JANUARY ROUND UP

Ahhh 2017, I expect grand things of you!!!

It started quiet but went fast.

J and I saw La La Land and had a lovely dinner at The Mattara prior. It was my second viewing and I was an enamoured the second time if not more.

I caught up with my sister K, and her gorgeous kids mid month for a look at the Wildlife photography at Newcastle Library and a yummy lunch at Coco Mondo. Afterwards I went for a walk around the beach.

I was at Coco Mondo later in the week to meet C for lunch and then we headed to the Art Gallery to see John Olsen and celebrate his birthday. What an amazing time that was, an eloquent man, jovial and intelligent. And that exhibit is also great.

The following day I took myself to see Nick Cave at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre. Despite being a fan, I had never seen Nick before, I was blown away, you can read all about it here.

I have an extra long weekend at the end of the month. This commenced with C and I taking the train from Wyong to Sydney to take part of The Nude exhibition after hours evening.

I rounded the month out but seeing Jackie and Lion and commencing Oscarwatch2017!

Work was busy but good, the heat though was unrelenting.

I mostly stayed in and watched tele and read as you can see by my January Reviews.

And here are some extra photos.

JANUARY REVIEWS

What I’ve Been Reading

 

Hotel on Place Vendome by Tilar J. Mazzeo – this was a great historical book about the Ritz Hotel in Paris, specifically during the war years. It covers the entire history, the people that habited there, the secrets, the scandals and so forth. Fascinating read.

 

Fight Like A Girl: 50 Feminists Who Changed the World by Laura Barcella – this was an interesting book listing all the amazing women who changed the world, from Rosa Parks to Whoopi Goldberg and everyone in between, a few pages per lady with a great potted history. Amazing!

 

Shrill by Lindy West – another fab book of feminist essays, this by Lindy West. They made me laugh and cry and think, a great collection and well worth reading.

 

Monet’s Private Picture Gallery at Giverny by Sylvie Patin -  a gorgeous coffee table book showing off the private collection of Monet. His own paintings and painting by others he had collected. Shown within his lovely home at Giverny.

 

Reckoning – Magda Szubanski- I read this last year and loved it, and when the talking book of it came through I had to give it another turn. Read by Magda herself, it really cemented the fact this is a super special memoir, and an amazing story. Listening to Magda read it was a pure and utter joy. I cried and laughed and didn’t want the experience to end.

 

What I’ve Been Watching

 

11.22.63 – was a wonderful short series based on a Stephen King novel about going back in time to stop the assassination of JFK. I loved this clever time travel story, and it took twists and turns you never expected. Of course when you change time, you must be careful and adhere to the rules to prevent the butterfly effect.

 

Better Call Saul S2 –   is as good, if not better than the first series. Saul is now back on his own and is still yet to be called Saul!

 

Castle S7 – I must admit this is becoming a little stale and I am glad there is only one series left

 

Modern Family S7 – this show never fails to make me smile. It’s fairly basic but it is a great ensemble cast that makes it work.

 

Mr Robot S1 – This takes a few episodes to get into. It’s pretty subversive but really clever. A hacker working for a subversive company gets the opportunity to sink them, but is it as obvious as it seems. Strange things are at play here.

 

New Girl S4 – This is a very simple show, but a sweet show about the adorable girl, Jess (Zooey Deschanel) living with a group of boys and their lives and loves. Nothing much really happens, but the characters are likeable and it’s easy to watch.

 

Billy Connolly Tracks Across America- is a railway journey across America with Comedian Connolly. He is starting to look very old and unwell as his Parkinsons takes hold and I found it difficult to watch at times.

 

Nina – an ok doco about Nina Simone. It felt a bit forced.

 

Rwanda and Juliet – an excellent doco about behind the scenes in putting on Romeo and Juliet in Rwanda with amateurs. It is beautiful and heart wrenching.

 

Where do we invade next – the latest doco by Michael Moore is about Moore exploring countries outside America who do things better, from health to schooling and so forth and tongue in cheek decides the US should invade these countries next.

