Grief is messy and complicated at the best of times. In Back to Te Maunga, we meet Isaac and Tāne ten years into their grief. The two long-time friends come together in the hunting cabin they all used to visit in order to mourn their friend Jake, pouring him a cup of whiskey alongside their own. The play investigates men’s mental health in a genuine and nuanced way that I hope will resonate with male audience members.

In those ten years, a chasm has emerged between them. In a very real way, it is a physical chasm as Isaac has moved to London while Tāne has stayed home in New Zealand. But it is also an emotional one, as they have fallen out of touch with each other. The story is filled with a desperation to delay confronting of emotion, littered with unanswered phone calls, late appearances and overdue family visits.

The play asks the question of how you choose to respond when life gets hard: Do you run away or do you stay? In a way, the choice is inherently doomed. If you stay, you’ll still change. If you run away, you’ll still bring yourself with you. As someone who often chooses to run away, I felt Isaac’s desperation to put physical distance between himself and the problem. The temptation to run away and reinvent yourself is too strong. You feel you must give in.

Despite this distance, Isaac and Tāne have the strength of friendship to pick up where they left off. They chat and joke like not a minute has passed, with the kind of natural humour that’s hard to recreate again afterwards. Joel Te Teira’s script traverses expertly between comedy and drama. The conversation flips between the silly and the serious, just as friends would do.

Jordan Selwyn and Joe Dekkers-Reihana deliver equally excellent performances as Isaac and Tāne. It is impossible to separate them. As in all two hander plays, there is no room for the two lead actors to hide in this piece. But there is no need to worry, as Selwyn and Dekkers-Reihana deliver both comedically and dramatically. They made me laugh and cry in the space of eighty minutes.

In a landscape often plagued by cookie cutter stories keen to reach as many people as possible by riding on a wave of vagueness, Back to Te Maunga shines due to its unwavering commitment to detail. This is most evident in Te Teira’s writing, as the script is filled with particulars from the specifics of Māori language and customs to the nitty gritty behind Isaac’s Dorrito chip packet design day job. Life is found in the details and Te Teira understands this exceptionally well.

This appreciation of details is also evident in the play’s design elements. The biggest design highlight is Zoë Rouse’s phenomenal set design. Walking into the modest space at the La Mama Courthouse, it feels like you are entering the hunting cabin along with Isaac and Tāne. The three walls of the cabin are littered with their objects and memories. The broken light still hangs unfixed on the wall.

Keegan Bragg’s direction must be applauded, for such a cohesive production could not have succeeded without a competent director. Bragg’s directorial vision is clear throughout the piece. Other highlights include Lyndall Grant’s fight choreography, evoking a fierce, explosive tension between the two men, and Harrie Hogan’s simple yet highly effective lighting design.

Back to Te Maunga succeeds because it is not afraid to enter scary territory surrounding grief and death. We so often treat grief like a competition amongst ourselves. Who knew the person best, who gets to be the saddest. Sometimes we even treat it like a competition within ourselves, we tell ourselves we should feel more or less sad than we do. But grief is not a competition. Grief is survival. Stories about grief always endure because we do desperately want to know what the answer is. Of course there is no answer. But we want one anyway.

Having had another work Ngātai performed in a reading by Melbourne Theatre Company and shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Drama Award, I very much hope to see more of Te Teira’s writing performed in the Melbourne theatre scene in the near future.

Rating: Highly recommend

Play: Back to Te Maunga
Writer: Joel Te Teira
Theatre: Antipodes Theatre Company
Director: Keegan Bragg
Starring: Joe Dekkers-Reihana (Tāne) and Jordan Selwyn (Isaac)
Dates and venue: La Mama Courthouse until 22 March 2026

The third entry in the Benoit Blanc trilogy, following Knives Out and Glass Onion, it is perhaps the most heartfelt of the trio. While most of the movie delivers on the fun murder mystery romp that makes the first two a success, it is the rare but truly deserved moments of emotional gut punch that make Wake Up Dead Man such a winner.

Josh O’Connor stars as former boxer turned priest Jud Duplenticy as he is sent to work at a new church under the guidance of Monsignor Wicks (Josh Brolin). It is a wild ride trying to make sense of our new protagonist and deduce whether we can trust what he says. O’Connor’s infectious charisma lends itself perfectly to the role of Jud.

