Directors and other film reviews
Here are some idle thoughts from a former Director of the NFSA on some Australian films worth watching. I do not pretend that it is a list of the top ten best Australian films, nor that they provide a comprehensive overview of filmmaking in Australia. All I offer is a list that, for me, provides an interesting cross section of Australian cinema over the last 100+ years, and shows a little of why it is worth seeking out our own Australian film heritage.
Ron Brent
1. The Sentimental Bloke 1918
This may not be the obvious place to start, but for me it is the one absolutely must-not-miss film on the list. It is a silent film built around the CJ Dennis poem of the same name. It is a wonderful insight into Australian urban life of the time. If not an accurate representation of Australian culture of the time it is at least a snapshot of one perspective that CJ Dennis recorded in his classic poem. For its time it was a masterful use of the new cinematic art form.
2. Strictly Ballroom
At the time this film project was being put together I was responsible for issuing the certificates that granted tax concessions to filmmakers. The project involve a film being directed by someone who had not directed a film before. The script was by a first time script writer. The lead actor was a dancer, not an actor (although his father was an actor of note). The lead actress was required to dance her way through the film but was not a dancer. And the subject matter was ballroom dancing for goodness sake! Not the riveting subject ripe for for creation of a film masterpiece! I granted the certificate as it was an all Australian production, but was hoping that no investor would be foolish enough to waste their money on it. Fortunately a Canberra investor with vastly more knowledge, artistic judgement and general cinematic expertise knew better. The film is corny, and predictable, but every aspect of the filmmaking craft is superbly executed. It is a lot of fun!
3. Rabbit Proof Fence
An important story that is a very significant part of working out who we are in Australia. As much as Strictly Ballroom is fun, this film is serious. And it is very well crafted, with one of Australia’s great directors at the helm.
4. The Shiralee
Again a film of its time that delivers an insight into an Australia that can still be found but has been replaced in much of our country with a newer and more modern world that may be richer, but is not necessarily easier for so many Australians to cope with.
5. The Castle
This film barely makes the list of Australia’s top 40 films by box office takings in Australia, but is is probably number one in having added to the Australian idiom. It takes credit for phrases such as “straight to the pool room”, “ah, the serenity”, “it’s the vibe of the thing” and much more.
6. Newsfront
With a string of great Australian actors in the cast and by another of Australia’s great directors, this is a story of the days when the newsreel was the only form of news with moving pictures. It includes historical footage of the Maitland floods, a pre-global warming extreme natural disaster. A great story and great characters in an historical setting worth knowing.
7. Samson & Delilah
Time for a tougher film with a harder edge. A less heroic look at a different Australia.
8. Gallipoli
There had to be a war movie in the list and this one is outstanding. Again a great Australian director with an outstanding cast.
9. Malcolm
After a couple of more serious and tougher movies to watch it is time for some simple fun cleverly written and masterfully executed.
10. The Tracker
The product of another of Australia’s internationally successful directors and again touching on Australia’s troubled past, a subject that is always worth revisiting so that we can understand the present.
Colin Pitson
1. Shine
I was moved by this “true” life story based on the life of David Helfgott. I found it to be a sad movie overall but I liked that it included a few comedic scenes and the wonderful music of Rachmaninoff. Helfgott’s descent into mental illness and schizophrenia ended his career but he was able to gradually piece himself back together. I am always inspired by people reinventing and healing themselves.
2. Strictly Ballroom
A low budget romantic comedy about following your dreams. Co-written by Baz Luhrmann in his feature directorial debut. Not a brilliant movie but definitely a good one I thought, despite it being about of all things, just ballroom dancing.
3. Priscilla Queen of the Desert
A fun movie with a good natural feel about it. Loved the upbeat music (mainly ABBA). Not just “camp”, I found myself caring for these guys. Had me both laughing and crying. Loved that it was full of sparkling costumes, wit and charm.
4. Muriel’s wedding 1994
Explores the female rite of passage. Had characters and personalities I could easily relate to. Fresh and quirky. “You’re terrible Muriel” was my favourite line and the ending with Tony Collette and Rachel Griffiths saying goodbye in the taxi to their old life, memorable.
5. Babe
A loveable movie with endearing characters and a good message – we can handle anything and anyone if we go about it with care, love and patience.
6. Japanese Story
A film full of thoughtful stillness with a great performance by a young Tony Collette. At first, I found the film plot disjointed but the film eventually gets into the heads of two people in a relationship from different cultures with each finding something captivating in the other.
7. Lantana
An intricately plotted character study that had a realness about it for me. A complex web of love, sex, deceit, distrust and suspicious.
8. Rabbit-proof Fence
An important and still very relevant serious story about the stolen generation. Director Phillip Noyce captured for me the determination of three girls in their quest to be reunited with their families of origin.
9. Storm Boy
Visually stunning film with a theme about family, love and loss with a message of hope for things to be better. Thoroughly enjoyable.
10. Crocodile Dundee
What now seems like a collection of oafish characters, and a collection of jokes within a simple romantic comedy theme of opposites attract. But back when it first came out, I found it had a “wow” factor and thoroughly enjoyed it. Something about it was clearly working for it to be the most commercially successful Australian feature in history.
Danny O’Neill
Till Human Voices Wake Us (2001)
A sensitively rendered debut film written and directed by Michael Petroni has you transported and slowed to country time within the first few minutes, aided by the gentle music of Dale Cornelius. It begins with two youngsters Sam Franks, played by Lindley Joyner who comes home during the school holidays, his heart captured by his schoolgirl sweetheart Silvy Lewis, played superbly by Brooke Harman.
The drowning of his girlfriend Silvy in the local river following a romantic interlude one night has Sam withdraw from everyone emotionally, and he and his father leave the town, with Sam becoming a Melbourne psychoanalyst.
When told his father had passed, he returns to the town by train with his father’s remains to bury him, and meets a woman named Ruby (Helena Botham Carter) on the journey. He begins to reconnect with the sadness of losing Silvy. One night he rescues a woman who had jumped off the local bridge on a stormy night into the river, and appears to have amnesia. It was Ruby from the train. He takes her to his father’s home to recover, and thereafter begin the inferences that Ruby is the reincarnation of his lost sweetheart Silvy, especially after a session using hypnosis. The film ends with leaving the viewer to decide on what might be.
The poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eloit is used as the underlying connection throughout, the last line in the poem being the film’s title. While many did not appreciate the film and it received poor cinema attendance, I loved this film for its sensitive rendering of a love story spanning decades in an Australian country town, with a twist.