The Black Balloon
I don’t know what’s going on with me. My two favourite films of the last six months are about a bloke who can only move one eye and a suburban Australian family with an autistic son. I used to like action. These were not two films I was desperate to see and it proves that it’s not the story or number of explosions that makes a great film, but how it’s told. The Black Balloon succeeds where so many Australian films have failed as it is insightful and emotional without being clichéd. It does not shy away from the more confronting issues of mental illness and features some truly uncomfortable scenes handled with an honesty that makes them unforgettable. The characters themselves are also unrelentingly human, struggling in an extraordinarily difficult situation. And while they make mistakes, their good nature shines through. The suburban Australian town and its inhabitants are also lovingly shot, without the condescending eye common to similar films.
Tagged: Australian movies
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Australia has been criticized for only doing two types of films well: the quirky comedy such as Strictly Ballroom, Priscilla or Crocodile Dundee, and the hardened drama that centres around crime such as Two Hands, Noise and Lantana. Animal Kingdom firmly sits in the second category and while lacking the humour of those mentioned, it makes up for it with some shockingly bleak scenes. Read more
Samson and Delilah, an Australian movie
This is not an enjoyable film, but it is excellent. Immediately after watching Samson and Delilah, I thought it was awful. Exactly because I thought it was awful, a week later I’m convinced it’s brilliant. There are many different types of films. Some are immensely entertaining, but immediately forgettable. Like Avatar. Others stick with you, no matter how much you wish they wouldn’t, because they show you a truth about the world that you wish wasn’t so spot on. Samson and Delilah is based around the real-life experiences of director Warwick Thornton and present a part of Australia that most people, myself included, suspected existed, but really wish it didn’t. Now, what the hell do we do about it?
Balibo: Australian documentary about East Timor
For a small country so close to Australia, so many of us know way too little about East Timor. Balibo makes it clear that the small nation was invaded by the Indonesians over thirty years ago, while Australia let it happen. This well paced, passionately acted portrayal of the events centres around the death of five young Australian journalists. Experienced Australian journalist Roger East tries to find out what happened to them, with the help of Jose Ramos Horta, who is still a pertinent figure in East Timorese politics. Anthony Lapaglia gives a spirited performance as East, who at one point comments, “Thousand of little brown people die; nobody back home (in Australia) is going to care. But five Australian journalists are killed and that’s front page news.” Which helps explain why their deaths were kept covered up for three decades. [read about more Australian pop culture at The Colour]
Also by XAVIER TOBY
Australian movie A Few Best Men
With all the gross out jokes and silliness of the common comedy romp, you’d think making them would be easy. Well, it’s not. It’s actually really difficult. Writing a joke is one of the hardest tasks anyone can undertake. Read more
Melancholia: a film by Lars von Trier
I wish there were a lot more of the types of films made by Lars von Trier. Each is very different but still distinctly von Trier, and each is superb. Melancholia is the follow up to the wonderfully confronting Antichrist. This is all about the end of the world, and told with an honesty and pacing that is probably much closer to the actual end of the world than all the Hollywood crap would have you believe. Read more
We Need To Talk About Kevin: based on Lionel Shriver’s novel
A delightful uncomfortable film, told from the point of view of a broken woman. Kevin’s just not right, and that’s obvious from the outset as mother Eva battles to bring him up in a world where the onus is put squarely back on the mother. The intensity is poured on throughout, as tragedy seems imminent. Read more
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New York-based photographer Michael Lavine took the iconic photo of Kurt and Courtney for the cover of Sassy magazine back in the early 1990s. We asked him to recount the story behind the shoot: ‘We shot the photos at my Bleeker St loft on the Bowery. I remember that my friends Andrea Linett and Janet Billig were there. I remember the ridiculous twelve foot silk lighting setup I used. I remember people having to go out and score dope. I remember Kurt telling me that the reason that he loved Courtney so much was that she was the only girl he knew that would stand up at a party and smash a glass table to bits just for the hell of it. I remember thinking that was a pretty odd reason to love someone’. There’s an extensive interview with Michael Lavine on the Feature Shoot website.
Dutch designer Sam van Veluw’s P-Tree is a pretty awesome alternative to standard port-o-potties. On top of that, it allows men to tap fulfill the primal urge to pee on trees without any of the mess. Too bad there’s no female version.
Having originally sprung from the Shaky Isles (otherwise known as New Zealand), I can appreciate the humour in the New Zealand cartoon series, Bro Town, the first homegrown animated series to screen during local prime time. It’s simply brilliant, a real play on the ‘thuck’ accent and small town ways of our Kiwi brethren.
Monet and The Impressionists is on display at Sydney’s Art Gallery of New South Wales until January 26, 2009. Alive with bold brushstrokes and dappled colours, the exhibit features 58 masterpieces by Cezanne, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Pissarro and Monet himself, among many others that have never been shown in Australia. It was amazing to view some of the finest quality works that revolutionised modern painting and the way natural light is portrayed on canvas. Go Monetise yourself and see Rough Weather, and all those serial haystack paintings.
LA’s premier art and design magzine, Arkitip, has gone all out with the ‘free’ giveaway for issue no. 0045 and has included a 9″ x 12″ Evan Hecox 2-color silk screen print signed by the artist! Read more
Wolf and Cub are back with a brand new single and after listening to it, I feel like I should be out in the streets, warning my neighbours of the apocalypse. The song is huge, forceful, damming and painfully exciting. Joel Byrne’s half-drawl, half-howl proclaims the end, while (in true Wolf and Cub) the drums are epic and unsettling. And then, that moment, the bass against the fading echoes. My heart broke and my brain exploded. It’s too much to take. This band will be the death of me.
The current economic crisis has got us missing our frivolous spending past. But we need to be strong and resist fashionable purchases, right? Wrong. We’ve just got to get a little more creative with our rationalisation. And that’s why we don’t just want a hand-made one of a kind silk scarf from label Trust Fun. We actually need it. Started by Sydney-based graphic designer, Jonathan Zawada, this label’s signature scarves support our justify-it-to-buy-it philosophy with their multi-purpose versatility. Soft sheer silk in amazing one-off colour combinations just don’t go out of style, and with more uses than we can list, they’re one piece you can validate. It’s the rescue purchase we’ve been waiting for.
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Cookie Boy’s creative cookie designs
I don’t eat cookies, so good thing Cookie Boy’s cookies are little pieces of art too pretty and cute to eat. Read more
Never ever, ever, ever, ever park here
Some friendly advice for the neighbours, who simply don’t get it, or street art? You decide which one it is.
Get lost in a daydream or a craving for something sweet while gazing at these cool sculptures by Brooklyn-based WiNK WiNK PONY. Made using clay, tree bark, wood, and mossy moss.
Matthew Dear’s Black City album totem
Our friends at Ghostly International are releasing Matthew Dear’s Black City album as a limited edition ‘totem’. A what? A totem – a limited edition metal bar used to access a private music chamber. Cool! Read more
It’s refreshing to see artists like Joe Kievitt who are contented to explore the beauty in simple forms and asymmetrical patterns. Read more
Illustrator, sculptor, and mixed media artist Joseph Franz creates stunning and unexpected pieces centered on personal nostalgia and animals. His work is ever-changing, but the wildlife and reminiscent narrative seem to be ever-present. Read more
If you have a Twitter feed that focuses on cool pop cultural things and you’d like to swap Tweets with Lost At E Minor and other like-minded Twitterers, drop us a note (with Tweet Swap in the title). We have a system in place and we’d like to have you in on it! [illustration by Brad Fitzpatrick]
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