Wander into the National Art School between November 3 – 12 and you'll be treated to an exhibition showcasing a diverse range of works from this year's Masters of Fine Art graduates. Featuring a range of mediums including sculpture, drawing, ceramics, printmaking, photomedia and painting, the postgraduate show is always a great opportunity to get familiar with new artists and catch emerging talent while they're still just that. Budding investors take note: artworks will be available for sale so have your chequebooks at the ready. Artists on show include figurative painter and 2016 Archibald Prize finalist India Mark, Turkish-born postmodern portraitist Murat Urlali, visceral sculptor Samantha Stephenson, and Aly Indermühle, whose large scale and intimate light works were featured in this year's VIVID Sydney. The school is also holding a special evening on Thursday November 2 to mark the opening, with music from FBi DJS, food, pop-up bars and an open invitation to have a nose around the artist studios. Image: Samantha Stephenson Communion of Space 2016 painted steel, 2017
Get the jab, get a free beer, flight, holiday or pair of jeans: thanks to plenty of companies around Australia, that's been a reality over the past few months. Breweries, airlines, hotel chains, denim brands and more have been offering Aussies a little something extra for rolling up their sleeves, all as part of an effort to encourage getting-19 vaccinated against COVID-19. Now, one group of philanthropists and corporations is handing out a cool $1 million for having the jabs. The newly launched Million Dollar Vax promotion knows what it's about: giving away a big stack of cash to someone who has been vaxxed. And, it's open to folks who've just had one jab, too, as long as you've had it when you enter — and as long as you'll be fully vaccinated by Monday, December 13. If that's you — and you're over the age of 18 — you can enter whenever you like in October, all by filling out the online form on the contest's website. It runs through basic information such as your name, email address, date of birth, mobile phone number, suburb, state and postcode, and does require you to tick boxes to confirm that you meet the jab requirements. (If you have a medical exemption, you're not eligible to enter.) After you've filled out the form, you'll go in the running to win that $1 million prize, which'll be drawn on Friday, November 5. And, the competition is also giving out daily prizes, too. Over the month, 100 $1000 gift cards will be given away each and every day, from a total prize pool — including that top $1 million prize — of $4.1 million. You can only enter the overall contest once, however, and you're only eligible for the daily prizes on the day you enter. If you do win one of the $1000 gift cards, you'll be contacted via email within five business days of entering. You'll then get your gift card emailed to you once you verify your ID and that you've been vaxxed. All prizes are being handed out randomly, so you don't need to come up with a reason to win, enter an answer in 25 words or less or anything else along those lines. And if you're wondering who is behind the promotion, it's being run by "a group of generous philanthropists and corporations" called the Million Dollar Vax Alliance, who are aiming "to accelerate Australia's COVID-19 vaccination program" according to the contest's FAQs. "The faster we reach vaccination rates nationally, the sooner we all can safely resume our full range of community and business activity," the FAQs continue. For more information about the Million Dollar Vax promotion, or to enter, head to the competition website.
Only one Australian festival this summer can whip it, whip it good. When Good Things returns for 2023, it'll hit Sydney with new-wave icons Devo on the bill. The 'Girl U Want' band will be celebrating 50 years since first forming in 1973, and also saying goodbye on a farewell tour that'll mark their last-ever Australian shows. Devo's famous energy dome hats will be on display at Centennial Park on Saturday, December 2 on a jam-packed Good Things lineup that is brimming with nostalgia-inducing acts — including Fall Out Boy. The group behind 'Sugar, We're Goin Down' and 'Uma Thurman' are festival headliners, playing both tunes dating back to their 2000s heyday and recent tracks. From there, Good Things keeps rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' with Limp Bizkit; will see Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor hit the stage solo; and is guaranteed to burst with punk energy thanks to Pennywise. Bullet for My Valentine, Taking Back Sunday and I Prevail are also on the bill, plus Enter Shikari, Pvris, Behemoth and Sepultura. [caption id="attachment_913268" align="alignnone" width="1920"] swimfinfan via Wikimedia Commons.[/caption] Fresh from featuring a reunited TISM in 2022, Good Things boasts a packed roster of local names in 2023, too, celebrating Australian alternative rock with Spiderbait, Frenzal Rhomb, Jebediah and Eskimo Joe. On both the international and homegrown front, the list goes on, including Hanabie, While She Sleeps, Magnolia Park, Short Stack, Boom Crash Opera, Luca Brasi and more. And yes, this is a fest where you can likely hear 'Whip It', 'Dance, Dance', 'Society' and 'Buy Me a Pony' live on the same day, plus 'The Last Fight', 'Leaving Home', 'Punch in the Face' and a very non-George Michael cover of 'Faith' as well. GOOD THINGS 2023 LINEUP: Fall Out Boy Limp Bizkit Devo (The Farewell Tour celebrating 50 years) I Prevail Bullet For My Valentine Corey Taylor Pennywise Spiderbait Slowly Slowly Enter Shikari Behemoth Sepultura Taking Back Sunday PVRIS Bloom Boom Crash Opera Eskimo Joe Frenzal Rhomb Hanabie Jebediah Luca Brasi Magnolia Park Make Them Suffer Ocean Sleeper Royal & The Serpent Short Stack Slaughter To Prevail Stand Atlantic Tapestry The Plot In You While She Sleeps Top image: Drew de F Fawkes via Wikimedia Commons.
The world's most unpredictable duo is back. This time around, the girls are armed with their new "Objekt Instruments" — handmade technology that traverses the territory between the functional and the aesthetic — and some new tunes from their soon-to-be-released electroclash album, Scream. During the past year, they've played at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary's tenth anniversary; hosted their first pop-up shop in Osaka, Japan; and "lectured" at the Milan Art Fair. They're currently completing a two-month residency at Artspace, Sydney, and one half of the team, Melissa Logan, has started researching for a PhD in Biological Arts at UTS. If you've never witnessed Chicks on Speed before, prepare yourself for an outrageous, irreverent hybrid of art, video, fashion, technology and music. In the words of Logan, they're all about "getting to the blatant points and not pussy-footing around." https://youtube.com/watch?v=g_1kziD6Lec
When Wollongong's Yours and Owls last took place back in April 2021, it ticked a couple of huge pandemic-era boxes. Due to COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, it was the first major music festival that New South Wales had seen in over a year — and it was the first to allow dancing as well. Plenty has happened in NSW over the past seven months, including more lockdowns and restrictions; however, the fact that Yours and Owls is announcing its 2022 plans today, Wednesday, November 10, really couldn't be more fitting. Just two days ago, NSW's rules for double-vaccinated folks eased again, and now permit dancing once more — so this two-day fest has revealed who you'll be making shapes to in Stuart Park from Saturday, April 2–Sunday, April 3. Topping the bill: Hilltop Hoods, Benee, Bliss & Eso, Flight Facilities, The Jungle Giants, Peking Duk and Violent Soho, giving festival-goers quite the array of big-name acts to look forward to. And yes, you should've spotted that Benee will be making the trip from New Zealand, thanks to international border restrictions easing. The hefty lineup goes on, including Faker, Ruby Fields, San Cisco, The Meanies, Sycco and more. Yours and Owls' 2022 fest is moving to a bigger site, too — well, back to a familiar site — both in terms of space, and being able to accommodate more people. Yes, that's your early April plans sorted — and because you're here for the full lineup, you can check out the details below. YOURS AND OWLS 2022 LINEUP: Hilltop Hoods Benee Bliss & Eso Flight Facilities The Jungle Giants Peking Duk Violent Soho (The Return Of) Faker Harvey Sutherland Jack River Lastlings Late Nite Tuff Guy LDRU Luca Brasi Hiatus Kaiyote Ruby Fields San Cisco Arno Faraji Barkaa Big Twisty & The Funknasty Budjerah The Bouys Fergus James Floodlights Hope D Jen Cloher Karate Boogaloo King Stingray The Meanies Miiesha Ninajirachi Nyxen Private Function Surprise Chef Sycco The Terrys Vlossom 1300 Alter Boy Babitha Bakers Eddy Boom Child Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys Clamm Clypso C.O.F.F.I.N Death By Denim Good Lekker Nooky Rest For The Wicked The Rions Shady Nasty Sophiya To Octavia Amends Bored Shorts Charbel Chimers Chloe Dadd Classic Club Camel Drift Hellcat Speedracer Imaginary People Kitten Heel Lizzie Jack & The Beanstalks Miners The Morning Mood Nosedive Nothing Rhymes With David Placement Private Wives Proposal Radicals Satin Cali Sesame Girl Solo Career Stephen Bourke Topnovil L N T G Jennifer Loveless Toni Yotzi Ayebatonye DJ Plead Barney In The Tunnel Foura Body Promise Randy Knuckles Cover Sound System Beachcombers Wilder & Pryor Yours and Owls will take place on Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3 at Stuart Park, Wollongong. Ticket pre-sales will kick off at 8.30am AEDT on Tuesday, November 16, with general tickets on sale at 8.30am on Thursday, November 18. For more information about the event, head to the festival's website.
It's impossible to think about Christmas without also thinking about ornament-adorned trees; however, the traditional towering variety isn't always practical. Perhaps you don't have space in your apartment. Maybe you're keen on the real thing, but just can't make it to market, farm or nursery to get one. Or, you could have a four-legged friend (or several) that's fond of scaling anything that reaches up into the sky. Even if you've found a place for the same old plastic tree that you trot out every year, you're probably still wishing that you could gaze up at the real thing — which is where Floraly comes in. The Australian plant delivery service focuses on sustainable blooms and even offers monthly subscriptions, and it introduced a Christmas offering in 2019. Because it's that time already, it's getting festive again in 2020, too. The big drawcard: living trees. If you're happy with a pint-sized version, then this tiny plant is about to make your festive dreams come true. 'Tis the season to order a 60-centimetre-tall tiny tree that comes with decorations and a pop-up pot, wait for it to be delivered, then feel mighty jolly. Sourced from farms in Victoria and New South Wales, and able to be sent Australia-wide, Floraly's trees also arrive with soil, fairy lights, baubles and a tree-topper — so they really do look like miniature versions of your ideal Christmas centrepiece. There are two versions available, so you can opt for red baubles and a gold star for the top, or go with white decorations and a silver star In line with Floraly's eco-conscious mindset, its trees still have their root system intact. That means that once Christmas is over, you can replant them, keep them for some year-round merriment and then enjoy their splendour next year. The trees also come in fully recyclable packaging, further reducing their environmental impact. If you're keen, you can order a small bundle of greenery from the Floraly website for $79. Fancy sending a tiny tree as a gift? You can do that too, including as part of packs with T2 tea, Gelato Messina spreads, Endota body care products, and champagne and chocolate. Floraly's tiny Christmas trees are available to order now by visiting the service's website. Images: Floraly
Next time team bonding is on the agenda, think outside the cubicle and bring your colleagues to one of Sydney's finest establishments in their golden hours. These American Express-accepting venues offer an array of options for D&Ming that'll seriously put the mate in workmate. Bond over brews overlooking the harbour on a well-placed Sydney terrace or sip on something fancy at a sultry cocktail bar — either way, you'll be dishing on the highs and lows of the workweek in places ideal to help you and your co-workers relax. We've picked value-for-money happy hours, which means you won't see your hard-earned buckaroos go to waste on drinks that are too exxy to actually enjoy. You'll also be able to stock up on Amex points, too. The spread of places covers rowdy, classy or chill hangs — whichever you prefer to take the sting out this week's deadlines. Got yourself in another dining situation and need some guidance? Whatever it is, we know a place. Visit The Shortlist and we'll sort you out.
