Off The Screen Magazine September 2012

September 2012

Fairy Fantasia

The lead cast for Mogale Youth Ballet’s inaugural performance

Dawid Minnaar, star Of the new film Die Wonderwerker, Talks to us

Hansel and Gretel

Thula Cruickshank and Megan Meyer, two of Johannesburg Youth Ballet’s rising stars

A Teddy’s Best Friend

Mark Wahlberg tells us what it’s like to have a teddy bear for a best friend.

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Anneke Weidemann and Dawid Minnaar in Die Wonderwerker

Contents Cover Story: A Worker of Wonders

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Features: A Teddy’s Best Friend Dancing in the Woods A Fantastical Fairy Feast In the Dark

6 17 20 28

Reviews: Feature Reviews A Brave New Princess In First Position It’s a Revolution DVD: A Million Colours Film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Haywire Katy Perry: Part of Me Marley Seeking a Friend for the End of the World Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings Safe This Must be the Place

Dawid Minnaar in Die Wonderwerker

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Contents Reviews: (cont’d) The Watch Die Wonderwerker Zama Zama The Lady Theatre Off to the Gingerbread House: Hansel and Gretel review The Long and Short of it: SA Shorts review The Iceman Cometh: Snowman review Still Burning the Floor: Burn the Floor Review DVD Tactical Force The Grey All the Fine Lines Children of the Corn: Genesis The Hunger Games My Mother’s Secrets The Pirates! Band of Misfits Albert Nobbs

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Thula Cruickshank and Megan Meyer in Hansel and Gretel

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62 Presley Chweneyagae in Zama Zama

Editors Letter Thanks so much for picking up our September issue, we hope you enjoy it.

We have another bumper issue for you this month.

Our cover story is an exclusive interview we did with Dawid Minnaar, star of the new Afrikaans film, Die Wonderwerker. We also have interviews from Presley Chweneyagae, the star from the Oscar winning Tsotsi, about his new role in the film, Zama Zama, with the stars of the Johannesburg Youth Ballet’s Hansel and Gretel, and the stars of Mogale Youth

Ballet’s inaugural production, Fairy Fantasia.

We have the usual film, DVD and theatre reviews as well so have a look.

We at Off The Screen would like to congratulate all the Olympic competitors from our country, those that won gold and those that didn’t. We know you tried your best, and that’s all we could ask of you.

We all hope you enjoy the issue and look for the next one coming on the first Monday of October.

Best Wishes Jon Broeke Editor

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Off The Screen Magazine Or you have an event you’d like us to cover Email us at:

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A Teddy’s Best Friend

In the film Ted a wish makes a teddy bear comes to life. Mark Wahlberg discussed with us what it was like to have a teddy bear for a best friend, and what the acting experience was like.

W

e all have best friends.

Most of them we met while we were at school, some we met in college, others become best friends after we’ve worked with them, or played with them, for a while, but John Bennett is the only person who can say his best friend is a walking, talking, magical teddy bear. In the new film Ted that is exactly what he gets.

After making a wish at Christmas that his teddy bear was alive, the toy comes to life.

The commotion it causes is insane, the bear making guest spots on the biggest talk shows at the time, and becoming a minor celebrity, but always staying John’s best friend. Now, many years later, the bear has become just another former celebrity, sitting around and smoking pot most of the time, while John has never really grown up. This is a problem for his girlfriend, played by Mila Kunis. She wants a grownup to live her life with, not a guy that still plays with his teddy. This creates a major problem for John as he tries to balance his love for the bear, representing the life, and childhood, that he’s lived, and the love for the woman he wants to marry.

Mark Wahlberg plays John Bennett in the film.

“When I first heard the original concept,” he says. “They told me the story was about this guy and his teddy bear that comes to life and the teddy bear starts running around acting crazy. I thought it wasn’t for me. Then I read the script and completely forgot about the whole teddy bear

aspect and just thought it was a great relationship and friendship story.”

The film’s director, Seth McFarlane, is known for his sense of humour.

“We have a similar sense of humour.

His is a little more sophisticated and mine is more street.”

Wahlberg’s admiration for the man is obvious.

“Seth is the smartest and probably the funniest person I’ve ever met,” Walhberg says. “He’s also a really likeable guy. Coming into the comedy world, aside from Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, I’ve met a lot of people and some of them seem to have this kind of dark side to them, even though they appear to be very funny on TV or in movies. Seth is a very sweet, likeable guy and his humor comes from a nice place even though it might be offensive at times to certain people. He‘s not trying to offend. He just doesn‘t think there are any rules or boundaries.”

Wahlberg could identify with the character, John. His friends are from his childhood and their relationships are a lot like the relationship between John and Ted. “I held on to my friends for as long as I could,” Wahlberg tells me. “Until my wife said, “Look, these guys can’t move into the new house with us and the baby.” I was always hanging around with my friends. We were like Ted and John. We always hung out and were a little bit of a bad influence on each other but we always loved each other and had that bond. All guys want to hang out with their friends and want to hold on to that little bit of adolescence that guys enjoy. I share

that a lot now with my two sons. We go crazy!”

His feeling is that men never really grow up.

“Sometime you meet kids and they already seem very adult. I think it depends on the person. I think more than less, yes, a lot of guys have that characteristic.”

In the film Ted and John have a knockdown, drag0out fist fight. This was awkward for Wahlberg.

“That was just me flailing around, looking ridiculous and feeling embarrassed about it but I trusted Seth. Everything I do I try to make as realistic as possible. It felt so false when I was doing it but people love that scene.”

Wahlberg’s life is now all about his kids, and they won’t be watching this film.

“They see the posters all over town and they ask, “Oh daddy, we can see that one right?” And I say, “No.” I put my son to sleep last night telling him the story of TED, obviously the G-rated version of the story.”

Though his family is deathly important to him there are still things he wants to achieve.

“There’s plenty that I want to achieve and accomplish,” he says. “I’m still as hungry and focused as I was the day I started, maybe even more so because I’m more disciplined now. All the days of partying and drinking and smoking are well behind me, so I’m even more focused. I don’t know what it is that makes me more focused, whether it’s where I came from or the possibility of going back there.”

We won’t have to wait too long to see him again either he’s just finished working on Pain and Gain, the new Michael Bay helmed actioner, and is soon to begin shooting 2 Guns, with Denzel Washington, in New Orleans. We look forward to seeing them both, with or without the teddy bears. Who knows maybe Michael Bay will put a teddy bear in his next Transformers film…

A Worker of Wonders The Afrikaans biographic drama Die Wonderwerker hits our screens this month. We sat down with Dawid Minnaar, the man taking the lead to bring this story of one of the most profound figures in Afrikaans literature to our screens.

I

’m sure all Afrikaans speaking people will know of Eugene Marais and the invaluable work that he did for Afrikaans as a language, not to mention his work as a naturalist that rivals Darwin and Freud in its importance. For those of you that don’t know about him, however, a new film hits our screens this month that may cast a light on this important figure in our countries history.

Die Wonderwerker tells just a small part of the man’s life, but gives a good insight into the way he thought, and what pushed him to his great discoveries. Dawid Minnaar, best known for his role in Fiela se Kind and for his TV roles in such shows as Amalia and Binnelanders, comes to our screens as the iconic character.

“He’s a fascinating personality,” Dawid tells me. He’s sitting across from me in a charcoal jacket with purple squares on it and a scarf, and visibly lights up as he speaks about the character. “A remarkable man, intellectually, especially, and emotionally. A very fascinating character for his time. It’s impossible to give an overview of what he was. We all know about the work he did with mammals, on the baboons and the ants, furthermore, he’s regarded as the first man that wrote the first pure Afrikaans poem, Die Winter’s Nag, a beautiful poem.”

Dawid knew of the man, as most Afrikaners do, from school.

“I knew the poems from school already,” he says. “There are three, Die Winter’s Nag, Dans Van Die Reen and Mabalel. These poems illicit such an emotional response from one, and the question is why, I think it’s amazing what he achieved at such an early stage of the Afrikaans language’s development. When he wrote these things Afrikaans was in diapers, it wasn’t an official language yet, most people communicated in English or in Dutch. That he could write such wonderful things, that he could do such creative things, with the language at such an early stage, I find remarkable.”

Of course poetry was only a part of this man’s repertoire. Other things included hypnosis, medicine, law and naturalism, the study of plants and animals.

“It’s impossible to give an overview of what [Eugene Marais] was. We all know about the work he did with mammals, on the baboons and the ants, furthermore, he’s regarded as the first man that wrote the first pure Afrikaans poem, Die Winter’s Nag, a beautiful poem.”

“He was kind of a renaissance man for his time,” Dawid tells me. “[Especially with his] research in animal behaviour. I think his main interest in life was the evolution of the human psyche.”

The work he did to achieve that interest is fascinating.

“His work with the baboon was the first,” Dawid tells me, leaning forward on the table. “He was a pioneer in that respect. The

main thing [he worked on with the baboons] was cause and collected memory, how in the primate’s instinct starts to get submerged almost by the cause and affect theory, you know, you touch the stove and it burns you so you don’t go there again, that kind of thing.”

But with a man with such a large body of work the people behind this film couldn’t cover everything. They had to be more specific.

“With someone like Marias it’s impossible to cover everything,” Dawid takes a sip of his cappuccino before he continues.

“You have to take a segment. You need to shine a light on a period of his life. What Katinka [Heyns] and Chris [Barnard], the script writer, did with the Wonderwerker was they took the time Eugene spent on a farm in Rietfontein, in the Waterberg. Obviously we take some poetic license because in real life he spent almost a decade, on and off, in the Waterberg, from 1907 to 1917.”

A decade is a long period to cover so the film makers narrowed their focus.

