Council mute on Walton's deadline

NEWS

Brisbane City Council has sidestepped questions on how long the owners of the eyesore Walton’s building in Fortitude Valley will be given to rectify 65 defects outlined in a show-cause notice issued late last month – or what action council intends to take if such a deadline passes without substantial remedial work being undertaken.

The Independent put both questions to Lord Mayor Graham Quirk but he ignored them, only answering two others relating to two major safety concerns facing Valley pedestrians that were not addressed by the show-cause notice. This paper had asked why similar action had not been taken against the owners of the Happy Valley building adjacent to Walton’s over the often-stationary escalators that service Wickham Street, or the disgraceful state of the walkway through Walton’s to Valley Metro which The Independent understands is that property owner’s legal responsibility as well.

In his response, the Lord Mayor said council had also recently identified a number of issues with the Happy Valley building (including those identified by this newspaper) and was “currently pursuing them with the owners”. “I’ve made it very clear both publicly and privately that the appearance of Valley buildings must kept to an acceptable standard and I will be using everything in my power to make that happen,” Cr Quirk said.
Some of the defects covered in the show-cause notice might be remedied by a team of handymen over a solid weekend but others – such as painting the building externally, replacing boarded windows with glass, reinstating facades “to original condition” and repairing walls with dry-rot or termite damage could take hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Vision improves in CBD

NEWS

Brisbane City’s biggest eyesore is to be turned into the city’s tallest building after council recently approved developer Billbergia’s application for a 90-storey hotel and residential building and a 34-storey commercial building in the CBD.

The two-tower project will be built on the old Vision site between Mary and Margaret streets, which has remained an eight-storey hole in the ground since its previous owners went into receivership in 2009. Both sides of City Council endorsed the project – known as 111+222 – with Lord Mayor Graham Quirk calling it “another major step in the city’s economic recovery after the global financial crisis and January's devastating flood”.
“For the last few years the Vision site has been an ugly reminder of how just how gloomy things were for Brisbane during the global financial crisis,” Cr Quirk said. “However with more and more projects like this one now getting under way it sends a strong message to the rest of Australia, and indeed the world, that Brisbane is back in business.
“The economic benefits of major projects like this one also flow all the way through to the kitchen table as they mean hundreds of new jobs for local residents and more business for our local companies."
The 90-storey main tower will house a luxury 380 room five-star international hotel and 800 one, two and three bedroom apartments and penthouses. The development will also have about 1000 car parks spread across eight underground levels. Cr Quirk said he was particularly excited by the prospect of a new hotel on the site, given the major shortage of quality accommodation in the city in recent years.
“I want to attract more big events and business to town as part of my focus on boosting economic development in this city – but you can’t do that without quality accommodation which is why this project is so important,” Cr Quirk said.
“Up until recent weeks we’ve seen hotel construction sit stagnant in Brisbane for over a decade, and while projects such as this are a start, I want to make Brisbane the number-one choice for new developments.”

Much-needed help for homeless

NEWS

Brisbane City Council reached out to more than 1000 homeless people when it hosted its 12th Homeless Connect event at the RNA Showgrounds recently. Lord Mayor Graham Quirk said the important bi-annual event continued to help homeless people and people at risk of homelessness in Brisbane access vital support services.

“This is Council’s 11th Homeless Connect event and it continues to link people facing homelessness with vital support services to help get them back on their feet,” Cr Quirk said.
“It’s a positive way to show homeless people that there are many council programs and community organisations in Brisbane ready to help them find housing, take care of their health and find jobs.
“I’m also pleased to have Salvation Army on board to assist with collecting the generous donations of food, clothing, blankets and toiletries provided by the public over the past few months.”
The Lord Mayor said participants were offered free meals, canned goods, clothing, blankets and toiletries, as well as access to medical and optical care, accommodation referral advice, employment information and haircuts. “More than 200 volunteers assisted guests with 31 doctor’s appointments, 36 optical appointments, 15 immunisations and 18 homeopathy sessions,” Cr Quirk said.

• For further information about Homeless Connect, visit www.brisbane.qld.qov.au or phone council on 3403 8888.

