Russell Baillie

2 weeks ago | nzherald.co.nz | Russell Baillie

Ungainly charm: Camille Rutherford as Agathe and Pablo Pauly as Félix. Photo / Getty ImagesThis year’s French film festival delivers a movie bringing a Gallic sensibility to that most English of novelists, Jane Austen. Aptly, the film Jane Austen Wrecked My Life – or as it was originally titled, Jane Austen a gâché ma vie – starts in a bookshop. It also ends in a bookshop – so it’s bookshop-bookended. And it’s not just another librairie.

4 weeks ago | nzherald.co.nz | Russell Baillie

Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs in the foot-blistering The Salt Path. Photo / Supplied Like the many who made it a bestseller, Marianne Elliott read The Salt Path when it first came out in 2018. Raynor “Ray” Winn’s story was about how she and her farmer husband, Moth, had dealt with financial ruin, homelessness and a devastating medical diagnosis – by walking the 1000km coastal trail around England’s South West Peninsula, first battling then embracing both nature and poverty.

1 month ago | nzherald.co.nz | Russell Baillie

Awkward moments: Manon Blackman and Tāne Rolfe star in The People We Love as ex-sweethearts who parted on bad terms. Photo / SuppliedMike Smith has directed and produced hundreds, possibly thousands of hours of television. His list of credits goes back to the 1970s when he started at the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation as a teenager. He’s done programmes that were Kiwi TV landmarks and some that he probably has trouble remembering, too.

1 month ago | nzherald.co.nz | Russell Baillie

Marlon Williams: The many with the golden tenor. Photo / Ian LaidlawA new documentary about the man with the golden voice poses as many questions as it answers. To anyone who has followed local music closely for the past decade, Marlon Williams is a man who needs no introduction. He’s the guy with the golden tenor, the lofty, gawky, camera-ready charm, the ineffable charisma, and the country-leaning music matched to distinctive songwriting.

1 month ago | nzherald.co.nz | Russell Baillie

Home / The Listener / EntertainmentBy Russell BaillieArts & entertainment editor·New Zealand Listener·1 May, 2025 06:00 PM12 mins to readSubscribe to listenAccess to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. Already a subscriber?  Sign in hereListening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. ‌SaveShare this articleReminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.