La Boite Launch

Hi all, this is the finished article for the La Boite Launch. Will be published in this weeks Scene Magazine, check it out. 

La Boite Theatre Company - 2011 Launch Party

An evolution

With such a successful 2010 showcase, Brisbane is hungry for La Boite in 2011.

When artistic director, David Berthold, appears onstage through an early 90’s, Fisher Paykel, fridge, you can be sure La Boite is defrosting some serious dramatic feasts for their upcoming year. 2010 was a new model for La Boite and 2011 is an evolution of the previous years success, with the desire of pushing significantly more theatre into Brisbane. This includes the unraveling of both La Boite Indie and La Boite Scratch, two programs that will undoubtedly further independent productions across the city. After the acclaimed success and popularity of this years ‘Hamlet’, Berthold announced their return to the masterful quill of Shakespeare, with a very gutsy and contemporary, ‘Julius Caesar’, to be performed in-the-round, kicking off next years season early February. On conclusion, the champagne was popping and the audience was hungry for theatre - lucky Brisbane’s, ‘Sun State Roller Girls’, were there to keep the crowds moderately contained!

For more information on next years season visit: www.laboite.com.au

Written & Published in Scenemagazine QLD, 2010

Lunch with Vincent River

Lunch with Vincent River 
The Metro Arts Theatre - Friday, 26th
Elephant Juice Theatre Company
Directed by: Jamie Kable 
Cast: Jane Cameron, Robbie O'Brien, Andy Townsend, Peta Ward


When invited to dine with Vincent, be sure you've rescheduled your entire afternoon. Starting with 'Lunch', opening the performance at 30min, (followed by a 15min intermission), then 'Vincent River' at a staggering 1 & 1/2 hours. If you're craving a serving of theatre, yes, really salivating for the stage, Vincent's raw plate of theatrical culinary is unfortunately, drastically, undercooked! 
Like chocolate & broccoli, washed down with a glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, Steven Berkoff's, Lunch, simply did not work. The play itself is beautifully written - a literal smorgasbord of verbal delights, sugarcoated in climatic tension. Two people meet on a beach. One begins to seduce the other. But which one? Berkoff’s hugely theatrical style is unfortunately lost in this production, possibly too big and in depth, with just a little too many ingredients to handle. Separately, both actors performed reasonably well - though they did not mesh. There was little to non on-stage communication, they did not feed from each other, leaving the audience unsatisfied and hungry for a proper meal. 


As promoted: Philip Ridley’s Vincent River is the suspenseful tale of a mother who confronts the last person to see her, closet homosexual son alive. By turns charming, funny and tragically violent, Vincent River will have your heart in your mouth as you share Anita and Davey’s journey towards the terrifying truth....... not this time. This piece could have finished forty minutes earlier and I still would have deemed it, too long. 'Monotone', Vincent River, is not black or white, but grey. It just simply 'keeps going'... then going.... then going a little more. I feel the performance literally just happened, and in some sort of  quasi 'out of body' experience. Time stopped, and I became more delirious with the passing minutes.. all ninety of them. Vincent firstly is performed entirely by two actors, and of course monologs can be more than enthralling, but a connection must be made between audience and actor, and unfortunately Vincent River keeps very much to himself. 


Unquestionably, I have had my dosage of independent theatre for the year. And will subsequently not be partaking in breakfast, lunch, or dinner (inclusive of meals in-between) with Vincent River anytime this year. Performing at The Metro Arts, Lunch with Vincent River, is $25 a pop. 


Check out their website for more details: www.metroarts.com.au

Creation Review

Today, I am re-watching Jon Amiel's 'Creation' (TRAILER LINK), Starring the infamous Hollywood couple Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly. My favourite scene by far is the Orangutang 'Jenny' and Bettany. 


----- Insert 

Q. And how was Paul with Jenny, the orang-utan?
Jon Amiel: Well, although we’d worked for several weeks training her to do certain things, having met her myself and knowing how Paul worked with the kids we made the decision to film that meeting. We didn’t have Paul meet her beforehand at all. We just put them in that cage together and I set it up so that I could film what happened. I knew that Paul’s improvisational skills with the kids would work every bit as well with Jenny, and so it turned out to be.

------

Below is the review I wrote a while back on the film, pre-release. Enjoy! And most definitely view! 

Creation

Film Review:     

Dir: Jon Amiel; UK 108min

Starring; Paul Bettany, Jennifer Connelly, Martha West, Jeremy Northam, Benedict Cumberbatch, Toby Jones                    

It is said a scientific man ought to have no wishes and no affections. He must bare a mere heart of stone.