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre isn't the best chance to see Aubrey Plaza slink around swanky locales filled with the one-percent in the past year. That honour goes, of course, to her award-nominated turn in the second season of The White Lotus. Plaza's new action-comedy also isn't the best recent movie to cast the deadpan talent as enterprising, resourceful and calculating, and see her plunged into a dangerous, largely male-only realm, all while putting a scheming plan into action. That film is the exceptional Emily the Criminal, which sadly bypassed cinemas Down Under. And, thanks to her star-making turn in Parks and Recreation, wannabe franchise-starter Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre definitely isn't the finest example of her wry comic talents, either. But in a rarity for writer/director Guy Ritchie and his typically testosterone-dripping capers — see: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Revolver, RocknRolla and The Gentlemen — Plaza is the gleaming gem at the centre of this formulaic flick. Putting in a more vibrant performance than the scowling Jason Statham isn't hard, but this is firmly Plaza's picture. Ritchie's go-to leading man still plays Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre's namesake, though: the improbably titled super-spy Orson Fortune, an off-the-books agent who does jobs the British Government can't officially be involved with. Handler Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes, Best Sellers) has one such task, recovering a just-stolen item known as 'the handle', which the powers-that-be don't want going to nefarious parties. But, in a mission that first requires collecting a contact at Madrid's airport, then gets far more chaotic quickly, Fortune will have to work with a new team. And, he'll have to jet around the globe with stops at Cannes, in Turkey and more, doing an aspiring Bond and Mission: Impossible act, but in a film that never even threatens to shake or stir the espionage genre. It also doesn't venture beyond mixing Ritchie's beloved bag of tricks together, reading like an effort to split the difference between his last two movies: The Gentlemen and effective revenge thriller Wrath of Man. On-screen, enter Plaza as American tech wiz Sarah Fidel, plus British rapper and actor Bugzy Malone (The Gentlemen) as righthand man JJ Davis. To cosy up to a fake-tanned Hugh Grant (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery) as international arms dealer Greg Simmonds, also enter Josh Hartnett (The Fear Index) as Hollywood acting big-shot Danny Francesco. The gambit: Simmonds adores Francesco so much that he's bought a car the latter is famous for driving in a movie, so the thespian is the crew's in, with Fidel undercover as his girlfriend and Fortune pretending to be his stern-faced manager. Accordingly, their fresh-faced ring-in will have to inhabit the role he's been born to: himself, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent-style, but without the extra meta layer of a game and entertaining Hartnett actually genuinely doing the same thing. (Nods to everything from Halloween H20, The Faculty and The Virgin Suicides to Sin City and Penny Dreadful would've been a welcome touch here.) When Statham and Ritchie reteamed for Wrath of Man — which Hartnett also co-starred in — it was the first time they'd collaborated in 16 years. Crucially, and one of the primary reasons it worked so well, it was a lean, mean affair that didn't just feel as if its two key figures were simply doing what they've always done together, even though it was indeed another heist flick. The same can't be said about Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, which endeavours to hoodwink its audience by sometimes similarly adopting a straight-down-the-line tone. That ruse doesn't stick, however, in a film that couldn't paint any more blatantly by Ritchie's usual numbers. He's dallied with spies before, in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre wishes it was that as well. With its first-billed talent and director comfortably on autopilot, it's no wonder that Plaza, Hartnett and Grant provide the movie's personality. While they don't merely stand out because everything else around them is so routine, a feature this stock-standard puts anything that deviates from its template under a massive magnifying glass. When Plaza isn't engagingly and savvily tackling everything that's thrown Fidel's way, from Fortune's gruff, dismissive demeanour to the Cockney-accented Simmonds' overt attentions — plus chatting modern art as an early distraction technique, and getting thrust into the middle of gunfights and car chases in Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre's third act — the film screams for her presence. Hartnett is also having a great time, as is Grant. It never mentions it, but consider this another ode to the Paddington franchise, too, making its audience wish they were rewatching Grant's OTT villainous portrayal in Paddington 2 instead. In a storyline penned by Ritchie with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, who've both contributed to his past three films in a row now — and do the same with the upcoming The Covenant, which is also due in cinemas in 2023 — Simmonds is in business with violent Ukrainian heavies. Avoiding the movie's MacGuffin from ending up in their hands is the plot's main point, after all. That helps spark those glossily lensed (by Alan Stewart, also a Wrath of Man and The Gentleman alum) but predictable action sequences, and the reported reason that Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre was delayed from its initial 2022 release dates. Whenever it arrived, this was always going to be perfunctory, especially when it wrings zero tension out of the narrative's must-find object. Ritchie and company keep the specifics to themselves for much of the feature, but that doesn't make anyone care what it is — or invest in anything that's going on, a rivalry with a fellow mercenary group led by the one-step-ahead Mike (Peter Ferdinando, The Curse) included. Covert operatives are meant to slip in, get their high-stakes jobs done and leave their marks none the wiser, at least until their quest is safely achieved. Although that never happens on screens big or small, spy stories themselves aren't supposed to be largely unmemorable as well. Again, Plaza isn't. Neither are Hartnett and Grant, but Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre's high-profile supporting players can't make the picture anything more than average. Here's hoping that any sequel, if it eventuates — which this flick advocates for instantly in its moniker, premise and, naturally, its final scenes — realises where its focus should truly be. Bond mightn't be likely to serve up a female lead yet despite Daniel Craig's farewell, but pushing Plaza to the fore, and changing its title in the process, would be any future Operation Fortune instalment's best move.
A part of the University of Sydney, The Nicholson Museum is the nation's oldest university museum. It's home to over 30,000 artefacts from Egypt, Greece, Italy and surrounding countries. Founded over one hundred years ago, in 1860, it has been growing ever since. One of its ongoing exhibitions is the reconstructed Pompei built out of Lego — it's one of the largest historical Lego models ever built. And it's only one of the museum's Lego models, it also has a Lego Acropolis and a Lego Colosseum.
Have you ever needed to convey an important message to someone in a big way, but sweated to find the perfect gift to do so? Maybe you needed to say, 'sorry for being a jerk', 'thanks for being a great mate', or simply, 'I love you'. Well, perhaps not surprisingly, there’s a website to fix that problem. Sorry Thanks I Love You is an online store that’s working to reignite the culture of giving. By taking a short personalised shopping quiz based on the person in mind (with questions such as ‘What were they like a kid?’ or ‘What would they do with 24 hours in NYC?’), Sorry Thanks I Love You has everything you could ever need to help you say any of those five little words (you'd hope). The site features handmade accessories, homewares, gourmet foods, fresh flowers from boutique florists and craft beverages sourced from around the world. And now you can see and try out all these goodies for yourself at Sorry Thanks I Love You's pop-up store in Martin Place, open right up until Christmas. The store will feature tons of products, including knives carved from Scandinavian reindeer antler, hand-woven Kashmiri scarves and traditional Japanese furoshiki wrapping cloths. Gourmet goodies include wheels of Bruny Island cheese and premium single malt whisky distilled in highland Tasmania, which you can taste test in the store. You'll also find colourful wares from the iconic Finnish design brand Marimekko.
There are all sorts of bad movies. Some, like Palo Alto, smack of pretention and self-indulgence. Others, like Grace of Monaco, are poorly written and incompetently made. Yet others, like The Rover, fail on a level that is more difficult to quantify, unable to deliver a satisfying experience in spite the qualities they possess. Then there are movies like Yves Saint Laurent. For them, the word 'bad' seems inappropriate, because it suggests that they are in any way noteworthy. A French-language biopic on the eponymous fashion icon — a man whose name and designs altered the world of luxury clothing forever — Yves Saint Laurent is so bland, conventional and boring that it barely registers as a movie at all. Actor-turned-director Jalil Lespert follows the biopic playbook to the inoffensive letter. Guillaume Gallienne plays Laurent's long-time lover and business partner, whose wistful voiceover gives a rose-coloured tint to the already obsequious treatment. YSL himself is played by the gangly Pierre Niney; the competent enough actor saddled with a totally uninteresting role. And therein lies the film's biggest problem: Laurent's arc — from youthful prodigy to cocksure rebel to lonely, introverted genius — is one that we've seen played out literally hundreds of times before. So we watch, with utter indifference, as he alienates his friends and turns an industry on its head. Or so we're told, anyway. Thinly drawn side characters flit in and out as the years go by, each there to remind us that Laurent is changing the game. At a certain point, you just have to take their word for it. To be fair, even a layman can recognise the beauty of his designs, which Lespert trots out in montage after golden-hued montage. For fashionistas, at least, the film gives you plenty nice to look at. But clothes, despite what the old adage says, do not make the man. Laurent's work was remarkable, but his life, unfortunately, was not. So we're left with a film that is purely surface level, and that fades from your memory the second the end credits role. In some ways, you actually wish it were worse, because at least then there'd be something more to say about it. If nothing else, Grace of Monaco was fun to make fun of. Yves Saint Laurent doesn't even give you that. https://youtube.com/watch?v=-ec-DQ_7EUM
Initially, even getting just one COVID-19 vaccination was a struggle, after Australia's inoculation rollout took its time in its early months. Then, we all started focusing on those crucial second jabs, especially with roadmaps out of lockdowns and towards international travel highlighting double-dose thresholds. Now, with vax rates climbing quickly — as of Friday, October 8, 60.2 percent of Australians are fully vaccinated — third COVID-19 jabs have started gaining attention. Also called booster shots, they're designed to prolong the effectiveness of the coronavirus vax. And, they've just been given the go-ahead for Australians with severely compromised immune systems. For most Aussies, that means that third jabs aren't on the cards at the moment; however, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has now recommended booster shots for severely immunocompromised folks. Also, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has advised that they'll start being rolled out from Monday, October 11. "This is for the severely immunocompromised — a group of up to 500,000," said Hunt. "It's about providing additional protection." We're expecting to receive advice on booster doses for the general population in the coming weeks. With over 151 million Pfizer, Novavax & Moderna vaccines secured for supply into the future, Australia is prepared to provide booster doses if recommended by the medical experts. — Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) October 8, 2021 ATAGI has outlined exactly who falls into the severely immunocompromised category, and why it's making this recommendation. The group spans people with cancer, or who've had stem cell transplants or organ transplants; folks undertaking immunosuppressive therapies for cancer such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy or hormone therapy; others taking immunosuppressive therapies and some certain steroids; and those born with immunodeficiencies. If you're an Aussie who fits any of these descriptions, you might not be as protected by the regular two jabs. It's also recommended that an mRNA vaccine (so either Pfizer or Moderna) is used instead of AstraZeneca's jab (which is now called Vaxzevria) for the third dose. That said, the latter can be used if you had the AZ vax for your first two shots and you didn't have a reaction, or you've had a reaction to either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccinations. Timing-wise, ATAGI recommends waiting between two and six months after you've had your second dose, although a four-week minimum interval will be considered if it's likely your immunosuppression is about to get worse or there's a big COVID-19 outbreak. Severely immunocompromised Aussies can talk to their doctors about getting the third jab, with ATAGI's recommendations and guidelines now being sent to GP surgeries, pharmacies and aged care disability care settings. For all other Aussies who aren't eligible for booster shots yet, Hunt said that news is on the way. "The next stage, the general population stage, of the booster program, we're expecting advice from ATAGI before the end of October," he advised. For more information about booster COVID-19 vaccinations for severely immunocompromised Australians, visit the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation website.
Genuine medical condition or convenient excuse for bad behaviour? Sex addiction has become a controversial affliction, but Thanks for Sharing comes firmly down on the former side of the argument. The directorial debut of Stuart Blumberg, who also co-wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay for The Kids Are All Right, explores the travails of a number of sufferers linked by their attendance at a sex addicts support group. The youngest member of the group is Neil (Josh Gad), who ruins his promising career as an emergency room doctor when he is caught filming up the skirt of his supervisor. After he appears in court on sexual harassment charges, he is directed to attend the support group for his addiction, where he meets the slick, charismatic Adam (Mark Ruffalo) and the group's de facto leader, the somewhat smug Mike (Tim Robbins), a middle-aged man who has battled multiple addictions and come out the other side with a beatific demeanour and a gentle cynicism. Low on self-esteem and fond of lying and defensive wise-cracking, Neil initially struggles to complete the work prescribed by the group, but is forced to confront the truth of his situation when he is adopted as something of a mentor to a new recruit to the group, the self-destructive Dede (Pink, credited as Alecia Moore). Meanwhile, Adam starts seeing the driven Phoebe (Gwyneth Paltrow), but is reluctant to reveal his past after she tells him her last relationship disintegrated because her ex was an alcoholic. Adam seeks guidance on this new development from Mike, whose estranged son Danny (Patrick Fugit), is suddenly back in town. Danny has battled a drug addiction but views the group therapy with suspicion and even hostility, leading to an uneasy truce with Mike, who suspects his son may not be as rehabilitated as he claims. Not everything in Thanks for Sharing works — a subplot involving Adam's ex-girlfriend Becky (Emily Meade) is a melodramatic misfire. It also has a curiously dated look and an often daggy sense of humour at odds with the potentially edgy material. Yet there's much to admire here, including the strong central storyline and the committed performances. Josh Gad, recently the only good thing in the disastrous Jobs, is again terrific, while pop star Moore is an absolute revelation, bringing both a convincing toughness and a poignant vulnerability to the role of Dede. While Thanks for Sharing doesn't shy away from the potentially life-wrecking consequences of its characters compulsions (a scene where Mark Ruffalo fights his urges in a hotel room is particularly effective), ultimately this is a much softer film than the similarly themed Shame. That's not a failing however; more a reflection that Blumberg's film is just as interested in the makeshift community that forms amongst the addicts as the often harrowing details of their addictions. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1jg6oroeg7s
This article is sponsored by our partners Thredbo. The inaugural Efterski Festival lineup promises 'Big Beats'. While the world's craziest free-skiiers are providing entertainment in the air, a selection of homegrown and international acts will be creating the party at ground level. Kele Okereke and Aussie duo Hermitude share the headline spot. Transported into public consciousness via Bloc Party, Okereke released his debut solo album, The Boxer, in June 2010, under the name 'Kele'. Lately, he's also been busy writing — blog posts for the Guardian and a series of "sexually charged" short stories. At Efterski, however, he'll be spinning a DJ set. Hermitude is one of the most-talked-about success stories of the past twelve months on the domestic front. After releasing HyperParadise, the two-man electronic production team played a sold-out tour, before winning the 2013 Australian Music Prize. Other major names on the programme include indie dance crossover trio RUFUS, whose recent exploits include supporting Van She and Yuksek; EMI-signed, "more beats, less croquet" DJ Alison Wonderland; World's End Press, whose blend of traditional instrumentation and live electronics have been winning over Triple J, BBC6 and Bill Brewster; the SOSUEME DJs, described as "the insanity of the club taken on the road"; and garage-pop-surf-punk pair the Bleeding Knees Club. At Thredbo's Alpine Hotel, Rekorderlig will host both its hot pools and the Club Mod stage, where festival-goers can deny the external sub-zero temperatures with a warm cider, a swim and sets from Australia's finest Modular artists. A limited number of three-day festival passes are selling for $50, and accommodation-plus-music packages start at $165.
