Filmbiz blog

LET THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN. A DAILY BLOG.

by Jim Mitchell | June 04, 2009 15:22

The 56th Sydney Film Festival kicked off last night with the festival’s director Clare Stewart calling upon punters to come and see a diverse range of films, some they may never see again.

Earlier, a strong line up of film and television stars including Claudia Karvan, Miranda Otto, Rachael Taylor, Dan Wyllie, Sacha Horler, Emma Lung, Matthew Newton, Pia Miranda, Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown walked the red carpet as did the festival’s pin-up mascot, a pug known only as well.... Pug, all bulgy-eyed and dressed to the nines in black tie.

Alongside this year’s Official Jury President director Rolf de Heer, Miranda Otto is one of the judges in this year’s competition which features 12 films vying for the $60,000 prize including the latest from Ken Loach, Looking for Eric and Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience. On the red carpet, Otto told Filmink that she was looking forward to taking in the diversity offered by world cinema. “I’ve never been asked to professionally give my opinion on other people’s work so I think it’ll be really fun,” she said. “The main thing that really interests me is actually seeing an overview of films from different countries and to see where everybody’s at and how Australian films sit in the world picture, what concerns are being brought up overseas.”

And just what is Otto looking forward to most about taking her chair on the judging panel? “I’m really looking forward to a heated discussion, passionate banging of tables and throwing wine in each other’s faces!” she laughs.

Also in official competition are Australian features Disgrace based on the Booker Prize winning novel by J.M Coetzee and starring John Malkovich, and Rachel Ward’s feature directorial debut Beautiful Kate, starring Rachel Griffiths as well as local film luminary Bryan Brown who also co-produced. “I was just very pleased for her [Ward] for the film to be in competition in her home city as well as the fact that I’m a Sydney boy and I’m really glad that I’m in a film that’s screening at the festival,” said Brown.

The third feature from former Young Australian of the Year Khao Do, Missing Water will also vie for the top prize. On the red carpet, director/screenwriter Do, reportedly in the final throes of editing with only days before the film screens, seemed chuffed to be in competition with the likes of Loach and Soderbergh while executive producer and best-selling author Matthew Reilly told Filmink what initially drew him to the project. “What really attracted me to the script at first was that here in Australia we see asylum seekers when they arrive in boats but we don’t see what happens on the boat,” he said. “It really has something to say.”

Other local films in a strong line up screening out of competition include the tragic and beautifully captured road movie Last Ride with Hugo Weaving, the hot seller Cedar Boys from writer/director Serhat Caradee, a tale of ‘truckie love in David Caesar’s Prime Mover and the claymation $9.99.

Underbelly ulumni Gyton Grantley’s pick is Prime Mover “because it’s got a great actor in it called Gyton Grantley who has a cameo with a handle bar moustache!” Claudia Karvan who lends her voice to one of the many characters in the Altman-like $9.99 told Filmink “the script was great, the story was so unusual and bleak but charming and starkly witty.”

This year’s festival opened with Ken Loach’s Looking for Eric, a poignant, at times brutal portrait of a depressed man on the brink who is inexplicably visited upon by French soccer great Eric Cantona whenever he needs guidance. While still in the working class milieu Loach is well known for dwelling, it’s a surprising and infectiously funny film with the opening night audience wrapped up in many a laugh-out-loud moment. The naturalistic performances are all strong, particularly Steve Evets who gives the beffudled soccer fan, Eric Bishop, a warmth of heart and integrity, while Cantona, admittedly playing his charismatic-self puts in an enjoyable performance. As it veers from drab melancholy to wry comedy with brutal shocks in between, Looking for Eric at times borders on the farcical and the interludes with Cantona – who himself had a hand in devising the concept for the film – take a little getting used to as do the provincial accents but overall, it’s a thoroughly entertaining look at one man’s efforts to right the wrongs of the past, to stand up for yourself and rekindle the joys of life.

My Cinema Life With A Blankie

by Yumi Stynes | May 27, 2009 14:21

Yumi Stynes dishes about the hot flicks in the cinemas now.

There are so many terrific films out at the moment you'd be crazy if you didn't brave the winter to catch one. About a year ago I nominated a movie blankie to always bring to the cinema. It's a patchwork quilt small enough to fit in my handbag and big enough to cover my legs. Why? The air-conditioning at the movies in summer is so blasting you'll catch a cold, and in winter it means I can still wear short dresses but snuggle in. They should give out blankets at the movies like they do on Qantas. Meantime, I'm packin' rug. Heh heh.

