Scenestr put the call out for shows running as part of the Brisbane Festival and I was lucky enough to attend with Karen, Ode to Man on the second of its four night run at my old campus Kelvin Grove at QUT. The hills remain steep as I chose to park from the opposite end of where the show was playing. Describing Ode to Man as a one woman play written and performed by the whip-smart and talented Emma Mary Hall feels limiting and fails to reflect the contribution behind the scenes in dressing the stage and proving audio visual projections throughout. However you would describe it, it was thoughtful and insightful and perfectly fit the setting of a university theatre with many students in attendance too. There was a Q&A afterwards with Ms Hall too. You can read my review here http://scenestr.com.au/arts/ode-to-man-review-brisbane-festival-2018-20180913
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Celebrating 25 years in 2018 of publishing history they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and now Victoria! every month too.
As previously mentioned I did a work elective in my final undergrad year at QUT where I was part of a group of students who wrote the newspaper for the Brisbane Writers Festival in 2004. Until the past couple of years it was one of the proudest moments of my short aspirations of being a writer and it still remains important to me. It may be coincidence but I suspect not that I never really went back to the writers festival in subsequent years until the call went out from Scenestr for interest in reviewing events at this year’s BWF. I consider myself very lucky as a result to have been able to attend the Dinner with Laura Weisberger at Gerard’s Bistro.
I was in attendance by myself and so was pleased when I saw an old friend Karen B arrive. As you maybe aware Karen set me up with my wife Karen. We stood and chatted while delicious entrees were served on trays around us and bubbly was sipped. Karen had a far greater knowledge of not only Weisberger and her work than I did but it turned out the Brisbane Writers Festival was a big deal for her and something she regularly attended much like the Brisbane International Film Festival is important to me.
As we made our way indoors for the main event we were directed to allocated seating but I was lucky enough that my friend was only two people away at the next table. I was not sure of the format and wondered if I was at a press table and was expected to ask questions of the famous author on behalf of my publication. As I sat waiting, the current news anchor for Channel 10 in my home state, Georgina Lewis introduced herself and her friend Elissa to me as they sat down opposite. Another beautiful woman wearing a star necklace and long blonde hair said hello to me by name as if we were old friends. This was Mary Dickinson who amongst other things runs her own blog site and regularly contributes to various publications including Style Magazine. That was enough for me, I dashed over to the gentleman who had directed me to my table and asked if he could confirm the format of the evening. He mentioned what I was most familiar with, there would be an interview followed by questions open to the audience but I would not be called upon as a reviewer to say anything which is what I had been expecting would be the case but had wanted to confirm given the wattage at my table. Perhaps sensing a little nervousness he assured me “Don’t worry you’ll be sitting next to Johnny the owner who is very approachable.”. Terrific. The thing though was that this was quite true.
The evening began with Marie-Louise Theile who used to be the Channel 10 news anchor and now runs her own company interviewing Lauren Weisberger in front of the bar while we all listened. Those attending had shelled out $165 a ticket for a three course meal at one of Brisbane’s trendiest restaurants with the author. Weisberger in town to promote her new book When Life Gives You Lululemons did not disappoint. You can read my review here http://scenestr.com.au/arts/dinner-with-lauren-weisberger-review-brisbane-writers-festival-20180907 of the dinner but suffice to say it was fun. I found the décor of the fashionable James Street eatery appropriate to the event with a panelled wall of various wood evocative of books on a shelf and intimate reading areas you find in grand old libraries.
