Darling Quarter is pulling out all the stops during this year's Vivid Sydney. As always, the creative festival has an unmissable program of cultural events — with free live music in Tumbalong Park and pop-up cabaret bars joining all the showstopping light installations it's known for. Taking it one step further is Sip & Savour on the Green, which brings alfresco market-style eats to the recently redeveloped Darling Quarter. Until Saturday, June 18, ambient strings of fairy lights, rows of hammocks and live entertainment join a lineup of some of Sydney's best street-food vendors. Just moments away from the CBD, Tumbalong Park and Darling Harbour, Darling Quarter is the ideal spot to meet and eat before you begin your Vivid Sydney explorations. Feel like dim sum? Head to Delight Asian Cuisine for its selection of small bites. There are shish kebabs and toasties from Pocket Rocketz and nachos for everyone — the carnivores, vegos, vegans and gluten-averse alike — from Agape Organic Food Truck. If you're in need of a sweet treat, nab yourself a hammock and delight in a Nutella crepe from French Kiss Creperie, or try a scoop of Bubble O'Vivid, the limited-edition strawberry bubblegum ice cream from Gelatissimo that's sure to deliver a scoop of nostalgia too. Plus, joining the lights, music and street eats is the House of Bombay Bar, a pop-up watering hole slinging gin-laced cocktails courtesy of Bombay Sapphire, Vivid Sydney and Darling Quarter. If you grab a seat inside the bar, you can enjoy a six-course street-food degustation for $60 too. This stellar event is just the beginning for the precinct, so keep your eyes peeled — there's a bevy of restaurants and bars set to open over the year ahead. Heading to Vivid Sydney? Make a beeline for Darling Quarter and dine under the stars at Sip & Savour on the Green.
We've all been there: hankering for a bite to eat after a few drinks, a gig or a show, but unable to find anything that isn't fast food. Yes, Sydney's lockout laws might be behind us, but the city's dining scene isn't always able to serve up something satisfying when it comes to late-night meals — or, sometimes, even somewhere to grab a beverage. During Vivid, however, that's changing at a number of restaurants and bars around Circular Quay. During the huge citywide celebration of arts, music, culture and oh-so-dazzling lights, 12 spots are staying open later than usual. On the list: Bistecca, Lana, Besuto, Tapavino, Grana, Londres 126, Bar Mammoni and Bouillon l'Entrecote, all of which will trade till midnight Wednesday–Sunday throughout Vivid. And, if you'd prefer a late-night sip, Double Deuce, Mary's Underground, Apollonia and Maybe Sammy are doing the same — but until 2am. All dozen venues are expanding their trading hours across those five nights per week — so, every night except Mondays and Tuesdays — throughout the entire festival, which kicked off on Friday, May 27 and runs through until Sunday, June 18. That means that you can pair your plans to see talks, shows, concerts and luminous installations with an 18-course omakase experience, bistecca alla Fiorentina, steak frites, mezcal, burgers, cocktails inspired by The Godfather and mini martinis.
Here's a job that no one would want: choosing just eight of Martin Scorsese's movies to celebrate. Palace Cinemas have done just that, though. How the chain's team whittled down the iconic auteur's efforts to just that many, we don't know — but Sydneysiders can now see the results on the big screen at the Chauvel. Film buffs, get ready for Scorsese Season — because who needs spring or summer anyway? This retro showcase will run on Friday nights at 6.30pm from Friday, November 4–Friday, December 23, and it's all must-sees all the way. Given that the selection includes the seminal gangster flick Mean Streets and the Joker-influencing The King of Comedy, viewers are in for some Scorsese gold (and yes, Robert De Niro is as much of a feature as the director, with Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas and Casino screening as well). For those after a slice of Scorsese's later-career flicks — and his collaborations with Leonardo DiCaprio — then The Departed well and truly ticks that box. Rounding out the lineup: concert film The Last Waltz, aka one of the best examples of the genre you'll ever see
A home to sticky floors and debaucherous nights, Club 77 (or Sevs as it's often affectionately referred to) is now 25-years-old. The long-standing nightclub has been a go-to for packed dance floors throughout the last three decades, acting as a base for the renowned DJ collective BangGang and hosting world-conquering acts from across the globe. Just in time for its half-decade celebrations, the Sydney institution was given a revamp, with a new look, a new drinks menu from the Odd Culture crew and a new set of opening hours which will see it open 5pm–4am seven days a week. To celebrate, it's hosting a heap of big late-night parties including two blockbuster shows as part of Vivid's live music program. Taking place on Saturday, May 28 and Saturday, June 11, the two club nights have been coined 77 Live and will feature lineups curated by two renowned party collectives. The first night has been pulled together with the help of events organisation UNDR ctrl and will be headlined by a five-hour back-to-back set from beloved indie-pop producer Golden Vessel and electronic duo Close Counters. Accompanying the music will be lights and three-dimensional visual displays from artist Tom Vanderzeil under their Passive Kneeling moniker. Night two will also feature visuals from Passive Kneeling, with the music now in the hands of local collective Heavenly. Expect a wide-ranging array of electronic tunes from Heavenly including a set from ambient producer Cousin as well as FBi Radio mainstays Bria and Ben Fester. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmsvhQNuO-E
If you're looking for an afternoon deal this Spring, Sydney's inner-east seems to be the place to head. On top of regular long-running deals like Cafe Freda's $30 pasta and wine nights, Surry Hills and the surrounds have served up three huge food and arts festivals in Surry Thrills, Eastside Unlocked and the Heart of Surry Hills. In even better news: there's also a huge set of happy hour deals being rolled out across Surry Hills, Darlinghurst, Woolloomooloo and Potts Point throughout November. Happy Hours $20 Deals come from the same minds as Eastside Unlocked and has pulled together a massive lineup of food and drink deals. So, what are these deals? At Bar Nina you'll get a set of three rock oysters and a glass of prosecco, Giuls is offering truffle and cream pasta with a glass of wine, at the Burdekin Hotel you'll be served a schnitzel and a house beer, wine or spirit, or head to The Winery for two Surry Hills Spritzes. [caption id="attachment_800266" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Billy Zammit[/caption] Club 77 is making a date out of it and offering two of its 77 Dogs and two house beers, seltzers or natural wines for $20. And Butter has a different approach to the promotion, with deals on fried chicken wings, beers and slushies that can be added together for a $20 deal. There are dozens of other deals from venues like Bitter Phew, Dean's Lounge, Four Pillars Sydney Laboratory, Goros, Riley St Garage and Jangling Jacks just to name a few. Head to the Happy Hours website to see all the deals and when they're available.
When you're a major literary showcase, you're dedicated to not only celebrating words but examining the topical ideas they discuss, and you've weathered the considerable pandemic-inspired ups and downs that every event has over the past two years, what do you focus your next big fest on? If you're Sydney Writers' Festival, you embrace the chaos and uncertainty that's been inescapable of late — all thanks to a whopping 2022 program on the theme 'Change My Mind'. As Artistic Director Michael Williams explains, this year's SWF "is underpinned by a sense of urgency and a dedication to change. It is a response to a world where public debate is increasingly polarised and toxic." "Change My Mind is an invitation, a challenge and a promise of intent. Because uncertain times — a world divided and ruptured, at odds and in crisis — requires a willingness to be open-minded, and a commitment to generosity and reciprocity," Williams continues. That's what SWF will be skewed towards when it runs across Monday, May 16–Sunday, May 22, hosting almost 400 writers and thinkers across 234 events around the city. And, that theme for the year is particularly timely, too, given the event's proximity to the federal election. Taking to stage to get chatting: The Promise Booker Prize-winner Damon Galgut, To Paradise's Hanya Yanagihara, and Becoming Abolitionists writer — and human rights lawyer and activist — Derecka Purnell, who lead the international contingent of guests. Other global speakers will do the honours via livestream, which is how Rebecca Solnit (Orwell's Roses), Art Spiegelman (Maus) and Jennifer Egan (The Candy House) join the bill, alongside Claudia Rankine (Just Us), Julian Barnes (Elizabeth Finch), Sarah Winman (Still Life), Torrey Peters (Detransition, Baby) and Johann Hari (Stolen Focus), A trio of overseas-based Aussies will be doing the same: Warren Ellis, chatting about Nina Simone's Simone's Gum, and video-linking in ahead of his Australian tour with Nick Cave later in the year, plus Yassmin Abdel-Magied (Talking About A Revolution) and Steve Toltz (Here Goes Nothing). Free events are a big part of the program as well, with almost a quarter of the entire lineup costing zip to attend. Images: Prudence Upton.
A trip to the museum is always a winner. A free trip to the museum even more so. The Australian Museum — adjacent to Sydney's Hyde Park — is currently offering free entry to its magnificent permanent collections, so you can make fascinating discoveries, explore ancient cultures or simply delight in perusing the never-fail, out-there gift shop with ease. And now, they're taking the experience one step further with another run of Nights at the Museum. Until the end of June, Thursdays at the museum will mean opening hours extending into the night, musicians performing under soaring ceilings and a changing lineup of activities for you to get involved in. Did Lego Masters inspire you to get back on the blocks? Advance your Lego-making repertoire with 2.5 million coloured bricks at Jurassic World by Brickman — or head to Brickman Up Late for exclusively grown-up Lego fun. Make sure to keep an eye on the website for more program announcements. Examine clams and tusk shells in the malacology collection or wonder at wingspans both large and small in the entomology halls, then grab a drink from the pop-up bar as you bop to tunes from some of Sydney's best musicians. Expect a different performance each week, from the tropicana beats of Rufino and the Coconuts to the Sydney Youth Orchestra honouring the mastery of John Williams. In the April school holidays, bring your minis down for Dino Rave, where feet will be stomped and roars heard as DJ Yo Levins spins beats for groovers both alive and extinct. And in May, the resilience and strength of First Nations Peoples will be celebrated at Ngalu Warrawi Marri. When the weather cools off, Vivid Ideas will take up residence to bring boundary-pushing conversation and innovation to our ears. With the restaurant and gift shop keeping their doors open well into the night too, you're guaranteed all the good bits of a museum trip — at an after-dark time slot. Nights at the Museum will take place on Thursdays from 5–9pm till the end of June. Entry is free, with tickets required for select events. For more information, head to the website. Images: Anna Kucera
If there's one thing that sells a culinary experience to us that has nothing to do with the actual food or drinks we'll be consuming, it's the location. And, if the location is outdoors, under the stars and near a body of water, consider us sold. At the Barrington Coast Long Table Dinner that's exactly what you'll get. On Saturday, March 26, hatted First Nations chef Clayton Donovan will be at the helm of this one-off experience, curating an incredible dinner that champions produce local to the Barrington Coast region. Donovan has said the menu will tell a story of the region — "the place where the leaves touch the waters from the mountains to the sea" — and you can expect native ingredients to be incorporated throughout. The Barrington Coast Long Table Dinner will all take place at Yalawanyi Ganya (the Mid Coast Council Building) in Taree from 6pm. Tickets are $150 and the exclusive event is capped at 80 people. For more information and to book, the website.