You've still got time to catch the mesmerising Aussie film Samson and Delilah before it closes. It recently won the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and will hopefully be reaching plenty more international audiences before year's end. Try to catch it for yourself because it's incredibly thought-provoking, the performances by the two untrained leads, 14 years old at the time of shooting, are terrific, and the film will change the way you think. (Unless Wolverine is your favourite film in which case there probably won't be enough action and you should maybe skip it.)

Another Aussie film attracting praise is My Year Without Sex which I saw and liked but probably wouldn't recommend, mostly because it plays out like a good episode of a kitchen-sink drama on ABC. If anyone said to me, "Let's go see a film about a housewife who's a bit hopeless and her husband, who's frustrated but very kind," I'd say, "..uh huh?" And if they went on, "Oh! But she gets cancer!" I'd go, "Nooooo." But don't let me put you off. The cancer stuff is treated with great sensitivity and women who have been through similar experiences may relish seeing it represented with such humour and familiarity.

If dumbing down or tuning out is more what you're looking for this week then you could do worse than to check out the new popcorn flick from the Judd Apatow school of comedy, directed by John Hamburg, called I Love You, Man. The star is Paul Rudd, who has spent the last 14 years being a rock-solid supporting cast member; from Alicia Silverstone's stepbrother/love interest in Clueless to Katherine Heigl's sister's husband in Knocked Up. This time he is quite simply amazing! His performance as Peter Klaven, the great guy with no male friends is so nuanced and empathetic that one can't help but think of Tom Hanks in Big. It's just a pity that the rest of the cast can't quite match his depth. At times his co-star, Jason Segel looks like he stumbled on set from Forgetting Sarah Marshall and is killing time til he can get back to the resort. For a movie about man-love (or "Bromance"), the chemistry between these guys ain't exactly sparkling. Jon Favreau also makes an appearance, seemingly escaped from a far better film, and the hottie from this year's comedy song 'Jizz in My Pants', Andy Samberg, plays Peter Klaven's cute gay brother.

Russell Crowe makes a point of being neither hot nor cute in the new newsroom thriller State of Play. In the opening scenes he's guzzling Cheese 'n Bacon balls out of the packet and a point is made several times in the film about the grossness of his diet. I couldn't help but wonder whether he hadn't pushed for those inclusions himself so that he could get as fat as he liked? Cynical, yeah? This is the sort of film our parents might once have liked but seems dated to me. By the time it gets to the big dénouement, I'm feeling kind of bored. Ben Affleck is comically square-jawed and Rachel McAdams looks exactly like a movie star should. State of Play's greatest asset is Jason Bateman's cameo as a bisexual mover-shaker called Dominic Foy. He hasn't stolen a film this well since Smokin Aces.  He can share my blanket any time.

Bums On Seats

by Yumi Stynes | May 18, 2009 09:45

Yumi Stynes has found the key to box office success: appeal to kids, pitch to adults.

Box office takings offer an amazing insight into the population at large and their kooky taste in movies. Star Trek is massive right now, and looks set to keep the bucks rolling in for another four solid weeks at least. There are moments in the film when you get an eerie sense of a classic moment having just passed, maybe similar to the first time you watched The Empire Strikes Back.

 

Will it top the end of year box office tally? Possibly. It fits neatly into that genre of films appealing to kids that are pitched at adults. Previous winners - The Dark Knight (2008), Spiderman 3 (2007) and Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (2006).

 

In 2006 Night At the Museum was the second-highest grossing film in America and took more than $250 million at the US box office alone.

 

It was huge here as well. The main reason it did so well was because it managed to appeal to whole families. Anyone with kids knows that children will see films multiple times, particularly during the school holidays (mine have seen Monsters VS Aliens 3 times). Kids always attend with accompanying, paying adults. In other words, one bum-on-seat at a kids' movie translates in reality to two-or-three-bums-on-seats. Family movies pay in spades. Why do you think Baz Lurhmann pitched Australia as family entertainment?

 

"Kids always attend with accompanying, paying adults. In other words, one bum-on-seat at a kids' movie translates in reality to two-or-three-bums-on-seats."

 

 

Night At the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian will deliver the all-round appeal of Ben Stiller while the credibility of Ricky Gervais, Amy Adams, Jonah Hill and Steve Coogan will keep the eye-rollers at bay. With special effects for excitement and a dash of American history thrown in to counteract any guilt, it's going to shift big bucks.

