Tár & Babylon
Friday, January 27th, 2023 Film Reviews,
Last week I thought Michelle Williams was unbeatable for Best Actress at this year's Oscars, but after watching Tár, it's hard to see Cate Blanchett coming second. Todd Field's film about a musical genius who falls for the seductions of fame and power, is a classic Faustian tale. Blanchett's Lydia Tár doesn't exactly sell her […]
Richard Mosse: Broken Spectre
Tuesday, October 18th, 2022 Sydney Morning Herald Column,
It may seem remarkable that anyone would view their short-term profits as more important than the survival of humankind, but this is the simple reason we're losing the battle against Global Warming. The complex reason is slightly trickier. In the words of British philosopher, Timothy Morton, the warming of the planet is a "hyperobject" – […]
Monday, May 23rd, 2022 Newsletter,
I confess I've left this newsletter till the day after the election as I didn't want to miss the moment when Scummo was turfed out of the Lodge. To complicate matters still further, I've finally managed to contract COVID-19 and am holed up in a hotel room in Cairns for a week. I was on […]
The Archibald Prize 2022: Blak Douglas is the winner
Saturday, May 14th, 2022 Blog,
Politics is never far away from the Archibald prize, but it's often that nebulous strain called "art politics". This year, with the winner being announced in the middle of a federal election campaign, it was always going to be hard to keep attention focused on the aesthetics. Blak Douglas (AKA. Adam Hill), proved to be […]
Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali
Friday, September 17th, 2021 Film Reviews,
"Destiny can take your best friend as an instrument to cause you harm and your worst enemy to do you good," says Muhammad Ali a few minutes into this absorbing Netflix documentary. He is referring to black activist, Malcolm X, who had fallen out with Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, a […]
Flattery & Kitsch
"Only art and science can raise men to the level of gods," wrote Ludwig van Beethoven, in a typically grand pronouncement. For music lovers of the late 19thcentury there was no greater Divinity than Beethoven himself. Wagner may have had a cult following, but Beethoven (1770-1827) was the centre of a full-blown religion. One true […]
University life in America today is worthy of a stupendous black comedy series but The Chair ain't it. To do justice to such a theme would require a writer as scabrous as Michel Houellebecq and a director as fearless – and surreal – as Luis Buñuel. Amanda Peet and Annie Julia Wyman, the creators of […]
Art and Sport
Tuesday, August 17th, 2021 Sydney Morning Herald Column,
After the Tokyo Olympics the boredom of the lockdown is set to move onto a whole new plane. Even without spectators the Olympics has confirmed its status as the world's supreme global spectacle, with the power to keep millions of people glued to the box day after day. What do we do now that it's […]
Thursday, August 5th, 2021 Film Reviews,
We're all familiar with newspaper stories about torn hamstrings, stress fractures, busted knees and shoulders. The Age can devote an entire page to a champion footballer's groin strain. But until recently nobody ever mentioned an athlete's mental health unless it was to lament some lapse in concentration at a vital stage. "A brain explosion!" is […]
Saturday, July 17th, 2021 Film Reviews,
Politics is a fascinating game, but hard to win. Under the yoke of a tyrant people clamour for democracy but after generations of democratic rule they hanker for a strongman to come and make all their decisions for them. As we watch the United States careening towards a complete crack-up, with millions of people obsessed […]