New (& fairly recent) Oz films

I hope so.The first I heard of it was while watching "the making of" on the Lantana DVD.Anthony Lapaglia (Leon) was talking about a film that his wife,Gia Carides,did with Ray Lawrence a few years back and was so impressed he decided there and then that HE wanted to work with this very talented Director.

Let us know what you think.



It is soooooooooooo long since I saw it.

Here's the book it is based on:


Peter Carey
Bliss Peter Carey


"Bliss" is a masterpiece of illusion that marked Carey's brilliant debut as a novelist and was later made into a film. This is a new edition of the story of Harry Joy, who wakes up in hell, is tortured by those he loves and the dreams and nightmares he on
ISBN
9780702232558

You really did do it, barry! I'm impressed!

Yes, Isn't Ray Laurence something? Only 3 films in all those years, yet all those awards.

Of the three, Lantana is my absolute fave rave. (Actually ny favourite Oz film just about ever!) I think I've watched it 5 or 6 times now & have discovered something new each time. Brilliant!

Bliss didn't interest me nearly as much as the other two, but I will say no more before you've seen it. It's been years since I saw it.

I always thought it was a real shame that Laurence (for o/s marketing purposes & also to gain funding for the last 2 films) used "foreign" (as opposed to home-grown) leads in both those films. Though they all very good in their roles.

I loved the animation in Look Both Ways, but I guess it might not have been everyone's cup of tea.

Just sat through a very entertaining,funny and heart-wrenching film starring one of the best actresses the UK has produced.She stars alongside some cracking Australian thesps in a coming of age story between a mother and her son.She is the great Brenda Blethyn (Little Voice;Secrets And Lies).The film is Clubland,though for some strange reason,in the USofA,they renamed it Introducing The Dwights What were they thinking of .

I missed that one, barry. It seemed to come & go at the theatres in a flash! Will definitely catch it on DVD, though.

Hi msolga,thinking of ordering The Jammed and Gabriel.What do you think?

Gosh, Barry, you're getting way ahead of us! I haven't seen either of those, though maybe someone else has?

Would you like us to make a few suggestions - of the blasts from the past variety? :wink:

Any film recommendation is appreciated .

A pleasure, Barry. I will put my film think hat on! (But later. Now I must be good & go to bed!)

Night night!

I'm thinking, Barry .... I haven't forgotten.

Oldies/"classics", or newish ones?

Anything at all that has "floated your boat" will be welcome,and thanks for offering to do this .
I've ordered The Jammed and Gabriel from EZY.Will probably order,when available, Death Defying Acts,who's thespian list includes Timothy Spall (a favorite of mine) and Guy Pearce.It's based on a romantic trist between Houdini and a professional psychic.Also The Bet,just because it's set in the Oz version of Wall Street.

Noise...be interested to hear what you think.


http://www.noisethefilm.com/



Didn't you love the hip-bumping scene in Clubland?????

"Kelly! Her name's Kelly,not Kylie!" :wink: .

I take it that's a yes?

Sadly, Clubland seemed to vanish from the cinemas in the wink of an eye, Deb. I missed it.

However I noticed a number of copies of it in the "new releases" of my local video shop today. Unfortunately, all hired, so I couldn't grab a copy.

But I will, soon!

A pleasure, Barry.

Oldies, but goodies. I wouldn't be at all surprised if you've seen the lot!:

I'm starting with Peter Weir's Australian films (before he hit the big time in the US. Though many of those films were good, too. Loved Mosquito Coast!)

I'll bet (like everyone else) you've already seen Picnic at Hanging Rock. But if you haven't, do so without delay! It is a beautiful, mysterious film. "Haunting" is the description most often used. And suspenseful. Adapted from a famous Oz novel of the same name.

The Year of Living Dangerously. Loved this film! (Loved the book more, though!) Sukarno's last year of power in Indonesia as seen through the eyes of ex-pat journalists & the poor of Jakarta ... particularly Billy Kwan (wonderful performance from Linda Hunt ). Dashed hopes, lots of corruption & suspense ..... fantastic atmosphere.

The Last Wave. Strange & mysterious goings on in Sydney! Urban whites & the powerful aboriginal spirit. It's been a long, long time since I saw this film, but I recall being quite gripped throughout ... & the ending! Wow.

Gallipoli. Nationalistic, romantic view of WW1 Australians & the extremely raw deal they received at Gallipoli. (Bloody British generals! :wink: ) Seen through the eyes of two young Oz fellas who set off for the Big Adventure, but discover something quite different to what they'd expected. This was a hugely popular film in Oz in its heyday. Considered a classic, like Picnic at Hanging Rock.

http://www.peterweircave.com/films.html

OK, so tell me if I'm on the right track here, Barry, or whether you've seen the lot & are looking for something a bit more obscure.

Stinking hot day today (almost 40 C ! ), so nothing for it but pull down all the blinds, hunker down in the dark & watch one of the many recent Oz films I missed at the cinema. This one was The Home Song Stories & I found it a beautiful film, very moving & engrossing. Funny, I made the connection between this film & Romulus My Father, too ... as Margaret & David did in their review.:

The Home Song Stories
Review by Margaret Pomeranz



Chinese born Australian filmmaker, Tony Ayres, has delved deep into his past to create The Home Song Stories.

