Tonight I walked out of my flat into the ever-present dusk of a Melbourne night. The day had turned cold and I had returned home, chilled, to armour myself against the wind. I stepped out, limbs warm and looked up to see a colony of bats drifting haphazardly across the grey, a fitting moment for the night before Halloween. Melbourne has been a swarm of costumed revellers, day of the dead skulls and glitter, zombies with mouths sewn shut, ladies ready for the races with hats as wide as Saturn’s rings. Continue reading
Meryl Streep plays real-life New York socialite Florence Foster Jenkins who was a long-time supporter of music and an amateur soprano. What makes her story remarkable is that she occasionally performed, usually to supportive groups of friends, and was recorded several times even though she was not very good. Directed by Stephen Frears and also starring Hugh Grant as Florence’s husband and manager, St. Clair Bayfield, this is the same story that is the basis of the French film Marguerite, also currently in release.