Probably symbolising the Wheel of Fortune, a beautiful hand-cranked carousel in a pond features a couple of times towards the end of the film. Look for the rabbit seat which resembles the dog, Dougall, from the British Magic Roundabout stop-motion children's series. Here the church's St George vs Dragon stained glass tableau plays out in real life as the morality play on our freedom to choose right from wrong. Death & the Maiden are here, too, for those with the eyes to see. It seems that the first meeting of St George & his maiden happens at a rural bathing fountain where a serpent has lain hidden in this dress of one of the damsels bathing there. A strike from his riding crop dispatches that incarnation of the Beast but there will always be more. His other lady - seemingly more fair but dark at heart - dies when her jealous spouse disguised as a 'good fortune' manakin-selling beggar mistakes her attentions to a milliner's mannequin & shoots her out of the picture, so to speak. The delicate kiss of benediction which he gives to the girl whilst slipping quietly through her bedroom chamber may translate as a reverse Pygmalion touch where the spirit of St George transfers out of her dreams & into the rogue upon whom the chapel's window is styled.
Reviews
15 Reviews
Apocalypto
(2006)
Derivative?
6 December 2009
Hollywood is known for 'borrowing' its plots. This film has elements of "The Naked Prey", "Predator", "Greystoke - The Legend of Tarzan" and "The Emerald Forest". Despite that and the rather simplistic view of the Maya world, this is a rare view of what was once such an important piece of human culture. Full marks to Mel for using 'dead' (actually near-dead) tongues in this and "The Passion of the Christ". This also was not original as the Latin film "Sebastiane" and Gaelic revival films out of Ireland and Scotland show. Those who see little plot here need to focus on the prophecy of the poxed witch girl. Personally, I take this as a prophecy for the bloodletting of our times which sacrifices third world victims to the insatiable greed of the rich and degenerate West.
Crocodile Dreaming
(2007)
Aboriginal Gilgamesh
22 October 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This is a story of a pair of aboriginal brothers - one a successful screen actor and the other living the half-Westernised world of disenchantment with both cultures. The catastrophic death of the latter's daughter at a popular swimming hole leads the elders to summon home his brother who is the clan law-keeper (Jungaiy) for the crocodile dreaming. To placate their mother's spirit - disturbed when the sacred stone of her clan was cast into the river by the disenchanted son - they must retrieve the stone and return it to its rightful place among the clan ossuary caves. But first they must get past the man-eating croc that is possessed of the enraged spirit.
Students of classical mythology may recognise elements of the Gilgamesh tale here. David Gulpilil's striking presence adds to the alien spirituality of the piece. I'm unsure of how much this story is accurate in terms of traditional aboriginal spirituality - often quite secret and well guarded - but it has the right sort of 'feel' to it and David Gulpilil is on record asserting this as his mother's dreaming.
Students of classical mythology may recognise elements of the Gilgamesh tale here. David Gulpilil's striking presence adds to the alien spirituality of the piece. I'm unsure of how much this story is accurate in terms of traditional aboriginal spirituality - often quite secret and well guarded - but it has the right sort of 'feel' to it and David Gulpilil is on record asserting this as his mother's dreaming.
Chicken and Duck Talk
(1988)
Funny with a capital F
30 April 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I am so disappointed that I can't buy a copy of this film. SBS Australia did an excellent sub-titled version which has made for the local popularity of this film. Only in a HK comedy would a cockroach pass for a Chinese date greedily munched under the health inspector's nose or caged rats get surreptitiously sneaked into a rival's restaurant. Gross-out is the order of the day. And this is all in good fun. The traditional Chinese-style promotional duck suit is really subtle comedy and a total delight to watch in all-out bad Kung Fu war with the chicken-suited rival tout. Is a shining clean Western fast-food joint the ant's pants and bee's knees? Not if you're after the true Cantonese dining experience, it's not. Love it! Please find a way to bring this one to DVD.
The Lives of Others
(2006)
"The price of Liberty is eternal vigilence", nicht Wahr?