 

Much smaller fry is a new little English movie called Lesbian Vampire Killers. Sadly the best thing about this movie is the title. Everything else is a wasted opportunity. If it's going to be smutty, bring on the smut. Right? Wrong: a group of over-styled pommy slappers wearing too much make-up look like they got lost on the way to a page 3 shoot. And then they forgot to get their tits out! And if it's going so boldly to mention lesbianism in its title, how can it ignore so many of the potential thrills therein? Witless knob jokes and two thoroughly charmless male leads (James Corden and Mathew Horne) are putting this near the top of my list of Worst of 2009. Disappointing!

 

Also out May 21 is a Barry Levinson film called What Just Happened? that wants to be the 2009 version of Robert Altman's The Player. Robert de Niro plays the central character, a producer called Ben, who is struggling to get his director to compromise on the final cut of his film for the sake of his relationship with the studio and yep, the box office. If you remember the reaction of critics to the dog/shark scene in last year's Australian film The Square, this is going to be immensely enjoyable. It's full of movie industry inside jokes and star cameos from Sean Penn, Bruce Willis, and John Turturro.

 

Hot Soup

by Yumi Stynes | May 13, 2009 17:19

Yumi Stynes keeps track of the latest releases and asks why singers are now acting???

I'm meant to talk about films here but wanted to just quickly mention two of my favourite shows on TV on the moment: The Soup with Joel McHale just became the highest-rating show on E! and is a way of catching up on all the crappy reality TV you've been too sensible to actually watch. Joel's delivery is priceless and he's a hero among haters. I met him for an hour-long interview when he was in the country earlier this week and the man is a gem. And unafraid of snakes!

 

The other show you need to be across is Australia's Next Top Model which is sort of like a beauty pageant but - would you believe - more sadistic! In my 9 years of working on TV I have never seen a show fascinate and obsess my work colleagues more. It's not too late to get an office pool going - everyone's doing it! Is it morally dubious? Yes! Is it entertaining? Hell, yes!

 

But let's get into movies. The phenomenon of singers who want to be actors has been around since the dawn of cinema. Recent years have seen some successes with Jon Bon Jovi, Chris Isaak and Harry Connick Jr making a respectable fist of it, although this may possibly have been at the expense of their music!

 

For modern divas, it's tough.

 

Natalie Imbruglia is actually a pretty good actor but will anyone go and see her film Closed For Winter? I'm guessing no.

 

Madonna has never been anyone except Madonna in any of her films, the best of which was Abel Ferrara's 1993 oddity Dangerous Game where she was actually believable as a famous, egotistical actress who, like Madonna, was most comfortable at the centre of everyone's attention. In the subsequent 12 years she's done nothing at all to enhance her reputation as an actor but her movies are starting to acquire a faint glimmer of camp badness much like Elvis Presley's body of celluloid work (Elvis's Blue Hawaii is Madonna's Swept Away!).

 

I actually think Madonna's acting is less dire than J-Lo's. At least Madonna is not so desperate to be liked.  J-Lo's repetitive portrayals of down-home working class girls with hearts of gold make me want to attack her in the face like a 30 Days of Night vampire (See: J-Lo as a heart-of-gold dance teacher in cacktastic Shall We Dance? and a heart-of-gold hotel maid in the turd Maid in Manhattan. Also see her as a heart-of-gold fiancé in the whiffy Monster-in-Law. These three movies also have in common the ability to bring their formerly respectable co-stars down to new career and performance lows, respectively Richard Gere, Ralph Fiennes and Jane Fonda).

 

Wouldn't J-Lo be more believable playing a haughty, demanding diva with excessive vanity and interminable beauty routine? Or is that just me? Ha. She's actually due to play a wannabe mum who meets the man of her dreams the same day she's artificially inseminated with twins. It's a new flick called The Back-Up Plan due out next year. Maybe they'll get Josh Hartnett to play the male lead? Or Kevin Costner? Some other guy who's just hanging on by a thread? Michael Biehn? Eric Roberts?

 

Beyonce may be one of the few big singers to equal her music success in film. It's early days yet and she's not yet taken on any roles to put her seriously outside of her Destiny's Child persona. I'd like to see her as a junkie. Or an ugly chick. Not to worry, so far her run of Austin Powers, The Pink Panther, Dreamgirls and Cadillac Records has not been too great an embarrassment. 

 

Her latest film, Obsessed has just topped the US box office and pretty much follows your Fatal Attraction formula but with African American leads. Final Destination star Ali Larter plays the Glenn Close character. The critics hate it and why shouldn't they? No bunnies died in the making of the film.

 

No wolves died in the making of Wolverine so far as I know but it's this week's safest bet if you're heading out to the movies. I saw Hugh Jackman swimming at my local pool when he was mid-shoot and mega-buff and my mouth hung so far open a small fish swam into it. He's a great big ox of a man. Wolverine = Good. Nuff said.