“The film looks at a period when he was living on this farm,” Dawid says. “It’s just a couple of months. The film starts the day he arrives and ends the day he leaves. You cannot ignore his work with the baboons, and you wouldn’t want to, but it’s also not the main focus of the movie, otherwise it becomes a National Geographic thing… It really focuses on his relationships with the people on the farm, and how he changed their lives. They weren’t really even aware of it.”

The films ultimate focus is Marais’ relationships with those he comes into contact with at the farm that he’s staying at.

One of the most profound relationships he forms while there, is with a young girl named Jane Brayshaw, the adopted daughter of the owner of the farm. Marais and she have strong feelings for each other from the onset.

“Marais develops a crush on her,” Dawid says. “And she has a crush on him. He was a very charismatic personality. You can imagine this man with all this knowledge, and all these interests.”

It wasn’t exactly a good relationship, as thought of today, but was beneficial for them both, especially the young girl.

“She’s about 19,” he says. “So it’s a typical, older man, younger girl [situation].

The father figure. He opens windows in her view of the world and what the possibilities are, and he strengthens her self-image and makes her feel worthy.”

The role is played by Anneke Weidemann, best known for her role in Die Ongelooflike Avonture van Hanna Hoekom.

Dawid had nothing but praise for the actress.

“She’s the easiest person to work with,” he says. “She’s very intelligent. She has a perfect balance between her instinct and her intellect. She’s quite rare. She has an amazing sensitivity. That trust was quickly established I think.”

This relationship between Jane and Marais is just one of several in the script.

There is also the relationship between Marias and the farm owner’s wife, as well as the triangle between Jane, Marias and the farm owner’s son. These were a big part of what drew Dawid to the script.

“I think that kind of sexual tension that runs through a script is nice,” he tells me.

“I like the tension. It was one of the first things, when I read the script years ago, that appealed to me.”

This is not the first time Dawid is playing Marias. He did so about 5 years ago in a play performed at the Market theatre. That play, entitled Prophet of the Waterberg, played a lot in the research and preparation that Dawid did for playing the role again in this film, but there was a lot more to it than just that. He did a lot of reading, but always returned to a book that he feels is the best if you want to know about Marais. A book called Die Groot Verlanger.

“Die Groot Verlanger is a biography on Marias written by Leon Rousseau,” Dawid says. “In my view Die Groot Verlanger is the seminal work on his life, and it’s a great read as well, it’s very personal, it has texture and detail, it’s lovely to read.

Dawid also read the books written by Marais himself, books such as Dwaal Stories, and his collected poems, which were

published by Rousseau, but books can only get you so far, he needed more hands-on input for the psychology of the man, especially the morphine addiction.

“I went to see this psychiatrist,” he tells me. “Just to find out about the techniques of hypnosis, what techniques he would have used, I didn’t want to go abracadabra in front of anyone. Katinka and I went one day and had lunch with two doctors, friends of hers, to talk about how the morphinism would manifest, both physically

and emotionally, and what happens when you have withdrawal, how does that effect a person? Although I must say, there’s a passage in Die Groot Verlanger that describes it very well, specifically referring to him, because they went on a hunting expedition

“[Anneke Weidemann is] very intelligent. She has a perfect balance between her instinct and her intellect. She’s quite rare. She has an amazing sensitivity.

That trust was quickly established I think.”

into the veld, far away from everything, and he ran out of his stuff.”

Right before filming began Dawid took a journey to Pelindaba. There he stayed at the farm where Marais lived until the day he died, shooting himself with a shotgun, once in the chest and once in the head.

“I always find that interesting, to go where they were. To think, this is where he was, he sat on this stoep, from here he walked that last morning before he shot himself.”

Now that the filming is done Dawid just hopes the audience will enjoy watching the film as much as they all enjoyed making it.

“It’s been a long cherished dream for so many people,” he says. “For so long and eventually we did it, and it’s a great feeling. I just hope the audience responds.”

Another big name in the Afrikaans community working with Dawid on this project was director Katinka Heyns, one of the best Afrikaans directors the countries ever had. Dawid has worked with her before, starting way back on Fiela se Kind. He was very happy to do it again.

“It was very special,” he says with a smile. “Fiela was Fiela, and Amalia was different, because it’s TV… This is, for how long it took to get to this point, for all those reasons, it had this very special feeling about it. Everyone on set, it was a great group of

people to work with. I think everyone had that feeling of being busy with something very special, something that we all feel very strongly about. It was great.”

He was honoured to be able to play the character in the film.

“It was a great honour and privilege to play someone like this, but it’s also a great responsibility, because for a lot of people he’s an iconic figure, in the Afrikaans pantheon of great people.”

He knows exactly what’s at stake, playing someone as loved and revered as Marais, but he took a page from the great man himself in his approach to playing him.

“I took it from his work with the ants,” Dawid says on how he approached the pressure of playing Marais. “I decided I was going to take each and every grain of sand to the nest. You have to build it little bit by little bit, you need to take it grain by grain. You have a bigger picture in your mind, but that was the only way I could visualise it in my own head. You can’t let the enormity of it intimidate you.”

He is very happy with the result though, and just hopes the audiences will now embrace the film as their own.

“We did it with care,” he says. “We did it with full commitment and more than that we couldn’t have done, so now we’ll see.”

Dancing in the Woods Photos by Lauren Davids

On Thursday 16th August UJ Arts Centre on Kingsway played host to Hansel and Gretel. The new production, put together by Johannesburg Youth Ballet, was choreographed by Mark Hawkins to an original score by Nik Sakellarides. Jon Broeke was lucky enough to sit down with two of the stars of the show, Thula Cruikshank, who played Hansel, and Megan Meyer, who played Gretel.

B

y the time Thula and Megan get to me they’ve changed out of their Hansel and Gretel costumes into their official JYB sweatshirts.

Megan has her hair down, hanging in two pig tails down by her ears, while Thula has a smile on his face, like a kid on Christmas morning.

The first thing I ask is, how was that?

Performing on stage in front of a packed audience?

“Amazing,” is all Megan can say, a big smile coming to her face.

“I feel like in Awe,” Thula tells me, his smile broadening. “I can’t believe it just happened.”

The kids are both wonderful to talk to.

Both well-spoken and intelligent, with a definite grasp on whom their characters are.

“Gretel is a fragile little girl,” Megan says. “She loves her dad a lot, she’s very close with Hansel, and she just wants to be happy, she just wants to be loved. I think the whole scene when the mother is dismissive of the children that really affected her.”

“Hansel’s brave,” Thula tells me. “But he’s scared inside. He’s very protective of Gretel and close to her. He wouldn’t let anything happen to her, I think he would starve to let Gretel survive. When the mother dismissed them both, it was more Gretel, but he just wanted to comfort her and make sure she was okay. Just take her pain away.”

Megan nods in agreement. The girl danced wonderfully in the show, but in regular ballet shoes, not the pointes you would expect a 14 year old to be wearing.

“Gretel is supposed to be bare foot,” Megan explains. “That’s the only reason, [for no pointe shoes]. We were initially going to be on pointe, but it just didn’t fit the story properly.”

On the nights that Megan isn’t performing Gretel she is the Zircon, a jewel that comes to life and dances for the boys and girls that are saved from the Witch. On pointe.

“It’s probably one of the easiest solos,” Megan tells me when I ask about the solo. “But it’s very precise and if you get it perfect it’s amazing.”

In Hansel and Gretel one of the main characters, obviously, is the witch. In this

“I saw [the witch] before the 2nd act and I just said to her, I can’t even look at you.

My stomach just turned when I saw her. It didn’t look like her.”

production Roswyn Finlay performed the witch, with some serious makeup and some seriously spooky music behind her.

“I was petrified,” Megan tells me about the first time she saw Roswyn in makeup. “I saw her before the 2nd act and I just said to her, I can’t even look at you. My stomach just turned when I saw her. It didn’t look like her.”

Thula agrees.

“It was horrible,” he says. “She was beautiful, it was ghetto. It was nice.”

Another guest artist in the performance is Nigel Hannah, very well known for his character portrayals in various ballets in South Africa, as Hansel and Gretel’s father.

The kids loved dancing with him.

“[It was] amazing,” Megan says. Thula nods his head.

“He’s such a good influence,” he adds.

“And he just knows how to make everything that much better.”

“He’s so responsive,” Megan adds. “If you act with him on stage, he’ll act back with you. You really feel like his daughter.”

“He kind of carried us,” Thula concludes. High praise indeed, but it was the kid’s performances that made the show, and they drew from their own life experiences to tell the tale of the children lost in the woods.

“Funnily enough,” Megan starts. “I’ve been to Germany, and I’ve been in the forest.

I just tried to imagine being alone in such a big forest and keep going around in circles and not knowing what to do, because Gretel is a very emotional person. She cries a lot.”

Thula has his own story.

“Once we went to a shopping centre,” he tells Megan and me. “And I got lost and I didn’t know where anyone was, where my parents where, and I was really, really scared, so I just tapped into that. I also fed off of Megan. She’s a really good dancer.”

With praise like that from another very talented dancer I’m sure it won’t be long before we see both of these ballet pro’s on the stage again. The future looks very bright indeed, and not even a dark forest can hide that.

A Fantastical Fairy Feast Photos by Carla Shannon

This year marks the first performance of Mogale Youth Ballet. We sat down with Carla Turner-Shannon and the leads of the ballet to find out what it’s all about.

Joining Roodepoort Youth Ballet and Johannesburg Youth Ballet this year, with their inaugural production is Mogale Youth Ballet. The brain child of Carla TurnerShannon, a ballet teacher from the Mogale area, this has been a labour of love.

“I thought it was a wonderful opportunity,” she says. “We’ve got Johannesburg and Roodepoort, we don’t have anything in Mogale. Also for a lot of the children here, it’s not such an affluent area and I thought it was a nice opportunity, a lot of them only do one thing so it was just the ballet. I thought if they’re going to spend a lot of time and money on something I’m going to make it really wonderful for them.”

