Author Archives: lisathatcher

September 21

Birth – Jonathan Glazer and the concept of eternal love. (Film Review)

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Jonathan Glazer is best known for his music film clips, including work with artists like Nick Cave, Radiohead, Massive Attack and The Dead Weather to name a few. His third film, Under the Skin has been making the festival rounds this year and its one on my “must see” list for when I get the […]

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September 19

Fred and Ginger – Marquez Laundry Theatre Company and the soaring of the human spirit. (Sydney Fringe F Theatre Review)

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As often happens, true genius is way ahead of its time.  When that genius applies to art, the artist becomes a kind of prophet in the wilderness, a fortune teller if you like, who can see with great clarity what it takes the rest of the world years to come to. Diane Arbus is emerging […]

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September 18

I’m So Excited – Pedro Almodóvar and his joyous message to the people of Spain. (Film Review)

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I read somewhere (I really wish I could remember where) that BDSM increased dramatically in Australia when we had a right-wing government. It’s been six years, and we have now re-elected an even more conservative version of that right-wing government, moving Australia into the more extreme version of all that “right-wing” embodies these days, which […]

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September 17

Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen and Cate Blanchett make ugly lovely. (Film Review)

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Make no mistake, I like Woody Allen films – but that’s a little like saying “I’m not racist, some of my best friends are black” because it can seem like an apologist statement on its own. One of my favorite films is Husbands and Wives, even with the rabid stealing from Bergman’s Scenes from a […]

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September 16

Equus – Michael Campbell and Nomadic Artists bring a soaring passion to the stage. (Sydney FF Theatre Review)

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There is something delightful about a banned play being produced for the public, and being performed in front of school children. It gives one the feeling of being Winston Smith, brazenly reading The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism by candlelight under the giant solitary eye of Big Brother. Equus is such a play. To […]

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September 16

Pizzica Indiavolata – Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino and the cure for what ails you. (Music Review)

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I’ve been getting into Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino recently, a folk band from Italy, right down the bottom in the Puglia region, the part that forms the heel of the boot.  The region has a history of Hellenistic influence, and you can hear the Greek ancestry in Pizzica Indiavolata, as well as in their earlier albums. […]

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September 16

The Testament of Mary – Colm Tóibín and the reimagining of our culture. (Book Review)

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They think I do not understand what is slowly growing in the world; they think I do not see the point of their questions and do not notice the cruel shadow that comes hooded in their faces or hidden in their voices when I say something pointless or foolish, something which leads us no where.  […]

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September 15

Lady Nerd – Keira Daley and female nerds through time. (Sydney Fringe Festival Cabaret Review)

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The enormously talented Keira Daley and her super-support dude Mark Chamberlain have a new show at the Sydney Fringe this week called Keira Daley v’s the 90’s which promises to be as witty as her Lady Nerd show.  I’m reviewing it later this week, but by way of warm up for this show, in a […]

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September 14

A Sign of the Times – Steve Helper and the moment before we act. (Theatre Review)

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The final crushing moments in Waiting for Godot are: VLADIMIR: Well? Shall we go? ESTRAGON: Yes, let’s go. They do not move. If emotional and intellectual paralysis is the great theme of modern literature, Steve Helper is suggesting they are the great theme of modern life. The great catch cry of our “Man” in Steve […]

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September 13

Elysium – Neill Blomkamp with a strong point well made. (Film Review)

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I wasn’t going to see Elysium until I’d seen District 9, which reportedly is the far superior film, and looks it from the trailer. But my viewing got all screwed up recently and I found myself at the movies with a ticket and Elysium the only film on the bill I hadn’t seen. And so […]

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