Art Smitten: Reviews - 2017

For those who haven’t seen David O’Doherty’s comedy before, like myself, if you decide to see him in action you’ll be greeted by one of the most refreshing examples of comedy in modern day times. O’Doherty blends his own down to earth comedic vibe with music seemingly created on the spot in front of the audience. He covers both the biggest issues that the world faces today such as the rise of fascism, to the smallest such as bad twitter sponsorships. It’s nice to see both topics handled off hand, putting a light touch on even the saddest of events our world faces today.

Performed at the Forum Theatre under a wash of blue, red and multicoloured lights, David O’Doherty keeps the crowd focused through his consistent switch between musical performance and stand up comedy, as he prances around the stage displaying his own brand of characteristics. You become so immersed in what he’s saying occasionally that you forget to notice him lying sideways on the stage, his legs splayed and in a state of obvious relaxation. This itself is hilarious, as O’Doherty is obviously a man who does what he wants, when he wants it, wherever he wants it. And of course, the crowd will follow.

There are never massive crack up moments from the crowd, but there doesn’t need to be. O’Doherty dishes out comedy by the second, meaning that there is a constant state of amusement in the air. Although not all of it lands, the nature of constant comedy makes up for this, as you’ll forget that you didn’t laugh at something within minutes. The star of David O’Doherty’s show perhaps might be his musical ability, or his little keyboard. The musical instrument brings a lot to the show, which would be lost without it. O’Doherty’s skill with the instrument is apparent as he blunders music on purpose for the gags, switching between singing and talking sporadically, which gives the impression of complete unpreparedness.

This skill is brilliant, as in your heart you know this is a show which is perfectly timed, structured and planned, however you just believe it too be completely improvised as he jumps from topic to topic to on the keyboard. David O’Doherty breathes a breath of fresh air into the modern day comedy scene, which in itself is amusing coming from a man who's been in the game for so long, eighteen years to be exact.

This in itself shows his prowess in the sport of comedy, as he has perfected his own style of comedy, which no one else would be able to come close to mimicking. David O’Doherty’s Big Time is on till April 23rd at the Forum Theatre. He also has a children's show Danger Is Everywhere on the 6th and 13th of April at the Melbourne Town Hall.

Written by Hamish Vallance

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Aunty Donna’s new show hits the MICF under the title Big Boys, a show about boys, who are now big. The title is more than just a gag or joke to go with the show. The title incidentally refers to the three boys who are Aunty Donna, who have now become big after years of being together as a group; Mark Bonanno, Broden Kelly and Zachary Ruane. The three are perfect for each other, and after years of performance their blend of slapstick comedy, alternative sketch and surrealism creates a hilarious show which might not be for everyone, but has an incredibly big following.

The trio are most successful for their online content, in which they create web series and musical sketches, which gain up to millions of views. There comedy show, Big Boys, blends what they do on the small screen with stand up comedy as well as a mix of audience interaction. Big Boys shows what each member of the group bring to the table, or stage in this case, and how they can do more than just planned sketches. Some of the funniest parts of the show were actually things which obviously were not planned for. Easily the best moment was when Aunty Donna’s silent DJ finally spoke a word, which the audience slowly applauded too, getting bigger and bigger, until it was a literal standing ovation. Bewildered but running with it, all three members left the stage and returned with Broden yelling for us through tears of laughter to sit down.

Aunty Donna is infectious that way. They’re capable of making you laugh and not minding laughing along with you. Them laughing just makes you laugh more. And then more, and then everyone in the room can’t breath because it’s just a circle of laughter which only ends when one of Aunty Donna breaks the silence with a completely straight faced dance routine. This kind of nonlinear structure to a comedy show breathes another breath of fresh air into modern day comedy. I myself love surrealist comedy, and Aunty Donna is easily some of my favourite examples of such. The characters they make out of themselves are perfectly timed, executed and developed, so that you never know when they’re going to be themselves or something they designed for stage.

Big Boys is a loud show, almost a little too loud for me. It’s also quite a personal show, being underground is a very dark room full of people who all love the same thing you do. Aunty Donna play the crowd well, interacting with them and running with nearly anything they say or do, making the audience feel like they are helping direct the show themselves. Although their comedy might not be for everyone, Aunty Donna has definitely perfected the niche they set out to claim, and even if it might be a bit odd to you, perhaps give it a go even then. You might still find something you like. Aunty Donna’s MICF show, Big Boys, is on until April 23rd.

Written by Hamish Vallance

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I haven’t been too a lot of shows when the Melbourne International Comedy Festival is on, but this year I’m starting off strong by seeing both big and smaller shows that the festival has to offer. To kick this season off, I checked out the preview show of Gavin Roach’s All The Songs I Can't Sing, a just under 50 minute show that is about just that; all the songs that Gavin Roach cannot sing.

