MAN ABOUT TOWN

Shortly after young Melburnian Genevieve Bailey’s father died, she embarked on her first trip overseas intent on doing something with her life. Most people in her position would have thrown themselves into a series of hedonistic backpacking adventures, but not Bailey. Armed only with a digital video camera and unbridled optimism, the 20-something filmmaker set off to interview a wide range of children about their experiences of being 11 years old in a world that is changing as rapidly as they are themselves. From Thailand and India to France and Japan, over the next four years more than a dozen 11 year olds – some affluent, some poor; no longer quite children, but not yet teenagers – spoke candidly and openly to Bailey about love, war, global warming, music, terrorism, culture, family, happiness, religion and the future. Bailey's resulting documentary, a composite portrait of children around the world, is heartwarming, charming and life-affirming: a remarkable and ...

Directed and photographed by Ian Palmer, this raw Irish documentary looks at bare-knuckle boxing matches between Irish traveller families the Quinn McDonaghs, the Joyces and others, and the long-running feud that the fights are supposed to resolve. Palmer spent 12 years filming the families and the brutal fights staged between their representatives, with much of the story told through the eyes of James Quinn McDonagh, his family's best fighter and a man who vast sums of money - upwards of £19,000 - are wagered upon (though the question of whether the fights are now driven more by money than family honour is never clearly explored by Palmer; one of several faults in the film). As well as filming the fights themselves (usually held on country back-roads to avoid police intervention), Palmer tries to come to grips with the tragedy that first sparked the feud: a pub brawl gone wrong that resulted in two deaths and a manslaughter charge. Few of his interviewees, including James' hot...

My 2011 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) has kicked off with a leisurely - and to my mind, sane - pace: two films in two days. I was asked if I'd participate in the MIFF Blog-A-Thon this year, but while flattered, I said no: given everything else on in Melbourne at the moment, including the Melbourne Cabaret Festival and State of Design, there's no way I'd have the time to see 60 films in 17 days (an average of 3.5 films a day, though six brave/insane souls have accepted the challenge, and bravo to them). Nonetheless, I do intend to try and review most of what I see at the festival this year, though I'm well aware that time constraints and other issues will cause my blog entries to become increasingly sporadic and minimal as the festival unfolds. Nonetheless, hopefully I get to write about most of the 40-odd films I plan to see. Let's give it a shot, shall we? THE FAIRY (dir. Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon & Bruno Romy, France/Belgium, 2011, 93 mins)...

So, over at Arts Hub I've written up a review of Torchwood: Miracle Day . As is my habit, I'll post an except here, but if you would like to read the whole thing, get thee to Arts Hub! Newcomers to Torchwood need not fear they’ll be lost in the usual convoluted back stories and continuity references of a successful TV series, for Miracle Day is at pains to introduce viewers to its world and its characters through the eyes of Matheson and his CIA assistant, Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins) – indeed, for long term fans, the drip-fed details may be occasionally irksome. That said, the pace of the first episode (written by Davies, the showrunner, and the only episode that has been provided for review) is generally excellent: it’s a fast and thrilling ride featuring a large cast of well-detailed characters, and with scenes rapidly cutting between numerous locations on both sides of the Atlantic. Davies has a deft ear for dialogue, and the script for this first episode s...

Expressionistic motifs are subtly referenced throughout the Malthouse Theatre's latest production, A Golem Story . Anna Cordingley’s stark wooden set, the stage jutting out into the audience, effortlessly evokes Prague in 1580 while simultaneously recalling the haunted streets of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari . Paul Jackson's exquisite lighting design is equally Expressionistic, but it is the sparse script by Lally Katz ( Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd , The Black Swan of Trespass ) which perhaps most successfully evokes the spirit of Expressionism though its focus on mood and emotion over fine detail, on archetypes over individuals. As the play opens, a young woman, Ahava (a compelling performance by Yael Stone) awakens beneath a candle-lit chandelier, questioning all around her. A recent exorcism to remove the dybbuk (a malicious spirit) that has possessed her – the spirit of her late fiancée, Israel Hasidim, a suicide – has rendered Ahava without memory, and more im...