This production, indeed ballet in all the forms that Carla partakes in, means a lot to her.

“As a value, extramurally, ballet gives so much, that’s why I have my own child here.

It’s a bit trickier for me, I’m a lot harder on him than the other kids. I feel like a terrible mother sometimes.”

The show itself, called Fair Fantasia was created by Carla, but she credits the students that she’s working with as much for it “My dancers are always my muses,” she says. “And it wasn’t that long ago that I was there age. Last year they had the opportunity to be sharks and jelly fish, so I like to create anything that will give them a new role, something different, something fabulous. This was a chance for them to really work harder on a more classical feel. I absolutely wanted to make sure that every little girl felt like a ballerina by the end of the ballet, so a fairy theme, something more feminine, was a chance to do that and so I was willing to put in the work to create a storyline where everyone had a place.”

She’s not alone of course. It takes a village to raise a child, and equally so to create a ballet.

“We had our auditions in March,” she says.

“We have a cast of 50, also with the backstage people and dress maker and so on… Elsabe Ryan helps a lot with the costumes. Some of them have been hired, like the King’s costume. Where I can I like to save on

“A lot of [the children] only do one thing so it was just the ballet. I thought if they’re going to spend a lot of time and money on something I’m going to make it really wonderful for them.” costumes… It’s about going green for me. I’ve never been the kind of ballet teacher that has needed to make everything from scratch. To me it’s just a waste, but each girl needs to wear something new to her.

Last year’s performance of Ariel in the Underworld, a 30 or so minute ballet that the children performed at the Roodepoort Dance Festival, and won the choreography cup for best ballet choreography at the festival, was a dry run for this production, but it didn’t really prepare Carla for what lay ahead.

“It’s been quite a busy experience, but something I would never have got into if I didn’t think I could manage it. Last year was a good platform for me to see, do I want to do this? Am I good enough? Do I have something to offer the ballet community, or not?”

At the end of the day, it’s all about the kids for Carla.

“The reality is that it’s very inspiring to see little ones do big things,” says Carla.

“We see adults on TV all the time. [In the audience] it’s not just a mother that sits and glows with pride, it’s somebody who thinks: that was so nice, I really enjoyed myself, I didn’t think about any of my problems and I want to see it again.”

Of course, money needs to come into consideration.

“I was concerned about getting bums in seats,” she clarifies. “That’s why there’s only the one performance this time. I also have to work with the dancers to get them to two performances a day, a matinee and an evening performance.”

That’s where she’s headed in the future, and I’m sure, with the kind of resolve she showed during my interview with her, she’s only going up.

I also sat down with the leads of the production, four lovely young ladies and a dashing young man, and chatted to them.

Teresa Greeff as Willow

T

he spunky fifteen year old brunette is playing Willow in the production.

“I play Willow,” she says.

“Who’s a purple fairy, the lilac fairy, and she brings courage and comfort to Ilse, Adorabella, because she’s heart broken.

Pretty much just a good fairy who wants to help.”

Like Justine and Ilse, Theresa has been dancing for a long time. “[I’ve been dancing] since I was 5,” she tells me, “And it’s always been with Carla.

I started at the studio when I was 5, but in pre-school she used to come, so pretty much since I was even smaller, but officially since I was 5.”

And she is in no doubt as to what it means to her.

“I love dancing,” she says, emphatically. “I really love dancing. I want to further it, but I love anything in art, so acting dancing, singing, performing in general. I want to study, major in performing arts, and I think ballet is my passion, so anything with ballet in it like my dream. It’s where I feel comfortable.

The stage is pretty much my home away from home. If I ever leave ballet I don’t know what I would do. I’d probably just start crying. I can’t live without it. It’s very addictive.”

With her enthusiasm and talent I’m sure she will be doing ballet for a long, long time.

Ilse Basson as Adorabella and Juan Van Der Merwe as King Kalan.

T

he tall 19 year old dancer is playing the lead role in the production.

“I’m Adorabella,” she explains.

“A sunshine fairy, I guess, because I wear yellow. I fall madly in love with the prince who’s betrothed to the evil Moon queen, Then Chad, the little boy, sprinkles reality dust on me so I wake up and realise that I could never marry this man because he’s already betrothed, but I still fight for love and in the end we get married.”

Her boyfriend, Juan Van Der Merwe was convinced to play the prince in the production. A young man, never having danced before, agreed to do the role after some arm twisting.

“Loads and loads of twisting,” adds Ilse.

But he is finding at fun, and says it’s an interesting experience.

“I like dancing with her,” he points to Ilse. She laughs. “When he picks me up right, it’s fun,” she says. “When he doesn’t there’s loads of fighting. And strong words.”

Ilse, on the other hand has been dancing for, what seems like forever.

“I started with Carla again when I was 15 and, pretty much since then, I’m 19 now.”

She clarifies why she started again. “I used to do ballet when I was 8, 9 and 10,” she explains. “But then I left for a long period and then I came back.”

She has no intentions of stopping ever again.

“I’m at varsity studying dance,” she says. “At the Tswane University of Technology finishing my 2nd year this year, I’m going to finish up and audition at a couple of places, hopefully I get in at a place like Mzanzi Productions, who have now collaborated with SABT, maybe I’ll get in there, maybe not, maybe I’m a bit tall. Maybe I’ll open my own company one day, who knows.”

I’m sure we’ll hear a lot more from this young, rambunctious young lady.

Justine Pretorious as Aquaria

T

he pretty fourteen year old red-head is playing the role of Aquaria in the production.

“I’m Aquaria,” she says. “And I’m in charge of the little girls in blue and we are the ones that make Ilse happy again and comfort her when she’s crying, and then also part of the rain dance and we bring the rain.”

This quite spoken girl has been dancing since she was 2 and a half, all the time with Carla Turner-Shannon, artistic director of the company. This is the first full production that she has ever done.

“We did Ariel and the Underworld production [at the Roodepoort Dance Festival] last year [2011] and go a first for that.”

While she is young she’s already thinking about the future, and what she want’s isn’t what you’d expect.

“I want to go study dancing,” she explains. “[But], I was thinking more like dance therapy, or something along those lines.”

Well, beauty and brains, I’m sure she’ll go far in the future.

Vianina Rugani as the Moon Queen

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he lovely 15 year old dancer plays the Moon Queen in the production.

“I am an evil fairy,” she explains.

“Who is the queen of the moon and what happens is that I’ve been told since I was born that I’m going to marry the prince and apparently the prince falls in love with another fairy and I get furious about it because I am so in love with riches and money and everything that come with it all the fame that I want to kill her, I want her to leave. In the end we make a bet with the leprechaun and he tells me that if [he] gives [me] all of [his] fairy dust and [his] leprechaun jewels and [his] gold, would [I] leave, and leave [them] in peace?”

“And she does leave,” clarifies Ilse.

They all laugh.

Like the others Vianina has been dancing for most of her life.

“Now for 12 years. This is my first major production as well, [like the others]. [I have] been with Carla the entire time.

On her future she also has definite plans.

“I want to go study and take ballet on the side,” she says. “I want to become an HR manager, but I love ballet so I won’t leave it.”

This production is bitter sweet for Vianina.

“I’m leaving,” she says, visibly sad by the news. “Going to boarding school next year, and I have to leave Carla, which is sad, but they have a very good dance, ballet, in the school, which they do big productions.

The school in question is Wickam Collegiate in Durban, and they are the luckier for getting this wonderful young lady.

Everyone wishes her the best, but I’m sure we’ll hear more from her in the future, regardless of where she is.

In the Dark

The new film Zama Zama shines a light on the illegal mining trade that exists in South Africa.

We speak to star of the film Presley Chweneyagae about his role and what it was like filming in the mines.

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ining is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. When it’s illegal mining it makes it ten times more dangerous, not only do these men have to deal with the conditions of their legal compatriots, but they do it without the safety precautions the others have. They also have to deal with the men that put them down there. Gangsters that will just as happily shoot them as shake their hands. In the new film Zama Zama Presley Chweneyagae, best known for his role in the 2005 Oscar winner Tsotsi, plays one of these men, Joseph.

“Joseph is the younger brother to Malcolm Phiri [played by Lindani Nkosi],” Presley tells me during an interview I had with him recently. “He’s one of the illegal miners that are in this mine that’s being raided and the brother is actually the boss of the mine.

He aspires a lot to be like his brother, but without really being direct about it, because they have their own personal fights and stuff, because he feels that Malcolm should have been there for him to give him education and all those kinds of things, but he was always somewhere, always busy. So that’s why he decided to go into [the illegal mining].”

The relationship between the two lead characters, Joseph and Malcolm, was a big reason Presley wanted to get involved in this project.

“Well,” he says. “The most interesting part about the character itself, I’m always interested in characters that have an arc. It was the first time I worked with Lindani and we actually had a lot of fun together, working together, and I think that really helped us a lot because more than anything we’re there for each other in terms of support. He’s also older than me, so it’s not like you have to really struggle that hard, even in the way we relate on set, he’s still older than me, so you put yourself in that position and use that magic as if to say, if it was me in Joseph’s shoes, what would I have done? And yes, I have siblings, so some of the things you have to draw from those qualities that you have in your own home.”

Presley and Lindani spent a lot of time together before filming started to get to know

each other. To create that familial bond on the screen.

“Definitely,” Presley says. “We had a lot of time together where we were discussing scenes and having small rehearsals with the director, but we’d actually sit down and really discuss scenes and try and understand the kind of feel that the directors trying to go for.

