Blog — Page 226 of 275

American Essentials

Sydney, AU

09 May – 24 May 2017

Founded in 2016 as a way to fill select Aussie cinemas with the kind of US titles that don't usually make it to down under, the touring American Essentials festival returns for its second run with a lineup of noteworthy inclusions — 31 films and 20 Aussie premieres.

American Essentials’ mission statement is that there is more to going to the movies than just seeing the flicks that fill megaplexes, as Australia's thriving film festival scene demonstrates. 

Running the gamut in terms of showcasing genres of all variations, American Essentials covers all bases, with a focus on emerging talent while paying homage and respect to the trademark storytelling and its tradition that has become idiosyncrativ for US cinema.

Fresh from earning a nod for best original screenplay at this year's Academy Awards — and garnering lead actress Annette Bening a Golden Globe nomination, too — 20th Century Women got the festival started, marking writer/director Mike Mills' first movie since 2010's Beginners. Bening stars as a mother coping with the fact her son is growing up, and calling in pals played by Gerwig and Elle Fanning to help. As promised, Gerwig also features in Todd Solondz's Wiener-Dog, which comes to the fest after having its Australian premiere at last year's Sydney Underground Film Festival.

Also on the bill, and impeccably timed given that the third season of Twin Peaks starts airing during May, is the doco David Lynch: The Art Life, while docudrama Becoming Bond keeps the factual fun going by delving into the Aussie that once played oo7. 

American Pastoral is Ewan McGregor's first stint as a director; California Dreams explores the real folks trying to make it in LA, La La Land-style; G-Funk dives into the style of hip hop started by Warren G, Snoop Dogg and Nate Dogg; and 2016 Cannes hit The Transformation follows a 14-year-old who thinks he's a vampire.

As well as highlighting new flicks, with Are We Not Cats' magical realism and Detour's crime thrills also on offer, American Essentials shines a spotlight on classic titles in its Masters & Masterpieces retrospective. That's where audiences can watch Lynch's inimitable debut Eraserhead for its 4oth anniversary, as well as his 2001 Mulholland Drive — plus the Carrie Fisher-written Postcards on the Edge; Andy Warhol's Bad, which is the last film the artist produced before his death; and a Charles Bukowski double of doco You Never Had It: An Evening with Bukowski alongside the semi-autobiographical, Mickey Rourke-starring 1987 favourite Barfly.

American Essentials showcases new narrative features, feature documentaries, and short works; retrospectives on crafts-people from behind and in front of the camera; guests from key US-based international film festivals; independent filmmaker guests; talks and master classes; and special event screenings and manages to not only provide audiences with a snapshot of current creative directions in the U.S., but also explores their great traditions and impact on international cinema movements.

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Photos by KAVV

Entombed AD

Manning Bar

Sydney, AU

May 10, 2017

One would need more than one flipchart to scratch the surface of how influential Entombed have been throughout the nearly three decades of their existence.

Emerged under the moniker Nihilist in the mid-80ies and coining what eventually  became trademark Scandinavian death metal,  their unique Clandestine album became  an instant and timeless classic that has never lost an iota of relevance.

However, by the early 1990s their sound branched out and opened up to included garage rock and other influences.

This new mélange of hard rock, heavy metal and death metal would eventually be described as “death’n’roll”.

What followed were the kingpins of heavy music taking pages out of Entombed’s book and sourcing more than mere subtle influences to enrich their musical emissions.

2014 saw a name change and a continuation of their path with the adage “AD”.

In a live environment, Entombed AD is everything you would hope for and more: Charismatic, engaging Swedes unleashing the fury like the well-oiled machine they are, delivering a variety of old, tested and tried classics along with new emissions of their varied discography and artfully switching between bludgeoning and brutal yet groovy onslaughts, blast beats and virtuoso, thrashing riffing, effortlessly walking the chasm between death metal, punkish and rocking elements and pretty much all of the other ingredients that make heavy music worthwhile.