Thanks to BBC Worldwide and UKTV I've now watched the first epsiode of Torchwood: Miracle Day twice, and I like it a lot. I'm still formally formulating my thoughts about the episode, what I enjoyed and what I disliked, so a proper review will be coming soon, I promise. But trust me, it's one hell of a ride and I can't wait to see what's in store for us in the rest of the series, which premieres in Australia on UKTV at 8.30pm, July 9th. Meanwhile, hear are some photos of the cast to enjoy:

If your perception of history is that it’s the dry and dusty domain of tweedy old academics, this accessible and engaging publication from the Australian Lesbian & Gay Archives (ALGA) will surely change the way you think about the discipline. An account of the travails and triumphs of Melbourne’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex – or ‘queer’ (to use the umbrella term that has grown in popularity since it was first introduced to Australia circa 1991) – community from the 18th to the 21st centuries, the book makes no claim to be a comprehensive history. Rather, as its editors acknowledge in their introduction, it is a series of ‘snapshots, fragments, vignettes’; a collage of histories told over 51 chapters, written by 12 separate authors. Having grown out of a series of history walks presented by the ALGA at Midsumma and similar festivals, the book’s tone is accessible, concise, and distinctly non-academic despite the qualifications and careers of its variou...

OK, so you probably know the drill by now: I've written up a review of J.J. Abrams' new film, Super 8 . The review in its entirety is over here , at Arts Hub, but here's an extract to whet your appetite: Like the young protagonists in Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me (1986), the main characters in Super 8 are in their last days of innocence before puberty sends them raging into adolescence. Their precarious position, on the cusp between childhood and their teenage years, means a very specific – and deliberate – tone permeates the film; an awareness that something threatening, powerful, and irresistible is lurking just out of sight. This ‘puberty-as-monster’ subplot is by no means original – it’s a key theme of The Lost Boys (1987) for example – but here it’s played out subtly, more as a mood or a motif than as an overt theme of the film. Other films Super 8 references include The Goonies (1985) and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982), but while the film is clearly c...

So, last week I had the pleasure of seeing the latest addition to the X-Men franchise. You can read my full review over here at Arts Hub, but here's an extract to whet your appetite: Set in the 1960s – the era in which Marvel Comics editor and head writer Stan Lee, together with artist Jack Kirby, originally created the X-Men comics – X-Men: First Class is a rollicking action movie, a thoughtful character study, a satisfying origin story, and a hell of a lot of fun. Directed by Matthew Vaughn ( Kick Ass ) the film focuses on the friendship between two young mutants, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy, in the role created by Patrick Stewart) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender playing a young Ian McKellen), and explores the origins of the intense rivalry between them that will drive later (earlier) films in the series... Briskly and efficiently told, X-Men: First Class feels a little disjointed and travelogue-like in its early scenes, but quickly settles down to tell its sto...

Sharing a laugh with horror film maestro George Romero at Triple R on Monday July 28, 2008. (Photo by Donna Morabito) May, 2008: Melbourne Zombie Shuffle (Photo: Brian Villamin) Anti-racist protest, Fawkner, March 1997 (Photo by Grebo) A punk pub-crawl, Melbourne, circa 1996 (Photo: Ian Cook) Sarah Sands Hotel, Brunswick, circa 1990. March, 1986, shortly after moving out of home aged 17. (Photo: John Stewart)

Photo by Jeff Busby On Saturday night, the Australian premiere of a significantly overhauled Love Never Dies - the latest blockbuster musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber - was held at the Regent Theatre. It wasn't as dreadful as some people were perhaps expecting/hoping for, but it was definitely far from brilliant. I've written a detailed review over here , for Arts Hub, but here's a short extract to whet your appetite: Saved from the hands of a vengeful French mob a decade ago by choreographer Madame Giry and her ambitious daughter Meg, and secretly installed as the master of a Coney Island freak show and music hall, The Phantom pines after Christine, his muse, without whom his life has no meaning and his music no inspiration (opening number ‘‘Til I Hear You Sing’). Reunited (‘Beneath a Moonless Sky’), the Phantom begs Christine to sing for him one last time, in return for which he will pay off all of Raoul’s gambling debts and leave them in peace at last. Their reu...

