Alex and Eve

I have known Alex Lykos for many years now. We both studied under the same voice teacher in a pursuit of an acting career. Our voice teacher organises writer morning teas every now and then for students who are actively writing. That is how I first met Alex. As a result, I have been up to date about the development of the first Alex and Eve as a stage play up to this point that it became a movie. The road, unlike a lot of other people in the industry, was far from rosary and smooth. But Alex persisted through these draw backs and pains and is now reaping the fruit of something that is almost 10 years in the making. So how did it stack up?

Right out of the box Alex and Eve is about cultural differences and ethnicities. It is a RomCom so it played on stereotypes. Alex, with Greek heritage knows the Greek family traditions and views inside out. Also one of my best friends was Greek and I have known her family for many years. The Greek side of the couple, Alex, was pretty much spot on. The un-adulterated view of life from the Greek father and the will to hold on to his world even though Australia is not a series of small islands with white houses built on it. Eve, is of Lebanese background. She is well educated and a very successful lawyer. Her family is equally successful with a big house in the community but similar to Alex’s family, success in a new country can never mess with their purist tradition. Alex met Eve, they fell in love, but their worlds collided.

Much of Alex and Eve’s comedic elements played on stereotypes. The story was based loosely on Alex Lykos’ own experience so there are elements of authenticity. At our numerous writer morning teas, Alex and I had discussed about perpetuating cultural stereotypes on screen and on stage and I have a been a strong advocate of stereotypes should not be played for the sake of stereotyping but for the sake of helping the audience understanding that particular culture by asking further questions to understand why certain cultures have certain traditions. Alex and Eve was a work towards that direction. What I appreciated is that Alex threw questions open and attempted to understand and answer them. A number of critics mentioned how the funny and sometimes self-fulling the classroom scenes were but I personally felt they missed the point of the classroom actually was the vehicle for exemplifying questions modern second or third generation migrants have for their cultures – attempting to find where they stand between a culture they were born into and the country they were born into. They asked questions that Alex and Eve did not dare to ask openly. The strength of Alex and Eve as characters were their determination to change (like Alex moving out and Eve attempting to take charge and confront the cultural differences) but the weakness of these two characters were their inability to question and challenge fundamentals openly. The classroom scenes seemed cliché to some but these scenes actually worked as a smack on Alex’s head (which I think his father had done far too many times in the movie to be funny anymore) to move out of his cultural and personal inertia to achieve what he needs to achieve. Eve’s Muslim family on the other hand are much more progressive when we looked at it. Eve’s father initiated the families to meet with an open arm and Eve’s brother saw through the eyes of his sister and invited Alex to Eve’s arranged marriage wedding. I personally think this dynamic helped changed the balance of stereotypes especially against a lot of Muslims in this country – a lot of them are educated with open hearts – which are exactly the Muslim friends I have since university days. 

Many have written about Alex and Eve the movie itself as a standalone product, which I think is an extremely enjoyable experience. If you have been following the play from the start, it reminds you every bit of experience you had in the theatre and puts a smile on your face. To an extent it is a good fan service. But what I would like to point out is the ability of this movie to address cultural differences without overplaying stereotypes and clichés as a lot of other movies did. It is a comedy so you do need a to amplify stereotypes, but instead of flying free like free range chickens, Alex Lykos reined it in through two characters – the Greek father (whom in my opinion was a bit over the top at times) and the Lebanese mother (whom I also think was a bit hard to digest at times but exhibited great softer sides that balanced the character out). But it was because they were so loud in the movie that you started to feel for other characters and listening to them questioning these stereotypes and clichés as you go. I personally quite like the scene of Eve’s mother stereotyping Anglo Australians in the café right in front of Eve’s best friend, who is an Anglo Australian. I found it funny because in this scene the table was turned and the expression on Eve’s friend’s face was gold. It helps people who enjoyed stereotyping other cultures thinking about how one would feel if you in return were being rounded up into minimal cultural existence that was exaggerated and superficial.  

I am not going to rate Alex and Eve by points like most other people do as that’s not what I do. But as a standalone movie, I think Alex and Eve is an Australian movie that I enjoyed immensely since The Sapphires. Maybe as a person who has been championing cultural diversity of Australian screen and stage I am more akin to these productions, but Alex and Eve’s significance in my opinion does not just lie in the cultural aspect but it being written and produced with an audience in mind. I think that is where most Australian movies fell short. Alex and Eve does not attempt to be a ground breaking cultural RomCom but it knows its audience and it knows where it stands in the Australian cultural landscape. I think that is the most important thing to learn for a lot of film makers in this country. A film could be made with great quality but without an audience it is nothing but a piece of pet toothache literature that nobody cares about. You achieve an Australian voice only when a drop of a pin in your movie resonated throughout the halls of all the cinemas it was playing. That was how it felt when I was at the screening.

Matilda

Matilda is based on a much loved Roald Dalh’s book of the same name. The musical version of the book is the product of Tim Minchin and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Since its debut it was much loved around the world and it finally arrived at the shores down under.

Story wise it was quite straight forward – a girl born into a family wanting a boy and trying to make the most out of this desperate life. It is Roald Dalh so there is a bit of magic and super power involved. It is not a complicated story and anyone who has or has not read the book would be able to know what is coming next. However it was the endearing theme of the story and the spectacular display of musical talents that actually made this musical a memorable and enjoyable experience.

