Breath: 'You wouldn't be dead for quids'

Simon Baker's film adaptation of Tim Winton's award winning Australian novel Breath is a couple of hours well spent. Baker and Winton shared scriptwriting with Gerard Lee. Tim is also the adult voice of schoolboy Pikelet (Samson Coulter).

Samson and fellow first-timer Ben Spence fill their contrasting roles like veterans. Coulter's performance as a sensitive and troubled teen stands out. Spence certainly does justice to his in-your-face, reckless character Loonie.

The grownups do a pretty professional job too. Simon Baker gives a fairly reserved performance as Sando, an ageing surfie with a pro-surfing past. He looks the part but does not deliver the emotional range to really develop the character as we might want. He uses a middle class accent laced with some genuine Aussie: 'You wouldn't be dead for quids', 'Wonder what the ordinary people are doing?' It was customarily "poor people" so that's a deliberate thematic twist. Apparently, Baker has a surfing background from his youth on the East coast.

Elizabeth Debicki brings more depth as the damaged, brooding Eva. Richard Roxburgh is solid as Pikelet's father, with Baker using understated visual cues rather than dialogue to flesh out his role.

Set in the 1970s, the film was shot in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia, the area where Winton spent his teenage years. It's best experienced in a cinema, not just for Rick Rifici's stunning surfing sequences but also for Marden Dean's classy cinematography.

Friendship is the central element of this coming-of-age story. It opens with Loonie daring his mate Pikelet to take foolish risks. When Sando takes the boys under his surfing wing, he challenges them to "go for it", to confront their fears by tackling increasingly dangerous waves. He urges Pikelet to reach out beyond the ordinary, to "surrender" to the moment. That's also good advice for the audience.

Overall, Simon Baker should be pleased with his debut as director.

The Dressmaker: revenge served hot

It is easy to see why The Dressmaker has such immediate appeal down under. Its director Jocelyn Moorhouse and co-writer/producer P.J. Hogan have given us such treats as Proof, Muriel's Wedding and Mental.

This film has lots of parts: part mystery, psychological drama, love story, farce, tale of revenge, and soap. Plus some zany numbers knocked up on the iconic Singer sewing machine. And above all comedy.

In 1951 Myrtle 'Tilly' Dunnage (Kate Winslet), returns to the small Victorian country town, which she was forced to leave as a child. She is a beguiling mixture of vamp and seamstress. Her quest is to uncover the truth behind her exile and to throw off the curse that haunts her. On her arrival the town is united against Tilly, even her mother Molly (Judy Davis). The exceptions are Teddy McSwiney (Liam Hemsworth) and his brother Barney (Gyton Grantley). No spoilers - even though the plot is essentially irrelevant like any self-respecting melodrama.

The cast includes a host of old Aussie troopers such as Hugo Weaving, Barry Otto, Julia Blake, Rebecca Gibney, Shane Bourne and Shane Jacobson. There is more than one allusion to their filmographies but only Barry's hunchback falls a bit flat.

Came away feeling that the spirit of Yahoo Serious (and Young Einstein) lives on in Australian cinema. Thank heavens!

The Rocket: Festival of Hope

Australian writer/director Kim Mordaunt's The Rocket is a little gem. He sees the film as "a rite of passage story of a boy’s journey through grief, guilt and self-doubt - set against the timely universal themes of the displacement of people by industry and the legacy of war". It certainly fits that description but in many ways it is a classic fantasy, a young boy and his family's quest to regain the life they have lost, symbolised by finding a place to plant the mother's mangoes.

It's a feel good movie with fun and humour. However, at its core is a very serious drama. It has been banned in Laos, where it is set, apparently because it deals with the dispossession of villagers from their land to build dams. The film was Australia's nomination in the Best Foreign-language category for the 2014 Oscars but didn't make it to the short list.

The two children go well beyond the cliché of stealing the show. Sitthiphon Disamoe as 10 year-old boy Ahlo romps through the film with boundless energy, displaying the rare ability to handle comic and dramatic moments with equal ease. Loungnam Kaosainam gives her 9 year-old character Kia a real edge. Her full-on attitude is as infectious as Sitthiphon's.

Former stuntperson Sumrit Warin as Ahlo's father Toma, gives a rock-solid performance that matches his chiselled countenance, saying lots with minimal dialogue. Bunsri Yindi as grandma Taitok and Alice Keohavong as the mother Mali have the kind of presence you'd expect of skilled, experienced professionals.

