“This is the best haloumi I’ve ever tasted”, my friend Michaela said to one of the co-owners of Yulli’s, one of my favourite local bars.
And she wasn’t bull-shitting. It was absolutely to-die-for. Not a squeak in sight!
We had just been to see a movie, and without too much persuasion on the part of either one of us, decided we should have a small bite to eat before heading home. And of course, we both love Yulli’s, with their combination of good vegetarian food, good wine list, and a warm and inviting atmosphere.
The movie we had been to see was called Stone Bros.
The movie’s plot concerns Charlie and Eddie (Leon Burchill and Luke Carroll) on a road trip from Perth to Kalgoorlie.
Along the way, they smoke far too much marijuana, pick up a crazy hitch-hiker, run over a kangaroo, and experience a rather mad wedding in the middle of nowhere.
In fact there’s also a lovely scene where Mark Bin Bakar (Mary G), playing the role of Aunty Carol, sings a song – slow and sensually – about how she wants to make love to….. “a blaaaaack blaaaack maaaaaan”.
David Page from Bangarra fame also plays an important role in the film as Regina, a cross-dresser holding off having the chop because he’s “not done with (his) dick yet”. The line reminded me of a scene from another movie I saw recently, Stonewall, where a similar line was used, with the follow-up, “…and neither are you”.
The film isn’t perfect. There’s a scene about a dog that goes on far too long, and without much purpose in my view. But it’s pretty good. I laughed a fair bit, enjoyed the ride, and loved the scenery, a fair amount of which I actually recognised from my time in Western Australia back in 2004.
“The film was supposed to be called To Bourke And Bourke” (or words to that effect), one of the actors said at the screening at Fox Studios. “But the money came from Western Australia, so that’s where we filmed it”, he added.
The film got a good round of applause as it ended. Although I don’t think it’s going to be block-buster, I think it has the potential to be a reasonably successful Australian film. It’s also a significant film in terms of Indigenous culture, “It’s nnnnnottttt political”, one of the actors added with a degree of almost-relief in his work.
So after watching the film and chatting with one of the actors at the pub, we headed off to Yulli’s. A perfect Wednesday.