 

I also loved Mary and Max, the animation from Academy Award winning Aussie stop-motion obsessive, Adam Elliot. The narration (by Barry Humphries) is way too intense and unrelenting and may send you around the twist. If you can get past the barrage of words (panadol may help) the pictures, which celebrate the smaller, less grandiose Australia we all experienced as youngsters, are a joy. The story is unusual and based on Elliot's real life. Philip Seymour Hoffman does principal voicework and is a bit of a revelation - this is no celebrity guest spot, this is a real performance.

 

Finally a movie ordeal as incomprehensible as its name is unpronounceable. Synecdoche New York - also starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, is the new brain dirge from the mind that gave us Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, Charlie Kaufman. Part of me wants to warn away everyone I love from watching this torturous, convoluted film. Part of me can't stop thinking about it. It's the sort of movie where you enjoy reading analysis of it more than you enjoy actually watching it. It will probably be included in the film student's canon, along with Battleship Potemkin and Un Chien Andalou. Is it fun?  Hell no!

 

The Monster mash

by Yumi Stynes | March 29, 2009 12:36

Yumi Stynes reveals that she loves a good fright at the cinema and talks about the latest releases.

I'm a sucker for a good horror film.

 

Zombies are my favourite. Give me a shuffling, decaying corpse with a taste for human brains and I will eat it up, the good with the bad, the 28 Days Later with the Zombie Strippers. Psychologists will tell you that you're attracted to your fears and I think mine started when I was a bartender at the Palace in St Kilda and by 4:30am the slurring drunks queuing at my bar kind of resembled zombies with their disheveled clothes, unseeing eyes and unremitting focus on consumption. More, more, more!

 

I like zombies. They're misunderstood. Given the opportunity, I'd be a zombie too. There are many moments in zombie movies where heroic minor characters choose to end their own lives after they've been bitten. They'd rather die than turn into what they despise. There's the Michael character at the end of Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, nobly fighting off zombies with his few remaining bullets so that the heroine (Sarah Polley) can escape. Me? I'd embrace the infection and feast on human flesh til it was time to limp into the sunset. John Leguizamo, infected but still human in Land of the Dead, is offered a mercy bullet by his friend but refuses: "Nah. I always wanted to see how the other half lives."

The other half for horror fans is vampires. If zombies aren't your bag (and what's not to love?!), you might be into vampires, and the great news is that last year's stunning Swedish vampire flick, Let the Right One In has at last arrived at Australian cinemas.

First up: Don't be fooled by the trailer and the stills. This ain't no Lost Boys. The pace is at times slow, meditative, and heck, the darn thing is in a different language!

The film tells the story of an outcast boy who falls in love with a mysterious, androgynous girl who has been 12 years old "for a very long time". There is blood and violence but a lot of it is implied, like in one of the opening scenes where blood is drained from a body hanging in a tree, through a funnel and into a plastic bottle. You don't actually see the blood go in, but hear it sloshing and missing, and the sounds are sickeningly effective.

Kare Hedebrant was completely unknown and untrained when he was cast as the lead, Oskar. His performance is remarkable and at the risk of sounding flippant, he also has the coolest haircut you will see in a movie this year. Director Tomas Alfredson said he would break the shoot up into pieces so that if a scene required Oskar to appear desolate, he would tell Hedebrant, "Walk down the street.  Stop.  Think of when your cat died."

Some studio exec's brain must've died when the idea of Pink Panther 2 was floated. Did they not see Pink Panther 1? It was terrible! I haven't cringed so much since Young Divas! 

Some studio exec's brain must've died when the idea of Pink Panther 2 was floated. Did they not see Pink Panther 1? It was terrible! I haven't cringed so much since Young Divas! These remakes of the classic Inspector Clousseau comedies, originally starring the tortured genius Peter Sellers, are sad and wasteful generators of carbon emissions and should not be allowed to pollute your life. Avoid. Oh, and I have a question: Has Steve Martin done anything funny in the last ten years? Apart from that eye tuck?

If you're lucky enough to have children - or be one - you've probably heard of Zac Efron. He is the latest guy that teenage girls think about right before they go to sleep ear-deep in their Hannah Montana pillowcases. He has dreamy eyes, perfect skin, and just enough girly sensitivity to be soft and desirable and not too threatening. When I was a little girl we had Sebastian Bach. And Corey Haim. And Johnny Depp. Whether young Zac ends up with a career resembling Corey Haim's or Johnny Depp's remains to be seen but so far he's played his cards pretty spot-on. Keen to get away from the singer-dancer shtick that made him famous in High School Musical 1, 2 and 3, and Hairspray, he's fled the Footloose remake project - possibly to spend more time in the gym. Plucky young Zac has metamorphosed from boy to hunk.