Daniel Craig is excellent as ever as Benoit Blanc. I truly hope that he will continue to reprise the role for as long as he and Johnson wish to make these films. He could be easily dropped into any setting for a brilliant story.

Once again, director-writer Rian Johnson has struck the perfect balance of paying homage to the classics of the murder mystery genre while also finding something new to say. Wake Up Dead Man does not seek to shy away from its influences, literally displaying a recommended reading list of murder mystery novels at one point in the film, and does an excellent job of bringing them into the twenty-first century. Johnson has never been afraid of situating his work in the present day, this time featuring knock-out jokes about Substack and election campaigns.

For how considered this film is, you might be worried that Johnson has chosen the serious path over the laughs of the previous movies in the series. Never fear: amongst the emotions of Wake Up Dead Man, the film still contains many genuine laugh out loud moments.

The gothic sensibility that was present in the first two films remains strong in Wake Up Dead Man. All three films have explored the obsessive and isolated notion of a house which contains as many quirks and secrets as any of the human characters in the story. In this entry, it is the church itself, a gloomy figure which haunts the entire narrative.

Wake Up Dead Man has the strongest cinematography of the three films. It is a truly beautiful film in a visual sense. I am especially glad that I made the effort of catching it during its limited cinematic release window. Johnson and cinematographer Steve Yedlin have composed this film shot by shot with an extreme sense of care. It does not give the impression of a cost-cutting direct-to-streaming movie that slapped a bunch of close-ups together; instead, it presents itself as a carefully considered visual feast.

Paired well with Yedlin’s cinematography, the film is wonderfully lit by Jaron Presant. These efforts are especially well appreciated given the metaphorical resonance of light within Christianity. In a similar vein to Glass Onion, there is one particularly brilliant moment on the edge of the forest during the climax of the film where lighting is used to evoke a hauntingly beautiful and creepy tone.

I am sure I am not alone in the fact that I have spent a large part of my life asking questions about the place and value of religion in society. The decision to make a murder mystery movie about religion feels almost natural when you consider the centrality of the question of death in both of those canons. Wake Up Dead Man is both critical and encouraging of Christianity in different moments. It presents a deeply complicated and moving picture of all that Christianity encompasses. Wake Up Dead Man does not pretend to know the answers to these gigantic questions, but acknowledges the importance and necessity of asking them anyway.

Potentially the only criticism of Wake Up Dead Man is that several of its ensemble characters do not have as much importance as in previous Benoit Blanc entries. The film is more focused on those directly involved in running the church as opposed to the litany of church-goers. Mila Kunis’ run-of-the-mill local detective character does not add much to Blanc’s efforts.

Rating: Highly recommend

Film: Wake Up Dead Man
Director: Rian Johnson
Writer: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daniel Craig (Benoit Blanc), Josh O’Connor (Reverend Jud Duplenticy), Glenn Close (Martha Delacroix), Josh Brolin (Monsignor Jefferson Wicks), Mila Kunis (Geraldine Scott), Jeremy Renner (Dr Nat Sharp), Kerry Washington (Vera Draven), Andrew Scott (Lee Ross), Cailee Spaeny (Simone Vivane), Daryl McCormack (Cy Draven), Thomas Haden Church (Samson Holt) and Jeffrey Wright (Langstrom)
Release Date: 12 December 2025
Distributor: Netflix

Much Ado About Nothing follows two pairs of lovers: Beatrice and Benedick, who are engaged in a war of wits so annoying that their friends decide to trick them into falling in love, and Claudio and Hero, whose engagement falls victim to a war between brothers Don Pedro and Don John. A third plotline follows the plucky neighbourhood watch whose grand ambitions and good intentions are often thwarted by their overwhelming lack of intellect. All three storylines are woven together into a tale of love, deception and pride.

I was very excited to learn that Melbourne Theatre Company decided to stage a new production of Much Ado About Nothing (their first in 30 years), directed by Mark Wilson.

Alison Bell as Beatrice and Fayssal Bazzi as Benedick are absolutely outstanding. Their performances, when they appear together or apart, are magnificent.

Alison Bell is marvellous as Beatrice. She does a wonderful job of capturing Beatrice’s self-assuredness and confidence while still oozing charm and love as well. If only Shakespeare had given her a few more opportunities to shine, as she demonstrated exactly what she is capable of while expressing Beatrice’s fury after the wedding.