Lucas Pittaway as Jamie Vlassakis in Snowtown Last week I had the pleasure - if pleasure is the right word to describe such a disturbing but powerful film - of seeing the new Australian film Snowtown . I've written a detailed review over at Arts Hub, which you can read here , but here's an excerpt to whet your appetite: Thanks in part to Adam Arkapaw’s accomplished and voyeuristic cinematography, the movie quickly and deliberately distances the audience from the events it depicts. This is not a film which asks the viewer to identify with its protagonists; rather, its actions unfold with the viewer held resolutely at arms length. Tight editing and an ominous score ensure that it remains a compelling and unsettling experience. The involvement of mostly non-professional performers ensures that the audience is never distracted by stars pretending to be members of a socially and economically deprived underclass (a jarring flaw of Ana Kokkinos’s Blessed ); and their pres...

As well as reviewing for The Age this year (which is where the ten Comedy Festival reviews I've posted so far were originally published) I've also been reviewing for Citysearch and Arts Hub. For completeness sake, here's a summary of the other shows I've seen and reviewed to date: Anyone for Tennis? - Prepare to Be Tuned Three and a half stars Xavier Michelides - Future World Four stars Zoe Coombs Marr - And that Was the Summer that Changed My Life Three stars Carl-Einar Häckner 's Swedish Meatballs Three and a half stars Smart Casual - The Story of Captain Entree Three stars Tom Ballard - Since 1989 Three and a half stars Hannah Gadsby - Mrs Chuckles Four stars Eva Johansen - Fran I Am Three stars Josh Earl 's Love Songs & Dedications Three stars New Art Club 's Big Bag of Boom Four stars

In a secret bunker somewhere in central Melbourne, two brave advocates of free speech and transparent governments are preparing to announce a shocking secret that will forever change the face of Australian society. Can they evade the sinister forces arrayed against them long enough to make their revelation, or will they end up imprisoned in Australia’s version of Guantánamo Bay? In their first show as a duo, charismatic local comedians Adam McKenzie and Tegan Higginbotham (formerly of trio The Hound of the Baskervilles) take their audience on a frenetic, occasionally self-indulgent (did we really need to see Adam's Yoda impression again?), but entertaining tour through the world of conspiracy theories and espionage, referencing everything from Mission Impossible and Mythbusters to Wikileaks and a 1966 UFO sighting in the Melbourne suburb of Westall. Pacy and punchy, though sometimes ragged, the end result is a show that’s cinematic, distinctive, playful, and surprising – especiall...

If you’re amused by blokey stand-up routines about bodily functions, misbehaving footballers and drunken strip club ejections, you’ll probably enjoy this return to stand-up by Messers Robbins, Stilson and Molloy. With the bogan-impersonating Robbins as MC, Stilson castigating himself for supporting the Richmond football club, and Robbins making light of his current Adelaide court case by describing the presiding judge as a “fuckwit”, this was a night of cheap laughs by three crowd-pleasing comedians who gave their audience exactly what they wanted to hear. I honestly didn't laugh once throughout their trio's entire hour, though I appeared to be the exception amidst a crowd that was noisily lapping up their every word. Stilson’s misanthropic material was the strongest, covering numerous topics relatively quickly, though his punch lines were occasionally laboured. Robbins stuck to safely suburban material, joking about hard rubbish collections and Brendan Fevola; while Molloy mad...

If making breakfast while juggling the demands of parenthood has ever seemed challenging, spare a thought for Anna Lumb. Balanced precariously in high heels, Lumb makes herself a breakfast of rice bubbles, coffee and fruit while spinning a hula hoop around various extremities, including her neck. It’s a strong opening scene for this occasionally uneven show, which employs circus, cabaret, and comedy to tell the story of a 50 foot woman in search of a new home. Replete with B-movie imagery, a hairy sidekick, and a slideshow of tacky tourist attractions such as the Big Banana, Lumb is at her best with the production’s physical elements. Other sequences, such as a more contemplative scene set to Aretha Franklin’s ‘(You Make Me Feel Like ) A Natural Woman’ are less successful. If you’ve ever wanted to watch a woman dance en pointe while wearing an apartment block on her head, this is the show for you. Three and a half stars Anna Lumb - Big Shoes to Fill: An Expose of a 50 Ft Woman Trades...