When Dolly Parton sang about pouring herself a cup of ambition in the giddily catchy 80s hit '9 to 5' — the song that accompanied a film of the same name four decades back, now echoes in a stage musical as well and will never, ever get old — she wasn't talking about wine. But Zimbabwean quartet Joseph Dhafana, Tinashe Nyamudoka, Marlvin Gwese and Pardon Taguzu have lived up to those lyrics one glass of top-notch vino at a time, despite not drinking alcohol as Pentecostal Christians. Clearly, these men have quite the story to tell. It starts with fleeing their homeland under Robert Mugabe's rule, and then sees them each make new homes at considerable risk in South Africa, where they all also eventually found themselves working with the grape. In the process, they discovered a knack for an industry they mightn't have ever even dreamed of contemplating entering otherwise — and, in 2017, they took Zimbabwe's first-ever team to the World Wine Blind Tasting Championships in Burgundy, France. In the words of the always-great and ever-quotable Parton again, Joseph, Tinashe, Marlvin and Pardon waited for their ship to come in, and for the tide to turn and all roll their way. '9 to 5' doesn't actually have a single thing to do with Blind Ambition, the film that splashes through the Zimbabwean sommeliers' story, but their against-the-odds journey is equally infectious and uplifting. The Australian-made documentary about the foursome has also been likened to another on-screen underdog tale, this time about Black men seeking glory in a field that isn't typically associated with their country of birth. Blind Ambition isn't the wine version of Cool Runnings for numerous reasons — it hasn't been fictionalised (although it likely will be at some point) and it isn't a comedy, for starters — but the comparison still pithily sums up just how rousing this true story proves. The reality is far more profound than a Disney flick, of course. Making their second wine-focused doco of the past decade, Warwick Ross and Rob Coe — the former the co-director of 2013's Red Obsession, the latter its executive producer, and both sharing helming credits here — decant emotion aplenty from the moving and inspiring Blind Ambition. It flows freely from Joseph, Tinashe, Marlvin and Pardon's plights, which the film begins to drip out individually, harking back to before the quartet had even met, then blends together. Getting across the border was especially harrowing for Joseph, for instance, while ensuring that his new life honours his parents back home is particularly important for Pardon. Overcoming poverty and adversity echoes through their stories, as does the hope that their newfound affinity for wine brings — including via Tinashe's desire to plant vines on his grandfather's land one day. From those histories grows a keen eagerness to turn vino into their futures, and amid those dreams sits the World Wine Blind Tasting Championships. The activity that gives the competition its name is serious business; the first word isn't slang for getting black-out drunk or even just knocking back drinks to the thoroughly sozzled stage of inebriation, but describes how teams sample an array of wines without knowing what's rolling over their palates. Every national squad, all with four people apiece, is given 12 drops. From the six red and six white varieties, they must pick everything they can just by sipping — the grape, country, name, producer and vintage — to earn points. And, they also need to spit out the answers quickly, within two minutes of taking a taste. Yes, it's an event that you need to train for. No, it doesn't involve getting sloshed. As stressed verbally and visually throughout the doco, there's a specific — and very white — crowd for blind wine-tasting. It's also a pursuit marked by wealth and privilege, and by the access to a vast selection of different wines that springs far more easily when you come from or have access to both. Accordingly, Team Zimbabwe instantly stands out, not that its members ever let that stand between them and their next tasting glass. While Blind Ambition could've just stuck to the feel-good angle that gushes from Joseph, Tinashe, Marlvin and Pardon's efforts as outsiders within this insular realm, it smartly dives further, knowing that anything else would be too superficial and tokenistic. Accordingly, while the film celebrates their achievements, it also ensures that the racial and class divides that are as inherent to this part of the wine world — and to the wine world in general — as grapes fermented into alcohol remain as prominent as a red wine stain on a white tablecloth. That makes Blind Ambition a multi-layered movie with something to say as well as a heartwarming true tale to share, aka the kind of real-life situation that documentarians fantasise about. Heralding diversity and exposing its historical absence rank high among Team Zimbabwe's feats, and the footage that follows them training in South Africa and navigating the competition in Burgundy speaks volumes about the Eurocentric and money-driven industry they've plunged into. Competitive blind wine-tasting is a sport that requires coaches, too, and developments arise when both South African coach Jean Vincent Ridon and French wine expert Denis Garret become involved. All the way through, however, Joseph, Tinashe, Marlvin and Pardon's contagious joy, pride and enthusiasm for the field, for competing at the Olympics of the wine world, for the fact that their journey has taken them from refugees to finding a new calling, and for opening up the world to African vino, is never anything less than resonant. Like any standout plonk, wine or otherwise, Blind Ambition leaves viewers wanting more, though. Ross and Coe cover plenty in the film's 96 minutes, including postscript glimpses into the team's lives following their World Wine Blind Tasting Championships debut, but wishing for deeper notes at several stages along the way — the tension of the contest and its ins and outs, noticeably — is the prevailing aftertaste. While moderation is a wise approach to imbibing, parts of the film feel like just a sample themselves. It's still a delightful doco drop that lingers long on the cinematic palate, but another pour wouldn't go astray.
It's one of the city's best-known landmarks, so when the Sydney Opera House illuminates its sails, it stands out. You've seen the venue lit up for Vivid, to launch Mardi Gras and to support bushfire relief — and, as part of Badu Gili, the nightly showcase of First Nations artwork that was first launched in 2017. The harbourside spot is decking out its sails with projections every night until the end of March for its new Badu Gili series. This time around, Badu Gili: Wonder Women is back, focusing on the work and stories of six female First Nations artists. Curated by Coby Edgar, the Art Gallery of New South Wales' Curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Badu Gili: Wonder Women is a creative collaboration between the Opera House and AGNSW to mark the latter's 150th anniversary. As the sun sets each day, the Opera House's eastern Bennelong sail will illuminate with a vibrant six-minute animated projection. The animation will repeat three more times each night — approximately every hour, but the timing changes every evening depending on the season, events at the Opera House's Forecourt and daylight savings. The visual component of Badu Gili — which translates to 'water light' in the language of the site's traditional owners, the Gadigal people — will also be accompanied by a return of Badu Gili Live. The free outdoor music series will run throughout February and March, with performances each Saturday night and a pop-up bar run by the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence Kitchen. [caption id="attachment_753266" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Ken Leanfore[/caption]
Films about war are films about wide-ranging terror and horror: battles that changed lives, deaths that reshaped nations, political fights that altered the course of history and the like. But they're also movies about people first, foremost and forever: folks whose everyday existence was perpetually shattered, including those lost and others left to endure when hostilities cease. Quo Vadis, Aida? is firmly a feature about both aspects of war. It homes in on one town, Srebrenica, in July 1995 during the 1992–95 Bosnian War, but it sees devastation and a human toll so intimate and vast in tandem that heartbreak is the only natural response. A survivor of the war herself, writer/director Jasmila Žbanić (Love Island, For Those Who Can Tell No Tales) knows that combat and conflict happens to ordinary men and women, that each casualty is a life cut short and that every grief-stricken relative who remains will never forget their magic ordeal — and she ensures that no one who watches Quo Vadis, Aida? can forget the Srebrenica massacre, or the fact that 8372 civilians were killed, either. A teacher-turned-interpreter, the eponymous Aida Selmanagic (Jasna Đuričić, My Morning Laughter) is Žbanić's eyes and ears within the demilitarised safe zone established by Dutch UN peacekeepers. The film doesn't adopt her exact point of view aesthetically — we see Aida, and plenty; Quo Vadis, Aida? wouldn't be the same without the tenacity and insistence that radiates from her posture and gaze — but it lives, breathes, feels, roves and yearns as she does. What she translates and for who around the UN base varies but, as she roves, she's primarily a channel between innocents scared for their lives and the bureaucracy endeavouring to keep the Bosnian Serb Army away. She visibly feels the weight of that task, whether speaking for the injured, scared and hungry all crammed into the facility or passing on instructions from her superiors. Aida has a mother's and wife's motivations, however: above all else, she wants her husband Nihad (Izudin Barjović, Father), a school principal, to be with her and to be safe — and the same for their sons Hamdija (Boris Ler, Full Moon) and Sejo (Dino Barjović, Sin), obviously. It's a mission to even get them in the base, with Colonel Karremans (Johan Heldenbergh, The Hummingbird Project) and his offsider Major Franken (Raymond Thiry, The Conductor) determined to not show any appearances of favouritism, especially with so many other refugees pleading to be allowed in outside. But Aida hustles, including getting Nihad sent to negotiations with Serbian General Ratko Mladić (Boris Isaković, Last Christmas) as a town representative. And as the General's brash, cocky, swaggering troops start escorting out the base's inhabitants and putting them onto buses depending upon their gender following those talks, Aida makes every desperate move she can to save her family. Quo Vadis, Aida? equally chronicles and shares Aida's reaction to the chaos and trauma around her. With Nihad, Hamdija and Sejo's lives at stake, the peacekeepers that Aida is helping refusing to assist by expanding the protections she enjoys to her loved ones, and the UN making moves that bow to Mladić — refusing to act otherwise, more accurately — Žbanić's film was always going to bustle forward in lockstep with its protagonist's emotional rollercoaster ride. That said Quo Vadis, Aida? is also an exacting movie in laying bare the complexities bubbling within the base, and the broader scenario. Unflinchingly, it sees how ineffective the UN's actions are, as ordered from far away with no sense of the reality on the ground. It recognises how outnumbered the peace effort is in Srebrenica, too. It spies the ruthlessness of the General and his forces, as was destined to happen when given even the slightest leeway. And it also spots how determined Aida is to safeguard her family, all while hurrying around thousands of others in the same precarious circumstances but without the possibility of anyone even trying to pull strings in their favour. Unlucky not to win the Best International Feature Oscar in 2021, and also nominated for the Best Director BAFTA the same year — losing to Another Year at the former and to Nomadland's Chloé Zhao at the latter — Quo Vadis, Aida? is a taut, rigorous, resonant, unshakeably potent balancing act. Žbanić's narrative works with such a wealth of moving parts, and such a mass of complications within everything that the storyline juggles, that the result is an intricately packed powderkeg of a movie. And, it's a relentless onslaught, always hurtling along like its lead. Quo Vadis, Aida? doesn't flit by too quickly or fail to give attention to everything that needs it, though. Rather, it's an urgent picture poised around something that happened more than a quarter-century back, but will forever demand to be given weight and gravity — as the murder of so many people always should. Žbanić's regular cinematographer Christine A Maier perfects her own balancing act as well, her imagery rushing with Aida but eschewing lensing with anything but a grim, plain, naturalistic air. To look at, the combination is intense and also grounded, evoking the sensation of stepping into the scene as closely as possible. As edited by Cold War and Never Gonna Snow Again's Jarosław Kamiński, similarly with a pace and rhythm to match Aida's, the film is also tense to a heart-pounding, sweat-inducing, nerve-shredding degree. Quo Vadis, Aida? takes its title from the traditional Christian story that states that the apostle Peter, fleeing crucifixion in Rome, passed the risen Jesus and asked him "whither goest thou?"; in Latin, quo vadis? The answer he received: to Rome to be crucified again. Viewers don't need to know that tale going in to feel the depth of the movie's probing, but Žbanić couldn't have given her feature a more meticulous moniker. Amid the empathy and clear-eyed candour that marks the unforgettable Quo Vadis, Aida? again and again — as Aida peers through the barbed-wire fencing keeping not-so-fortunate townsfolk out, speaks words on behalf of Karremans and Franken she knows will prove false, and begs for anyone's assistance — Đuričić is remarkable. She's fierce, brave, resolute and resilient while wading through practicalities, horrors and stolen moments of hope alike, and every fibre of her being conveys Aida's torturous emotional journey. Traversing every move with her, and every feeling, is simply a foregone conclusion. That's as true in Quo Vadis, Aida?'s epilogue, too, which layers the film's despair and outrage with a survey of the reality for the genocide's survivors. Žbanić once again walks an unnerving tightrope with mastery: whither goest thou indeed.