19 May 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This is a piece that well represents the pressure-cooker cultural experiment that was the DDR. We are privileged to observe it from our cinema armchairs and to see an unblinkered view. One gets the feeling that for the citizens of East Germany this was not the norm. It is interesting how much mundane living must have been documented by the regime in its attempts to root out all opposition.
As might be expected, the 'usual suspects' are the literary minds of this world and their potential to preach to their audience something subversive. However, it is actually jealousy from a high Party official over his girlfriend that instigates our fishing expeditionary investigation in Operation Laszlo.
Following the persecution of a colleague who has not worked for seven years, the playwright at the centre of the action receives a call to tell him of his friend's suicide. After the funeral, he learns that, despite the intensive statistical self-analysis of his society, no figures are available to indicate the prevalence or otherwise of death by suicide. He is convinced, against his deep-rooted loyalty to the regime, to write an anonymous propaganda piece to be published in West Germany exposing and denouncing the Eastern regime through this tiny fact.
The true hero of the piece is the mid-ranking investigating officer in the Stasi who is set the task of bringing down this inconvenient playwright. Discovering him to be a loyal and likable chap and his own superiors corrupt, this erstwhile cog in the socialist machine's control network decides to try to protect the girl from the unwanted attentions of the letcherous old Minister for Culture and his doctored reports place him in a very difficult position. Furthermore, he resents being ordered to set up the playwright to further his boss's political ambitions and the Minister's sexual ones. He rebels - hiding the identity of the author of the tract from his reports and removing incriminating evidence - on suspicion of which he is demoted for life ... or until the Wall came down.
There are some truly spine-tingling moments when we feel the fate of our protagonists balancing on a knife-edge.
The cold and methodical Stasi are an object lesson for us all. And we should not really feel so comfortable in our theatre armchairs. Some of the worst of them emigrated and now live under completely new identities. I have met the victim of one such person on a rapid and murderously ruthless path to quiet fortune and power in my own country.
As might be expected, the 'usual suspects' are the literary minds of this world and their potential to preach to their audience something subversive. However, it is actually jealousy from a high Party official over his girlfriend that instigates our fishing expeditionary investigation in Operation Laszlo.
Following the persecution of a colleague who has not worked for seven years, the playwright at the centre of the action receives a call to tell him of his friend's suicide. After the funeral, he learns that, despite the intensive statistical self-analysis of his society, no figures are available to indicate the prevalence or otherwise of death by suicide. He is convinced, against his deep-rooted loyalty to the regime, to write an anonymous propaganda piece to be published in West Germany exposing and denouncing the Eastern regime through this tiny fact.
The true hero of the piece is the mid-ranking investigating officer in the Stasi who is set the task of bringing down this inconvenient playwright. Discovering him to be a loyal and likable chap and his own superiors corrupt, this erstwhile cog in the socialist machine's control network decides to try to protect the girl from the unwanted attentions of the letcherous old Minister for Culture and his doctored reports place him in a very difficult position. Furthermore, he resents being ordered to set up the playwright to further his boss's political ambitions and the Minister's sexual ones. He rebels - hiding the identity of the author of the tract from his reports and removing incriminating evidence - on suspicion of which he is demoted for life ... or until the Wall came down.
There are some truly spine-tingling moments when we feel the fate of our protagonists balancing on a knife-edge.
The cold and methodical Stasi are an object lesson for us all. And we should not really feel so comfortable in our theatre armchairs. Some of the worst of them emigrated and now live under completely new identities. I have met the victim of one such person on a rapid and murderously ruthless path to quiet fortune and power in my own country.
Sumo Do, Sumo Don't
(1992)
How far are you prepared to go in observing your duty to the past?
30 April 2007
Warning: Spoilers
This is, despite the Brit character Smiley, a very Japanese film. What we see highlighted is a modern, substantially Westernised society where even the national sport of Sumo is under threat of abandonment.
The wrestling team is barely surviving, despite a not inglorious tradition at the school, and the standard and dedication of the remaining wrestlers is poor. The coach uses traditional techniques demanding humility and reinforcing every humiliation on his team. In keeping with this antique world view, the subtle and self-sacrificing love interest is very much a sub-text with a Yugen unveiling.
