Archive for January 2014

12 Years A Slave


Ok I know most people in the Northern Hemisphere have seen it already and it's been featured heaps in most major film critic sites so nobody really needs my review. But anyway just a few words.

Saw this last week (15th Jan) at Dendy's special preview screening at Circular Quay (sorry for being so terribly late, have been busy, and lazy as always) and it was fantastic.

To be quite honest with you the directing was not really of my favourite style, but since it was kind of a biopic I think it did a pretty good job, as in dramatising and tailoring the story. The plot was clearly not of the creative and original type, per se, as it was based on the self-bio of the protagonist so there wasn't much room for making up a out-of-the-world intriguing plot. So yeah, if you find drama boring you can be well assured better off to look for another film that fills the time slot when you hit the cinema. However if you don't specifically hate this type of film I do strongly recommend this to you. It really does worth it.

The actors' performances were of course wonderful, there's nothing too much to say about it except that. Though I don't really think it was the kind of film can really showcases the actors, as it surely forces most focus on the story itself (and my bad again, since I saw it more than a week ago it's getting pretty faint in my head, apologies, I will try to update asap next time)

It's not a film that I would go mad about, but it was indeed a very fine piece that deserves recognition (and it did, which I'm glad about).

As for the theme, racism that is, I'm not quite sure how well it can do in tackling modern days racist issues but it's always nice to have productions that can somehow put in some positive thinkings to this messed-up problem.

12 Years A Slave will be in cinema from 30th Jan 2014 in Australia. (Though it seems like some cinemas have advanced screenings this couple of days)


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On The Shore Of The Wide World - Preview show

That butt crack
Website for more info >>

I was very fortunate to win a double pass to the preview show of On The Shore Of The Wide World last night, presented by pantsguys and Griffin Theatre Company.

To be very honest I was not expecting too much, never been to any of Griffin's plays before and so I just thought it might be interesting, since I love everything indie because of my hipster heart.

I was really impressed. First I love the theatre, as I've said I've never been there before but the theatre was really small, comparable to an average high school classroom. Such limited space gave the audience a more 'personal' experience at the show. I was sitting in the second row, which means sometimes I could literally touch the actors if I reached out my hands and it instantly makes the whole play completely different. I could clearly see the facial expressions of the actors, instead of seeing some moving figures on stage, it felt like we were much closer to the characters, as if they were someone we know and we were the actual witness of the story, we became a part of it. And that definitely is an advantage for a realistic production on lives of the ordinaries. I reckon it wouldn't work as fine if was about some epic medival knights and swordfights, but the theatre worked brilliantly in favour for this play.

Then the actual play itself. My friend and I were glad that it was not a simple coming-to-age play as the synopsis suggested on the website. While Alex was a very important part of the story he was not the only focus. The stories around the parents and grandparents were not any less intriguing. I shall not go on so I won't carelessly put in any spoiler here but I do think it's got a quite fine approach to the theme - regret, which one can see through all three generations, all in different contexts and degrees and it did explore how regrets haunt their lives. It may fade as time passes but it will never be gone, it will still lie in your heart and occasionally come up from the depth with the same bitterness.

And I was seriously amazed by the performance of the actors. I can only imagine that it'd be even harder to perform in such an almost interactive 'stage' so close to the audience and not affected by our presence, except in the last scene there was a slight error, in unfolding the picnic table (i mean it's their first show c'mon) and the whole audience laughed so hard, but even then the actors handled it quite smoothly that I almost thought it was intentional. On the other hand, because of the stage, it may make the variance of the performance more visible to the audience, I assume, remember I just ASSUME, because it is a quite intense program schedule and the play did require heaps of emotions from the actors. My friend may bring her fam to see it again so maybe I'll ask her about it later in the month.

Anyway, it was a very nice play and I'd totally recommend it to my friends. 


Details:

PERFORMANCE DATES
Previews 8 and 9 January
Season 11 January – 1 February 2014

PERFORMANCE TIMES
Monday – Saturday 7pm
Saturday 1 February 2pm and 7pm

RUNNING TIME
 Approximately 2 hours and 55 minutes including interval.

VENUE
SBW Stables Theatre
10 Nimrod Street
Kings Cross NSW 2011

TICKET PRICES
  Adult                                                           $35
  Concession, Senior, Preview, Groups 8+  $28
  Under 30                                                   $28

For more info and synopsis check the website here

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