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Burning Hearts – Italian Film Festival

The Italian Film Festival is in its 23rd year after its founding at the turn of the millennium in 2000.  Since then, the festival has grown in popularity to become the most significant public celebration of Italian cinema outside Italy.

A feature of this year’s festival is a special presentation of New Italian Cinema’s – Burning Hearts – which takes place in the picturesque region of Puglia. This gripping crime tale reignited an age-old feud between two rival families as a forbidden love story unfolds. Burning Hearts is directed by Pippo Mezzapesa and was the Best Cinematography winner at the 2023 Nastro d’Argento Awards.

Based on a non-fiction book by Carlo Bonini and Giuliano Foschino, Burning Hearts is inspired by the true story of Rosa Di Flore. Mafia rival clans, the Malatesta and the Camporeale, have a history of bloody feuds. After a fragile truce, Andrea, Michele Malatesta’s son, falls in love with Marilena, the wife of fugitive Santo Camporeale. The affair becomes public, leading to a murder that will renew war between the rival clans. Andrea, driven by vengeance, returns home determined to eliminate the Camporeales.

Singer Elodie makes her acting debut in Burning Hearts as one-half of the forbidden lovers, Marilena Camporeale. As an acting debut, Elodie gave us a very solid performance. Francesco Patane played Andrea Malatesta and gave us a convincing performance of a loving son turned cold-blooded killer set on vengeance. Another stand-out performance was that of Lidia Vitale, who played matriarch of the Malatesta clan, Teresa.

The style choice from Pippo Mezzapesa was apparent throughout the film and reminiscent of the Film noir style. The black and white tones add to the story’s crime element and make action scenes more intense. This choice adds depth to the characters’ expressions. However, strangely, there were a few instances during the movie when the sound or music seemed out of sync with the story being told.

Andrea Malatesta’s character arc in the film serves as a cautionary tale about the corrupting influence of power and the potential consequences it can bring. I did not read the book before watching this film, so I cannot comment on any differences between the book and the film. If you are a fan of crime dramas or Italian cinema, then this is one to watch at the 2023 Italian Film Festival.

The Italian Film Festival runs from the 19th Sep to the 25 Oct, although check the dates for regional variations. Check out the movie session times in your local area on the Italian Film Festival website. Ciao!

This review also appears on It’s On The House.

Picnic At Hanging Rock – A Dark Australian Tale

The Observatory Theatre’s latest production, Picnic at Hanging Rock brings Joan Lindsay’s haunting and iconic novel to life through Tom Wright’s reimagining of this dark, uniquely Australian tale.  Emerging artistic talent Lachlan Driscoll has created an impressive theatrical experience that successfully captures the essence of mystery and intrigue central to Lindsay’s story. 

The laser focus of Driscoll and his team in delivering a high-quality production is evident in the attention to detail accorded to the set and sound design which transports the audience straight into country Victoria in 1900 and Appleyard College, a private school for girls where we meet the students, the school mistresses, and servants.

A dark sense of foreboding swirls as we join these disparate characters who are drawn irrevocably into the eerie world of the Rock and their fate.  We feel the mid-afternoon heat, torpor, and rugged dangerous beauty of the Australian bush as the story builds towards the fateful picnic and, then the discordant, crashing horror of the aftermath.  Each scene is carefully crafted with the actors, beautifully choreographed, maintaining the energy and pace to drive the evocative narrative forward.

Tom Wright’s adaption of this story is unique.  It shines a light into the dark corners of the world inhabited by these young Australian women, constrained and constricted under the expectations of a culture fully informed by the British “motherland”; the accepted and expected way of life in the “outpost of Empire” that was pre-Federation Australia.  This jars deliciously and discordantly with the ancient and seemingly unknowable Australian landscape exemplified by the Rock. 

The wonderfully talented cast is given much to work with and they take full advantage.  Malika Savory’s nuanced execution of Sara brings the fragility of this vulnerable girl to life and her scenes with the “Headmistress from Hell”, Mrs Appleyard (adeptly portrayed by Libby Harrison) deliver a masterclass in powerful performance.

As Albert Crundall, the Coachman, Leah Fitzgerald-Quinn sets the tone for this seemingly simple yet interestingly complex character.  Albert’s common, sometimes crass but practical nature appears at odds with his bold acts of bravery and Fitzgerald-Quinn brings a laconic “Australian-ness” to deliver believability to this spectrum.

When picnic survivor Irma Leopold meets with Michael Fitzhubert, the young Englishman haunted by the girls’ fate, over a polite afternoon tea, both Jules Broun (Irma) and Téa Paige (Michael) strike the right note of poignancy and fear as Irma and Michael struggle to remember, and also to forget their experiences at Rock within this strained and constrained formal ceremony.

