Parasite

I have been hearing great things about South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's latest film Parasite for months now, and I finally managed to see it tonight at the Cinema Nova with Belinda. The movie focuses on two families at opposite ends of the socioeconomic spectrum. The Kim family, who are struggling to make ends meet, catch a break when son Ki-woo takes over a tutoring job from his friend for the daughter of the wealthy Park family. Ki-woo then works to get other workers in the Park household fired and secretly replaced by the rest of his family, including the longstanding housekeeper Moon-gwang.

When the Kim family thinks they have it all under control, Moon-gwang returns when the Park family is away on a camping trip and reveals that her husband has been secretly living in a bunker in the house. It is then that the Kim's accidentally reveal themselves and the tables turn as Moon-gwang threatens to expose them to the Park family. From this point the film takes a dark turn from a comedy to a thriller that culminates at the young Park boy's birthday party at the house. The movie provides strong commentary on social class and income inequality, and you can see why it has won so many awards this season and will probably do well at the Oscars in a few days.

20 Fabulous Years Of Tammie Brown

As part of Midsumma Festival Sean and I attended the first of three shows at The Melba Spiegeltent to celebrate 20 Fabulous Years Of Tammie Brown. Tammie came out on stage wearing a sleeveless gold lame dress and 80s shag blond wig. For this solo show she danced around the stage and sang songs from throughout her career, with a focus on her latest release Schubert.

The show kicked off with "Round 'N Round," and Tammie demonstrated she is a #QueenWithACause through tracks such as "Sexy Orangutan" and "Queen Killer." She also had a couple bops in the set with "Love Pinata" and "Porta Potty Prostitute." In between songs Tammie was very deadpan and spoke about a wide variety of topics, including the environment and Amazon rainforest, old Hollywood stars, her life growing up, trans deaths, and necrophilia. Just like Tammie it was a unique and entertaining show with a mix of serious and humorous moments.

Here's the video for "Round 'N Round"