Fayssal Bazzi delivers the best performance of Benedick I have ever seen on a stage (and I would include David Tenant in National Theatre’s 2011 production in that as well). He reminds us that Benedick is best not only when he is bold, arrogant and too cocky for his own good but also when he follows Beatrice around like a puppy dog who morphs into even more of an enthusiastic yet pathetic golden retriever after his gulling.

In this iteration, the famous song ‘Sigh No More’, originally performed by the character Balthasar who has been omitted from this production, is instead given to Miela Anich’s Hero. One of Shakespeare’s biggest failings in this show is how little Hero speaks despite the fact that she is the emotional core of the play and the igniting spark of its events. While this version of ‘Sigh No More’ offers little melodically, it is a wonderful and meaningful change that enlivens the themes of the play. While her cousin Beatrice will complain loudly about the folly of men to whoever is in earshot, Hero sings about it to herself on an empty stage, almost like a lament. The contrast between the two cousins is evident despite the fact they share the same struggles as women in a man’s world.

Julie Forsyth delivers a standout performance from amongst the rest of the ensemble, showcasing a wealth of talent and great comedic instincts across the roles of Ursula, Dogberry and Friar Francis.

However, I remain sceptical of any company that proposes to perform Much Ado with less than ten actors. For this production, the full extent of The Sumner Theatre was on display including the wings and the belly of the stage. While I enjoyed this idea conceptually—the audience are reminded of their role watching the play—it meant that the eight actors were presented with the impossible task of filling the space. They could not create the joyous atmosphere of the party scene. So much of the play revolves around overheard conversations and rumours yet the stage felt constantly bare. I did appreciate the Pamela Anderson eyes of the set, a 1984-esque reminder that someone is always watching and listening.

The choice of a smaller cast necessitates doubling of roles which I do not think works with the play’s themes. While I am usually a big fan of gender bending in Shakespeare, I think Much Ado presents a very challenging site for such an approach given that the play is deeply rooted in its exploration and critique of traditional gender roles. The casting of a female actor to play Don John—a self-professed plain villain who seeks to destroy his brother’s life who does not care about the assortment of women getting caught in the crossfire—falls flat.

It also means that several characters remain absent from important scenes. The character of Margaret may not always be present during the wedding scene as she has no lines, but often the audience is able to observe as she comes to the silent realisation of her role in Don John’s deception. Her absence robs the play of the nuance that makes it interesting. Margaret was also missing from the gulling of Beatrice.

Several of these choices mean that Melbourne Theatre Company’s production of Much Ado About Nothing does not sing as joyously as it could. Nevertheless, it is a deeply funny, well-performed and touching production of Shakespeare’s classic.

Rating: Recommend

Play: Much Ado About Nothing
Writer: William Shakespeare
Director: Mark Wilson
Starring: Miela Anich (Hero/Borachio/Ensemble), Fayssal Bazzi (Benedick), Alison Bell (Beatrice), Syd Brisbane (Leonato/Ensemble), Julie Forsyth (Ursula/Dogberry/Ensemble), Remy Heremaia (Claudio/Ensemble), Chanella Macri (Margaret/Bastard/Ensemble) and John Shearman (Prince/Ensemble)
Dates and venue: The Sumner at Southbank Theatre until 20 December 2025

But as Will and Harriet’s campaign heats up, it gets harder for them to remain sworn enemies – and to avoid being caught. As tensions burn throughout the school, how far will they go to keep their mission a secret?

Amelia Westlake by Erin Gough is an Australian young adult novel which follows the lives of two students at the highly prestigious Rosemead Grammar, perfect Harriet and outcast Will. This dual perspective narrative allows us to examine Rosemead through two different lenses: someone who has lived and breathed Rosemead their whole life and a newcomer who is capable of viewing the school through a more critical lens.

You know what astounds me the most? How this school manages to brainwash allegedly smart people.

After years of ignoring each other, Harriet and Will find themselves joining forces to create a satirical cartoon and surreptitiously submit it to the school newspaper under the false name of Amelia Westlake. Because Amelia doesn’t exist, she can criticise the school without fear of punishment or retribution.

Amelia Westlake is an exciting and original take on the classic school story. In this edition, the students are trying to convince their school to change its old fashioned, outdated ways and improve. 

There are moments in one’s life of sudden clarity, moments when you recognise you’ve been stumbling along, happily admiring the landscape, only to realise there are sharp rocks below your feet, the surrounding plants are heavy with poisonous berries, and the path you’re following is no ordinary path; it’s a sociopath called Will Everhart.