We’re both interested in the fact that we’ll be shooting on real location instead of a built set, so if you’re working under ground you also need to be there for each other. To know that this one is safe. We shot this in Magalies, in the real mine. It was so interesting because it was more like a boot camp. It’s just like all these guys, so in between takes we might be singing, we might be playing gum boot dance, or doing those kinds of things. I’m hoping when people see the film they’ll be able to see the kind of drive that we tried to push the film towards with us working as an ensemble.”

The fact that the film was shot on location in the mine was one of the most difficult aspects, but also one of the most interesting.

“We were down there for maybe eight hours a day, so I mean you’re literally spending the whole day walking like this,” he crouches down in his chair, showing the cramped conditions in which they shot the film. “Just the location itself it was challenging, because you can’t really use your big equipment, because you’re working in tunnels. We spent a lot of time underground.

We shot there for something like four weeks.”

This was Presley’s first experience in or around mines.

“It was actually my first time,” he tells me. “My first experience. I must say that I really learnt a lot. Most of the time you look at these guys they’re always wearing helmets and stuff and you wonder what’s this really about, and it’s a serious safety precaution thing, because I don’t know how many times we bumped our heads, and if we didn’t have our helmets on, it could have been a serious disaster. So you get to learn those kinds of things, and to manoeuvre around tunnels. The film is action packed. We had running and that kind of stuff, so you need to really know

“We shot this in Magalies, in the real mine. It was so interesting because it was more like a boot camp. It’s just like all these guys, so in between takes we might be singing, we might be playing gum boot dance, or doing those kinds of things. “

the place and how to balance the performance with the safety side of things.”

All the cast spent time with professional miners before they spent time in the mines learning what it was all about.

“We had people who’d worked in the mines before helping us with the safety precaution stuff,” he says. “They actually took us around, orientated us, to show us where we could go and where we can’t go, and also for them to win our trust in the location because they had to reinforce and put in pillars and stuff so that we feel comfortable.”

The film is an action film and there are scenes with gangster shooting in the mines, but even if there weren’t, explosions are a regular thing in the mines, and they did them in this film too.

“They did blow something up,” he tells me with a laugh. “It was actually the first time I worked with something like that because it was more like a compressor of some sort and it makes that explosion, but you can never trust these people. I’ve had two explosions in my career and I remember the first time it was done with real fire and I could feel the heat on my ears as I was running, so this one was quite different.”

The film in question that singed his ears, was Africa United. An international feature.

Presley doesn’t mind the danger though.

“It’s things that you have to do,” he says. “You sacrifice for the arts.”

Another feature of the film is a scene where Presley and Lindani have a sort of Stomp the Yard-esque gumboot battle in the mines. Gumboot has always been associated with the miners.

“It’s a real thing,” he tells me, referring to the battles. “It’s like the Zulu

dances. If you go to Hillbrow, around there, they have people who will be dancing there.

It’s almost like a competition of some sort. So it’s a real thing, an existing thing.”

The script, written by the director of the film Vickus Strijdom, was another reason Presley wanted to do the film, but he had heard about the illegal miners before.

“I had read about the illegal mining in some publication,” he says. “Luckily enough I got a call the next week about the audition and they told me that the film was based on this thing. I really wanted to be a part of it, so I came through and we sat down. He had a lot of research with him, stuff that he’d collected from the policeman he was working with when he was researching the film, because most of the stuff [you see in the film] is real.

It’s what illegal miners do.”

Presley enjoyed working with the first time writer, director.

“I think it’s important for any actor when you’re working with a director that you’re able to trust them, and they’re also able to trust you and to rely on you, and you’re able to rely on them for answers.”

After the Oscar win of Tsotsi Presley was offered roles in Hollywood, and a move was a possibility, but Presley made a conscious decision to stay in South Africa, and we’re really glad he did. He is currently working on a film version of the reality show Class Act, as well as a film which he describes as “Very important to South Africa”. I can make a statement of my own and say that he is very important to South Africa too, and we look forward to his new work, but in the meantime we’ll enjoy seeing him in the dark of the mines.

A Brave New Princess Disney’s Brave has a lot to live up to, standing next to the likes of Snow White and The Frog Prince. Thankfully, it delivers in a big way.

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he Disney princess has always showed courage under extreme danger, kindness in the face of hatred and poise in the face of oafish suitors.

Now a new face joins the long line of princesses that make up the Disney world, and her name Merida.

This princess is a fiery red-head living in medieval Scotland. The daughter of Queen Elinor (voiced by Emma Thompson) and King Fergus (voiced by the unmistakable Billy Connolly) Merida yearns to live a life of adventure, riding her horse, Angus, through the forests and shooting her bow, but that type of life is not appropriate for a princess, or so says her mother. So she’s forced to conform to her mother’s wish, which she begrudgingly does, that is until she discovers that she is to be married off to a son of one of the three other clans in the area. This is unacceptable to Merida, so she decides to take matters into her own hands and shows them up in a match of archery skill, much to her mother’s horror. After a fight Merida runs off, only to find a will ‘o the wisp, a small, glowing, blue fairy, that leads her to a small house in the woods, home to a crazy old wood carver (Julie Walters), who also turns out to be a witch. Merida strikes a deal with the witch to cast a spell on her mother to get her to change her mind, but the spell goes horribly wrong.

“Merida is a good role model for girls today, pushing the moral that having your own mind is just as important as to listen to what others say before you make a decision.”

Brave is a fantastic addition to the Disney stable of films. The characters are fantastically written. The strong, gruff father who loves his daughter, as much as he loves his wife, but doesn’t know how to manage to two together, the queen, who, in her heart of hearts, wants what’s best for her daughter, but is going about it in the wrong way, and the strong willed, stubborn and hard headed daughter who thinks she knows better and won’t admit when she’s wrong. Merida is a good role model for girls today, pushing the moral that having your own mind is just as important as to listen to what others say before you make a decision. They’re all vibrant and really jump off the screen at you. I loved the fact that actors with Scottish backgrounds were used for the roles in this film. It added an air of realism to the project,

and the accents are wonderful, though a little hard to understand at times.

The entire film is just beautiful. The vistas of the Scottish highlands are wonderful and give the film a feeling not seen in an animated film before. There are also some truly frightening and touching moments. The run from the dreaded bear, Mor’du, is actually quite scary, and the touching moment between Merida and her mother when it seems all is lost, brought a tear to my eye.

In essence, this film has large shoes to fill, being part of a group of fantastic animated films, but both the film, as a whole, and Merida, taking her place beside Cinderella and Jasmine, do it with Scottish flair. The shoe certainly fits, as Cinders would put it.

In First Position Photos courtesy of Visit Films

Joan Sebastian Zamora

A new documentary, First Position, being shown in our country because of the work of Dirk Badenhorst and SA Mzanzi Ballet, shows us what it takes to be a dancer.

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e often see, and marvel, at the grace and majesty of dance. Some of the most amazing things most of us have ever seen we’ve seen on a stage being performed by a professional dancer. What we don’t see is the hard work, the commitment and the sacrifice that goes with becoming a professional dancer. A ballerina. A new documentary, First Position, gives us a glimpse into the world of the dancer. Not professionals, at least not all of them, but those that are struggling and striving to become professional, and some of them are only 11 years old.

The film follows the trails of several dancers, Miko Fogarty, a 12 year old girl from America, Jules Fogarty, Miko’s 10 year old brother, Aran Bell, an 11 year old boy from Washington, Joan Sebastian Zamora, a 17 year old man born in Colombia, but living in New York, Michaela DePrince, a Somali born girl who was adopted by American parents when she was very young, and Gaya Yemini, an 11 year old girl from Israel, who is also one of Aran’s best friends. These children, and young adults, have one thing in common, they all want to dance. They all live to dance, in fact, and they’re all preparing to compete in the Youth American Grand Prix, one of, if not the, biggest dance competitions in the world. The point of this competition is to, either, get a scholarship to one of the greatest dance companies in the world, or to actually get jobs dancing in one of these prestigious dance

companies. We see the highs and lows, the successes and injuries of all of these dancers as they push themselves to the limits to try and get what they want.

This is moving and inspiring piece of film making. The lives of these children and young adults unfold before us in a poetic and thoughtful way. It is remarkable, not only to see these children push themselves to breaking point, sometimes literally, to try and

get a their hands on the handful of prizes that the competition has to offer, but also how incredibly talented they really are. The way they move in their dance routines, from the classical ballet to the more contemporary style, both of which they need to perform extraordinarily well to even get through the regional stages of the competition, let alone the finals, is mind boggling, especially when you consider the fact that they aren’t even teenagers yet. Most of us are still trying to run in a straight line at that age, yet here are these children doing perfect double tour en lair’s and with extension in their legs way past their ears. They are truly amazing dancers.

But that is just a small part of what this film is all about. The film highlights the sacrifices that these children have to make to achieve their dreams, and those sacrifices are more than just getting up early or working hard in class. Some have moved away from home, not seeing their families for months on end, others have had their parent’s move half way across the country so they can go to the best teachers. Some of the parents have even moved their very jobs to be closer to the best school. This is the kind of commitment it takes to be a dancer in this world. It is sobering, and shows that behind the grace is a lot of work. It increases the respect you have for these dancers that work so hard, just to entertain others.

Miko Fogarty

Michaela DePrince

“This is moving and inspiring piece of film making. The lives of these children and young adults unfold before us in a poetic and thoughtful way.�

It’s a Revolution The dancers of Step Up are back on our screens and this time it’s not only a dance that they’re performing, it’s a real revolution.

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ince the success of the Step Up, starring the now-famous Channing Tatum and his less famous wife, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, there have been two sequels, Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up 3D. The first film appealed because of the boy-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-tracksmaking-good aspect of it, as well as the boy next door charm of the Tatum, and the dancing which was great. The film mixed hop hip with contemporary to create something that had not really been seen before, and it was really exciting.