Unlike the locals who see it as a one-way street to oblivion as third-rate combatants in a system that ignores all else but the weight-gain demands of the sport and ultra-traditional costumes and ritual of the ring, the Smiley character sees it as an albeit brief flirtation from the inside with the hard-to-find 'real' old Japan. His flirtation, however, does not extend to dropping his duds and, despite real skill he opts to forfeit his bouts rather than expose himself to what he sees as ridicule. This puts the pressure on the real hero to perform miracles in the competition to prevent relegation of the school from the competition.
Being blackmailed into it would best describe the hero's reasons for joining the team, but he grows to admire what unrecognised work has been put into them by the coach and realises that the team exists only through the individual efforts of its members.
The wrestling team is barely surviving, despite a not inglorious tradition at the school, and the standard and dedication of the remaining wrestlers is poor. The coach uses traditional techniques demanding humility and reinforcing every humiliation on his team. In keeping with this antique world view, the subtle and self-sacrificing love interest is very much a sub-text with a Yugen unveiling.
Unlike the locals who see it as a one-way street to oblivion as third-rate combatants in a system that ignores all else but the weight-gain demands of the sport and ultra-traditional costumes and ritual of the ring, the Smiley character sees it as an albeit brief flirtation from the inside with the hard-to-find 'real' old Japan. His flirtation, however, does not extend to dropping his duds and, despite real skill he opts to forfeit his bouts rather than expose himself to what he sees as ridicule. This puts the pressure on the real hero to perform miracles in the competition to prevent relegation of the school from the competition.
Being blackmailed into it would best describe the hero's reasons for joining the team, but he grows to admire what unrecognised work has been put into them by the coach and realises that the team exists only through the individual efforts of its members.
Signs of Life
(1989)
Hope Floats
1 April 2007
Warning: Spoilers
As with so many modern US films, there has to be a supernatural element to the plot, but if you just let that go, this is a tale with heaps of charm and a kindly heart cased in a crab shell.
We are presented with a scene of a town in an economically depressed area struggling to find anything to be happy about. Beau Bridges' character is really up against it with a family on the increase, a nil bank balance and a brother-in-law who's sold out to a big business chain which he secretly hates, but in which he is willing to rub Beau's nose. D'Onofrio finds his rather surface Bubba lifestyle cramped by having to look after his 'blessed' baby brother, Joey, and is itching to escape the shackles of this dead hick town. Their boss's business is closing down (much against his will) because of a lack of new customers and he is haunted by memories of his father as he builds up the tension towards his own attempt at self-destruction.
Joey, who had seemed to personify the curse on their lives, is lost at sea - believed drowned - in a freak accident. His miraculous restoration to them by the Portuguese trawlermen whose boat they had just built and launched (perhaps symbolic of an angelic crew), is the sign they've been waiting for and they all decide to give life one last throw of the dice.
There is a beautiful brooding mood throughout this work which excelled in holding our attention as brilliantly as 'The Shipping News'. There are other parallels with the later work, too, which lead one to suspect a touch of a remake. I like 'Signs of Life' for its simpler, less contrived story and star performances from actors working at their craft rather than to be noticed as stars.
We are presented with a scene of a town in an economically depressed area struggling to find anything to be happy about. Beau Bridges' character is really up against it with a family on the increase, a nil bank balance and a brother-in-law who's sold out to a big business chain which he secretly hates, but in which he is willing to rub Beau's nose. D'Onofrio finds his rather surface Bubba lifestyle cramped by having to look after his 'blessed' baby brother, Joey, and is itching to escape the shackles of this dead hick town. Their boss's business is closing down (much against his will) because of a lack of new customers and he is haunted by memories of his father as he builds up the tension towards his own attempt at self-destruction.
Joey, who had seemed to personify the curse on their lives, is lost at sea - believed drowned - in a freak accident. His miraculous restoration to them by the Portuguese trawlermen whose boat they had just built and launched (perhaps symbolic of an angelic crew), is the sign they've been waiting for and they all decide to give life one last throw of the dice.
