Author: Alyssa Moller
Film Review: Digby & Camille 2026 Melbourne International Film Festival
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★★★½ Full of energy, affection and personality, Digby & Camille is a sweet slice-of-life documentary about a couple living with Down syndrome, making its world premiere at Melbourne International Film Festival. Tender, funny and unabashedly affectionate, Digby & Camille captures an intimate portrait of a relationship that has spanned eight…
Film Review: The Latcher 2026 Melbourne International Film Festival
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A story of grief and female trauma, The Latcher tells the story of a midwife haunted by an entity that materialises after the loss of her baby postpartum. Paralysed with fear, Alice, the film’s protagonist (Lucy Lovegrove), tries to find a way to get back with her husband and patch…
Film Review: The Last Viking 2026 Nordic Film Festival
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★★★★☆ A hilarious yet surprisingly tender family drama, The Last Viking is an absurd journey of acceptance and the development of unconditional love. It’s also about a gaggle of folks with dissociative personality disorder who believe themselves to be the members of The Beatles. They attempt to form a band,…
Film Review: The Kidnapping Of A President 2026 Nordic Film Festival
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★★★½ Set in Helsinki in 1930, The Kidnapping of a President, funnily enough, tells the story of exactly that: the kidnapping of President Stahlberg. What ensues is a series of incompetent events. An alcoholic Lieutenant Colonel, Eoro, drunkenly issues the call for a revolution early, enlisting a team of ragamuffins…
Review: Stella Sheds New Light On A Classic Australian Figure
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★★★½ Tucked away in the expansive Monash Clayton Campus is a portal to late 1800s Australia: Stella, performed in the Alexander Theatre. Stella is a new Australian musical with book, music and lyrics by Monique diMattina, showing us Australia’s future by digging into its past. Directed by Julia Robertson with…
Review: Retrograde Is Funny, Cruel & Important
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★★★★★ “Whose truth? Yours, or mine?” Melbourne Theatre Company’s Retrograde is an interrogation room; a stifling, claustrophobic attack on art and morality. Brought into question are Sidney, a young, Black actor on the rise and Bobby, an eager screenwriter, both under the scrutiny of Mr Parks, who rules with an…
Film Review: The Talented Mr F 2026 German Film Festival
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★★★☆☆ The Talented Mr F is a German documentary that follows Berlin filmmakers, Julius Drost and Moritz Hennenberg, after their animated short film is stolen and submitted to festivals by an American, Samuel Felinton. Samuel receives critical acclaim from these festivals, multiple awards, and prize money, and gives interviews to…
Review: Mara Puts A New Spin On A Classic Fairytale
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★★★½ Mara is a modern cabaret style retelling of the familiar story of Cinderella, a prequel of sorts, chronicling the woman who will eventually become Cinderella’s stepmother. Written by Hanna Pyliotis, Mara steers away from many of Cinderella’s original themes of superficiality and the underdog, but digs its teeth further…
Review: Evil Dead Unleashes Cult Chaos In Melbourne
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★★★★★ Evil Dead The Musical is an uproariously, bloody camp time. It is the musical adaptation of Sam Raimi’s classic horror film Evil Dead, a film I remember attempting to watch years ago and never finishing because I thought it was too chaotic. After this musical, I cannot wait to…
Review: Saints Elbow Room Theatre La Mama Courthouse
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La Mama presents Saints, a wordy interrogation of religion, history and land created by Elbow Room Theatre. The show questions the voices of history and religion, why events have been told the way they have, and why those voices were the ones shaping the version of what happened. Saints looks…
Review: Do Not Pass Go Is A Magnetic Clash Of Belief & Survival
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★★★★☆ Go to work. Complete the work. Go home. Go back to work. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Pass Go, presented by Melbourne Theatre Company, is an offbeat comedy that slowly descends into dramedy. Written by Jean Tong, it explores the cyclical nature of work, interrogating identity and our…
Review: Afterglow Burns Bright At 2026 Midsumma Festival
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Afterglow, making its Australian premiere at Chapel off Chapel, is an examination of modern queer relationships, breaking down a central theme of polyamory. Written, directed and choreographed by S. Asher Gelman and presented by Midnight Theatricals, it looks at the blurring of lines between sex, love and open relationships. Set…
Review: Hair Lets The Sun Shine In Melbourne Once More
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Hair is a psychedelic journey into the world of the Beat Generation, hippy culture and the anti-war movement of the late 1960s in America. The Australian Shakespeare Company brings the show back to Melbourne for an extended season this November. The musical broke boundaries when it was first hit Broadway…
Review: The Lucky Country 2025 Melbourne Fringe Festival
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The Lucky Country is short, sweet and doesn’t miss a beat. Co-created by Vidya Makan and Sonya Suares, The Lucky Country is an exploration of the multi-faceted identities that make up Australia. The musical, running at just over an hour, is a perfectly balanced celebration and interrogation of our cultural…
Review: Ordinary Days Sings The Poetry Of The Everyday
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Nestled beneath the hustle and bustle of Melbourne at peak hour, tucked away underground in the cosy walls of fortyfivedownstairs, we huddled together in the warmth for the opening night of Ordinary Days. It’s a musical dedicated to the little things, reimagined by Clovelly Fox Productions, one of Melbourne’s most…
Review: Dial M For Murder Absolutely Kills It
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Brilliant and always a step ahead, Dial M for Murder by Smoke & Mirrors Productions is a fantastic whodunnit experience, on now at Theatre Works St Kilda. In the hands of Dean Drieberg’s capable and imaginative direction, the cast’s chemistry soars, feeding the beast of a plot and never missing…
Review: Mary Poppins Jr Is Practically Perfect In Every Way
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Charming and brimming with energy, the talented kids of The Young Australian Broadway Chorus shine in Mary Poppins Jr. On now in Melbourne for a limited season, this musical adaptation is based on the 1964 Disney film and the stories by P.L. Travers. A condensed, junior iteration, the show creates…