Exhibition gets inside an age-old problem

ON SHOW

Time is running out to see Prisoners of Age, a series of photographs and interviews with elderly inmates and corrections personnel conducted in prisons both in the United States and Canada from 1996 to 2004.

Presented by Brisbane Powerhouse and Ron Levine Photography, Prisoners of Age presents the stories of some of the most marginalised members of our society in their own words, revealing much of themselves. What we as a society decide to do about them reveals just as much of ourselves, say the people behind the project. And it’s their ambition to persuade a younger audience to avoid making the same mistakes that doomed so many of these inmates.
More than two million North Americans are now behind bars, an estimated 35 percent of them edging far past middle age.
The project has been exhibited at Alcatraz Penitentiary [2001 & 2006], The National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, [2002] the Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, [2002]. The Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin [2004], the Cirque du Soleil Headquarters in Montreal [2006] and Freemantle Prison [2010].
It runs at the Brisbane Powerhouse, New Farm only until Monday 21 November.

Show cause but to what real effect?

OUR SAY

There’s no doubt that the eyesore that is the Walton’s building stops some people from coming to the Valley. If its owners are made to fix the 65 problems identified in a recent City Council show-cause notice to the building’s owners, then that will go some of the way to improving the precinct’s tarnished image.

But this newspaper notes that the two main risks to the health and safety of people venturing into the precinct – the shoddy public passageway through the Walton’s building from Valley Metro towards Wickham Street, and the often-stalled escalators down to that street, are not covered by the show-cause notice.
And while council is acting tough by apparently having talks with the owners of the building that once housed the Chinese Club, that those owners have not been given show-cause notices of their own beggars belief, especially now that Lord Mayor Graham Quirk has discovered after all he has the powers to force action on owners who are happy tolandbank their properties for as long as it takes to get the prices they want.
The walkway with the missing tiles and often dirty floors and the seldom start-often stopped escalators are disgraceful states of affairs that have been the subject of condemnation in this newspaper for many, many months.
And sorry for this awful pun, but we reckon the people legally responsible for both won’t have a leg to stand on when someone takes a fall over the missing tiles in the walkway, or badly injures or even kills themselves taking a tumble down the stationary escaltors.
If the building owner’s insurers wanted to absolve themselves of any responsibility to honour coverage of any public liability claim, then we’d gladly go to bat for them big time. Happy to give them all the clippings. The attempts to fix a handful of broken tiles some momths ago – and only after immense pressure from council staff, local pollies and this newspaper – were laughable in the extreme. A
nd if those dodgy escalators are so badly built or poorly installed that both up and down sections can’t be run at the same time, then someone must be made to fix the problem immediately. The Indie over months has observed the aged and the infirm trying to use those stalled escalators. It’s a near impossible chore for some.
This paper once observed a man walk up to the escalators one weekday at 12.15pm – both steps were stalled – and insert the key to start the up escalator. From this, we can only assume there was absolutely nothing wrong with the mechanism of the escalators – or indeed if they had been broken they had been fixed long before. If someone was just saving on power, then they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves.
The Indie is also entitled to ask what happened in just a few short weeks for City Council to decide it had the powers to force action on the owners of Walton’s. Just a month ago, Lord Mayor Graham Quirk used the pages of this newspaper to declare that council laws simply did not exist to take action against recalcitrant owners. He declared a stern talking to would hopefully do the trick – but he’d enact laws if necessary.
We share local councillor David Hinchliffe’s bewilderment that the strong action that he and many others have called for over many months has now only just been taken.
And a show-cause notice, while commendable, is just the beginning. It’s who wins in the end that counts for the people of Fortitude Valley.

Prague hits right notes, time after time

TRAVEL ... with DAVID BRAY

No matter what the people of Salzburg, Vienna or Dresden tell you, it’s Prague that seems to have given Mozart his most deserved recognition during his short, sometimes troubled and brilliantly unmatched creative life.