There is a beautiful brooding mood throughout this work which excelled in holding our attention as brilliantly as 'The Shipping News'. There are other parallels with the later work, too, which lead one to suspect a touch of a remake. I like 'Signs of Life' for its simpler, less contrived story and star performances from actors working at their craft rather than to be noticed as stars.
Lost in Translation
(2003)
The Last Remake of 'Brief Encounter'
30 March 2007
This film was, as many people before me have written, dead boring. It was deliberately about self-important, dead boring Westerners visiting what had once been a vibrant and fascinating country but which increasingly since the Meiji Restoration has become a pale clone of Western modernist society - and thus both as boring as the original and a parody mirror held up to any inquisitive Westerner.
The base plot line is a pinch from the slightly more charming 'Brief Encounter' which challenged the traditions of fidelity after the passion has departed. In this film, Murray's character seems to be inwardly devoted to his wife and family, remote in the US, but outwardly unafraid of a little dalliance with a not-quite-single white female. She is just bored and bored some more - and then deserves to be bored. The Japanese modernists whom they meet up with seem way too modern and the couple drift back into their comfortable, if dull, lives.
I have to confess that the person I took to the cinema to see this film dozed off and snored half way through the film. Nobody in the audience complained - perhaps in sympathy - perhaps out of amusement at a little diversion. I'm afraid it was that kind of film. If you wanted action and dialogue they just weren't there in abundance. If you find watching autumn leaves slowly wend their way across the lawn, into the street and then into the opposite gutter, this is your kind of film.
Ava Gardner famously once said of 'On the Beach', shot in Melbourne, 'what better place to choose for a film about the end of the world?'. One could say that Coppola is saying much the same of modern Tokyo in regard to the death of civilization.
The base plot line is a pinch from the slightly more charming 'Brief Encounter' which challenged the traditions of fidelity after the passion has departed. In this film, Murray's character seems to be inwardly devoted to his wife and family, remote in the US, but outwardly unafraid of a little dalliance with a not-quite-single white female. She is just bored and bored some more - and then deserves to be bored. The Japanese modernists whom they meet up with seem way too modern and the couple drift back into their comfortable, if dull, lives.
I have to confess that the person I took to the cinema to see this film dozed off and snored half way through the film. Nobody in the audience complained - perhaps in sympathy - perhaps out of amusement at a little diversion. I'm afraid it was that kind of film. If you wanted action and dialogue they just weren't there in abundance. If you find watching autumn leaves slowly wend their way across the lawn, into the street and then into the opposite gutter, this is your kind of film.
Ava Gardner famously once said of 'On the Beach', shot in Melbourne, 'what better place to choose for a film about the end of the world?'. One could say that Coppola is saying much the same of modern Tokyo in regard to the death of civilization.
Black Cat, White Cat
(1998)
The Cats that ate the Shrew
27 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
There are elements of Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew' in this piece which are cleverly buried beneath the rollicking adventures of this small-time low-life society. Absolutely, these cats outdo the Shakespeare comedy.
Everyone is out to use and abuse everybody else and we learn to accept that as Real Life as it was meant to be. The young lovers escape their slavery to family obligations to a happy ending and the shrew also finds true happiness in the least likely place. We get a morality play ending without feeling cheated in the least.
There seem to be ethnic subtexts here which would be lost on a non-local audience - such as the Greek name of the local gangster family, the black comedy treatment of the murder of a corrupt guard on the border and the various religious or atheist affiliations. The sex urge seems to be everywhere as are cultural straight-jackets to keep it in check.
My favourite scene is when the Matko character is given an enamel mug of the petrol that they've just bought for next to nix from a passing Russian barge with the object of assessing its quality by taste. He spits it out in disgust BECAUSE IT'S WATER! Priceless!
Everyone is out to use and abuse everybody else and we learn to accept that as Real Life as it was meant to be. The young lovers escape their slavery to family obligations to a happy ending and the shrew also finds true happiness in the least likely place. We get a morality play ending without feeling cheated in the least.
There seem to be ethnic subtexts here which would be lost on a non-local audience - such as the Greek name of the local gangster family, the black comedy treatment of the murder of a corrupt guard on the border and the various religious or atheist affiliations. The sex urge seems to be everywhere as are cultural straight-jackets to keep it in check.