So, 17 Again? Pros: Zac Efron. Cons: Matthew Perry.

Matthew Perry's career is one of the enduring mysteries of the 21st century.

Other Enduring Mysteries of the 21st Century:
1. Why Madonna can't afford better surgery.
2. How Elizabeth Hurley keeps getting work.
3. Why Russell Brand and Neil Finn can have a full head of hair but Bruce Willis can't.
4. How top models manage to be stupid, boring and fascinating.
5. Why Lindsay Lohan seems to need to go to the bathroom so often.

 

Monster VS Aliens is another movie to see with kids. A few critics have attacked the film for being predictable and for having a hackneyed storyline. Helllo? I gotta wonder whether they've seen any movies lately? That's the living definition of a kid's movie! It's meant to be cheesy! Most people are loving this lively 3-D family flick and it's easy to see why. Much like Speed, the Keanu Reeves bus movie, this is a one-concept idea, executed brilliantly: Giant Girl Fights Baddie. It's cool, and the sidekicks are fun. The 3-D elements had kids around me gasping and reaching out their grubby hands toward the screen. I'd recommend this for the upcoming school holidays and don't be surprised if you find yourself loving it too. Just a little bit.

Now, to make it perfect, could we somehow throw in a shirtless Zac Efron, some Skid Row songs and a couple of zombie strippers...?

 

Weird Endings

by Yumi Stynes | March 18, 2009 09:36

Yumi checks out the latest Clive Owen flick.

After a flat-out week of interviewing bands, for me it was great to see all the fantastic Aussie film actors making their presences felt at the weekend's epic fundraiser ‘Sound Relief' in Sydney and Melbourne. The benefit gig was a labour of love for all involved but especially those in Australia's creative community.

Notables included Toni Collette, Kylie Minogue, and the co-stars of Baz Lurhmann's Australia, David Wenham and Jack Thompson. It's very easy to talk this stuff up but the feeling on the day really was warm and loved-up. My boss even kissed me on the head in a really Dadsy way near knock-off AND I got through the whole day without swearing at or wishing to murder my co-host.

No word as we go to print about whether there'll be a DVD but I reckon there would have to be. It was all too good for there not to be.

Amongst all this I have managed to see just about every film there is to see but I'm saving up The Boat That Rocked until I've had a chance to interview the stars Bill Nighy and Nick Frost next week. I've always had a burning crush on Nick Frost (he's the fat friend in Shaun of the Dead and plays DJ Dave in the new Richard Curtis comedy) and am hoping to be able to hold myself together during our special 15 minutes. Last time I interviewed him I did get a bit dizzy. Fingers and legs crossed.

Speaking of weird sexual tension, there's a strange and fascinating little indie flick from 2004 called Closer that you should try to check out - it's an ensemble piece with Natalie Portman and Jude Law and is riveting in spite of its excess of dialogue. In it, Julia Roberts and Clive Owen play a warring couple whose hotness for each other is matched by their nastiness to each other. The level of bastardry is awesome and the two actors play it like they never need to act again.

It makes sense that a filmmaker has put them together again to try and ignite the same chemistry in Duplicity, out this Thursday.

Duplicity is a story about two glamorous spies who give up on low-paying government work to end up in the private sector where the stakes are high and the bonuses higher. They become embroiled in a corporate war where rival company leaders (played by Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson), are so blinded by competitive rage that they don't notice the heist of the century being planned under their noses.

Clive Owen is great in anything, what can I say? The man would look good sitting in a bucket of KFC, smearing potato and gravy on his torso. Julia Roberts, on the other hand, is a bit of a misery to watch. Every shot looks like it was preceded by a war fought to stop her from looking her age. By the end of the film all that implied effort just feels exhausting. And wasted, because she still looks great, just... not 26 anymore.

The director Tony Gilroy got his start as a screenwriter and wrote and directed this (as well as his debut directorial feature, Michael Clayton) which makes it more of a mystery why the end of Duplicity is such MASSIVE LET DOWN! My only guess here is: They shot a couple of endings and this is the cop-out they settled with. Duplicity indeed. If you liked those Oceans movies then Duplicity might be for you. They're not dissimilar: Glossy and expensive-looking films with good old fashioned movie stars, dazzling international locations, and that's enough so who needs a plot?

Weird endings must be a theme here because next week's big cinema releases The Uninvited and Knowing both veer massively into the left field to wind up their otherwise conventional, genre plots.