The legacy of Entombed looms large despite internal strife, yet the 2017 Entombed AD incarnation sounds as ferocious and savage as you would hope them to be

It was good to see them in the third dimension proving that they have lost none of their relevance.

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Photos by KAVV

Snakehips

Metro Theatre

Sydney, AU

May 8, 2017

The London-based electronic chill duo Snakehips with their hypnotic, trap-inflected songs that are reminiscent of Odesza, Kelala and Cashmere Cat are the incarnation of the post-party cool-down with a jazzy flow and their funky sound mixed with hip hop beats clearly indicated that the night is not over yet.

For not being an actual band in the traditional sense, the stage presence and crowd interaction is not dissimilar to a rock show, with the visuals projected as a backdrop enhancing the setting with its animations and blue and white lights flickering to the extent that might be conducive to elicit epileptic attacks.

Their set was based on a solid foundation of a blend of tested and tried pop and R&B tracks running the gamut from smooth to funky and back.

The audience was completely captured by the thudding basslines, the smooth, down-tempo reworking of rap, swirling synths and had a good time dancing along.

A fun, dance worthy, highly energetic show the concept of which follows the distinct Snakehips narrative and attracted a sizeable crowd on a school night.

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Photos by KAVV

Botanica

Royal Botanic Gardens

Sydney, AU

May 06 – 28, 2017

Botanica 2017, focused on the nexus between the disciplines of art and science, is Australia’s premier annual botanical art exhibition promoting and protecting Australia’s rich diversity of plant life, features works by some of its leading botanical and natural science artists.

In this bicentenary year of the Garden, Botanica explores the theme of Farm Cove, the original farm of the first settlement that was established on the current site of the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.

Botanica explores the complex and remarkable relationship the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney has with its plants. The annual showcase, now in its 17th year, features work by some of the best Australian and international established and emerging botanic and natural history artists and is considered one of the foremost exhibitions of its kind.

2017's Botanica theme draws its inspiration from the multiple ways we need, love and should appreciate plants - medicines, oxygen, poisons, fragrances, in celebrations and more.

Curator Judy Dunstan says the 2017 exhibition comprised more than 200 original paintings representing the work of artists from across Australia and beyond: “Works were selected on the basis that they are scientifically correct in both form and colour, and artistically pleasing and balanced to the eye,” said Ms Dunstan.

“It is the perfect opportunity to acquire works by talented emerging artists as well as those by artists with well-established national and international reputations,” added Ms Dunstan.  

Botanica is a beautiful exhibition and encourages the sale of all its artworks. Proceeds go to the artists and to help Foundation and Friends of the Botanic Gardens continue to support horticulture, conservation, scientific research and education programs within the Botanic Gardens.

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Photos by KAVV

Opening times and more details can be found under:

https://www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/whatson/Botanica-in-Sickness-and-in-Health

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Manning Bar

Sydney, AU

May 6, 2017

After their last tour in 2014, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus returned to the land down under for a headline tour that resembles a victory lap to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of their debut album Don’t you fake it in its entirety along with other ditties.

It would be an understatement to say that your humble narrator cannot claim to have ever been overly familiar with Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, but the line-up looked intensely diverse both in terms of aesthetics as well as age-wise as they were covering a broad age bracket, with some current members looking like they might have not even been teenagers when Don’t you fake it saw the light of day for the first time.

Musically, the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus is based on a foundation comprised of alternative rock with pop punk peppered in and served with occasional screamo interludes.

In other words, even though it is not easy to decipher what exactly they are going for, the influence of more refined acts like Jimmy Eat World and The Used is omnipresent in their oeuvre.

The standout songs of the band with the exotic name – both of the evening and the not exactly cohesive album Don’t You Fake It - are Face Down, an anti-domestic violence song, and Guardian Angel, which were enthusiastically eaten up and celebrated by the predominantly young and willing audience that granted Manning Bar a sold out night and radiated appreciation for the band’s Christian beliefs that inform the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus’ message of hope.

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Photos by KAVV