Rose, (JOAN CHEN), is a glamorous Shanghai nightclub singer who, after marrying an Australian sailor, STEVEN VIDLER, comes to live in suburban Melbourne with her two children. She is an exotic flower in a very drab world. Rose soon leaves for Sydney.

Years pass with a succession of uncles for the children Tom, (JOEL LOCK) and May, (IRENE CHEN), until Rose returns to Melbourne where she finds work in a Chinese restaurant and falls in love with the young chef Joe, (QI YUWU). Problems with this relationship will push Rose over the edge.

Framed by Tom as an older man, a writer, reflecting back on his youth and his mother, the film understandably is told from young Tom's point of view.

This heart-wrenching tale of passion, displacement and mental illness has an extraordinary honesty about it, an often confronting honesty.

There's humour in the early part of the film as the children come to grips with life in Australia and Rose confronts this alien culture with admirable bravado.

JOAN CHEN is extraordinarily good as Rose, she's not a particularly likeable character but she's certainly charismatic.

It must be hard for a filmmaker to confront his past and yet stand back from it enough to present it dramatically and effectively on screen.

And for me that's what makes THE HOME SONG STORIES so compelling, the relationship of the filmmaker to his characters. It adds a complex and fascinating subtext to this haunting tale. ...<cont., including video>

http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s1996172.htm

Back to oldies but goodies. I loved this film! Suspense & corruption in Sydney in the 1980s. The people verses the developers. Directed by the talented Phil Noyce & based on more than a smidgeon of the reality of the situation in Sydney around that time. NYT review (which I don't really agree with. :wink:). :

'HEATWAVE,' DRAMA IN SYDNEY
By JANET MASLIN
Published: June 10, 1983

AN air of portentousness pervades ''Heatwave,'' a compelling but murky Australian drama by the very talented director of ''Newsfront,'' Phillip Noyce. The city of Sydney is heading for a hot, muggy Christmas as the drama unfolds. The Eden Project, an elaborate housing development in which glass-walled apartments will rest on a treelike frame, is scheduled to replace some older buildings downtown. The tenants of those buildings protest vehemently against Eden, which is the work of a developer who ''came here with nothing but his nerve and made millions,'' according to one of his admiring associates. ''That's what this country's all about.''

''Heatwave,'' which opens today at Cinema Studio 2, traces the growing attraction between Steven West, the architect who will have his first major design contract with the Eden project, and Kate Dean (Judy Davis), a radical activist committed to seeing the project stopped. Steven seems to lead a privileged and complacent life as the film begins. But through exposure to the fiery Kate, and through his own re-evaluation of the motives behind Eden, he finds his confidence in the project eroding. ''This is not what I've worked for - it's something completely different,'' he eventually says, looking at the Eden plans that have during the course of the battle changed considerably for the worse.

The story of this housing crisis is marked by much violence and confrontation, and it eventually explores the values of everyone involved. Kate at first seems a stubborn, unyielding firebrand, whose idea of protesting Eden is to dress as a waitress at a party celebrating the project, then to throw a tray of shrimp at the developer. But she evolves into a symbol of her community's resistance, and a pawn in a progressively dangerous game. Steven, meanwhile, becomes increasingly critical of the ways in which his city is being remodeled for the benefit of the rich. And the story, of course, has its symbolic dimension, as evidenced by Eden's ironic title and its implications for Australian culture as a whole.

Mr. Noyce weaves and reweaves this material, using occasional slow motion and an eerie musical score. Inevitably, he creates the expectation that events within the film will come to mean more than they finally do. ''Heatwave'' has its memorable images and a lot of intensity, but it never quite coalesces, ending on an abruptly dramatic note not entirely warranted by what has come before. The sense of danger that Mr. Noyce has created so effectively throughout the film is somehow dissipated in the exaggerated drama of its final moments. ... <cont>


http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=940CE4DA143BF933A25755C0A965948260

Speaking of Phil Noyce, this one's terrific! Newsfront. Loved it! :



Film Review: Newsfront (1978)
by Sally Murphy

A classic Australian film - a snapshot of a formative part of our nation's film history.

Part drama, part video history, Newsfront(1978) is a quality Australian film which captures a lost era in our film industry's history.

Using a combination of black and white, colour and genuine newsreel footage, the film tells the story of Australia's newsreel cameramen in the late 1940s and 1950s. It portrays their battle with various dangers and rivals to provide news coverage for cinema goers in the days before television, and their struggle for survival after its arrival in 1956.

At the same time the film follows the lives of two of the cameramen, focussing on two brothers, Len and Frank Maguire (Bill Hunter and Gerard Kennedy), their wives, partners and colleagues. The differences between the two brothers highlight the dilemmas faced by the cameramen (and indeed the whole Australian film industry) of the time. One brother remains loyal to the newsreel company which gave him his first break, whilst the other takes his chances on more exciting, higher-risk projects.

The film provides an insightful glimpse of this period of Australian history. For those who might remember 1950s Australia there are many flashes of nostalgia - the Redex rally, the Melbourne Olympics and so on - and for younger viewers a light history lesson.

The directorial debut of Phil Noyce and with a host of now-familiar Australian faces including Bryan Brown, Newsfront is an enduring Classic.

http://www.aussiereviews.com/article1017.html

Newsfront ordered.And thanks to all for all the recommendations.
Just slapped The Jammed into the player.This quality little independent film covers a difficult subject (forced prostitution) and is well worth a view.Cracking performances all round.