Australian Screen and Stage - Lara Cawsey: November 2008

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

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

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

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

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.

Camera Natura

Ross Gibson

As with most Australian films it liked to show off the landscape in a way that seemed to over ride everything else. The film featured artwork and images of the country which work so will on camera. It was more a study of the landscape on film than any other element.

It is nice to see Australian content because it gives us an idea of what Australia was really like in the early settlement.

Although it was shot in 1984 which was recent it has that classical cononial feel to it which is rarely seen in Australian film. I liked to see it, so often we see the histrical background of Europe and the USA but we hardly see our own. It is a nice introduction to the class.

Strictly Ballroom

Baz Lurhmann

Australians take their sport very seriously. In the competitive field of Ballroom dancing the world is deadly serious. Why no one thought of making a dramatic comedy about this earlier baffles me. However, I am glad they didn’t because Baz Lurhmann does it with the height of humour and magic that the film is an absolute winner.

Lurhmann, was a ballroom dancer himself thus he knows the world of the eisteddfod and shows it so well through the costume design and the attitudes of the judges and competitors.

The opening scenes of swishing skirts, huge fake smiles and perfect poised bodies prancing around the dance floor establishes the mood of the film and until we start to hear the realities of conversation through clenched teeth. One of the male dancers is drunk, the girls are complaining and the boys distracted by their own looks. This regimen of movement and faked tone is beautifully contrast with Scott Hastings (Paul Mercurio) original breakaway when during the rumba he steps away from the practiced routine into his own work. Scott the lead champion male at Les Kendall’s dance school, just wants to express his personal emotions through movement. Restricted by the continuously tightening rules of the “sport dance” world he breaks free into improvisation in the opening scenes of the film, which set up his journey for chorographical freedom. This forces his partner to leave the couple and take up with another competitor. Shattering the dreams of the school’s champions to pieces.

Lurhmann’s first big feature exposes the glitz, glamour and drama in the world of ballroom and his obvious love for dance.

The stand out scene for me is when Scott walks Fran home after a night of secret rehearsals, he is brought to the back of the house where Fran’s father, Rico teaches Scott about the passion dance should have through the pasa doble. It rekindles Scott’s hope and love for his dance and sets up the fire that is soon to kindle in Scott and Fran’s relationship both on and off the floor.

The subtle theme of bridging the gap between different cultures is touched on through the union of Fran and Scott as they learn about the passion of dance and passion for each other through the film.

This film is brave enough to be an amazing film. It takes risks and allows the dance to feature and create the emotion and visual addition that a film needs.

The thing that stands out to me the most about this film is the use of choreographed dance in it to bring emotion to the screen.

The film beautifully displays the ballroom word and the characters within it to a tee. It captures the Australian humour and dance world like no other.

Sunday, Too Far Away

Sunday Too Far Away

Ken Hannam

Finally film starts to address real Australian issues. The film, set on a sheep station in 1955 displays the workers of Australia through the Australian shearers and their reactions to the threat to their bonuses the historical moment when non-union labour was introduced.

Drifting away from the Hollywood influence the film brought a reality of a true Australian story to the stage. It feels very real, as it shows the life of the sheerer Jack Thompson and how he lives his life in the outback.

Although there is an element of “Hollywood romance” as Jack chases the station masters daughter the film seems to focus more of the males and their issues, focusing on the mundane rhythm of the way that they live.

The reality of the story allows the audience to take the experiences with Jack, for many audience members who are from metropolitan background this might be a new side of Australia they have never seen. However it is fundamental one which keep sthe country running, the idea of the working man.

Forty Thousand Horsemen

Charles Churvel

Charles Churvel brings attention to the Australian screen by telling the story of the Australian and New Zealand cavalry who helped move the German forces across the Dardanelle’s.

The film has a sweetness to it by being based around the relationship between a man and girl, Churvel juxtaposes the horror of war with their relationship. It was a large feat at the time and should be credited for its initiative.

It is one of the films that is the base of our industry. It sets up our Australian history as a strong and brave country who are willing to help. The film has nice character to it.

Mad Max

George Miller

To be honest I didn’t really like this film. I do credit as being one of the most influential films in Australia’s history. It placing Mel Gibson into the big time and gave George Miller the success he needed to be noted as a director. It helped people take notice of Australian film.

The film pushes the “mad car” movement in Australian film at the time into overdrive with its extreme stunts and visual action which are still amazing to watch, even with today’s remarkable CG work to contrast by.

I found it a bit long. I like to be heavily mentally engaged in film. This is just a personal attitude but it was very “action” for me almost as if the story had be placed around the stunts.

Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation

Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation!

Mark Hartley

This feature documentary is a great look into the history of Australian film. It cleverly explores Australian film in ways that are rarely seen. The interviewees are amazing, including Quentin Tarantino who turns out to be a fanatic of Australian film.

Unfortunately the one thing I did learn is how crude, rude and sex obsessed our industry was in the 70’s. At times the films seemed closer to porn than detailed film.

The films production values are amazing, each interview is set in a beautiful setting and lit really well which, I believe adds to the class of the film. I learnt a lot about the different movements we have already been through and the strong influence funding has over film in their country. The good element was that it had a hopeful ending with Australian content starting to be taken more seriously on a world platform.

Oscar and Lucinda

The reputation of Australian content is generally tossed aside when put on a world stage, unfortunate but true. I felt that this film altered this perception. Armstrong has an eye firstly for casting, especially picking up on Cate Blanchette as a rising star. Her wit for picking up on undiscovered actors and amazing casting, really made it work. The film was both beautiful, and clever with a strong story, strong performance and storong images to support it. Oscar and Lucinda are fantastic characters who work well one the screen. The only element I had trouble with was the constant geographical shifting if the story.

Secondly, the imagery and cinematography of the film displays Australia as an absolutely beautiful place, which allows the beauty of the signature shot, when the glass church floats down the river. This is not just a beautiful shot bust stirs up the emotion in the film using her visual storytelling as a key to her work.

An amazing film that exceeded my expectations.

December Boys

In relation to Australian film this film is a nice modern view of the styles, attitudes and images of life in the early 1960’s within Australia that modner audiences rarely see. However as a film within the film context it doenst quite pull up to scratch.

In a way the film sold its soul before it began. The story (another adaptation! ) from the novel by Michael Noonan written in 1963. It focuses on a group of Orphans who are sent to the coast for a holiday.

I did enjoy the film and I must admit I was originally attracted to the film because of Daniel Radcliff (otherwise known as Harry Potter) was for the first time featuring in a different role. However I felt that with his casting they may have lost a direction that the film needed.

Unfortunately, Radcliff looks a bit old in contrast with the other boys. It feels like he doesn’t really fit in with the others, which I suppose was part of the “coming of age” style of the film. Still he felt just a little too old in the role, especially when he comes across counterpart,

The other young boys are very good in their roles. It is a bit of a catch twenty-two situation because without Radcliff there would not have been the publication and perhaps not the distribution to have the film as exposed as it was. I still feel though that the film could have been stronger with a young actor who really fit the part of Maps.

In contrast to the boys the girls in the film seem to be of a Syren breed. Teresa appears magically appears from the wilderness riding stallions through the crystallising waves and Lucy appears and disappears from mystical caves like forms of mystical goddesses. Perhaps the mystic of the women was directed a little to boldly and off set the boys position in the film.

The film is a nice change form Saw series and Woolf Creek which are some of the more popular Australian films abroad at the time of its arrival. It is shot to show the beauty of the Australian cost, which in fact it achieves very well.

Still I think this could have been a very strong film on its own with the correct casting. It is a shame that such sacrifices have to be made for modern Australian films to be distributed.

In contrast to some of the films being released in Australia I must admit it was a clever choice to cast Radcliff because the film was need. I suppose it is up to each viewer to see if they see this as an advantage or disadvantage.

Frustration with the Industry

Frustration with the industry.

I find it difficult to write about Australian film. Probably because I am an Australian and I want our films to do well but I tend to find even with Australian reviewers, they all boost the Australian films as fantastic works. However, when our films are put on a world stage they tend to fall behind the pack.

It is the boarder crossing films such as Bad Boy Bubby that grasp the attention of world cinema goers because of its outrageous take on Bubby’s life. When considering Australian film is it needed to take into account the fact than many Australian filmmakers are working with extremely low budgets with little support from the government? Is it that art is shunned more than usual in this country?

Why is it that this has been a running issue over the past hundred years and we still can’t seem to get it right?

It is clear we have the talent within our industries this is known by the success of Australian workers in different countries. Australians love their film but tend to avoid Australian films because of their reputation for bad content and boring story lines. Why would mainstream viewers waist twelve dollars on a film they wont enjoy when they go to the cinemas to escape?

Perhaps we are trying too hard to find the controversial or the amazing story. Perhaps we need to start building the industry up searching for new stories in our quickly changing society.

Cosi

Directed by Mark Joffel

I am not sure if I am bias because I love this story as the stage play, written by Louis Nowra but Cosi makes me laugh out loud which rarely happens in film. Although the film doesn’t always seem to hold the magic of when you see it performed live on stage, the acting of this particular ensemble is a priceless combination.