Gough has created a wonderful and engaging cast of characters. Both Harriet’s and Will’s voices sing out strongly throughout the story and are well surrounded by their world of family, school teachers and friends.

Winner of the Reading Young Adult Book Prize and the Ethel Turner Prize for Young People’s Literature at the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards, among many other shortlistings, it’s easy to see how this page turner has captured so many hearts. It’s a brilliant blend of romance, friendship, mystery and trying to change the world.

Rating: Highly recommend

Book: Amelia Westlake
Author: Erin Gough
Publisher: Hardie Grant
Publication Date: 2 April 2018

After uni student Finn gets kicked out of his sharehouse for not paying rent, he takes up a job at aged care home Pine Grove in exchange for room and board. As he clashes with the aged care workers over his lazy attitude, he starts to form a bond with several of the residents.

Bloom’s strength arises from its heartfelt premise and fantastic performances by its cast.

Bloom is a story of love, care, music and the power of building cross-generational friendships. Finn’s friendships with the residents, such as equally rebellious Rose, shy Doug and stoic Sal, grow and thrive over the course of the story as he learns more about them.

While the story takes a while to find its purpose, it eventually settles into its pace and accelerates towards a satisfying third act. Given that it runs closer to two hours than ninety minutes as a one-act show, a shorter and sharper beginning may have better suited the story.

Vidya Makan and Christina O’Neill give outstanding performances as aged care workers Ruby and Gloria. Hailing from the original Australian cast of Six the Musical, it is no surprise that Makan’s vocals are stunning and showcase her clear star power. O’Neill’s quieter character of Gloria is a great complement to Makan’s determined Ruby. With a similarly impressive musical theatre track record, O’Neill also brings such a rich display of character to her vocal performance.

As is the case with any musical, it was fantastic to hear the live orchestra performing along with the actors and, in a few moments, to be able to see them sitting behind the set at the back of the stage.

While Weston’s original score had its moments, overall it was lacking in the stylistic consistency or boldness which would have made it more memorable.

Bloom is a great addition to the Australian musical theatre canon. In particular, it is fantastic to see a show with such a variety of characters from different generations, an excellent line-up of roles for different genders that does not relegate its female characters to outdated stereotypes and with such a well-balanced dramedy feel. Hopefully there will be further productions of Bloom beyond its current Melbourne Theatre Company run.

Rating: Recommend

Musical: Bloom
Writer: Music by Kate Weston, Book and Lyrics by Tom Gleisner
Theatre: Melbourne Theatre Company
Director: Dean Bryant
Starring: Anne Edmonds (Mrs MacIntyre), Frankie J. Holden (Doug), Evelyn Krape (Rose), Vidya Makan (Ruby), Maria Mercedes (Betty/Chef), Eddie Muliaumaseali’i (Sal/Inspector/News Reporter/Trev), John O’May (Roland), Christina O’Neill (Gloria), Jackie Reese (Lesley) and Slone Sudiro (Finn)
Dates and venue: Arts Centre Melbourne, Playhouse, 18 July to 19 August 2023

This is Ann Liang’s second novel, following her magical realist debut If You Could See the Sun which was nominated in last year’s Goodreads Choice Awards. Liang already demonstrated her talent for crafting romance in If You Could See the Sun and she cements it in This Time It’s Real with another compelling narrative.

This Time It’s Real is a beautifully written, heartfelt young adult novel about a girl who learns to open herself up to love again.

Eliza and Caz begin spending time together in rather unique circumstances. Required to write a personal essay as a school assignment, Eliza decides to write about a fake boyfriend. While she knew that she wasn’t telling the truth, she didn’t expect her made-up story to attract so much attention.

Thanks to the story, she finds herself in the unusual predicament of finally beginning to fit in at her new Beijing school and offered an internship to write for her favourite magazine. So she strikes up a deal with her school’s resident famous teen actor Caz Song: if he will pretend to be her boyfriend in order to satisfy all these other people, Eliza will help with his college applications.

Caz agrees and the deal seems perfectly formed. That is, until Eliza starts to get to know Caz and the feelings that hide behind his charming veneer.

‘When you care about someone, you want to be inconvenienced—you wouldn’t mind being inconvenienced by them every day for the rest of your life. That’s what love is. That’s all love really is.’