North Sydney rooftop bar Green Moustache is transforming into a pink-hued floral oasis for spring to give you a dose of cherry blossom season with an activation running throughout October and November. The spring celebration includes a collaboration with Roku Gin for a limited-edition cocktail menu. Highlights of the cherry blossom-inspired drinks list include the Roku Garden, a combination of gin, creme de violet, lemon juice and egg white reminiscent of a gin sour; and the Spring in Osaka, which pairs Haku vodka, Skura syrup and lemon. You can book yourself in for a bottomless brunch which Green Moustache runs every Saturday and Sunday from 11.30am at $75 per person which includes a grazing board of cured meats, cheeses and olives, plus salt and pepper squid, ligorio cavatelli with smoked chorizo and two hours of bottomless rosé, prosecco and beer.
In Sydney bottomless brunches, lunches and dinners come in many shapes and sizes. From affordable affairs with reserved spreads, to next-level rooftop lunches that will set you back $100+ per head. While eastern suburbs spot Rocker has bottomless brunches on Thursday–Sunday, its Sunday afternoon special Rocker Sundays sets itself apart with a fun summer-ready selection of food and drinks alongside live tunes. Round out your weekend with a feast of share plates for you and your friends accompanying free-flowing bottomless rosé for $75 per person. On the menu, you'll find tasty treats like Sydney rock oysters, cauliflower hummus and fermented potato flatbread, burrata, and sweet pumpkin. Top the whole meal off and really embrace the warmer weather with happy hour deals on the restaurant's frozen margaritas. The weekly special is on offer each Sunday afternoon with happy hour running from 5–7pm. If you're heading earlier in the day, you can hit up Rocker's classic bottomless brunch which includes unlimited mimosas and house wine, plus a heap of Rocker favourites including oysters, roast chicken with celeriac puree, and chocolate fondant for $85 per person. Top image: Katje Ford
Sometimes, they do still make 'em like they used to: action-adventure rom-coms in this case. Drive a DeLorean back to 1984, to the year before Robert Zemeckis made DeLoreans one of the most famous types of movie cars ever, and the director's Romancing the Stone did huge box-office business — and it's that hit that The Lost City keenly tries to emulate. This new Sandra Bullock- and Channing Tatum-starring romp doesn't hide that aim for a second, and even uses the same broad overall setup. Once again, a lonely romance novelist is swept up in a chaotic adventure involving treasure, a jungle-hopping jaunt and a stint of kidnapping, aka exactly what she writes about in her best-selling books. The one big change: the writer is held hostage, rather than her sister. But if you've seen Romancing the Stone, you know what you're in for. Movies that blandly and generically recreate/riff on/rip off others will never be gleaming cinematic jewels; the good news is that The Lost City is neither dull nor dispiritingly derivative. Cinema has literally been there and done this before, but directors Aaron and Adam Nee (Band of Robbers) are gleefully aware of that fact and don't even pretend to pretend otherwise. Rather, they wink, nod, serve up a knowing tribute to the 80s fare they're following, and repeatedly make it as blatant as can be that everything they're doing is by design. Their tone is light, bouncy and breezy. Their cast, which also spans Daniel Radcliffe and a delightfully scene-stealing Brad Pitt, is always on that wavelength. Indeed, swap out the vibe or The Lost City's four biggest on-screen names and the film would fall apart, especially without Bullock and Tatum's charisma and chemistry. With them all, it remains by the numbers but also terrifically likeable. As penned by the Nees, Oren Uziel (Mortal Kombat) and Dana Fox (Cruella) — based on a story by Baywatch director Seth Gordon — The Lost City's plot is ridiculously easy to spot. Also, it's often flat-out ridiculous. Anyone who has ever seen any kind of flick along the same lines, such as Jungle Cruise most recently, will quickly see that Loretta Sage (Bullock, The Unforgivable), this movie's protagonist, could've penned it herself. Once she finds herself living this type of narrative, that truth isn't lost on her, either. First, though, she's five years into a grief-stricken reclusive spell, and is only out in the world promoting her new release because her publisher Beth (Da'Vine Joy Randolph, The United States vs Billie Holiday) forces her to. She's also far from happy at being stuck once again with the man who has been sharing her limelight over the years, Fabio-style model Alan (Tatum, Dog), who has graced her book's covers and had women falling over themselves to lust-read their pages. Loretta is hardly thrilled about the whole spectacle that becomes her latest Q&A as a result, and that makes her a distracted easy mark for billionaire Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe, Guns Akimbo) afterwards. He's noticed her new work, spotted similarities to the ancient riches he's chasing IRL, and gets his underlings to swoop in and snatch her up. His plan: leaning on Loretta's past as a serious historian to help him find his holy grail on a remote Atlantic island. She's given zero choice, but once the puppy dog-like Alan notices she's missing, he calls in expert assistance from devilishly suave and competent mercenary Jack Trainer (Pitt, Ad Astra). Of course, it doesn't take long for Loretta and Alan to be fleeing as an odd-couple duo, attempting to find the treasure, and endeavouring to avoid Abigail and his minions — and stay alive, obviously. 'Obviously' is a word that could be thrown at almost everything that occurs in The Lost City, but there's a gaping difference between being drably dutiful to a well-worn setup and having as much fun as possible with recognisable parts. Case in point: how Radcliffe enthusiastically hams it up in a part that's a simple next step from his TV work on Miracle Workers, but is always a joy to watch. See also: how the movie uses the long-locked Pitt, who clearly enjoys toying and parodying his own image, and is even introduced on the phone, unseen but audibly eating — which immediately deserves its place in the supercuts dedicated to his fondness for acting and noshing. And, another example: the liveliness that accompanies Pitt's big rescue scene, which is equally exciting and amusing. All of this epitomises The Lost City at its best. Well, that and the rapport between Bullock and Tatum. They're game for their tasks, which largely rely upon their familiar on-screen personas — she's sharp, he's a himbo, that contrast sparks screwball banter aplenty — and yet they shine as brightly as any long-lost gems. Also welcome: the fact that the age gap between The Lost City's key couple skews Bullock's way — she's 16 years Tatum's senior — and isn't turned into a big deal. Neither is the idea that a middle-aged writer could be attractive, or that wearing glasses, not always caring about your appearance and being smart don't instantly stop the same outcome. Having a 50-something female lead, treating her like an actual human, letting her intelligence and warmth be her defining traits: these shouldn't all feel as revolutionary as they do, but they're as dazzling as the pink sequinned jumpsuit that Bullock spends much of the movie traipsing around the jungle wearing. The Lost City knows that whole setup is ludicrous, too, in a film that unpacks the cliches that've always come with its chosen genre, updates its tropes for 2022 and still embraces goofy escapism. Bullock is comfortable in her role because she's played brainy rom-com women before; The Proposal and Miss Congeniality quickly come to mind. As for The Lost City itself, it's comfortable all-round because Bullock is its anchor — even with the joyously self-aware Tatum and Pitt, and the eagerly entertaining Radcliffe, always proving just as engaging to watch. Viewers can forgive the Nee brothers, then, for stretching the film out longer than the material genuinely supports. You can excuse the flabby spots because they're rarely flat as well, and because something new and silly tends to pop up seconds later. The movie a little too bluntly advocates for its own modest pleasures, courtesy of a speech by Alan about learning not to be embarrassed about modelling for Loretta's books, but it really didn't need to: Hollywood should still make thoroughly predictable yet still well-executed and gleaming-enough fare like this, and more often.
Penélope Cruz didn't score an Oscar this year for Parallel Mothers. Her husband Javier Bardem didn't win one for Being the Ricardos, either. And, just a couple of years ago, Antonio Banderas also didn't nab a shiny Academy Award for Pain and Glory — but the three acclaimed actors are all winners at the 2022 Spanish Film Festival. The annual cinema showcase spotlights not just Spanish but also Latin American cinema, and it's back for another Aussie tour throughout April and May — hitting up Sydney's Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Palace Central and Chauvel Cinema from Tuesday, April 19–Sunday, May 15. On the bill: 34 movies that hail from both regions, or tie into them in one way or another, including several with Cruz, Bardem and or Banderas at their centre. Kickstarting this year's Spanish Film Festival with the Cruz- and Banderas-starring Official Competition must've been the easiest programming choice in the fest's history. A filmmaking satire, it casts Cruz as a famous director entrusted to bring a Nobel Prize-winning novel about sibling rivalry to the screen, and enlists Banderas as a Hollywood heartthrob. Throw all of that together and it's clearly film festival catnip, as the movie's berths at overseas fests such as Venice, Toronto and San Sebastián have already shown — and it'll enjoy its Australia premiere as the Spanish Film Festival's opening night pick. The aforementioned — and sublime — Parallel Mothers is also on the lineup after releasing in Aussie cinemas earlier this year, if you missed it then. And, so are two Cruz-Bardem collaborations: Jamón Jamón, the pair's first film together, which marks its 30th anniversary in 2022, and 2017's Loving Pablo, which sees Bardem play Pablo Escobar. Of course, the Spanish Film Festival spans plenty of movies that don't star Spanish cinema's best-known acting names, too — with 2022 Goya-winning political drama Maixabel, fellow Goya-recipient Mediterráneo: The Law of the Sea, psychological horror flick The House of Snails, road-movie comedy Carpoolers, and the coming-of-age-focused Once Upon a Time in Euskadi also on the program. Or, there's Girlfriends, about childhood pals reuniting; dramatic thriller The Daughter, which hones in on a pregnant teen; mother-daughter drama Ama; the Himalayas-set Beyond the Summit; and The Cover, about a pop star impersonator. From the Cine Latino strand, ten films hail from the likes of Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic — including rom-com The Big Love Picture, thriller Immersion, the footballer-centric 9 and Goya-winner (yes, another one) Forgotten We'll Be. Plus, the lineup also includes Language Lessons, which is directed by and starring Natalie Morales (The Little Things), and also features Mark Duplass (Bombshell) — with the pair navigating an online setup to play a Spanish teacher and her student. And, there's sessions of the Spanish-language version of Disney's Encanto as well.