My favourite scene is when the Matko character is given an enamel mug of the petrol that they've just bought for next to nix from a passing Russian barge with the object of assessing its quality by taste. He spits it out in disgust BECAUSE IT'S WATER! Priceless!
Bedrooms and Hallways
(1998)
Is the joke about the actors' otherwise highly respectable personae?
21 March 2007
I bought this video on a throw-out table at the video store expecting a good cast in what was touted as an award-winning Brit sex comedy. I guess I should have read the finer print. I rarely write a panning review, but here goes.
These actors in gay roles really play games with your memories of a lot of far more worthy films. This comedy was a very cruel joke at the expense of the actors, the theatre-going public and of all the nice films that have contributed to their reputations.
I repeat: is the joke about trashing the actors' other highly respectable on-screen personae with this scurrilously trashy flick? Can the reference to the Austen classics 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Sense and Sensibility' be anything else? How much of a political statement was it to produce this melodrama using these stars? Are we meant to simply take it as a lay-down misere that all actors are gay and thus letting their on-screen roleplay affect our lifestyles is accepting their private homosexual dealings in our faces, too? I'm sorry, but I don't think so. I say NO to this one.
These actors in gay roles really play games with your memories of a lot of far more worthy films. This comedy was a very cruel joke at the expense of the actors, the theatre-going public and of all the nice films that have contributed to their reputations.
I repeat: is the joke about trashing the actors' other highly respectable on-screen personae with this scurrilously trashy flick? Can the reference to the Austen classics 'Pride and Prejudice' and 'Sense and Sensibility' be anything else? How much of a political statement was it to produce this melodrama using these stars? Are we meant to simply take it as a lay-down misere that all actors are gay and thus letting their on-screen roleplay affect our lifestyles is accepting their private homosexual dealings in our faces, too? I'm sorry, but I don't think so. I say NO to this one.
Celia
(1989)
Portrait of Innocence in a world ruled by those who 'know better'
16 March 2007
Warning: Spoilers
Firstly, this story is set in Victoria - not South Australia - as can be demonstrated from the name of the state Premier, Sir Henry Bolte. Next, the children aren't playing in a desert, but rather the local abandoned industrial sandpit. It is her dead grandmother who had been a communist rather than her parents who are opposed and working hard at cutting all ties - including burning gran's library and banning Celia from playing with the kids of their 'Commie' new neighbours.
The rather bizarre choice of storybook read to the class by their teacher and which has Celia enthralled by its demonic 'hobbyars' is "A Sweet Obscurity" by Patrick Gale. Ultimately, her confusion between her terrified obsession with these monsters of the dark and the real world in which she must do battle with the "Powers That Be" trying to oppress, corrupt and destroy everything she loves - her memories of her communist grandmother, her friends next door, her pet rabbit, Murgatroyd - lead to her own mini-revolution and act of murder and the equally riveting scene where she terrorises the only witness (a weak-willed playmate) into lifelong silence.
The story is in many respects so 'strange' as to seem based in reality - almost as if the author is making a confession about a crime in childish innocence committed as Celia. I don't know that I wanted the story to end in any way on a light-hearted note. The tragedy seemed likely to leave a lasting hole in several lives - unlikely to be reparable by a kiss or a hug.
I recently found this movie as a throw-out sale item at the video store and it rekindled memories of when I'd first seen it on TV. Unfortunately, the name is not memorable - a flaw the producers should be warned of with any film the fans are likely to seek out. I had only vaguely remembered the 'hobbyars' as 'blue meanies' as in the Beatles film 'Yellow Submarine' - which wasn't much help for a search. It is not likely to be a widely available film even in Australia and if you have a copy, then you're lucky.
The rather bizarre choice of storybook read to the class by their teacher and which has Celia enthralled by its demonic 'hobbyars' is "A Sweet Obscurity" by Patrick Gale. Ultimately, her confusion between her terrified obsession with these monsters of the dark and the real world in which she must do battle with the "Powers That Be" trying to oppress, corrupt and destroy everything she loves - her memories of her communist grandmother, her friends next door, her pet rabbit, Murgatroyd - lead to her own mini-revolution and act of murder and the equally riveting scene where she terrorises the only witness (a weak-willed playmate) into lifelong silence.
