NITRAM (2022)

April 1, 2022

Greetings again from the darkness. “What made him do it?” That’s the question we always ask after a mass shooting. Rarely does any answer make much sense. Director Justin Kurzel and his TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG (2019) screenwriter Shaun Grant join forces in collaboration again for a story based on the man responsible for the 1996 Port Arthur Massacre in Tasmania. It was the worst lone gunman mass shooting in Australian history with 35 killed and 23 injured. The filmmakers tread lightly here and never mention the shooter’s name, though the film’s title is a backwards hint. Their film is an attempt to answer that question we always ask.

Opening with archival news footage from 1979 in a burn unit, where a young boy has been injured by fireworks happily proclaims he will continue the fun that fireworks bring. We then flash-forward to a young man (presumably the same) setting off fireworks in his parents’ backyard as the neighbor yells at him to stop. His weathered mother (two-time Oscar nominated Judy Davis) puffs on a cigarette while looking on with a feeling of resignation. The young man is Nitram (though his parents never call him by name) and is played by Caleb Landry Jones, in his most off-kilter and disturbing role yet. His mom is fed up with him, though she attempts to get him on track, while his father (Anthony LaPaglia) is more reserved and forgiving of the boy they have raised – one who not only has no direction in life, but has social and likely mental issues.

Nitram’s long, stringy hair constantly provides cover for eyes that rarely look up. His world transforms one day when he asks a local recluse if he can mow her yard. Helen (played by Essie Davis, who is married to director Kurzel, and was fantastic in THE BABADOOK) takes a liking to him, and the two loners form an unconventional relationship where the wealthy woman buys him gifts, and offers him a home and what may be his first ever friend. Of course, this causes much consternation for his parents, as they carry an undefined concern about their son’s stability.

A dramatic event causes yet another shift in the young man’s life, and it allows the further exploration of how the world can become unbearable for such a person. A separate event results in an unwelcome change for dad, and it’s an event that certainly plays a part in putting Nitram on the deadly path. Nitram as a misfit is also on display through his interactions with a local surfer, and it’s at this point where the film shifts into commentary on gun control laws and the ease with which restrictions can be evaded. It’s a strange tonal shift, but for a mass murder movie that doesn’t show murders, we can at least understand the approach.

The four main actors are consummate professionals and always bring realism and interest to their roles. Here, Caleb Landry Jones delivers a performance that is both terrifying and empathetic. He of course appeared in THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI (2017), and I’ve been following his career since I first noticed him as one of the bike-riding boys near the end of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (2007). While the film attempts to answer the original question, “What made him to it?”, perhaps many tragic scenarios could be avoided if we could sooner answer, “What’s wrong with you?” Depression, mental illness, gun control, and parental frustration are all prominent here. Filmmaker Kurzel ends the film with some startling details and statistics on Australia’s National Firearms Agreement.

WATCH THE TRAILER

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Posted by David Ferguson

THE DRESSMAKER (2016, Australia)

September 29, 2016

dressmaker Greetings again from the darkness. Sometimes we just have to give thanks (and credit) to a filmmaker for boldly stepping out of the Hollywood box and delivering a cinematic experience that is creative, interesting and downright unusual. Such is the case with director Jocelyn Moorhouse and her first film since A Thousand Acres (1997).

We know immediately that we are in for something a bit different. A1950’s era bus rolls down the dusty road and stops in a desolate little Aussie town with only a handful of store fronts. Western-style music accompanies Kate Winslet as she steps off the bus brandishing a Singer sewing machine rather than a Winchester or Colt. She lights up a cigarette, squints out from under her hat, and utters one of the more memorable first lines of any movie. We are hooked. (You had me at “bastards”)

What follows is based on Rosalie Ham’s best-selling novel with a screenplay from the director and PJ Hogan (Muriel’s Wedding, 1997), and features a most remarkable blend of slapstick comedy, dark humor, tragedy, romance, mystery, and revenge. At times the film has a Coen Brothers or Wes Anderson feel, while at various other moments it recalls the Keystone Cops, Chocolat, a spaghetti western and a spoof of … well it’s difficult to say whether it’s a spoof or homage to numerous genres.

