Arts & Culture

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 01 August 2024

My friend and I chatted away whilst waiting for the performance of momenta to begin, we were in awe at the magnificence of the Heath Ledger Theatre with all its beautiful wooden panelling and surrounds.

Let your imagination run wild and its good for your soul were the words of Richard as he introduced the momenta production on its opening night.

Momenta is a visual and sensory delight – bodies merging and synchronised to perfectly choreographed music by Rafael Bonachela.

I enjoyed the undulations between a futuristic setting with a mechanistic beat contrasted against the classical music sets with violins tearing at the heartstrings and eliciting the poignancy of heightened emotion and sadness.

Beautifully sculptured bodies - strong and agile at the same time - swept together in dual and triple formations on the stage, and at other times a fusion of all the dancers meeting together forming an ephemeral quality as they dissolved into the shimmering light merged as one.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 16 July 2024

It's winter in Perth – and the Scandinavian Film Festival has given Perthites a very good reason to head out the door to Palace Raine Square to watch the feast of movies on offer.

I was lucky to watch the preview of When the Light Breaks (Ljósbrot) at Raine Square yesterday evening.

Set on a long summer's day in Reykjavik, Iceland, the movie centres around young adult Una (Elín Hall), who is happily in a relationship with her boyfriend – albeit under difficult circumstances due to a secret she harbours. But tragedy befalls her boyfriend, who dies before their future can be assured.

Grief – such a complex emotion - is portrayed in this film with the intensity and sensitivity that it elicits.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 05 July 2024

As my partner and I headed to the State Theatre Centre of WA on a coolish evening, we were looking forward to watching Prima Facie by Black Swan State Theatre Company.

Written by Suzie Miller, the play centres around Tessa Ensler – a criminal defence barrister on top of her game, who hasn't lost a case for months. It has been a hard climb to success for a working class girl, but she has finally made it to the top.

Just as everything appears to be falling into place for Tessa, a new potential relationship with her equally successfully colleague Damo blows her carefully constructed world apart. Whilst under the influence of alcohol and ill from its effects, Tessa is raped by Damo in her own apartment.

What should she do? Report him or let it go?

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 12 June 2024

On a cool winter’s evening, my partner and I headed to the Como Theatre (in its previous life it was known as the Cygnet Cinema).

This theatre brings back fond memories of when I was younger and my family used to go there to watch a movie and spend time together.

Stepping into the renovated theatre was a treat as we admired its restored art deco trimmings in all their splendour, with intricate nautical motifs adorning the side of the walls near our seats.

Armed with a big box of popcorn and a drink we listened to a live music performance by singer songwriter Rachael Coltrona, giving a song tribute to the Two Hands soundtrack.

Two Hands is a cult classic (1999) starring Perth’s own Heath Ledger. In this quintessential Aussie film about bad guys in King's Cross, Ledger plays the role of a Jimmy, a young strip club promoter who gets in trouble with Sydney gangsters when his first job for them goes seriously wrong.

Its a thriller, crime and a comedy all in one.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 11 June 2024

As we headed towards Windsor Cinema on a coolish winter’s evening, my friend and I were looking forward to watching the French movie Divertimento.

Two young teenage sisters of Algerian descent (aspiring conductor Zahia and cellist Fettouma) – are both passionate musicians talented enough to join the exclusive classical symphonic musical scene in Paris. Thrown into a different world compared to their upbringing out in the suburbs as part of an Algerian family, this beautiful movie tells the inspirational story of their rise to success in the classical musical scene.

Confronting a stiff and unbending approach from musical bureaucracy and its academics, chauvinism and taunting from their peers, this film is testament to making your dreams come true despite setbacks and adversity along the path to success.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 30 May 2024

The Spanish Film Festival in Perth is just around the corner and my friend and I were lucky enough to preview The Teacher Who Promised the Sea (El maestro que prometió el mar ) at Palace Cinemas Raine Square – the centrepiece of the Festival.

The unique and quaint film title bubbled up in my head in the lead up to watching the movie – curiosity aroused in me as to what story might unfold in the movie.

Young and determined Ariadna (Laia Costa) sets out on a mission to discover the hidden past of her ailing grandfather’s father – something that has not been talked about in her family. She arrives at the exhumation of a mass burial plot close to where her great grandfather resided back in the day, but as it turns out this is only the start of her investigations.

Alongside this plot line, we also follow the story of Antoni Benaiges (Enric Auquer) a teacher from Catalonia who in 1935 is assigned to teach children in Burgos (in a small village called Bañuelos de Bureba). While the kids thrive under his tutelage, his innovative teaching methods are viewed with disdain from the local community.

Details: Written by: Greg Letts; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 28 May 2024

In a world where many movies set in impoverished circumstances dial up the violence, crime and brutality to 11, Radical is a welcome change of scene, faithfully following the standard trope of well-meaning middle-class teacher with new ideas coming to work with disadvantaged schoolchildren, but telling the familiar story with warmth and wit.

Set in Mexico in 2011, Sergio Correa, a teacher who had a breakdown at his previous school, arrives at the Jose Urbina Lopez elementary school to teach sixth grade. In a town where poverty, crime and violence are everywhere, and gunshots can be heard from the classroom, Sergio has the radical idea of teaching his students to think creatively for themselves, instead of just trying to prepare them for the standardised tests that the government makes all children take.

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Momenta by Sydney Dance Company at State Theatre Centre of WA

When the Light Breaks at Scandinavian Film Festival

Prima Facie by Black Swan State Theatre Company

Heath Ledger in Two Hands at the Como Theatre - Exhumed Cinema at Strange Festival

Divertimento at Luna

The Teacher who Promised the Sea at the Spanish Film Festival

Radical Afternoon Tea at Luna Leederville