Cosi follows Louis, a playwright into a new job in the local mental asylum. He is employed to put on a play with the inmates to keep them engaged. He attempts to try and put on a talent show but is overrun by the hilarious Roy who is determined that they will perform Mozart’s Opera “Cosi Fan Tutte”. By the time of the performance Louis realises the charm of each of the inmates he has been working with.

I think this film really hits a chord of Australian humour by the relationships shown between each of the characters. The amazing casting of Barry Otto as the mad Roy, Jacki Weaver as the flamboyant and love struck Cherry and David Wenham as the wild pyromaniac Doug. Still, each character has their own place in the ensemble and the overall story.

I could see that it might not hit such a strong chord overseas but it definitely hits a chord with the Australian humour. I think this comes with the mundane and hilarious situations the characters get themselves in. Although the humour is slightly violent at tomes (when Doug tells the story about setting his mothers cats alight.) It can also be a little crude; I think that comes with Australian humour itself.

In terms of production quality it is not amazing. The film is obviously held back by its low budget thus it has a slight amateur feel to it having been made in 1996. However, it is the performance we wait for and generously receive

This film rekindles and realigns what Australian’s see as comedy. It is a different humour than any other.

The Tracker

Ralph De Heer

The Tracker is a beautiful story of irony in the pursuit of “justice” in the early years of the 20^th century in Australia.

In true De Heer style the film is a little cryptic in style as it follows four men through the Australian landscape in 1922 to find a run away Aboriginal man who may or may not have committed a crime. The film has a kind of Brechtian style as we spend a lot of time on the road searching with the four men. None of the characters have proper names; instead it is the Tracker and the Fanatic although these are hardly used.

Part of the appeal of this film for me is simply watching David Gulpilil on screen. His presence, subtly of facial expression and especially his movement on screen is amazing to watch and allowing the other actors to bring the story to life. He seems to be a very generous actor who brings a cheeky acting skill and personality to the screen.

Wether this was intentional or by chance in contrast to Gulpilil, all the other actors look so uncomfortably out of place in the bush. Ultimately this adds to the story because soon into their search, “the tracker” realises that the group are nothing without him and he is able to start playing games and leading the group astray form the other Aboriginal man they are chasing. The one scene, which shows this is when The tracker (Gulpilil) pulls The Fanatic off the cliff and into the dam. After trying to drown him he gets out and starts apologising saying it is an accident.

Its setting within Australian film brings into play the beauty of the Aboriginal population and the importance of the rugged landscape of Australia. De Heer breaks the sections of our journey with the men up into sections by allowing shots to drift off into the Australian landscape, perhaps this is to notify the audience that the party are getting further from the “civilised” or that the land is a beauty in contrast to the story.

This is my favourite De Heer film. I love its us of the medium in different ways to bring emotion to the screen like cut always to paintings and visual meanders through the bush. In a way it captures a nice humour within quite a tragic story.

Lantana

Lantana Directed by Ray Lawrence

Albert Moran, notes that Australian film makers have an obsession with the small domestic stories, which flood the base of our films, moist probably because of our small population, geographical distance form the rest of the world and short history. Usually they are dry and long with no real ending left for the Audience to decide.

Lantana, is the Australian “domestic” film which worked. As a lot of Australian films, the film is stemmed from a stage play, Speaking In Tongs, and while it is essentially an ensemble piece it works beautifully on screen. The film cleverly unwinds to find that all the couples and individuals are connected in some way.

Leon begins sleeping with Jane after boredom in his marriage. Jane is in the process of separation of her own unsuccessful marriage. Sonja, Leon’s wife goes to counselling because she suspects Leon is up to something where she is counselled by Dr Valerie Somers who has had marital problems since she and her Husband, John lost their daughter to murder. This then starts the unravelling of the story when Valerie goes missing and Leon is assigned to look after the case. Leon’s personal experience with the case opens the film to expose the themes, which are similar in the realities of these lives, that they are more complicated than a fairy story and that what we think should go right can sometimes go very wrong.

The tone of the film, which Laurence embraced, was a cold creepy, visually desaturated tone throughout to casts a shadow over the piece, continuously making the audience suspicious and uncomfortable.