Art of either great or dubious origins. Airport facilities where items can be stored — art masterpieces included — without their owners abiding by taxation rules. Both played parts in Christopher Nolan's Tenet; however, it's no longer the only recent thriller to include the two. The Lost Leonardo doesn't feature a phenomenal heist of a disputed piece from a freeport, but it is as tense and suspenseful as its 2020 predecessor. It also tells a 100-percent true tale about the artwork dubbed the 'male Mona Lisa'. Exploring the story of the Salvator Mundi, a painting of Jesus that may hail from Leonardo da Vinci, this documentary is filled with developments far wilder and stranger than fiction (sorry not sorry Dan Brown). And while there's little that's astonishing about the film's talking heads-meets-recreations approach, it still couldn't be more riveting. Although the Salvator Mundi itself is thought to date to the 15th century, The Lost Leonardo only jumps back as far as 2005. That's when the High Renaissance-era piece was sold for US$1175, and when Alexander Parrish and Robert Simon, art dealers eager to dig up sleepers — works from renowned masters that've been mislabelled or misattributed — suspected there might be more to it. The pair tasked restorer Dianne Modestini with tending to the heavily overpainted and damaged work, which revealed otherwise unseen details in the process. Cue a now-prevailing theory: that the Salvator Mundi sprung from da Vinci's hands. That's a shattering revelation given that, despite the prominence that the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper enjoy, the list of surviving works attributed to da Vinci barely hits 20 — and that's with questions lingering over his involvement in quite a few. Uncovering one of his previously unknown paintings was always going to be huge as a result; locating it in such a way, and for so cheap, only bolsters the extraordinary tale. Debates over the painting's provenance have continued for the past 16 years, although that's not the only reason that The Lost Leonardo exists. The piece has increased in fame over the last decade thanks to two factors, including the Salvator Mundi's inclusion in a 2011–12 da Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery, London, placing it alongside the author's accepted works — and its sale for US$75 million in 2013, then for US$127.5 million, and finally again in 2017 for a whopping US$450.3 million. Its unglamorous discovery, the ongoing argument over authenticity, the legitimacy gained by exhibiting in one of the world's most influential galleries, that it's now the most expensive painting ever sold: these details are unpacked and analysed by writer/director Andreas Koefoed (At Home in the World) via his array of interviewees — and so is the fact that, when that mind-blowing sale occurred, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was the secretive buyer. It's little wonder that the filmmaker has chosen to unfurl the ins and outs of these remarkable events as if he's joining the dots and puzzling together the pieces right in front of viewers' eyes, making The Lost Leonardo a detective story of a doco. It isn't a new approach, let alone a unique or unusual one, but it savvily relies upon the combined force of a ripping yarn and rollicking storytelling. Within all those twists and turns also sits a vital examination of art, money and power. That works by artists such as da Vinci can end up lost at all is a marker of art's links to wealth and class, and of pieces being controlled by the rich behind closed doors to the detriment of the artistic greater good and public access. The same notions play out in the jaw-dropping Christie's auction, as bids rise to more than double the expected amount (which still would've made it the most expensive painting ever sold) and it becomes evident that the Salvator Mundi won't be purchased by a gallery for public display. The frenzied atmosphere, which the auction house stages like a piece of theatre, is all about control and status. Letting the world see a masterpiece isn't even an afterthought. An entire documentary could be made about that auction alone, and the techniques deployed to turn it into such a production. Case in point: a Christie's promotion that showed the emotional reactions of art lovers peering at the piece — ordinary folks all visibly moved, and also Leonardo DiCaprio. The reality that art is a business couldn't be painted on a larger canvas. That art is about prestige, too. In getting these points across, Koefoed's choices aren't always subtle — Sveinung Nygaard's (Huss) score would suit a heist film, there's a slow-drip pace to the documentary's early sections to ramp up the intrigue, and sparking a future fictionalised feature based on The Lost Leonardo feels like a clear aim — but everything about the film is always entertaining and effective. Here's hoping that certain-to-arise dramatisation turns out more like American Animals than The Goldfinch; the former was based on a true story, the latter on a Pulitzer Prize-winner for fiction, but the details here are so juicy, gripping, layered and important that they deserve to be told with the greatest care. As one interviewee puts it, it's the tale of finding a spaceship with unicorns on one's lawn. As the whole cast of talking heads explains — dealers, academics, restorers, art critics and buyers alike, vocal naysayers included — it's the story of commerce usurping creativity and history, regardless of the mystery behind the potential da Vinci work. Perhaps there'll even be a sequel: an NFT of Salvator Mundi now exists, because of course it does.
Natty wines are all the rage right now. From fizzy pét-nats to dry orange varieties, the organic and naturally fermented wines are now mainstays at wine bars, vibrant restaurants and independent bottle shops around the city. As part of its big summer lineup of events, Stanmore Road pub Public House Petersham is dedicating a Saturday in December to these tasty drops with the return of its Natty Wine Social. On Saturday, December 11, the inner west venue is showcasing an array of local Australian wine-makers creating natural drops. You'll be able to sample selections from producers like Doom Juice, Imbibo and Vinsight, who will all have members of their team on site to walk you through the wines. Alongside the wine experts, you and your friends will also be treated to tunes from Public House's roster of fantastic DJs, setting the mood throughout the day. Tickets are $49 and include all of your wine tastings plus antipasto and snacks throughout the afternoon. Once you've tasted your way through all the exciting wines, you can buy your favourites by the bottle to take home.
Finding the right New Years plans can be tricky — especially in a city as lively as Sydney, where hectic crowds can swamp your dreams of clinking champagne flutes and catching the fireworks. If you're after an elegant night out with good food, delicious cocktails and uncompromised views, you'll be happy to hear that tickets have been released for NYE at Watersedge at the iconic Campbell's Stores at The Rocks. Taking place from 7pm to 1am, the event is a surefire way to see in the new year in style. Expect a complimentary cocktail on arrival, bottomless wine and beer throughout the night, plus bubbles at 11:30pm to toast the new year while taking in the iconic Harbour Bridge views in front of you. The food menu is equally as exciting — a steady flow of canapés such as spicy tuna sushi and peking duck crepes will be making the rounds, while angus beef sliders and lamb ragu gnocchi will see you through the night — along with live performers and DJs curated by Rodd Richards Presents bringing you tunes on the dance floor. If you're after a more intimate affair, you can hire your own fully furnished VIP igloo for you and up to ten of your mates. It includes bottle service, a private entrance and cuisine from award-winning Japanese restaurant Bay Nine Omakase. First-release NYE Gold tickets start at $475. You can book your tickets here.
Some films are long, slow and serious. Others are brief, quick and fun. There's a place for the former, of course; however, Radical Reels champions the latter category, combining the most action-packed mountain movies it can find into a compilation of high-octane shorts. Radical Reels is the adrenaline-loving little brother of the Banff Mountain Film Festival, the prestigious international film competition and annual presentation of short films and documentaries about mountain culture, sports, and environment. From the most recent festival's batch of submissions, a subset of daring displays have been singled out for not just one evening at the cinema, but two — one at the Hayden Orpheum, the other at the Randwick Ritz. Between Wednesday, October 19–Thursday, October 20, Radical Reels will approach the very edge of action sports and natural highs: the wild rides, long lines, steep jumps, and skilled stunts, as well as the rugged playgrounds thrill-seekers explore on their mountain bikes, paddles, ropes, skis, snowboards and wingsuits. 2022 highlights include ski flick Maneuvers; Always Higher, about high diving; Arves-En-Ciel, focusing on walking between two rock towers on a slackline; and the wingsuit flying-centric Trustfall. Expect the world's best extreme athletes getting fast and furious — and expect quite the thrilling ride from the comfort of your cushy cinema seat, too. Top image: Arves-En-Ciel.
Whether you're catching a stone-cold classic or a brand-new release, if you're heading out of the house to see a movie, your picture-watching location is important. Everyone has their favourite cinemas — and, beyond the tried-and-trusted spots, plenty of pop-up venues keep getting in on the flick-screening action. Still, it isn't every day that you get to watch recent and retro features in an 18-metre dome. That's currently on the agenda in Wollongong thanks to the Winter Warmer Cinema Dome, which runs through until Sunday, August 28. Even if you're not usually the kind of movie to hit the road just to see a movie, this is one cinema-fuelled getaway you'll remember. On the bill at MacCabe Park: Top Gun: Maverick, aka a big-screen must-see that'll have you feeling the need for speed; the Marvel antics of Thor: Love and Thunder; and Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, thank you, thank you very much. You can also catch nostalgic sessions of Mean Girls, The Holiday, Frozen 2, Love Actually, Ice Age, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Grease, with tickets costing $30 per adult. And as well as the Cinema Dome, snacks are also on offer, because it wouldn't be a trip to the movies otherwise. And, the full Winter Warmer setup includes dining igloos and a winter market from Thursday, August 25–Sunday, August 28.
Back in 1988, when John Waters wrote and directed Hairspray, he couldn't have known what'd follow. The cult filmmaker's flick was a modest hit to begin with, but really became a sensation on home video in the early 90s. The film's star Ricki Lake, who made her big-screen debut playing 60s teen Tracy Turnblad, also became one of the decade's big talkshow hosts. That's a wild path for any movie to take, but Hairspray's story doesn't end there. A theatre adaptation followed in 2002, as did eight Tony Awards. Then came a new 2007 movie based on that stage musical. Yes, Hairspray has lived many lives — and in its latest, it's coming to Sydney. In its on-stage, all-singing, all-dancing guise, it'll spin the dance-loving Turnblad's tale of teen dreams and making a difference at Sydney Lyric from late summer, kicking off on Sunday, February 5, 2023. Turnblad has one specific fantasy, actually: to dance on The Corny Collins Show. And when she makes it, it changes her life — but she has more change to fight for, too. The story unfolds in 1962 in Baltimore, Maryland, where racial discrimination is an everyday part of life. So, Turnblad uses her newfound fame to advocate for a different future for everyone. Hairspray's Sydney run is a local staging of the original Broadway production, and with director Jack O'Brien (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Kinky Boots) guiding the show. Appearing on-stage in the new Aussie version, which comes to Sydney after premiering in Melbourne: Shane Jacobson, swapping Kenny's overalls, his numerous TV hosting gigs and appearing in seemingly every Australian movie made over the past decade for the role of Edna Turnblad, Tracy's mother (which was played by the inimitable Divine in Waters' movie, Harvey Fierstein on Broadway and John Travolta in the 2007 film). He's joined by Carmel Rodrigues as Tracy, Todd McKenney as Wilbur Turnblad, Rhonda Burchmore as the villainous Velma Von Tussle and Rob Mills as Corny Collins. Images: Jeff Busby.
Putting a spring in your step on an average Tuesday isn't the easiest thing to achieve. The last weekend is well and truly over, the next one seems forever away and you haven't even hit hump day yet. Putting some spice in your life is simple from 5pm on Tuesday, August 23, though. Your zesty escape: Salt Meats Cheese's Spice Meats Cheese dinner, a one-night-only affair that's all about drinks and dishes that pack a punch. On the menu: four courses of chilli-, nduja- and Sriracha-filled Italian dishes, starting with a spicy antipasto platter featuring chilli-marinated olives, spicy pecorino, sopressata, hot tromba and a homemade spicy capsicum dip. You'll also tuck into spicy beef polpette topped with Sriracha, spicy 'nduja and hot sopressa pizza, and a spicy rigatoni alla vodka made with Archie Rose's native botanical vodka. To wash it all down with, there are four cocktails to choose from — with your pick included in the $55 price. Sip a chilli-topped spritz, opt for a Tabasco margarita, or see what a cosmopolitan tastes like with a bit of that same hot sauce, too. Some are made with Archie Rose's native botanical vodka as well, including the Rhuby Tuesday, which includes fig and rhubarb syrup. Fancy more drinks? They'll cost you $18 a pop after your first one. Bookings for the Spice Meats Cheese dinner are essential — and Sydneysiders can hit up Salt Meats Cheese at Circular Quay and Cronulla.
