Monkey Puzzle (2008)

Monkey Puzzle is the story of a journey. Dylan takes his best friend Carl and three others on a trek to find the world's rarest tree. As they descend into the harsh ravines and canyons, the... See full summary »

Director:

Mark Forstmann

Writers:

Stephen Davis, Mark Forstmann (screenplay)

Stars:

Ben Geurens, Ryan Johnson, Ella Scott Lynch

Cast

Credited cast:
Ben Geurens	...	Carl
Ryan Johnson	...	Dylan
Ella Scott Lynch	...	Pippa
Socratis Otto	...	Zac
Billie Rose Pritchard	...	Toni

Storyline

Monkey Puzzle is the story of a journey. Dylan takes his best friend Carl and three others on a trek to find the world's rarest tree. As they descend into the harsh ravines and canyons, the wilderness closes in on them. They come face to face with haunted pasts, unrequited love and fear of intimacy. They learn hard truths of friendship, and find that letting go of the past can have devastating - and liberating - consequences.

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Taglines:

Be careful watch you search for...

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Australia

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 October 2008 (Australia)

Filming Locations:

Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia

Box Office

Budget:

AUD 1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Totem Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title evokes images of the Monkey Puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana ) and the Bunya Pine aka the False Monkey Puzzle Tree (Araucaria bidwillii). These trees are very different to the Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) but are closely related with all three belonging to the same family, Araucariaceae.

User Reviews

Hardly worth watching

OK I live in the Blue Mtns and so i was interested to see a film shot there. I had already checked the IMDb rating & didn't have high expectations however the film certainly didn't exceed my extremely low expectations.

Firstly... as everyone has commented, the characters are very annoying with implausible character flaws. OK some people are a bit strange so i can accept that, however it was still hard to connect with them.

Secondly, why were they abseiling 20 M down the 200 M Gross valley? It made no sense. Either they should rap down properly where there are chains with 2 ropes, info about it is not that hard to find, or they should walk down a gully.

Thirdly, where they were walking, its hard to be so isolated. I mean its literally in the middle of a valley which, if you walk uphill you will be out of. There are gullies going back up and the Bells line of road & great western highway is on either side of the valley. Its prob 2 hrs bush bash for a hiker or maybe 4-6 hrs for the useless invalids in the film.

Fourthly, they could've had a bit more of a positive spin on the film, ie shown it to be beautiful etc instead of just having a negative vibe the whole way through the film.

Finally, the shots of the Gross valley were terrible quality. Some decent cinematography would've made a big difference.

Overall the only thing i can say positive is that it's good to see an Australian film, and nice to have the BM scenery. I think the actors look promising if they were well directed...

Have low expectations and you may enjoy it.