The other show stealer is the accomplished Thep Phongam as Purple, so named for his James Brown fixation. In Mordaunt's words, Purple is "a powerful metaphor for Lao’s history. He was full of contradictions: a deep Lao heritage but also a clone of western US influence from the Secret War when the Lao Hmong tribes people were recruited by the CIA to fight for them". He is also a great clown.

The film was produced by Sylvia Wilczynski, who is the other half of the Australian film company Red Lamp Films with Kim Mordaunt.

As befits the magnificent setting in the hills of Northern Laos, we saw the movie at the Shadow Electric outdoor cinema at the former Abbotsford convent in Melbourne. Without creating much of a spoiler, it was also appropriate that the bats made their customary dusk journey overhead before the screening.

The applause at the end indicated The Rocket's impact. Not because it could have happened, but because it should!

Mental: Lighter side of madness

If Mental has a message it's 'Define Normal'. Writer/director P.J. Hogan, of Muriel's Wedding fame, returns to his roots in a homage of sorts to the Sound of Music, Jaws, and Muriel herself.

It's a very talented cast. There are high profile international faces. Toni Collette is a delight as Shaz but she has had a history of mental illness of course, particularly in her American Tara role. Anthony LaPaglia as Mayor Barry Moochmore also abandons his yankee TV accent in a role that's not too challenging. Liev Schreiber as shark hunter Trevor Blundell turns the tables as a very convincing Aussie.

Rebecca Gibney as Shirley Moochmore and Deborah Mailman as Sandra lead a wealth of local talent though their glory is stolen by the Moochmore youngsters played by Lily Sullivan, Bethany Whitmore, Chelsea Bennett, Nicole Freeman and Malorie O'Neill.

This is no masterpiece like Muriel but it worked as comedy. Audience reaction was definitely positive. A lot of laughs for such a serious subject.

The Tall Man: Death in Paradise

The Tall Man documents the death in police custody of aborigine Cameron Doomadgee on Queensland’s Palm Island in 2004 and the subsequent inquests and trial of Sergeant Chris Hurley.

From my review of the book in 2010 The Tall Man Story continues:

The background to this tragic story is very bleak:

• the appalling treatment of indigenous people in Queensland by settlers, government and police;
• the forced relocation of the unwanted and ‘undesirables’ to Palm Island’s virtual prison;
• the continuing consequences of the stolen generations and separated families;
• the culture of apathy and denial within the police, forensic pathologists and the justice system;
• the code of coverup;
• the ‘them and us’ attitudes of some in the Deep North towards their Southern cousins;
• the legacy of Christian missions on indigenous beliefs and values;
• the sorry state of reconciliation in parts of Australia.

One of the best things about this documentary is that it lets the people speak for themselves. There is no heavy narration or running commentary. Of course that doesn’t necessarily make it objective or without a point of view. As I wrote about the book’s author Chloe Hooper:

It’s easy to feel that she was trying to nail him for the still unexplained violent death of Cameron Doomadgee.

Writer/director Tony Krawitz has been essentially true to the book. He explained his approach and views in this interview:

The audience can draw their own conclusions, just as Chloe Hooper’s readers had to. Some voices are missing, especially Sergeant Hurley and other members of the police force. We have to rely on extracts from his interviews during the investigation and subsequent legal proceedings.

Some aspects are left out such as detailed coverage of the riots and subsequent prosecutions. Some recent developments since publication have been added. It’s hard not reach for clichés such as disturbing and confronting. It’s also hard to leave the theatre with any feeling of optimism about most of the issues outlined above.

If you miss this quality production at the cinema, SBS should be screening it later and hopefully will be available on SBS OnDemand.

Mad Bastards: Raw and Real

Writer/director Brendan Fletcher's film Mad Bastards is a rough and ready depiction of aboriginal life in the remore Kimberley region of Western Australia. No punches are pulled. Poverty, unemployment, violence, alcohol abuse, domestic violence are all there in large doses. But so are the personal struggles to overcome these legacies, and the enduring strength of the people.

The cast are mostly amateurs and this shows throughout the movie. However, there is a heightened honesty and intensity, as many play roles that reflect their own life experiences.

The following is taken from the Press Kit:

TJ is a mad bastard, and his estranged 13‐year‐old son Bullet is on the fast track to
becoming one, too. After being turned away from his mother’s house, TJ sets off across the country to the Kimberly region of northwestern Australia to make things right with his son.