The story is in many respects so 'strange' as to seem based in reality - almost as if the author is making a confession about a crime in childish innocence committed as Celia. I don't know that I wanted the story to end in any way on a light-hearted note. The tragedy seemed likely to leave a lasting hole in several lives - unlikely to be reparable by a kiss or a hug.
I recently found this movie as a throw-out sale item at the video store and it rekindled memories of when I'd first seen it on TV. Unfortunately, the name is not memorable - a flaw the producers should be warned of with any film the fans are likely to seek out. I had only vaguely remembered the 'hobbyars' as 'blue meanies' as in the Beatles film 'Yellow Submarine' - which wasn't much help for a search. It is not likely to be a widely available film even in Australia and if you have a copy, then you're lucky.
Whale Rider
(2002)
More movies from this author, please!
14 March 2007
I came upon Witi Ihimaera's writing first in another, apparently more personal story, 'The Matriarch'. In it he documents his own experiment in a mixed race marriage and modernist, city ways despite his childhood heavily under the influence of his grandmother, who brought a powerful and ancient priestly inheritance to his blood and insisted he claim it against rivals in the tribe. This was also a semi-mystical tale, but here the lead characters have a darker power at their command - hence, in Polynesian thought, its female bearers.
The gender reversals found in 'Whale Rider' over the previous tale prove his ability as an author to make us believe his storytelling, but also give an insight into the deeper workings of the man. One wonders what he might have written had he been born of a lower caste in Maori society.
The world needs story-telling with a powerful message - something sadly lacking in a lot of Hollywood-Bollywood schlock. Please, someone out there pick up on this author for more movies. He writes riveting stuff, doesn't he?
The gender reversals found in 'Whale Rider' over the previous tale prove his ability as an author to make us believe his storytelling, but also give an insight into the deeper workings of the man. One wonders what he might have written had he been born of a lower caste in Maori society.
The world needs story-telling with a powerful message - something sadly lacking in a lot of Hollywood-Bollywood schlock. Please, someone out there pick up on this author for more movies. He writes riveting stuff, doesn't he?
Hotel Sorrento
(1995)
A film for Thinkers
26 January 2007
This film reminded me of 'The Shell-Seekers' and 'Secrets and Lies' and ranks with them both in quality of performances and depth of themes. Those seeking a great plot or action movie will be disappointed, but those interested in a variety of characters in a sweet setting with more than enough to say for themselves - albeit in the Laconic fashion of the Australian idiom - should not be disappointed.
There is intelligent, if indirect, humour in the writing - poking fun at the bored colonial escapee daughters who end up finding themselves to be the cause of everyone's ennui back home. The grandfather's mundane home truths about why they left ('running away from something') are borne out by the eventually revealed family secret. Similarly, the authoress character's assessment of the dominance of the Capitalist ethos over Australian culture is borne out in the cringe-making scene at the closing credits - a slap in the face for the idealistic Press owner friend to Joan Plowright's character who has championed the idea of the great 'coming of age' of Australian culture.
The locations are truly charming with many shots worth framing and the very down-to-earth lifestyle of the inhabitants of the 'Hotel Sorrento' provides a sobering note for anyone taking too great a flight of fancy over it all.
There is intelligent, if indirect, humour in the writing - poking fun at the bored colonial escapee daughters who end up finding themselves to be the cause of everyone's ennui back home. The grandfather's mundane home truths about why they left ('running away from something') are borne out by the eventually revealed family secret. Similarly, the authoress character's assessment of the dominance of the Capitalist ethos over Australian culture is borne out in the cringe-making scene at the closing credits - a slap in the face for the idealistic Press owner friend to Joan Plowright's character who has championed the idea of the great 'coming of age' of Australian culture.
The locations are truly charming with many shots worth framing and the very down-to-earth lifestyle of the inhabitants of the 'Hotel Sorrento' provides a sobering note for anyone taking too great a flight of fancy over it all.