A romance novel which tells the story of two people falling in love often involves them being challenged by various obstacles that prevent them from getting together. In some stories, these obstacles can feel forced and overly fabricated for the sake of a good story.

That’s not the case here. The conflict that stands in the way of Eliza and Caz’s happily ever after feels real. Liang avoids the contrived obstacles that often marr other romance stories by telling a story where Eliza and Caz must overcome their own vulnerabilities. 

‘It takes so little for me to love someone, yet so long for me to move on.’

Having grown up in six different countries and attended twelve different schools, it’s natural that Eliza would have reservations about forming lasting relationships when she is constantly on the move. She’s lost the energy to decorate her new bedroom in Beijing. She struggles to maintain an online friendship with former classmate Zoe who lives in LA.

At seventeen, she is old enough to realise what happens when relationships – romantic, platonic, familial – fall apart. This is the story of learning that love is worth that risk.

‘There’s no way I’m sharing actual details about my closest personal relationships. Even the fake details are embarrassing enough: like how I’d traced the lines of this pretend-boyfriend’s palm, whispered secrets to him in the dark, told him he meant the world to me, that he felt like home.’

Even so, Eliza’s initial concerns about being asked to write a personal essay as a homework assignment which is then posted on the school’s public website feel valid. Eliza might still need some coaxing to open up to the people in her life, but she should never have had to feel like she had to share her feelings with the world.

This Time It’s Real is a spectacular young adult romance novel and it will be exciting to see what Liang writes next.

Rating: Highly recommend

Book: This Time It’s Real
Author: Ann Liang
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Publication Date: 7 February 2023

Glass Onion is not a traditional sequel as almost none of the characters from the first movie return, but instead follows detective Benoit Blanc as he encounters a completely new group of people and sets out to solve a new murder. 

Whether you like Rian Johnson’s films or not, you cannot deny that the man has his finger on the pulse. When Johnson found out that eccentric but stupid tech billionaire Elon Musk bought Twitter mere weeks before his movie about an eccentric but stupid tech billionaire who invites his friends to a private Greek island for a murder mystery party, he must have absolutely cackled.

Daniel Craig’s return as Benoit Blanc is such a joy. We see more of Blanc in this movie, even getting a delicious peek into his apartment and home life, as he answers a mysterious letter hidden in a puzzle box to venture out to Miles Bron’s private Greek island for a mid-pandemic getaway.

Glass Onion is marked by the same boldness that made the first film great. It’s packed with just as many laughs. An early scene showing Blanc playing Among Us over Zoom while in the bath is a real highlight.

Glass Onion is an excellent example of how to make a pandemic film. Rather than present another emotionally patronising take on the pandemic from the privilege of Hollywood, Johnson uses elements of the lockdowns to reveal details about his characters. This is perfectly exemplified by the scene where the characters all meet each other on the dock in Greece: you start to learn what each person values by gauging who is wearing a mask, who wants to hug people and who is socially distancing.

However, Glass Onion does take longer to set up than the first film. In Knives Out, we discover the dead body in the opening scene and the mystery starts immediately. In Glass Onion, the mystery takes longer to unfurl and requires more patience from its audience.

Steve Yedlin’s cinematography is excellent as usual, particularly when paired with Rick Heinrichs’ production design and Elli Griff’s set decoration. There are some great scenes in the second act of the film where their work melds together to create stunning visuals.

Nathan Johnson’s eclectic score also compliments Rian Johnson’s filmmaking style well, leaning into bold and new sounds.

Glass Onion strikes a great balance between continuing the journey of Benoit Blanc and paying homage to the themes of Knives Out while still setting up and executing its own story.

Rating: Highly recommend

Film: Glass Onion
Director: Rian Johnson
Writer: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daniel Craig (Benoit Blanc), Edward Norton (Miles Bron), Janelle Monáe (Andi Brand), Kathryn Hahn (Claire Debella), Leslie Odom Jr. (Lionel Toussaint), Jessica Henwick (Peg), Madelyn Cline (Whiskey), Kate Hudson (Birdie Jay) and Dave Bautista (Duke Cody)
Release Date: 23 December 2022
Distributor: Netflix

The story is told retrospectively through interview transcript snippets from each of the characters reflecting back on that intense period of their lives as a ‘nonfiction’ oral history. At the beginning of the novel, we don’t fully know the context in which the characters have chosen to be so honest about their experiences but become quickly drawn into their intimate world of thoughts and feelings. 