An exploration of human sexuality told through dance and mime, Sexytime! is not a show for the shy or prudish. Performers Tessa Waters and Kai Smythe spend some of their time on stage semi-naked, and are well aware of their ability to induce laughter by wobbling a belly or jiggling a buttock; a skill they exercise regularly. With Waters as the beehived host and Smythe a silent, hirsute stage presence, the two successfully skewer gender roles, pay homage to the 60s’ Sexual Revolution with an interpretive dance set to Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’, and satirise modern mating rituals in a hilarious extended sequence that starts in a nightclub and ends in an awkward morning after. Opening night nerves resulted in an initially stiff performance, but the duo’s expressiveness and confidence increased as they relaxed into the show. Though covering some familiar ground, Sexytime! is an engaging, endearing, and very physical comedy. Three and a half stars Sexytime! Tuxedo Cat until April 24 This re...

Since 1996, Melbourne quintet the Blue Grassy Knoll have played their bluegrass-inspired live scores for the silent films of Buster Keaton around the world; an inspired fusion of cinema and performance that never fails to delight. Keaton, a stony-faced master of physical comedy, made a remarkable series of silent films between 1920 – 1929, including the features The General and Sherlock Jnr . For their Comedy Festival appearance, Blue Grassy Knoll accompanied three of Keaton’s short films, including the world premiere of their brand new score for his 1921 film The Playhouse , a homage to vaudeville notable for its innovative camera work. The band provides a soundtrack for every aspect of the films, from carpentry and shrill voices to dramatic moments and comedic hi-jinks. Attuned to every nuance of Keaton’s performance, whether lugubrious or gleeful, their versatile scores bring his films to vivid life. The Blue Grassy Knoll are a national treasure. Five stars Blue Grassy Knoll - Thr...

God knows what the one hapless audience member on Saturday who’d neither read nor seen The Lord of the Rings made of this mad, magnificent performance by Canadian comic Charles Ross, in which he condensed Peter Jackson’s three epic fantasy films ( The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King ) into a single hour of hilarity, vocal dexterity, and fan-love. With a judiciously raised eyebrow, a hunched shoulder or a guttural voice, Ross successfully and faithfully evoked the films’ numerous characters and key scenes, while simultaneously mocking the movies’ more ludicrous lines and moments. Sometimes the humour lay in Ross’s portrayal of a character, such as a running joke about actor Orlando Bloom’s hair; at other times a knowing aside to the audience or a reference to Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire’ evoked gales of laughter. Definitely one for the fans, but equally definitely, brilliant. Five stars Charles Ross - One Man Lord of the Rings The Arts Centre, Pla...

As anyone who’s ever moved back in with their parents knows, co-habitation between parent and adult child entails a whole new set of rules. For comedian Mel Buttle, living with her father Barry in semi-rural Queensland means following his lead – even if it means hiding from his pet magpie. Eager, awkward, and self deprecating, Buttle is at her funniest when discussing her own accident-prone existence, such as a cringe-inducing encounter with a dead wombat, and a painful episode involving a Religious Education teacher and a banana peel. Routines about her father’s escapades, such as his harassing neighbours in the name of koala protection, are less effective; she seems hesitant to fully engage with the material, perhaps for fear of insulting Barry by mocking him as fully as she mocks herself. Consequently, Buttle & Buttle feels uneven; the flashes of brilliance are overshadowed by Buttle’s subdued and anxious delivery. Three stars Mel Buttle - Buttle & Buttle Melbourne Town H...

