Archive for June, 2010

RAW: Tim Burton – The Exhibition – ACMI Melbourne

Any lover of modern, edgy media or graphic design will wish to make a bee line to Melbourne for Tim Burton – The Exhibition at the Australian Centre for Moving Image (ACMI) in Federation Square before 10th October.

This exhibition, straight from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, is the complete retrospective. To its credit, and what is usually rare from such a display, is copious material from his pre-fame days when growing up as the outsider kid in Burbank, Ca. The first two rooms highlight the array of Burton’s mental and physical doodling and concepts that would become consistent and now famous motifs of his work, all well before he carried studio support – the dark settings, the wiry fingers, arms and legs, the bits that stick out from heads, his love of black and white working together in rings and leafless, winter beaten trees.

Also fascinating is the almost child-like way he presents film concepts to producers and his, at times, very clever sense of humour. Certainly Burton has a distinctive personal artistic vision evoking humour, fantasy and nightmares, living often in between worlds. While some regress to child like stories and fantasy as a comfort zone, Burton says his films are not an attempt at recapturing a childish impulse but a way to make the world fresh and interesting.

While mentioning at the outset media buffs and graphic designers will wish to ensure they see it, a great many other starting points will also attract attendance. Kids will love it, though this is probably more for adults than may be expected, psychologists will have a field day and film buffs generally will be intrigued. Certainly, as much as Burton’s genius is front and centre in his films, one comes to appreciate there are standout performances that actually make those movies hits such as from Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice), Johnny Depp (various) and Jack Nicholson (especially as the Joker).

There is great deal to do on any weekend in Melbourne this winter but this should be a priority.

Kryztoff Rating 4.5K

RAW: Farewell – Film

In the early 1980s, the Cold War for the Russians is being increasingly held together only by intelligence about western people, missiles and bases. Sergei Gregoriev (Emir Kusturica), in the Soviet intelligence services, has decided that should all change through sending back to the West all they know about them and the names of the Russian agents operating there. His mission is to make the Russian world a better place for his son, Igor. To do this, he enlists the help of Pierre Froment (Guillaume Canet), a Frenchman living in Moscow, in an operation codenamed ‘Farewell’.

This is a terrific espionage film, based on the factual account in the book by Serguei Kostine. Director and co-writer, Christian Carion, builds the tension silently but inexorably throughout until the last scenes are nearly unbearable to watch, so involved in the machinations and the lives of the players involved has one become.

Both the main actors do a great job and are well supported by Sergei’s ‘family’ (son, wife and mistress) and Pierre’s wife, Jessica (Alexandra Maria Lara). There is no James Bond or Jason Bourne in this drama and conflict between ‘duty’ to the cause and honesty and trust in the family is compellingly portrayed. Cliche portrayals of President Reagan and the CIA are upturned in the end as the real goings on get revealed.

Don’t miss it.

Kryztoff Rating  4.5K

RAW: Food Inc. – Film

Food Inc is an unsettling and uncomfortable expose of the corporately controlled US food industry which no doubts has many parallels in Australia. As such it sits as an excellent companion piece to End Of The Line, the recent documentary about global fishing stocks.

Like EOTL, Food Inc wastes no time and nuance in quickly establishing who the villains are. Writer and director, Robert Kenner, names and shames in ways the US legal and political system no longer much allows it seems. Images of suffering animals due to pens, genetic modification or their food intake abound and the disconnect between consumer perceptions about their food and reality is hammered home.

However, again like EOTL, hope for the future is sustained, this time through the growing organics industry, (though no doubt the definition of this will be attacked and made meaningless over time such as the concept of ‘free range eggs’ is under at present in this country.)

These types of documentaries are at times glib, very biased in their view but they do get your blood boiling and make for compelling entertainment. Food Inc is one such in that mould but any kernel of truth that helps propel change is a good thing and the case for the power of the individual to make a difference keeps it interesting.

Kryztoff Rating    4K

RAW: Entertaining Mr Sloane – Preview – 2 – 25 July – Dunstan Playhouse

Subversively slipping this Oedipal sex-farce past the ever-watchful eye of the British censor in 1964, play writer Joe Orton raised innuendo to new and thrilling heights. Almost fifty years later, the funny and sexy Entertaining Mr. Sloane continues to be revived all around the world.