Melbourne actor Emily Browning stars in a remake of a Korean horror film for The Uninvited, which doesn't try to be anything but a disposable popcorn flick. The Grudge 2 star Arielle Kebbel, as the sister, spends most of the movie in a bikini or in the bathroom which is good enough for me. It's scary enough in parts but the end really does leave you with the feeling that you've just wasted your time.

Big things were expected for Australian-trained director Alex Proyas after his earlier work The Crow and Dark City stunned audiences with their distinctive, uber-gothic stylings. He's a talented man. Garage Days sucked, but he's a talented man. His latest big-budget Hollywood flick is Knowing and it stars the ultimate Hollywood actor, Nicolas Cage. 

Nic Cage doesn't so much act, as resonate. He's never believable but his presence says, "This is a bit silly, but who cares? Let's have a laugh and enjoy the bumps and bangs along the way."

 
The enduring box office success of Nicolas Cage is one of the great in-jokes of 20th Century cinema. And here he is again, in a high-concept, big-budget flick about a message from the past that predicts the end of the world. It's going to do well because people like explosions and people like Nic Cage. For Aussie audiences, check it out for Rose Byrne and Ben Mendelsohn.

Just one last note: It was with great pleasure that I got to interview notorious pants-man Russell Brand, known here mostly for stealing the films Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Bedtime Stories from his less charismatic, less fun co-stars. No, he didn't try to pants me but did make mention that for a mother-of-two I have an impressively unsaggy nose.

XX YUMI

 

 

Jack Sargeant visits the Adelaide Film Festival

by Jack Sargeant | March 02, 2009 17:38

Jack Sargeant on the Big Pond Adelaide Film Festival 2009

My plan is a simple one, head to Adelaide for the BigPond Adelaide Film Festival for the second weekend and watch movies. The festival boasts an investment fund and has had a hand in eleven of the Australian movies being screened, creating a real buzz about the function and role of the festival (of those I see Samson And Delilah, Last Ride and Lucky Country have all benefited from this fund, as have numerous other movies including My Year Without Sex, My Tehran For Sale and Salt).

 

Thursday, 26 February

 

Tonight sees the world premiere of Van Diemen's Land, directed by Jonathan auf der Heide. This is a beautifully rendered telling of the Alexander Pierce story, following the group of Irish and Scottish convicts as they escape the brutal penal colony and head deep into the all consuming bush. The haunting nature of the landscape and the vulnerability of the men is emphasised further by the camerawork that seems to be peering around trees at the struggling escapees as they are consumed by both the environment and their own madness. Avoiding the gore and splatter approach, the movie instead offers a tale of desperate and terrified men forced into making horrendous decisions taking on a perspective that owes as much to examining the psychology of men struggling in extreme danger as the historical details.

 

Friday, 27 February

 

In the morning there's time to see Samson And Delilah, which focuses on two indigenous teenagers living in a remote community. With relentless reggae beats playing in the background Samson passes his days sniffing petrol while Delilah looks after her frail, ailing artist grandmother. The two youths begin a relationship that is almost immediately consumed by troubles. Directed and written by Warwick Thornton - who also made the shorts Green Bush and Nana - the film's young amateur cast offer standout performances throughout. Although dealing with often painful and complex social issues the movie never falls into simple moralising or crude political posturing, offering instead a belief in the redemptive potential of love. The film is the first of a number that showcase young actors.

 

Glendyn Ivin's (whose short Cracker Bag won the Palme d'Or at Cannes) debut feature - Last Ride - sees Hugo Weaving in excellent form as a troubled ex-con travelling through the outback with his ten-year old son, played with incredible intensity by Tom Russell. Part road movie and part hardboiled thriller this film maintains a palpable tension throughout. With an atmosphere of brooding violence bubbling just below the surface, both father and son try and come to terms with their pasts, the present and the inevitability of their shared future.

 

Saturday, 28 February

 

The final Australian premiere of the festival is Lucky Country directed by Kriv Stenders (who was also responsible for Boxing Day). This Australian period thriller cum ‘western' tells the story of recently widowed settler Nat (Aden Young) and his two children, fighting to survive on a meagre outback property in early 20th century Australia. A brutal existence made all the more terrifying with the arrival of a trio of ex-soldiers turned gold prospectors.

 

True Australian gothic, Lucky Country examines the nature of friendships and family against a backdrop of brutal colonialism and greed. The claustrophobia and isolation of Nat's smallholding is visually emphasised by the ever present, endlessly verdant deathly bush. A powerful script and haunting score serve to create a brooding atmosphere which is matched by brilliant performances.