 

Bright Lights – is my doco of the month. It’s the Carrie Fisher/Debbie Reynolds doco filmed before they died and showed just after. Watching it made me surprised Reynold only lasted 24 hours after her beloved daughter died, their bond was that strong. It charts their life, along with their family, but mostly their strong relationship, especially later in life. Amazing footage and interviews, this is truly something to see.

  

Anomalisa – is a Charlie Kaufman piece so you expect the unexpected and this delivers. Based on a radio play he wrote back in 2005, only three characters voice this animated feature. It is complicated to describe, though not to follow, and to tell you would be telling anyway. Basically it is a bored husband in a hotel at a conference where he is to give a talk, and he finds himself with some women who just adore his work. What’s a bored man to do...watch it and find out!

 

Florence Foster Jenkins is the true story of an Opera singer who cannot really sing. Yet due to a medical condition and his love for her, her husband indulges her and pays people to adore her performances. So much so she believes she is a superb singer. This works well, until she gets a gig at Carnegie Hall. Meryl Streep is great as Florence, and Hugh Grant really superb as her adoring husband. I have seen a French version of this about a year ago, and found it a far superior film, but this is still great. Funny and poignant, give it a go.

 

The Brave One is Jodie Foster as an unknown renegade in New York after a serious bashing leaves her partner dead and herself in a coma for weeks, close to death. The effect of the incident leaves her with a feeling of right and wrong in the big city and she takes it upon herself to ‘fix’ things as she sees it. An excellent thriller with a totally unexpected ending.

 

Man on the Moon – is an all time favourite film of mine. It is the story of comedian/actor Andy Kaufman, his rise to fame, his peculiarity, and his untimely death. Jim Carey is perfection as Kaufman, beautifully reconstructing some of Kaufman’s greatest moments. The supporting cast also great. Really worth seeing, if you have not.

 

What I Have Been Listening To

 

Joanne – Lady Gaga  - not bad, more melodic and showing of her actual voice which is great.

 

Young as the morning, old as the sea – Passenger – brilliant as always.

Keep me singing by Van Morrison – excellent new album by Van the Man.

Conversations with Richard Fidler – a great collection of his best podcasts on CD, including interviews with Jennifer Saunders, Stan Grant, and other interesting people.

At last the Etta James story with Vika Bull is the stunningly talented Vika Bull delivering her favourite Etta James songs.

Skeleton Tree – Nick Cave   is wonderful and dark and yet somehow uplifting. No surprises here, it is Cave at his best. Standout tracks the title track and Distant Sky, a wonderful duet with Danish Soprano  Else Torp.

Ride the lightning – Metallica one of their best releases in a while, kick arse and rockin’.

HIDDEN FIGURES

Hidden Figures is the feel good film of the Oscar season. It's part of my #Oscarwatch2017 and whilst I cannot see it winning any Oscars, it is certainly winning the hearts of a lot of people.

It is the story of three NASA technicians or computers as they are called. They are women of 'colour' and super smart and super sassy. 

Whilst a true story, apparently a bit of liberty was taken with the time line, to bring the three characters together more than the reality and a little bit closer to the actual orbit of Glenn.

They each have their own area of expertise, but all are of exceptional intelligence, especially Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), whose genius mathematical brain got her moved to the section that worked on John Glenn's trajectory in his first space orbit. The only woman on the team, she caused quite a fuss until they saw her mind in action.

Katherine is also a single mother of three, you just see her breaking every barrier there is at the time, not easily of course, but it was amazing to see.

Octavia Spencer is Dorothy, who is supervising a large group of women, hidden is a separate area for blacks. Constantly hassling her own supervisor (an uptight Kirsten Dunst) about being paid and actually classified as a supervisor. She also takes it upon herself to learn computers, as in 1961 they were starting to impact on her work. Remarkable stuff!

Janelle Monae is Mary, a would be engineer, who eventually becomes the first African American to gain such credentials. 

The story also follows John Glenn in his race to orbit the earth.