John Amiel’s ‘Creation’ skilfully dissects the life behind revolutionist Charles Darwin. A loving husband, a renowned scientist, and a man struck by grief to the point of insanity. Beautiful and elegant, the film cuts deep into the flesh and bone of the passionate and most exceptional Charles Darwin. Proving Amiel is not only a very talented director but also quite the stonemason.

With screenplay by John Collee (‘Master & Commander’) and starring A-list Hollywood husband and wife, Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly (Charles and Emma Darwin), the film is loosely adapted from Randal Keynes’s biographical novel ‘Annie’s Box’. With a true to the time and witty narrative, the story cleverly touches on various retellings of Darwin’s vivid adventures to his four children. Wild sea journeys and deep Congo treks carry an ever-evolving and exciting plotline of Darwin’s theories and viewpoints, love and loss – the formula for a very insightful, interesting film (for those who are into their chemistry!). Flirting between Charles’s daydreams, nightmares, and insanity, the film details the hellish pre-publication period of his most famous work ‘On the Origin of Species’. Darwin is torn between wife and friends, Christianity and science, he holds the key to Pandora’s box, but who is he to “kill God”.

Capturing a world through Darwin’s eyes, we sink with ease from the exuberant autumn colours of countryside England to the deep blacks of his ever-present madness with a notable score and exquisite cinematography. Grass caught in the wind dances across the screen, the molecules of water glisten – Amiel has made a conscious effort to focus on the small details within the frame and it pays off.

The story at times takes a little while to evolve, but attempting to jam ten million years of evolution into 108minutes is challenging at best. All in all, this film will pull deeply at your heartstrings whilst broadening your knowledge of life and the universe, even if it is partly fictionalised!

Benjamin, 

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Red Hill, QLD Premiere

Director - Patrick Hughes

When first time director, Patrick Hughes, announced his debut feature alongside Ryan Kwanten, though ashamed, I can admit I didn't recognise the infamous Jason Stackhouse until the first 60seconds of watching him on-screen...Alas, then word vomit escaped my mouth - "Fuck me, that's the guy from True Blood!". 
Shorter, and far skinnier, than I would have imagined, Hughes towered over the young Australian actor, as he announced the long awaited Australian Western, Red Hill! 

Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Steve Bisley, and Tommy Lewis, the film was shot in a very tidy 24days, with a disclosed budget. All that's known is Hughes put a mortgage down on his house for the film, and it's paid off with Sony picking up the film for international distribution. And upon this being said - Hughes automatically notes - "and it's already been paid off", well done Patrick. One must always respect a good gamble! 

Steve Bisley was as always, incredible. The second of two films i've seen him in this week (his hard-edge Australian drawl was also used in Monday nights 'The Wedding Party'). 

All in all, a very entertaining film. That I would highly recommend a viewing off. 

*To visit the official website - RED HILL MOVIE

*To watch the trailer - RED HILL TRAILER

My review for Scene Magazine, QLD, is published below. Enjoy.  

Red Hill

Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Steve Bisley, Tommy Lewis

Directed/Written by: Patrick Hughes

Ryan Kwanten

Saddle up and mount a new genre, the modern Australian Western!

A thrilling ride from start to finish, ‘The Man from Snowy River’ meets ‘The Proposition’ in first time feature director, Patrick Hughes’, ‘Red Hill’. Fresh in town, and first day on the job, copper, Shane Cooper (Ryan Kwanten, aka Jason Stackhouse, ‘True Blood’) rides into hell on horseback as escaped convicted murderer, Jimmy Conway, unleashes bloodthirsty terror upon the country town of Red Hill. A clever combo of the western genre and present day, Hughes combines genre elements with modern day effortlessly, not once seeming kitsch or cliché. This is unquestionably a cherished new take on Australia cinema, yeeharr!

Review by Benjamin 

‘Red Hill’ is being screened nationally from December 2^nd

*Written for Scene Magazine, Brisbane, QLD 2010 

Unexpected – The Gold Coast Film Festival 2010

Glitz, glam, and just a little bit GC (yes, short skirts & fake everything) – Wednesday the 10^th November was the official opening of the International Gold Coast Film Festival at Australia Fair. The red carpet was out, the press were lingering (cameras at the ready), and of course the metre maids were glowing a fluorescent orange in gold bikinis (but seriously). 

* To watch the official commercial CLICK HERE

Opening the night was Ben Lucas's debut feature 'Wasted on the Young' - a new age thriller, based around the pressures of teenagers (suicide, bullying etc). Set on the social battleground of an elite high school, it focuses on the extreme alienation and brutality that plague classrooms (*filmink).  Starring Oliver Ackland, Adelaide Clemens, and the only attendee cast member of the night - Alex Russell, who both introduced the film, and indulged in the post screening champagne at 'The Rolls Royce Club'. 

