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QPIX STUDENTS ARE TROPFEST FINALISTS
Graduates of QPIX’s 2011 Diploma of Production course have won their way into the finals of TROPFEST, the world’s largest short film festival, with their student production PHOTOBOOTH. Set in the Afghanistan conflict, PHOTOBOOTH is one of a sequence of...
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James Cameron Loses Long Time Australian Collaborators
Producer Andrew Wight and cinematographer Mike deGruy lose their lives in a helicopter crash.
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BRAN NUE LAST DAY
FILMINK’s MIFF correspondent gives us the latest on the festival’s fantastic films.
The last session of the 2009 Melbourne International Film Festival began with Amreeka, a comedy/drama from first-time feature director Cherien Dabis. Amreeka, which is Arabic for ‘America', revolves around Muna and Fadi, a Palestinian mother and her teenage son who decide to emigrate from the military-occupied West Bank and start a new life with their family in suburban Illinois.
Set in 2003 and right at the beginning of the US invasion of Iraq, this film follows the plight of these two fish out of water as they struggle to comfortably assimilate to the Midwest USA way of life. Muna, after losing their life savings inside a box of cookies at the airport, struggles to find a job despite two university degrees and ten years of banking experience. She reluctantly takes employment at a White Castle Fast Food restaurant. Fadi on the other hand has a typically hard time fitting in at school, subject to the ironical taunts of a class bully who rants about the virtues of a war which will bring freedom to the very person he oppresses. Things aren't dandy for Muna's sister Raghda either, as she and her husband Nabeel, a doctor, must deal with a flurry of patients leaving his practise.
Dabis does a splendid job in her first feature film, bringing heart-warming humour to dark subject matter. Muna's interactions with her blue-haired White Castle co-worker Matty make for amusing scenes, as does her side gig of selling diet supplements to random people she meets. There is also Muna's budding romance with the school principal who happens to be a Polish Jew, which is subtle and just downright sweet. Dabis is also great at creating this warm, yet seemingly realistic family dynamic, which we might assume is taken from real life (Dabis dedicated the movie to her family in the end credits). This runs all the way from Muna's overbearing mother and her obsession with cucumbers to her nieces, one of them referring to Fadi as an FOB (Fresh off the Boat).
Dabis has also assembled a superb cast with wonderful on-screen chemistry. Nisreen Faour does an excellent job as Muna, balancing her character with convincing vulnerability and strength, while Melkar Muallem as Fadi is terrific in portraying the impressionable teenager living in a new world that slowly changes him. Hiam Abbass (who you may remember from The Visitor), Yussuf Au-Warda, Joseph Ziegler and Alia Shawkat are also great in supporting roles.
The final film of the festival was Bran Nue Dae, the lavish Aboriginal musical which was also the official MIFF Closing Night film. Directed by Rachel Perkins, this colourful outback spectacular is adapted from the popular Jimmy Chi musical which was first performed in Perth back in 1990.
Set in 1967, the story follows a young man by the name of Willie, who loves his hometown of Broome and wants nothing more than to spend his days fishing and canoodling with the love of his life Rosie. But his mother has other ideas, and sends him off to Perth to become a priest under the tutelage of the despotic Father Benedcitus. But Willie has other ideas, and flees the convent, journeying his way back to Broome by any means necessary. Along the way he encounters a cast of vibrant characters, from drunkard Uncle Tadpole, to the hippie pairing of Annie and Slippery, all the while being pursued by Benedictus.
While earlier this year Samson and Delilah gave us a bleak, fairly harrowing portrait of the rural aboriginal landscape in this country, Bran Nue Dae is very much at the opposite end of the spectrum, and at its heart is just a bit of fun. Simply put, this is a heart-warming love story with singing and dancing. I'm sure there will be some that attempt to tunnel deep into the recesses and extract some poignant meaning to the song Nothing I Would Rather Be (Than To Be An Aborigine), but it's going to be a stretch. This is also a musical that can be enjoyed for those who don't have a penchant for characters that simultaneously burst into song, with the musical interludes not really dragging out too long.
Bran Nue Dae is a visually stunning film, with the colour and vibrancy of the outback exploding off the screen. Geoffrey Rush is at his eccentrically wicked best as Father Benedictus, while Missy Higgins and Tom Budge are perfectly coupled as the Kombi Van driving wild childs of the outback. Jessica Mauboy oozes plenty of on-screen charisma as the sweet singing Rosie, as does newcomer Rocky McKenzie in the lead role of Willie. But it's Ernie Dingo in his turn as Uncle Tadpole that really steals the show, reprising his on-stage role from nearly two decades ago. Also look out for a short and memorable cameo from Magda Szubanski as the frisky owner of a Roadhouse.