It’s an amusing title which follows through in the show. Roach structures his show well, telling a funny story from his life which follows into a song which has special meaning with that story. This rinse and repeat idea works, but does become a little tiresome after awhile, although the show is quite short. Roach also changes costumes in between stories, which takes a little while meaning there are moments of nothingness on stage, however you can see the costume changes as a mirror on the wall reflects it from behind stage.

It is Roach’s personality which really sells the show, rather than his singing and jokes. Although it isn’t my kind of humour, I know people who would get a good laugh out of the way Roach acts on stage, in a very stylised gay performance which he constantly refers back too. His jokes don’t always land, but his personality does, and I would much rather a good personality with alright jokes to a bad personality with great jokes. Roach has a strong commitment to the stories he tells, and they’re very believable from the focus he puts into telling them, painting a good picture. On a side note, the use of swearing is done extremely well in addition, as only a few swear words are dropped but at opportune moments.

Although Gavin Roach’s performance is not my cup of tea, I can definitely see what he was going for with his performance. If he focuses more on playing up his performance, and adds a little more to the show than just singing and stories, then I think the overall performance would be great. Gavin Roach’s “All The Songs I Can't Sing” is currently on at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival til April 8th, so get in quick if you want to go see Gavin in action!

Written by Hamish Vallance

Photo by Julyan Stephens

Click here to listen to our interview with Gavin Roach

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Stellar Project is a premier dance work by Prue Lang, it is an hour long contemporary dance piece, with 5 performers.

It was presented in several parts, first was a dimly lit gentle dance piece, then the lights came up and the dances congratulated each other saying good job etc etc, like they had just finished a improve or something in a dance class, they then took turns performing solo dances and then the other people had to guess what they were doing, whoever guesses correctly got to do a solo dance.

There were several other parts, some of which I have forgotten, because at times I found myself drifting off, it may have been because the show was on quite late at night and it was very hot which in combination made me feel very tired, but overall I did have a nice time, the show was very gentle, soothing and sweet.

My favorite part was when the dancers formed a solar system, one person was in the middle representing a star, the others orbited the star and offered a little dance wiggle thing to the star, if the dance wiggle was correct the dances representing planets got to move closer to the sun and orbit faster, the goal was to become as close to the sun as possible, this section of the show was particular pleasing to watch.

This work as re-occurring images and themes about the cosmos, which was interesting because the aesthetic of the show was nothing like ‘sci-fi’ I really enjoyed the juxtaposition between the two.

The costumes were lovely, mainly block colours and very sporty, and causal. The lighting design and sound design was also very lovely, very simple and sweet.

Stellar Project is part of Dance Massive a bi-annual dance festival, there are multiple works showing in multiple venues across Melbourne, the festival is on now and goes until March 26th. Stella Project is showing at Dance House in Carlton until the 21st of March.

Written by Finley Fletcher

Photo by Gregory Lorenzutti

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Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting is a one of a kind movie; back when it was released it was different, new and explosive, something not many had ever seen before. The same can be said for the stage adaptation, Trainspotting Live, which is literally in your face the entire way through. It takes immersive to a new level. If you’re a fan of the movie then you might be pretty confused when first going into Trainspotting Live, as it strays vastly from the original. I haven’t read the novel, but from what I gather I’m assuming the stage adaption takes more cues from the novel rather than the movie. For instance, Spud’s character doesn’t appear, rather Tommy takes his place as another drug addict instead of being a clean cut athlete as presented in the film.

Major plot points are also missing from the film adaption, such as the robberies, court case and baby head turning. There is a baby scene, however it's presented slightly differently to the film. The main selling point of Trainspotting Live isn’t the story, characters or themes however. Although that is all important, the immersiveness is what the show strides for, and does well at. Presented at fortyfivedownstairs, Trainspotting Live takes place a few floors underground in a fairly large stage room, which resembles more of a club than a theatre room when first entering. Music is pumping, the cast is dancing hard on stage, and seats are just long benches which you crouch on close to the stage. In the twenty minutes before the show starts, actors drag people onto stage to throw down with them, drink soft drink and spray it on you, and collapse in your lap pretending to be drunk off their faces.

It's a bizarre but enthralling experience, and you never know if they’re playing it up or doing it legitimately sometimes. What’s genuinely incredible is that they jump right into the show after doing dancing without missing a beat, or being out of breath. Gavin Ross opens the show as Renton, however I did think he looked like more of a Spud if I’ll be honest. Ross has the perfect persona of Renton, including the accent which adds to the character's explosive Scottish nature. As he stomps around stage other characters enter, all displaying different traits and characteristics. Tommy for instance, played by Greg Esplin constantly topples into the crowd and lays on someone, falling asleep or mumbling in their ears. Michael Lockerbie as Sick Boy doesn’t interact as much, choosing to stay standing wearing a clean white shirt and tie.

