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A crisis of faith. That is the essence of the slow-moving drama that is Midwinter Break.   The film is set up at the start with reference to a traumatic incident that happened in the first year of marriage between Irish couple Stella and Gerry.   It saw them leave their beloved home for Scotland, where Stella (then played by Lesley Manville) was a teacher and Gerry (Ciaran Hinds) an architect.   Both have since retired.   It is freezing cold on Christmas Eve when Stella atten

REBEL is a musical that delves into one man’s journey to discover his true self.   It is an exploration of family, community, music and being queer in the USA in the 1940s to 1960s.   The story is set in a New York bar in 1969, where cowboy Davey (Maxwell Simon) narrates his life as a gay singer/songwriter. Photos by Dylan Norrington  He has been greatly influenced by his beloved uncle Randy.   Davey was misunderstood and mistreated by his father, whose business went belly up

Bold and bodacious, why wouldn’t I start crowing about Year of the Rooster (the third part of what has become known as The Beast Trilogy by Spinning Plates Co.)?   The others were The Crocodile (2023) and Rhinoceros (2024).   Year of the Rooster is theatre of the absurd on steroids, with larger-than-life characters that bring attitude.   The subject is illegal cock fighting. No beg pardons here – just straight for the jugular. It presents as rich commentary about toxic mascul

An entertaining and engaging sports-based animation from the studio behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, this is an underdog story involving animals.   The title refers to the horned creature, as well as the greatest of all time.   Will Harris is a little goat with big dreams.  For as long as he can remember, his hero in a game called roarball, which looks suspiciously like basketball, has been five-time all-star black panther Jett Fillmore.   She plays for the Vinelan

A comedic drama romance, Colours of Time is intriguing tale about the past and how it can help inform the future.   A developer is expanding a shopping centre and a countryside home in Normandy –abandoned for decades and suspended in time – stands in the way.   A meeting is called of 30 ancestors of the family that owned the property, which was shuttered in 1944 and hasn’t been visited since.   Four are chosen as representatives to survey the estate and help determine its fat

Anne Frank’s story is a tragic but inspiring one and it is played out in dramatic fashion on stage.   As Jews, when her Dutch family was forced to go into hiding during the Holocaust, she was gifted a diary, which she wrote in religiously.   It contained her innermost thoughts about those she was with and her views of the world.  Photos by Amanda Humphreys Her emotions and those of the others holed up with her are laid bare in this Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning play.   They

Writer and director Maggie Gyllenhaal has upended the story of Frankenstein by focusing primarily on his partner, who she brings back from the dead.   It is a drama, a horror and an unconventional romance, with feminism at its core.   The story injects Frankenstein’s writer Mary Shelley into the tale from beyond the grave.   In short, she manages to possess a young woman called Ida (Jessie Buckley), injecting in her unhinged behaviour. Ida is subsequently dealt with by two he

A biographical comedic drama inspired by reality, I Swear is one of the feel-good films of the year.   The movie, which starts in 1983, traces the journey of a Scottish youngster who, at a time when the condition isn’t universally recognised, develops Tourette’s Syndrome.   John Davidson is the eldest of four children, a hard worker and a gifted young soccer goalkeeper who eyes a promising future when he enters high school.   But as soon as he does, the first symptoms of Tour

Four hours before he is due for execution, Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) is visited by a priest (Adrian Lukas).   In this black comedy, Becket proceeds to calmly relay his sordid story to Father Morris.  Becket’s mother, Mary (Nell Williams), was heir to a family fortune worth US$18 billion – $19 billion.   But when she fell pregnant at age 18 and refused to abort the baby, she was disowned and disinherited by her ruthless father, Whitelaw (Ed Harris).   Still, she did all s