Lorenzo's Oil
(1992)
Don Suddaby was a Gentleman Biochemist of the Old School
17 January 2007
My sister, an industrial biochemist, met the retired Mr Suddaby in Hull when she visited the UK parent HQ of her employer, Reckitt and Colmans Intl. He had worked for Croda Universal in Hull (not London). She tells me he was sufficiently touched by the child's story and his father's theory to work tirelessly on the difficult extraction of the oil, despite his own senior years. Its success, albeit limited, was better than a gold watch.
Behind the proudly religious moral stance of Lorenzo's parents stands the shadow of the question as to whether euthanasia and eugenic embryo 'screening' have a part to play in modern family planning.
What this film points out is that the suffering is very real and that there will always be a chance we might discover medicines (in this case, a mere food supplement) to give an otherwise normal lifestyle to victims of genetic disease. Furthermore, it makes the money and prestige politics of medical treatment of rare conditions starkly and cruelly obvious.
This was a moving film but also one that tested the nerves in a way thrillers cannot. It was a film for the heart and the mind. It was a story that deserved to be told - a story with only half a happy ending.
I would have to agree that Nick Nolte's accent was off-putting and the end-result was a bit 'Mumbles' Brando if not Brand Y. The Latin intellectual machismo he tries to portray doesn't really pay off too well - though, I'd have to say it strikes me as a result of casting against type.
Behind the proudly religious moral stance of Lorenzo's parents stands the shadow of the question as to whether euthanasia and eugenic embryo 'screening' have a part to play in modern family planning.
What this film points out is that the suffering is very real and that there will always be a chance we might discover medicines (in this case, a mere food supplement) to give an otherwise normal lifestyle to victims of genetic disease. Furthermore, it makes the money and prestige politics of medical treatment of rare conditions starkly and cruelly obvious.
This was a moving film but also one that tested the nerves in a way thrillers cannot. It was a film for the heart and the mind. It was a story that deserved to be told - a story with only half a happy ending.
I would have to agree that Nick Nolte's accent was off-putting and the end-result was a bit 'Mumbles' Brando if not Brand Y. The Latin intellectual machismo he tries to portray doesn't really pay off too well - though, I'd have to say it strikes me as a result of casting against type.
Road to Nhill
(1997)
Waiting for Godot in the 'Real' World
5 January 2006
I'm saddened to hear negative comments on this beautiful ensemble piece by an amazing assemblage of senior citizen actors and others not so old. I doubt that many beyond Australia will get their hands on a copy as it's rare even on home ground. You definitely need an eye for subtle hints at all the subtexts in this investigation of a minor crisis in the life of a sleepy town in the middle of nowhere.
I just loved the subtle manipulation of the situation by the bachelor farmer to try and get a foot in the door for a formal courtship of one of the lady bowlers involved in the accident - and her squirming to try and get out of it without offending the poor lummox.
His neighbour the pig farmer is too interested in perching like a crow on a fence watching the inept antics of the various emergency services crews around the 'wreck' to actually do the one useful thing he's been asked to - and take one of the old dears in to the hospital for a check-up.
There are so many apparent inconsequentialities which weigh heavy on the minds of these townsfolk that you don't wonder at all that they should have ended up where they are. It's all as God intended.
My only niggle is in the rather peculiar choice of gamelan music (abruptly cut off for God's voice-over) in the opening credits. All else is quite consistent with the setting and mood of the play.
I just loved the subtle manipulation of the situation by the bachelor farmer to try and get a foot in the door for a formal courtship of one of the lady bowlers involved in the accident - and her squirming to try and get out of it without offending the poor lummox.
His neighbour the pig farmer is too interested in perching like a crow on a fence watching the inept antics of the various emergency services crews around the 'wreck' to actually do the one useful thing he's been asked to - and take one of the old dears in to the hospital for a check-up.
There are so many apparent inconsequentialities which weigh heavy on the minds of these townsfolk that you don't wonder at all that they should have ended up where they are. It's all as God intended.
My only niggle is in the rather peculiar choice of gamelan music (abruptly cut off for God's voice-over) in the opening credits. All else is quite consistent with the setting and mood of the play.
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