White Fella's Dreaming

White Fella’s Dreaming

 George Miller

 

George Miller sends a good message about Australian film and where it should and can go in the future with this film.

 

I think one of the things I really got distracted in a positive was by in this film was the photography of Australia and its beauty. The amazing shots in this film just showed Australia in such a strong light that is was hard to see why there aren’t more films made here.

 

The film set up a background for viewers for the history of film in the country and his supporting voice was a nice addition easing us through some of the influence and possibilities of film in the future. 

Candy

Candy

Neil Armfield

 

The story of poet, Dan (Heath Ledger) falling in love with an art student, Candy (Abby Cornish) is more a modern Romeo and Juliet.

 

The film displays the Australia bohemian artistically world which generally lies beneath the covers of Australian society so passionately through their love. Their deadly combination of personalities soon sees both of them addicted to heroine in their search for artistic freedom which becomes their enemy and finally destroys the relationship and their lives.

 

The cast is fantastic with the two leads being so strong and with Geoffrey Rush as supporting professor

 

Still the one draw back is that the story and the film just gets darker and darker with no breaks and an audience member just gets more and more depressed as the film goes on. By then end of the film I felt sad and drained.

 

It also felt like it went on far too long and it was sad to see such good actors deteriorate for so long. Unfortunately it was also quite predictable with no real alteration from the downward slope so I found it hard to sit through. 

Little Fish

Little Fish

 

I thought this was an interesting topic with real hope that just ended up being a flop. Cate Blanchette is very brave with her character and the acting in the film is quite good but every other quality of this film I though drew away to leave me in a confused muddle.

 

The shots seemed too dark and there were heavy issues that just happened to turn up on screen, which apparently had something to do with the story. I believe it was suppose to expose the underworld of Sydney but it didn’t quite work.

 

The idea that drugs were being transported in small plastic sushi fish was clever but I think the back-story just blabbed on for too long and thus we lost the merit of the acting. Unfortunately I think because of this the audience is distracted. 

Muriel's Wedding

 

Murials Wedding

 

‘Usually in Australian films, definitely in Australian television, definitely in American films, the central character is usually the Sophie Lee character. … Muriel in these stories is left out or consigned to a position of best friend, one to feel sorry for … I wanted to put that kind of character centre-stage and the beautiful best friend in the position of living horror’. Tom O’Regan, in Australian National Cinema (Routledge 1996),

 

Murials Wedding is the prime example of the of Australia’s self reflexive cinema.

 

The question continuously raised in Australian cinema is does cinema curve the society or does the society curve cinema. In Murial’s Wedding this case, as most it is a combination of both.

 

Murial’s Wedding has been one of the most influential films in Australian society. Its tag line “your terrible Murial” is used in everyday conversation since its release in 1994. The film never gets old and it seems this is because so many people associate with the need to escape the small town and restricted life some small Australian towns can have.

 

It’s focus on the “other girl”, Muriel also makes it appealing and very comical, thus it not only appeals to many but it appeals to our dry sense of humor. I have always loved the completely awkward situations Murial gets herself in and we have to sit through every second of it. It makes the audience realize that not all cinema is picture perfect.

 

The film also focuses on the problems and disappointments in life. Murial’s Family is far from perfect. All five of the children are underachievers to a failing town Mayor.

 

It also raises another issue, Tom O’Regan points out the film that “this a celebration of ugliness is common in Australian film.” It is seen in the plain looking protagonists in The Sentimental Bloke or in the weird and wonderful charms of Bazza McKenzie. Tom notes that Murial’s wedding celebrates this ugliness. It is claimed as one of the major 

 

The Australian humor allows us to laugh at ourselves and laugh at others this is where Muriel’s power comes in, because we have seen it before in real life.

 

 

 

 

Pricilla Queen of the Desert

Pricilla Queen of the Desert

Stephan Elliot

 

What a film! What a show! Pricilla is a film that is one of a kind.

 

Visually the film allows the flamboyant world onto the screen. It is the combination of the brave territory and visuals, which supports the hilarious nature of it. I have never seen homosexuals displayed so well and so nicely on screen. We see them as people enjoying life, dancing, and performing

 

The only thing I have seen remotely like it is Mike Nichols’ modern The Birdcage that, allows us to peak inside the lives of homosexuals in Miami. Still this film has its own dry Australian flair, which could never be seen in that film.  

 

The thing I love most of all about this film is it is simply fun to watch. The flamboyant characters, costumes and situations of three drag queens travelling through the Australian desert is absolutely hilarious. The wild costume design supports the cause and allows us to have amazing shots such as Adam riding the top of the bus in a show and the three queens climbing Uluru in full drag.

 

However, while it is a lot of fun the power to support the nature of the film comes with the brave territory it covers. It allows an audience to see just how brave outward homosexuals are especially in the outback of Australia where the idea of being homosexual is shunned.

 

The three leads Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce are magnificent ensemble. The humour of the old wise queen Bernadette, delicate and focused as opposed to young Adam who is wild young and flamboyant comes up so well on screen because there is always conflict. Finally having the added story line of … going to see his son adds the needed drama for the journey.

 

This is a film I can watch over and over simply because of the entertainment value that it has and the familiarity of the Australian setting which is hardly captured on film but when it is done right it is fantastic.

 

Youngly Boy

Younglu Boy
Stephen Johnson

 

 

This film tackles the modern life of three Aboriginal boys and their conflicting influences from the Aboriginal and modern metropolitan world.

 

The film focuses on the friendship of three teenage boys, Louupu, Milika and Botj and the way that they all embrace their cultural background. Louupu and Milika are chose by their elder to be awarded “ceremony”, but when their friend Botj returns from a stint in prison he influences them to a robbery of the local supermarket.  

 

One of the issues raised is their understanding and continuous influence of the “stolen generation” and its current impact even after a generation has finally passed. It is still having impacts today. Their confusion of the importance of their traditional background and their life in modern Australia.

 

The film is interesting because it shows the struggle with a traditional past and modern influence that must be impending on young aboriginal men. The boys journey to Perth through the land living as their ancestors did to find one of the boys fathers. Unfortunately, he has embraced modern life and stepped away from the traditional influences. They boys don’t find what they needed but what they could become. A homeless lost soul.

 

The film is about the jounry if these boys and their relationship but the interests comes with their connection and fight with their future. They reassess their values. It is a nice film where you feel for those characters. 

10 Canoes

10 Canoes

Ralph De Heer

 

De Heer explores the idea of the dream-time and the history of our great land by following the Aboriginal population into the past.

 

Again De Heer, as always is brave in style and structure. The film takes on a character of traditional storytelling, which is central to the aboriginal population to tell their stories about how a tribe works. The film opens onto a tribe before the Engish influence came to Australia. They then start telling stories of their ancesrtors far into the past. The story within the story structure works as the film slips in and out of balck and white to colour depending on when the story is set.

                                                                                                        

I think the most interesting part of the film is just seeing how the aboriginal life was before we invaded. It also shows the wonderful humour the tribes had and still have today, as opposed to the tragic tales of the stolen generation and attempted assimilation which we generally see when there are films about the aboriginal population.

 

By the end of the film you understand a lot more about the Aboriginal character, their understanding of life, time and the importance of the land compared to our busy time run lives where heritage, stories and faith seem to be put aside for “work” and “play”. The film is a nice way to see how the country would have been like.

 

Although it is a little strange, it is a good film, it pushes boundaries and goes places, tells stories and toys with the audience to explore the Aboriginal culture in their terms.