Grandpa Tex has lived a tough life, and now, as a local cop in the outback town of Five Rivers, he wants to change things for the men in his community. Cutting between three generations, Mad Bastards is a raw look at the journey to becoming a man and the personal transformation one must make.

Developed with local Aboriginal communities and fueled by a local cast, Mad Bastards
draws from the rich tradition of storytelling inherent in Indigenous life. Using music from legendary Broome musicians the Pigram Brothers, writer/director Brendan Fletcher poetically fuses the harsh realities of violence, healing, and family.

Dean Daly-Jones as TJ, Lucas Yeeda as his 13 year-old son Bullet, Ngaire Pigram as the mother and Greg Tait as grandpa policeman Tex all give professional performances, though Ngaire is the only experienced actor. Tait is a fair dinkum copper from the area.

If you're not yet a fan of Ngaire's fellow family members the Pigram Brothers, there is plenty of opporunity to meet some of them and their music, plus musician Alex Lloyd.

Mad Bastards is a raw but very real film that is both confronting and touching.

The Way Back: Endless Steps

There is a lot to like about The Way Back: great scenery and photography; some fine acting; a boy's own adventure (well almost if you don't count the girl). But overall this is not one of Peter Weir's best films.

The horrors of Stalinism were laboured without revealing anything new or deepening our understanding of the gulag tragedy. Perhaps it will help to educate a younger audience.

The storyline is predictable and clichéd.

The performance of Colin Farrell, as the criminal Valka, is the most appealing but then he has the most to work with. His dark-Irish charisma suits the part. Ed Harris, as the American Mr. Smith, rarely gets beyond wooden or perhaps it's just the enigmatic character he's playing. Jim Sturgess, as the leader Janusz, is too good to have survived as far as Siberia.

The direction and editing are pedestrian (no pun intended). Cinematic devices such as the dream of coming home to the front door are twee to say the least. Perhaps the walking boots at the end are a tongue-in-cheek tribute to Eisenstein.

The script screams out for some insight into the individuals - what made them unique as well as universal.

Nevertheless, if you're into survival sagas, then this two-hour-plus contribution to the genre should suit.

MIFF 2010 - Cane Toads: The Conquest

After more than 20 years, Mark Lewis has returned to his classic topic in Cane Toads: The Conquest. We catch up with the relentless march of this unpopular guest in Australia.

The ingenuity of the local defenders and their futile attempts to stop its spread across Northern Australia are documented in detail. It is an salutary lesson in the dangers of eco experimentation. Yet there seems no sense of irony from those who hope for a biological or genetic solution.

There are some of the old favourites. Golf clubs! A taxi swerves across the road with more deadly accuracy than the original combi van. Monica Krause, the young girl who owned "Dairy Queen", reminisces about her gigantic pet toad.

Surprisingly it's the dogs who steal the show. Their closeups almost make the 3D worthwhile. Lewis manages to find a range of people who are more than willing to share their cane toad stories. There is a character gallery that is well worth visiting.

Mark keeps himself out of the conversation, a style that many other documentary makers could well copy. The politician talking heads became a little monotonous but that is their specialty.

Can't say that no toads were harmed in the making of this film. The gas extermination of thousands may disturb some viewers.

Nevertheless, Cane Toads: The Conquest is very engaging experience.

Animal Kingdom: Jungle Genes

Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn is at his manic best as the 'Pope', Andrew Cody, in Animal Kingdom. Writer/director David Michôd has capitalised on the success of the recent Underbelly TV series to bring us a gripping underworld-family drama. The story is based on the murder of two policemen in Walsh Street, Melbourne in 1988 and the notorious Pettingill family.

The very strong Australian cast is led by newcomer James Frecheville, as Josh Cody, who steals the glory. He has the unenviable task of carrying off a degree of sanity in a swamp of psychopaths. Joel Edgerton as family guardian Barry Brown walks the fine line between these with aplomb.

This is a film where the focus is squarely on the eyes of its characters. The dialogue is secondary. Jackie Weaver as matriarch Janine Cody is an exception. Her obsessive need to talk through the dramas would seem false if the archetype gangster mum Kath Pettingill had not done so very publicly at the time of the real life murders and trial. Apparently there is even an Oz Un-reality TV series on infamous crime families. If I knew its name, I wouldn’t provide a link. Have to draw the line somewhere.