One of the jewels of the film is its ability to expose a more truthful study of modern day suburban lives compared previous simple films such as The Sentimental Bloke . This style of modern day life is also seen in the recent television series of Love My Way, which, like Lantana was extremely popular for Australian audiences. I think they are so good because they show the people and issues we as Australians see every day. Audiences can relate to the

The first shot shows us the mangled body of Valerie suspended in the twisted bush of lantana. This shot, while chilling draws an audience in to follow the untangling of the story over the films duration. The story mimics the tangled web of lantana we see at the beginning. I think the imagery used supported by natural sounds rather than an organised score adds to the creepy nature of the story. It helps to tell the delicacies of the story’s web and assist the complications and themes of deceit, trust and boredom within relationships is done so well in this story that it makes an audience think and ultimately isn’t that what any film maker wants from their film.

It is just clever film, which takes advantage of the visual medium. It did make me uncomfortable because it was so close to home. Usually when we see thrillers of this kind they are set internationally and thus are separated from our context but when they are set around where you live it give you a sense of reality for the story to be told in. I believe this is why it worked well here.

Barry Mckenzie

This film is crude rude and terribly Australian.“Bazza” after inheriting a small fortune decides to go to England to further his cultural education past the “shela” and the “VB”. Accompanied by his Aunt, Aunty Edna, his innocence and roteske nature is extremely funny as he goes around commenting on the Eifle tower and Earl’s Court.

It is not surprising this film was popular in Australia. (I know audeinecs even today who would think this the funniest film they have seen.) At the time of it making the new tax cuts of the 70’s were in place, allowing ridiculous slasher and stripper films to be pumped out exposing audiences to grotesque and ridiculous images that had not been seen in Australia. Although Mckenzie did include breasts at any time possible it was a film about the little guy. The everyday herom, who we hold so dear in Australia. it is one of the first films which separates Australians from the English in a way which promotes the country. Barry is still a hero in Australian cinema for his loud, sex crazed and innocent character.

The thing that stood out for me in this film is the ablility of Australian humour to be so grotesque but cheaky enough that it can been taken lightly and accepted, it wasn’t really my style of film but I still managed to giggle a lot.

It is also worthy to note that this was the first appearance of Aunty Edna, later to become Dame Edna. An Australian icon and an international treasure. I would say this film helped us establish what people were wanting in their enternatinment at the time, a continuation of the little guy winning. Simmilarly to The Sentimental Bloke just more bold and discusting.

Jedda

Charles Chauvel

Jedda is a monumental film in Australian film history. It was the first Australian film in colour and the first time an aboriginal woman was displayed as the main character on screen. Thus even before my screening I knew of the film and its prowess.

These days it is a bit slow to watch, but it is interesting to see how the Aboriginal population is displayed in film, as opposed to recent films such as Rabbit Proof Fence and Ten Canoes.

Jedda follows a young girls who’s mother dies on an Australian station and is raised my the station owners wife Sarah. Jedda is in a way an outcast unable to access her natural culture yet excluded from the one she is trying to be accepted into.

I liked Jedda because for its time it was exploring Australia’s culture further than any Australian filmmaker had so far, into our Aboriginal culture.

It is interesting to see how influential her character is in the film. I was also interested that the film had to be a tragedy, it seemed that both Jedda while she was displayed her position was spoken about in the community. He mother says, “You’re no more one of them than night is day” but Jedda’s opinion and point of view is never investigated.

I also wondered in the context of the films release, why the film had to be a tragedy where Marbuk ends up pulling Jedda over the cliff. Was it needed in that time for the unnatural to be destroyed for people to be able to handle the film or was it simply part of the plot. Would it have the same ending if Jedda was white? Who knows but it is interesting to think about.

Bliss

Ray Lawrence

I am still fighting with this film even now which makes it difficult to write about.

If it had to be summarised the story is about Harry Joy (Barry Otto) who dies for four minutes after a heart attack. When he is revived his thoughts about life and his business in advertising change when he realizes his wife is having an affair with his business partner Joel. It is this realization that his family is falling to pieces and his world is coming apart when his son is selling cocaine and handing it to his little sister for sexual rewards and that Harry’s advertising company is promoting products that cause cancer. It isn’t until he meets Honey, a hippie free thinker who deals in prostitution that his eyes are re-opened. Eventually they move to the forest and build a life for themselves.

The thing I liked about this film most was its complicated nature was mirrored in the stylistic approach to the film. Still, I found it frustrating that I was fighting to find the story within it, anything to grasp hold of. I seemed to be asking, is this real? Is this a story within a story? What is going on? It seemed that within the first twenty minutes I had floated into someone’s daydream, which slipped between a warped world of reality and the surreal. This frustrated me because I believe it made me miss the point of some of the highly creative sections such as when Harry dies which I think I could have got a lot more out of than I did.