Mining a rich vein of absurdist humour, and utilising a selection of lo-fi props, including a cardboard spaceship and a series of flipchart cartoons, broadcaster and comedian Sam Simmons’ latest show baffles and delights in equal measure. The Precise History of Things is nominally a collection of responses to letters and emails Simmons has received at JJJ; the jumping-off point for a collection of sketches that range from toilet tips for men to an opera set in the Mexican food aisle at a Coles supermarket. Transgressing both audience boundaries and traditional narrative structures, and featuring everything from nudist pinecones to shorts-wearing moths, the dream-logic progression of Simmons’ manic performance conceals a subtle concern for the petty cruelties of modern life. Not every element is completely successful, but anyone who can turn a packet of Continental Creamy Alfredo Pasta Sauce into an object of hilarity is truly deserving of praise. Rating: Four stars Sam Simmons and the...

For a woman who admits to suffering from an anxiety disorder, Melbourne’s Felicity Ward seems to have almost no capacity for self-censorship or shame – and if she does, she hides it well. In Honestly , Ward presents an array of ideas and anecdotes loosely connected by the theme of frankness, ranging from her obsessions with punning shop names (‘Halal, Is It Meat You’re Looking For?’) and the public behaviour of junkies, through to weight issues and depression. Some inspired moments of audience interaction, which never seem forced or cruel, feature throughout; the highlight of which is a routine discussing the ubiquity of autotune in pop music, memorably demonstrated via an iPhone app and a volunteer. Foul-mouthed, feisty and very funny, Ward’s expletive-laden delivery sags in the home stretch with some weaker routines about STD checks and 'sax-crimes', after which even a dynamic musical performance can’t quite recapture her earlier brilliance. Three and a half stars Felicity Wa...

Meet Angus, a socially inept idiot savant determined to uncover the secret formula of the universe. His awkward encounters with arrogant businessmen, cursed Collingwood beanies, Murakami-quoting junkies, and the villainously moustachioed Manobozo are about as far removed from traditional stand-up as possible, but generate scenes of exceptional, unbridled hilarity and occasional and surprising pathos. Created by comedian Vachel Spirason and director/producer Stephanie Brotchie (Slow Clap Productions), this remarkable show – a Fringe Festival award winner – utilises dance, physical comedy, and a talking book to shape its story of virgin births, crop circles, and chocolate-coated eroticism. Spirason’s gurning and clowning don’t always generate a laugh a minute – the hilarity deliberately shifts into occasional scenes of quiet contemplation – but his remarkably focussed physicality and precise comic timing ensure solid and consistent entertainment. Offbeat, original, and highly recommended...

So it seems that 20 year old J. from Reservoir, who I've been seeing on and off over the last few weeks, is actually 18 year old K. - and he's out on parole from the Parkville Juvenile Justice Centre. Do I know how to pick them, or what?

Here is the full list of 2010 Green Room Award recipients, as presented last night at The Famous Spiegeltent at the Arts Centre. Panel: Theatre – Alternative and Hybrid Performance Outstanding Production: Pin Drop – Tamara Saulwick Composition & Sound Design: Jethro Woodward – Irony is not Enough (Fragment 31) Production Design: Claire Britton, Matt Priest, Danny Egger – Conceptual Design – Hole in the Wall (Matt Priest & Claire Britton / Next Wave Festival) Video Design: Fleur Elise Nobel – 2 Dimensional Life of Her Mise-en-Scene: The Bougainville Photoplay Project – Paul Dwyer Site-Specific Production: Southern Crossings – One Step at a Time Like This Panel: Cabaret Best Production: Yana Alana and tha Paranas in Concert – Gasworks & Arts Victoria in association with Melbourne Workers Theatre and Yana Alana and tha Paranas Artiste: Yana Alana – Yana Alana and tha Paranas in Concert Ensemble: Yana Alana and the Paranas – Yana Alana and tha Paranas in Concert Origi...

