In Film Australia - all about Australian films

You have to wonder if Australia’s own variation on Fatal Attraction is now just a discredited footnote in the career of Naomi Watts. Surely she’s long suppressed all recollection of her demented schoolgirl act in Gross Misconduct, directed unremarkably by George Miller (not to be confused with the George Miller who directed Mad Max). Too early, here, are signifiers of the impending subtext-rich pop psychology laid out: the opening tracking shot through a gloomy mansion at night trawls past an elaborate series of lit candles - a danger sign in any film, for only a certifiably mad person would go to all that trouble - before resting on a naked Jennifer (Watts), dreamily pleasuring herself in an inviting four-poster bed. Read the rest

Now how ‘bout that: an Australian made film that mainstream audiences might actually go and see! Or at least gore hungry teenagers with litres of Red Bull infused blood pumping through their hormonal bodies. But given the recent vampiric trend amongst teens, it’s the perfect market for the Australian film industry to suck the life out of. Lord knows they’re looking a little parched. Read the rest

Martin (Hugo Weaving) has been blind his entire life. He also happens to be an avid photographer. His meticulous snapshots, though seemingly random to a partial observer, actually supply the framework that defines his world. With descriptive summaries typed in Braille stuck to their undersides, the photographs are categorical ‘proof’ that Martin existed in a time and place, each with its own memory attached. In Jocelyn Moorhouse’s Proof, a masterful exploration of friendship Read the rest

Neither biopic nor a straightforward period film, Jane Campion’s Bright Star is better described as a ballad on love, creation and daily life in middle class Regency England. Inspired by Andrew Motion’s biography of the Romantic poet John Keats, Campion tells the story of Keats’ love affair with his neighbour, Fanny Brawne. Read the rest

Mark Joffe’s endearingly quirky period comedy has somehow been relegated to the anonymous ranks of films long forgotten, despite some noteworthy attributes. If nothing else, Spotswood, released in 1992 - just a year after The Silence of the Lambs - reveals the depth of Anthony Hopkins’s commitment to scouring the globe for projects that interest him. From Hannibal Lecter he progressed to Errol Wallace, a genial, mild-mannered independent consultant asked to assess the financial feasibility of Ball’s Moccasins. Here, he finds a modest, small-knit community of employees whose lackadaisical work ethic seems like an extension of the social activities most people reserve for the weekends. In the film’s funniest line, Wallace describes his first impression of the place as “like visiting my grandfather’s house and finding it full of people”. Read the rest

Just off the beaten track from Wolf Creek and Cape Fear is Rupert Glasson’s promising feature debut Coffin Rock, a must-see destination for deftly crafted thrills and chills. In fact, this surprisingly good thriller might even satisfy those without a lust for blood, as the film initially masquerades as an earnest drama about a rural couple’s fruitless attempt to conceive a child. Read the rest

Journeyman director Russell Mulcahy’s Swimming Upstream, an adaptation of an autobiographical book by Tony Fingleton and his sister Diane, is a heroic tale of an almost-legend, a talented young man who overcame a tormented childhood to fulfill his ability as a sportsman and earn respect as a human being. Read the rest

Starring an infamously rum-soaked Dennis Hopper as an audacious, impetuous bushranger, supported by a selection of Australia’s finest actors including David Gulpilil, Bill Hunter and Jack Thompson, Mad Dog Morgan is a wild and savage trip through Australian history. Inspiration to our most famous bushranger Ned Kelly, Daniel Morgan was an Irishman seeking his fortune in the Victorian goldfields of the 1850s. Read the rest