It was the scene where Bettinna, Harry’s wife and his business partner, Joel, are having sex on the country club restraint table when the film takes a look around to see the reaction of the other patrons, there is no reaction it allowed me to connect the strory with the abstract nature of the film to make a point related to the plot. It allowed me to relax into the surreal/ real frame of mind and was able to accept the warped nature of the film. From then on I enjoyed the play between the real and surreal. Still I think that there wasn’t enough connection between them for me to allow the real and surreal to really work which was a shame.

However, I still felt that the experimental visual approach to these issues were fantastic. I loved Harry’s death shot from “dead man’s bird’s eye” view. There were also scatterings of abstract sequences which I though were amazing such as the dead body floating in water that we are drawn to through layers of sewed which is amazing. However, they usually distracted me as a viewer than added to the strength of the film.

Still it was an interesting and very experimental piece of cinema and I like that this kind of work is coming out of Australia even with such a small market, Ray Laurence wasn’t scared to take risks, it’s a great attitude to have.

Picnic At Hanging Rock

Picnic at Hanging Rock. (1975)

Pete Weir

The story explores the disappearance of three girls who after climbing a rock in the Australian bush vanish mysteriously. The film then goes into searching for the answers but leaves the explanation up in the air.

I have seen this film twice now. The first time it scared me I was young and my imagination played with the idea of where the girls went to. The bush is a huge part of our country, it can be beautiful but also very dangerous. On my second viewing recently, I picked up on the subtle statements Weir was making throughout the film after passing the fright of the first viewing. I like the commentary Weir presents on the Australian culture in this film. I believe the mystery comes from the original bok written by Joan Lindsay

Visually the story speaks for itself. It heavily juxtaposes the restricted English colonial way of life through the way the girls live, dress and behave with the wild ruggedness of the Australian landscape. The film opens on tight framed shots of the girls getting ready for the day brushing their hair and putting on layers of their dresses. Most shots are reflected in mirrors or hidden behind foreground and distanced from the audience. With this he creates the view of just how out of place the restricted culture of the “British boarding school” way of life juxtaposed the ideals and nature of the country.

I believe the girls disappearance is a statement about the nature of Australian’s and their adaptation to their country. These girls see the restricted way of life does not adapt to their habitat. When they embrace the possibility of its freedom they are taken away to show the audience how much the others do not fit and how they would need to change to understand. Hence we are not left with an answer because their reactions to the girl’s disappearance is our answer.

All in all on the second viewing and closer look I could appreciate the cleverness of the film that Weir has used the screen to illuminate in abstract ways.

Radiance

Rachel Perkins

Of all the films we have watched so far, this is the one which has effected me as an audience member the most. I wouldn't say that it has been the most cinematically interesting but it has the magical element of a clever screenplay which tells a good story. I beleieve that without a good screenplay there is no good film.

The story of three sisters returning to their home because of their single mothers death brings the three sisters who never see each-other back together. The story takes us through their stories and share how they were effected by their mother who split them apart allowing the two oldest to be taken by white families.

It may also be the fact that I am female and Australian that there were themes which I could understand, however to have issues such as the "stolen generation" bubbling beneath the surface coupled with the way that the Aboriginal population has been treated in our history simply made it stronger. Within the story it explains without spelling it out that the stolen generations influence are still effecting families in modern times.

Although it was an adaptation from a screenplay which tends to show through at times when the film slows visually it allows us to foucs on the issues of the girls relationships.

It is the ensembe and emotion which comes through the film that I love.

With every good

The Sentimental Bloke

The Sentimental Bloke (1919) Raymond Longford

Raymond Longford brought attention to the Australian character the “Aussie larrikin” through the success of The Sentimental Bloke. It seemed to be the character, which really stuck a chord with its audiences and its influence within the Australian industry can still be seen today in shows such as Kath and Kim

From a modern viewing, I thought it had elements similar to that of Chaplin. The simple story of a man who abandons gambling and alcohol to chace a woman for love and the visual comic elements were similar. There are small visually clear complications but its simple nature allows it to be easy to watch.

Probably the thing that stood out to me was the display of the “working man” who lived in the city’s suburbs, which was a major part of Australian life at the time. For a time that people were looking for an escape, usually to a “Hollywood fantasy” when they went to the cinema it must have struck a chord because it was so close to home that all the jokes portrayed would have been very familiar.

The film itself is still funny for a modern audience, which comes with the lead characters, Bill and Doreene and their relationship which grows over the film and the situations they get themselves into.

These days it is a bit slow to watch, however it is credited for its establishment and success it brought for Australian film in its 1919 context.

Australian Screen and Stage - Lara Cawsey