Hidden Figures is a film about space travel, intellectual minds in that very early stage of computers, and of course, race. The racism is subtle, but probably more likely the basic everyday racism people suffered in the workplace. Not the violent full on racism you often see in film. And this subtle racism, really packs a punch.

A well made film, with a great uplifting feel to it, without being saccharine or too sugary.

MOONLIGHT

Moonlight is a lovely little indie film.

It follows the young life of Little or Chiron, played by three different actors as the character ages. It's a coming of age story, with a few twists...or are they...is his life predestined or his choice.

The movie is divided into three sections, following each area of Chiron's life.

Firstly as a young boy, constantly picked on by others at school, a druggie mother, the poor kid doesn't seem like he has a chance until he chances upon Juan, a smooth but kind drug dealer.

Juan takes the boy under his wing, looks after him and lets him stay at his place with his girlfriend Teresa.

And with that you can see hope in young Chiron's eye.

The second section, is a high school Chiron. Still getting beat up, still not quite making it in life. He is also exploring his sexuality. Much happens in this section, and I won't spoil things, but this is so beautifully written and acted.

The final section, Chiron is grown up and making his way in the world.

There is a lot of sadness and upset in Moonlight, but incredible hope also.

A lot of people are calling this the film of the year and one they cannot stop thinking about. I wouldn't go that far, but it was impressive.

The actors were great, the soundtrack perfect, and the cinematography a mix of gritty and luminous.

ARRIVAL

Continuing Oscar Watch I saw Arrival at the weekend.  I missed it on the regular cinemas when it came out and was lucky The Regal had a screening for me to attend.  I didn't have a lot of expectations going in. I knew it was Sci-Fi/alien invasion and I knew it was Amy Adams. So that was enough for me.  A colleague who is also a film buff had said it was his film of the year. Mine was La La Land and nothing could top that so didn't give much thought to his comments.  You can't really compare Arrival and La La Land but oh boy Arrival is very very good.  Possibly better.  It had such an effect on me I'm still thinking about it days later. It was one of the most profound and moving films I've seen in a long time.  And here's the thing...it's really hard to write about this film without giving too much away.  And I don't want to give too much away. The film commences with a series of events in the life of Louise Banks (Amy Adams).  You then see her as a linguistics professor at a college on the day of the arrival. Her class is disrupted by the event.  The event is the arrival of 12 monolithic space ships in 12 different countries over the world.  She is soon contacted by authorities to help make sense of what the aliens are trying to communicate. You hear their 'voice' on a recording. She says she won't work with a recording but in person, and after some back and forth she arrives at the closest base camp to one of the ships. This film is so intricately and beautifully directed by Denis Villeneuve (Incendies, Sicario). It's a pure piece of art. Sleek, astonishing sound, amazing cinematography. And the pace is perfect. There is no disappointing early reveals of aliens etc.  You get to see the ship when Amy does and you get to see the alien (well sort of) when Amy does. The ship is a gigantic oval monolith hovering just above the earth. Every so often it opens underneath to let the teams in to meet with the aliens.  It's atmospheric inside and they take a bird in a cage to gauge the atmosphere.  The alien reveal is perfect, not too soon and not too late and initially part thereof. But with each meeting you see more and more of the aliens.  And this is where the film turns regular scifi on its head and where I'll be a little vague. Cause you really have to/want to see this!!! The story takes you to heights this kind of story rarely takes you. There is a lot of confusion interpreting the aliens, but not from Amy. She's solid and steadfastly true to these beasts as she begins to understand their mission.  Their mission is stunning and powerful and utterly heart wrenching. I was so moved by this section of the film I was in tears until it's end.  There are layers of clever revealed at this time that I also won't go into.  Don't try and overthink this film, it is very simple to follow on a basic level.  There are thing that will blow or bend your mind. And you'll be thinking for a long time about that. I still am. These are the clever layers and that's great. But ultimately this is a simple premise. Adams is well supported by Jeremy Renner and Forest Whittaker. But this is her show. She subtly and beautifully owns the film and was robbed of a best actress nomination.  Arrival won't win a lot of Oscars and that's a crying shame. The academy doesn't seem to do scifi. It may win some sound and special effects awards.  It's a film that is political and very much of our time. The unnecessary hostility with such some of us treat others different to us is it's theme. And it's clever and has heart. This is a film that can safely lie with 2001 and Close encounters.