There are a few films screening at the 21st Melbourne Queer Film Festival that I've already seen and previously reviewed; one of which I highly recommend (if you like your comedy pitch black) and another I was deeply underwhelmed by. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's I Love You Phillip Morris is hilariously funny and totally unpredictable, and a film I very much enjoyed when it screened at MIFF last year. I'm very much looking forward to seeing it again on the big screen. Conversely, the Danish drama nicknamed 'Brokeback Nazi', Brotherhood , failed to engage me due to its underdeveloped screenplay and an over-reliance on dramatic plot contrivances. Over the last two days I've also caught two collections of lesbian shorts, Femme Fatalities and Short and Girly , and the earnest, energetic UK drama Fit . Of the shorts, the highlight of the rather mediocre Femme Fatalities collection was Rebecca Thomson's Cupcake: A Zombie Lesbian Musical . Filmed in suburban Ho...

The conflicts sparked by generational and cultural change find form and focus in writer/director Peter Bratt’s La Mission , a sometimes predictable but nonetheless engrossing drama set in San Francisco’s slowly gentrifying Mission district. A vibrant mélange of Mexican and South and Central influences and immigrants, the Mission is virtually another character in the film thanks in part to the dynamic cinematography of Hiro Narita, but the story’s main focus in the tough and uncompromising Che Rivera (Benjamin Bratt, Law and Order , Modern Family ), a single father, recovering alcoholic and ex-con. Che works as a bus driver in order to provide for his son, Jesse (Jeremy Ray Valdez), and takes pride in his position of authority and respect in the neighbourhood; but when he discovers that Jesse is gay, the foundations of Che’s life – family, community, and a slowly developing relationship with his new neighbour, Lena (Erika Alexander) – are dealt a blow from which he may never recover. Th...

The 21st Melbourne Queer Film Festival kicked off on Thursday night at The Astor, opening with Kaboom , the latest film from queer auteur Gregg Araki ( The Living End , The Doom Generation , Totally Fucked Up ). It returns to the themes of his earlier, rawer, angrier work – sexual fluidity and teenage angst – with a newfound confidence seemingly gained while making his critically acclaimed, poisonously beautiful drama about the impact of childhood sexual abuse, 2005’s Mysterious Skin . Set at a nameless Southern Califorian college, Kaboom focuses around film studies major Smith (Thomas Dekker) and his immediate circle of friends, including his sarcastic lesbian buddy Stella (Haley Bennett), the free spirited London (Juno Temple), Smith’s ‘friend with benefits’, and his dumb but gorgeous surfer roommate Thor (Chris Zylka). As Smith’s 19th birthday draws near, he begins to experience a series of unsettling, possibly prophetic dreams involving a red-haired girl, a mysterious door, and t...

“There is no Beat Generation,” poet Allen Ginsberg (James Franco) tells an anonymous interviewer in 1957. “Just a bunch of guys trying to get published.” The original Beats, including Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs were indeed all writers, whose biographical and self-mythologising works directly inspired a countercultural movement that scandalised the USA in the staid 1950s. The publication of Kerouac’s On the Road in 1957 was a key moment in Beat history, but the catalysing event which rocketed the Beats, Sputnik-like, to fame across the USA was the publication of Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems by San Francisco’s City Lights Press in 1956; and the court case the following year which saw its publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, charged with obscenity. The trial was widely covered by the press, with articles appearing in both Time and Life magazine; and the decision by Judge Clayton W. Horn that ‘Howl’ was of “redeeming social importance” and was therefore “not obsce...

Located in the dusty, industrial wastelands of Melbourne's Docklands stands a vast red and yellow marquee reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil's Grand Chapiteau; the custom-built 'pleasure dome' home of Xanadu the Musical , which had its gala Australian opening on Thursday night. Based on the unsuccessful 1980 movie starring Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly (which critic Roger Ebert decried as 'a mushy and limp musical fantasy, so insubstantial it keeps evaporating before our eyes') Xanadu the Musical is a tongue-very-firmly-in-cheek retelling of the film about roller-disco and romance to which a hefty dose of contemporary irony has been added. Reviews of the original Broadway production were strong. As to whether the local production is any good I unfortunately can't say as I walked out of the opening night performance only half an hour after it started. From where I was seated (section D, row L, seat 124) the sound quality was appalling : thin, tinny and inaud...