There's no need to solve a puzzle box to gain entry to one of the highlights of Sydney Film Festival 2024 for horror lovers. All that you need is a ticket to the latest performance by Hear My Eyes, the screening series that pops up regularly — including in the Harbour City — with beloved flicks treated to a brand-new score played live while viewers lock their eyes on the big screen. The latest film getting the Hear My Eyes treatment: the OG Hellraiser. If you're not a fan of horror, don't say that you haven't been warned. Novelist Clive Barker's first feature as a director adapted his novella The Hellbound Heart, introduced the world to Cenobites and started a franchise that reached its 11th instalment with the 2022 reboot also called Hellraiser. To make stirring music to go with the movie, Hieroglyphic Being aka Jamal Moss is heading from Chicago to Sydney's City Recital Hall for one sessions at 7pm on Wednesday, June 12. Pinheads, that's how you spend a midweek evening. As for the lasers, none other than Robin Fox of Constellation, Disapora, Quadra and Triptych fame — and Beacon at MONA, too — is helping to ramp up what's set to be a stunner (and a spine-tingler) of a multi-sensory experience.
Fans of ballet and modern dance may want to pirouette into Bodytorque, the annual show created and performed by the up-and-comers of the Australian Ballet. It's traditionally a chance for the company’s young dancers and choreographers to experiment with new ideas, push boundaries and make an impression, and this year’s season takes technique as its theme. The program features six pieces of the likes of Mode.L, an abstract work set to Igor Stravinsky’s Octet for Wind Instruments featuring three female and two male dancers. “There are three movements within the piece and I have really tried to let the music dictate my choreographic style, which is quite classical but with a modern twist, to best showcase both the dancers and the score," says Halaina Hills, coryphée with the Australian Ballet and choreographer of Mode.L. "The theme for this year was technique. I wanted to show dance as literally that — no emotion, just pure movement.” After seven years with the company, this marks the choreographic debut for Hills, who is a ballerina first and foremost. "It has been a really bizarre experience to be on the 'other side'," she says. "Having my dancers look at me, waiting for me to tell them what to do certainly took some getting used to. But I have loved being able to take the images from my mind and translate that into movement that I can see in the flesh.” Being a dancer accustomed to having no responsibility other than showing up to rehearsal warmed-up and ready to work, the huge amount of preparation involved in her choreographic role made an impression. “I spent hours and hours every day at home creating, thinking and analysing what I wanted and how I was going to get it.” Sydney can sometimes feel quite isolated artistically and anyone that’s lived in a European capital has no doubt encountered the occasional (misguided) sniff of scorn towards our colonial cultural efforts, but Hills sees the dance scene over here as fruitful and exciting. She identifies a trademark gutsiness and characteristic openness in our dancers. “I think Australians definitely work with a great focus and willingness to try anything. That's what I have experienced working with other choreographers as a dancer, and now as a choreographer working with dancers. Being so far removed from Europe and the USA, we have to create our own style and I think we do that really well.” Along with Mode.L are five more pieces: Polymorphia, In-Finite, Finding the Calm, Tinted Windows and The Art of War. The fashion design of Toni Maticevski and music of Jonny Greenwood make exciting appearances. The entire show is just over 100 minutes long, so this may be the ideal bite-sized introduction to ballet for the uninitiated. Those interested in a bit of behind-the-scenes banter can meet the choreographers and artistic director David McAllister in a free Q&A on Saturday, November 2, at 6pm.
Sydney theatre, musical and fairytale fans, one of your wishes is about to come true — and yes, it involves a fairy godmother. Finally coming to Australia in 2022 after the pandemic delayed its planned 2021 run, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway musical version of Cinderella is heading our way. Get ready for glass slippers and pumpkin carriages to take over the town, with the show dancing its way into the Sydney Lyric Theatre from Sunday, October 23. First premiering in New York in 2013, this version of the adored fairy tale features music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, a couple of the best-known names in musical theatre history. The pair actually wrote their songs for a 1957 television production, which starred a pre-Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music Julie Andrews. (If you've seen the 1997 TV movie with Brandy and Whitney Houston — which remade that original small-screen flick — then you've already seen a version based on Rodgers and Hammerstein's original efforts.) Now, the Broadway production is making the jump Down Under. Don't expect the exact same story you're used to, though — as you read as a kid, and saw in Disney's classic animated film and its live-action remake. Here, Cinderella is a contemporary figure, but living in a fairytale setting. While she's still transformed from a chambermaid into a princess, the tale has been given a firmly modern spin. Shubshri Kandiah (Aladdin, Fangirls) will play Ella, Ainsley Melham (Merrily We Roll Along, Aladdin) has been cast Prince Topher and Silvie Paladino (Mamma Mia!, Les Misérables) will sparkle as Marie, the Fairy Godmother. Also set to feature in the Australian production: Tina Bursill (Doctor Doctor, Wentworth) as Madame, Ella's stepmother, as well as Todd McKenney (The Boy From Oz, Shrek) as Sebastian, the Lord Chancellor. The cast will be working with a production penned by playwright Douglas Carter Beane (Xanadu, Sister Act) based on Hammerstein's work — which was, of course, adapted from the fairy tale about a young woman dreaming of a better life. The Broadway production was nominated for eight Tony Awards and won one, for Best Costume Design. In the US, Carly Rae Jepsen played Ella for a stint, while The Nanny's Fran Drescher also took on the role of Madame, Ella's stepmother, for a period. Top image: Original Broadway production of Cinderella by Carol Rosegg.
SBS2 has poached Vive Cool City from the clutches of its internet following to give them a stab at a late-night TV viewership. The show takes a look at some of humanity's beautiful freaks through the winning presence of judgement-free, committed reporters. If you are suspicious about the 'committed' bit of that sentence, let me refer you to Ryder Susman's brush with a golden shower, and by brush I mean this. "(Our) aim is to embed, to understand, to attempt to get an uncensored take on the story," explains host and former Hungry Beast reporter Kirk Docker. "What we want our audience to do is see the topics we deal with, with new eyes — get them thinking, talking, questioning. What people get up to in real life is so much more compelling than what you can make up." Tonight at 11.30pm, Kirk, along with Ryder Susman, will announce the arrival of Vive Cool City to SBS2 by dropping into the Collingwood housing projects to interview heroin users, taking an in-depth look at a nudist Melbourne gym and introducing us to homemade tunnels, equine psychotherapy and Swedish bridge jumpers. Not to mention the You Report segment, where some UK viewers will show us the intricacies of turning breast milk into ice cream. The show claimed 10 million views on YouTube and has some serious TV pedigree behind it in producer Andy Nehl (Hungry Beast and The Chaser), so Vive Cool City could well be your next 30 (uncomfortable) minutes of choice. Check out some of their online stuff at their website.
It's been four years since Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water turned a creature feature into a love story, and won the filmmaker the Best Picture and Best Director Oscars in the process. That's four years that movie fans have had to wait for his next dance with horror — because the director behind everything from vampire flick Cronos and dark fantasy Pan's Labyrinth to kaiju-versus-machine effort Pacific Rim and gothic haunted house feature Crimson Peak sure does love twisting genre staples in his own ways. Viewers love his work for doing just that, too, and del Toro's long-awaited next film looks set to continue the trend. With Nightmare Alley, he's forgoing Mimic's bugs, The Devil's Backbone's ghosts and Blade II's bloodsuckers in favour of spinning up psychological thrills in a carnival — and, as seen in the just-dropped first teaser trailer for the film, doing so with quite the impressive cast. Here, Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born) plays carnival worker Stan Carlisle, who has a gift for using the right words to get people to do what he wants. That's a savvy — and manipulative, obviously — skill, and it proves even more so after he teams up with psychiatrist Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett, Where'd You Go, Bernadette). Adapting William Lindsay Gresham's 1946 novel of the same name — which was already turned into a movie back in 1947 — Nightmare Alley also features Willem Dafoe (The Lighthouse), Rooney Mara (Mary Magdalene), Toni Collette (Dream Horse), del Toro regular Ron Perlman (who starred in the director's original Hellboy movies) and The Shape of Water's Richard Jenkins. And, as the trailer shows, it's embracing its setting in a big way. Throughout his almost three-decade filmmaking career, del Toro has always given his features quite the entrancing look (see: everything mentioned above), and that doesn't seem to be changing here. Expect things to get dark, story-wise, when the movie hits cinemas Down Under in January 2022. Expect big tops, carnival rides, Dafoe spruiking attractions, blindfolds, blood, fire and plenty of brooding looks, too, based on the trailer alone. Check out the Nightmare Alley trailer below: Nightmare Alley releases in Australian cinemas on January 20, 2022.
Orange has more delicious produce and wines than almost any region in NSW. The area’s high altitude, cool climate and rich volcanic soils work like magic for local producers, making it the perfect growing environment. Usually you would have to drive for several hours to experience the goodness of Orange, but this month the goodness comes to you, as Taste Orange bringing the region’s best wine and food to Sydney. On August 21-22, Martin Place will offer tastings, cooking demonstrations, discussions and live music from the town’s culinary elite. Arrive between 11.30am and 2.30pm to sample the region’s plumpest fruits, olives and meats at the farmers market and watch Orange local and Master Chef winner, Kate Bracks, host a live cooking demonstration using local ingredients. There will be a Millamolong Polo lounge in the evenings where you can chill and enter a draw to win tickets for you and nine friends to visit the state’s premier polo tournament on a bus named ‘Driving Force’. Return at 5pm for an outdoor pop-up bar serving the region’s award winning wine at $7 a glass. The bar will feature 24 of the region’s best wines, including Citibank NSW Wine Award winners Logan, and Angullong, whose Cabernet Merlot and Shiraz were featured on the 40 best wines of the state. If you want to learn more about the region’s premium wine and food production, Bracks, the farmers and the winemakers will be happy to chat. You may not be surrounded by the colours of the state’s Central West but Taste Orange will provide a rare opportunity to taste and buy produce straight from the makers themselves.
Loading up the end of summer with eclectic fun comes easy with the next instalment of Adelaide Fringe. Over the last 60-plus years, the much-loved event has continuously grown to encompass hundreds of venues across the state. The 2024 edition will host over 1300 shows featuring the best arts, comedy, theatre, circus and cabaret talent. Recognised as the largest annual arts event in the southern hemisphere — and the second-largest in the world after the Edinburgh Fringe — the festival has an open-access format, which means the artists, curators, and venues determine the program themselves. This welcoming approach guarantees an even more experimental lineup of weird and wonderful events. Running from Friday, February 16 to Sunday, March 17, this extravaganza will see thousands of local and international artists flock to South Australia. Sound good? Here are eight unmissable events so you can start planning. INFLATABLE CHURCH Sure, getting married or renewing your vows beneath a historic church steeple is bound to make your grandparents happy. But if you're partial to the unconventional or even a little extreme, confessing your everlasting love through "unholy matrimony" might just be the best way to mark your special day. Enter the Inflatable Church: a bouncing chapel featuring an irreverent vicar ready to lead the vows, speeches, ring exchange and dance-offs. Not sure what to wear? You'll find over 300 outfits for the bride, groom and the wedding party, ensuring everyone in your unruly congregation looks the part. PRISON BREAK The best escape rooms do an incredible job of immersing players in the puzzle. It only improves when first-rate storytelling and cryptic clues blend with an authentic setting — where not-so-fictional tales are embedded in the walls. This merging makes Prison Break a captivating event at Adelaide Fringe. Amid the historic cells of the Migration Museum, you'll have 45 minutes to escape a life sentence in prison for a crime you didn't commit. Surrounded by reinforced doors and iron gates, the dimly lit passageways are a thrilling locale for your team to solve the puzzle and find freedom. AFRIQUE EN CIRQUE Celebrate the culture and vitality of Africa through Afrique en Cirque — a vibrant live performance created by Guinean artist Yamoussa Bangoura. Inspired by the colours, sounds and movements of daily life in his home country, Bangoura set out to showcase the strength and joy found within African youth. Getting wrapped up in irresistible fun, you'll encounter mind-blowing acrobatics, contemporary Afro-Jazz tunes and vivid costumes. Set to the peaceful tones of the kora — a West African string instrument similar to the harp — a kaleidoscopic performance bursting with life-affirming energy will undoubtedly charm audiences. DUPANG PANGARI (COORONG SPIRIT) FESTIVAL Combining camping and corroboree, the Dupang Pangari (Coorong Spirit) Festival, led by Tal-Kin-Jeri director Major 'Moogy' Sumner, will help strengthen your connection to Country. You're invited to soak up Coorong's incredible coastal scenery through group workshops, dances, storytelling and marketplaces. Setting up camp on Friday afternoon, the festival begins with a welcome smoking ceremony at sunset before it's time to gaze up at the night sky. Then, Saturday brings a myriad of workshops ranging from basket weaving to clapstick carving and boomerang throwing. To close it all out, there'll be a corrobboree around a sacred fire at dusk. ISAAC HUMPHRIES — UNEARTHED Catch another side of an elite sportsperson with professional basketballer Isaac Humphries in his one-man show, Unearthed. Humphries has long dabbled with a music career, having grown up performing on stages across Sydney. But when his talents on the court became impossible to ignore, his creative career had to take a backseat. Following a stint in the NBA and now playing for the Adelaide 36ers, Humphries made global headlines in 2022 when he came out as the only gay male professional basketballer active at the highest level. As one of the headline acts at Adelaide Fringe, Humphries takes audiences on a musical journey through his life's remarkable ups and downs. DANE SIMPSON: ALWAYS WAS, ALWAYS WILL BE... FUNNY It doesn't matter which fringe event you attend around the globe — no visit is complete without hitting up a stand-up comedy show. While there's no shortage of wisecracking performers to consider in Adelaide, Dane Simpson is bound to be one of the most original in his show, Always Was, Always Will Be...Funny. Taking to the stage at the Rhino Room in Adelaide CBD, the Gamilaraay performer delves into 60,000 years of laughs. From a slideshow that finds the funny side of changing the Australia Day date to imagining a millennia-old First Nations comedy skit, Dane Simpson knows what it takes to spin a hilarious yarn. SWAMPELSQUE AND THE STRIPSONS Adelaide Fringe's colour and eccentricities mean it's ripe for burlesque performances. Lovers of Shrek should make a beeline for Swamplesque — an ogre-inspired burlesque and drag show parodying the beloved fairytale film in raunchy, side-splitting detail. If that's not enough, The Stripsons is another surreal burlesque and drag parody featuring America's favourite cartoon family. Created by the same risque team behind Swamplesque, this adults-only show lampoons numerous hilarious moments from the long-running television series. SOMEDAY WE'LL FIND IT The world is full of digital distractions, and balancing our online lives with the physical world has become increasingly complicated. Someday We'll Find It is an experimental, reflective look at writing a play through today's precariously short attention spans and endless pages of online search results. Created by award-winning theatre-makers Karla Livingstone-Pardy and Zachary Sheridan, the show's script has been generated using Google searches, while being presented through a spellbinding combination of live performance and multimedia. Head along for an absurd look at the modern world. Book your FringeTIX now at the Adelaide Fringe website.
