Australia

Nicole and Hugh looking purty in Australia

If Baz Luhrmann's Australia is not quite as disastrous as its critical reputation, it is still all too jaw dropping for the wrong reasons. Luhrmann is revved here to make an epic, He provides the viewer with lustrously beautiful tableaux no matter whether he is portraying cattle drives amidst the splendor of the Australian outback or the slaughter of innocents during World War 2. Luhrmann films are full of directorial flourishes that fail to hide the vacuity at the center of his work. Australia is nearly three hours long, but there is little to chew on over its long course.

Luhrmann and his numerous scenarists try to address the colonial and racial heritage of their home country. They only feebly address these themes. Jackman and Kidman  are unyieldingly professional, though I feel Kidman is miscast as an uptight English aristocrat. The supporting players, a link to Australia's film history with Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, David Gulpilil and Bruce Spence, are pleasant, but cannot save Australia from inanity.

at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
  • Warm Water Under A Red Bridge
    Misa Shimizu and Kōji Yakusho Shohei Imamura's Warm Water Under A Red Bridge , his final feature film from  2001,  is an odd and affecti...
  • Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse
    Tye Sheridan Christopher Landon's Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse  sank without a trace commercially and was generally reviled cri...
  • B'twixt Now and Sunrise
    Elle Fanning Francis Ford Coppola's B'twixt Now and Sunrise  is an unsuccessful horror film which Coppola has been tinkering with fo...
  • Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World
    Ilinca Manolache Radu Jude's Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World  is another impressive feature from the Romanian director....
  • H. M. Pulham, Esq.
    Robert Young and Hedy Lamarr King Vidor's H. M. Pulham Esq. , from  1941,  is a good, if not especially memorable condensation of John P...