The next two films lost a little steam, and while the dancing was still very good, and bodies were really, really good, special mention to Briana Evigan from Step Up 2: The Streets, the red top in the water still keeps guys up at night I’m sure, they just didn’t have the same impact that the first film managed to generate. Thankfully they are back in form with Step Up Revolution, the forth film in the franchise.

The Mob is a group of dancers trying to make an impression in Miami. Led by Sean (Ryan Guzman) and his best friend, Eddie (Misha Gabriel) they try and do more and more elaborate flash mobs in the city where, if they get caught, it means a one way ticket to jail. They are doing this to win a prize o Youtube, the first page to 10 000 000 views wins $100 000 and they need the money. Into their world enters Emily (Catherine McCormick), an aspiring dancer and daughter of a hotel magnet (Peter Gallagher), who happens to own the hotel where Sean and Eddie work. She gets involved with the Mob, as well as with Sean, but when he father’s latest development threatens to destroy the neighbourhood where the dancers all live, they decide that there are more important things to dance for than money, and they need to start a revolution to save their homes.

Firstly, it must be said that the acting in the film not the best ever. The dramatic moments just don’t work, and when Sean and Eddie have a fight it just doesn’t have the emotional impact you would want. Gallagher, who can always be relied on for a solid performance, comes through, giving a solid showing as a dad trying to do what he thinks

is best for his daughter, but not listening to what she wants, but the acting isn’t the point of this movie, it’s the dancing, and in that regard it delivers in spades. I love the fact that they included the contemporary dance along with the hip hop. The dance sequences are clever, well-choreographed and exceptionally danced by remarkable young dancers.

McCormick, a So You think You Can Dance alum, is amazing, especially in the contemporary sequences that she performs.

Guzman and Gabriel are also great hip hop dancers, along with the rest of their crew, but the pieces between McCormick and Guzman are wonderful. The show stopper though is the performance that The Mob does at the art gallery. It is incredible. The kind of performance you want to watch over and over again. The girls in tutu’s are worth a special mention as well.

In essence this is fantastic dance film and all lovers of dance should see it, and just enjoy the love and pure joy of dancing, and see that it really can change the world.

“The dance sequences are clever, wellchoreographed and exceptionally danced by remarkable young dancers.�

A Million Colours

Starring Wandile Molebatsi, Jason Hartman and Masello Motana Directed by Peter Bishai

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untu Ndebele (Wandile Molebatsi) and Norman Knox (Jason Hartman) are best friends in 1970’s South Africa. Years ago they acted in a film called e’Lollipop and are now the most famous actors in South Africa, but Norman is white and Muntu is black, and in 1970’s South Africa, that is not a friendship that the powers that be want to last. When Muntu meets Sabela (Masello Motana) it’s love at first sight, for them both, but she is promised to a Zulu chief. They decide to run away together, but during the Soweto riots she is shot and Muntu assaults a policeman to save her. Running for his life he is conscripted into the military wing of the ANC and sent to Angola to train.

Meanwhile Norman is conscripted into the South African army and sent away to learn how to kill blacks. Muntu manages to escape, during a raid where almost everyone else is killed, and get back to his home, but things have changed. Norman has turned his back on him, confused about what’s going on in his own life, and Sabela has married the chief, thinking Muntu dead. Without any other options Muntu turns to a life of crime. But as the country gets more unstable and the people he’s supposed to work with become more unstable too Muntu fears that he won’t

survive to see the new world he so hoped for as a young man.

This is an important film for South Africa. E’Lollipop was a milestone for South African cinema, making a real impact overseas and showing millions of South African’s that white and black don’t need to be enemies, through the innocence of childhood friendship. The story of what happened to the stars of that film is something we should, and do, want to know. Unfortunately the film

doesn’t live up the message of the story. The script needed a bit more work, to give the characters a little more realism. Even though this is a true story, the words spoken on screen are made up, and they just weren’t strong enough to do the story justice. The acting is not great from most of the supporting cast. Jason Hartman is a fantastic singer, I love his music, but he can’t act and shouldn’t be in front of the camera for anything but music videos. A ray of light is Wandile Molebatsi, who I think is one of the best actors in South Africa as the moment, but even can’t make sense of the lack of direction and lack of script, though it does start looking up towards end it’s too little too late. If you loved e’Lollipop and want to know what happened to the kids, have a look, but don’t expect too much.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Starring Benjamin Walker, Rufus Sewell and Dominic Cooper Directed by Timur Bekmambetov

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hen young Abraham Lincoln’s (Benjamin Walker) mother is murdered by a vampire, the boy goes seeking revenge, but when he fails he’s rescued by the mysterious Henry Sturges (Dominic Cooper). Henry then tells Abe that the man he was trying to kill was a vampire and spends the next several years training the young man to destroy vampires. When he’s ready Abe sets off to battle evil, but he soon discovers that there is more evil out there than just the odd vampire. He discovers that the oldest vampire, Adam (Rufus Sewell) has a dark plan to take control over America and turn it into a vampire nation. Armed with this knowledge Abe begins a fight which results in him becoming President of America and declaring war on the vampires who control

the south, trying desperately to save the nation he so loves, and with it, the entire world.

This has got to be one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. The plot is just ridiculous.

The concept that the American civil war, a war fought so that people could be free and equal, was really a war against vampires is not only ridiculous, it’s insulting. I found the scenes where the union soldier mowed down the confederates as if they were nothing, repulsive. The thought that someone could take something as profound as the Civil war and trivialise it in such a way is disturbing. The acting in the film is weak at best, and the special effects are heavy handed and oafish.

There is nothing redeeming about this film and I highly recommend not watching it. Ever.

Haywire Starring Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender Directed by Steven Soderbergh

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fter saving a hostage in Barcelona, freelance covert operative Mallory Kane (Gina Carano) is sent back on assignment straight away to Dublin to play the wife of an MI5 operative (Michael Fassbender). The mission seems to be going fine until she’s double crossed and the agent tries to kill her. Surviving that Mallory discovers that not only has her boss, Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), who is also he ex-husband, set her up, but she’s also now wanted by all the law enforcement agencies in the world.

Now Mallroy’s on the run, trying to get back

to clear her name, and looking for revenge on those that set her up.

The fighting in this film is some of the best you’ll ever see. Carano is a real MMA fighter and it shows in all of the fight scenes.

They are real and dirty and you can feel the pain of the person being flung against the wall, or through the glass table. In short, the girl kicks some serious a** in the film. The other roles are played well by Fassbender, McGregor, Channing Tatum, who gets beaten up by Carano in the opening moments of the film, and Antonio Banderas, looking old with grey in the beard. They give competent performance throughout the film, but the film is about the fighting, plain and simple. If you like fight films you’ll love this one, if you want something more intellectual, skip it.

Katy Perry: Part of Me

Starring Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Russell Brand Directed by Dan Cutforth, Jane Lipsitz I really enjoyed this film, not expecting to. It was the same when I saw hronicling the largest tour that Katy Justin Bieber: Never Say Never. I realise, when Perry has ever done, this documentary I watch a film like this, that we know very little follows her during her world tour. We about these people. We just hear their music see the ups and downs for the international and think, yes, she can sing. This movie pop superstar, from the opening of the tour, opened my eyes. I learnt that growing up in a which seems from her reaction to be one of devout Christian family, Perry didn’t even the most exciting moments in her life, to the listen to pop music until she was a teenager. announcement that she is the first pop star She got a gospel recording deal at 14, which since Michael Jackson to get 5 number ones went nowhere. Then another popular off a single album. We also see the effect this recording deal later, with music heavily kind of tour can take on a person, both influenced by Alanis Morrisette, which also physically and mentally, especially when your went nowhere. I also learnt of the people who personal life is crumbling around your ears. helped her get this far in her career, and the We also get to see the other side of Katy people who help her every day in the work Perry. The private life, the personal side, the she does. I learnt how much her fans mean to side we don’t get to see when she puts on her her, even when she was having trouble with weird outfits and gets on the stage. The film her, then, husband and her marriage was also chronicles her rise to fame and the work falling apart she still smiled and met them she put in to become who she is today, a because it’s important to them, and to her. In loved musician. short, I learnt a lot of respect for the lady. And it makes her music better, for me at least.

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Marley Starring Bob Marley, Ziggy Marley and Bob Cliff Directed by Kevin Macdonald This is lovely, thought-provoking his documentary, autobiography tells documentary. It runs chronologically from the story of one of the most iconic Marley’s early life all the way to his death of musicians the world has ever seen, Bob cancer in 1981 and all his highs and lows in Marley. From his birth in a small village of between. It really is a personal look into the Nine Mile in the St. Anne parish of Jamaica, to life of a great man and musician, his move to Kingston, the largest city in the commentated by his friends and family country, living in the ghetto there they refer members, giving their insights into the man, to as Trench Town, a prolific character in a lot as well as their prospective on events that of his music. We see his highs and lows, from changed his life. The highlight of the film has his marriage to his children being born. His to be the music, of which there is a lot. It’s move to the Rastafarian faith and the remarkable, watching the closing credits, to profound effect it had, not only on his music, see how much music Marley actually wrote but on his whole life. We see the way he lived while he was alive. Dozens of songs, and those his life for peace and harmony, always trying are just the ones featured in the film. A life’s to help other people and governments, work to be proud of. If you are a fan of the though with little success a lot of the time. man then do yourself a favour and watch this We get to know, not just the music, but the film, if not this may the chance to change your man that made the music great. mind.

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Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

Starring Steve Carell, Keira Knightley and Melanie Lynskey Directed by Lorene Scafaria their, rather short lives, completely. Right before the meteor hits. he world has three weeks left. A meteor This is a lovely film. I’m a big fan of is hurtling towards it and in three weeks Carell in these more dramatic roles, such as all life on the planet will be annihilated.

