Arts & Culture

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 21 March 2023

As the Perth Festival movie season comes to an end (there will be an encore season from the 3rd to 9th April), my better half and I headed to UWA Somerville to watch The Blue Caftan.

The Blue Caftan is set in a small Moroccan town where Mina (Lubna Azabal) and Halim (Saleh Bakri) run a store making beautifully embroidered caftans. Their days are spent manning the shop, dealing with customers, and keeping up with the workload of making caftans for sometimes demanding customers.

The middle aged couple decide to take on Youssef (Ayoub Missioui) as an apprentice. He is keen to learn embroidery and tailoring from Halim (the master tailor – also known as a maalem). And thereon as the story unfolds, an intimate love triangle develops between them.

The story is tender, the story is sensuous. It is exquisite in portraying the fragility of love that comes in many forms and the intimacy that goes with love.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 14 February 2023

On a warmish February evening, my brother and I headed to the lovely UWA Somerville to watch 7 Days at as part of the Perth Festival movie season.

It's boy meets girl….but with a difference.

Set up on a pre-arranged date by their parents who created their profiles for them on a dating website, Ravi (played by Karan Soni) and Rita (played by Geraldine Viswanathan) end up being stranded together in a house during covid times.

What starts out as a pre-arranged date turns into an uncomfortable situation as they get to know each other in close quarters.

They are like chalk and cheese – Ravi is conservative, traditional and his nerves are on edge as he tiptoes around Rita who is chilled out, relaxed and Westernised in her habits – she drinks alcohol, she eats meat...and that is where their adventures together begin.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 31 January 2023

On a warm balmy evening, my friend and I headed to watch Broker at UWA Somerville as part of the Perth Festival movies.

A young woman abandons her baby in a baby box outside a church in Bhusan Korea on a wet rainy night... and so the story begins when two men try to broker a deal for someone to buy the stolen baby at the highest price that they can get.

Of the two men, one of them runs a laundry shop (Song Kang Ho as Ssang-hyun) while the other (Gang Dong Won as Dong-soo) grew up in an orphanage and works at the church manning the baby box service.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 24 January 2023

On a warm summer’s night my partner and I headed to UWA Somerville as part of the Perth Festival movie season, to watch Other People’s Children, an insightful look into everyday people going about their daily lives – something I love about French movies.

Other People’s Children (Les Enfants des autres) doesn’t disappoint. It is a beautifully crafted movie starring Virginie Efira as Rachel Friedman, with the story revolving around her blossoming relationship with the new man in her life Ali Ben Attia (Roschdy Zem) and his 4 year old daughter Leila (played by Callie Ferreira-Goncalves). As Rachel begins to form a deep bond with young Leila , complications arise as she encounters dramas in her relationship.

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 28 December 2022

On a coolish evening in Perth, my friend and I settled in at the UWA Somerville to watch the movie “Decision to Leave”.

Creative genius Park Chan-Wook of The Handmaiden (2013) and The Little Drummer Girl (2018), continues to excel as an auteur of the cinematic world with his latest movie Decision to Leave winning the Best Director Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

The synopsis reads as follows:

“ A man falls from a mountain peak to his death.
The detective in charge, Hae-joon (PARK Hae-il),
comes to meet the dead man's wife Seo-rae (TANG Wei).”

As the seasoned Detective in Charge Hae-joon investigates the death of the man, including Seo-rae (the wife of the dead man) as a key suspect, he also begins to have a growing attraction for her – not exactly an ideal situation !

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 21 December 2022

Armed with our delicious pizza in hand from Charlies Pizza, my partner and I settled in for the evening at UWA Somerville theatre to watch Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.

The movie is a heart warming story about Ugyen Dorji (played by actor Sherab Dorji), a young teacher who is sent up to a mountainous, remote village in Gasa to teach the children as part of his teaching contract.

It is a world away from the life that he is used to living in the capital of Bhutan with his grandmother. Furthermore, Ugyen aspires to be a singer and wants to get a visa so that he can live in Australia!

Details: Written by: Nita Teoh; Category: Arts & Culture; Published: 13 December 2022

In the opening scenes of the movie “Return to Seoul” the main character Freddie (Frédérique Benoît) is out for the evening with new friends and is asked the age old question:

“ Where are you from? “

This question resonated with me and made me laugh out loud as it is one that I am asked from time to time.

Freddie is French – and looks Korean.

She is a 25 year old with Korean birth parents, who was adopted by a French couple as a baby and brought up in France.

On impulse, she ends up in Korea and thus begins Freddie’s epic journey as she sets out in search of her roots and her biological parents.

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The Blue Caftan at Perth Festival

7 Days at Perth Festival

Broker at Perth Festival

Other People's Children at Perth Festival

Decision to Leave at Perth Festival

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom at Perth Festival

Return to Seoul at Perth Festival