After making his fortune at the card tables as a professional gambler, David Walsh launched MONA as something to give back to the community. Three years later it's become a national icon, boosted Tasmania's economy and given rise to one of Australia's best festivals. Now, despite labelling gambling as "mostly immoral", Walsh has plans in the works to build a mini-casino at his much-loved Tasmanian gallery. Yes, this is confusing. In its defence, Walsh's vision for the space goes far beyond the sad state of affairs you see on an average night at Star City or Crown. Designed for the more refined gambler, the space would be "a little high-roller, tourist-only, no-pokie casino". The entire operation would consist of nothing more than 12 cards tables. Basically, it'd be the perfect place for Bond villains to hang out should they ever find themselves in Australia. To add to this eye-patch wearing, cigar-puffing, international art smuggling cartel theme, Walsh has stated he would call the casino Monaco. While a cute play on the gallery name, the choice could also be a knowing wink at the ritzy Monte Carlo casino the nation is known for — a site coincidentally used in many Bond movies. Regardless, these plans have a long hard road to becoming a reality. At present, the Federal Group (owners of Wrest Point Casino) have an exclusive license on casino operations in Tasmania and Walsh's plans would require an overturning of the license by the state government. Walsh has reportedly made initial contact but is sceptical about his chances. At one point, the MONA owner was banned from Wrest Point for card counting. If the plans were to go through, the gallery would undoubtedly enjoy a large boost in funds. At the very least it would be an un unconventional solution to the impending cuts to Australia's arts industries and a welcome salvation for Walsh himself who has bankrolled the gallery since its inception. But honestly, the outlook doesn't look great. You can't blame an eccentric, art-loving millionaire for chasing the dream. Via The Guardian and The Mercury.
For those who haven't escaped to Europe during Australia's cooler months, North Bondi Fish is giving Sydney locals something to feel good about while all their mates are sipping Aperol spritzes in Italy. A twist on the Bondi eatery's bottomless brunches, Disco Yum Cha will run every Saturday and Sunday from Sunday, July 5–Sunday, August 3, from 11am–3pm. Guests can expect a fresh, seafood-heavy menu curated by Group Executive Chef Hamish Ingham and Head Chef David Coumont. The yum cha-style set menu perfectly balances Asian flavours with Aussie influences and is designed for sharing. Think prawn toast with sweet chilli, scallop wontons in Sichuan oil, and barramundi with ginger and shallot. Menu options include a small set menu for $65 per person, or a larger option for $89 per person. To keep you quenched, enjoy bottomless beer and wine for $30 per person, or add cocktail jugs to make it $60 per person. Yum cha-inspired cocktails are available à la carte, such as the Mucha Macha with gin, strawberry bitters, mint and matcha soda, or the Marg Yum Cha, which is part margarita, part wild card, with tequila, mandarin and black sesame. Around midday — once you've settled into the perfect spot and are kicking back with uninterrupted views of Bondi Beach — disco DJs will take the stage to take the party up a notch. Bookings for Disco Yum Cha are essential. Visit the Disco Yum Cha website to lock in your spot. Images: Alana Dimou.
If you're keen for some fashion finds that are both thrifty and charitable, head to the Paddington Town Hall this winter. The Red Cross will be hosting a huge pop-up shop — on Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2 — and all proceeds will going to the Australian charity. Expect thousands of vintage, pre-loved and new fashion items on offer, including designer clothing, shoes and accessories. Dig through winter-appropriate coats and boots, or get ready for next summer (it'll be here before you know it) and stock up on denim and dresses. Need new bowls? A new rug? Lost all your spoons? A heap of homewares will be up for grabs, too. And if just acting as a consumer doesn't hit your do-good quota, the Red Cross is also calling for volunteers to join the pop-up staff. The shop will be open from 9am–5pm on Saturday and 9am–2pm on Sunday and entry is free. Save your wardrobe shopping until then and do some good with your spending money — give back one designer dress at a time.
Held around International Women's Day since 2013, Sydney Opera House's All About Women festival does what many other talk-heavy events historically haven't. Across a huge lineup of speakers, it pushes ladies to the front, putting them on stage to chat about their fields of expertise and their experiences, as well as a broad range of topics that are relevant to women. Now well and truly part of Sydney's annual cultural calendar, the event is returning in 2020 to do what it does best — with an impressive new range of female voices on the program. Taking place on International Women's Day itself — Sunday, March 8, 2020 — AAW 2020 is honing its focus on the post-#MeToo era. Yes, that's a still a rather sizeable realm, and the fest's range of topics is similarly broad. Across one jam-packed day, you can hear discussions about everything from body positivity to sexual assault, plus astrophysics, neuroscience, social justice and alcohol, too. Add Lindy West to your must-see list — and if you've binge-watched TV comedy Shrill, which is based on her memoir, you've probably already done just that. The comedian and writer will chat about white male mediocrity, where feminism is headed and politics in pop culture, as well as a subject that'll be familiar to her fans: ignoring societal pre-conceptions and feeling comfortable in your own skin. [caption id="attachment_753369" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Lindy West, shot by Jenny Jimenez.[/caption] Among AAW's headliners, she's joined by Chanel Miller, who has been making a big impact in the US in a very difficult area. A sexual assault survivor herself, her memoir Know My Name helped increase awareness and discussion about the way such cases are handled by colleges and the American courts. She'll be chatting about speaking up, making a difference and fighting for change. While the festival's full lineup won't be revealed until January, other highlights include Princeton University astrophysics professor Jo Dunkley, who'll unearth the pioneering women who've made vital contributions to the field; plus cognitive neuroscientist Gina Rippon, who'll discuss research that shatters the idea that men and women's brains function differently. Elsewhere, journalist Azadeh Moaveni will shine a light on women who join the Islamic State, while Sanam Maher will delve into gendered abuse — as seen in the Pakistani 'honour' killing she documented in her text A Woman Like Her - The Short Life of Qandeel Baloch — with Aussie author Jess Hill. Attendees can also listen to Wild Swans author Jung Chang as she explores her best-selling work, learn more about the cultural knowledge that's passed on by generations of women in First Nations communities, hear about efforts to set up feminist utopias in the 70s and dive into the complicated relationship that women can have with alcohol. Or, see Betty Grumble, Megana Holiday, Iya Ya Ya and Stelly G completely disregard the sexist notion that women are meant to be well-behaved in The Working Bitches — and get interactive at digital exhibition My Mother's Kitchen, which asks eight LGBTQI+ individuals to share their childhood kitchen stories. All About Women 2020 will take place on Sunday, March 8, 2020 at the Sydney Opera House. Tickets will go on sale at 9am on Friday, December 6, with pre-sales starting from 9am on Tuesday, December 3. The final program will be announced in January, so watch this space. Image: Prudence Upton.
UPDATE, February 10, 2021: News of the World is currently screening in Australian cinemas, and is also available to stream via Netflix from Wednesday, February 10. The first time that Tom Hanks was nominated for an Oscar, it was for munching on baby corn spears like they were full-sized cobs. His nod for Big stemmed from more than just that scene, but the way he handled the tiny vegetables perfectly illustrates how, at his best, he can make anything look and feel convincing. He didn't win for the 1989 comedy, and he hasn't taken home an Academy Award since he went two for two with 1994's Philadelphia and 1995's Forrest Gump; however that skill has remained a vital reason for his prolonged success. And, it applies equally to the silliest roles on his resume — early movies Splash, Turner & Hooch and The 'Burbs, for instance — and to the far more serious and subtle parts. Last year's Oscar-nominated performance in A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood typifies the latter, and featured Hanks in such exceptional form that it couldn't have been easier to see him as children's presenter Mr Rogers. His latest great film, western News of the World, also belongs in the same category. This time around, Hanks plays a Civil War veteran-turned-travelling newsman who becomes saddled with escorting a child back to her family, and he's as gripping and compelling to watch as he's ever been. Hanks' character, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, is a travelling newsman in the very literal and era-appropriate sense. He journeys from town to town to read newspapers to amassed crowds for ten cents a person, all so folks across America can discover what's going on — not just locally, but around the country and the world. Then, on one otherwise routine trip in 1870, he passes an overturned wagon. Only a blonde-haired ten-year-old girl, Johanna (Helena Zengel, System Crasher), remains alive. Kidd soon discovers that she had been abducted by the Kiowa people years earlier during a raid that saw her entire family slaughtered, and was then raised as one of their own, but she has now been left homeless after more violence. The wagon was transporting Johanna to her last remaining relatives and, in the absence of any officials willing to take over — or ensure her safety until they get around to setting off — Kidd reluctantly agrees to the task. Reading the news is still part of their trek, but so is avoiding the many dangers that plague their ride across Texas' golden-hued landscape. If the sight of a wearied Hanks donning a wide-brimmed hat, sitting atop a trusty horse and galloping across scrubby plains feels unfamiliar, that's because it hasn't happened before — with News of the World marking his first-ever western more than four decades after he made his acting debut. (No, his time voicing cowboy plaything Woody in the Toy Story movies doesn't count.) Hanks is a natural fit, unsurprisingly. The grounded presence he has brought to everything from Apollo 13 to The Post couldn't pair better with a genre that trots so openly across the earth, and ties its characters' fortunes so tightly to the desolate and wild conditions that surround them, after all. As a result, the fact that News of the World eagerly recalls previous western standouts such as The Searchers and True Grit doesn't ever become a drawback. Instead, this adaptation of Paulette Jiles' 2016 novel makes a purposeful effort to put its star in the same company as the many on-screen talents who've shone in — and strutted and scowled through — the genre. Hanks takes to the saddle like he's been perched upon one his entire career, of course, and takes to Kidd's lone-rider status with the same naturalistic air as well. Indeed, Hanks plays Kidd as an everyman, another key trait that's served him excellently for years — but the ex-soldier is also a wanderer for a reason. A handful of poignant scenes help shade in the character's painful past, and make it plain why his eventual connection with Johanna is perhaps a bigger deal for him than it is for her. They're an ideal match, actually, even if it doesn't instantly seem like it. He's quiet and stoic, she's unafraid to voice her displeasure, and a father-daughter rapport slowly springs. But Hanks isn't the only actor who ensures that this pairing works so disarmingly well, with his young co-star just as phenomenal. For anyone who saw Zengel's performance in 2019's System Crasher, which won the pre-teen the German Film Prize for Best Actress, that won't come as even the slightest surprise. Also pivotal to News of the World is filmmaker Paul Greengrass, who directs Hanks for the second time following Captain Phillips. Working with a script co-written with Australian screenwriter Luke Davies (Lion, Beautiful Boy, Angel of Mine), the United 93, 22 July and three-time Bourne franchise helmer opts for a more polished visual approach than he's known for — less frenetic and jittery, and noticeably so, but with imagery that still pulsates with emotion. When Kidd and Johanna find trouble along their trek, including from a shady trio with despicable intentions, Greengrass expertly ramps up the pace without ever letting the film's classic feel subside. With stellar assistance from cinematographer Dariusz Wolski (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) and editor William Goldenberg (an Oscar-winner for Argo), he ensures that the wagon chase and cliffside shootout that ensue are as tense and thrilling as they are exacting and meticulous. And, when his central duo arrive in a town where the local heavy (Thomas Francis Murphy, The Secrets We Keep) isn't keen on any news he doesn't approve of, he never overemphases the contemporary parallels with today's political cries against the media. Greengrass also fills News of the World with a top-notch supporting lineup, including Deadwood's Ray McKinnon, True Grit's Elizabeth Marvel, Hanks' Turner & Hooch love interest Mare Winningham and The Queen's Gambit's Bill Camp — a touch indicative of the film's finesse on every level. In fact, as perfectly cast and reliably great as Hanks is here, in the latest role that's likely to see awards nominations come his way, the empathetic and absorbing movie he's in meets him at every turn. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG_EVA58P-g Image: Bruce W Talamon/Universal Pictures/Netflix.