Prague is a city of survivors, its history defined by invasion, cruelty and revolution. But it is also a music-lover’s dream destination. Not only for the kind of music your reporter likes, but also what he would, in his elitist way, describe as “popular”.
Night after night when we were there the big squares and main street intersections were as tightly jammed as Lang Park or the Gabba on big-match day, with scores of thousands rocking to live bands, big screens, huge amplification and swamping booze. (The Czechs are the biggest beer drinkers in the world, followed by the Irish. Forget Australia.)
But back to W.A. Mozart, hero to millions of the world’s music-lovers and to cinemagoers who enjoyed Amadeus, a good deal of which was made here in Prague by the expat Czech Milos Foreman. The composer’s work is everywhere, from nightly marionette performances of Don Giovanni in at least two theatres (of which we enjoyed one, where this great opera was treated as comedy) to music-making of the highest quality in Betramka, a museum in suburban Prague, easily reached by tram.
The house was built in a vineyard around 1700. It features a two-winged staircase. In 1787 it was the summer residence of a Mr and Mrs Dusek and those stairs were climbed by Mozart who had come to Prague to rehearse his new opera. It opened very successfully on October 29 and while still at Bertramka Mozart composed the concert aria “Bella mi fiamma, addio” for his hostess. In 1956 a permanent exposition devoted to Mozart and the Duseks opened at Betramka. Well worth a visit.
We went for a 5pm concert on a glorious May evening by violinist Ivan Zenaty and pianist Katarina Zenata. Blackbirds sang so enthusiastically that Mr Zenaty had to close the doors. I think Mozart might well have agreed with our opinion that the outstanding piece played was “Spiegel im Spiegel’’ by the contemporary composer Arvo Part.
Actually, we were in town for Richard Wagner’s monumental Ring cycle, four nights of pretty heavy stuff, done here for the first time in Prague at the Narodni Divadlo, the National Theatre – and to a very high standard, as good as any we have seen around the weird and wonderful world of Wagnerian opera.
Such is the level of music appreciation in this city that we were also able, at tourist-short notice, to hear Bach’s St John Passion with the Prague Virtuosi directed by Peter Schreier at the acoustically and visually superb Rudolfinum and the Dresden Staatskapelle conducted by Yakov Kreizberg in the Smetana Hall of the Municipal building.
In fact there are more concerts in churches and halls than even the most devoted music-lover could possibly have time to hear, some of them no doubt of lesser standards than the above starred events of the Prague Festival. Among the many things worth seeing is to be found on the first floor above a McDonald’s on Na Prikope.
Up a carpeted marble staircase, turn not right (to a casino) but left, to the Museum of Communism. Here are the facts and artefacts of daily life, politics, history, sport, economics, education, the arts, media propaganda, the People’s militias, the army and the dreaded secret police apparatus, a vivid account of Communism in Czechoslovakia and in Prague in particular.
One more thing: On the walk home from the National Theatre to the Elite hotel on Ostrovni we were able to call in at the Dog’s Bollocks. Noisy, smokey, good beer and edible tucker – e.g. sausages, bread and mustard, quiet a useable name and enthusiastically reviewed as recently as August, 2011.

GETTING THERE

Plenty of scheduled flights from Brisbane, some more direct than others. Suggest you check just how long your trip would be. Cheapest at time of writing was around $1500 return, on China Southern, which changes at Guangzho and Amsterdam. Emirates and Finnair come in at the cheaper end, too. Worth talking to a travel agent. Plenty of tourist advice at www.pragueexperience.com among many others.

Preston Peak worth a visit

WINE ... with David Bray

Ashley Smith and Kym Thumpkin are successful dentists, international class small-boat sailors and have built from scratch a thriving winery-tourism business. Their professional practice is in Toowoomba, the Preston Peak cellar door complex is 10 minutes out of town and their various Flying 15 class boats have been raced impressively around the country and overseas.

One of them did extraordinarily well in the 2006 UK Nationals. They called her Clapped Out Old Toy Boy and raced under the burgee of the Tin Can Bay Club. Closer to home, there appears to have been a Fully Active Board doing great things. (Come on, sailor, get back to the wine stuff. Ed.)