Dan in Real Life and Crazy, Stupid, Love. He is In amongst this dilemma is Dodge (Steve fantastic as the straight, regular guy, way out Carell), an insurance salesman whose wife, of his depth, just trying to survive the best he who was having an affair, has run off, leaving can. Introduce into his world the, slightly, his to face the end of the world alone. Also insane Knightley and it’s a recipe for disaster. facing the end alone, more or less, is his She is great as the flighty, irresponsible, nut neighbour, Penny (Keira Knightley), a free cake that, quite literally, ends up on his spirit who is far from her family in London and doorstep and changes his entire life. It’s a trying desperately to find a way home. When sweet film with a real message. No matter their apartment block is hit by rioters this how much time you have with the ones you unlikely pair starts a journey that will not only love, it’s never enough, so embrace it while change their point of view, but will change you can. A message we should all take to heart.

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Tinker Bell and the Secret of the Wings Starring the voices of Timothy Dalton, Lucy Hale and Megan Hilty Written by Tom Rogers, Ryan Rowe

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inter is coming to the mainland and the fairies of Pixie Hollow are hard at work with the preparations.

Even Tinker Bell, but when she discovers that the warm fairies are not allowed into the winter woods, the winter side of the hollow, her curiosity gets the better of her. She goes to the place where the summer side meets the winter side and crosses. At first nothing happens, but then her wings begin to glow.

Consumed by the curiosity to find out why, Tink crosses over again into the winter woods to find the someone that can tell her why her wings glowed. She finds far more than she bargained for when she meets Perrywinkle, her sister, both fairies born of the same laugh, one ended up on the summer side of the

hollow, and one on the winter side. Now they’ve found each other, and want to stay together, each trying to come up with ways for them to survive on the others side of the hollow, but then their tinkering endangers the whole hollow, and all the fairies in it, and they need to save the day.

I have enjoyed all the Tinker Bell films that have played on Disney Channel. From the first one, Tinker Bell, to Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, to Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue. They have all been good fun and completely enjoyable. This one is no different.

The animation is wonderful, the story is very cute and the characters are completely infectious. I love Perrywinkle, a double for Tink’s mischief and charm, and the new frost fairies are charming. This is a lovely film for fans of the Disney franchise, for the young and young at heart. It’s made even more magical in 3D.

Safe

Starring Jason Statham, Catherine Chan and Chris Sarandon Directed by Boaz Yakin

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little girl, Mei (Catherine Chan) is taken from China to America by the Chinese triad. She is a mathematical genius and is to be the triad’s walking computer, calculating and remembering all the transactions made by their various interests. They use the girl, not trusting any written record, threatening to kill her mother if she doesn’t work for them, but when she discovers that her mother is, in fact, already dead she runs away. Coming to her aid, after seeing her in trouble on the train, is a former police officer turned cage fighter, Luke Wright (Jason Statham) who sees the little girl as the catalyst to the redemption he’s been so desperately searching for. The two go on the run while the triads, the Russian mob and a bunch of dirty cops, former colleagues of

Luke’s, come in search of her, trying to regain a certain piece of information the little girl is holding in her head.

Another action adventure for the current king of these types of films, Statham.

In the vein of the Transporter films this film offers great action and fight sequences, but, I’m glad to say, there’s more to this film than the Transporter ever had to offer. Those films relied solely on the action to get the audiences, while this film not only has good acting, but has a decent plot as well. Chan is wonderful as the smart mouthed little girl trying to survive in circumstances way beyond her control, while Statham is strong as the disillusioned former cop, trying to make up for past wrongs. He gives a solid performance and reminds why he’s as popular as he is.

This Must be the Place

Starring Sean Penn, Frances McDormand and Judd Hirsch Directed by Paolo Sorrentino

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hen aging rock star, Cheyenne (Sean Penn), who’s been out of the lime light for 20 odd years, finds out that his father is very sick he heads off back to America, from Ireland, to see him. The old man is dead by the time he gets there, but in his will he leaves his son his one mission, to find the Nazi war criminal, who’s hiding in the U.S, who humiliated his father and bring him to justice.

The rock star decides to search for the man, meeting all kinds of interesting people along

the way, and by the end of his journey, finding himself as well.

This is some of the best acting I’ve seen Sean Penn do. He is amazing at Ozzy Osbourne-esque Cheyenne, who has a mission just to make it through the day. This is touching, moving, and poetic film of the highest order. The performances of all the rest of the cast, including but not limited to Frances McDormand, are great. They commend Penn’s character perfectly and help the film move along in a euphoric daze. To be honest, this is very artistic film, and not for most people. Even I was scratching my head a lot of the time, trying to figure what the deeper metaphorical meaning was behind a bunch of the scenes, so if you aren’t into those types of films, skip this one, but if you like Penn, you will not be disappointed by one of his best performances to date.

The Watch

Starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill Directed by Akiva Schaffer belt, and continuously so, they carry on with hen the friend, a security guard the jokes long after they’re funny, and start (Joe Nunez), of an over-achieving becoming uncomfortable. The performances Costco manager, Evan (Ben Stiller), are as good as you expect. Stiller is good at is killed he starts a neighbourhood watch to playing Stiller, Vaughn is good at playing try and catch the killer. Joined by Bob (Vince Vaughn and Hill is good at playing Hill. There Vaughn), a happy-go-lucky slacker, Franklin will be no Oscar nominations here, but that’s (Jonah Hill), a militant-crazy wannabe cop, not the point is it? It must be said that the and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade), an English aliens are very cool. They are well designed guy new to the neighbourhood, Evan sets off and scary looking, until the way to kill them is on his mission, but finds far more than he revealed, and then it goes downhill again. It’s bargained for when he realises that not only is a bit of a pity really that the writers couldn’t the city not safe, it’s the site of an alien get their heads out of the gutter for a invasion. Now it falls on these four unlikely moment, since this could have been a good heroes to save the day, save their city, and film. Oh well, toilet humour prevails again. If save the world. you like that, you’ll love this film. If not don’t This is an enjoyable film, if you like watch, The Watch. this kind of humour. Every joke is below the

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Die Wonderwerker Starring Dawid Minnaar, Anneke Weidemann and Elize Cawood Directed by Katinka Heyns year old Jane, and her falling for him to, distresses Adriaan and Maria, Adriaan because he’s in love with Jane, and Maria because she’s in love with him. This leads to conflict that changes all their lives forever.

This is an absolutely wonderful film. ugene Marais (Dawid Minnaar), sick The acting is wonderful from all the leads. with Malaria, arrives at the farm in Minnaar is great as the morphine addicted Rietfontien and is taken in by the Van thinker who sees the world differently from Rooyen family. Gys (Marius Weyers) is the old everyone else, Weidemann is delightful as the fashioned father who was shell shocked in the wide-eyed slightly naïve girl who falls for the Boer War, Maria (Elize Cawood) is the man, Cawood is fantastic as the older woman unfulfilled mother, controlling the house with reaching for comfort in all the wrong places an iron fist, Adriaan (Kaz McFadden), the and Weyers is marvellous as the soldier who slightly dim, somewhat sexually deviant, son, has never been the same since seeing death in and Jane Brayshaw (Anneke Weidemann), the the war. Director Katinka Heyns has outdone adopted daughter of the family, whose herself with this film. The directing is strong treated more like a servant than a member of and the cinematography matches the feel of the family. Unintentionally Marais throws the the film perfectly. The script is strong and lives of all those in the house into disarray, concise and shows the man in the best way. I especially when his skills as a doctor become really hope the producers consider this film known and people begin arriving, much to for a foreign language Oscar nod, because it is Gys’ dismay, but it’s his relationship with really that good. It’s nice to be able to be Maria and Jane that has the most impact on proud of South African cinema again. their, and his, lives. His falling in love with 19

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Zama Zama

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et in the world of the Zama Zama, the illegal miners, mine boss Malcolm Phiri (Lindani Nkosi) discovers that his younger brother, Joseph (Presley Chweneyagae), is working in his very own mine as one of these zama’s. To try and save him from s life he feels responsible for getting him onvolved in, Malcolm poses as a zama and enters their world. What he finds is more than he could have imagined as he learns that these men aren’t monsters, they just trying to make a living. The monsters are the men that control the zama’s, the gangsters that will stop at nothing to protect their business. Now Malcolm needs, not only save his brother, but save every man that’s under the ground.

I enjoyed aspects of this film, but was disappointed by others. The acting is rather

Starring Lindani Nkosi, Presley Chweneyagae and Khulu Skenjana Directed by Vickus Strijdom good. Nkosi as Malcolm and Chweneyagae as Joseph both give strong, detailed performances, provding the characters with the depth of emotion that they need to get the audience into the story. Skenjana is also interesting as the gangster, Manto. A decisively disturbing character that he plays well. The cinematography is wonderful, especially in the mines. The way they used the shadows really gives the audience the feeling of claustrophobia that the zama’s must feel.

Special mention must be made of the singing in the mines, which is haunting and beautiful.

Where the film falls is the directing. I feel that there are scenes that should have been longer, and others that should have been shorter. I feel this would have been a stronger film if the directing had been left in the hands of someone more experienced. A pity for, what could have been, a very good film.

