By Travis Johnson
Of course everyone is going to come out to sing the praises of David Stratton, a man who is, pretty much unarguably, Australia’s greatest film critic. Gillian Armstrong, Eric Bana, Bryan Brown, Russell Crowe, Judy Davis, Nicole Kidman, George Miller, Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Fred Schepisi, Warwick Thornton, Jacki Weaver, and Hugo Weaving all get in front of writer and director Sally Aitken’s camera to talk about Stratton and his impact on the Australian film industry – that’s an impressive roster by anyone’s estimation.
And we also get Stratton himself, narrating his life story and putting his considerable achievements into some kind of emotional context. Given that his life pretty much parallels the evolution of Australian film, that makes A Cinematic Life mandatory viewing for Antipodean cineastes. Expect it in theatres from March 9, 2017.
I hope the director shot this with lots of shaky hand-held camera work.