We only look like young stars / Because you can’t see old scars

This structure allows the book to be a real ensemble piece about the band, allowing us an insight into everyone’s state of mind. We get to know all the characters on an individual level and see the inconsistencies between their stories which adds an element of realism to the story. 

Aside from the creative structure, there is nothing particularly new or exciting about the way that Reid writes. However, her simplistic and straightforward style works well to serve the story. 

Daisy Jones & The Six is primarily a plot and character driven book. The story is always accelerating towards the next event or act, hurtling forwards like the ambitions of its characters. This makes the book a very captivating and engaging read. 

And, baby, when you think of me / I hope it ruins rock ‘n’ roll / Regret me / Regretfully

Daisy Jones is a classic Taylor Jenkins Reid protagonist: a rich, beautiful and talented white woman with a flighty, self-destructive and addictive personality. The main focus of the novel is how Daisy comes to collaborate with the rest of band, The Six, and the brilliant music that somehow emerges from their conflict. 

A lot of this conflict occurs between Daisy and Billy, who write the majority of the band’s music while mostly oblivious to the other dramas happening in their bandmates’ lives.

By far the most interesting tension in Daisy and Billy’s relationship is how close they must become in order to write Aurora together. The novel explores the idea that creative collaborators are destined to fall in love with each other at least in some way. Does it happen because you have to be so raw and vulnerable to create something? Or because it’s such an involved, intense process that others outside of it can’t understand? 

When I was drowning / Three sheets and counting / The skies cleared / And you appeared / And I said, “Here is my Aurora”

Some of the conflict in Daisy and Billy’s relationship does feel forced at times. Most of it is centered around the fact that Billy is married to another woman, Camila, and has children with her. Throughout the book Billy is unhappy with his married life yet does nothing to unpack or resolve these feelings. 

The book clearly demonstrates how heteronormative relationship constructs can be devastating to people who don’t want them through Billy’s story (and also through the relationship between two other bandmates, Karen and Graham).

Even outside of Daisy and Billy, Reid presents a great look into the world of making music. The book feels like a deep dive, a faux documentary, into the process of songwriting. 

Rating: Recommend

Book: Daisy Jones & The Six
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Publication Date: 5 March 2019

The influence of Agatha Christie, queen of crime, is felt everywhere within the murder mystery genre yet it remains unusual to find a story that manages to live up to her immense legacy. Knives Out is one of those stories.

Knives Out opens with the death of Harlan Thrombey, an extremely successful mystery novelist who has just celebrated his 85th birthday surrounded by his family. In the first 20 minutes of the film, we meet the members of his family present at the party, including self-made (from a $1 million loan) Linda, her cheating husband Richard, doormat Walt and influencer Joni, and discover that somehow most of them have secrets worth killing for.

Joni Thrombey: I read a tweet about a New Yorker article about you.

Enter what is undoubtedly the most delightful thing about this movie: Daniel Craig as lead detective Benoit Blanc. Johnson’s choice to cast an iconically British actor known for playing James Bond as a detective with an outrageously Southern accent is so bold that it is immediately brilliant.

As an audience member, it’s fun to follow a new detective who skirts the line between clever and clueless. We do not know his reputation like Poirot. In this story, Blanc is a piece of puzzle as well.

Between the suspects’ lies and Blanc’s investigative interruptions, the opening interview structure allows us to jump straight into the story. The film has barely begun and already we have a setting, victim and a lineup of suspects established.

Knives Out is a firmly funny movie and this is clear from the beginning. So much of the humour in the early section of the film comes from a combination of superb editing, storytelling and quick cuts. 

Joni telling Blanc that she will not be tricked into speaking badly about Walt cuts straight to Richard bad mouthing him. Each of the interviewees acts like the main character of the story, as represented by their memory of standing directly next to Harlan when his birthday cake was cut. Already, the stories are conflicting and not quite making sense.

Marta Cabrera: I've never been to a will reading. 

Benoit Blanc: You'd think it'd be like a game show, but think of a community theatre production of a tax return.

Knives Out is a great example of a story not afraid to place itself in a specific time period, making references to the pop culture and politics of the late 2010s. Agatha Christie’s stories are often celebrated as ‘timeless’ when in fact the opposite is true. While the value of her stories may long outlast her lifetime, she wrote stories that were clearly set in the 20th century, marked by references to the two World Wars. It is time for us to write iconic 21st century murder mysteries and Johnson is putting his mark on the genre.