 

In some sense Lucky Country, Last Ride and Van Dieman's Land share a sensibility in which the land itself leaves its mark on the psyches of the protagonists.

 

That's a wrap, Sunday 1 March.

 

While my viewing over the last two days seemed to focus on gritty Australian cinema, there was a much wider range of films on offer, including the documentary Soul Power (dir Jeffrey Levy-Hinte) which details the musical performances that accompanied the Ali vs. Foreman Rumble In The Jungle. These performances showcased the best in African American and African music and feature an awesome James Brown alongside Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba amongst others, all punctuated with an interview with Muhammad Ali. ‘I'm Black And I Am Proud' never sounded so good. 

 

American indie documentary We Are Wizards (dir Josh Koury) tells the story of Harry Potter fans, focusing on bands such as Harry and the Potters who perform Potter inspired songs and the hilarious Brad Neely who performs his own narration to the first Potter movie. A real crowd pleaser and a highly entertaining documentary. 

 

As midlife crisis films go, JCVD (dir Mabrouk El Mechri) is a bizarre and hilarious study of Jean-Claude Van Damme as he returns to Brussels, in the middle of a messy separation. With no ready cash, the actor becomes caught up in a robbery, but all is not as it appears on any level. Unlike other midlife crisis films (for example Sly Stallone's recent tired offerings in Rambo and Rocky Balboa) JCVD actually works, celebrating the absurdity of the action hero even while engaging (and subverting) the audiences' expectations.

 

The festival closed with the announcement of the winner of the Natuzzi Competition which went to Korean movie Treeless Mountain directed by So-yong Kim.

 

But to my mind the true winners were the fans of Australian cinema who have some real treats in store when these films are released later in the year.

 

 

http://www.madman.com.au/actions/catalogue.do?releaseId=12109&method=view&webChannelId=8

 

 

http://www.adelaidefilmfestival.org

 

The Combination closes at Greater Union

by Rhiannon Sawyer | March 02, 2009 15:55

Why oh why did this new Australian film get suspended from Greater Union?

The closing of The Combination at Greater Union cinemas over the weekend has left the filmmakers David Field and George Basha utterly dismayed. No more so than me. What is the reasoning behind closing the film?

 

Despite the fact that police who appeared at the scenes of the violence on the weekend claimed that the assaults were not linked to the film, the jumpy chain decided that pulling the first Australian release of the year was their only option.

 

Allanah Zitserman, the managing director of distributor Australian Film Syndicate told the Sydney Morning Herald, "It's unprecedented. This is the first time a film has been pulled in these kind of circumstances.

 

"This is really devastating for us, for everybody involved. It was the first [Australian] film released this year. It was doing well. It was connecting with the audience. It was well reviewed."

 

With an MA rating, the film could hardly be more violent than most Tarantino releases, and no matter how violent the film might be, the suggestion or apparent assumption that Greater Union has taken, that the film provoked violence which broke out at the cinemas, is ludicrous. It reminds me of the banning of dancing and rock n roll in Footloose as it might incite teenage orgies. Or the presumptive outcry over violence in video games encouraging young boys to repeat it in real life.

 

According to smh.com.au, Greater Union's decision has not been clarified; if the film was suspended because it encouraged violence or because it encouraged violent cinema patrons. Either way, the chain needs to defend their actions, because from where it stands now, the suspension of screening the film seems like a knee-jerk reaction to some unfortunate events.

 

 

It's Oscar Time

by Yumi Stynes | February 16, 2009 10:54

Yumi Stynes gives us the rundown in the lead up to the Oscars, cinema's night of nights. Move over Richard Wilkins.

The countdown is truly on for the 2009 Academy Awards Ceremony. In Australia the Oscars will go to air Monday 22nd February on E! They're a great tradition for getting the best, most beautiful, important and high-achieving movie stars and filmmakers in the one room. 

 

For the rest of us, a trip to the local cinema is the closest we get to Hollywood. If you've already seen Twilight and Slumdog Millionaire, my tip would be Ghost Town for the biggest cinema guffaws you'll have all year. Ricky Gervais is genius.

 

They're naff but I do love the Academy Awards, plus Hugh Jackman is hosting them this year. The films which scoop the nominations tend to be lame or just forgettable but who cares about detail?

 

Top 5 Lamest Films to Ever Win An Oscar:

 

Dances With Wolves

Lame! Unwatchable! Boring! Kevin Costner!

 

Shakespeare in Love

It just isn't a very good film. And Best Actress, Gwyneth Paltrow? Local equivalent:  Kate DeAraugo winning Australian Idol.