In the music department there aren’t a lot of really memorable tunes for my taste. I did like the reminiscence song sung by Miss Honey but I think because nearly the whole story was told through songs, it became a necessity that the songs can’t be too poetic or members of the audience might be lost, especially when there are lots of kids among them. Having said that, I still remember a number of singing scenes that I enjoyed immensely during the show. For example the school gate scene (the alphabet song was ingenious), the classroom scenes and the scene on the swings. They are all very memorable scenes visually and musically and they progressed with the story perfectly. Do I remember the tunes, no I don’t but if you talked about those scenes I can tell you how much I liked them. I think that is a degree of success in terms of a musical. 

Having said that, I personally enjoy the dances a lot. The show opened quite simplistically but then it just got better and better. I wasn’t expecting a lot from kids dancing in a musical show about kids at school. However my lack of expectations just gave me surprises after surprises. I mean those kids in the cast, how could they dance like that? It is not just about remember the moves and choreography. It is about them being able to do it on par with the adults and at times outshone them. For me that is the spectacular part of the show. Those kids moved with such fluidity that you forgot they were actually kids. The swing scenes and the classroom scenes were so well done that they are completely took control of the stage. 

Singing wise most songs are not that hard, probably trying to cater to the children cast. As a result there are not a lot of show casing songs. One of the only few cast members that got to show case their singing talent was Miss Honey. Even that not all her songs were likeable for me. I really dislike the song about her being weak and useless. It actually made me feel the character was annoying during those songs (of course it makes sense in the context of the story but the songs were just irritating for me). 

All these aside Matilda has really good production value especially in terms of staging. The use of the stage was very innovative and set changes were swift and smooth. There are no fancy stuff but they all came together very nicely and they certainly have a very strong Roald Dalh feel to them. The stage space was smartly utilised so audience from all areas could have a decent view of what is happening on the stage. 

One last thing I really appreciated was the cast members who played the father and the brother showing up during intermission and interacting with the audience. Considering the great number of kids in the auditorium it makes the intermission a lot more enjoyable for them if they are not going for another ice-cream or frozen drink. Kudos to that.

Matilda is currently showing at The Lyrics Theatre.

Ricki and The Flash

Ricki and The Flash is nothing huge or spectacular. It is your standard family dramedy that touched on a dysfunctional family and stuff. Although it does have Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline (who are supposed to be the draw card for the film) holding the whole story together, it feels coming short to me from time to time.

Ricki is a one album leader singer from a band called The Flash. She left her family in to chase her dreams in LA and her family moved on with or without her. Her ex-husband married a new wife and the kids saw the new wife as their new mother. Ricki was kind of in touch with her old family but then the kids never forgave her leaving them. Fortune did not favour Ricki and she found herself in financial troubles that she struggled to keep up with. Then came a call. Her daughter’s marriage fell apart and her ex-husband called her back to assist their daughter’s recovery. 

It is a standard dramedy that doesn’t give you much surprise but Ricki and the Flash did attempt to include all social and family issues in one film. However, the film never really capitalised on those issues but simply skimmed over them. It is like you saw something really nice in the display windows, went in to the shop only to find out that they are just displayed models and the real products haven’t been delivered yet. For example, the fact that Pete (Kevin Kline) married an African American woman as his second wife and new mother to his white kids has a lot of story potential to explore but then it was never touched on. Maybe it doesn’t matter but then it could be an interesting storyline to explore considering that happened in Midwestern America in the 80s. The film also made and issue out of one the sons being gay and how the society does not practice equality for people of different sexual orientation. This story had quite a bit of potential to be explored but then again, it was just skimmed pass. Even the fact that the daughter’s husband left the marriage for a younger woman with two kids was not really explored, considering the daughter is not old at all. The mentioning of married very young did not really tell you why a man would leave an equally young woman with no kids for a woman who seemed to be from a different social class with two young kids but liked to hang out in the bar. All these missed opportunities for a great dramedy baffled me and kept me wonder, “Is that all?”

The relationship between Pete and Ricki (or Linda, her real name) was not fully explored. We knew that they fought a lot (from the line delivered by Julie “Wow you are fighting again, just like the 80s”) and she left to chase her dream in LA without much contacts with the family because she thought the new wife was alienating her from the family. The relationship had lots of potential but again it feels like it was not going anywhere at the same time. Even the relationship between Ricki and Maureen, the new wife, was so sketchy that you can’t really have a good glimpse of the picture and it was already taken away.

I think what I appreciated about the movie was that here was no bad guy in the whole cast, which for me was quite refreshing. The whole premise was built upon different family member’s perception on each other and what they did because of their perception. It is not inherently right or wrong but as a reflection of who they are or whom they have become because of their experience and perception. That said I still want to know more about this family and each character without having leaving the cinema wondering.

This doesn’t mean the movie is not enjoyable. It is totally enjoyable and I had a great time with some great laughs. It is just a pity that the film did not capitalise on a lot of great opportunities it presented over the course of the story. Everyone did their best performance-wise and for me Meryl Streep is always a joy to watch. It is an easy to digest movie so if you feel like spending some relaxing time with some popcorn check it out. But if you are looking for something with serious substance in the drama department, this is probably not something for you.