The Lady

Starring Michelle Yeoh, David Thewlis and Jonathan Raggett Directed by Luc Besson Burmese leader is astounding. Add to that the ung San Suu Kyi (Michelle Yeoh) is the marvellous performance by Thewlis as the only daughter of Burma’s last great husband that is doing everything in his power leader before the coupe that plunged it to help a wife with a mission that seem into the military dictatorship that it’s been impossible, not to mention insanely under for 30 odd years. She lives with her dangerous, and you’ve got a winning husband, writer Michael Aris (David Thewlis) combination. I loved the fact that we had to and her two sons, Alex (Jonathan two aspects in the film, that of the leader, in Woodhouse) and Kim (Jonathan Raggett) in Burma trying to save her country, and of the England, but when her mother has a stroke husband, staying in England, trying to help her she has to return to Burma to see her. While as best he can, not being able to see her for there she witnesses atrocities at the hands of years at a time, and knowing what danger she the military, especially during a student is in every day, all the while trying to raise protest that’s taking place when she arrives. their sons and keep their family together. The The sights she sees inspire her to stand up to brutality of the regime is not shied away from the government and bring about the changes and the visuals are upsetting at times, but that her father died for. To make Burma a then the situation, which is still going on democracy, a mission for which she’s willing today, is upsetting. A film that we should all to give her life. see to understand what can happen when bad This is an absolutely wonderful film. people get power, and what they’re willing to The performance by Yeoh as the legendary do to keep that power.

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Off to the Gingerbread House

Thula Cruickshank as Hansel and Megan Meyer as Gretel

Photos by John Hogg

The ballet of the great fairy tale hit our stages this month. Brought to us by the Johannesburg Youth Ballet, the kids were a little lost in the woods.

Yusef Thomas as the Sandman

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ohannesburg Youth Ballet performed their latest work at the UJ Arts Centre on Kingsway on 16th August. The new ballet is a completely new work, choreographed by Mark Hawkins, to an original score by Nik Sakellarides, Hansel and Gretel.

The ballet follows the original story of Hansel and Gretel. Two children living in olden days Germany, with their father and mother, are taken into the woods and left, but the children are resourceful, and have left glowing rocks to find their way home. They do, only to led out again the following day, by a remorseful father, to be left again. This time they have left breadcrumbs to follow home, but in the night the birds come and eat them, so the children are lost in the woods. In this version a beautiful appears to show them way the home and they begin to follow, but the appearance of a ginger bread house distracts them and they are taken in by a strange old lady, who promises to feed them. Little do they know, the woman is a witch. She captures Hansel in a cage and forces Gretel to prepare to cook him, but Gretel manages to push the witch in the oven and defeat her.

Hansel is saved, as are the other children that the witch is holding captive. The children then find jewels in the witch’s house and take them, their family is saved. Their father then arrives, having been led by the swan, I assume, to the witches house. He finds the children and they live happily ever after.

The Birds

It’s difficult to crit this show, because you don’t want to be mean to a bunch of children, but there are major problems with it, and it’s not the children that are the problem. The dancing was good. The birds were together, for the most part, and very sweet. The fire dance was a good idea, that wasn’t rehearsed quite enough, but still looked impressive. The leads, Megan Meyer and Thula Cruikshank were both lovely, but I would have loved for them to do more than just repeat the same ten steps throughout the production. Even the soloists on pointe, the jewels, were nice, though they need a lot more training not to fall off their pointes, and use their heads on turns, etc. The standout performance on the night was Yusef Thomas as the Sandman. He gave a riveting performance with good elevation and turns, but he is very raw and needs a lot of attention to achieve the greatness that his talent could afford him.

I also need to mention the backdrop graphics, which were wonderful. The movement of the branches as the kids travel through the forest added a dimension to the show that you don’t normally get. The music was also very good. I just would have liked a little more cohesion in the pieces. It seemed that they had picked pieces of music from a bunch of composers and put it together, instead of having the show written for the, as I know it was. It was just a little pity.

In essence, this was a good show, but at the end of the day it is a dance show. What would it have looked like if you’d taken away the props and the backdrop? I hope they think about that for next time. Sometimes less is more.

The Long and Short of it Photos by Jan Potgieter

People nowadays have a very small attention span, so short plays are a great answer to this.

UJ recently held the SA Shorts, a series of ten minute plays, perfect for the attention deficit.

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he UJ Arts Centre Kingsway Campus played host to the SA Shorts: Quickies for a Microwave Generation on August 2nd. SA Shorts is a concept inspired by a similar concept from America. A series of several short plays to make up a long program. There were six plays performed at the Arts Centre, each written by a different person.

open window. A window which was supposed to remain closed. The catch is that they aren’t people, they are, in fact, stick figures and spend the whole performance crab walking across the stage. This aspect was very strange, and hindered the audience connecting with the root of the story, because they spent the whole time laughing at the stick figures moving on the stage. It also hindered the performances by the actors, since we could get no facial expressions from them, since the rest of them was clothed in darkness. In essence a good idea, not portrayed especially well.

Losing the Plot, written by Anthony Ackerman, currently a script editor and episode writer on e.tv’s Rhythm City, tells the story of a playwright along with his lead actor and actress as they discuss and come up with ideas for their next production. The stage is simple with a few black boards set up in the back ground for the actors to write plot points on and a chair on stage right. The play was enjoyable, with a couple of very witty moments, especially if you are in the writing industry. One of the long running jokes was discussing the not-mad, but merely misunderstood, female character, who is so misunderstood that she doesn’t understand herself. It is a good laugh.

The Opening by Rob K. Baum, a feminist playwright known for writing strong roles for women, tells the story of a husband and wife having a conversation about something which was passed through an

Dance the Dance by Tristan Jacobs, a former TWIST participant and best original script winner at the Musho! Festival, tells the story of a young man having a discussion with a young woman that turns out to be the ghost of his ancestor. The script is largely circular, not coming to any real conclusions, but the staging of this performance was especially good. The same black boards were on stage from Losing the Plot, and the actor, Modise Sekgothe, draws a door on the black board while the actress, Zimkhitha Nyoka, draws a window scene, but then the door, which the audience thinks is just a drawing of a door, actually opens and an ethereal light shines through. It’s a great moment, and one of the highlights of the entire evening. It was done again with a bottle of beer drawn on the board, again causing the audience to gasp. Very clever indeed.

completely mental in such a way that it was incredibly funny. Candi played her with a verve that caught the deep madness that ran through the character and made us fall deeply in love with this desperate woman that just wants to be killed by her idol, who ends up not wanting to kill her because he likes her, much to her annoyance. It is comic genius and truly, truly funny.

Metaphorically Speaking by Zanandi Botes, a freelance writer living and working in Johannesburg, tells the story of Albert, a man with a bucket stuck on his leg. He meets Christopher, played with great vigour and humorous charm by Reginald Hufkie, a man with a stuck zipper in his shorts. After a discussion as to why neither man can escape their own particular predicament they discover that maybe, given the right push, they actually can. This is a very clever script about the “stick” we all find ourselves in. Be it the “stick” of work, or of family, or of fear to try something new, we all have our own personal “stick” and need something to push us out of it. A thought provoking performance.

Kill Me, Please! by Rhea MacCallum, the only non-South African writer on the bill, tells the story of a woman sitting on a park bench in the middle of the night waiting on the love of her life. He comes and they have an involved discussion. The catch is that the love of her life is a serial killer, named Slasher, and she wants him to kill her. This was easily the funniest play in the set. The woman, Gloria, played by Candi Brown, was

Wave by Renos Spanoudes and Alby Michaels, Renos is an English and drama teacher, no information on Alby was provided, tells the insane story of a bunch of clowns running and jumping around the stage for no real reason that anyone can actually discern, until the end/ The ring leader of this rag-tag group is a seven foot tall, with an invisible head, director who shouts orders as the clowns roll around and breath heavily.

Confused? You’re not the only one. The weird thing is that it was quite a clever play once the point was established. The whole play is about the mother of a boy that was trampled during a stampede at The University of Johannesburg earlier this year. And incredibly sad event for which everyone was blamed, from the people involved, to the education system, to the boy himself. The play tries to point its own fingers, though at who is still a mystery. While it is a clever idea, and a topic that is still fresh in peoples’ minds, it was just too weird to make any kind of impact, so lost the audience within the first few minutes of going on stage.

This was an interesting evening in the theatre, and I’m always surprised at the skill shown by the actors on stage at UJ. I look forward to the other interesting work that is going to be shown, including Little Shop of Horrors and the That’s So Gay Festival.

The Iceman Cometh Photos by Jan Potgieter

The That So Gay Festival kicks off with a performance of Canadian writer Greg MacArthur’s Snowman, and all is not clean and white in this icy story.

Alex Radnitz as Denver

Roberto Pombo as Jude (left), Alex Radnitz as Denver (back) and Deidre Schoeman as Marjorie (front)

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he That So Gay Festival opened this month with the performance of Snowman at the UJ Con Cowan theatre. The play, written

by Canadian Greg MacArthur and directed by Renos Spanoudes, is an investigation into the inner minds of people who are isolated in an icy landscape, and within themselves.

Denver, played by Alex Radnitz, and Marjorie, played by Deidre Schoeman, are lost souls who decided one day that travelling north was a good idea. Denver stole some videos from the store where he worked and they headed off for the unknown. They ended up settling in a small town on the outskirts of a glacier. In the town they meet Jude, played

by Roberto Pombo, another lost soul, running from the memories of his parents abandoning him when they found out that he was gay.

They become friends, or as close as you can be when not really wanting to know anyone, and things are okay for a while, until Denver and Jude go golfing on the glacier and Jude finds a boy frozen in the ice. He keeps the find a secret, alienating Denver and pulling away from him and Marjorie as he spends more and more time with the iceman. Then Denver finds the body too. Thinking it could be something exciting, even valuable, he contacts the government to “come and get it”. They send Kim, played by Ashleigh Harvey, a sassy archaeologist. She storms into town and turns them on their heads, especially Denver, and as things come to a head, all the people there come to see the iceman as something different. As a way out, as a long lost fried, as a pay check, as whatever makes their lives a little better, but it doesn’t.

This was a very interesting play. The writer, who was in attendance for the performance, is very well known and respected in Canada, being the University of Alberta’s Lee playwright-in-residence.

