaviour's observations about the way women are treated — and how women of colour fare on top of that — continue to ring true in 2020. Also rather telling: that, of the two big controversies that surrounded the pageant that year, this is the one that has finally reached movie-watching audiences. Again, Misbehaviour focuses on crucial events. It's a tale that should be told, about a battle that isn't over yet, and focusing on women who helped kickstart the progress that has been made over the last five decades. Still, the uproar that arose afterwards in response to the pageant's winner also speaks volumes. The result was questioned, for reasons this review won't give away even though it's a simple matter of record, and the extent of the narrow-minded attitudes cultivated and encouraged by such exercises in objectification couldn't have been more blatant. This film comes to a conclusion before then, however, simplifying what deserves to be a complex and multifaceted examination of the entire affair. Audiences might've endured a hefty wait to see the 1970 situation get any big-screen attention, but they don't have to wonder why Misbehaviour favours the approach its does for very long. Director Philippa Lowthorpe (Swallows and Amazons) and screenwriters Rebecca Frayn (The Lady) and Gaby Chiappe (Their Finest) are eager to pay tribute to pioneering feminists, but they're also very keen to make a feel-good, cheer-inducing movie that fits a clear formula. So it is that a seemly mismatched group comes together, united by the shared goal of improving how women are regarded by society, and decides to target the giant, glitzy and televised spectacle that is the Miss World Pageant — which 100 million people will watch. The two main instigators, aspiring history academic Sally Alexander (Keira Knightley, Official Secrets) and graffiti-spraying anarchist Jo Robinson (Jessie Buckley, I'm Thinking of Ending Things), are initially worlds apart, but squaring off against a common enemy has a way of bringing people together. Making a TV appearance after the protestors make their plans publicly known, Sally stresses one huge point: they're not rallying against the Miss World contestants themselves, but at the institution they're interacting with. Misbehaviour takes that view too, splitting its time — not in equal portions, though — between Sally, Jo and their pals, and also the women vying for the sash and crown. Jennifer Hosten (Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Farming), aka Miss Grenada, receives the lion's share of attention among the contenders. That said, Swedish favourite Maj Johansson (Clara Rosager, The Rain), US entrant Sandra Wolsfeld (Suki Waterhouse, The Broken Hearts Gallery) and 'Miss Africa South' Pearl Jansen (Loreece Harrison, Black Mirror) — a late addition after a journalist constantly questions why South Africa's competitor is always white — also get their moments. The film spends time with pageant founder Eric Morley (Rhys Ifans, Berlin Station) and the year's host Bob Hope (Greg Kinnear, Strange But True) as well, serving up two prime examples of the kinds of attitudes that Sally and Jo are trying to tackle. The result is exactly the type of rousing, overt and easy movie that Lowthorpe and her colleagues set out to make — a film that ticks all the boxes it has placed on its own checklist, but doesn't do anything more. That makes Misbehaviour spirited, heavy-handed and well-intended in tandem, and also immensely straightforward. Anyone familiar with the likes of Calendar Girls, The Full Monty and Swimming with Men will able able to spot the template at work, for instance, even though the narrative specifics vary significantly. Misbehaviour has the same shine and energy, too, and the same crowd-pleasing nature. Its recognisable cast all do what's asked of them as well, as seen in Knightley and Buckley's fight against the patriarchy, Mbatha-Raw's quiet determination to give women of colour more prominence, Ifans and Kinnear playing the slimy villainous roles, and Keeley Hawes (Rebecca) and Lesley Manville (Maleficent: Mistress of Evil) as the latter pair's other halves. In other words, being caught up in Misbehaviour's plot, purpose and impressively staged climax is almost a foregone conclusion. Being happy that it's hitting screens and telling this tale at all after all of these years is as well. But so is knowing that this is the most standard and clearcut rendering of this story possible — and noticing that, even as it completely avoids one big part of the pageant's aftermath, the film always keeps viewers well aware that there are other tales related to these events it could and definitely should be exploring and unpacking in more detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp3WjuJJYB8
After introducing its cookie pies to the world earlier this year — and serving up an OTT red velvet version, a gooey choc-hazelnut-filled one and a peanut butter and jelly variety as well — Gelato Messina is bringing the decadent dessert back yet again. This time, though, it's quite the Frankenstein's monster of a dessert. If you like fairy bread, cookie pies and Messina's gelato, prepare to get excited. Hang on, a cookie pie? Yes, it's a pie, but a pie made of cookie dough. And it serves two-to-six people — or just you. You bake it yourself, too, so you get to enjoy that oh-so-amazing smell of freshly baked cookies wafting through your kitchen. Now that you're onboard with the overall cookie pie concept, the fairy bread version really is exactly what it sounds like. That crunchy, crumbly cookie dough is filled with vanilla custard, then topped with more 100s and 1000s than you've probably seen since your childhood birthday parties. On its own, the indulgent pie will cost $20. But to sweeten the deal, the cult ice creamery has created a few bundle options, should you want some of its famed gelato atop it (vanilla is recommended for this particular pie). You can add on a 500-millilitre tub for $28, a one-litre tub for $36 or a 1.5-litre tub for $39. If you're keen to get yourself a piece of the pie, they're available to preorder from Monday, July 27 — with pick up between Friday, July 31 and Sunday, August 2 from your chosen Messina store. Once you've got the pie safely home, you just need to whack it in the oven for 25–30 minutes at 165 degrees and voila. You can preorder a Messina fairy bread cookie pie from Monday, July 27, to pick up from all NSW, Vic and Queensland Gelato Messina stores (except The Star). Melburnians are currently instructed to only visit their local cafe or shop, with Messina's Melbourne stores located in Fitzroy, Richmond, Windsor and, as a pop-up, in Brunswick East.