I found that the two ensemble females in the show, Erin Marshall and Rachel Anderson played a much bigger part than what I first saw in the film. They are strong, powerful women who for a lot of the play push their male counterparts around. Chris Dennis as Begbie is just as, and maybe more so intimidating than he is in the movie, getting right up in people's faces and screaming abuse at them, whilst Calum Barbour as the other ensemble cast member, manages to create about five different characters on the fly which you can easily tell the difference between.

However what Trainspotting Live tries to do mainly is shock, which only hits home some of the time. You can tell they are trying to cover as much ground as they can in the short 75 minute show, but it does become a bit heavy handed at times. The gross funnier scenes such as the scat blanket and the toilet scene are easily standouts, however the scene in which a character punches Erin Marshall’s character, and she spits fake blood across the stage came across as quite shocking, and I wasn’t sure if the desired response was met. However, Trainspotting Live is truly an experience, one that I’m not sure if I’d take again, but found thoroughly interesting to say the least. The presentation and acting was brilliant, whilst the shocking scenes hit home only some of the time. If you don’t mind getting a bit close and personal with actor and fake poop alike, then this might be the play for you. However, if you prefer to watch your plays from a few metres back, then you might want to sit this one out.

Written by Hamish Vallance

Click here to listen to Hamish and Christian's interview with Gavin Ross

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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David Stratton is a pioneer in both critiquing films, and Australian films themselves. If you ever want to be a critic, you should take a good look at some of Stratton’s reviews, as they emphasis what is important about filmmaking, and how to perfectly break it down, dissect it, and give a professional opinion. David Stratton: A Cinematic Life, reveals a lot more about the man behind a critical perspective than you would ever imagine. However, it also reveals things that you could assume and gather from him, as a bit of Stratton is in every one of his reviews which have been in Variety, The Movie Show and At The Movies.

Directed by Sally Aitken, the documentary does more than just explore David Stratton’s fascinating life; it gives a wonderful homage to Australian cinema, and how far its come over the years. The documentary is wonderfully broken down by certain Australian films, and how the both impact and reflect Stratton’s life. I feel bad saying that the majority of films on screen that are shown are one’s that I haven’t seen before, and I’m not alone in this. A lot of the crowd murmured at moments when a new or unknown film came up, but the best part about this is that we all have gained something new to watch once we get out of the theatre. The documentary does give a bit of a jumbled and out of order description of Stratton’s life, and it does occasionally become a bit confusing to follow. Some of the relations to films and how Stratton’s life was impacted by them do come across as a bit of a stretch to, however there always needs to be a bit of disbelief in films like these.

In addition to seeing the film, we were treated to a live q&a with the man himself afterwards. Stratton expanded upon his experiences reviewing films, and creating the documentary, such as how he went about writing his narration for the film (he edited the director written speeches when he thought they weren’t good enough) and how the director hadn’t seen any Australian films, nor had she heard of Stratton himself. Following this, questions for the crowd were allowed, and surprisingly I had one up my sleeve which i pleasantly got to ask first. It was quite nice for the crowd to laugh at my question, “will you be reviewing this film?”, but nicer that Stratton joked along, telling us that he’d leave it up to other reviewers to break the film down, but judging by our response, we liked it. Or, that he hoped we had liked it.

Going into the film, I didn’t assume I would enjoy it a great deal. It’s not because the film is about David Stratton himself, more because I didn’t think it would be possible to make a documentary about a critic interesting. That is what David Stratton: A Cinematic Life, does best however. It’s a surprise, a pleasant surprise, one that you don’t get to be rewarded with much nowadays. Stratton is a highly interesting, and singular man, however there's also, and it sounds funny saying it, a bit of David Stratton in all of us. We are all critical of something, be it film, music or life. We are critical because we love what it is about, we are critical because we’re seeking the best of the best, to interact with anything we can, to engage and dissect and talk about why we love it or why we can’t stand it. David Stratton resonates the critic in the everyday person, and it's a glorious moment to see him rewarded with a perfectly fitting documentary which captures the films that he loves, and how they have shaped the man that he is today.

Written by Hamish Vallance

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Logan is the brand new marvel film under the banner of 20th Century Fox, adding to the long running series of X-Men Films. Logan concludes the trilogy of Wolverine, the two previous films, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and The Wolverine, being mildly successful, but for the most part not critically rated very highly. This all changes with Logan, which has been met with massive praise, easily trumping the average reviews of the previous films. However, does the film really deserve the praise? I went into Logan ready for the best superhero film I’ve ever seen, as that is what I got from the reviews. I was prepared for the best Marvel film I’ve ever seen, and I’m not a big fan of marvel films. To begin, I agree wholeheartedly that Logan is the best film in the trilogy of Wolverine films. It deals with some very real issues, the acting is great from all performances, and it reflects on the long X-Men trilogy in a simple, brutal light. However, for myself, it was not the best superhero film I’ve seen.