Johnson has also managed to find a niche that Christie never really fully explored: telling the story from the point of view of ‘the help’. Marta Cabrera, nurse to Harlan Thrombey and outsider to the family at large, emerges as the unexpected protagonist of Knives Out. 

Ana de Armas gives a truly excellent performance as Marta and it is her character that drives the emotion of the story. She is the beating heart of a truly excellent ensemble.

Lieutenant Elliott: Look around. I mean, the guy practically lives in a Clue board.

The last great character in Knives Out is the Thrombey mansion. Overflowing with Harlan’s knick knacks, books and knives with a portrait of the man himself in the entrance hallway, it is the perfect eerie setting for this story brought to life by cinematographer Steve Yedlin.

Knives Out is a great foray into 21st century murder mystery movies and hopefully it sparks a new post-Christie generation to come.

Rating: Highly recommend

Film: Knives Out
Director: Rian Johnson
Writer: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daniel Craig (Benoit Blanc), Ana de Armas (Marta Cabrera), Chris Evans (Ransom Drysdale), Jamie Lee Curtis (Linda Drysdale), Michael Shannon (Walt Thrombey), Don Johnson (Richard Drysdale), Toni Collette (Joni Thrombey), Lakeith Stanfield (Detective Lieutenant Elliott), Katherine Langford (Meg Thrombey), Jaeden Martell (Jacob Thrombey) and Christopher Plumber (Harlan Thrombey)
Release Date: 27 November 2019
Distributor: Cinematic release (currently streaming on Netflix and Binge)

Sense and Sensibility follows the three Dashwood sisters as they are forced to move following the death of their father and the romantic pursuits of the two elder sisters. A contrast emerges between the reserved oldest sister Elinor and the romantic middle sister Marianne.

All the classic Austen tropes are present: strong-willed women, dashing male suitors, annoying but lovable family members, plenty of well-meaning gossip and a lot of barely repressed longing.

In a modern adaptation for the stage by American playwright Kate Hamill, this production of Sense and Sensibility from Canberra REP Theatre really highlights the humour in Austen’s work. There are plenty of stand out moments of comedy from a cast of wonderful performances.

Karina Hudson and Annabelle Segler are an excellent duo as sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood complimented by Hannah Cornelia as the younger and more energetic Margaret Dashwood.

They are well supported by great performances from John Whinfield and Sean Reeve as the leading men Edward Ferrars and Colonel Brandon.

Jack Shanahan as the charming but slippery John Willoughby and Kayla Ciceran as the judgmental Fanny Dashwood make fantastically natural villains.

The lead performers are accompanied by an equally engaging ensemble of ‘gossips’ who at times act almost as narrators for the play as they keep the audience up to date with relevant rumours. This addition ties in well to the themes of rumour and reputation in the original text.

Cate Clelland’s direction of the ensemble is a real highlight. The way that they remain on stage closely listening to the events of the play, and even from behind bushes and curtains at some points, is both funny and fitting.

John and Fanny Dashwood (Robert Wearden and Kayla Ciceran) and Gossips (Sienna Curnow and Kate Garrow). Photo: Helen Drum.

After a very funny first act, the second act becomes surprisingly emotional. Both Hudson and Segler’s performances elevate to match the weight of the story.

A real strength of Austen’s writing is how you come to care so deeply for the characters. It is certainly easy to form an attachment to Elinor and Marianne.

Sense and Sensibility is a great finale to Canberra REP Theatre’s 2022 season and it will be exciting to see what they do next year.

Rating: Recommend

Play: Sense and Sensibility
Writer: Novel by Jane Austen, Adaptation by Kate Hamill
Theatre: Canberra REP Theatre
Director: Cate Clelland
Starring: Karina Hudson (Elinor Dashwood), Annabelle Segler (Marianne Dashwood), Hannah Cornelia (Margaret Dashwood), Ann-Maree Hatch (Mrs Dashwood), Robert Wearden (John Dashwood), John Whinfield (Edward Ferrars), Kayla Ciceran (Fanny (Ferrars) Dashwood), Sean Reeve (Colonel Brandon), Jack Shanahan (John Willoughby), Rob de Fries (Sir John Middleton/Doctor), Ros Engledow (Mrs Jennings), Rosemary Gibbons (Lady Middleton/Gossip 2), Kate Garrow (Lucy Steele/Gossip 5), Sienna Curnow (Anne Steele/Gossip 3), Russell Godwin (Robert Ferrars/Gossip 4), Justice-Noah Malfitano (Thomas/Gossip 1) and Freya Rowell (Gossip 6)
Dates and venues: Canberra REP Theatre, 17 November to 3 December 2022