Afterwards I kept my mouth shut I hope for the most part and just quietly listened during dinner and took my notes for future reference when writing the review later. However there were little moments when me and my fellow diners talked a little about ourselves, I remember talking about my marriage and my interview with Ali McGregor. Mostly I listened and talked to Karen at one point but appreciated the generosity and friendliness of my fellow diners who walk in different circles to me but were treating me no differently. I even got an old fashioned out of the mix which hit the spot nicely. The meal was super impressive including possibly the best pork I’ve ever had. I went to buy a copy of Lululemons and get it signed by Lauren who kindly did and posed for a picture. While everybody else was eating she was taking one table of guests at a time and doing this. Karen left and I took my queue to follow, after all as I had a review to write and a day job to get to in the morning. I gave my leave to everyone at the special table I had gotten to sit at and stole off into the night with some pretty cool memories and a brand new book. Lauren Weisberger, the Brisbane Writers Festival and Scenestr have kindly provided me once again with another highlight I am grateful for.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Celebrating 25 years in 2018 of publishing history they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and now Victoria! every month too.
-Lloyd Marken
Posing with best selling author Lauren Weisberger after she signed a copy of her book. Copyright Lloyd Marken
THAT’S NOT ME: This little Australian film directed by Gregory Erdstein is the kind of little local film that can be championed by home country festivals and boost them towards international deals. One of Karen’s picks I was still happy to go along and had solid hopes. If you’re keeping score all of Karen’s choices came a cropper and mine didn’t fare much better but I picked the best film of 2017 so there’s that. Karen still stands by The Party and I still don’t think it’s that great. We saw this film at Palace Centro Cinema 7, Thursday night at 6pm 31AUG2017 and grabbed some chow from a nearby Italian restaurant after.
Co-written and co-produced by star Alice Foulcher, who plays dual roles of aspiring actress Polly and her twin Amy also an actress who gets a big break and is off to Hollywood. Specialising in the kind of awkward understated character driven humour that Ricky Gervais made an industry out of, I admired a lot in this film but can’t say I really enjoyed it. I admired the work from Foulcher and the rest of the cast, to be natural in their performances and to play their roles as imperfect humans.
I liked the low production values that still lit atmospherically backyard townhouse parties favoured by young broke artists getting older every day. I liked how it was shot in L.A. and Victoria and showed how clearly without the 35mm film lenses of my childhood Hollywood more and more is just another pretty Pacific Ocean town not too different from where I live. As a comedy though I seldom laughed and as a character piece I found it more and more challenging to get caught up in the plight of this flawed character no matter how honest and real she was written and performed.
AUSTRALIA DAY: Those who follow my blog will recall I covered with some excitement getting to review this film at BIFF for Scenestr magazine. Australia Day screened at 6pm, Palace Barracks Cinema 1 Saturday 02SEP2017 with BIFF 2017 closing down the following day. It turned out to be a great way to finish off BIFF 2017 with a good local film made here in Brisbane. As “press” I got to mingle at a party beforehand and by mingle I mean stand and chat to my wife. I did notice Hornblower himself – Iaon Gruffudd was present. After the film there was a Q&A with some cast, producers and director Kriv Stenders who also made the excellent closing night film of BIFF 2017 The Go-Betweens: Right Here which I later saw at Byron Bay. Kriv Stenders is one of the great modern directors of Australian cinema and the producers were local boys, of Hoodlum Productions, who had done good and were making their first feature film. Karen and I went to Libertines again afterwards for delicious crab sliders and other favourites where I noticed them celebrating with loved ones.
Libertines on the night of 2nd of September, 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
You can read more of my recap of events here and my review of the film here but suffice to say it was a great way to end our attendance at the Brisbane International Film Festival 2017. Australia Day was a moving energetic film perhaps not subtle in its themes but I found it terribly effective and affecting. I put it in Honourable Mentions for my end of year list and I still stand by it. Getting to be on assignment for Scenestr at BIFF was a personal highlight and I was pleased everything went well.
All up Karen and I had seen 7 films, 2 from Asia (one animated from Japan and another from Vietnam), two films from the U.S. (one a documentary), two films from Australia and one film from Europe (in this case the U.K.) Not a bad collection and while only two really passed the grade with me they did so by a far margin. BIFF is returning in 2018 and I hope to share some memories with you about it soon. I also hope to write about my attendance at the Sydney Film Festival in 2008 at some point but we have come to the end for now of my recaps of past BIFFs. I hope you have enjoyed, I admit there is a nostalgic twinge for the ones of the previous decade that I do not get for 2017 but time moves on. You treasure memories and create new ones and I look forward to making many new BIFF ones. I will close by thanking Palace Cinemas once again for bringing back my beloved BIFF.