What happens when two cousins played by Kieran Culkin (Succession) and Jesse Eisenberg (Fleishman Is in Trouble) honour their grandmother and explore their family's past by heading to Poland? Eisenberg himself asked that question, then turned the answer into the Sundance-premiering and now Jewish International Film Festival-bound A Real Pain. The actor not only co-stars but writes and directs the dramedy, his second feature behind the lens — and Australian audiences can see the results when JIFF returns for 2024. This year's festival is back to finish out the year, screening in seven cities, including across Monday, October 28–Thursday, December 5 at Ritz Cinemas and Thursday, November 7–Wednesday, November 20 at the Roseville Cinemas in Sydney. Just like its fellow major cultural film fests, such as its French, Spanish, Italian, Scandinavian and Japanese counterparts, JIFF's 2024 slate is jam-packed. Movie lovers can choose between 41 features, two TV shows and a showcase of short films, with the festival's titles hailing from 17 countries. Eisenberg and Culkin aren't the only big names on the lineup. Closing night's Berlin-set The Performance, which is adapted from an Arthur Miller short story and tells of a Jewish American tap dancer, stars Jeremy Piven (Sweetwater). The fest's centrepiece pick Between the Temples features Jason Schwartzman (Megalopolis) as a cantor and Carol Kane (Dinner with Parents) as his former elementary school music teacher. And in White Bird, which hails from a book by the author of fellow page-to-screen effort Wonder, Helen Mirren (Barbie) and Gillian Anderson (Scoop) pop up. In Sydney, The Brutalist is on the JIFF bill as well. It shows Down Under after winning Venice's Silver Lion-winner for Best Director for actor-turned-filmmaker Brady Corbet (The Childhood of a Leader, Vox Lux). Starring on-screen: Adrien Brody (Asteroid City), Felicity Jones (Dead Shot) and Guy Pearce (Inside), in a flick that follows architect László Toth and his wife Erzsébet to America from Europe after the Second World War. Well-known folks are also in the spotlight in documentaries Janis Ian: Breaking Silence, Diane Warren: Relentless and How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer — and acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, The Trip movies) is on the lineup via British Mandatory Palestine-set historical thriller Shoshana. Then, there's TV series Kafka, arriving a century after the death of its namesake. Highlights across the rest of the program include documentary The Commandant's Shadow, about The Zone of Interest-featured Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss' son Hans Jürgen Höss meeting with survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch; Tatami, following a female Iranian judo athlete played by Arienne Mandi (The L Word: Generation Q), with Guy Nattiv (Golda) and Zar Amir Ebrahimi (last seen on-screen in Shayda, and also co-starring here) co-directing; television's Auckland-set Kid Sister; and Aussie doco Pita with Vegemite: An Israeli Australian Story.
Just when you thought it was safe to watch another film set by the sea, The Shallows takes cinema audiences back into shark-infested waters. More than four decades after Jaws scared viewers away from the shoreline, this Gold Coast-shot American thriller endeavours to do the same. But whereas Steven Spielberg really fleshed out the idea of a menacing creature stalking a small beach town, this new effort, from Non-Stop, Unknown and Run All Night director Jaume Collet-Serra, keeps things much more simple. Blake Lively's holidaying Nancy is first left to fend for herself after a friend opts to skip their planned trip to a secluded spot on the Mexican coast. Giving the jaunt a miss isn't an option for Nancy — not just because the Texan medical student is a keen surfer intent on catching some waves, but because the specific locale has links to her recently deceased mother. When she arrives, two unnamed guys are happily hanging ten. Alas, when they leave, she's joined by a more fearsome, blood-thirsty form of company. If it all sounds like a rather flimsy excuse for another lone survivor film in the same vein as All is Lost and Life of Pi, that's because it is. Collet-Serra simply takes what's fast becoming a familiar genre and adds a shark — and some GoPro-shot footage — to the mix. In a move inspired by Cast Away, Nancy is at one point gifted a seagull named Steven to talk to. But for the bulk of the movie she's just trembling on a rock, narrating events to herself and yelling at the lurking great white beast. Of course, as something as silly as the Sharknado series continues to prove, there are always thrills to be found in the notion of humanity versus nature — and ample cheesiness, too. The Shallows succeeds in ramping up the tension surrounding every urgently paced, frenetically edited attack, particularly given how sparse the storyline is. It doesn't fare as well in other departments though — from the obvious dialogue and thin existential musings cooked up by screenwriter Anthony Jaswinski, to the tendency of the camera to linger leeringly over Lively's bikini-clad body. Thankfully, Lively still ranks among the film's best elements in what is basically a one-woman effort. Whether she's screaming for her life or performing gruesome surgery on herself, there's a primal element to her performance that invests her protagonist with the right balance of vulnerability and determination. Indeed, while Collet-Serra has become best known for showcasing Liam Neeson being Liam Neeson, he also knows how to turn Lively into a formidable but relatable force. If you've seen any of his previous films, you should know what to expect here: a taut, trashy action flick that doesn't stray far from its concept. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgdxIlSuB70
Get ready to cosy up this winter at the Sydney Tea Festival. If you have a yearning for an Earl Grey or a passion for Russian Caravan, this event is sure to warm your cockles. When the festival opens at Carriageworks on Sunday, August 18, you'll find all manner of tea-related talks, workshops and tastings to extend your appreciation of the finest brew. One workshop, held by Lachie Beange from Archie Rose Distilling Co., will explore tea and gin pairings — because your next tea party could always use some booze. In another, you'll learn all about pairing your favourite beverage with vegan food. Or, take sessions on everything from Australia's green teas to reading tea leaves — when you're not sipping your way through the tea market, that is. There'll be plenty of stallholders showing their wares, a tasting table for small groups and a DIY tea blending station. Tickets range from $16.95 in advance to $20.95 on the door, and you should book ahead for the workshops and talks. Get ready to curl those frosty hands around a warm cuppa and escape Sydney's winter chill. Images: Madeye Photography.
In 1977, Robyn Davidson decided she would walk west from Alice Springs until she hit the Indian Ocean, taking with her only her beloved dog and four camels. She was determined to do this alone, but, finding herself in need of money, was forced to allow National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan to document her journey. Davidson was told the trek would be suicide, but, undeterred, she set out anyway on her perilous, eventful journey. Filmmakers have been trying to adapt Tracks, the book she wrote about her experience, since the early 1980s, with even Julia Roberts attached in 1993. This is the sixth (and, clearly, the only successful) attempt to bring Davidson's story to the screen. Mia Wasikowska stars and is impressive as Davidson, imbuing her with a determination required to sell the character. Adam Driver, best known from Lena Dunham's Girls, is equally superb as Smolan. Driver is a compelling presence, and though his character is an irritant to Davidson, he is a welcome presence to us whenever he appears. Read our full review of Tracks here. Tracks is in cinemas on Thursday, March 6, and thanks to Transmission Films, we have five double in-season passes to give away. To be in the running, subscribe to the Concrete Playground newsletter (if you haven't already), then email us with your name and address. Sydney: win.sydney@concreteplayground.com.au Melbourne: win.melbourne@concreteplayground.com.au Brisbane: win.brisbane@concreteplayground.com.au https://youtube.com/watch?v=RyDCfuYTX_U
It's the 32nd year for Australia's largest folk art and music festival. And like a vintage wine, the artistic line up gets more and more complex and impressive as the years go by. This year there'll be over 2000 artists in 400 acts across visual, performance and spoken word formats. Catch folk, rock and pop musicians including John Butler, Kate Miller-Heidke, The Beautiful Girls, Husky, Holy Holy, Canadian band The East Pointers, Timberwolf and Montaigne. Personalities such as Dr Karl, Tracey Spicer and Noel Pearson are among an exhaustive selection of speakers, presenters and comedians doing what they do best and you'll be mesmerised by at least 20 dance and performance acts. You can also try your hand at artisan crafts from pottery to tattoo art to Maori basket weaving — or even just go on a bush walk with a professional nature enthusiast through Woodford's beautiful surrounds. And as usual, you'll welcome in the new year alongside thousands of others with an epic fire display. The crowd is expected to reach over 132,000 this edition, so get your name on a ticket before they become scarce.
Griffin Theatre is out to reinforce its reputation as the incubator for new work in Sydney with a fully Australian 2013 season that includes the first writer/director team to emerge from the company's Studio residency program. The pairing is Duncan Graham, the playwright behind 2011's bewildering and spooky monologue Cut, and director Tanya Goldberg (Way to Heaven), who'll be kicking off the Main Season with their new urban thriller, Dreams in White. Also in the season is Melissa Bubnic's 2011 Patrick White Playwrights' Award-winning Beached, about a morbidly obese boy being followed by a reality TV crew, and Van Badham's new The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet of Stars, a mythically charged subversion of the rom-com. In what's become an anticipated tradition under artistic director Sam Strong, following on from Speaking in Tongues and The Boys, one play from the annals of SBW Stables history will be revived. In 2013 it's John Romeril's The Floating World, a cruiseship-set story of xenophobia and the legacy of war last seen on this stage in 1975. There's equally thrilling stuff in the Independent Season, which includes the Tennessee Williams/Gone with the Wind/drag cabaret synthesis that shook up a suburban Melbourne shed (Sisters Grimm's Summertime in the Garden of Eden), a dreamy Lally Katz number that'll be hoping for a Sydney reincarnation in which it can spread its wings (Return to Earth), and the world premiere of Vivienne Walshe's poetic 2012 Griffin Award winner (This Is Where We Live). "The plays all offer very different experiences," says Strong, "but they all do things you can only do in a theatre. More importantly, they do things you can only do in our theatre.” This is the last season to be put together by Strong, who will pop back to direct The Floating World. His successor, Lee Lewis, will take on The Bull, the Moon and the Coronet of Stars, while other directing talent in the mix in 2013 includes Shannon Murphy, Paige Rattray, and Susanna Dowling. Basically, this is a season where women are kicking arse all over the shop and there's still at least one play to which you can take your dad without complaints. Subscription packages (or, alternatively, a new membership option for the commitment-averse) are now available through the Griffin website.