How fitting it is that a film about family — about the ties that bind, and when those links are threatened not by choice but via unwanted circumstances — hails from an impressive lineage itself. How apt it is that Hit the Road explores the extent that ordinary Iranians find themselves going to escape the nation's oppressive authorities, too, and doesn't shy away from its political subtext. The reason that both feel ideal stems from the feature's filmmaker Panah Panahi. This isn't a wonderful movie solely due to its many echoes, resonating through the bonds of blood, and also via what's conveyed on-screen and reality around it, though. It's a gorgeously shot, superbly acted, astutely written and deeply felt feature all in its own right, and it cements its director — who debuts as both a helmer and a screenwriter — as an emerging talent to watch. But it's also a film that's inseparable from its context, because it simply wouldn't exist without the man behind it and his well-known background. Panah's surname will be familiar because he's the son of acclaimed auteur Jafar Panahi, one of Iranian cinema's best-known figures for more than two decades now. And Jafar's run-ins with the country's regime will be familiar as well, because the heat he's felt at home for his social commentary-laden work has been well-documented for just as long. The elder Panahi, director of This Is Not a Film, Closed Curtain and more, has been both imprisoned and banned from making movies over the years. In July 2022, he was detained again merely for enquiring about the legal situation surrounding There Is No Evil helmer Mohammad Rasoulof and Poosteh director Mostafa Aleahmad. None of the above directly comes through in Hit the Road's story, not for a moment, but the younger Panahi's characteristically defiant movie is firmly made with a clear shadow lingering over it. When filmmaking becomes a family business, the spectre of the parent can loom over the child, of course — by choice sometimes, and also purely thanks to their shared name. In the first category, Jason Reitman picked up his father Ivan's franchise with Ghostbusters: Afterlife, for instance; Gorō Miyazaki has helmed animated movies for his dad Hayao's Studio Ghibli, such as Tales From Earthsea, From Up on Poppy Hill and Earwig and the Witch; and Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral and Possessor are chips off The Fly and Videodrome great David Cronenberg's body-horror block. Panahi's Hit the Road also feels like it has been handed down, including in the way it spends the bulk of its time in a car as Jafar's Tehran Taxi and 3 Faces did. That said, it feels as much like the intuitive Panah is taking up the same mission as Jafar as someone purely taking after his dad. Hit the Road's narrative is simple and also devastatingly layered; in its frames, two starkly different views of life in Iran are apparent. A mother (Pantea Panahiha, Rhino), a father (Mohammad Hassan Madjooni, Pig), their adult son (first-timer Amin Simiar) and their six-year-old boy (scene-stealer Rayan Sarlak, Gol be khodi), all unnamed, have indeed done as the movie's moniker suggests — and in a borrowed car. When the film opens, there's no doubting that the kid among them sees the world, and everything in general, as only a kid can. The mood with the child's mum, dad and sibling is far more grim, however, even though they say they're en route to take the brood's eldest to get married. Their time on the road is tense and uncertain, and also tinged with the tenor of not-so-fond farewells — and with nary a glimmer of a celebratory vibe about impending nuptials. If the boy senses the sorrow hanging thick in the van, it doesn't trouble him; existence is simple when you're just a kid in a car with your family. Initially, he plays with a makeshift keyboard drawn onto the cast over his dad's broken leg. Throughout the ride, he chatters, sings, does ordinary childhood things and finds magic in the cross-country journey. He throws a tantrum when, not long after the feature starts, the family has to stop to hide his mobile phone. And, he shows zero knowledge about what eats at the rest of his relatives. But mum worries they're being followed, and just worries overall; big brother has little time for any frivolities, preoccupied as he is with the future ahead; and dad is gruff but caring, torn between his physical ailments and the vastly different situations surrounding his two offspring. In the back, their dog Jessy is also unwell, another truth that's being kept from boy and complicates the vehicle's dynamic. Every venture away from home, whether during a leisurely drive or for more serious reasons, spills out its joys, thrills, woes and secrets as it unfurls; that's the best way to watch Hit the Road as well. Cinema's second-generation Panahi crafts a bittersweet and beautiful film that's alive with minutiae, and with moments that overflow with insight and emotion — and, as lensed by Ballad of a White Cow cinematographer Amin Jafari, with as much feeling conveyed visually as via the movie's pitch-perfect performances. Sarlak's lively portrayal and the detail that comes with it says everything that's needed about trying to claim a slice of normality within Iran today, and how tricky that is. The feature's stunningly shot frames are just as telling, every sequence adding meaning and spectacle. Three in particular, all late in the piece and involving fraught exchanges, nighttime stories and heartbreaking goodbyes, rank among the most mesmerising images committed to celluloid in recent years, in fact. In one such standout scene backdropped by a misty field, the camera remains at a distance as it observes the family splintering. In its sense of remove, it lets their ordeal act as a broader portrait, serving up a statement via a microcosm. In another glorious moment, father and son take in the evening sky and also appear to surreally float within it — in a nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey, which the other son names as his favourite movie. In the third scene, light and movement carve through a hillside like much has carved through the film's central family and their country. Hit the Road includes delightful to-camera sing-alongs, too, and deadpan humour, plus striking shots of both sandy and verdant landscape. It's clear-eyed and also dreamy, weighty yet comic, intimate as well as sprawling, and realistic but playful. It's a fable, a snapshot and a message in one, and it's as tender as it is heartbreaking. Hit the Road is a movie to travel along several routes with, as Panahi does, each fork along the way as revelatory as the end destination.
Come on Barbie, let's go party — at Sydney's one-night-only Barbie-themed shindig. Add this to the pile of events that never want you to grow up; if you've been to an adult Lego night, enjoyed Disney-themed shenanigans or gotten nostalgic with some So Fresh-soundtracked revelry, you'll know the feeling. Here, life in plastic, it's fantastic. So is pink as far as the eye can see. Also on the bill at Manning Bar from 8pm–2am on Friday, September 16: 'Barbie Girl' sing-alongs every hour, because what else is going to pump through the speakers? Actually, you can expect pop tunes aplenty. Amid the shape-making, attendees can also add some sparkle at the free pink glitter station. Drinks-wise, you'll be sipping Barbie-themed cocktails — think: 'Barbie juice', 'Ken's punch' and 'doll drank'. Free Chupa Chups and fairy floss are on the menu as well. Dressing up in Barbie-style attire, or pink at least, is clearly a must — and yes, you'll get plenty of chances to take snaps as part of your $29.10 ticket. And if you're wondering why this event even exists, the Barbie Party is getting in early to celebrate the Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie movie. So, channelling your inner Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling is on the agenda, too.
Sydney's urban oasis Pocket City Farms is opening up its greenhouse this weekend and selling $1 seedlings for all you aspiring green thumbs out there. The sale includes nine different seedlings, including curled green dwarf kale, red beetroot, purple kohlrabi, rainbow chard and broccoli leaf spigarello. And you can nab them in packs of five for just five bucks. All of the farm's veggies are grown using chemical-free practices too. With social distancing in mind, all seedling sales will be available through pre-purchase only. Two pick-up slots are allocated from 10am–12pm on Saturday, August 1 and 11am–12pm Wednesday, August 5. Free delivery is also available from 12–4pm on the Wednesday (with a $20 minimum purchase). While walk-up sales will not be permitted, you can complete your order while waiting in the queue on the day. But the seedlings are subject to availability, and you'll be able to list your preferences when you pre-order. Substitutions may be necessary — but for one dollarydoo a pop, you can hardly complain. Apart from the seedlings, you can also add any other offerings from PCF's online shop to your order, including pickles, preserves, honey and merch. It'll all be ready for you to pick up during your designated time slot. https://www.facebook.com/pocketcityfarms/photos/a.325775257516821/3169631103131208/?type=3&__tn__=-R Image: Luisa Brimble
If you made your way through most of Netflix during iso and are now wondering how else to while away winter, never fear. Regional NSW town Orange is bringing a brand-spanking-new streaming service to your screens. An antidote to all the hours spent at home, it'll offer a bunch of locally produced shows that celebrate the region. With Orange recognised as one of Australia's finest culinary regions, you can expect food and drink content aplenty. Aptly dubbed Very Local, the subscription-style service will transport you to the depths of the Central West's winter. It's set to launch on Friday, July 31, coinciding with the annual Orange Winter Fire Festival, and will feature everything from A-class chefs and winemakers to artist studio sessions and stunning cinematography of the local landscape. You'll catch veteran winemaker Phillip Shaw in conversation with renowned wine critic Peter Bourne and, to really be a part of it, you can get a wine pack delivered. Be warned, though, it'll set you back a cool $477, but comes with four seriously good drops. Another highlight is Fire, Family and Friends, where former Rockpool chef Dom Aboud, who now runs The Union Bank restaurant and bar in Orange, and Michael Chiem of lauded Sydney bar PS40 prep a mean feast. There'll also be a stargazing session that focuses on First Nations peoples' knowledge and stories of the skies and a tasting with Pioneer Brewing's Pete Gerber. For the latter, you can get the brews delivered, too, so you can join in the fun from the comfort of your couch. There'll also be a dedicated Slow TV channel that'll showcase the likes of the traditional Japanese technique of making miso, scenes from local vineyards, scapes of mountainside forests and a 24-hour bonfire, which will bring the hygge vibes in spades. It'll run for a month and set you back $25 for a season pass, which will give you unlimited access to the program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYTdsN7oyWU&feature=youtu.be The inaugural season of Very Local launches on Friday, July 31 and will run till Monday, August 31. To sign up, head here. Images: Orange360 and Destination NSW
Record stores aren’t just retail outlets. They’re alternative schools for the musically challenged, sites of identification and rebellion, and burning hot crucibles for new bands — if not entire movements. For a while, however, we feared that the digital revolution would turn all of that into a relic of the past — a thing relegated to nostalgic, drunken reruns of Empire Records, High Fidelity and Good Vibrations. To an extent, the fear was justified. We’ve seen quite a few legendary institutions kick the bucket. Bondi, for example, lost one of the few remaining portals into its more bohemian past when its Campbell Parade record store closed. But as the old adage goes, you can’t keep a good man, woman or album collection down, so record stores have been making a serious comeback. And to keep the punters off downloads and onto discs, they’ve been doing things in even quirkier, bigger ways than ever before. One of these is annual international Record Store Day, now in its sixth year. On Saturday, April 19, music shops all over the world will host live gigs, interviews, special sales and much-anticipated new releases. In Sydney, The Record Store Darlinghurst, will be transforming into one enormous turntablism showcase featuring Broke, Raine Supreme, Clockwerk, Katalyst, Speedracer and Morphingaz. The party will continue after 6pm at Play Bar. Utopia, Kent Street, will be selling more than 100 exclusive RSDA titles and giving away all kinds of goodies, from Golden Tickets to The Enmore to box sets. At Repressed, you can expect a bunch of exciting new releases, including the Oh Sees' latest album and reissues from Dead Moon. And if you’re spending Record Store Day at the Royal Easter Show, catch ambassador Marcia Hines singing at WOW Music at 1pm.