One more thing: The couple put considerable effort and capital into a wine centre at Southbank, right near the beach. It was a pleasant, tasteful and very worthwhile enterprise, and years ahead of its time. Didn’t last all that long. But to the present and the wines of Preston Peak. The Toowoomba part of the operation is a tourist-focused cellar door (some 20,000 visitors a year), and good for functions of up to 150 people.
There are some vines there, but most of the grape-growing happens at the Devil’s Elbow vineyard at Wyberba in the Granite Belt: shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay, white muscat, petit verdot and pinot noir. The fruit is processed in a modern winery at Devil’s Elbow.
The winery began its work in 1994 and now turns out 3500 cases of wine a year. It was awarded a four-and-a-half star rating in James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion 2010, with the 2006 Reserve shiraz scoring five stars and 94 points. The 2008 Reserve Shiraz has since been awarded in the Top 5 Australian and New Zealand Shiraz in Winestate Magazine’s Wine of the Year Awards (November 2010).
All up, over the years, the winery has scored more than 200 awards and recommendations throughout its range of wines. Preston Peak Wines produces a range of red. white, sparkling and fortified wines in three product ranges: the Reserve – premium wines with cellaring potential, the Leaf Series – fruit- driven wines suitable for drinking now, and the recently expanded Wildflower range which offers a reasonably priced range of easy-drinking table wines including merlot, shiraz, blanc and a picnic-style red.
All three ranges are now being made by several specialist wine makers, including Mark Ravenscroft, Peter Scudamore-Smith, Mike Hayes and Peter Stark. Three samples, all very fine examples of interesting white wines: 2010 pinot gris brings tastes of peach and lime boosted by wild yeast ferment and four months in new French oak.
The makers suggest it would go well with Asian dishes, particularly Thai and “would be beautiful with salmon or ocean trout”.
2010 viognier will give you peach and citrus with a touch of ginger later, again wild yeast ferment. “Perfect with seared chicken fillets with rocket and pine nuts or strong fish like salmon”.
And a new look at an old charmer, 2010 gewürztraminer, which we are assured has aromas of Turkish delight and fresh lychee, tastes of rich citrus and melon and is a very versatile food wine …. Asian dishes, particularly Thai.
Each has a retail price of $28, though PP wine club members get them for $23.30. Right on the edge of the Range escarpment, Preston Peak has a spectacular view of the vineyards, Lockyer Valley and Table Top Mountain. It is open Wednesday to Friday from 11am to 3pm and Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 5pm. Closed public holidays. Well worth a visit.

***


Still in the rugby capital of the world, here’s one from Queensland biggest wine-maker, Sirromet 2011 Vineyard Selection verdelho. It is a well-made, excellent wine, the work of Adam Chapman, working with fruit from Sirromet’s 150 hectares of cool climate high altitude vineyards at Ballandean on the Granite Belt.

It was made at Mount Cotton, between Brisbane and the Gold Coast and you will find it at several big liquor outlets as well as at the Mount Cotton cellar door and on line at www.sirromet.com.

From the left, Gillard marches to Uncle Sam’s beat

POLITICS ... with Mungo MacCallum

The political transformation, or at least tergiversation, of Julia Gillard in now complete. From being an avowed lefty, the chair of the Socialist Forum at Melbourne University, she has morphed into the most pro-American Australian Prime Minister since .... well, since the last one.