Is there any social situation more painfully awkward than being in the presence of a couple having an argument? The hair-curling passive-aggression. The teeth-grinding fake smiles. The years and years of squabbles and resentment finally coming to a head. And you, sitting there, wanting nothing more than to evaporate into thin air. Imagine that experience stretched out for two whole hours, and you'll have a rough idea of what it's like to watch Force Majeure. The single worst date movie to come out of the European arthouse circuit since Charlotte Gainsbourg become intimately familiar with a pair of rusty scissors in Antichrist, Ruben Östlund's probe of a marriage in crisis is at once brilliant and impossible to bear. Part piercing relationship drama, part deliciously mean-spirited black comedy, the film follows a wealthy Swedish family on a skiing holiday in France. In the opening scene, we see them lining up on the slopes for an impromptu family photograph. Perfect husband. Perfect wife. Two impossibly perfect kids. But disaster can strike even the most photogenic of families — and in Force Majeure it quite literally does. The four are sitting down to lunch when snow begins to cascade down the mountain. A controlled avalanche suddenly no longer under control, the white wall barrels towards the balcony restaurant. Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) seizes the children in her arms and looks desperately towards her husband, Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke)... just in time to see him running in the other direction. That is, until everyone realises it was all just a false alarm, at which point he slinks quietly back to the table so the four of them can finish their meal. It's an ingenious setup to one of the most uncomfortable films you're ever likely to see. At first, no-one wants to talk about what happened. So it hangs in the air, like a fart you're too embarrassed to admit to. Inevitably, though, it has to be addressed. Forced jokes lead to tight-lipped denials which in turn lead to public accusations. Östlund clearly delights in the opportunity to make his characters — along with his audience — squirm in their seats. Scenes invariably run longer than feels natural, until you're practically begging for the director to cut away. It's especially tough to watch because deep down, you can't help but wonder about what you'd have done in the same situation. Yet the film isn't so much scathing of Tomas's split-second reaction as it is of his refusal to own up to it. As a merciless, darkly comedic takedown of masculine delusion, Force Majeure would make for an ideal double feature with the recently released Gone Girl. Frankly, these Swedes make their American counterparts look positively meant-to-be. https://youtube.com/watch?v=3nTJIc_e6Ns
After a tumultuous start to the year, Australia's arts and cultural industries are slowly starting up again. Over the past few months, the Australian Government's ban on non-essential gatherings, social distancing rules and the mass closure of indoor venues saw many major events around the country cancelled or postponed. One such event was the acclaimed 22nd Biennale of Sydney, which opened on March 14 and closed only ten days later. Now, the citywide free arts festival has announced it'll be kicking off (again) from June 16, following the reopening of NSW art galleries, museums and libraries on June 1. This year's lineup of 100-plus artists are examining a poignant issue close to the heart of Australia: First Nations sovereignty and intergenerational trauma. The 2020 Biennale is entitled Nirin, which means 'edge' in the language of western NSW's Wiradjuri people. The theme is timely, for two reasons: the 2020 blockbuster falls on the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook's voyage to Australia — and it will be helmed by a new First Nations artistic director, famed Sydney-born, Melbourne-based interdisciplinary artist Brook Andrew. In a statement announcing the festival's reopening, Biennale of Sydney's Chief Executive Officer Barbara Moore said, "now, more than ever, we need art to connect, collaborate and heal – all core themes of Nirin." Andrew has selected an impressive lineup of artists and creatives — many of them First Nations — from around the world to exhibit at the Art Gallery of NSW (June1–September 27), Woolloomooloo's Artspace (June 1–September 27), Campbelltown Arts Centre (June 1–October 11), Cockatoo Island (June 16–September 16) and the MCA (June 16–September 6). The National Art School, which was originally part of the program, will remain closed to the public for the foreseeable future, so the Biennale is currently looking to relocate its works to a new space. On the lineup, you'll find the Southern Hemisphere premiere of Arthur Jafa's Golden Lion-awarded work The White Album, Wiradjuri artist Karla Dickens's immersive work symbolising the disproportionate number of incarcerated Indigenous Australian women and a large-scale political protest piece by Pitjantjatjara artist Kunmanara Mumu Mike Williams (who passed away last year). [caption id="attachment_759715" align="alignnone" width="1920"] Arthur Jafa, Still from The White Album (2018). Photo courtesy the artist and Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York/Rome; commissioned by the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). © Arthur Jafa, 2018[/caption] Cockatoo Island will be home to a wide range of works, including Ghanaian-born artist Ibrahim Mahama's sprawling installation of coal sacks; Tony Albert's interactive greenhouse, where you'll be invited to write and plant messages; and Tlingit/Unangax̂ artist Nicholas Galanin's excavation work that'll 'dig up' the land beneath the shadow of Hyde Park's Captain Cook statue. Elsewhere, Ahmed Umar's ceramic sarcophagus will be shown at the MCA; DJ Hannah Catherine Jones will perform an audiovisual work inspired by pop-culture, poetry and provocative imagery; Andrew Rewald's evolving community garden will take over NAS; and Leisa Reihana's multi-channel video installation and film will explore the history of Māori and South Pacific Islander peoples. During its physical hiatus, Biennale of Sydney launched a digital program, which will continue. Nirin Wir — a program of free and ticketed events taking place all over the city, from the Blue Mountains to La Perouse — has been postponed until further notice. The 22nd Biennale of Sydney will now officially run from June 16–September 6 2020. The Nirin exhibitions are free. While Nirin Wir is postponed, you can catch the digital program here. Top images: Josep Grau-Garriga 'Retaule Dels Penjants and Màrtir', installation view (2020) in the Grand Courts at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, photograph by Zan Wimberley; Lisa Reihana 'Tai Whetuki - House of Death Redux' (2016) at The Walters Prize, Auckland Art Gallery; and Andrew Rewald 'Alchemy Garden'.
Get ready to decide for good you're never having children. Golden Age Cinema and Bar is showing Richard Donner's iconic '70s horror flick The Omen. The film centres around little creepster Damien Thorn, a child so monstrous and disturbed his nanny hangs herself at his fifth birthday party. It's guest-presented by The Grifter Brewing Co, who will be serving their velvety, six-malted winter brew on tap to complement the general dark freaky ominous vibes of the evening. (The beer is also called The Omen. Eek.) Since opening their art deco halls to film buffs last September, Golden Age has paired you-won't-find-it-in-a-multiplex cinema and wine, beer, snacks and cocktails with names straight out of old Hollywood. We applaud them on the spot-on spooky theming of this event, and advise you to maybe take some tissues to clean yourself up after you slop The Omen (that's the beer) down your front from all that shrieking and hiding behind your hands. https://youtube.com/watch?v=vVK42hD9IaY
There are many reasons to thank Mike White, creator and writer of The White Lotus, for bringing the hit HBO series to our screens. He's responsible for one of the best TV shows of both 2021 and 2022 — a program that has weaponised luxurious settings, helped set travel itineraries, thoroughly eaten the rich, spun twisty murder-mysteries, and kept viewers guessing throughout each and every episode of both season one and season two. He's also helped shower affection and attention upon the one and only Jennifer Coolidge, a screen icon who always deserves such love. Indeed, if it wasn't for White and The White Lotus, the world wouldn't have had the joy that is Coolidge's various awards speeches for playing Tanya McQuoid. For folks in Sydney on Saturday, June 10, worshipping the White-and-Coolidge pairing — hearing Coolidge talk about her time on The White Lotus, too — won't just involve checking out Emmy and Golden Globe clips. In huge news in general, and for the Vivid Sydney lineup, the duo is coming to the Harbour City for what's set to be the biggest in-conversation session of the 23-day, 300-plus-event festival. While Vivid dropped its program back in March, it has been making additions since, including literally underground light and laser show Dark Spectrum and now this. Unsurprisingly, the Vivid team has dubbed its latest addition one of the biggest announcements in the festival's 13-year history — which is no small feat for an event that's seen everyone from The Cure to Robert Pattinson and Spike Lee grace its bill in past years. Coolidge and White won't just chat about The White Lotus, McQuoid's utter lack of luck in love and a certain fateful boat ride — and, on White's part, likely skirt around answering where the third season will be set (the word so far: Thailand). They'll also discuss their full careers, and both have plenty to dive into. Coolidge has been a screen presence for years, thanks to parts in everything from American Pie, Best in Show and the Legally Blonde franchise through to Party Down's original run, Joey and Promising Young Woman. As for White, he's written the screenplay for School of Rock, and acted in it — and given the TV-watching world the Laura Dern-starring Enlightened, which he also appeared on. He has Year of the Dog and Brad's Status on his directing resume as well, and penned and produced episodes of Dawson's Creek and Freaks and Geeks. Also, he was famously an Amazing Race and Survivor contestant. Benjamin Law will be asking the questions at this in-conversation event, which takes place at Aware Super Theatre, ICC Sydney. Tickets are on sale now — and they'll get snapped up quicker than McQuoid falls in love. Top image: HBO.
Performance Space is having a birthday party, but don't worry about bringing a gift. They're actually giving you the presents: wrapped-up pieces of performance, visual art, dance, music and more, celebrating their big 3-0. Like anyone planning a party, Performance Space co-director Jeff Khan says he's a bit nervous that no one will to show. "There's a sense of vulnerability, you're putting what feels like yourself on the line and its very much up to the audience whether they take it or leave it," he says ahead of 'You're History', the three-week program of events opening on Wednesday, November 20. That is such a Performance Space thing to say, that last part. Since the experimental collective began, back in a dingy Cleveland Street terrace in 1983, they've been all about the audience and its response. The main stage rules did not apply; the active performer-passive audience idea was left to the main stage companies. Like that time an audience gathered for a show in the terrace, and all the lights went off. It was too dark to see much at all, and least of all the line between performer and punter. "It was a while until they realised that the performers were gone and they were locked in," Jeff says, laughing. "People were furious, debate raged for months and months." Founder Mike Mullins and the artists around him had new ideas and politics to explore, and so made a new space to do it in. Three decades later and its time to celebrate all the artists nurtured, performances developed and bewildered audiences locked in dark terraces. For an organisation normally so focused on the artistic future they're doing a knock-out job with the past. The Directors' Cuts will see the archive come alive, as yesterday's directors, stretching right back to Mullins, take over today's stage. 30 Ways with Time and Space is another stand-out, shut-UP piece of programming: the Carriageworks public foyer, sliced into new spaces by visual artist Agatha Gothe-Snape, will overflow with 30 performances over the festival's 12 days, and it's all free. It just won't all fit in this article. But to give you an idea: Jon Rose is set to play a pane of glass with his face while his mate Lucas Abela is on the deconstructed violin, a family and their seven-year-old daughter will perform inside a translucent plastic bubble and Mike Parr — yes, The Mike Parr — will be doing as The Mike Parr does. If you get a spare second, look up: Box of Birds will see dancers vaulted up into the cavernous Carriageworks scaffolding. I don't think Jeff Khan has to worry; people will definitely come to his party, and I think they'll love their presents. I ask him what he thinks makes a good 30th, and he nails the analogy: "I think probably the right balance of planning and spontaneity," he says. "You know, you want to plan for a great party and you want to plan for enough things to be there for everyone to have a great time, but in the end its just the chemistry between the people and the party that make it."
The Spanish word duende is hard to translate. The director of Live: An Intimate Video Study of the Art of Performing — Jasmin Tarasin — feels that modern venues lack it, as concerts and arenas leave you pushed too far away from the breathing, perspiring pure voice and understated rhythms of one-on-one, casual performance. Too much gets lost in the translation from solo artist to stage or screen. Duende roughly means 'possessed inspiration' — this, she says, is what she was looking to bring to audiences in her installation at the Festival this year. Live is made of two long rooms bunted in black curtains and white neon light. Four big screens sit down one wall of the first room. The second has four black booths — each with a vertical screen shining black and white videos of singers from hips to head, slightly larger than life. The same videos run in the first room. Four sing at any one time, and you choose channels on your wireless headphones to decide who to listen to from screen to screen. They belt out songs like little gods, looking down at you from a taller place. Though there's an obvious progression from the big screen to small, the little black booths are so good that the first room seems almost superfluous. Martha Wainwright explodes on guitar, Julian Hamilton sings acapella, Juliette Lewis does some surprisingly ballsy blues and Warren Ellis is ragged and well tuned. The black and white photography works well, bringing each performer to occupy the same abstract white space. But they perform to camera. Looking into the middle distance, spit and sibilants get lost to electric backing and headphone glitches, pushing you further away from the moment. But although it doesn't quite hand you duende on a plate Live makes for good music, and good art. Live will be closed January 18.
Mirik Milan knows what it takes to keep the pulse of a city racing long into the night. For the past few years he's held the office of the Night Mayor of Amsterdam, a title given to the head of an advisory NGO tasked with building bridges between various stakeholders, including business owners, residents and government officials, to ensure the hours between sundown and sunup can be enjoyed by one and all. Sounds nice huh? Incidentally, if you're in Sydney right now, sobbing softly into your keyboard, please trust us when we tell you: we feel your pain — especially one day after the NSW Government has decided to 'relax' the lockout times by a mere 30 minutes. For the record, Milan feels your pain too. The former club promoter turned after-dark crusader was in the Harbour City last week as a guest of the annual Electronic Music Conference — and yes, he had plenty to say about the lockouts. [caption id="attachment_578891" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Night Mayor, Mirik Milan[/caption] "The lockouts are a symptom of an undereducated State Government," Milan tells Concrete Playground. "If you want to create behavioural change it needs to come from the grassroots up. If the idea is that you'll create behavioural change by imposing stricter laws on operators, you're blaming operators for a societal problem." "In my opinion, the reason why governments find it easier to clamp down on nightlife and just blame the operators is because that's the cheapest way to deal with it," he continues. "Starting a bunch of initiatives to inform people how to behave and to encourage people to drink less is much more expensive, and the risk of failing is much higher." Nevertheless, Milan believes the rewards of a bustling nightlife are well worth the effort. "Why is it important to have a vibrant nightlife?" asks Milan. "Because it will attract a lot of young, creative people. When you have a lot of young, creative people in a city, you have a lot of creative industries, and this is an engine for economic growth." So what would it take for Sydney to turn its nocturnal fortunes around? Below, Milan shares his tips on how to create a safe, prosperous and energetic nightlife. Let's just hope Mike Baird subscribes to our newsletter. TAKE CUES FROM INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES THAT HAVE ACTUALLY WORKED Both the NSW and Queensland lockouts were introduced to stamp down on alcohol-related violence. But wouldn't it be nice if there was some way to do this without punishing those of us who can have a drink without throwing a punch? In Amsterdam's bar-filled Rembrandtplein district, the answer came in the form of so-called 'square hosts', whose job it is stop confrontations before they start. "They walk the street every Friday and Saturday night in the nightlife area and they try to de-escalate situations when there's something going on," explains Milan. "Unfortunately, when people have something to drink and they see the police, they see [them] as an aggressor. These square hosts are non-aggressive." Meanwhile, the City of Amsterdam has also developed an app that allows people to report antisocial behaviour to nearby community officers. "It means that complaints are dealt with really effectively," says Milan. "We understand that it can be super frustrating for residents that live around the nightlife square, and every weekend you have the same complaints and problems. With this system, you can [be in] direct contact with the community officer… and [it] really gives the residents the feeling that their problem is being listened to." But according to Milan, the biggest accomplishment of the project has been the introduction of 24-hour licenses. "What was really radical about this process was that for the first time in Amsterdam, licenses were given out not on the basis of whether you had four walls, a roof and a bouncer in front of the door, but on the basis of content," he says. "And when you focus on content you get a different kind of audience. These venues are all multidisciplinary. They have a bar, restaurant, live music, gallery space, some venues even run kindergartens." [caption id="attachment_602520" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Night Mayor Summit, nachtburgemeester.amsterdam[/caption] WORK WITH THE STAKEHOLDERS When it comes to making positive changes, Milan understands that collaboration is key, having discussed countless stakeholder viewpoints in community meetings, one-on-one talks and even at a dedicated Night Mayor Summit, the first of its kind, held in Amsterdam in April 2016. "Bring all the stakeholders together and try to come up with a solution and find a middle ground where everyone can benefit," he says. "Bridge the gap between the municipality, policy makers, small business owners and city residents. We always say by having a dialogue you can change the rules of the game." Milan also recommends fighting opposition with evidence instead of emotion. "We deal with [opposition] by making people aware that the baby steps that we make are reasonable," he tells us. "We like to run pilots, to see if [an initiative] works, to see if it doesn't have too much of an impact on residents, and then [we can make] an educated decision. Often these [initiatives] are tailor made for a certain area, because cities are becoming more and more complex… it's really about working together, and bringing operators and residents together, and seeing what works for your area." Ultimately, it helps that the economic incentive is there. "The value of the nighttime economy has become much more important for cities around the world over the last 10 to 15 years," says Milan. "I've never heard of mayors or city councils who want to kill jobs." [caption id="attachment_560788" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Kimberley Low.[/caption] GIVE PEOPLE THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE While you're never going to be able to get rid of every dickhead, in Milan's experience most people who go out at night want to do the right thing — especially when you treat them like grown-ups. "Send out a positive message," he suggests. "[Tell people] you can go out later, but you have to take care of your community." "For example, the Amsterdam Dance Event attracts 375,000 people to the city in five days," says Milan. "When people come into the airport, the first thing they see [are signs] saying, 'Welcome to ADE, be safe and have a great time.' And I get so many good responses from people saying, 'Wow, I feel so respected, I feel so welcome here, I will take care.''" "Give people the responsibility to take care of themselves," asserts Milan. "Of course, you have to have good legislation in place as well, but give them the right to take care of their community. This is a community that is open minded and willing to listen to these kinds of messages." Top image: Bodhi Liggett.