Late last year I was able to interview comedian Randy Feltface who regularly collaborates with Sammy J and now I have been able to speak to Sammy J as well for Scenestr magazine. It was an utter joy speaking with Sammy J who was very encouraging and friendly. After the interview was over my entire mood had lifted, I think this is part of his appeal with audiences – Sammy brings joy.
A Melbourne lad he was on hand to promote his new show at the Melbourne Fringe Festival, The Fifty Year Show Part III which is run every five years having started in 2008. Deceptively ambitious I was fascinated by the concept of the show which recaps current events and trends while also bringing back elements of previous shows. This will allow it to cover fashion, news and so forth but also more poignantly life itself and in a particular way the careers of all those involved. It’s interesting to think of a 75 year old Sammy J mounting the last edition and what kind of a performer he will be at that point. Getting a young fit man to strip down to his undies in the show will play differently as time goes on and yet probably get as many cheers in the last show as in the first if that person is still agreeing to it. Because we age and we evolve and already Sammy is acknowledging that, as he moves to include more female performers this year. You can read my interview here http://scenestr.com.au/comedy/sammy-j-continues-his-50-year-show-at-melbourne-fringe-20180911 nd if you’re a Melbourne reader I suggest you take the opportunity to go and see the show for yourself.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises, Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Celebrating 25 years in 2018 of publishing history they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane every month. For the month of September they returned to the Melbourne market with the debut print edition of Scenestr in that city! It is a thrill to have had a shortened version of my interview with Sammy J feature in that first issue on page 38 which can be seen digitally here http://scenestr.com.au/read/VIC/2018/01-VIC/scenestr-VIC-01.html#p=39 If you’re into music they’re a great read but they do cover all of the arts including festivals, stand-up comics, fashion, theatre and film. I feel very fortunate to get to write for them.
IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD: Again Mike was steering me to good things with his recommendation of Japanese animated films. On a whim I choose to see a Japanese animated film that was screening at BIFF 2017. On a quiet Sunday afternoon 27AUG2017 Karen and I arrived at Palace Barracks for a 12:45pm session and I saw the best film of the year. Set before and during World War II, it followed the story of one young girl’s personal growth into a woman set against the backdrop of Japan’s transformation during those years ending with the agony of defeat and the simple need to rebuild no matter the trauma if there is to be a better tomorrow. A film that took Japan 70 years to make but it is a timely reminder of the true losers in war and the hope that comes from tomorrow. I was later lucky enough to have my review of the film published in the magazine FilmInk but I never see truly happy with the words I use to recommend it. See it for yourself.
CITIZEN JANE: BATTLE FOR THE CITY: Monday night after work Karen and I went to Palace Centro Cinema 7 to see the American documentary Citizen Jane: Battle for the City at 6pm. Some good documentaries have screened at BIFF and Citizen Jane had a lot to say about rising populations and the urban housing projects of yesteryear. There are many lessons that could be learnt from the showdown between activitst Jane Jacobs and urban planner Robert Moses in mid-20th Century New York that is relevant to today. Yet as the film went on I found myself asking for a different viewpoint, it seemed the film lacked any nuance or alternative argument. It wanted to celebrate Jane and belabour these foolish men who had built buildings but torn down communities. A under-resourced but indomitable spirit and intelligent mind going up against big interest groups is compelling to be sure but I couldn’t help but feel there was more to it than that. That Jane Jacobs had got it right and if not for her efforts we would have lost out more but why she had to fight, whether there were good intentions gone wrong there, what the solutions ultimately are for us now in the 21st century I felt the film could have gotten into a bit more. By not presenting somebody from the other side arguing their case you don’t really have a debate that you win. Just an echo chamber that feeds your narrative. Still maybe I was tired, I think I may have nodded off for a little and it wasn’t a bad film by an means.