On obvious question that is partially explored by Animal Kingdom is the nature of these institutions. What makes them tick: family ethos, loyalty, fear, herd instinct, psychotic genes, the business ethic? We don’t hear the Sopranos excuse that they are soldiers fighting an unjust system in some kind of class war. It would have made a better film if this exploration had been deeper. We certainly get a very different take on our suburban neighbours.

The other disturbing side of this movie is the police corruption. Crooked cops involved in the drug industry are universal. However, the Armed Robbery Squad that is portrayed as totally out of control has its roots firmly in the actual events of the 1980s. Senior Sergeant Nathan Leckie is a standout white knight of law enforcement in a sea of black. It isn’t a role that enables Guy Pearce to shine but keeps it straight and to the point.

The judicial system also takes a hammering. The coke-sniffing criminal lawyer, in both sense of the word, is also based on a real person. The cynical and amoral female barrister comes straight from British crime television.

This is a quality movie. Animal Kingdom maintains its restrained intensity to the last shot. Pun intended.

Cheers for Bran Nue Dae at Sundance

A quick review of Bran Nue Dae by Anne Thompson from the Sundance Film Festival:

Friday morning in the Spotlight section (for films that Sundance programmers love that have screened elsewhere), Aboriginal musical Bran Nu Dae scored lots of laughs at the Racquet Club. Here’s how one attendee described it in a text message: “Grease meets Gods Must Be Crazy meets 10 Canoes! Geoffrey Rush makes surprise leading role. Fun, fun, fun! The audience screamed and cheered at the end! Very audience friendly and appealing with big heart and theme. Very Aussie cheekie."
Sundance Watch: Redford vs. Gilmore, Howl, Restrepo, Bran Nu Dae

If you haven't seen it yet, it's still screening in Oz cinemas.

Bran Nue Dae January Cinema Release

Advance screenings of Rachel Perkins' glorious Bran Nue Dae start next week with the national release to follow during January.

This is one of the best 2009 Australian productions. This indigenous Shakespearean-style comedy/romance/road movie is all fun. Don't miss it.

Spread the news!

It's also screening at the Sundance Film Festival later this month.

The Boys are Back: Just Say Maybe

Director Scott Hicks’ first Australian movie since Shine is set in his home State of South Australia. Unfortunately The Boys are Back does not live up to that extraordinary film.

Just Say Yes is a great motto for life unless you are a single parent with little experience of taking personal responsibility. The Boys are Back explores this as well as love, loss, grieving and the absentee father.

Clive Owen plays Joe Warr, an English sports journalist who married an Aussie and settled in a rural retreat. It is a true retreat, for he is rarely home while his wife Katy is still alive. This life as a thoroughly modern bread-winner might help to explain the breakdown of his first marriage.

It’s a strong cast. Julia Blake is very professional as mother-in-law Barbara but Chris Haywood’s talent is wasted as her husband Tom. Laura Fraser as Katy and Emma Booth as Laura, the once and future Ms Warrs, don’t miss a beat.

Joe’s six year-old son Artie, played by Nicholas McAnulty, has some of the best lines of the script, if they seem unlikely for his age. George MacKay’s performance as son Harry, is suitably teen-brooding. He understands his father’s immaturity much better than Joe does. For a journalist Joe is a remarkably poor communicator at times.

Some aspects of the plot are too contrived and require too much suspension of disbelief. Others are just too predictable, especially the ending.

Ultimately, The Boys are Back is too soft and too forgiving. The hard edges are blunted too much by Clive Owen’s personable performance. It’s an enjoyable experience but had the feel of telemovie rather than really memorable cinema. If you’re thinking of watching it, I’ll just say maybe.

Samson & Delilah: Oz Oscar entry

Great news for Warwick Thornton's Samson & Delilah:

Screen Australia today announced that the feature film Samson & Delilah is Australia’s official entry for nomination consideration for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards®.
Screen Australia 29 September 2009

Beautiful Kate: Always on their Minds

Director/screenwriter, Rachel Ward has created a very moving experience in Beautiful Kate. It's a story of a dysfunctional bush family, set in the dry but magnificent country around South Australia's Flinders Ranges. Ward's husband Bryan Brown doubles as producer and actor.

The death of his wife left Bruce Kendall to bring up their young children, two boys and two girls. His macho, tough approach to parenting brought nothing but disaster. A explosive mixture of adolescent sexual awakening and outback isolation was compounded by his choice of home schooling through School of the Air. The young twins Ned (Scott O'Donnell)and Kate (Sophie Lowe) were especially close.

