FILM
Belle and Sebastian
Opens July 3, Rated PG, 104 min
Not to be confused with the twee Scottish band, this wartime tale of a boy, a stray dog and villainous Nazis feels like an instant children’s classic. Sebastian is enjoying a rather wild upbringing in the French Alps, living with a good-natured (if alcoholic) shepherd and skipping school in favour of hilltop hunting. When he joins the hunt for a sheep-killing canine, he ends up putting down his rifle and making friends with the beast. This clandestine friendship leads Sebastian into a showdown between the French Resistance and the local Gestapo.
Adapted from a 1960s French TV series, Belle and Sebastian doesn’t so much sidestep clichés as embrace them. There are avalanches, perilous crossings across icy chasms, and a busty baker in place of the expected milkmaid. Yet these tropes are delivered with such joy that it’s impossible to receive them in any other manner. What the film lacks in surprises it makes up for in charm. Tchéky Karyo is gruff and loveable as Sebastian’s surrogate grandfather, Châtelier brings gumption and grace to the sole female role and Félix Bossuet has an endearing, convincing naiveté as the titular lad. The script tackles its familiar structure with knowing humour, flashes of realism, and a sweetness that rarely borders on the sentimental. Assuming they’re comfortable with subtitles, kids should enjoy the rollicking adventure. Meanwhile, parents might feel nostalgic for a world without smartphones and computers. Both parties will swoon at the breathtaking Alpine vistas.
DVD
Orphan Black: Season 2
DVD and Blu-ray (BBC DVD)
» www.bbcamerica.com/orphan-black
I really enjoyed the first season of this British-American-Canadian sci-fi, in which rebellious Sarah (Tatiana Maslany) discovers she is one of a dozen clones. The odd dodgy accent aside (I’m not sure the actor playing her flamboyant foster brother Felix has ever actually met an Englishman), it was clever, fast, funny and frequently surprising. Season Two, which has just finished on SBS2, keeps up the high standard. It’s ridiculously exciting from the start, rocketing through so many plot twists that each episode is at once dizzying and far too short. This is textbook boxset viewing – a series designed to be consumed at the maximum dose.
While the core conceit is high-concept, Orphan Black is refreshingly ungeeky. Its core appeal comes from the character interplay (as Maslany skilfully juggles several very different incarnations of her clone), the black humour and the fact that it’s an almost entirely female-led show. We could be waiting a long time for another series like it.
MUSIC
What Is This Heart? How To Dress Well (Inertia)
Hipster favourite Tom Krell (aka How To Dress Well) returns with his fourth LP this week, one which sees him adding a splash of warm colour to his usually icy palette. Standout track Repeat Pleasure has a charming ’80s pop flavour, even before it reaches its energetic, bubbling chorus. For the most part, however, Krell still sounds like Prince without the swagger, his musical climate more permafrost than Purple Rain. Indeed, Krell’s falsetto – following in the sometimes squeaky footsteps of Bon Iver and James Blake – might prove a deal breaker. For the most part, his voice is a soulful, ethereal thing, soaring above the music’s melancholy synths and R&B stutters. At times, however, it all seems a bit, well, silly. It doesn’t help that his delivery is never less than po-faced. Still, How To Dress Well specialise in beautiful works of heartbreak and despair, painted in the iciest of tones.
FESTIVAL
Project Q.U.A.D. Southgate Cinema, July 8-31, 7pm, free
» www.southgatemelbourne.com.au
This month, Melbourne’s only silent cinema plays host to an innovative program of more than 20 works from Melbourne filmmakers, video artists and animators. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings throughout July, audiences will be able to catch glimpses of visual wonders in passing or sit down, plug in earphones and enjoy a folio of short films. A special evening is lined up for the 15th, in which VCA alumni (including Richard Lowenstein, Adam Elliot and Gillian Armstrong) will share their graduate works.
THEATRE
Glengarry Glen Ross, Southbank Theatre, July 5 – August 9, $33-$105
David Mamet’s black drama has lost little of its punch, 30 years on. Indeed, its brutal bunch of back-stabbing real estate agents seem all-too-relevant in the wake of the GFC and its sub-prime mortgage disasters. The play sees four Chicago realtors fighting to close the deal on a pair of large-scale developments. In an attempt to get the blood pumping, their boss tells them all except the top two salesmen will be fired at the end of the week. Much skullduggery and profanity ensues. MTC’s revival stars a top cast including Alex Dimitriades and Steve Bisley.
Acrobat: A Dining Room Tale Malvern location revealed on booking, July 3-12, $60/$40 (incl dinner)
Melbourne’s A Is For Atlas theatre company returns with an intimate show that gives new meaning to the term dinner theatre. In the setting of a Malvern home, songwriter David Chong will share a truly multicultural tale, taking the audience along a high wire narrative stretching from Hong Kong to Australia, via Brazil – while he prepares a meal for the audience. The idea is to celebrate the dinner table as the traditional stage for sharing stories and Chong’s tale promises to be a unique one. The son of travelling Chinese acrobats, Chong was born in Australia but raised in Brazil, where he developed a love for South American jazz.
MYKE’S SPACE
Listening Milky Chance Sadnecessary. Delightful, wonky Europop only big here and Germany, for some reason.
Watching Elementary (Ten). I was surprised how much I enjoyed the first season of this Sherlock knock off, but the second run has felt pretty tired.
Attending The Witches. Malthouse’s one-man take on the Roald Dahl classic should entertain the whole family.