The Observatory Theatre’s production of Picnic at Hanging Rock is much more than a stock retelling of a well-loved tale which ponders the blurred lines between truth and fiction.  It successfully pays homage to the haunting legacy of the original story and offers new perspectives.

Balancing innovation whilst maintaining faithfulness to the source material ensures those of us still having nightmares from Peter Weir’s unsettling 1975 film adaption of the story, and those of us who are new to the tale, are equally satisfied.

Put this one on your must-see list.  With 10% off at Slipstream Brewing on presentation of your ticket you’d be mad not to enjoy the supernatural shivers, and a calming beverage afterwards. 

Performances nightly at Studio 1 Yeerongpilly on Friday 18, Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 August with 3pm Matinee performances on both Saturday and Sunday.

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Every Tale has a Beginning

Pip Theatre’s latest production, produced by Moonspark Productions, of David Eldridge’s play, Beginning, is a poignant musing about two lonely people in our present day, seeking some sort of connection in inner-city London.

A real-time examination of two damaged people reaching out at the end of a party, with the woman taking the initiative. This two-hander movingly reminds us that, even in the age of social media and internet dating, creating a connection with another person remains as problematic as ever.

Laura is a 38-year-old managing director whose new north London home is where the housewarming party happened. Danny is a 42-year-old middle-management man who, having come along at the invitation of a friend, is the last man standing. They are similar in age, but in many ways, they are universes unto themselves. She is passionate, capable and, organised. He lives with his mum.

Taking place in real time over 100 minutes, the play shows them desperate for love and affection. It would be a big spoiler to reveal why they are so needy. Eldridge captures the way people’s desires rarely synchronise. Laura seems more assured, yet we sense a vacancy in her life.

Danny clearly likes her but is nervous, resisting her advances through evasion tactics, including cleaning up the detritus of the party. Eldridge shows that contrary to all the myths of our technological age and the allure of advertising, solitude is still pervasive.

The Australian premiere of the play is currently running in Brisbane at PIP Theatre, 20 Park Road, Milton. Crystal Arons and Jesse Blachut do an admirable job of bringing to life the angst of the two slightly sloshed Londoners.

The hunger animating Laura is evident, and Danny’s rugged wariness suggests a man who conceals a buried hurt. Director Heidi Gledhill has them hitting the right rhythm as both actors peel away protective layers, leaving you caring deeply about them, adding an eerie quality to present-day dating.

This is the production’s final week with only the following sessions of Beginning to choose from:-

  • Thu 27 July 7.30 pm
  • Fri 28 July 7.30 pm
  • Sat 29 July, Matinee 2 pm
  • Sun 29 July 7.30 pm
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Hauntingly Beautiful – Children of the Black Skirt

If you’re looking for a hauntingly beautiful Australian classic, Angela Betzien’s Children of the Black Skirt is an absolute must-see. This production was first performed 20 years ago by a group of young art graduates after approaching the Queensland Art Council, proposing a way to tell real Australian stories.

Time has not aged this piece as it’s just as relevant today. It’s being performed at The Curators Theatre at Milton’s Christ Church, by the Lost Child Ensemble, right under the wing of Suncorp Stadium. The team has fought pandemics, fires, and floods to put this performance together. It runs for 60 minutes with a 15-minute Q&A with the cast and crew at the end.

Five young children find an abandoned orphanage, and the spirits stuck inside possess them as vessels to tell their long-lost stories in hopes of finally being free. Throughout the play, four children are under the ever-watching eye of the Black Skirt, Emily Greenant (Lisa Hickey), cycling through the stories of different spirits who had suffered in her charge.

The talented Mikeal Bobart, Shahnee Hunter, Malika Savoury, and Vivien Whittle play the four children. Choosing anyone as a stand-out performer is nearly impossible as they all put on incredible performances.

The soundscape is unnerving, with children’s songs and bird calls mixed with reverse clips of children playing. It sets the scene perfectly and sits comfortably with the gothic quality of the Church.

Bill Haycock and Peter Goodwin worked incredibly well together on the set and sound, but one cannot give enough praise to Helen Strube for bringing it all together in the end. Props must also be given to the church for hosting such a harsh critique of institutional abuse in Australia’s history.

If you have the time for a Gothic fairytale, Children of the Black Skirt cannot be recommended highly enough.

With the production running for just one more week, be sure to get tickets for any one of the following sessions at The Curators Theatre:-

  • Wed 19 July, Matinee 12.30 pm
  • Wed 19 July, Evening 7.30 pm
  • Thurs 20 July, Matinee 12.30 pm
  • Thurs 20 July Evening 7.30 pm
  • Fri 21 July Matinee 12.30 pm
  • Fri 21 July Evening 7.30 pm
  • Sat 22 July, Matinee 12.30 pm
  • Sun 23 July Twilight 5.30 pm
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