When Bruce is dying, forty-year-old Ned (Ben Mendelsohn) returns to their property with his feisty girlfriend Toni (Maeve Dermody). Writer Ned starts to record his memories as a way of burying his ghosts or closet skeletons. When his sister leaves him as carer for several days, all the old wounds are reopened. The film is a journey towards the ubiquitous closure cliché. Bruce and Ned would find much more colourful synonyms for an ending, happy or otherwise.

This is a remarkably talented cast. Brown gives one of his most convincing performances and Mendelsohn impresses throughout. Rachel Griffiths as youngest sibling Sally is rock solid. Lowe does a fine job steering clear of the potential overkill inherent in her very difficult role. Dermody's scenes with Brown leave us with the certainty that there is much more depth to her character than we meet on the surface. Scott O'Donnell is a capable actor though he lacks the cheekiness and charisma of either the young or mature Mendelsohn.

The father/son confrontations are classics. Wall-flies would no doubt have enjoyed the rehearsals and off-screen banter. Rachel brings out the best and worst in both of them.

Kate is a well paced and structured narrative using unfolding flashbacks very effectively. Despite its themes, it is not a dark or brooding film of the kind that has been criticised lately. At one stage the older Ned cries out, "I'm still here!" in despair. As he drives back to the big smoke, these words herald a new opening.

Her feature film debut as director is a triumph for Rachel Ward.

Balibo: Tense East Timor Testament

Robert Connolly’s Balibo is a compelling political thriller. It “is a true story” based on Jill Jolliffe’s book, Cover-Up.

It is in fact four stories:

• The story of five Australian journalists who were murdered at Balibo by the Indonesian forces that invaded East Timor in 1975.
• Of Roger East, an Australian journalist who sought the truth about their deaths.
• Of Juliana who testifies as an adult to her experiences in Dili as an eight year old.
• Of the spirit of the East Timorese people as embodied in their current President José Ramos Horta.

Connolly and playwright David Williamson have constructed a script that has avoided potential pitfalls associated with layers of flashbacks. At times the pace faltered as the context or the suspense was being established.

There is little attempt to present detailed characterisations of the Balibo 5. Damon Gameau as Greg Shackleton is the focus of the group. His re-enactment of Shackleton’s famous TV report from the frontline is impressive. You can compare the two on the website. The rivalry between the Channel 9 and Channel 7 crews continues today, though in a less friendly way.

Anthony LaPaglia gives a very convincing performance as Roger East. He has enough weight both figuratively and literally to carry off the role of a seedy, disillusioned journo.

Oscar Isaac manages the difficult job of the young José Ramos Horta. Fortunately he does not try imitating this distinctive and well-known personality.

Gyton Grantley (Gary Cunningham), Nathan Phillips (Malcolm Rennie), Mark Winter (Tony Stewart) and Thomas Wright (Brian Peters) show the depth of Australian acting talent. As does Simon Stone as ABC journalist Tony Maniaty.

The East Timorese cast are exceptional. Anamaria Barreto meets the high expectations of child actors these days as young Juliana. Her parents are Timorese and she lives in Darwin. Bea Viegas gives an intense, moving portrayal of the adult Juliana. Osme Gonsalves also impresses as Ximenes, a Fretlin soldier. It is difficult to find out the names of many of the actors as they are not listed on the website or IMDb.

The film raises many questions about the political responsibility for what happened and the need for justice to be done. This is a dark part of both Indonesian and Australian history. It does not attempt any definitive answers. That would be another movie. The historical background is analysed in depth and can be accessed through the official website.

Balibo works very effectively as both a political statement and a personal drama.

See it!

Bran Nue Dae Blazes

Melbourne International Film Festival



The film of Bran Nue Dae premiered to enthusiastic audiences at MIFF 09. Director Rachel Perkins* and a first class Australian cast have brought the musical to life with energy and fun. Rachel has described the process of bringing this much loved stage musical to the screen as frightening and fun. This indigenous Shakespearean-style comedy is all fun.

Young, star-cross'd lovers are separated. Willie is an aborigine at boarding school in Perth in 1969. He dreams of reuniting with his sweetheart Rosie (Jessica Mauboy) who is back in Broome. He is played by Broome schoolboy, the angel-faced Phillip "Rocky" McKenzie. Geoffrey Rush is the wicked Father Benedictus who wants him to follow in his footsteps into the priesthood. He is determined to stop Willie from getting back home. Willie's unlikely saviour is Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo) a drunk, a conman but a charmer.

