In Film Australia - all about Australian films

Stories that reflect Australia’s embrace of multiculturalism are common place on cinema screens these days. Last year saw the release of two such films - The Combination and Cedar Boys. But nearly 20 years ago the same could hardly be said and a piece like Micheal Jenkins’ The Heartbreak Kid emerged as a breath of fresh air. The film stands the test of time in two respects: firstly in that it provides enlightenment of deeply rooted culturally relevant issues – streamlined though they may be - whilst simultaneously maximising chances for a feel good hit in the very commercial appeal attached to it. Read the rest »

To celebrate the theatrical release of Animal Kingdom, which opens nationally June 1, In Film Australia gives readers the chance to win one of 10 in-season double passes valid across the country. To win, simply email us with your name, postal address and tell us why you want to see it. Read the rest »

Sydney’s Cronulla - more specifically Greenhill Beach where “the prettiest girls in school and the best surfies on the beach” spend their days getting sunburnt - is the setting for this 1981 feature. This ‘coming of age’ tale (yes it’s one of those) is based on the novel of the same title by Gabrielle Carey and Kathy Lette and directed by Bruce Beresford of Barry McKenzie fame and most recently Mao’s Last Dancer. It follows roughly a year in the life of Debbie (Nell Schofield) and Sue (Jad Capelja) as they try and make it into the world of surfer boys, girls smoking in the toilets at lunchtime, drugs, alcohol, chiko rolls and awkward trysts in the back of a van as your friends watch the drive-in in the front seat. All whilst evading the forever present “moles”, parents coming home too early and the possibility of getting “dropped”. But as Deb states; at least she’s doing something on Saturday nights. Read the rest »

The apocalyptic wasteland of Australia’s future presented to the viewer in Brian Trenchard-Smith’s 1986 feature Dead-End Drive In is one that further links into his genre-based work. His earlier film Turkey Shoot is one of youthful rebellion in the face of an Orwellian government and whilst BMX Bandits takes on a much lighter tone Read the rest »

The past has a way of catching up with everyone, even Ned Kendall (Ben Mendelsohn), a writer who finds himself drawn back to his childhood home and into a confrontation with a chapter of his life no longer containable to the fabrication he reserves for his work. Read the rest »

From the fringes of Australian suburbia, director David Caesar dredges up a portrait of idle and vanquished lives in his second feature Idiot Box. Two moronic dole bludgers, Kev (Ben Mendelsohn) and Mick (Jeremy Sims), spend their life stuck in a familiar loop. Highlights of their day include a walk to the local bottle shop or terrorizing a neighbour’s guard dog. With little cash and no means of transportation, their lone ‘big idea’ comes in the form of robbing a bank. Mick has even concocted a recipe for surefire success, one that avoids the stereotypical failings he’s made note of in run-of-the-mill Hollywood films. Read the rest »

Shaping the short stories of Israeli writer Etgar Keret into a series of interlocking lives within an apartment building in a nondescript city, Tatia Rosenthal’s stop-motion feature debut has enough of an idiosyncratic bent to ensure a sizeable, devoted following in the years to come. Read the rest »

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). Read the rest »