THE WAY STATION: Wednesday night 30AUG2017, 6pm we went to Palace Barracks Cinema 1 for The Way Station from Vietnam. Trumpeted it as a seminal moment in the history of the Vietnamese film industry it was a gala screening we attended. Directed by Hong Anh a famous actress in Vietnam it won best film, best actor and best cinematography at the ASEAN film awards. Not bad for her feature debut. It follows the story of a young man who gets work in the kitchen at a small restaurant and starts to learn the secrets of the compound he lives and works in. It was a passion project for Hong Anh and it deals with ideas of gender, sex and family. We had a Q&A afterwards with Hong Anh and 2017 Festival Co-Director Maxine Williamson and something that impressed was her discussion of how to shoot the space of the restaurant. For me they did a great job of keeping it interesting, maintaining clear sense of geography and also bringing forth such a strong sense of place that it almost becomes another character. In some ways this a tragic story and I can’t deny that it was not one of my favourites but it was shot well, had interesting ideas and took me to another small pocket of the world I had never been in which I what I love best about the films I see at BIFF. Afterwards we came outside to eat food put on by the nearby Libertines which Karen and I both love. These included little bamboo boats with mushrooms dumplings inside them.
It is always a thrill to get to review a film and to attend a critics screening which is what I did on Wednesday night when I saw The Happytime Murders at New Farm Cinemas for Scenestr magazine. A new milestone was reached too, my first media screening where I had to sign an agreement not to breach a media blackout. Karen has taken me to preview screenings previously where mobile phones were confiscated but this was something new for me as a critic where I kept my phone but turned it off during the screening. I was attending a screening at 6:45pm Wednesday and the ban lifted 7am Thursday morning. One can never be too careful. I always enjoy going to New Farm cinemas and hitting the local Pig’n’Whistle afterwards before heading home to write my review.
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Celebrating 25 years in 2018 of publishing history they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland every month and the first issue for Victoria is coming out this month too.
The Brisbane International Film Festival‘s triumphant return in 2017 included many features long missed. There was a Baltic spotlight, short films, world premieres, a showcase of Masters, opening and closing night film (The Square and The Go-Betweens: Right Here which I was lucky enough to see at the Byron Bay Film Festival and placed in my Top 5 Films of last year) and a retrospective on Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev which included Return, The Banishment, Elena and Leviathan with at its centrepiece his latest film Loveless. Buying tickets we wanted to cast a wide net and I also wanted Karen to get some picks in plus schedule around our jobs. We missed The Baltic Spotlight also in the running was Ali’s Wedding, Loving Vincent (Karen has since seen it), Maudie and Loveless (alas two Canadian films too including one directed by Bruce McDonald who did The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess from BIFF 2005), Last Men in Aleppo and Returnee from Kazakhstan (just the type of obscure foreign film that can transport you to another place on Earth at street level so to speak), Aussie flick Watch the Sunset and Karen was keen on My Year with Helen. Saw none of them but I was very grateful to be back at BIFF seeing multiple films. It perhaps should be noted that beyond the focus of a film festival most of these films missed I have not gotten around to seeing which I think there is something in that. A film festival really elevates and spotlights interesting movies.
The Leviathan: Screening Sunday 20AUG2018 at 10:30am in Palace Centro Cinema 7 was this movie which I proudly chose and bought tickets to see on the big screen. But alas while going to opening night on Thursday, seeing a Chekov play Uncle Vanya for Scenestr on Friday night after work and heading along to my first Impromafia show Lord of the Thrones on Saturday night for Scenestr and writing the reviews I noted we were running late Sunday morning and decided to give it a miss. All my old BIFF traditions were in full force. I’ve heard it’s great and will be interested to hear if any of my fellow bloggers have seen it and what they think.