FENCES

Fences is taken from the Pulitzer prize winning play of the same name by August Wilson.

It tells the story of long time married couple Troy and Rose Maxson (Denzel Washington and Viola Davis reprising their Broadway roles) in 1950s Pittsbourgh, and their immediate family.

Troy has a son with Rose, Cory, who he is very tough on, and another older son from a previous relationship, Lyons.

Troy has a chequered past, being jailed for murder, but also being a talented baseball player. In his later life he is working in sanitation with his mate Bono.

Rose is aware of Troy's flaws but loves him all the same. Rounding out the cast is Troy's brother Gabriel (Mykelti Williamson) who has mental health issues after a head injury.

The play follows their struggles and the fact Troy has some serious issues himself that prevent the family from complete happiness. Things take a rough turn mid film as a secret is revealed and the already struggling family makes a life changing decision.

This is a serious drama about families, secrets, mistakes, love, hate, and retribution. It is filmed well despite coming from a play. All the action takes place in the family home, it's backyard, and surrounding streets.

The cast is superb, every single one of them. However Davis and Washington shine. Washington is stunning as the mean spirited and broken Troy, and Davis steals almost every scene she is in, with her humanity and heart break.

This is not a completely bleak film, there are moments of laughter, and promise, and hope.

Directed by Washington, this is a stunning film. Beautifully filmed against a suburban background, he plays with the natural light and this showcases the performances and scenes well.

I'm unsure about Denzel, but I am certain Davis will walk away with an Oscar for her superb performance in Fences.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

Continuing Oscar Watch 2017, I headed in to see Manchester by the Sea. To be honest, I didn't know a lot about this film prior to going in and I suggest you do the same. So I'm going to try and review the film without giving too much away.

Firstly it IS a long film, 137 minutes, but it never feels long.

Secondly, the film is directed by Kenneth Lonergan. This is the third film he has directed after the superb You Can Count On Me and the very good Margaret. Both of these films have extraordinary performances and Manchester by the Sea is no different.

It is the story of Lee Chandler (played beautifully by Casey Affleck), who is called in as guardian to his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges) when his beloved brother Joe (Kyle Chandler) finally succumbs to a congenital heart problem.

Lee is a bit of a miserable dude, a loner, a bit grumpy. In a series of early flashbacks you see a younger, happier Lee on a boat with his brother and young nephew. The love between them all is obvious.

And this is when you realise (or at least when I realised) that there are two stories happening here.

The supposed main story of Lee and Patrick (now 16) coming to terms with each other, despite a loving relationship. And what has happened to Lee in between these earlier boat flashbacks and the now. 

These flashbacks take up the crux of the story and indeed inform the entire film. I won't say any more about the flashbacks, but Lonergan is supreme in getting the most stunning performance from Affleck, who I admit I've never been a fan of.

Every performance is wonderful, especially Michelle Williams as Lee's ex wife and Gretchen Mol as Joe's ex wife. It is a great cast with great acting all round.

The film is shot tenderly, in the bitter winter with harsh grey tones, the water, the snow, and a great soundtrack. All of this adds to the drama. And yet whilst this IS a drama, devastatingly so, there is humour and humanity. The relationship between Lee and Patrick is outstanding to watch. What a great young actor Lucas Hedges is, he reminded me of a young Matt Damon (who was a producer on the film incidentally) 

Manchester by the Sea is a must see of the Oscar season, how it will wash up on the day I have no idea, it's a wait and see thing.

I headed back down to see The Nude Exhibition at NSW Art Gallery.