Ms. Winslet is in full lead mode as Tilly … the local girl who was accused of murder at age ten and banished from her mother and hometown. After 25 years, Tilly returns to Dungatar in an attempt to reconnect with her mom, gain a bit of revenge on the petty townfolks, and remember that fateful day that has been blocked from her memory. The tool of her trade is a sewing machine (and at times a golf club) and Tilly has the magic touch to transform the local ladies into more attractive and confident versions of themselves. She wields her Singer with every bit of danger as Blondie (Clint Eastwood) did with his revolver in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

Judy Davis (A Passage to India) is fantastic (worthy of an Oscar nom) as Tilly’s mother “Mad” Molly. In a role that would have been pure caricature in different hands (Maggie Smith), Ms. Davis provides a depth and humanity to a role that is truly the heart of the film. Also excellent is Hugo Weaving as the local Police Sergeant who has his own secret quirks and guilty conscience, and is one of the first to appreciate the talents Tilly brings to the small town. Liam Hemsworth spends the movie grinning and gazing in the role of arm candy Teddy – one easily recognizable as the female role in most movies (those not directed by a woman). The deep cast always features Sarah Snook as Gertrude and Kerry Fox as the villainous school marm Beulah (replete with devilish hairdo).

While the story itself is relatively predictable, it’s the manner in which scenes are staged that makes this such a pleasure. The offbeat combination of desolate Aussie town and near cartoon characters are set against the colorful and textured world of highly fashionable clothes, wicked twists, twisted humor, reconciliation and tragedy – many scenes combining more than a couple of these.

Marion Boyce and Margot Wilson deserve special attention for costume design, as the costumes themselves play as characters to contrast the local atmosphere. It’s startling to realize that such a coherent story utilizes such topics as domestic violence, spousal rape, misogyny, cross-dressing, murder, perjury, blackmail, Billie Holliday, South Pacific, cannabis brownies, and Sunset Boulevard in such creative ways. Though many critics will not agree, Ms. Moorhouse has delivered an entertaining and accessible movie despite its complexity with multiple subplots and various undertones. Let’s hope she doesn’t wait 20 years for her next film project.

watch the trailer:

 

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Posted by David Ferguson

TO ROME WITH LOVE (2012)

July 22, 2012

 Greetings again from the darkness. I certainly consider myself a fan of Woody Allen‘s films and am in awe of his prolific ability to write and direct a new movie most every year since 1969. With so many films to his credit, it’s expected that a few will be clunkers. After a pretty nice run of non-New York based films, his love letter to Rome falls short … not from lack of ambition, but rather from a feeling that these stories have been on his “to do” list for too many years. They feel mostly stale and dated.

With one of the world’s most beautiful and interesting cities as a backdrop, Mr. Allen delivers four stories – none of which intersect with the others. There are some similar shared themes, but mostly what the four stories have in common is mass overacting by all involved. Surprisingly, the one exception might be Alec Baldwin, whose wise-cracking lines are played pretty close to the vest. Unfortunately, all of the other key actors seem to think they are onstage at a dinner theatre and that hyper-activity and bellowing one’s lines are required.

In one story, Woody Allen (his first acting gig since Scoop) and Judy Davis head to Rome to meet their daughter’s (Alison Pill) fiancé (Flavio Parenti). Allen overhears the mortician father singing in the shower and works out a scheme to get him an audition that could lead to a career. The father is played by famed Opera tenor Fabio Armiliato and this story is so goofy, it could easily fit into Allen’s “early funny ones”.

Another story has newlyweds played by Alessandro Tiberi and Alessandro Mastronardi in a series of innocent happenstance that leads to some not so innocent events that include her favorite actor (Antonio Albanes) and high-priced call girl (Penelope Cruz). Most of this has the feel of a Benny Hill skit.

Jesse Eisenberg and his girlfriend Greta Gerwig share time with her visiting friend played by Ellen Page. This is the Alec Baldwin sequence, and he is a near-ghost-like entity who pops in to provide obvious advice or warning to the players so they don’t make the same mistakes he made as a younger man. This sequence had potential, but never amounted to much.

The fourth story is just an absurd commentary on reality TV and instant fame. Roberto Begnini plays a normal Italian citizen and family man who one day gets thrust into the world of celebrity for no apparent reason. See, that’s the joke. Probably ten years past the time when this was relevant.

Bashing Woody Allen is not my intent here. Simply pointing out that there are four stories and numerous actors and none of it struck a chord with me. Not to say there weren’t a few well written lines and a couple of terrific shots of Rome … just not enough to keep me going for two hours.

SEE THIS MOVIE IF: you need your annual Woody Allen fix, even if it’s not up to the level of last year’s Midnight in Paris OR you just want to see Penelope Cruz in a red dress that’s probably two sizes too small for her.

SKIP THIS MOVIE IF: catching a few glimpses of the amazing sites in Rome is not enough reason for you to sit through some of Woody Allen’s worst written dialogue in years.

watch the trailer:

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Posted by David Ferguson