Have you ever been to a play where, no matter how prominent the lead was, your attention was always drawn to one of the secondary performers off to the side? That's the case with X-Men: Dark Phoenix, a film where everything's pretty decent except for anything to do with the actual title character. Ultimately it's an issue of interest. There just isn't enough in the Jean Grey character (or at least, not in this iteration of the character, played by Sophie Turner, compared to Famke Janssen's version from the origial X-Men trilogy) to justify giving her such a prominent role in a universe already jam-packed with compelling fan-favourites like Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Beast (Nicholas Hoult). To appropriate that iconic line from Mean Girls: stop trying to make Jean Grey happen. In a franchise that adroitly positioned itself as one of 'films with special effects' rather than 'special effects films', the masterstroke of the early X-Men movies was ensuring there were always human stories at their core, even if they were about super-humans and mutants. On that front, the original trilogy stands as a sublime allegory for the discrimination of minorities, no matter the kind. The franchise's first ever scene took place in a Nazi concentration camp, bars and restaurants featured mutant and non-mutant sections, and a narrow-minded mother asked her son: "have you tried... not being a mutant?" Beyond the us and them theme, they then added two more critical threads: a complex friendship between Magneto and Professor X, and a love triangle between Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean. It was these stories that made the films so engaging, whilst the special effects just added loads of cool. X-Men: Dark Phoenix forgets that lesson after its first few (excellent) scenes, placing far too much emphasis thereafter on visual pageantry that adds very little to the story. Set mostly in 1992, Dark Phoenix begins with a confronting car-crash sequence, followed by a dramatic space rescue. Both, in their own way, set in motion plot lines involving Professor X arguably overstepping his mark, which inevitably has dire consequences. The problem is, until now, Turner's Jean Grey was little more than a bit-part, so her elevation to leading lady and the subsequent transformation (or descent?) into the all-powerful Dark Phoenix both feel rushed and unearned. You know you're meant to think oh no, but you simply don't care. Added to that is a subplot so forgettable that this writer literally forgot about it until just now. An alien villain named Vuk (Jessica Chastain) pursues and manipulates Jean's transformation into Dark Phoenix for reasons that are barely clear and even less interesting. Chastain's staid, hollow stare throughout the film feels neatly reflective of the audience's expression as it watches another actor of incredible talent relegated to spouting cliched nonsense. With the exception of its early scenes, the only other high point in Dark Phoenix is its climactic battle aboard a speeding armoured train (and it speaks volumes that throughout that scene, Jean Grey is passed out and largely ignored). Mutants being mutants and deploying their abilities in means as violent as they are inventive is ultimately why you'd see this film over other, more conventional action movies. To give us so little of that condemns it to forgettable status from the get-go. Dark Phoenix is almost certainly the last entry in the franchise before the reigns are handed over to Marvel, courtesy of Disney's recent acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Hopefully in their capable hands we'll see a return to the quality delivered in the early days of the saga. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azvR__GRQic
The cultural renaissance in Canberra continues its unfurling across the dining and arts scenes, bringing more interest from interstate — and international — visitors than ever before. The standard of options for places to stay has also leapt vertically in the past five years, and among the list is the East Hotel. The family-owned boutique hotel is located in the increasingly happening suburb of Kingston. It's stand-out characteristics are warm accommodating service, handsomely-appointed contemporary rooms with all the important details considered (the fluffy white guest robes well and truly pass the comfort test), and the onsite options for drinking and dining. East Hotel's lobby bar, Joe's Bar, has an eclectic, jewel toned fit-out and a generous lineup of creative cocktails (if you have a yen for a good martini try the Tokyo Martini or the signature Joe's Martini). There's also a decent selection of Italian and Australian wines and a showcase of local Canberran beers on tap, bottled and by the tin. Soak up some of those martinis with Italian-inspired bar snacks or pizzas. Calamari fritte and a particularly excellent focaccia served hot and fresh from the enormous clay pizza oven. The clientele of Joe's Bar is a mix of East Hotel guests having a pre-dinner drink but but it's also highly populated with the after-work crowd of Canberra locals, particularly on Thursday and Friday evenings once 5pm has rolled past. The other dining option is Agostini's. It's a relaxed and super-buzzy Italian diner that's focused on creating the atmosphere and dining experience of an authentic Italian family restaurant. As such, you'll find a multi-generational crowd here, from white collar long lunchers to holidaying family tables. The pasta is very good and made fresh daily. The real hero here is the pizza though. The 'Salsiccia' layered with Italian sausage, 'nduja and Fior di Latte mozzarella on a fluffy wood-fired dough with just the right hint of char is excellent. Or if you're feeling a little less traditional, give the 'Granchio' of crab meat, rocket and cherry tomato a whirl. Finish things off with the house tiramisu and an amaro, or sample the negroni selection. Just bring an appetite and a loud voice to cut through the rowdy buzz of an extremely well-attended restaurant.
Life has been a cabaret for one of the world's inimitable designers since 2018, when Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show first premiered in Paris. Couture, colour, flair, excess, passion, a larger-than-life attitude: they're all channelled into this fashion show-meets-musical revue that steps through its namesake's career and promises a time at the theatre like nothing else. More than 200 original Gaultier pieces feature. His 50 years making threads are in the spotlight. Unsurprisingly, the whole thing also plays out like a party. So far, London, Tokyo, Munich, Porto, Lisbon, Milan, Barcelona and Osaka have also revelled in the Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show experience. Next, it's Brisbane's turn. The River City will welcome the Australian debut of the show — and the Aussie-exclusive season, too — during Brisbane Festival 2024. Donning attire that Gaultier would approve of isn't a prerequisite of attending the production, but you know that you want to dress the part if you're heading along. Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show will kick off with Brisbane Festival itself, starting on Friday, August 30. The Australian season runs until Sunday, September 15, taking over the South Bank Piazza — which forms part of the Festival Garden for the duration of Brisbane Festival. Of course Jean Paul Gaultier's Fashion Freak Show emphasises its titular figure's boundary-pushing work, his focus on individual expression, and his championing of queer aesthetics and LGBTQIA+ causes. Alongside the hefty range of outfits, it also features a suitable genre-defying soundtrack of disco, funk, pop, rock, new wave and punk tunes as actors and dancers — plus circus artists as well — take to the stage. The diverse cast of faces bringing the show to life spans even further, too, with celebrities and other special guests filming cameos that play during the production.
Ask a cyclist why they risk death on two wheels to get around town, and their response might mention the green credentials of biking: infinite miles per gallon, fewer resources used in manufacturing, no resources required to repair the damage to roads caused by bikes... But what if you wanted to take your eco-cycling to a whole new level? What about all that CARBON in the carbon fibre? One of the world's leading bike manufacturers has come up with a solution. Trek have a recycling program using waste carbon fibre products to make new bike frames, and keeping the waste from landfill. If that's not green enough for you, you could opt for a bike made from nature's own carbon fibre: wood. Audi have partnered with specialist bike manufacturer Renovo to create a range of luxury bikes with hardwood frames. But if you prefer to have an eco-bike that's not associated with a car company, why not grow your own? Bamboo bikes have been around for a while as a cycling curio, and are now getting the full cycle-bling treatment by the likes of Calfee. Or, if you're into DIY, there's even an instructables page on how to build one yourself.
Balmy summer evenings should only be spent outdoors. As darkness descends, roll out that picnic blanket, grab a basket of snacks and settle in; it's Sunset Cinema season. Now in its third year at North Sydney Oval, IMB's annual under-the-stars event is set to deliver Sydneysiders eight weeks of open-air entertainment. Blown up on the state-of-the-art inflatable screen are a stellar selection of new releases and crowd favourites. Opening with the hit action flick The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part One, the program sports something for everyone. Get swept away in the code-cracking world of The Imitation Game, or belt out the ballads of Disney's soon-to-be classic Frozen (that's right, in sing-along style). With beanbags, gourmet burgers and an on-site bar, you'll struggle to settle for an ordinary cinema experience after these laidback screenings.
Head into Sydney's Odd Culture in Newtown, or its new accompanying bottle shop and small bar SPON, and you'll be greeted with a stack of tasty wine and snack pairings. The venue's chicken liver pâté with potato chips and fish sauce caramel is one of the Harbour City's best bar snacks. The same can be said down in Melbourne, where Odd Culture's Fitzroy digs boasts the same addictive trio on its snack menu. And, all three offer charcuterie from LP's Quality Meats — all of which can be paired with a white, red, skin-contact, rosé or pét-nat. But, sometimes you're not on the hunt for something as extravagant as pâté and instead are hankering for a snack with a bit more nostalgic familiarity. Well, not to worry — we've asked Odd Culture Group's Beverage Manager Jordan Blackman (Odd Culture, The Duke of Enmore, The Old Fitz) for suggestions for the best wines to pair with schoolyard snacks, all of which are available in-store or online at SPON. (And, yes, SPON ships beyond New South Wales.) If you've ever craved a natty wine with a full box of cheese and bacon Shapes, or wondered what drop would partner well with a berry Roll-Up, we've got you covered. ROLL-UPS Jordan: "If we're talking Roll-Ups, then we simply can't go past grenache. Candied fruit with a lick of spice — a match made in heaven. Grab a bottle of 2021 Les Fruits Gonzo made from a blend of grenache and cinsault. Bright and crunchy with juicy red fruits (think strawberry, raspberry and cherry) and gentle tannin. Great chilled, great at room temp. It goes without saying we're talking about the best flavour of Roll-Ups here — and that's strawberry." OVALTEENIES Jordan: "Why do they call it Ovaltine? The mug is round. The jar is round. They should call it Roundtine. Anyway. Steering away from anything too hectic that might overwhelm the sweet, delicate chocolate malt of our precious Ovalteenies, I'd crack into some Ngeringa Altus from Mount Barker. Inspired by Vin Santo by way of Tuscany, it's sweet yet oxidative and insanely complex — crème caramel, Turkish delight, hazelnut and dried fruits drenched in honey." CHEESE AND BACON SHAPES Jordan: "My mind immediately gravitated towards Bandol rosé from the south of France — weighty, powerful and made from mourvèdre, often said to be quite 'meaty'. In the spirit of keeping things homegrown, I've gone with a longstanding favourite: 2022 Poppelvej Dead Ohio Sky Rosé which clearly draws inspiration from the Bandol. Organically grown Mourvèdre from McLaren Vale with texture turned up to eleven, it's serious, savoury and spicy all the while refreshing and moreish — kind of like cheese and bacon Shapes?" LE SNAK Jordan: "Cheese and crackers, but not just any ordinary cheese and/or cracker — elevate your lunchbox with Le Snak and a bottle of 2021 Harkham Aziza's Chardonnay. Hands down, one of my favourite cuvées — zero adds, clean as a whistle, alive! Naturally fermented and rested in seasoned French oak, these two play almost too well together coaxing out notes of fresh sourdough, vanilla biscuits and whipped cream while racy acidity keeps everything in check." JUMPY'S Jordan: "Apparently there are other flavours of Jumpy's than chicken? 2022 Trutta Pétillant Naturel Blanc is the obvious choice here. A blend of chardonnay and riesling, this organic fizz is brimming with energy, bright acidity and reminds us of another nostalgic Australian snack — oh, glorious Splice! Saline, zippy and ultimately refreshing — a perfect match for couch snacks of the kangaroo-shaped kind. We love salty snacks with our bubbles." Head to SPON's website — or in-store if you're in Sydney — if you want to get your hands on any of the mentioned wines. SPON is open at 256 King Street, Newtown 12pm–10pm Monday–Thursday, 12pm–12am Friday and 11am–12am Saturday.