And he, of course, was the most pro-American Australian Prime Minister since ... well, since the one before. In fact it is hard to think of any Australian Prime Minister who has had serious doubts about the relationship with out great and powerful friend. A couple, notably Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating, have made tentative noises about taking a more independent line, but in general our national leaders have approached their counterparts in Washington on their knees, dutifully accepting whatever role POTUS (the President of the United States) sees fit to assign them.
Harold Holt boasted that he was “All the way with LBJ”, while John Gorton assured his host that “We’ll go a-waltzing Matilda with you”. And of course John Howard embraced his appointment as deputy sheriff. Even opposition leaders succumb; Mark Latham, having derided his Liberal opponents as “a conga line of suckholes” while on the back bench, recanted by holding a press conference in front of an American flag when he thought he had a chance at election.
Most of the time such sycophancy is embarrassing but relatively harmless; since World War II Australia has received few if any tangible benefits from the arrangement (precisely what value our “information sharing” with Washington has been remains undefined) but has suffered little actual damage. We have been willing, even enthusiastic participants in America's military adventures, most notably in Vietnam and Iraq, but have escaped the obloquy and censure directed at America itself; basically we have been forgiven on the grounds of that even if were wrong (and we were), we erred through a misguided sense of loyalty rather than evil intent.
Gillard has not questioned that loyalty; indeed, she is signing up to an increased American military presence in Australia. Given that we already host what are euphemistically called “joint facilities” run by the Americans and for the Americans as key elements in their intelligence gathering and communication networks, this may appear no more than a natural extension of policies which have been in place for many years. But there is a qualitative difference.
The purpose of the earlier installations was a general one: the enhancement of American military power, certainly, but with no specific target in mind. The new build up of forces in the Pacific has a single and clearly defined purpose: to counter and contain what is seen as the threat of Chinese dominance in the area. John Howard used to say that we did not have to choose between our history and our geography, by which he meant that we could maintain our European identity while developing as a middle-sized Asian economic power.
This was pretty naïve even in the last century; there were times when our ability to straddle the barbed wire fence was severely tested. We have been, and still are, shut out of some of the innermost councils of our neighbours simply because we are not seen as a fully committed partner in the region. And now, as the rivalry between the United States and China is set to become the determining geo-political influence of out time, the necessity for choice is becoming more urgent.
Gillard, in what sounds depressingly like a reprise of the Howard position, says that there is nothing to stop us being both an ally of America and a friend of China. Well, actually there are two things that may stop us: America and China.
Fortunately both countries are currently controlled by relatively benign administrations, but this need not always be the case. A seriously belligerent regime in either Beijing or Washington could raise the temperature considerably. The prospect of any direct military conflict between the two is, of course, remote; but this does not mean that there will not be misunderstandings, tensions and even the occasional skirmish.
Taiwan remains a potential flashpoint; North Korea is a serious worry; India and China have never really settled their border differences. Any of them, or something completely unexpected, could trigger a stand off between the two great powers.
In any circumstances it would be hard for Australia to stay neutral. But as an ally – Gillard’s word – with the ability to deploy American troops from Australian bases, neutrality would not be an available option. Like it or not, we would be part of the action. And one of the first things we would be required to do is to stop trading with China, at least in strategic materials such as iron ore, coal and gas.
So phut goes the trade balance and probably the entire economy with it. This is the downside of Gillard’s position. The upside? Well, perhaps more security for Australia, but security from whom? From China, presumably. So we are not really treating China as a friend after all, but as a potential enemy. This is the only sensible interpretation of allowing Australia to be used as a forward base for a contingency operation aimed at China.
And it is one that Beijing is unlikely to miss. Thus Australia, however keen it portrays itself to continue the trading relationship, will be seen as potentially unreliable, subject always to the larger context in which it has involved itself. There is a Kikuyu proverb: when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.
True enough, and if the grass just happens to be in the way. there’s not a lot the grass can do to help itself. But it at least has the sense not to ask one of the elephants to make it part of the battleground.
Perhaps the time will come when we really do have to make the big choice, and when we do both history and self-interest suggest that, for the next decade at least, it will probably be for America. But to pre-empt it as Gillard has done looks less like statesmanship than subservience.

Less spin and more substance, perhaps?

FROM MY CORNER .. with Ann Brunswick


Many respected and influential media organisation, such as The Indie, regularly complain about the “spin” politicians put on the facts in an effort to ensure stories are published that cast them, their party or government in a favourable light. But is the practice confined only to our pollies? Of course not.

Take for instance a story that appeared recently in our own dearly beloved morning tabloid, Rupert Murdoch’s The Courier-Mail and other News Limited publications. The story centred on the fact that some federal MPs who were critical of the industrial relations tactics employed by Qantas had also previously accepted gifts and hospitality from the airline. The article cited seating upgrades, wine, tickets to AFL games, and even laptop computers.
The thrust of the story seemed to be that the MPs in question were hypocrites by accepting the airline’s give-aways, and then turning around and bagging it. But to my mind the story simply proved that those MPs who had legally accepted and declared gifts from the airline had not been influenced by such goodies.
Surely if the offering and receipt of freebies was a key point, then the real story would have been about those MPs who accepted them and stayed silent about Qantas or lauded their behaviour. Yet The Courier-Mail chose to “spin” the facts in the opposite direction.
All the pollies listed happened to be Labor or Greens MPs. But any suggestion that the story was yet another example of pro-Coalition bias within the News Limited stable is a discussion for another time and column. Now as readers would know, since the days of the Wright brothers, no journo anywhere on the planet has ever sought or accepted any such freebies even if offered. So the reporter was on safe ground in putting pen to paper, or finger to keyboard on the subject.
Surely if the basis of the story was to expose hypocrisy, then it could have been written and published only by a media organisation that had never itself fallen victim to such corporate entreaties.