In today's unpredictable world of infighting, internets and readily available guitar tabs, it's more probable than ever before that the biggest fan of a band will end up actually in the band. Ron Wood joining the Rolling Stones, Robert Trujillo joining Metallica, and now Jon Davison joining English progressive rock legends Yes (that's right, Yes) as their latest vocalist. "I'm still a Yes fan," he says from somewhere in Los Angeles. "I can't help it, these things happen. In instrumental sections where I'm holding back, I get caught up in thinking 'wow, here are these amazing musicians I've always admired just a few feet away from me — and I have a better view that anyone in the audience!'" With the sprightly American as frontman, the 50-million selling princes of prog are heading to Australia to perform their two finest releases, Fragile and Close to the Edge, from start to finish. I've played with bands for which these albums were like holy texts, and Davison doesn't dispute it. "Close to the Edge is, I think, based on the teachings of Siddhartha — a soul's journey through many lifetimes. It's very beautiful but there's a lament in it, about what the soul must endure, the challenges and the hard lessons we face as we go on. That's how I interpret it." There has been a "touch of the metaphysical" in most of Yes' output, and Davison still decodes their evocative and often cryptic lyrics from the stage. "It's not always a clear meaning. I approach the lyrics more emotionally I guess, but there are parts of songs that I very much relate to. 'And You And I' is heart-expanding, and I love 'Starship Trooper'. Those uplifting ones." Dotted throughout Fragile, meanwhile, are tracks focused on individual band members, the vocal showcase being 'We Have Heaven' — a gloriously overdubby affair. "I'm working on my own version of it now actually, in my home studio. I won't do any of [founding member of Yes] Jon Anderson's tracks, but I'll loop my voice a lot, and possibly Steve and Chris will do some other vocals too. We're going to make it as much of a live track as it can be." Anderson was an expectedly huge influence for Davison while he was finding his own voice, though they haven't become acquainted at any Yes parties yet. "I haven't had the privilege of actually meeting him, but a few who know him quite well say we would be good friends. I hope it happens eventually." The upcoming album will be the band's first with Davison, and they're champing at the bit to keep being, well, progressive. "I was very much encouraged by the others not to try to reference anything in the past, because then you compare and end up restricting yourself creatively. We've been aiming to only move forward and break new ground. Even in their heyday the band were making mindblowingly distinct albums, and we're aiming for that now. There's a real freshness to it; it moves in a new direction and accurately reflects this five-member line-up, just as it should." Despite being the lone American in a band comprised of people old enough to be his English dads, Davison is unfazed. "It's surreal but I seemed to fit in right away. They're very accommodating. What we share in common, of course, is the music — we both speak that language, despite our ages." And in a perfect world, would he sing in any other of his favourite bands? "I'd love to be a part of early Genesis. I wouldn't mind being Freddie Mercury for a day either, that would be pretty exciting." https://youtube.com/watch?v=_RJYxDfsvdg
It seems so easy these days to make new friends and contacts — online. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tindr, Grindr: it's all as easy as a swipe right or a follow. But what about that old-fashioned, chaotic mess of serendipity that is meeting people in real life? That, you're probably doing far less often. What do you even say to start chatting to a stranger without sounding creepy, weird, desperate or simply too networky? Some tips from communication expert and social coach Russy Ross from the Social Collective should get you on your way. He’s coming to Redfern’s Work-Shop HQ to run a class by the name of The Coffee Shop Networker: The Art of Meeting People, Anywhere, Anytime. You walk in there with a pen, a notebook and the fiercest case of social awkwardness since Napoleon Dynamite. You walk out with the tools to turn on your charisma, ease and smarts, whenever you need them. Russy Ross will demonstrate that approaching people and keeping a conversation flowing is a much easier and more enjoyable task than you think.
ATTN: Curious kittens, nosy parkers and those on a tight budget, your favourite day of the year is back. Wellington Open Day, when the capital throws open her doors for locals and tourists alike, lets punters catch up with the city's museums, bars, and attractions for no more than a gold coin. Ever wanted to meet a Red Panda, peek behind the scenes at Wellington's most famous church or trawl through the BNZ museum's history of banking? Well, you're in luck as the zoo, Old St Pauls and the BNZ Museum (who even knew we had one of those?) will be among the 20 spots open to the public. Those of a more hedonistic bent, the Harbour City has not forgotten you. You can brush up you cocktail skills at bars Motel and Library, where a gold coin will get you a lesson in mixology - Masterful mojitos at Motel and classic Champagne cocktails at Library. Alternatively, if you're keen to commune with nature, Zealandia, the zoo in Newtown, Walk Wellington and Stagland's Wildlife Reserve are all yours for the hiking, for a mere buck or two. And that's just for starters. More than eight of the Capital's museums are in on the big day, along with Toi Whakaari Drama School , the Carter Observatory and plenty more. And before you feel too selfishly overindulgent, the gold coins do go to charity - so it's a double whammy of culture and good deeds. Bonza. It's likely to be a popular day so start early and expect a bit of a queue.
Melbourne's gentlemen of synth-pop are out spreading the good vibes and, as always, packing out the dance floor. Cut Copy's fourth album, Free Your Mind, was released last year and is probably the closest thing they have to a concept album, as it is hugely influenced by the Summers of Love in 1967 and 1989 according to lead singer Dan Whitford. It's strange to think that it's been 10 years since Cut Copy's debut album, Bright Like Neon Love, was released but at the same time exciting to see a band that tackles new ground while staying true to their original ideals. If their latest performance at this year's Golden Plains is anything to go by, punters can expect plenty of the new stuff and past favourites such as 'Hearts On Fire', 'So Haunted' and 'Need You Now'. Touch Sensitive and Nile Delta will be joining Cut Copy for a night that is sure to be all about the lights and music. Read our interview with Cut Copy. https://youtube.com/watch?v=xPRJVKtrCCk
Transcendence feels like a movie out of time. For one, it seeks to pack far too much into its 119-minute run-time, but — more to point — it feels like a movie that's 14 years too late, and not just because it specifically references Y2K without any irony or reminiscence. Set in the 'could be today, could be tomorrow, but in no way distant' future, it concerns itself with married couple and MIT-supergraduates Will and Evelyn Caster (Johnny Depp and Rebecca Hall). They, along with friends and colleagues Max (Paul Bettany) and Joseph (Morgan Freeman), are amongst the world's leading engineers in the pursuit of a fully functioning, self-aware artificial intelligence. Opposing them is a group of militant luddites operating under the banner of 'Unplug', which again — in the age of wireless — seems markedly dated for such a forward-thinking movie. When these 'Unpluggists' (as they're definitely not called) launch a series of coordinated attacks against AI-focused research centres, Will winds up mortally wounded, albeit in a manner so unnecessary and bewildering that it's a genuine mystery how and why it was ever included in the plot. As his final days draw near, Evelyn decides to upload his consciousness to a mainframe in the hope that he can live on inside the machine. It's at this point that things turn bad for both the characters and the film. The compelling ethical questions raised in the first act largely fall away, dismissed with the apathetic resignation of 'oh well, we went and did it so what does it all matter now?' As Will's intelligence rapidly surpasses that of humanity's — a theoretical moment known in conventional science as 'the singularity' and in the film as 'transendence' — his aspirations and ideas become, just like the movie, too broad, too incorporeal and too numerous. Moments of extraordinary innovation and emotion, such as the bestowing of sight upon a man who'd only ever known blindess, are shown and then dispensed with absent almost any sentimentality or drama. It's not that any of the ideas are necessarily bad, it's just that any one or two of them would have made for an excellent film, whereas all of them combined prove little more than a confusing and threadbare mess. The glue that binds it all together is the delightful Rebecca Hall, whose performance as the dutiful, then grieving, then wilfully blind accomplice to Will's increasing 'transcendent interventionism' instills some much-needed humanity to the film. Her stubborn refusal to acknowledge the possibility of confirmation bias in believing the AI she's interacting with is anything but her dead husband is both moving and unsettling, demonstrating how important objectivity is in any scientific pursuit, let alone one with global implications. The recent, exceptional Her raised many of the same questions relating to artificial sentience, and — to put it plainly — did it much better. Given the rate of technological advancement, there's an undeniable sense of inevitability when it comes to the singularity, and doubtless we'll soon see many more films exploring the possibilities (and dangers) of blurring the lines between man and machine. The issues are genuinely fascinating, though future films would do well to learn lessons from Transcendence and explore just one of them instead of all of them. https://youtube.com/watch?v=QheoYw1BKJ4
This article is sponsored by our partners, Jameson Irish Whiskey. If you thought St Patrick’s Day was all four-leaf clovers, fiddlers and little people, you can think again. This year, Jameson Irish Whiskey and Ivy are teaming up to present Sydney’s first ever St Patrick’s Live. It’s a global festival that uses Ireland’s national day as an excuse to throw parties in cities all over the world — from Prague and Stockholm to Buenos Aires and Mumbai. Rather than resorting to a watered-down, touristified version of Irish culture, it aims to deliver a more authentic St Pat's Day celebration — as you might experience it in contemporary Ireland — complete with live bands and street stalls. Needless to say, world headquarters are firmly grounded in Dublin. This is the very first time, however, that St Patrick’s Live has made it to the Asia-Pacific region. In Sydney, the centrepiece will be a four-act live music lineup that's rather unlike what you're accustomed to seeing on 'themed' Irish pub programs. Party starters are Furnace and the Fundamentals, followed by Aussie hip-hop faves The Thundamentals. Then there’ll be guaranteed dance floor madness with Hot Dub Time Machine and Yolanda Be Cool. DJ Shantan Wantan Ichiban, who FBi listeners might know from Stolen Records, will be doing the hosting. Once you’ve worked up an appetite, you’ll be able to partake in some serious indulgence at the onsite markets, where you’ll discover a tempting selection of Jameson-inspired beverages and eats. Several independent fashion designers and craftspeople will also be peddling their wares, including triple-scented soy wax candle specialists Seer Footwear, Birichino Bikes and The Dining Dead, who turn cutlery into handmade jewellery. St Patrick’s Day Live will happen at Ivy on Sunday, March 16, between 3pm and 9pm. Tickets, at $50 a pop, are on sale now. Please enjoy Jameson responsibly.
It is with a triple bill as spectacular as it is diverse that the Sydney Dance Company erupts into its 45th year. Interplay opens with the measured elegance of 2 in D Minor, an exquisite physical imagining of Bach's solos for the violin, before exploding into the formidable visceral chaos of Raw Models. Utilising the entire company, L'Chaim rounds out the evening with a colourful comment on the life and art of the modern dancer. Artistic director Rafael Bonachela's own choreography in 2 in D Minor lends a stunning physicality to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Prodigious violinist Veronique Serret gives voice to Bach's extraordinary Partita 2 in D Minor, while the soloists, duos and trios of dancers around her lend it a compelling physical form. The staging is simple and powerful. Fluorescent white light cuts through an oppressive darkness, while dancers dressed in homogeneous black suits evoke the anonymity and uniformity of the urban worker. Bonachela plays poetically with the fluctuating relationship between music and dance. Weaving agonisingly beautiful solos, Veronique is alternately obeyed, feared and ignored by the dancers: is she directing or describing them with her music? Electronic interludes by composer Nick Wales expose the harsher undercurrents of Bach's masterpiece and of the dancers themselves, whose movements become raw and animalistic without losing any of their grace. With the commencement of Raw Models, the animal within the dancer finally takes over. A reimagining of Jacopo Godani's well-received 2011 work, Raw Models fuses a bold, industrial electro-acoustic score with Godani's intensely primal choreography to create a stark portrait of "how weak, fragile, empty and programmable we are". Raw Models allows just enough softness into its dissonant landscape to underscore the humanity of its powerful contortionists bathed in alien green light. Godani's masterful, futuristic creation is an unnerving expression of the battle between who we are and who everybody else expects us to be. Finally, Gideon Obarzanek's L'Chaim is a kaleidoscope of colour and symmetry. Based on the Socratic notion that "an unexamined life is not worth living", L'Chaim exposes its dancers to the questioning of an initially unidentified voice in the audience. Is it a casting agent? A choreographer? Or is it you, interrogating the dancers to find the meaning that their movement holds in your own life? David Woods' comedic script is fresh and fun and will have you laughing out loud but also makes a darker comment on the dancer as a replaceable commodity. This is thrown into starkest relief with the question to the eldest member of the cast, David Mack at 32: "How long do you have left, David?" Accessible, provocative and entertaining from start to finish, Interplay's triumphant triple bill will delight contemporary dance connoisseurs and newbies alike, and makes clear why the Sydney Dance Company remains Australia's darling after 45 jam-packed years in the business. $30 Under 30 tickets are available Tuesday - Thursday.
