Arts & Culture

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 28 December 2022

On a coolish evening in Perth, my friend and I settled in at the UWA Somerville to watch the movie “Decision to Leave”.

Creative genius Park Chan-Wook of The Handmaiden (2013) and The Little Drummer Girl (2018), continues to excel as an auteur of the cinematic world with his latest movie Decision to Leave winning the Best Director Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

The synopsis reads as follows:

“ A man falls from a mountain peak to his death.
The detective in charge, Hae-joon (PARK Hae-il),
comes to meet the dead man's wife Seo-rae (TANG Wei).”

As the seasoned Detective in Charge Hae-joon investigates the death of the man, including Seo-rae (the wife of the dead man) as a key suspect, he also begins to have a growing attraction for her – not exactly an ideal situation !

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 21 December 2022

Armed with our delicious pizza in hand from Charlies Pizza, my partner and I settled in for the evening at UWA Somerville theatre to watch Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.

The movie is a heart warming story about Ugyen Dorji (played by actor Sherab Dorji), a young teacher who is sent up to a mountainous, remote village in Gasa to teach the children as part of his teaching contract.

It is a world away from the life that he is used to living in the capital of Bhutan with his grandmother. Furthermore, Ugyen aspires to be a singer and wants to get a visa so that he can live in Australia!

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 13 December 2022

In the opening scenes of the movie “Return to Seoul” the main character Freddie (Frédérique Benoît) is out for the evening with new friends and is asked the age old question:

“ Where are you from? “

This question resonated with me and made me laugh out loud as it is one that I am asked from time to time.

Freddie is French – and looks Korean.

She is a 25 year old with Korean birth parents, who was adopted by a French couple as a baby and brought up in France.

On impulse, she ends up in Korea and thus begins Freddie’s epic journey as she sets out in search of her roots and her biological parents.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 20 November 2022

My partner and I headed out on a coolish Saturday evening to the Subiaco Arts Centre to watch D*ck Pics in the Garden of Eden by The Last Great Hunt.

The last time that we watched one of their shows it was Bite the Hand which we enjoyed very much.

Their contemporary style and out of the box performances are always thought provoking and highly entertaining, and D*ck Pics in the Garden of Eden, directed and written by Jeffrey Jay Fowler, was no exception.

Many of us know our Bible creation stories – but on this evening, they were told in a rather unique way.

The costumes were of gigantic proportions – well, some parts anyway!

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 18 November 2022

Look at Me is currently banned in Singapore...this interesting snippet provided me with some food for thought – as my friend and I headed to Windsor Luna in Nedlands to watch a one-off special screening of the film as part of PrideFEST events this week.

Look at Me recently premiered at the New York Asian Film Festival and we have been rather lucky to have it brought to Perth by PRIDE WA for its Australian Premiere.

In the film, director Ken Kwek takes a contemporary look at what it is like to be gay in Singapore.

The story starts off with a seemingly normal family scene - a single Mum Nancy Marzuki (Pam Oei) enjoying time with her teenage twin boys Sean and Ricky (Yao) at home – teasing and showing love for each other.

Then Sean and Ricky attend an Evangelical rock concert with Sean’s girlfriend Mia (Ching Shu Yi) which is followed by an inflammatory anti LGBTQIA+ sermon by the pastor.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 16 December 2022

Movie buffs who missed watching Emily at the Cunard British Film Festival in Perth last year will be happy to hear that it will be screening at Luna Cinemas very soon.

Emily as in Emily Brontë, the English novelist and poet (1818-1848) who wrote the classic love story Wuthering Heights.

Most of us have heard or are familiar with Wuthering Heights – however, not many of us know a great deal about what Emily Brontë’s life might have been like.

Australian-English actress Frances O’Connor (who originally hails from Perth) in her directorial debut, brings to life the biography of Emily Brontë to tell the colourful and vivid story of her coming of age.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 04 November 2022

On a slightly warmish Thursday evening, my friend and I headed into the Perth CBD to watch SITU 8: City.

The instructions for the venue location Liberty Theatre were: –

" Meet in lane way in between David Jones and Australia the Gift, 161 Murray St "

It looked like we were up for an intriguing night of entertainment.

As we keenly waited for the show to start, we mingled around the pop up bar surrounded by the facade of old red brick buildings with their fire escape staircases.

SITU 8: City is the brainchild of Strut Dance and Tura - having been performed at various venues in the past. Its performance location is at Liberty Theatre, which has been recently reactivated as an arts and cultural performance space.

Liberty Theatre is a very special location – laying claim to being Perth’s first art house cinema when it first opened in doors back in in 1954.

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Decision to Leave at Perth Festival

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom at Perth Festival

Return to Seoul at Perth Festival

D*ck Pics in the Garden of Eden at Subiaco Arts Centre

Look at Me at PrideFEST WA

Emily at Luna

SITU-8: City by Strut Dance and Tura at Liberty Theatre