***

Speaking of The Courier-Mail, those of you among its ever-dwindling readership base may have noticed the series of “red tape” and extra costs imposed on small business in our state.

Certainly there is room for all governments to cut the cost of doing business, and certainly we do seem to have a lot of public servants whose productivity does, shall we say, offer room for improvement. But big business itself can help those in small business too, not just leave it to governments.
For instance, maybe major metropolitan newspapers should tie their ad rates to circulation figures. If that had happened, then in the past few years small business operators would have seen the cost of advertising their goods and services in The Courier-Mail drop considerably. Instead, rates invariably go up each year across the entire Murdoch stable.
I also recall that some years ago TheIndie ran a yarn on the inflated rates applied to adverts The Courier-Mail runs for a specific class of legal business –licensed brothels. The exact figures escape me, but at that stage legal brothels were charged well above standard rates for their classified ads and with little justification. Now there’s something The Courier-Mail itself could do itself to cut “red tape” and business costs.

***

Without wanting this column to harp on the foibles of the media, an article in the Gold Coast Bulletin caught my eye the other day. It was a story trumpeting the planned opening of a new Aldi supermarket at Runaway Bay.

Now you may or may not realise, but Aldi is a European company. In fact it is headquartered in a particular European nation, namely Germany. So my questions is whether the opening paragraph of the Bully's story should have been tweaked ever so slightly. It ran as: “German supermarket giant Aldi has opened a new battlefield in the battle for supermarket supremacy in Runaway Bay.”
Is it just me being over-sensitive, as is my wont, or do the words “German” and “battlefield” suggest some sort of national stereotype, given the events in Europe in the first half of last century?

Death of Doomadgee continues to divide

FILMS ... with Tim Milfull

The Tall Man (M)
Rating: 4/5
80-minutes, screening from 17 November

Bound to polarise audiences with its controversial examination of the death in custody of Cameron Doomadgee on Queensland’s Palm Island in 2004, writer-director Tony Krawitz’s adaptation of Chloe Hooper’s award-winning book The Tall Man will surprise some viewers.

The film recently screened to sold-out audiences at the Brisbane International Film Festival, and rekindled debate about an issue that divided many Queenslanders. Krawitz and his producer Darren Dale – who also produced the fine documentary series First Australians – initially agonised over the format of their adaptation before deciding to allow the facts, along with the people involved, to help audiences themselves to make up their own minds about what happened in 2004.
While Cameron Doomadgee’s voice is understandably absent in the film’s story, and Senior Sergeant Christopher Hurley declined to be interviewed by either Hooper or the filmmakers, the documentary uses the considerable research and eventual findings of three coronial inquiries – featuring the recorded testimony of Hurley himself – to illuminate what happened in that small corridor in an isolated police station in one of the most troubled communities in Australia.
Krawitz and Dale further enlighten their audience with frank testimonials from Cameron Doomadgee’s family and friends, and reveal through interviews with the Queensland Police Union—and the rather unlikely source of Indigenous activist, Murandoo Yanner—that in the years leading to his posting on Palm Island, the Senior Sergeant had an exemplary record working closely within remote indigenous communities.
Ultimately, there is only one living person who really knows what happened in that police station in 2004, but for the rest of a community searching for answers and healing, Chloe Hooper’s excellent book and Tony Krawitz’s sensitive adaptation offer one step closer to understanding.



Amateurs meld powerful, engaging yarn

The Orator (PG)
Rating: 4/5
106-minutes, screening from 17 November

Billed as the world’s first Samoan feature film, writer-director, Tusi Tamasese’s beautiful story The Orator had its Australian premiere in front of sold-out audiences at the Brisbane International Film Festival.

