Chart Collective presents Monkey Grip (1982), directed by Ken Cameron, starring Noni Hazlehurst, Colin Friels and the Divinyls, and based on the book by Helen Garner. Set in the suburbs around LongPlay, where the screening will take place, Monkey Grip follows the emotional and geographical movements of a group of young people as they converse with each other, and the places of Melbourne we know so well. Megan Cope, an artist whose works deals with colonisation, toponyms and place, and newcomer to Melbourne, introduces the film with the eyes of someone who has plenty in common with the characters, but who sees the places and spaces of the film as an outsider.
So far in our series Stories in Landscape; Landscape in Stories we’ve been to the Coorong of South Australia, the fictional outback town of Bundanyabba, the wilderness of Tasmania, and now we’re coming home to look at the place where we live. What does this place mean to us? How do we interact with it? What character does it play in our lives? Come watch Monkey Grip and have a ponder...