Condensing the life story of Nelson Mandela into a single film is a daunting task. This is not just because the man went from being an agitator to a political prisoner to the first black president of South Africa (spoilers), but because the emotional connection the entire world has with one of the most significant anti-racism warriors is not a light one for a film to take on. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is not exactly up to the task. If this film is undone by anything, it's the biopic form itself. No film exists in a vacuum, and it's impossible to ignore that this biopic possesses basically the same narrative structure as most other activist/musician/politician/author biopics: begins, falls, rises. Which was the tagline to the Dark Knight trilogy, now that I think about it. The problem isn't that the film is reductive in its portrayal of Mandela's life — especially as it at least appears willing to show him at both his best and his worst — but that it is too reverential of its form. Director Justin Chadwick, best known for 2008's The Other Boleyn Girl, does not take any strong stylistic liberties with Mandela's story, but given the film feels frustratingly familiar, I rather wish he had. Idris Elba is very good in the role, and looks far more like Mandela than you might initially think. Oddly, he seems more comfortable playing the aged Mandela than the youthful one; the film itself echoes this feeling, significantly more at ease with Mandela the Forgiving Leader than Mandela the Righteous Terrorist. Winnie Mandela, who has, in many quarters, been retroactively painted as a villain in Nelson Mandela's life story, is given a much fairer shake here, in what is one of the film's better decisions. Although Winnie is depicted in the same generic strokes as everything else in the film, it at least acknowledges her best and her worst aspects, and that fairness is Mandela's saving grace. It doesn't hurt that Winnie is played by Naomie Harris, one of the UK's best actors, although her natural charisma is not given much room to shine through. The best thing that can be said of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom is that it refuses to play in the same sandpit that the media did following the man's death last year, refusing to engage exclusively with the picture of Mandela as the genial statesman. The film is prepared to explore the elements of Mandela's past that would see him labelled a terrorist, and even if these are dealt with only perfunctorily, this sandpapering comes across as a result of the storytelling form rather than a politicised motivation. The worst thing that can be said of the film is that it is only superficially illuminating, briefly informative; the drama is only mildly engaging, the imprisonment distantly horrific. It insists upon keeping us at an arm's length for its not inconsiderable running time. Like a sign language-faking impostor at a funeral, the moves all look right to the untrained eye, but are, ultimately, devoid of all meaning. https://youtube.com/watch?v=hmm-aazQQKA
One of Shakespeare’s later works, The Winter’s Tale is a “problem play” for its disparity between tragedy and comedy, oscillating from one to the other like the debate on Climate Change. However, director John Bell's interpretation happily and deliberately doesn’t foreground logic as a primary function of storytelling. The play starts in the tragic, dramatic mode: King Leontes (Myles Pollard) falls prey to an irrational jealous rage and accuses his pregnant wife, Queen Hermione (Helen Thomson), of philandering with his best friend, King of Bohemia Polixenes (Dorian Nkono). Then, despite the good counsel of his suited-up advisors, Leontes gets Camillo (Philip Dodd) to kill his best friend (but instead they escape to Bohemia), banishes his wife to prison and orders the abandonment of his new born “bastard” daughter. All this high drama causes his son, Prince Mamillius (alternating nights, Rory Potter and Otis Pavlovic) to die offstage of stress and grief. Then in the second half of the play, the King returns to his senses and it turns into a comedy. His daughter shows up after 16 years of having been brought up as a Bohemian shepherdess, marries her father’s best friend’s son, the Prince of Bohemia, and the Queen is resurrected from a statue and forgives her husband and it all ends happily ever after. This surreal plot is brought together cleverly if a little heavy handedly by director John Bell, who frames the story from the perspective of the King’s son, Mamillius. Taking place in the prince’s bedroom — a beautifully crafted set with a bunk bed, toy chest and ceiling mobile that casts magical shadows across the softly draped walls — Mamillius watches (or perhaps imagines) his father and the relationship between his parents disintegrate. After his own death of a broken heart, he remains present on stage and takes matters into his own hands to orchestrate a reconciliation and return to peace. The setting and storybook aesthetic either suggests The Winter’s Tale is simply the make-believe of a disillusioned little prince, or an interpreted series of events as seen through the whimsical (or disturbed) imagination of a child. The performances are captivating, with special mention to Michelle Doake, who brings equal measures of strength, vitality and humour to the role of Paulina. Myles Pollard shows off versatility as the brooding, maddened King alongside the dumbed-up Shepherd. Helen Thompson plays a strong and (literally) statuesque Hermione. The Winter’s Tale explores some of Shakespeare’s favourite themes: truth, power and the emotional effects of psychological irrationality. On the contemporary stage, Bell has translated these themes through the prism of domestic drama as seen by an implicated child. This interpretation helps us to accept the disparate tonal changes as products of an active imagination — to see momentarily through the eyes of a child. And that’s never a bad thing. Image by Michele Mossop.
Titles matter. A film with a good one can intrigue, inspire and entice audiences from far and wide, just as a bad one can turn you off faster than a date swearing at a waiter. The grey area is when things get literal. Everything's okay so long as it's just a case of 'does what it says on the can' — your Ghostbusters, your Ferris Bueller's Day Off, your The Pianist — but what about when it gives something away? That poor choice of words can destroy all semblance of mystery for a movie. It's why studios ultimately didn't go with: 'Bruce Willis Is a Ghost', 'Don't Trust the Gimp with the Limp' or 'It's...His...Sled'. With that in mind, the decision to title Peter Berg's new film Lone Survivor would seem a miscalculation. "Four Navy SEALs go into Afghanistan to target a Taliban leader, but how many make it out ali- oh, wait, it's one. Just one. A 'lone survivor'. Says so right there on the poster. And yet, despite having directed Battleship, Peter Berg's no idiot. Mindful that the details of this true (and widely publicised) military mission were already known to many, he realised the most compelling question was not 'how many would survive?' but rather 'how did ANY of them survive?' That disastrous mission was Operation Red Wings, and the reason for its failure was essentially the SEAL team's decision to not kill three unarmed farmers who'd stumbled across their position. For the (moral) armchair general, it's a no-brainer. Rules of engagement and all that. But in the moment, knowing that to let the civilians go was to guarantee an attack by the Taliban and fail the mission… the ethics of combat became a lot murkier. Mark Wahlberg, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Taylor Kitsch play those four imperilled SEALs, and from the moment they elect to abort the mission, Lone Survivor becomes a heart-in-mouth, hug-yourself-for-two-hours, ball-breaker of a film. Pursued through inhospitable mountains by several hundred Taliban and cut off from their support, the feats of those four soldiers quite simply defy belief. That's where the film's opening titles come into play: a montage of real-life footage from the SEALs' infamous 'Hell Week' training program that effectively acts as a 'proof of concept' for what you're about to see (if you're interested: youtu.be/sg2vF4UQMmQ). This is a war movie at its most confronting; it terrifyingly captures the confusion, brutality, chaos and intensity of combat in a way not seen since 1998's Saving Private Ryan. It's a suffocating sort of tension, and whilst there's no question the movie suffers from some clumsy jingoism, the experience is so tactile and overwhelming, you frequently find yourself ducking in your own seat. The author and journalist Sebastian Junger observed after his embedment in Afghanistan that "War is a lot of things and it's useless to pretend that exciting isn't one of them." From an adrenaline standpoint that might well be the case, but in every other respect, from every other possible viewpoint, it's an inescapable waking nightmare that you'd never wish upon anyone. If that doesn't ring true for you, go see Lone Survivor. https://youtube.com/watch?v=yoLFk4JK_RM
Sydney's go-to spot for pork-fuelled splendour, Swine & Co., are taking cues from Don Draper et al — launching a brand new night set to transport Sydneysiders to Manhattan's Upper East Side circa 1960. Launching this evening, Wednesday night at Swine Bar is now known as 'Royale Night', inviting you to dapper up and indulge in a game or two of blackjack, Mad Men-inspired cocktails and all those celebrated savoury eats you've travelled across the city for — including those infamous house pork crackling chips. With the last-of-the-last Mad Men — part two of season seven, CAHMAAHHHHN — on the way for 2014, general Mad Men buzz (and inevitable costume party themes) is about to enjoy one last hurrah at Swine & Co. Head chef Michael Box has created a special Swine Royale menu theme, while shiny new bar manager David Lloyd has used the MM team's favourite spirits as a starting point to inspire a stunning range of cocktails available only on Wednesdays. Try an R&R (Rittenhouse, Amaro Averna, Licor 43 espresso and agave), a Breakaway (chilli and basil-infused 42 Below, tomato, Worcestershire, fresh horseradish and lemon) and more classy specimens, all $18 each. Fresh out of coin to try more of Lloyd's elixirs? A few rounds of blackjack on the art deco mezzanine level, beside the Champagne bar, could win you free drinks. That's worth brushing up for. Here's some style ideas, in case you hadn't already trawled the web for 'Steal Their Looks' since season one. Swine and Co.'s Royal Nights launch from November 19 through to December 17. Find the Swine Bar housed in the former Bank of New South Wales; 16 O'Connell Street, Sydney.
Seasoned gig-goers often consider it en vogue to overlook supporting acts, in favour of an ostensibly efficient and timely arrival for the main attraction. However, should you have arrived fashionably late to this weekend’s sold-out Broods headline show at Oxford Art Factory, you dearly missed out. Supporting acts East and Jarryd James, accompanied by an elusive Matt Corby on keys no less, treated earlycomers to a new crop of delectable Australian talent. Kicking off the festivities was quirky Central Coast songstress East, serving up a refreshing blend of bittersweet indie-folk-pop. Having been both signed and dropped from Universal Music (US) by the age of fourteen, a character-building talisman of success experienced by many a now-superstar (Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga included), East exudes a defiant sense of maturity and stage presence well beyond her 16 years of age. Delivering an effortlessly raw and earnest set, East’s soulfully compelling jazz-hued vocals dispelled melancholy and playfully self-deprecating lyricism. Smatterings of her Australian accent endearingly shimmered through her vocal delivery, tallying to her authentic and wholesome appeal. Talented, charming and unpretentious, and with her recently released Old Age EP produced by the legendary John Castle (Vance Joy, Washington, Josh Pyke), East is undeniably on the up. Fronting an unshakeable amount of swagger, headline act Broods then proceeded to show the crowd exactly why they sold-out shows across both Sydney and Melbourne. Whilst the duo's chart-topping, eponymously titled debut EP typically purveys haunting husky vocals, complemented by a minimalist beat style with washes of ambient layers courtesy of producer Joel Little (Lorde, Kids of 88), their live set told a different story. Dressed in a futuristic, white mesh one-piece reminiscent of Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) in The Fifth Element, Broods' Georgia Nott flaunted a disarmingly flawless vocal performance delivered with an understated ferocity that seemed to increase the poignancy of the original recording. With her vocals brought more prominently to the forefront, the choruses on Broods' most beloved tracks such as 'Bridges' and 'Never Gonna Change' reached new heights and guided the rapturous crowd into a more energetic sonic space. If their live performance is anything to go by, Broods' debut album Evergreen (out August 22 via Island Records) carries the potential to exceed the band's current buzz as one of New Zealand's next big musical exports.