The acting was strong by the total of four actors, not mentioned by name in the programme I may say, that played in the show. Radnitz is deadpan in his delivery of jokes as Denver, a slacker who’s a good guy at heart. Schoeman is disturbing as Marjorie, a woman that has more than just one screw loose, it’s a strange, disjointed character that she portrays very well. Pombo is wonderful as Jude, the pretty boy, who claims to have no feelings at all, but in truth is just a little boy still broken by being abandoned. Harvey is clever and fearless in her portrayal of Kim, a wisecracking, oversexed archaeologist, who comes off more like a willing-to-do-anything business woman than a scientist. They are all wonderful characters, and the story is compelling, but the play does falter in its writing.

The entire thing comes off as a bad film noir, except it isn’t. The actors spend most of their time explaining locations and their innermost demons to the audience, which, to be honest, bothered me. I’d rather see the turmoil in the performance than have it explained to me in so much narration. I loved the plot, but would have preferred it to be written in the form of a novel, having the means to then explain the scene and the turmoil and the snow suits, rather than having to tell the audience everything that they can’t see. I found this aspect distracting from the good acting and a let-down for, what was otherwise, an enjoyable show.

Ashleigh Harvey as Kim

Still Burning the Floor Photos by David Wyatt

Burn the Floor returned to our stages this month, and after a successful run at Artscape in Cape Town they were ready to Burn the Joburg Theatre to the ground.

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he Mandela Theatre at Joburg Theatre hosted the return of Burn the Floor on August 1st.

When I first went to see Burn the Floor the first time it came out last year I didn’t expect much. I’m from a ballet background so,

Robbie Kmetoni and Janette Manrara honestly, I’ve always found ballroom dancing boring. I was pleasantly surprised though at the energy and entertainment that I found when I saw the show, so when I received the invitation to watch it again this year I went in with high expectations. I was not disappointed. The show is just as exciting and entertaining as it was the first time I saw it.

The dancing is stunning, from the raw sensuality of rumba, to the energy of the jive.

From the strength of the paso doble, to the absolute beauty of the Viennese waltz every performance in this two hour show is breath taking.

The show has no real story line, but it doesn’t need one. The dancing is the point of the show. We open with the dancers doing introductions to the different forms before we

Keoikantse Motsepe and Kallyanne Brown

jump into a 1920’s speakeasy where the dancers perform the dances that were so popular in those times. The 2nd act is made up of the Latin dances that ooze sexuality as the great bodies, both male and female, gyrate about the floor with incredible ease as they perform.

Every dancer in the show is wonderful, but the high light for me, again as it was with the last performance, was America’s Janette Manrara, a finalist in So You Think You Can Dance America. She’s a shot, fiery little dynamo that captivates your eyes the second she’s on the stage. Her partner, Australian Robbie Kmetoni, winner of So You Think You Can Dance Australia is dynamic and flexible and amazingly expressive as he leaps across the stage. In my humble opnion they are most dynamic dancers on the stage, and from the opening in which Janette tricks an audience member into kissing her, not that I would need any tricking, and she then scolds Robbie for taking photos, they hold your attention and don’t let it go.

The other special mention that must be said, and he is also a fantastic dancer, is South Africa’s own Keoikantse Motsepe.

Motsepe is the undefeated South African Latin American since 2004 and it shows in his abilities on stage. He holds the attention and holds his own among his more experienced peers. His partner, Australian born Kallyanne Brown, and he work beautifully together and are another wonderful addition to an already wonderful show.

Tactical Force Starring Steve Austin, Michael Shanks and Michael Jai White Directed by Adamo P. Cultraro When a SWAT team are sent to a training facility because of excessive force, they find themselves in the middle of a tug-of-war between the Russian and Italian mob for a briefcase that both sides want. As the tension mounts, and the team find themselves without any weapons, they need to figure out a way to both not get killed, and stop the bad guys getting their hands on something that they really should not have.

This is a fun action film. The acting is as good as can be expected in a film of this kind, though, Lexa Doig and Michael Jae White do put in good performances, as they normally do. Michael Shanks, known for his role on the TV series Stargate, also gives a solid performance as the big bad Russian boss. Steve Austin is very good at playing Steve Austin, so... If you like your action thick and fast, and don’t mind every second word being a swear one, then this is the film for you, but don’t expect SWAT, you’ll just be disappointed.

All The Fine Lines

Starring Christopher Plummer, Fred Ward and Penelope Ann Miller Directed by John Bradshaw When hardened reporter John McWhirter (Fred Ward) gets a lead on a story from a C.I.A contact he has no idea that he’ll soon be part of it, but when old friends of his show up on his doorstep, asking him to hide a girl (Rachel Ticotin) that’s exactly what happens. Now he’s hiding the truth from his boss and from the F.B.I, but things get worse when a sadistic hitwoman (Penelope Ann Miller) shows up to clean up the ness, which includes him.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable film.

The plot is interesting and fast paced and all the actors do a great job, including Ward, Miller and Ticotin. If you like newspaper thriller, with a good dose of action thrown in I highly recommend it.

The Grey Starring Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney and Frank Grillo Directed by Joe Carnahan On their way home from months on the frozen tundra, a plane carrying a group of oil workers crashes, leaving all but seven dead.

Now the surviving men, led by a man hired to kill the wolves that try to eat the workers, Ottway (Liam Neeson), have to try and figure out a way to get out of the frozen wilderness they’ve found themselves stuck in, but that’s just the start of their troubles. They’re being hunted by a pack of crazed wolves, bent on killing them all one by one.

This was a much better movie than I expected it to be. Neeson is back at his Taken best, kicking a** and taking names, as the man with the troubled past trying to escape in the ice. He is now the others best hope, a role he’s not comfortable with. The other performances, especially Frank Grillo as Diaz, are strong and well rounded, and the CGI’s wolves are frightening. The sound effects of the wolves in the darkness are especially unsettling. If you like the man-against-nature type of films, then you should enjoy this.

Children of the Corn: Genesis Starring J.J. Banicki, Dusty Burwell and Kai Caster Directed by Joel Soisson When a couple (Tim Rock and Kelen Coleman) get stranded on a desert road they seek help at a farm house owned by a man called Preacher (Billy Drago) and his wife, Helen (Barbara Nedeljakova). The couple can’t leave until morning, but as soon as the sun sets they discover the little boy (Dusty Burwell) locked in the shed and that sends them on a path to destruction.

This is another in the long line of Children of the Corn films, but this one is a little different from the rest. This one focuses less on the homicidal children, and more on the one that calls the shots, the One That Walk Behind the Rows. There is a lot more supernatural features, and not as much death.

If you liked the others, watch it, if not, steer clear.

The Hunger Games Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth Directed by Gary Ross n a future world the twelve districts have to make a tribute of one boy and one girl, between the ages of 13 and 18, to fight to the death in the Hunger Games. When her sister is chosen Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to enter the game. Now she has to fight to survive, but in a game that’s controlled by a ruler that doesn’t care if the participants live or die, she has more than the other tributes to worry about.

This is a great film. The acting is strong by everyone involved, from Lawrence as the strong-willed Everdeen, to Woody Harrelson as the only victor from district 12, to Donald Sutherland as the president of this insane society, everyone gives strong, convincing performances. The story is harrowing, based on the bestselling novel by Suzanne Collins, and the death scenes, some of them, are touching, while others are mortifying. I suggest seeing this film, but be warned it’s not for kids.

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My Mother’s Secret Starring Nicole deBoer, Yannick Bisson and Barbara Niven Directed by Curtis Crawford hen Lori Colson (Nicole deBoer) finds out she’s pregnant she also finds out that she was adopted.

She then sets off on a crusade to discover her routes, and find her birth parents. What she finds is more complex than she could have imagined. Her mother (Barbara Niven) is close to an invalid, living on medication like they’re Smarties, and her father (Michael Riley) is in jail for killing her grandfather, her mother’s father, but when she goes to speak to him he tells her he’s innocent. This sends her on a quest to discover the truth once and for all.

This movie is exactly what you expect from a B-grade film. The acting is wooden and unbelievable, which is a pity since I like Nicole deBoer, and the plot is silly. The production value is high, especially compared to our SA movies, but spare yourself this one and watch something else.

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Albert Nobbs Starring Glen Close, Mia Wasikowska and Aaron Johnson Directed by Rodrigo Garcia lbert Nobbs (Glen Close) is a waiter working in a hotel in 19th century Ireland, but with a secret. He is actually a she, hiding as a man. When another man, Mr Paige (Janet McTeer), also a woman hiding as a man, enters her life Albert realises how lonely she is, and wants a partner, the way Paige has. Albert decides on Helen (Mia Wasikowska), a maid working at the hotel, but she’s involved with a rogue, Joe (Aaron Johnson). These events lead all these characters towards disaster.

This is a great film and a vehicle for Close. She is absolutely fantastic as Nobbs, not just because it’s a girl acting as a man, but because of the small details she’s added to her performance to enhance it. She is truly one of the best actresses of our time. If you like films with good acting and scriptwriting this is the one for you.

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The Pirates! Band of Misfits Starring the voices of Hugh Grant, Salma Hayek and Jeremy Piven Directed by Peter Lord, Jeff Newitt irate Captain (Hugh Grant) is desperate to become priate of the year, but faces stiff competition from other pirates, and since he’s not that good a pirate, it seems unlikely. Even so he sets off on a campaign to get as much bootie as he can, including attacking a ship carrying Charles Darwin (David Tennant). When Darwin gets s look at Captain’s pet dodo, yes, a dodo, he convinces Captain to accompany him to London to compete in the Scientist of the year awards.

Captain agrees thinking it will be his course to fortune, but the people he meets in London are far worse than the pirates he’s used to, and hilarity ensues.

This film is strictly for the kids. The entire thing is a complete load of nonsense, but the sets are beautiful and the animation is good. Darwin’s monkey, Mr Bobo, is very funny though.

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