Culture

‘The Square’: comfort food for the self-loathing

Ruben Östlund’s hilarious film is an uneasy mix of silliness and brow-furrowing

Luke Goodsell

Meaning and play run deep at the ‘Museum of Water’

The Perth Festival event encourages reflection on a precious resource

Miriam Cosic

‘Red Sparrow’ keeps us guessing, to a point

Jennifer Lawrence reunites with her ‘Hunger Games’ director in this dated thriller

Harry Windsor

Family matters: An interview with Alan Hollinghurst

The author of ‘The Sparsholt Affair’ on the role of the not-always biological family in his work

Dion Kagan

‘Hamlet’ reinvigorated as opera

Brett Dean and Neil Armfield reimagine the Shakespearean tragedy at the Adelaide Festival

Miriam Cosic

Treasures buried at the Berlin International Film Festival

A lacklustre line-up concealed the beautiful and the beguiling

Shane Danielsen

Most Popular

Books

Noted

‘The Only Story’ by Julian Barnes

The meticulous novelist takes on the oldest subject there is

Helen Elliott

The Story of Shit

A cultural, scientific and historical account of shit: a Midas Dekkers book extract

Midas Dekkers

A revealing portrait of Leonardo da Vinci

Walter Isaacson’s new biography is a study of crippling perfection and obsessive observation

Elle Hardy

Peter Carey navigates Australia’s past

‘A Long Way from Home’ takes on new relevance following debate about Australia Day

Claire Corbett




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Music

Arts & Letters / Music

Primitive Motion’s ‘House in the Wave’ and Totally Mild’s ‘Her’

Two Australian groups use vocals to swoon-worthy effect

Anwen Crawford

Mona Foma: Dark Mofo’s sunnier sister

A particularly genteel and suitably confusing festival

Jenny Valentish

The Nation Reviewed

Inside the Hot Dub Time Machine

The Australian musical export that’s making history

Darryn King

Arts & Letters / Music

What happened to indie music

From Neutral Milk Hotel to Justin Timberlake

Anwen Crawford




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Film

Noted

‘Lady Bird’ directed by Greta Gerwig

The debut director goes home to make a funny, touching film about wanting to leave it

Luke Goodsell

Arts & Letters / Film

Robin Campillo’s ‘BPM’

The French-Moroccan director presents a clear-eyed portrayal of true activism during the AIDS epidemic

Harry Windsor

‘Molly’s Game’: Aaron Sorkin plays a predictable hand

The screenwriter leaves nothing unexplained in his directorial debut

Harry Windsor

Liam Neeson’s routine ride in ‘The Commuter’

Having conquered planes and automobiles, Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra move the action to trains

Harry Windsor




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Art

Arts & Letters / Art

The NGV Triennial

A new exhibition series’ first instalment delivers a heady mix of populism and politics

Julie Ewington

Arts & Letters / Art

‘Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age’

Treasures from Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum at the Art Gallery of New South Wales

Sebastian Smee

Pharos at Mona: a labyrinth of sensory delights

The Hobart museum’s new wing will mess with your senses, in the most wonderful way

Jenny Valentish

Katharina Grosse’s riot of colour

The German artist transforms Carriageworks

Quentin Sprague




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Theatre

Arts & Letters / Theatre

Ivo van Hove: It’s only theatre

The prolific director is bringing jumbotron Shakespeare to the Adelaide Festival

Darryn King

The Nation Reviewed

Patient simulation

Some actors intentionally suffer for their art

Paul Connolly

‘Barbara and the Camp Dogs’: politics and heart in the pub

Part cracking musical, part Indigenous family drama, Belvoir’s latest production deserves to go far

Fiona McGregor

Liveworks in review: ambitious, engrossing

The annual festival of experimental art energised Sydney’s Carriageworks over ten days

Fiona McGregor




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Dance

Dance and the digital: An interview with Wayne McGregor

The Sydney Festival-bound show’s choreographer loves mixing the body with technology

Steve Dow

Noted

‘Bennelong’ by Bangarra Dance Theatre

Sydney Opera House (touring Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne)

Fiona McGregor

The Nation Reviewed

Destiny’s children

Body Electric’s jazz ballet for adults

Nikki Lusk

The best of Australian arts 2014

Critics give their picks for the year’s top ten

The Monthly




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Architecture

The Monthly Essays

This is not an opera house

Beautiful on the outside … the tragedy of Bennelong Point

Darryn King

The Nation Reviewed

SOS

Brutalist masterpiece or harbour eyesore? Sydney’s Sirius building faces an uncertain future

David Neustein

Arts & Letters / Architecture

Murcutt’s mosque

The Australian Islamic Centre is notable for what it isn’t as much as for what it is

David Neustein

The Nation Reviewed

Compressed contemporary

Durbach Block Jaggers is a practice in argument

Erik Jensen




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Fashion

The Nation Reviewed

Straight outta Narrandera

Victoria Lee takes on the Victoria’s Secret runway

Darryn King

Arts & Letters / Fashion

The artisan

‘The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier’ at the National Gallery of Victoria

Karen de Perthuis

Arts & Letters / Fashion

‘Modern Love: Fashion visionaries from the FIDM Museum LA’

At the Bendigo Art Gallery

Karen de Perthuis

The Nation Reviewed

RM Williams and haute couture

Karen de Perthuis




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Fiction

Arts & Letters / Story

Unfinished business: A short story

Can a young wartime couple pick up where they left off?

Anna Goldsworthy

Noted

‘Clade’ by James Bradley

Hamish Hamilton; $32.99

Michael Lucy

Josephine Rowe

Story

Sinkers

Arts & Letters / Books

The pencil and the damage done

The perverse attraction of autobiographical fiction

Ceridwen Dovey




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Poetry

Arts & Letters / Poetry

Late styles

Clive James’ ‘Sentenced to Life’ and Les Murray’s ‘Waiting for the Past’

Justin Clemens

Arts & Letters / Books

Majesty and burning

A century of Dylan Thomas

Kevin Rabalais

Arts & Letters / Poetry

Wild Pilgrim

Meeting Ko Un

Barry Hill

'Radar' by Kevin Brophy and Nathan Curnow

Geoff Lemon




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