Logan is not a bad film, not by a long shot. Honestly, nearly up there with the best superhero films to be made in my opinion. It's up there with X-Men: Days of Future Past, Captain America: Winter Solider and Spider Man 2. These three films are what cement good superhero films to me. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is something I’m not even close to a fan of. Perhaps it's my background in film culture or script writing. Maybe I’m just a film snob. Either way, the films listed to me are the best superhero films ever made, as they present something more than just a hero and villain plot, an action sequence, and smooth editing effects. They reflect society, have a message within them, and stand out among the rest. I’m battling with the idea that Logan is up there with these three masterpieces, as it does really do a lot right when it comes to reflecting values and issues in society. Before clarifying why I didn’t love the film as much as I thought I would, I need to address what the film does shine in.

Logan is the No Country for Old Men in the Marvel Franchise. The plots are different, but the cinematography, brutality, and characters reflect the film. It's a Western at heart, the main character being a lone wolf who holds strong, moral values, and is willing to sacrifice himself to save others. The character of Logan is this clearly, a man who still holds strong values, yet is alone in an ageing and near apocalyptic society. The R18+ rating for Logan shows, and was clearly needed. Going back to watch the M rated X-Men and Wolverine films, you notice how much is lost without bloodshed and violence. I’m not advocating violence in films here, but in Logan it is a necessity. The film would not be the same without the violence which is shown, as it adds to the realism in the society the film portrays, and shows that nothing is that far from death. The performances in Logan is another aspect which shines, and defines the film. Hugh Jackman is still great as Logan, however brings something new in this installment. Logan is a lot older and more mature, and broken in this film. His limp is consistent, his yells are shaky, and his emotion is clear. Patrick Stewart however gives us something which is completely different to anything he has done previously as Professor X, and alongside this applies a message which comes from outside the film.

Professor X displays clear symptoms of dementia in Logan, due to his age. The way the film shows this idea is the backbone which make this film shine. Stewart portrays a clearly lost man, lost in his thoughts, lost in his way of life and lost in where he even is. When we are first introduced to Xavier he is rocketing around on his wheelchair yelling about random stuff, completely different to anything we’ve ever seen of him before. The most powerful moments however are the episodes that he has. A normal old person who has an episode is fair enough. It’s manageable but hard since it does affect the people around them. However this is Professor X, who has the power of telepathy. When he has an episode in the film everyone in a one mile radius are affected, and as mentioned early in the film, can kill some people. The way the film deals with dementia is simple yet explosive I thought, as easily one of the best aspects of the film. Dafne Keen does a great job as Laura Kinney, or X-23 for all the X-Men fans out there. I didn’t quite enjoy the reveal of her talking, as it was suppose to be pitched as a big deal, but wasn’t really to me. Stephen Merchant as Caliban was great, however was a bit of an odd change from Tómas Lemarquis, who portrayed him in X-Men: Apocalypse.

Alongside the performances, visually the film was very impressive, and I really liked the change in scenery from orange to green, with each location having very different styles, characters and emotions. The music of the film was good too, however the editing of sound was better, especially with Professor X’s episodes, how the audio was made high pitched and tinny, with an added screen wobble.

Finally, why was the film not everything I had hoped it would be? I’ve listed so much that is good with the film that even I’m confused why I didn’t love it. I guess it would probably be the ending. It’s quite stereotypical, and can be called a mile away, even before seeing the film. I understand what they were going for, but I feel as though it didn't add a great deal of emotional distress, which was that they were going for. The ending is important to this film, as it wraps up the trilogy and should give us something powerful and meaningful. It's just simple, plain, and obvious though, which is a disappointment. However, perhaps this is the point. X-Men films are known to be big, bold and action packed. Logan is the least of all these three. It has action, but it never reaches the spectacle of Days of Future Past or Deadpool. It deals with some big plot developments, but nothing majorly changes in the world they reside in. Finally, it's not that big; they don’t travel far, or make big impacts to the world. This is the point of Logan. Logan is a peaceful tragedy. It's a plain, simple film, which deals with sensitive issues and portrays them honestly and brutally. I don’t consider Logan a superhero film, meaning it's not my favourite superhero film. I think Logan is a perfectly timed, structured, acted, and directed tragic Western, which deals with a man who has come to the end of the line, and needs to perform one last act to save himself.

Written by Hamish Vallance

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