 

Yes, it was a good exhibit, but my bestie had not seen it AND our friend Anita Heiss was performing as part of the Wednesday After Hours sessions.

 

I finished work at lunch, collected Cathy and we caught the train from Wyong.

 

Once we landed at the gallery, we had a little chill and afternoon tea. I declared the adventure would be hashtagged #CathyandCathygonude

 

And then we saw the exhibition. This time we were allowed to take photos, unsure why we were not last time, but boy, I made the most of it.

 

The whole exhibit is superb, and having seen it once I knew which pieces I wanted to spend more time with.

 

And boy, there are some amazing pieces.

This sculpture is divine from every angle

It was difficult to capture this little nymph

This bath scene was my favourite

Matisse

and the Picasso, I love this so very much

Bonnard's Bums

This Montmartre piece captured my imagination..and Anita's too!!

I love this chick, what is she thinking!?!

This looked positively ancient, but it was not

Another Picasso

Henry Moore from behind

This sculpture was glittery and golden, doesn't show up in the pic

Cathy and Modigliani 

 

Whilst spending time with one surreal piece, we both noticed this very glamorous elderly lady. Dressed in black with a hat and all the accessories. She asked Cathy to take her photo with the piece and struck a pose not unlike a retired model. Off she went, we both smiled and I declared I wanted to be her when I grew up.

The piece had a hidden monkey in it, I was tired of looking for it, but not Cathy. So I moved on and left her there and I headed for the Rodin.

 

The first time I was at the gallery, I had no idea this piece, The Kiss, was featured. Nor did I realise how enormous the sculpture was. I love Rodin and the art he made. And this is one of his best. It is in its own specially lit room. I remember walking past with my eye on another painting, and caught it out the corner of my eye. My whole body froze, every hair stood on end, and chills went through my body. This piece is something else.

 

I spent a long time looking at it, remarkable and stunning.

 

This time I could photograph it from every angle and sat for a long time looking at it.

Because it was later in the afternoon there were less people there, which made the experience more intimate.

 

I sat outside the little area, still spellbound by The Kiss, and still waiting for Cathy when the elderly lady stood next to me and pronounced I must really love that piece!

I responded, ‘how can you not’, and she agreed, and we chatted about the exhibit and such. She was very refined and fun and lovely and told us, as Cathy had finally re-joined me, she had just had surgery. She didn’t say for what. She was incredibly thin. I told her I loved her style, and she said it was all op shop. We chatted a bit more and off she went with a flourish.

 

As an introvert, it is rare for me to chat to unknowns, but occasionally I am drawn to the right kind of person, and that day was one of them. What a lovely added experience to a lovely afternoon.

 

We continued our way around the exhibit and left feeling full and satisfied.

Above a trio of Louise Bourgeois

Modern take on Nude

Ron Mueck's sculpture follows you around the exhibit!

 

Oh and yes, Cathy found the monkey, hiding the shadows, the little imp!

Next up we had a little browse at the regular collection.

Taking this new (to me) bronze, I also captured a range of different art

Sculptures and paintings

Yes!!!! Joy!!!!

And TWO new Picassos!!!

Me and Brett Whiteley

My and my favourite Grace Cossington Smith (The Reader) and my Frida brooch

 

After we did a turn at the Gallery shop ( I want one of every book in there) and then claimed good seats and waited for Anita.

 

As part of the month, authors were asked to write some fiction inspired by the exhibit.

 

Anita was fabulous and funny...as you would expect. She choose 6 or so pieces and wrote from the perspective of the model in the pictures, calling her words, “Does my bum look big in this?”

The talk was seriously about body image and so very clever, and also so very funny. She had the audience in the palm of her hands, as they squealed in delight at her every word. I wish I could reproduce some of the words and the humour, but I would do her no credit.

 

While Anita did a book signing, Cathy and I had dinner. And then we caught up with Anita and some of her friends over wine and cheese, enjoying great conversation and many laughs until it was time for us to leave.

 

I cannot begin to explain how wonderful days like this are. They fill my soul and heart with interest and joy.