Keep everything crossed for King Street. At a parliamentary inquiry held on Wednesday, a NSW Police Association submission recommended that lockout laws be rolled out across 'alcohol-fuelled crime hotspots’ across the state (Newtown, Erko, you’re on the list), that all on-licensed premises be closed at midnight and that the state government introduce minimum 'per standard drink' pricing across NSW. The inquiry, which received submissions from 113 individuals and organisations, is investigating the impact of the 'CBD entertainment precinct' lockout laws. Instigated by then NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell and implemented on February 24, the laws enforce 1:30am lockouts and 3am last drinks in licensed venues of 60+ capacity. So what's brought on these new recommendations? The Police Association states that it has been approached by "Newtown and Erskinville residents who report that the issues relating to alcohol related crime and antisocial behaviour in Newtown are the same as in Kings Cross and the CBD. This is not a displacement affect (sic.) but they indicate it has been a problem for some time due to the 24-hour licensed premises in the area." The submission presented statistics suggesting that the laws have led to a drop in non-domestic assaults. Between February and August, it argues, assaults in Kings Cross decreased by 36 percent, when compared to the same period in 2013. However, on Thursday, the state's top crime statistician and director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Don Weatherburn, stated emphatically that the evidence doesn't hold up. "Gratuitously picking a pair of points and saying, 'well, compared to this time last year, things are a lot better,' is not a satisfactory basis for judging whether the lockout laws are working," he told the SMH. He also asserted that the figures "bounce around quite a bit" and proposed that the overall reduction in violence had started well before the laws came into effect. The inquiry's response, in the form of a report and recommendations, is expected to hit parliament in November.
Since silent discos first came to prominence back in the '90s, strapping on a pair of wireless headphones and strutting your stuff has become a favourite pastime of, well, just about everyone. In fact, soundless dance floor displays have popped up everywhere from Glastonbury to the Sydney Film Festival over the years — and now a Sydney event is taking the concept on the road. Or, along the coast, to be exact — and all in the space of a single fun night. Think of the Pop-Up Coogee to Bondi Roaming Silent Disco Party as a dancing trek between five of the city's best beaches, or five silent discos in one. It's an idea that's so great, it's taking place three times: on October 15 and 29, and November 19. Here's how it works: attendees will meet in a secret spot, grab their headphones and start boogeying. Exact locations are yet to be revealed, but Coogee, Clovelly, Bronte, Tamarama and Bondi will all feature on the itinerary. In bad news for anyone wanting to silently dance their way around town at the event's two October dates, tickets have already sold out. Limited places are still available for November; however if you're keen on showing off your fancy footwork sans noise, you'd best get purchasing quick smart. The Pop-Up Coogee to Bondi Roaming Silent Disco Party takes place on October 15 and 29, and November 19. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the event's Facebook page.
With old-fashioned signage and every surface adorned with designs, it's clear the team at Hunter and Fox approach tattooing as a fine art. With over a dozen resident artists who have solid followings (both online and off), plus regular guests, Hunter and Fox has built a strong reputation over the past few years. The studio welcomes walk-ins if you get a sudden urge to be inked, but if you're more of a planner, its website and social media is a treasure trove of inspiration. And if you need to free up some space for a new design, or get rid of ink that you regret (like your ex's name), there is also an in-house laser removal service.
The White Rabbit Gallery has gotten us well acquainted with the vibrant powerhouse that is 21st-century Chinese art — so bright, witty, and full of winking commentary on politics and pop culture. Now we have the chance to see the stage version of that with Fight the Landlord (Do Di Zhu), on at Carriageworks in 2013. Its set-up is a card game evocatively known in China as Fight the Landlord. Here it is played by three panda-costumed women of unspecified relation, which shifts dramatically with every round. But it's their wry chatter that will keep you rivetted, as they discuss their love lives, gossip mags, the role of work, and the housing crisis, among all else, as the game escalates around them. The cross-cultural co-production between Ireland's fun and subversive Pan Pan theatre (last here with Oedipus Loves You in 2010) and Beijing's Square Moon Culture has been recognised as representing the heights of contemporary Chinese absurdism in reviews from China and Melbourne. You can get a particularly close perspective on it if you pull up your chair to the big, round game table, as the audience sits on stage with the actors (although for the apprehensive, more distant seats are also available). Fight the Landlord in on at Carriageworks from October 2-5. Thanks to Carriageworks we have ten double passes to give away to the performance on Saturday, October 5, at 8pm. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address.
Steve Aoki everybody! More than just a pretty weird face. This multi-tasking magic man has managed to successfully juggle just about every creative pursuit known to gen-Y. His credits include: commander of the DJ booth, spinner of designer threads and wizard behind Dim Mak records, the label responsible for launching some stellar careers (kudos for Bloc Party, The Kills, Klaxons, The Gossip… I could go on). Aoki is uncannily adept at pegging what the big kids will go berserk over, and this October he’ll be aiming some of that potent X-factor our way.For one night, all night, Aoki will be busting out a bag of electro party all-sorts at Sydney’s Metro theatre. The night will feature Aoki alongside special international guests and loads of local supports (TBA), in what promises to be a raucous affair if his weekly LA shindigs with Cobrasnake are anything to go on. Advice? wear comfy shoes and little else folks.
Feeling lucky, punk? Concrete Playground and Sydney Contemporary are giving you the chance to win a hand-signed, original Perspective Scarf by renowned contemporary Chinese artist and political activist Ai Weiwei. Produced in conjunction with Melbourne-based purveyor of museum shop delights Third Drawer Down, the square, silk scarf features an image taken from Ai's Study of Perspective series. The works feature the artist's hand flipping the bird to major international landmarks and artworks (Tiananmen Square, the Mona Lisa, and the White House, to name a few). Ai Weiwei has received international acclaim for his artworks across a wide range of media. His pieces reside in many of the world's best museums and galleries. A very outspoken critic of the Chinese Government, he was secretly detained by police at Beijing Capital International Airport as he went to board a flight to Hong Kong in 2011. The artist was held for 81 days without any official justification being given before being released on bail for fabricated charges of tax evasion. His passport was never returned and he remains unable to leave China. In addition to this painfully cool item, we're also throwing in two VIP, all-access passes to the Sydney Contemporary Art Fair. Opening on the evening of the 19 September, the inaugural edition of Sydney's international art fair will then run from 20 to 22 September at Carriageworks. One lucky reader will win the signed scarf and two VIP Sydney Contemporary Art Fair passes. To be in the running, make sure you're subscribed to the Concrete Playground newsletter and then email hello@concreteplayground.com.au with your name and address.
The party never stops for Alison Wonderland. After hosting a slew of warehouse parties earlier this year, as well as playing just about every Australian music festival you can poke a stick at, Wonderland dropped her Calm Down EP featuring all new original songs. Wonderland’s DJ sets are known for their ability to ignite any dance floor, with her special mix of old school hip hop and modern indie dance. Wonderland has already performed the first few shows of her 'Rural Juror Touror', which is sending her to all corners of Australia. The desire to take on a national rural tour was sparked after performing at Groovin the Moo last year. As well as this string of regional dates, Wonderland is heading back home to her city digs to play at the Metro this Saturday. We were lucky enough to get Wonderland to sit still just long enough to tell us what we should look forward to with her new EP and her 'Rural Juror Touror' tour. Check out the interview here.
Those intricately drawn cityscapes seen in anime movies will be front and centre at a new exhibition presented by The Japan Foundation from June 1 until August 11. Anime Architecture celebrates the hand-drawn backdrops and architectural world-building of some of Japan's most iconic animated sci-fi flicks. The exhibition will explore the processes that go into bringing these dreamed-up environments to life, capturing the journey from pencil drawings through to those dramatic big screen stills. Get up close and personal with animations by legends of the scene, including Takashi Watabe, Hiromasa Ogura, Haruhiko Higami, Atsushi Takeuchi and Mamoru Oshii. Their resumes include the likes of Patlabor: the Movie, Ghost in the Shell (the original, not the live-action remake) and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, all of which feature in the showcase — as well as behind-the-scenes perspectives on other acclaimed Japanese films such as Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis.
New Shanghai, Chatswood Chase, is hosting a one off dinner dishing up a pork degustation menu with matching ciders. Dining at New Shanghai will see you transported to a 1930s Shanghai streetscape with dumpling maestros stretching and kneading in a live dumpling-making theatre. Held on 14 November, menu highlights will include: smoked pork terrine, streamed meatball with crab meat, two rounds of succulent pork belly, sweet red bean pastry and a variety of New Shanghai's signature dumplings. Matching ciders will come in Australian and international varieties. *The dinner comprises seven courses matched with ciders. For reservations, please email: events@newshanghai.com.au
Frontmen rarely come as charismatic as Henry Wagons. A storytelling character and a half, the Melburnian native has returned from the dark desert highways of the US to reunite with his band and bring Wagons' shiny new album to the townspeople. Seeing music as a joyous occasion rather than a moment to wallow in your sorrows, Wagons' shows are downright shindiggerous in their approach. "'Music is a public activity — the very birth of music was designed to be joined in on,'' Wagons told SMH. ''The first music was played at celebrations. The insular emo songwriter in the bedroom is this recent offshoot of what music is at its core. Music for me is for other people. I write it alone, but with the idea of playing it for other people.'' These "other people" make up the remaining five members of Wagons, one of Australia's best and most underrated live bands. Wagons have just released their latest single 'Beer Barrel Bar', taken from brand new, sixth studio album Acid Rain and Sugar Cane and nabbing a four-star rating from Rolling Stone. Landing feature album at 2ser and RTR, Wagons' new release heralds the end of a long period between drinks for the band — Henry Wagons released his own lovelorn ballad-filled solo album in 2013 and spent many months on the dusty highways of America touring his wares. With Mick Harvey (The Birthday Party/Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds) behind the mixing desk and Wagons himself bringing his US-inspired country stomping style to the plate, Acid Rain and Sugar Cane has quite the Nashville twang to it. Best enjoyed with a whiskey in hand and a soulmate far away, the LP is a natural evolution of Wagons' indie country blues into an Ameristralian tavern hootenanny. Kicking off their national tour in Adelaide on May 22, Wagons will make their way through major cities and regional centres, hopping from Fremantle to Hobart, back up to Geelong, Melbourne and Ballarat, up to the Canberran capital, east to Wollongong, Sydney and Newcastle before heading north to Brisbane and finishing up at Darwin's Railway Hotel on June 21. Warming up the stage at The Factory for Wagons is Nashville singer-songwriter Jonny Fritz, known for his wise-cracking, storytelling onstage persona and his former moniker of Jonny Corndawg. Fritz signed his contract with ATO Records in gravy at Nashville landmark Arnold's Country Kitchen. Yee-ha. https://youtube.com/watch?v=WXoiX2bFPDY
If you're in the wretched position of being the world's biggest animal lover but you're not allowed to own a highly Instagrammable Frenchie because your landlord's a dingus, this is the event for you. Behold, the mighty, mighty Super Furry Festival, coming to Surry Hills this weekend. Billed as a "furry, fun day filled with cuddles, activities, music and animal love" the Super Furry Festival will see the most decadent array of adventures for animal lovers in Sydney. Take a breath...there'll be doga (that's dog yoga), a dog nail art tent and pet-specific caricature opportunities — plus a kitty cuddle and a bunny snuggle tent. The whole thing will be going down at Shannon Reserve, where there'll be a picnic area set up with special treats from Gelato Messina, and dog-friendly pub The Carrington around the corner is getting on board too. But the animal instincts don't stop there. There'll be stalls selling both human and four-legged treats, including pop-ups from the likes of Doggy Bay, Domnuts, Quirky, Mad Paws, Love That Pet, Haus of Harley, Paddo Pets, Twenty3, Potty Plant and Ratbags & Rascals. Entry is free, because sometimes life covers you in glitter and puppies.