Sitting on the toilet can be a time of contemplation for a lot of us. If your mind ever wanders to the sustainability and style of your toilet paper, Wipe That has you covered. This new sustainable startup has launched a quirky new Christmas collection of bamboo toilet paper that will ease any stress about the environmental impact of your toilet breaks, and make a great gift for friends and family as the holiday season approaches. The star of the Christmas collection is a stylish little character named Poocci. Brought to life by graphic designer Bernardo Henning, Poocci plays off a certain luxury fashion house, rocking a chain and sunnies in order to brighten up your toilet paper. What was once Australia's most in-demand grocery store item is now a cutting-edge fashion statement (of sorts). Non-recycled toilet paper is a major cause of deforestation worldwide, so if you haven't made the switch, now's the perfect time to embrace the wonders of bamboo. The planet and your tush will thank you. All of Wipe That's three-ply toilet paper is environmentally friendly, vegan, plastic-free, and scent-free. It has also partnered with Australian revegetation project Carbon Neutral to ensure a tree is planted for every sale it makes. This new collection means that toilet paper is no longer a dud present come Christmas time. Your eco-conscious relatives will love it, or you can grab a pack for yourself to impress those who might be visiting your place for holiday celebrations. Stock is limited for the Christmas collection, so jump on the pre-sale if you'd like to get your paws on this loo roll. Each 36-roll box is available for $58, contains a personalised Christmas card and is available to be delivered Australia-wide between December 1–14. Outside of the collection, Wipe That offers sustainable toilet paper on a one-off or subscription basis, as well as eco-friendly laundry detergent sheets. You can shop Wipe That's entire range at the website. FYI, this story includes some affiliate links. These don't influence any of our recommendations or content, but they may make us a small commission. For more info, see Concrete Playground's editorial policy.
One moment, you're watching Diego Luna sit down two rows in front of you in a cinema that seats 1600 people. The next, you're spotting Maggie Gyllenhaal and Patrick Stewart on the street. That's life at the Berlinale, or Berlin International Film Festival, which took place from February 9 to 19 — and it matches all of that star power with a massive, jam-packed program of movies. In its 67th year, Berlinale had everything in its 400-title-plus program, and we mean everything. Want big, mainstream efforts such as T2 Transpotting and Logan? Indie Aussie flicks like Emo the Musical and Monsieur Mayonnaise? A sci-fi retrospective and the world premiere of the 3D version of that other T2 — that is, Terminator 2, not the Aussie tea company or Trainspotting sequel? Geoffrey Rush getting an award? Charlie Hunnam traipsing around the jungle? Two movies filled with famous faces arguing over a meal? A flick about utopian world without men? A 1993-set Spanish coming-of-age effort that makes an impact? Another great entry in Romania's new wave? Yes, the festival delivered on all of the above and then some. Yes, you already know that the list goes on. Of course, not everyone can be there to experience films galore, below freezing temperatures, mulled wine aplenty and a newfound pretzel addiction. Don't worry, that's where we come in. We went, we watched, and we're excited about all of the movies that'll hopefully make their way to Australia at festivals or in general release. In fact, we can't wait to watch these ten again. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME If this film sounds more than a little familiar, that's because we were already mighty excited about it when it screened at Sundance. Oh boy, did Luca Guadagnino's (A Bigger Splash) latest and best feature to date more than deliver. Let us put it this way: when you're watching a 17-year-old become infatuated with his father's handsome research assistant, played by Armie Hammer, you're feeling every single emotion he's feeling. And, you're falling head over heels for everything about this masterpiece as well. Call Me By Your Name is the kind of effort that couldn't be more seductive, from the sumptuous sights of its scenic Italian setting to the summertime heat — and sizzling sentiments to match — that radiate from the screen. Keep an eye on Timothée Chalamet, too, who plays the teenager in question. If this movie is any guide, he should become one of cinema's next big things. A FANTASTIC WOMAN A Fantastic Woman? Yes, this sensitive drama and Berlinale best screenplay winner places one front and centre. A fantastic film? You bet. After using a compassionate gaze to explore the world of an older lady trying to find happiness in Gloria, Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Lelio turns his attention to Marina (Daniela Vega), a waitress and singer whose life is thrown into disarray when tragedy strikes. The family of her much older lover are horrified, judging her transgender status rather than daring to let her into their lives — or let her mourn. The movie doesn't make the same mistake, in an effort that proves empathetic and engaging from start to finish, complete with an exceptional lead performance and one perfect song cue. THE OTHER SIDE OF HOPE No one makes films like Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismäki. Sure, that's true of many directors, however the balance of deadpan humour and heartfelt drama he cultivates time and again isn't an easy one, even if he makes it seem otherwise. In this year's Berlinale Best Director winner The Other Side of Hope, Kaurismäki tackles the subject of refugees in Europe as Syrian Khaled (Sherwan Haji) finds himself in Helsinki, applies to stay and is forced to pursue other options when he's hardly given a hearty welcome. The tale of an unhappy salesman turned unlikely restaurant owner intersects with Khaled's plight, and so does absurdity, but in the filmmaker's warm but insightful way. THE PARTY It all seems so simple: gather a group of excellent actors together, stick them in a few rooms, give their characters plenty to argue about and watch what happens. At its most basic, that's what The Party does over 71 entertaining, black-and-white-shot minutes — of course, it does more than that as well. The scenario sees Kristin Scott Thomas' Janet securing a plum political appointment, with her friends and family — played by Timothy Spall, Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy and more — all gathering around to celebrate. As something other than joy starts seeping through their get-together, writer/director Sally Potter crafts a lively and hilarious comedy filled with sparkling dialogue and intent on unpacking the political climate in Britain. ON BODY AND SOUL When On Body and Soul took home Berlinale's top award, the Golden Bear for Best Film, the Hungarian feature caught everyone by surprise. That's the beauty of film festivals, though — little turns out as expected, including a contemplative, surreal romantic drama set in a Budapest slaughterhouse. Writer/director Ildikó Enyedi takes her time to spin a tale of austere lives and vivid dreams, letting the emotion build at a slow and steady pace, as well as glimmers of humour. While it won't be for everyone, two things other than its accolade and its filmmaker make it stand out: just how it brings its absurd yet ultimately still relatable story to a close, and its corresponding performances. CASTING JONBENET Good news and bad news, everyone keen to watch the second full-length effort from Australian filmmaker Kitty Green. On the one hand, it's headed to Netflix in April. On the other, the film really does provide an astonishing viewing experience if you ever get the chance to see it in a cinema. As the name gives away, murdered six-year-old beauty pageant queen JonBenet Ramsay sits at the centre of this documentary — however, a regular true crime offering, this most certainly isn't. Instead, in an approach that results in disarmingly revealing insights about how we filter the events of the world through our own experiences, Green asks the people of Ramsay's home town of Boulder, Colorado to audition for a film about her case, then captures their responses. SPOOR Even if you don't know it, you're already familiar with the work of Polish filmmaking great Agnieszka Holland. Over the past decade or so, she has helmed episodes of everything from The Wire to The Killing to House of Cards — and while we can say that the flavour of all three can be glimpsed in her latest feature, Berlinale Silver Bear winner Spoor, don't go expecting something as straightforward or obvious as that may sound. A series of deaths, an investigation in an insular community and the political fallout provide the storyline for this moody and sometimes amusing feature that flits between mystery, thriller, black comedy and even fairy tale elements. Another Agnieszka also deserves acclaim, this time lead actress Agnieszka Mandat who puts in a more than memorable performance. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO In I Am Not Your Negro, Samuel L. Jackson lends his voice to the words of American essayist James Baldwin. He does an outstanding job at capturing the tone and passion required, but it's the text itself, rather than the star uttering it, that's truly remarkable. Stepping through the state of race relations in the U.S. by focusing on the lives and deaths of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., every syllable spoken couldn't be more perceptive — or, even though they were written decades ago, still relevant today. It's little wonder that the film was nominated for best documentary at this year's Oscars, with director Raoul Peck matching the verbal content with an illuminating compilation of footage from the '50s and '60s. ON THE BEACH AT NIGHT ALONE Last year, South Korean director Hong Sang-soo's two most recent films (Right Now, Wrong Then and Yourself and Yours) played at various Australian film festivals. Yes, he's prolific. Expect his latest, On the Beach at Night Alone, to pop up this year — and, amazingly, he has two other features due out in 2017. That might mean that he returns to the same themes of love, identity and fulfilment again and again, and plays with the same kinds of structural devices, but every one of his efforts has their delights. Here, one of them is the fact that he riffs on his own rumoured real-life circumstances, relaying a narrative about the fallout of an affair between an actress and a director. Another is the leading lady herself, Kim Min-hee, who both sits at the centre of his own scandal and puts in a revelatory, Berlinale best actress-winning turn. GOD'S OWN COUNTRY The words "Yorkshire-set Brokeback Mountain" have been bandied about with frequency regarding God's Own Country; however, thankfully they're accurate in the very best way. Set on a struggling farm, it's a film of sprawling landscapes and surging urges — with both weathering hardships but proving rich and resonant. Forced to take care of everything due to his father's ailing health, to say that scowling, constantly booze-soaked Johnny (Josh O'Connor) is frustrated is an understatement, but, slowly and tentatively, the arrival of handsome Romanian farm-hand Gheorghe (Alec Secareanu) helps brighten his unhappy days. First-time writer/director Francis Lee takes a raw, realistic approach to everything from the animals scenes to the feature's underlying emotions, with heart-swelling results.
This week, Bunnings Warehouse is supercharging its usual sausage sizzle, to support a community of Aussies doing it pretty tough. Tomorrow — Friday, August 4 — all of the hardware giant's NSW and ACT stores will host a special pre-weekend edition of their legendary snag sessions, raising coin for the Buy A Bale initiative, supporting drought-affected farmers. The initiative, part of the charity Rural Aid, lets you buy essentials — such as, yes, hay, as well as water, diesel and hampers — for farmers doing it rough. Which a lot of farmers are. Some areas of the country have been struggling with a years-long drought, and, more recently, NSW farmers have been dealt an "unforgivingly dry winter". All of the day's sausage profits will go towards helping struggling farming families across Australia, at a time when bushfires, a lack of rain and changes to live exports have made life on the land seriously hard. Grab a snag in bread and show them some love. Buy a Bale sausage sizzles will run from 9am–4pm across all Bunnings Warehouses in NSW.
It’s the cornerstone of any self-respecting diet. Now, Cuckoo Callay is celebrating the noble pig with the launch of their inaugural Bacon Festival — an event that’s sure to sizzle. Starting February 9, the Newtown cafe will modify their menu, showcasing the best our porky pals have to offer. There’ll be bacon burgers, bacon ice cream and even a bacon Bloody Mary. Sourcing their pork from Marrickville-based suppliers Black Forest Smokehouse, the Cuckoo chefs have put together eight delectable dining options, none of which sound remotely good for your heart. The Ultimate Bacon Breakfast features five different types of pig, including bacon steak and bespoke bacon sausage. The Piggy Popcorn chicken brioche burger, meanwhile, is a veritable farmhouse reunion. In case your arteries weren't strained enough, there's also a selection of sweeter options, such as Cuckoo’s Bacon Waffles. Naturally, they come topped with bacon caramel ice cream and rashers covered in chocolate. The cafe's got you covered on the beverage front as well, with an absurd bacon milkshake to accompany their bacon cocktail. Suffice it to say, the Bacon Festival is not vegetarian friendly. Keep your snouts on the Cuckoo Callay Facebook page for the full menu, which is set to be made available in early February.
Immerse yourself in Syrian culture before noon at one of Almond Bar's convivial brunches. They're held on the first Sunday of each month, with the next one falling on August 5. The Darlinghurst restaurant is usually only open for dinner, and these brunches are a great way to sit down to a shared morning meal — just how a Syrian family would do it. You'll be able to order a la carte, choosing from traditional breakfast dishes like fatteh ($18) — a layered breakfast dish of crushed chickpeas, tahini, fried bread and yoghurt — or the shawarma, which sees strips of beef marinated in seven spices, capsicum and onion, and served with a fried free range egg ($19). There are plenty of vegetarian options and, if in doubt, go for the breakfast platter. Though there will be space for a few walk-ins, we recommend booking ahead to secure a spot. Brunch is served from 8.30am until noon. Image: Natalie Carroll.