Deliberately set away from the idyllic beaches of Samoa, Tamasese’s story easily could have occurred any time in the last few hundred yeas (if not for the occasional appearance of a 4WD!) The Orator relates the experiences of a taciturn, thirtysomething small person struggling to maintain some dignity in the face of bigotry and intolerance in a small village.
Each morning, Saili (Fa’afiaula Sagote) heads off to tend the graves of his parents after his nightly role guarding the local grocery store. But bullying taro farmers are encroaching on the gravesite with their crops, and rather forcefully insist that Saili relocate his parents closer to his home, which has its own share of problems. Saili’s wife, Vaaiga (Tausili Pushparaj) is under pressure from her estranged family to return to her former village after a lifetime in banishment for a youthful indiscretion, while her daughter Litia (Salamasina Mataia) seems determined to repeat the “sins” of her mother.
When circumstances reach a tipping point, Saili finds himself pressured to assume the traditional mantle of an orator to defend the honour of his family and his village.
Working with a predominantly non-professional cast, Tamasese has created a powerful, engaging story that asks its audience to work with the director to find an understanding of traditional Samoan ritual.
Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of The Orator, apart from the gorgeous cinematography and sound design, is the subtly dignified performance of Fa’afiaula Sagote, who prior to meeting Tamasese had never acted or performed before.

THE BINGE

Hola Mexico Film Festival screening from 1-4 December at Tribal Theatre
Burning Man (MA15+) screening from 17 November
Outrage (MA15+) now available through Madman
The Trip (MA15+) now available through Madman

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but at the moment I’m nearly “filmed” out after watching a hundred or so films over the last few months in preparation for BIFF, and previewing many more for a series of other festivals visiting Brisbane.

I’ve mentioned the Brazil Film Festival – which runs from 16-20 November at Palace Cinemas – and now is a good time to point out the Hola Mexico Film Festival, which opens at Tribal Theatre on 1 December.
Recently, I had the pleasure of conducting a Q&A with Australian writer-director Jonathan Teplitzky (Better than Sex and Getting’ Square) about his striking new film Burning Man starring Matthew Goode (A Single Man) and Bojana Novakovic.
It features some remarkable performances and absolutely beautiful imagery and sound design, and I’m loathe to say anymore for fear of spoiling a carefully crafted story of redemption. Trust me, this film deserves recognition at the highest levels.
While we’re speaking of well-made cinema, Outrage is Japanese director Takeshi Kitano’s latest film, and as usual, the master hasn’t strayed far from the subject of gangsters. This story of a yakuza under-boss caught up in internecine battle between two gangs counterpoints shocking violence with some very funny situations involving extortion.
And for a remedy to all the drama and violence of Burning Man and Outrage, DVD lovers might consider Steven Soderbergh’s contemplative comedy, The Trip, which reunites Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing slightly exaggerated versions of themselves, as they negotiate the wilds of England’s Lakes Region on a tour of its great restaurants. Featuring some hilarious conversations and angst, this filmic adaptation of the TV series of the same name is well worth a look.

• For information about the Brazil Film Festival and the Hola Mexico Film Festival, visit brazilfilmfestival.com.au and holamexicoff.com/australia

Edgerton's career far from on the ropes

FILMS ... with Tim Milfull

Warrior (M)
Rating: 4/5
140-minutes, screening from 27 October

Adding to the spate of martial arts films that have emerged over recent years — think The Wrestler and The Fighter — director Gavin O’Connor successfully brings cage fighting to mainstream audiences with Warrior.

In the process he helps add another string to the bow of Australian actor Joel Edgerton, who is going from strength to strength in Hollywood after his co-lead in the forgettable pre-make of The Thing.
Edgerton plays physics teacher, Brendan Conlon, whose dire financial circumstances dictate that he seriously consider a return to the bad old days of fighting in alleys and parking lots to make enough money to keep his family off the poverty line.
Meanwhile in Philadelphia, Conlon’s estranged, recovering alcoholic father, Paddy (Nick Nolte) returns from an AA meeting to find his long-lost son Tommy (Tom Hardy) glowering on the front porch. He has returned to the origin of all of his angst, where the booze-filled nightmares of his father destroyed their family.
In the face of overwhelming challenges, both young men have come to realise that the demons of their youth may just hold at least some answers to the problems of their present.
Using the back-drop and hype of an international search for the toughest cage fighter, Warrior skilfully manipulates the politics of masculinity, fatherhood, and fraternity. Drawing on all of the tropes of famous boxing films like Raging Bull and Rocky, O’Connor masterfully puts Edgerton and Hardy through some excruciating paces; but their excellent performances are overshadowed by that of Nolte, who should garner accolades for his meltdown late in the film.