A true love triangle where affection and attraction exists between different pairings amongst all three of its members – Ellie, Paul and Aster – as opposed to two love interests vying for one protagonist, has become rare and it’s so exciting to see one flourish in this film. 

Throughout the film, there is a consistent theme of only feeling like half of something, instead of whole. Ellie begins the film through voiceover narration and introduces the Ancient Greek idea that originally humans were born physically attached to their soulmate. The Gods then decided to split all couples in half out of anger at the humans, forcing them to spend their whole lives searching for their other halves. 

Perhaps the most spectacular moment of this motif is when Ellie and Aster are lying together in the hot spring and their faces are reflected in the water. For a brief moment, they are both whole. 

Ellie is searching for more than just her other romantic half in this film, as the story also follows her experience as a Chinese immigrant living in the United States. She lives with her father by the train station where he works, often having to take on chores and household tasks due to his reluctance to speak English while dealing with racist comments from her classmates.

The presence of trains in the movie – whether it’s Ellie and Paul scheming in an empty carriage at the station or the emotional train sequence at the end of the film –provides a great visual representation of whether the characters are actively going after what they want.

The characters in this film all shine and Wu does a great job of exploring each different relationship in her writing. Aside from the romantic elements of the film, Ellie and Paul’s friendship is fantastic as is Paul’s touching relationship with Ellie’s father.

The Half of It is one of those rare phenomenal movies which gets everything right. It will tug on your heartstrings, make you laugh and urge you to shed a tear.

Rating: Highly recommend

Film: The Half of It
Director: Alice Wu
Writer: Alice Wu
Starring: Leah Lewis (Ellie Chu), Daniel Diemer (Paul Munsky), Alexxis Lemire (Aster Flores) and Collin Chou (Edwin Chu)
Release Date: 1 May 2020
Distributor: Netflix

The story follows teenage sisters Cinnamon and Scarlett Prince over the course of a summer as they navigate family, friendship and romance while also trying to figure themselves out. It’s a multi-genre story with elements of gothic, mystery and romance set in an old mansion called Halcyon House by the beach.

Where You Left Us is written in an intoxicatingly poetic prose and told in dual perspective from the two sisters.

When writing from Cinnamon’s point of view, Wilde experiments with using both left- and right-aligned text to tell her side of the story. The left-aligned text represents the majority of the story, with the right-aligned text occasionally appearing to reveal Cinnamon’s more emotional or inner thoughts. Coupled with the use of the third person present tense, this allows the reader to feel the closeness and immediacy of Cinnamon’s feelings.

‘You can fall out of love with someone and still love them.’

A large source of anger, confusion and conflict for Cinnamon is her relationship with Will. How do you navigate a friendship with someone you dated?

Through Cinnamon and Will, Wilde writes a friends to lovers to friends storyline which feels so real and yet unusual in young adult fiction. While most fictional breakups are messy and horrible, Cinnamon and Will still like each other and need to figure out exactly what that means. This really interesting dynamic makes for an extremely captivating narrative.

Where Cinnamon is chaotic, Scarlett is ordered. She thinks in lists. She worries about being boring, all while she is transforming into the Sherlock character who will solve the mystery.

The mystery plot thread in the novel feels inevitable and compelling. Cinnamon and Scarlett are coming to terms with truths about their family instead of having a ‘gotcha’ moment.

‘What if I’m a disaster bi but not in a cute way?’

Another highlight is the evolving relationship between Cinnamon and her coworker Daisy Leung. While Where You Left Us is not a coming out story, it follows Cinnamon as she navigates her first relationship with a girl. The conflict and hurdles in Cinnamon and Daisy’s relationship come from a real place of teenage fear.

Where You Left Us is a classic in the making that will hopefully remain on Australian bookshelves for many years to come.

Rating: Highly recommend

Book: Where You Left Us
Author: Rhiannon Wilde
Publisher: University of Queensland Press
Publication Date: 30 August 2022