Along the way we meet two hippies in a combi wagon (Missy Higgins plays Alice with style), Roadhouse Betty (Magda Szubanski) and the raunchy Roxanne (Deborah Mailman, also stylish).

As befits a classic comedy, many complex relationships are revealed at the finale on the famous Cable Beach. In the words of its theme song:

There's nothing I would rather be
Than to be an Aborigine

* Rachel Perkins directed the indigenous musical film One Night The Moon, which has been turned into a stage production opening in Melbourne’s Malthouse soon.

(Official website is under construction)

Blessed : facing our worst nightmares

Melbourne International Film Festival 2009


According to the producers, Blessed “is a film about mothers and children, about love and beauty, about being lost and finding your way home.” Director Ana Kokkinos, of Head On fame, has given us another disturbing exploration of surviving in the twenty-first century.

It is a very grim, gloomy look at ordinary lives in Melbourne’s western suburbs. They are outsiders: single parent families, migrants, indigenous stolen generation, the old to the very young. A lot of it is not a pretty picture: shoplifting, burglary, child abuse, poker machine addiction, clothing outworkers.

It’s the underclass, the working class who are unemployed or underemployed and exploited. Alienation is a sad, everyday fact of life. they are desperate people in a society that is failing them.

The story uses dual timeframes of a single day. Firstly we see the children’s crises unfold from their perspectives. Later the day is repeated using the parents’ experiences as the focus. The threads are tied together by the use of characters that link the narrative both directly and indirectly.

There are haunting scenes:

Two mothers visit the mortuary. One regains some hope, as the other screams unforgettably in despair.

A mother and father sit in a hospital emergency waiting room, separated by an empty seat and a crowded past.

A man cries for his stolen youth and his lost mother.

A woman cradles the unborn child in her womb, both facing a seemingly hopeless future.

The cast is outstanding, showing the depth of both experienced (Miranda Otto, William McInnes, Frances O’Connor, Deborra-Lee Furness, Monica Maughan, Wayne Blair) and new (Eamon Farren, Sophie Lowe, Harrison Gilbertson, Eva Lazzaro, Reef Ireland ) talent in Australian cinema.

McInnes plays the only father in this patchwork of relationships. He convincingly captures the essence of this lost soul, who is petrified, in both senses of the word, by life. Otto and O’Connor each leaves us with a lasting image as she dances, one of hope and the other of desperation.

Blessed is a dark drama that should touch you to the core.

Last Ride: breaking the cycle

Last Ride is another quality Australian film from Madman.

This road movie moves inexorably to its dramatic, sad but inevitable ending.

Chook (Tom Russell) is a ten year old whose father Kev (Hugo Weaving) is teaching him about outback survival while on the run. Chook doesn’t quite get it. The kid doesn’t even know who Butch and Sundance were.

Kev tries hard to be the caring father but his history is against him. The cycle of physical and psychological abuse handed on from his own father is hard to break.

Kev reckons that he and Tom are mongrels. He fits both meanings of the word. His frustrations with the world and his son are habitually spoken through his fists. His attempts to do “his job” of looking after the kid always seem to backfire.

Much of the plot is either predictable or telegraphed (with the resolution neatly achieved with the help of its modern technological descendant). There are sub-themes that are not fully developed but very topical. Kev claims that his great grandfather was an Afghan camel driver and his great grandmother was a full-blood aborigine. This prepares us for important modern Muslim and indigenous encounters during their travels.

Hugo Weaving is his usual effective self. Unfortunately he does not quite capture the character. His accent and attractive personal manner don’t fit the part of violent misfit living outside the law. True to recent performances by child actors, Tom Russell steals the film with an impressive follow-up to his role in Daniel. The rest of the cast are hard to fault.

Director Glendyn Ivin has presented a tight piece. The Flinders Ranges setting, which is beautifully photographed, is worth the price of the ticket. It’s one of Australia’s special places. The scenes driving across a salt lake covered with water are magic.

Graffiti at the start of the film tells us that “when Kooris rule… always bet on the black”. However, Kev’s gamble is bound to fail. In 21st Australia there is no place to hide in the outback. National Parks and caravan parks have replaced most of the remote camping spots. Kev's macho, Wild West view of life just doesn't work anymore.