 

Titanic

I can see it was tempting to get carried away with the hype. But "biggest movie" does not translate to "best movie" and Titanic was mostly crap. And it has stood the test of time about as well as Debbie Gibson.

 

The Last Emperor

Sorry, were you talking? I fell asleep. This film fits into the category of overblown biopic no one will ever watch after the year of release unless it somehow relates to an essay they're writing for year 11 history. (See also:  JFK, Ghandi, Ali and dare I say Milk?) Don't be deceived: it's not deep just because it's in a different language.

 

The English Patient

Wow, like, SO boring. Elaine from Seinfeld was right.

 

The Oscars don't celebrate film so much as stars of film. The fun is in the ceremony, the red carpet, the fabulous outfits and the scary live broadcast where even the most jaded and weary actor can get visibly zapped by a jolt of fear and excitement. It's fun to see them lose it. When Cuba Gooding Jr won that Best Support Oscar, he didn't know it then, but that speech he gave was the best thing he's done in all the time since. And it's freakin' awesome to see to egos inflate to larger than that room before your very eyes. Yikes. Julia Roberts winning for Erin Brokovich was a woman at the peak of her powers. And she knew it. It was breathtaking. And then of course there are the unspoken traditions of the Oscars, like sucking up to Jack Nicholson, or pretending to like Tom Cruise, avoiding Nick Nolte's breath, and hugging Helen Mirren.

 

OSCARS PREDICTIONS:

 

BEST ACTOR:

This year the element of danger is going to be well-and-truly represented by bad-boy Mickey Rourke. He has been seen recently swigging champagne out of the bottle at the BAFTAs and is ‘rehabilitated' in career only. The one guy standing in the way of his Oscar is Sean Penn - ironically, Penn is also the only nominee who couldn't give a rat's arse about whether he wins. And Penn is probably the only man in that room who would stand up to Rourke's loose cannon alpha male act. Oh, for a barroom brawl at the Oscars...

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:

Heath Ledger will win Best Supporting Actor. His family would prefer to shove the Oscar if they could get their boy back and I hope the Academy doesn't get carried away into thinking this is sufficient consolation for their loss.

 

BEST ACTRESS:

Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married. Why? The Academy loves giving statues to the young and beautiful. It makes them feel hip.

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

Kate Winslet should win for her performance in the year's most unforgettable film The Reader. I haven't been able to stop thinking about this film since I saw it more than a month ago. Winslet is a brilliant actor, but one reason she does so well in the film is because she's so well supported by 18-year-old German hottie David Kross, playing the young Michael Berg. He's the soul of the film. Like Emile Hirsch without baby cheeks. I hope her win encourages more people to go out and see this thoughtful, surprisingly sexy film.

 

BEST FILM:
Slumdog Millionaire. If it doesn't win, I will eat my hat. And it won't be the first time!

 

Inside and Out

by Yumi Stynes | January 28, 2009 13:16

Yumi Stynes looks at the awards season and this summer's big releases.

There's loads of great cinema around at the moment but I wouldn't recommend Seven Pounds because it's terribly predictable and with the exception of Rosario Dawson, nearly terrible. General consensus on Valkyrie is don't see it because it has Tom Cruise in it but he dies in the end so it can't be all bad.

 

St George OpenAir Cinema had a glamorous opening night a week ago with a screening of the new Sean Penn film Milk. Chandon was freely flowing, great finger food was plentiful and there were swarms of hot waiters. In Sydney, the hotter the waiters, the classier the event. Sad but true. Heaven help the ugly waiters! (I have a feeling they all end up working at Rebel Sport.) For visitors to Sydney, the St George Cinema view is unrivalled. Take your overseas friends.

 

The film itself was almost stern in tone, for a Gus Van Sant movie, and long too, but with plenty of warmth and humour, which the audience seemed to love. Guests included Paul Mac, Summer Heights High creator Chris Lilley, Bessie Bardot and her pregnant bump, actor Matt Day, and singer Darren Hayes.

 

Sean Penn's performance in Milk was nominated for a Golden Globe but he lost to favourite Mickey Rourke for his astonishing performance in Darren Aronofsky's The Wrestler.

 

While critics around the world are heralding Mickey Rourke's performance as "career reviving" and "the part he was born to play", it needs to be said that the man's face is almost immobile. Years of pummelling has taken its toll. At times he looks like a burns victim with melted skin restretched over his skull where it has set like a piece of flesh-coloured fibre glass. It truly is testament to his gifts that the man manages to do most of the acting with his eyes. And his body. His body is like a steroidal, spray-tanned rock. It's January and already there are 3 must-see films of 2009:  Slumdog Millionaire, Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino and The Wrestler. Catch them while you can.