Scariness is catching

Contagion (M
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Rating: 4/5
106-minutes, now screening

There was a minor kerfuffle in the film industry a few months ago when rumours started running around that Steven Soderbergh (Oceans 11, Traffic) was considering retirement from making movies.

The gossip sprang from a chat between Soderbergh and Matt Damon, who were on the publicity trail for their new film, Contagion. The truth of the matter is that Soderbergh was actually a little miffed about Damon passing on a confidence that turned out to be a fantasy. Yes, the director was thinking about taking a break, but only for six months or so: to do some painting, of all things.
Given the harrowing content of Contagion, we can’t really blame Soderbergh for wanting some time off, especially since he’s also one of Hollywood’s busiest filmmakers.
Sitting in a huge cinema out at Chermside, my sister and I watched this daunting film about infectious disease, and endured an almost continuous cringe as we listened to various members of the audience hack, cough and harrumph while they were watching. Contagion begins with what must be the shortest performance of Gwyneth Paltrow’s career, as the actor sniffles towards a series of violent seizures and a gruesome death as her husband, Mitch Emhoff (Matt Damon) watches on helplessly.
Far south in Atlanta, Centre for Disease Control officials, Dr Ellis Cheever (Lawrence Fishburne) and Dr Erin Mears (Kate Winslet) make grim preparations for a possible pandemic after hearing of a number of deaths that might be linked with that of Emhoff’s wife. And on the west coast, conspiracy theorist, Alex Krumweide (Jude Law) prattles about the looming disaster, while World Health Organisation investigator, Dr Leonora Orantes races to Hong Kong to try and find Patient One.
Much like the autopsy unfolding at the beginning of the film, Soderbergh and long-time collaborator and screenwriter, Scott Burns undertake a very methodological examination of a pandemic, which accompanied by a compelling and hypnotic score from Cliff Martinez, makes Contagion very frightening viewing.

The Binge

Mythbusters (Season 6) (PG) now available through Magna Home Entertainment
Jucy (M) screening at Indooroopilly Megaplex from 3 November
TT3D: Closer to the Edge (M) now screening
Japan Film Festival screening from 1-4 November at the Schonell
Brisbane International Film Festival screening from 1-13 November

Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage have become something of an institution since their spectacular attempt in 2003 to debunk an urban myth about a jet-assisted Chevy. In the latest season of Mythbusters to be released on DVD, the boys find some excellent reasons to blow things up, while their faithful acolytes, Kari, Tori and Grant find new uses for phone books and gaffer tape—strangely addictive, G-rated viewing (as long as you resist the urge to “try these at home”).

Speaking of home, Jucy will finally get a limited theatrical season in Brisbane. Set locally, and starring Cindy Nelson and Francesca Gasteen as best friends who end up at odds with each other, Louise Alston’s second Brisbane-based film is a lot of fun.
And also in a very limited season, TT3D: Closer to the Edge is a documentary about one of the world’s most dangerous motorcycle races. Set on the Isle of Man, and filmed in gut-churning 3D, this film features some astonishing footage and the fearless Guy Martin, one of the more eccentric characters I’ve encountered.
Just some time for some festival news… The Japan Film Festival visits Brisbane in early November with a very small, but engaging programme featuring anime (Arietty), science-fiction (Space Battleship Yamato), documentary (Yamakoshi: The Recovery of a Tiny Japanese Village), and drama (Railways).
And finally, a little bird told me that the Mystery Movie screening as part of FantasticFest@BIFF at Tribal Theatre on 5 November should not be missed. Despite threats of grievous bodily harm, the little bird wouldn’t give up the title of the film, so I’m looking forward to its introduction by special guest Lars Nilsen from the Alamo Drafthouse in Texas.

For more information about the programs at the Japan Film Festival and BIFF, please visit http://15th.japanesefilmfestival.net and http://biff.com.au