The State Theatre Company’s production, which kicks off this Friday, will be directed by Artistic Director Adam Cook and will feature one of Australia’s best loved actors, Jacki Weaver, fresh from much acclaimed role in the movie Animal Kingdom.

Set in the 1960s on the cusp of the sexual revolution, it may be the swinging in London, but out in the suburbs, behind closed doors, Kath is lonely. Craving love and affection, Kath and her bachelor brother Ed are more than happy to accommodate the attractive young charmer Mr Sloane within their home and lives.

Both Ed and Kath become so infatuated with their shady tenant with a murky past that to win him, they will let him get away with anything, even murder…

Entertaining Mr Sloane promises to be a gloriously witty romp full of sly sexiness and racy naughtiness.

Cast also includes Dennis Olsen, Sean Taylor and Renato Fabretti

RAW: Feu la Mère de Madame – Nexus

The Mother of Madame is Dead, is a short, sweet, enjoyable French comedy. It should be noted that, despite its inclusion in the Cabaret Fringe Festival, this is a straight play and will not fit the usual Adelaide theatre-goers definition of cabaret.

After a night out revelling, Lucien (Jean François Gavanon) returns home to his wife, Yvonne (Jessica Viven). Yvonne is irate, having been dragged from her bed to admit Lucien, who has forgotten his key. It is the perfect time for them to have a small spat and they do so with vigour – until the doorbell rings again. This time, it is Yvonne’s mother’s manservant, announcing that his mistress is very ill or, more accurately, dead.

Gavanon is amusing as the self-indulgent husband and is matched well by Jessica Viven’s demanding and hysterical Yvonne; the latter bringing to mind the type of monster her late mother may have been for Lucien. As Joseph, the bearer of the bad news, Olivier Ducros is just the right mix of obliging and anxious, injecting a natural humour into the situation. Danièle Allen is also good as the put-upon and sleep deprived servant Annette.

The play is presented entirely in French, with surtitles provided for the non-fluent audience members. There is much to amuse in this script though, sadly, some of the jokes are left out of the translated English. It is interesting to watch foreign theatre in its original form and this is an agreeable, light-hearted introduction to the genre.

Kryztoff Rating 3K

RAW: Pasek and Paul – Cabaret Festival

The musical business is a cut throat world but Benj Pasek and Justin Paul appear destined to be the next big things to hit the genre.  Having absorbed the New York style, from Bernstein to Sondheim, these two young performers are now racking up the successes and gathering the new generation’s acclaim along the way.

This show was pure New York entertainment (that is after all their home town), both effervescent with an almost school boy like enthusiasm that quickly infected the crowd. Many in the premium seats were much less aware of them and their wares to date than those with the concession passes but for them, these two guys are where it is at.

The show benefitted greatly from two guest appearances – the first, with encore by Shoshana Bean and the second by Liz Callaway, both singing Pasek and Paul songs from past and future musicals.  They (with their song sheets and use of a music stand) and the P & P banter (where both seemed comfortable talking over the other) were able to create an informality and warmth to the show, though there was no doubting this was all well rehearsed and supremely well executed.

This show was a joy and one of the highlights of the entire Festival.

Kryztoff Rating 4.5K

RAW: The Geiger Sisters Radioactive Hour – The Promethean

Floozy June (Charlotte Mudge), love-cynic Jean (Bronwyn Gell) and desperate-housewife Joan (Rachael Kirkham) Geiger, are three sisters who, ably supported by their ever-enthusiastic (and possibly intoxicated) cousin Gertie (Carol Young), present an evening radio show in the years following WWII. As the studio audience, we get to see what goes on, both on and off air, the night the radio station is sold and the girl’s careers are on the line.

The key element to the radio show is music and, accompanied by Gertie, the sisters sing about life, love and their world. All four performers have strong voices and while combining on several songs to create attractive harmonies, accurately reminiscent of the time, they are also given the opportunity to shine individually with feature numbers. In addition, the physical action, which could easily be left by the wayside in a radio based piece, provides much amusement and showcases the performers’ talents.