Surprisingly, the night draw quite a few 'big-name' Aussie actors to the opening. John Jarratt (Wolf Creek), Adrian Pang and Martin Sacks (Play School, Blue Heelers), Adrienne Pickering (The Reef), Xavier Samuel (Twilight), Phoebe Tonkin (Tomorrow When the War Began), and Alice Parkinson - just to include a few. 

Adrienne Pickering. Unfortunately, I only recognised her at the end of the night, leaving without actually meeting her. Though, on a side note. I did manage to snugly fit my Blackberry into the mix of media SLR's to get this shot. 

Alex Russell (Left) - Lead Actor, 'Wasted on the Young'.  

*Various shots from the red carpet. Apologies for the poor quality, just shot them quickly on the phone. Ended up being a very good night indeed!

Too Much Pussy - Feminist Sluts, a Queer X Show

As apart of BIFF, tonights screening, i fear, may just be a little indy for my liking. *Screening Nov 11th, 8:30 Palace Centro. 


Too much pussy is barely enough, as seven gay women - the self-styled 'pussy posse' - go on the road with their feminist agenda to educate as well as titillate.


Too Much Pussy - Feminist Sluts, a Queer X Show
Dir: Emilie Jouvet
About- 
It is an explicit documentary about the wild adventures of 7 women on a performance art tour, who traveled in a van around Europe during the summer of 2009, treaded the stages of nightclubs and theaters in Paris, Berlin, Stockholm… The film documents the tour, the life-changing experiences that the 7 girls go through, the intersections in their shows and in their lives between pornography and art, performance and reality, personal and political. Emilie Jouvet, Wendy Delorme, Judy Minx, Madison Young, Sadie Lune, Mad Kate and DJ Metzgerei bring you this sex-positive feminist manifesto.

This road movie with a difference makes Thelma and Louise look like daddy's little darlings. Part-documentary, part-explicit porn feature, Too Much Pussy follows the adventures of seven women as they take their performance art on tour across Europe in 2009.
Director Emilie Jouvet explores the fine line between art and pornography, with her actors presenting every possible version of sexual orientation and gender specificity - including some you've never thought of - both on the road and on stage.
Feminist sluts or serious social reformers? Make up your own mind.


***And I shall... but I am super nervous about it. 

Summer Coda - Director Richard Gray (Full)

Summer Coda

Interview with Richard Gray

“I just find it incredibly sexy, chicks playing cellos and violins!” Director/writer, Richard Gray, jokes.

In film language, the term is mis-en-scene. The well balanced cocktail of all filmic elements - performance, sound, score, production design etc. And like a finely rehearsed ensemble in the hands of the right conductor, ‘Summer Coda’, is very sleek and sexy. It is not often a story can be told through limited dialogue in modern cinema, but through an eye for detail, Gray unfolds a tale of subtleties across the big screen, both powerful, moving, and worthy of your ticket coinage!

“It’s so hard to get people to even go and see an Australian film. So, I was really wary of wanting a film worth the price of the ticket. The score, the songs, I want people to see it in the cinema.” Gray said.

With leads Rachel Taylor (‘Transformers’) and Alex Dimitriades, and with sound track contributions by Liam Finn, Glenn Richards (Augie March), The Stems, and Dan Sultan (the list goes on), the film is as Aussie star-studded onscreen, as it is off!

“I feel music is highly significant. My dad was a DJ, which meant I grew up listening to these great records, making music a very big part of my childhood.” Gray said.

“I wrote the film to Bruce Springsteen, but then found out there are many Australian artists that could give us a similar style, and it would also give a more legitimate feel if they were Australian. Liam Finn got involved, then once you have a couple, it must be cool, and then they all just joined in!”

Not just one for your mum, sister, and girlfriend, ‘Summer Coda’ is not just ‘orange grove romance’ for the girls.

“Obviously, the romantic dramas hit harder with the female demographic, but lots of dudes like them as well, they just might not tell you.” Gray said.

“Angus Sampson was a great device for me to inject some humour and light into the film alongside Nathan Phillips. The ‘pickers’ went into picking training two weeks before shooting at a place called ‘orange world’…aka Citrus Disneyland. They’d rock up in the back of a Ute, boom box blasting, tanned up, ready to pick. It really brought life to the screen.”

‘Summer Coda’ has unleashed a heatwave of fresh Australian talent into world cinema. Well written, beautifully shot, and composed, this crop of debut filmmakers is ripe for the picking.

By Benjamin

Written & Published in Scenemagazine QLD, 2010