THE PARTY: This was one of Karen’s choices (although it had been on my shortlist) which we went to see late Wednesday night 23AUG2018 at The Palace Barracks Cinema 1 at 8:15pm. It was the ninth anniversary of the first date I went on with Karen. So we had dinner beforehand at Libertine restaurant which included delicious crab sliders, beef san choi bao and delicious cocktails.
Copyright Lloyd Marken
Copyright Lloyd Marken
The Party shot in black and white and directed by Sally Potter follows a dinner party of well to do privileged members of class celebrating the hostess Janet (Kristin Scott Thomas) having ascended into the parliament ministry. Of course as the guests arrive simmering tensions come to the boil from old friends, partners and unexpected guests. Just describing it gets me all excited about the possibilities but alas I found the characters for the most part unlikeable and the comedy lacking. One of those films where people think they are cleverer and funnier than what they actually are and more is the pity given the extraordinary cast including Patricia Clarkson, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy and Timothy Spall but there you have it. Karen on the other hand loved it so they’ve got that going for them.
FUN MOM DINNER: Now to another of Karen’s choices in the form of a comedy from America starring the amazingly talented Toni Collette in what has to be arguably the worst movie I saw last year and probably one of the worst if not worst films I ever at the Brisbane International Film Festival. It was Friday 25AUG2018 at 6pm Palace Centro Cinema 7.
After some of the renovations to Palace Centro, just in time for BIFF 2017. Copyright Lloyd Marken.
Okay it’s a film about mums having a night out on the town, a more mature and nuanced attempt at the premise of Bad Moms except well that film was funnier and better. Sorry. I admire the ambition to go deeper in terms of characterisation but the film is trying to have it both way by remaining a broad comedy. Classic example, two Mums don’t like each other so they light up a joint and hilarity and reconciliation ensues. Except it doesn’t. Bridget Everett’s character ran the gamut between being obnoxiously opinionated and bossy (at both the beginning and end – did her character learn nothing during the course of the story) and honest and profound at tother times. The only shining light was Molly Shannon’s take on a older divorcee trying to find her way back to true confidence and happiness. There are good ideas but close to zero good execution. Even in the most lacklustre films I’ve seen at BIFF I”ve been able to defend the ambition and lack of funds of new filmmakers, originality of ideas, the transformative ability of taking me to another culture and landscape. Maybe I’m harsher on Fun Mom Dinner because it takes me to California, had the benefit of some money and is totally unoriginal but when I think of the worst film I saw last year this always comes to mind. Bad Mommy, Bad Mommy and not in a fun way.
Following on from the wonderful opportunity to attend a critic’s screening of The Breaker Upperers I got a chance to interview both Jackie van Beek and Madeleine Sami whom co-wrote and co-directed the film in addition to playing the leads. This was my first chance to interview feature film directors and was a real treat to discuss the film with them having already seen it. While I have my misgivings about the second half I was eager to discuss this with them (as writers) because I think the themes they were communicating were a new take and very important to them. This proved to be true and was very exciting to hear them talk about the choices they made and why and hopefully I bring that across in my published piece. Hearing them talk about their approach as directors with their own acting experience was inspiring too. Beyond that, these are two remarkably talented artists and funny women and I wish them the best in future endeavours. The chance to review the film which I enjoyed and interview the two thoughtful and hilarious people behind it was a real treat thanks to my work for Scenestr. You can check out the interview here http://scenestr.com.au/movies/the-breaker-upperers-madeleine-and-jackie-get-real-20180725
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises, Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Celebrating 25 years in 2018 of publishing history they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Perth, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane every month. This interview also featured in my hometown QLD August edition on page 41 which can be seen digitally here http://scenestr.com.au/read/QLD/2018/1107-QLD/scenestr-QLD-1107.html#p=41 The interview was also published in the NSW edition on page 28, SA edition on page 23 and a shorter version in the WA edition on page 27. If you’re into music they’re a great read but they do cover all of the arts including festivals, stand-up comics, fashion, theatre and film. I feel very fortunate to get to write for them.