The overarching structure of the show works well; enabling both a continuing plotline to run throughout while also providing opportunities for amusing individual sketches. The Life and Times of Fanny Mac is one such piece; a radio play, complete with coconut horse hooves and some truly hilarious one-liners. Other highlights include the various advertisements smattered throughout, particularly those for the major sponsor, Dr Cardwell’s All Purpose Elixir, and that beloved Aussie icon, the Hills Hoist.

This is a well constructed and polished piece of entertainment, with comedy and musicality in equal measures, and fine performances all round.

Kryztoff Rating  4K

RAW: Love In A Puff – Film

Reviewer – Lucy Campbell

It isn’t very often that Chinese cinema reaches our shores. The 1990s decline in the Hong Kong industry has never seen it truly recover, and it’s unlikely that Pang Ho-Cheung’s ‘Love in a Puff’ will do much to resurrect it.

The premise itself is an interesting one, if a little thin: workers ostracised due to smoking laws huddle in designated smoking zones, swapping jokes, stories and little bits of their lives. Two of these smokers, Cherie (Miriam Cheung) and Jimmy (Shawn Yue) strike up a relationship. That really is the entire storyline; the rest of the film is a compilation of long conversations and stories and snippets of the first seven days of their relationship. The truthfulness of the unwritten modern dating rules is key: the muddled texting, Facebook editing, swapping phone plans and the awkward and uneasy conversations. But somehow, Love in a Puff seems lost in translation and the nuances of their conversations are forgotten in the cultural wash.

However gentle and charming ‘Love in a Puff’ may be, it still is pretty uninteresting when all is said and done. Points are laboured and the characters are sketches. It seems like a Chinese attempt at French-style cinema, but lacking the intricacies of the latter it loses interest mid-way. ‘Love in a Puff’ is awkward, a mish-mash of borrowings from other films and although there is an element of modern Chinese culture that is revelatory, as a film rather than a cultural essay ‘Love in a Puff’ proves to be a work in progress.

Kryztof rating 3K

RAW: Bird Wizdom’s Tiny Conspiracy – La Boheme

To think it is but three months since Anya McNicol-Windram produced that 5K extravaganza at the Fringe and here today we have a whole new show. Amazing output and determination! This time, Bird’s Wizdom’s Tiny Conpsiracy, features a much smaller entourage – a mere seven people participating – and in the much smaller La Boheme venue. Whereas previous shows seemed to have been anchored around a dispassionate Melanie Prior on cello, this time Anya is very much front and centre and as usual her talent, make-up and charisma carried the day.

Around 12 new songs are in the show, many with the familiar and engaging rhythm and beat we have heard on the Bird Wizdom album and with those lyrics of abandonment and envy that can inspire reactions from hilarity to emotional outpouring. ‘Tea Tea Tea’ and ‘Georgie Porgie’ stood out in this collection as Anya utilised many of her usual helpers including Lilly Sim belly dancing, Annie Siegmann on Bass and Josh Luke Rice as Dr Bones.

As usual there were as many questions posed (like, what is this all about?) as answered but nothing can deny Anya’s brilliance in conceiving and executing such a show and the raw difference it poses for audiences.

Kryztoff Rating  4K

RAW: Frisky and Mannish – Cab Festival

This show is great fun. Felicity Fitz-Frisky, in school mistress black, and Hansel Mannish, in a somewhat camp outfit that featured some leather trousers that begged the question as to how they get put on or removed, provide the most polished of performances.

While the notion of making fun of singers and their lyrics is not new, this English pair, through their School of Pop approach, give a more contemporary spin on it drawing on such things as how English literature classics inspired and smoking cannabis affected song writing. From Kate Bush to Lady Gaga, no one targeted much survived the expose. Quite whether all this crowd got all the jokes is unclear – the standard Adelaide cabaret crowd seems rather older as a rule than the fringe humour audiences this pair would have been used to.

Nonetheless, with some patter about Adelaide’s sad rivalry with Melbourne, superb comic timing and never let up intensity, Friksy and Mannish make for a great hour of entertainment whether or not one would describe it as true cabaret.

Kryztoff Rating   4K