Film & theatre

First written in 1938 by Tennessee Williams, Not About Nightingales tells the story of how four hunger-striking prisoners died while being locked in a steam-heated cell. Alex Salmon looks at a new adaptation of this play premiering in Australia.

The charming and humorous Sri Prem Baba

Chasing the Present focuses on the psychological and spiritual journey of a successful young New York businessperson who finds himself at a mental crossroads, beset by panic attacks while advancing a successful career, writes Barry Healy.

Fabrice Luchini and Camille Cottin in The Mystery of Henri Pick

There's a moment in The Mystery of Henri Pick where a charmingly grizzled literary critic, recently made unemployed and dumped by his wife, catches a show on his hotel room television. It's a second where something of the new world penetrates the protective membrane surrounding the 20th century sensibility of this film, writes Tracy Sorenson.

French World Cup victory celebrations ironically opening Les Miserables, which shows the oppression

Les Misérables was released in France about six months before the Black Lives Matter movement swept the globe. However, it expresses the BLM spirit perfectly, writes Barry Healy.

Guillaume de Tonquédec as egg farmer Raymond in Roxane

In the beautiful countryside of Brittany, northern France, taciturn organic egg farmer Raymond (Guillaume de Tonquédec) keeps his hens laying by performing sections of a French classic play, writes Barry Healy.

Rod Webb became an left-wing activist during a period of cultural and political upheaval and, as a film festival director and a network programmer, his commitment to his principles never faltered, writes Greg Adamson.

Hugo Weaving and Andrew Luri experiencing the healing quality of music in Hearts and Bones

Hearts and Bones is a compassionate portrayal of the refugee experience that empowers and dignifies, without romanticising the trauma and struggle, writes Annolies Truman.

For a film that claims to be about breaking the environment/climate movement away from the tentacles of capitalist-funded NGOs, Planet of the Humans  fails to articulate a vision of what an alternative, people powered climate movement could look like, writes Zane Alcorn.

The Good Wife (La Bonne Espouse)

How to be a Good Wife is charming, quirky celebration of women’s liberation and endorsement of the 1968 spirit, writes Barry Healy.

The Heights season 2 cast, photo by Ben King

Returning for its second season, The Heights provides a refreshingly new take on that great Australian TV staple, the soap opera, writes Barry Healy.

Liam Pierron as a troubled student in La Vie Scolaire

La Vie Scolaire sets out to show another side to Paris' famous banlieues, one that is more hopeful, but fails to develop into a memorable film, argues Barry Healy

It is a feat to coalesce 72 years of struggle against displacement, apartheid and racism into an accessible 110-minute film, but Solidarity: Five Largely Unknown Truths about Israel, Palestine and the Occupied Territories manages this task well, writes Nora Barrows-Friedman.