Archive for August 13, 2010
RAW: Romeo & Juliet – Playhouse – Till 29th Aug – 4K
Aug 13th
Reviewed by Kosta Jaric
It takes a while to realize what is happening on stage, but once the confusion settles it is apparent that all six actors rotate roles throughout the play. As one actor takes part in a scene as Romeo, they may then transition into Juliet in the next. Once accustomed to recognizing the character by clothing or dialogue, it actually becomes enjoyable, and confirms how talented (and seamless) this cast is.
Director Geordie Brookman does something unique here in making the peripheral roles more prominent than the titular characters. Benvolio feels like more of a main character than Romeo, the Nurse more prominent than Juliet at times, and Mercutio gets the limelight like he has always deserved.
Josephine Were is great in her first full production with the STC opposite her former teacher, the always fantastic Terence Crawford (who perhaps is the most masculine Juliet since Victorian times). Another star of this production is the set designed by Pip Runciman. Almost a jungle gym for the cast, it hits fantastic extremes, gloriously morphing between scenes.
A lot of people would feel less inclined to see this famous play if they’ve seen it (or even one of the film versions) before, but they’ve created something unique in itself and definitely worth experiencing. It seems as if we’ve been blessed here lately with great productions and casts, but this one takes it a step further and perhaps surpasses The Toy Symphony (also involving Brookman) as the best performance seen at the Playhouse this year. The (perfectly placed) use of Roxy Music classic Love is the Drug throughout as a soundtrack and as dialogue is also brilliant, and sums it all up: “catch that buzz”.
Kryztoff Rating 4K
RAW: SALA – Our Mob – Artspace / Fest Theatre – Till 5 Sept – 4K
Aug 13th
Our Mob is a state-wide celebration of regional and remote South Australian artists. This is its fifth year and derives from a desire to develop a sustainable and dynamic indigenous arts industry, now enshrined in the Statewide Indigenous Community Artists Development (SICAD) program. This year’s exhibition features Ngarrindjeri artists from the Riverland and Coorong.
There are perhaps two stand-out feature works that certainly warrant the time to visit. Major Sumner’s Tree Canoe sits in the midst of the works resting on sand on the floor. A Ngarrindjeri elder, Sumner describes his canoe as a homage to the tree from which it is cut, being more than 100 years old, and to children as an example of both technique and culture. It is certainly impressive and as clear as anything could be of the close inter-relationship between the land and its uses by indigenous communities for thousands of years.
Beaver Lennon’s Break of Dawn (attached above) is notable for two reasons. First, it is one of the few works on display clearly borne of white man styles and techniques, Jack Absalom would be proud of the gums and the spinafex. The heavy, dewy atmospherics of the work with the dark under sides of the clouds, tinged with the dawn’s crimsons, pose the question of whether this is about the on-coming of a cultural storm or the dawn of new, brighter day. The second notable feature is that this work won the inaugural SA Indigenous Acquisitive Art Award of $5000 (thanks to an anonymous donor) that sees the work go into the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Indigenous Art Collection.
Also of note is the exquisite brush work of Roger (Bushfire) Saunders in his Spirits of Change and the raw talent of 9 year old, Ella Ackland’s Snake Protector, an acrylic on bark work of a snake slithering for safety.
Finally, of considerable interest is Narelle Unmeopa’s Emu Egg. Her daughter’s Emu egg is also there, a brightly coloured collectible, but Narelle’s exhibits extraordinary craftsmanship being symbols left as shell after all else has been scraped and sanded away down to the finest skin or membrane before reaching the egg’s yoke – no paint applied.
Kryztoff Rating 4K
Image: Beaver Lennon, The Break of Dawn, acrylic on canvas, 2010
RAW: Splice – 2K
Aug 13th
The greatest fear in all of bio-technology is the creation of a creature that by accident or intention is released onto the world with unknown and unintended consequences – like cane toads only developed in a lab. Splice takes this issue head on when Nerd’s headstrong scientists Clive Nicoli (Adrien Brody) and Elsa Kast (Sarah Polley) develop a part human embryo only to find it survives and develops. From there all manner of maternal and male instincts kick in as they battle the rapid development of their ‘child’, Dren (mostly Delphine Chaneac) and try to keep it all a secret.
If what you are after is a Sci-Fi schlock DVD to watch late one evening with your partner armed only with a bottle of scotch then Splice is five star entertainment. The is the Creature From The Black Lagoon meets The Room aided by 21st century film technology. The ethical and scientific dilemmas thrown up are given at best lip service and are overwhelmed by the human hormonal imbalances of the grossly selfish.
Once all semblance of credibility is lost after the shareholders meeting ends in a bloody fiasco one can only marvel at the corny dialogue. The sex scenes that climax the film (if that is the right word) are extraordinary but only in the context of being very silly.
If you are after a primer on the challenges of raising children then other films do a lot better. If you are interested in the clash of ethics between the scientific, commercial and domestic worlds, then this offers zero insights. If you love Frankenstein style Sci Fi flicks and can suspend reality for 2 hours, Splice may be a film for you.
Kryztoff Rating 2K
RAW: The Ghost Writer – 3.5K
Aug 13th
Reviewed by Lucy Campbell
Roman Polanski’s latest effort sees the controversial Pole tackle an airport fodder heavyweight in the form of ‘The Ghost Writer,’ an adaptation of Richard Harris’ thriller novel ‘The Ghost.’ Ewan McGregor plays the writer (simply named Ghost) who is employed by ex-British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) to edit his memoirs. The film takes place in Massachusetts, where Lang and his wife Ruth (Olivia Williams) are isolated from prying eyes and pesky journalists. When Lang is accused of war crimes, the film slowly begins to escalate into an espionage thriller, spearheaded by the rather bumbling yet placid Ghost. Of course, it’s all very Tony Blair; names are barely altered for the sake of the film, and it’s sure to be mildly controversial.
But at the centre of this film is some really creaky dialogue, a great deal of exposition and some unsettling acting from the leads. There are parts of the film that veer into Cohen brothers-esque black comedy: “They can’t drown you both. You’re not kittens,” placates an ex-minister to an increasingly paranoid Ghost. But other parts feel heavy and plodding, a few of Ghost’s decisions seem downright bizarre, and really the twist at the end we could see for miles. But in all of this McGregor’s Ghost is strangely unsettling (he also has an atrocious English accent, as is Tom Burlinson’s American) and unequivocally ordinary. His stupidity is understandable when one sees him as a man un-wittingly thrust into a conspiracy, and he reacts in the same way any of us would.
The structure of the film feels a bit off, the set-up is far too long, and there is so much exposition you want to take an axe into the edit room, but there are some great sequences. It isn’t Polanski’s best by any means, but it’s a solid shot at a political thriller that seems ever more relevant in the wake of Iraq and the midst of Afghanistan.
Kryztoff Rating 3.5K