Recently I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to go another critics screening again, the second time for Scenestr magazine and the first time at the Blue Room Cinebar. Located in a Western inner city suburb, it offers the premium experience of a bar and full menu delivered to you while you watch in the cinema. On the job, I felt a bit awkward about getting food but my wife was hungry and truth be told so was I and it was dinner time having just come from my other job. I split between my two desires, ordering food but avoiding stuff like pizza that would be hard to handle in the dark. Instead we got Three Stages Potato Trilogy which included garlic aioli, shoestring fries, steak fries and sweet potato fries. We also got the highly recommended Mighty Peking Duck spring rolls. I was pleased to see in the crowd of critics we were not the only ones to get food. Having never been there I must say it was a lovely experience going to the cinema.
The film I was there to review was from New Zealand and called The Breaker Upperers. Starring, written and directed by the New Zealand duo of Madeleine Sami and Jackie van Beek. They play Mel and Jen who play cons on people to help their partners break up with them. A great comedy that has slows down a little in its second half to explore some of the themes introduced earlier. You can read my review here http://scenestr.com.au/movies-and-tv/the-breaker-upperers-review-20180727
Produced by Eyeball Media Enterprises Scenestr is an online national magazine with local offices around Australia. Celebrating 25 years in 2018 of publishing history they’ve excelled at moving into the digital realm but they remain at heart from the streets. They still publish magazines in print for Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Queensland every month and expanded last month to print in Victoria too.
Last year for a brief period I did a series of posts about small parts in major films that stood out to me or changed the narrative of the film in addition to ones about star character actors. These posts have continued to garner views since I ceased posting new ones and last month one of them started “trending” according to WordPress. This was my post about John B. Destry’s appearance as the Zamboni Driver in the movie Happy Gilmore. I have plans for how to further develop what I started with these posts and seeing these stats gives me hope. Maybe I’ll have more news later but for now a few stats.
On 18JUN2017 the post was published and by month’s end accrued a healthy 28 views by the standards of this site. It was the fourth and final out of this monthly series of posts. By year’s end it had acquired 112 views with a monthly best of 31 views in December 2017. In the first month of this year it received a new monthly view of 64 views and broke that record with 97 views in February. Numbers varied but continued along this line throughout 2018, with this post and similar ones from last year often topping new content each month. A very encouraging sight to do further work in this field. Then on the 7th of July, 2018 there were 50 views alone. For the weeks of July there were 159 views (an increase of 736.84%), 264, 163 and 85. There were 703 views in July 2018. To give you an idea of the traffic increase, throughout 2018 the daily average for most months was 2 views and in July it shot up to a daily average of 22 views. The post is currently at 1,312 views.
You may ask sooooooo what? Unlike the Ray Kroc post there’s no interesting story here about being featured on a different platform by wordpress. The post got discovered a little bit, shot up in views, then most likely shot up on search engines and as a result shot up in views and is now diminishing. By the way the The Founder review is currently at 6,508 views. I have no idea what the stats are for my posts for online magazines but in terms of my site – getting over 1,000 views is significant and stats are a little interesting to me and some others so I felt like posting about it. At the end of the day I’m happy to get anybody to read my stuff and am proud of some of my posts that got only a small amount of love but it is fun when something like this happens.
After the film there was a Q&A with some cast, producers and director Kriv Stenders who also made the excellent closing night film of BIFF 2017 The Go-Betweens: Right Here which I later saw at Byron Bay. Kriv Stenders is one of the great modern directors of Australian cinema and the producers were local boys, of Hoodlum Productions, who had done good and were making their first feature film. Karen and I went to Libertines again afterwards for delicious crab sliders and other favourites where I noticed them celebrating with loved ones.
Back to the Drawing Board Productions 