Worth: $12.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Bruce Beresford (narrator)
Intro:
… proves infectious.
Producer/Director Anthony Buckley studiously explores the history of North Sydney’s once standing COLISEUM deLUXE in the Bruce Beresford narrated documentary at the COLISEUM deLUXE.
Having survived multiple wars, changing attitudes, and an ongoing handover of ownership, the history of the majestic COLISEUM deLUXE is as dramatic as any of the productions which graced its screens.
Buckley, co-producer Les Tod and writer Peter Fenton use the turbulent history of the North Sydney icon to celebrate the persevering nature of Australian film history.
at the COLISEUM deLUXE presents a straightforward account of Australian cinema history. For this reason, the documentary feels deserving of a television time-slot, or a university lecture, than it does a cinema screen.
The filmmakers, in association with the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, construct this history through archival footage that presents an Australia at the forefront of filmmaking.
It is a depiction rarely presented on screen and is so lovingly narrated by Beresford that it proves infectious. This later becomes contradicted when the filmmakers introduce animated recreations of the majestic theatre; the inclusion of these graphics feeling at odds with the historical nature of the documentary.
At times, at the COLISEUM deLUXE falls guilty of dilly-dallying. Spanning the 100 years between the 1850s to 1950s, the film’s scope ranges from the cinematic technological arms race involving the Lumiere brothers to the popularity of skating rinks in Australia. The constant interchanging of topics results in dawdling that will prove uninteresting for non-history buffs.
That being said, those with a deep interest in Australian history – particularly film and infrastructure – will enthusiastically take to at the COLISEUM deLUXE.
Non history buffs – you mean most of the Australian population?