Disgrace: bleak morality tale

Both J.M. Coetzee’s novel and its film adaptation leave their audience wanting more answers. Disgrace is a confronting and brutal tale of life in modern South Africa. The message is clear. There are no simple solutions.

Literary academic David Lurie’s admiration of Byron seems to have formed his personal morality and his professional ethics.

His amorality leads to a doomed relationship that precipitates both work and identity crises. His alienation from university colleagues and students results in a refusal to defend his reputation or his professorial position.

He is not the victim of an old fool’s infatuation but the arrogance of a serial Casanova. He quotes William Blake as his sole defence, "Sooner strangle an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires." His retreat to his daughter’s remote farm entangles their individual problems in the realities of life in the post apartheid era.

Director Steve Jacobs and screenwriter Anna Maria Monticelli continue their professional and personal partnership as co-producers. Their earlier collaboration on La spagnola in 2001 was another Australian production that is a minor gem.

John Malkovich’s ability to convey complete self absorption and intense self doubt without dialogue make him an excellent choice for David. Relative newcomer Jessica Haines plays his daughter Lucy. Hers is a competent and moving performance. Eriq Ebouaney strikes the right tone in a difficult role as Petrus, the black farmer and her co-landholder.

Disgrace is an adaptation that more than does justice to the novel. Like the book, it does not sensationalise or over-dramatise this extremely difficult story. I had misgivings before the screening because the novel seemed so bleak. Lucy’s compromise and David’s acceptance of her decision offer such slim hope.

We are left with little doubt that this is an allegory for the issues facing modern multi-racial South Africa. Yet it is at the personal level that the film is most powerful.



(It is disappointing that the official website is not yet online and that the IMDb has little detail. A synopsis and trailer are available through Icon Movies or click on the image above.)

Samson and Delilah: the good fight

(This review contains some spoilers)

Samson and Delilah is a film that all Australians should see. It is confronting and disturbing: poverty, unemployment, petrol sniffing, violence, clashes within aboriginal communities and with so-called mainstream society. Nevertheless in keeping with the optimism of its writer/director Warwick Thornton, it offers some hope.

Warwick Thornton told Real Time magazine that:

I’m one of the biggest romantics in the world and, from day one, these two kids had to live. That was the most important thing. It would have been quite easy for them to die and that’s just wrong, that is so wrong. I couldn’t live with myself as a writer. I need them to live for me as a human being, to feel stronger.

This is a very personal story about teenage love, more Romeo and Juliet if anything. The one bit of good fortune they have is that they are the right skins for marriage. The hair-cutting connection to the biblical story of Samson and Delilah is based in an ancient aboriginal custom.

Their courtship and bonding are unique, as Samson doesn’t speak. Traditional communication such as sign and body language are a necessity.


This drama cannot be divorced from its social and political context. The seeming hopelessness and helplessness of remote aboriginal communities like this one screams out for not just understanding but some way forward. Some will not be happy with the solution presented here as it involves traditional homelands, demonised by some Australian commentators as “cultural museums” that offer little positive for the future.

Samson lives out the despair of many young men caught in this cultural chaos.
Their lives revolve around western music and fading attempts to maintain traditional connections to land and family. Chronic boredom and lack of purpose exacerbate the aimlessness.

Delilah spends her time supporting the only functioning member of her family who is around, her Nana (Mitjili Napanangka Gibson). When the inevitable happens the pay back aunts follow ritual in punishing her but offer little other help to this 14 year old.

Their escape to Alice Springs reflects the everyday life of many aborigines who have looked to towns for some solution. We see the exploitation of indigenous artists, local hostility to the homeless, the massive gulf between tourists and the people they have come to see. Gonzo, played by Warwick’s brother Scott Thornton, is a riverbed refugee who finds solace in cask wine and his own songs. He is their sole support in Alice. When he looks to religion for his salvation, they do not follow this well-trodden path.

Thornton brings out the best in his inexperienced cast. The performances of relative newcomers such Marissa Gibson Rowan MacNamara are remarkable. They handle the tragic and comic moments with equal ease.

The Real Time interview, the official website and its downloadable Press Kit have detailed insight into Warwick's motivation and methods. Both well worth a visit.

Everybody owns a reason for being. In everybody’s journey through life there is the good fight.

Samson & Delilah is my reason for being. It is my good fight. (Warwick Thornton)