Proof (1991) Writer/director
Jocelyn Moorhouse’s debut film features great early roles by Hugo Weaving and
Russell Crowe. Weaving stars as Martin,
a blind man who documents his world through photography. He befriends Andy (Crowe), a busboy at a
restaurant, and tasks him with describing his photos in an effort to confirm that
the images represent reality. Martin’s housekeeper
Celia (Geneviève Picot) constantly toys with him, rearranging his furniture and
hiding his things to push buttons.
Proof is a
fascinating character study populated by emotionally stunted individuals. Martin and Celia, stumble around in the dark,
but fail to connect. They’re prisoners
of their ambivalence toward each other.
Martin is embroiled in a perpetual struggle to make sense of reality,
which involves an inherent mistrust of people.
Celia is in love with Martin, but resorts to elaborate mind games and
deception as her primary tools of interaction.
Proof is at once an amusing
portrait of human eccentricity and a painful exploration of dysfunctional
relationships.
Rating: ****.
Available on DVD
Red Dog (2011) Based
on a book by Louis de Bernières about a legendary canine that roamed a small
mining town in 1970s Northwestern Australia, Red Dog blends fact and fiction to create a bittersweet story of love
and community. Director Kriv Stenders
and writer Daniel Taplitz spin a contemporary folk yarn (sort of a postmodern Old Yeller), which packs a surprisingly
emotional wallop. As the eponymous,
wayward dog ingratiates himself to the town’s diverse inhabitants, he becomes
an agent of change amidst the harsh landscape, provoking a series of serendipitous
encounters. Red Dog hooks you with verve and humor, which does little to soften
the blow of its emotional climax. Maybe I’m just a pushover for this sort of
thing, but it’s hard to imagine not being affected by this simple, yet
effective story. If you have a pulse, or
if you’re a dog lover, like me, you’ll want to bring the Kleenex.
Rating: ****.
Available on Blu-ray, DVD and Netflix Streaming
Kenny (2006) Director/co-writer
Clayton Jacobson takes an unsavory topic for his mockumentary, and manages to
make it engaging. Shane Jacobson (who shares
co-writing credit with the film with his brother Clayton) does a terrific job as
Kenny Smyth, a likeable working stiff who finds solace working for a portable
toilet/waste disposal company. We
witness his challenges and minor triumphs as he contends with crap, literally
and figuratively in his personal and professional life.
Kenny’s strength
is also its weakness. The acting by the
performers (including Shane’s real-life father and son), is spot-on, and the
everyday situations he encounters in his job seem entirely plausible. It was easy to forget the film was a complete
fabrication, and not someone’s actual life.
As a result, I wish the filmmakers had thrown in a few more absurd
artistic flourishes. The material also
seems to be stretched thin at times, and scenes with Kenny stuck in his
day-to-day grind get to be a bit redundant.
While the Jacobson brothers could have easily left some of the footage
on the cutting room floor, the end result (pun unintended) is amiable enough,
and definitely worth your time. I was
glad to have had the chance to meet Kenny.
Rating: *** ½.
Available on DVD and Netflix Streaming
Dead End Drive-In
(1986) This intriguing film from director Brian Trenchard-Smith recalls Escape from New York, with Joe
Lansdale’s novel, The Drive-in thrown
in for good measure. The film is set in
the near future, after society has suffered a global economic collapse. Rampant unemployment and restless youth are
the norm in this changed social milieu.
Government officials resort to extreme measures to deal with the rising
incidents of juvenile delinquency. Young
people are lured to the Star Drive-In to spend their idle time. There’s just one catch: once they enter, they
can’t leave. They become prisoners of
the state, left to eke out an existence in their new walled compound while
movies play in the background (including scenes from Trenchard-Smith’s Turkey Shoot). Dead
End Drive-In sneaks in some social commentary, seeming to equate Australia
with the drive-in, an island isolated from the rest of humanity. Ned Manning plays the protagonist, Crabs, who
just wants to escape, disgusted by the contingent of white supremacists that
have taken over the drive-in. It’s a
silly premise that somehow works.
Rating: ***.
Available on DVD and Netflix Streaming
Escape 2000 (aka: Turkey Shoot) (1981) How could
something so wrong seem so right? Brian
Trenchard-Smith directs this piece of dystopian exploitation, set in the future
world of 1995(!). Under the regime of a
fascist dictatorship, dissidents are placed in internment camps for re-education. Steve Railsback and Olivia Hussey play political
prisoners, watched over by a sadistic head guard (Roger Ward). I don’t need to overstate that Escape 2000 isn’t for everyone. It’s exploitation through and through, packed
with gratuitous nudity, rampant violence and over-the-top gory deaths, but I
had a heck of a lot of fun with it (probably more than I’d care to admit). It’s a variation of The Most Dangerous Game, along with shades of 1984, wrapped in a sleazy, but oddly entertaining package.
Rating: ***.
Available on DVD
Long Weekend (1978)
Peter and Marcia (played by John Hargreaves and Briony Behets, respectively)
embark on a camping trip, under the auspices of rekindling their strained marriage. Instead, they find every possible opportunity
to argue. Director Colin Eggleston,
working from Everett De Roche’s screenplay, suggests nature has become an
antagonist, possibly as a reaction to the couple’s disintegrating relationship. Long
Weekend plays a bit like Who’s Afraid
of Virginia Woolf mixed with Frogs,
with its conflicting themes of marital discord and the natural world in revolt.
It
all gets a bit tedious by the last
third. There’s only so much time you can
spend with two bickering main characters before it gets really uncomfortable, but
this was probably the point.
Rating: ***.
Available on DVD
Inn of the Damned
(1975) The Australian film industry experienced a renaissance in the 1970s,
stretching boundaries and breaking new ground.
Unfortunately, the revitalized industry also allowed for this dud, which
attempts to combine the western and horror genres and fails miserably at
both. It’s two (count ‘em), two rotten
stories in one! Writer/director Terry
Bourke borrows liberally from spaghetti westerns and sociopath- in-the-house
movies to tell the story of a remote inn where the guests keep vanishing. At least a half-hour could have been snipped
from the bloated running time of nearly two hours. The standard western outlaw subplot contributes
nothing to the terror and only adds to the tedium. You might feel damned after watching this
flick, since the only thing you’re liable to experience is an overwhelming sense
of boredom.
Rating: * ½.
Available on DVD
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