Reviews (22)

Love without Bounds
Really a superb, charming, and deep coming of age movie. When I first saw the dvd box, I had no interest at all to see this. I thought the cover was sort of tacky and my first impression of the film was that of a corny teen comedy. Needless to say, I saw this on tv and was really amazed how good this movie was. Probably the most impressive aspect of "Flirting" was the grace of the script and how well all the young actors and actresses performed. Noah Taylor and Thandie Newton were just outstanding and really believable. I really enjoyed Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts also in their supporting roles. It was really great to see all these big names in roles before they made it big. Much respect to director and writer John Duigan. Cameron Crowe has stated that Noah Taylor is one of his favorate actors and you can definately see that he has to be a fan of Duigan's too. I was more amazed to learn that "Flirting" was a sequel and even more amazed when I watched the previous film, "The Year My Voice Broke."

Superior coming of age from down under
Don't let the title fool you. Although this is one of the sweetest movies you'll ever see, it is no beach blanket bingo for bimbos. This is an Aussie story of teen love set in 1965, heroic as only teens can play it. It is fun to watch, authentic and original at the same time, a coming of age flick in the English boarding school tradition of "Dead Poet's Society" (1989) and "A Separate Peace" (the novel, not the so-so movie). Noah Taylor stars as Danny Embling, an outsider who reads Sartre and Camus while satirizing the school's empty traditions. Across the lake is the girl's school where Thandiwe Adjewa (Thandie Newton), daughter of the Ugandan ambassador, is learning to meld with the Aussie pale faces, including a gifted pre-Hollywood Nicole Kidman.

Thandie Newton and Noah Taylor, as beautifully directed by John Duigan, are the reasons this film is so good. She has a fearless integrity about her that overcomes the prejudices of her school mates. He is wise and brave at a hundred and twenty pounds. She too is ultra sophisticated. She even met Sartre. This is a story about the love between two outsiders who, with their strength of character win over not only their classmates, but the audience as well. Imagine teenagers as witty and poised as say Eartha Kitt and Gore Vidal, and you get a hint of how it's played.

Nicole Kidman as the snobby Nicola Radcliffe (the name says it all) manages a subtle supporting role with a diamond-in-the-rough kind of charm and just the right touch of on-screen growth. The scene where she shares her stash of vodka (or perhaps a clear fruit liquor) with Thandiwe Adjewa is beautifully turned by Director John Duigan. Also excellent is the hotel scene where the adults are revealed as intrusive in the extreme. I like Danny Embling's line as he deadpans to a re-robing Thandiwe, "They're all funny, aren't they?" Yes, those adults are a little peculiar.

This is not unflawed, however. The ending, despite the rousing music, seemed a bland washout, leaving us with a sense of disappointment. And I thought the first love scene with the two "touching" was a little unreal. I mean he might have kissed her! There's a limit to how great a coming of age, boarding school movie can be, especially when the adults have only scarecrow parts. Nonetheless "Flirting" is a confectioner's delight, and one of the best coming of age movies I've ever seen.

I love Flirting
I love this movie. It's a charming, delightful and wonderful little known gem. Thandie Newton is beautiful, Noah Taylor is endearing. A great script. One of the most romantic little films I've ever seen. Lets not forget Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts are also in this film.

Flirting
I love this movie. I've watched it repeatedly and have enjoyed it each time.

Great cast and director
I haven't seen John Duigan's preceding film ("The Year My Voice Broke") but Noah Taylor was obviously fascinating in "Flirting" as a dreamy misfit in a Nazi-like boarding school. Honestly I could hardly relate this British guy to the roles he later landed in such Hollywood movies as "Almost Famous", "Lara Croft Tomb Raider", "Vanilla Sky"... What an amazing evolution for a versatile actor.

The same fine performance that made this film deserve 5 stars was delivered by Thandie Newton who would also become a celebrity a few years later, starring with Tom Cruise in two blockbuster hits, "Interview With a Vampire" and "Mission Impossible II" (although her best film to me must be Bernardo Bertolucci's "Besieged"). Add an exceptionally talented Nicole Kidman who was actually 24 years old when she accepted this role of a teen, and you got a perfect cast to turn a not-so-sensational-coming-of-age love story into a nearly perfect romantic comedy. Oh yes, it should also be noted that Taylor, Newton and Kidman were not the only ones to work their way to stardom since this film was released in 1991. Among the girls of Cirensester school, have you noticed a Janet Odgers? That role was played by a young and pretty Naomi Watts. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

The best Aussie flick since Gallipoli
This wonderful, sparkling bubbly commentary is simply a masterpiece. Showing the exploits of a Communist mother and her suspecting son this movie is not only a commentary on COmmunism and the excess of liberalism but it is also a hilarious film with an amazing funny cast and a profound group of intrigue. The main character is followed through his life as he slowly realizes he is none other then the son of Stalin, the man his mother loves but who he learns to loathe. Yet as time goes on the viewer is led to wonder: Maybe in his rejection of his father he actually becomes him. Funny, great. Wonderful!!!!

The difference a moustache can make
This is an extremely original and well made farce. the film is generally comical but there are some tragic overtones throughout. The story of the idealist leader of the Australian communists earns a trip to meet Stalin in Moscow. The visit provides the setting for some of the funniest moments in the film. The idea of Stalin dancing and singing is funny in itself, imagine watching it realized on screen. But this comical interlude provides the crucial elemnt of the plot, the conception of Stalin's son. His identity is kept secret by his mother, but through a series of fortuitous circumstances Joe (thta's his name palyed by Roxburgh) becomes a union leader and organizes the police force. Hints are given throughout his childhood, he loves handcuffs for instance - leading to a steamy scene with a seduced policewoman. as a result of an 'accident' he has to grow a moustache and discovers his true personality after this event. There is sadness also, but I felt it beyond the plot or film itself. The mockery is certainly funny but it's undeniable that many idealists were betrayed by Stalin and his unbound evil. Communism in the Soviet union (and elsewhere) might have developed differently had Stalin not hijacked it. Now we're left with no alternatives and embarking on a dangerous course of increasing inequality. The film ironizes and does an excellent job (Judy Davis' excellent acting apart) of showing the demoralization of an idealist who has to face the sad reality and the poor 'loves' of the past. I saw the film twice and remember it with an ironic smile. Highly recommended

Wicked
A real find. The film starts out as a broad satire (perhaps just a bit too broad), then sharpens to a steely point in the second half.Judy Davis has never been more ferocious (and that's really saying something). A romp, but one that leaves bruises. Grab it.

Wonderful acting, marred slightly by pronounced tonal shift.
Children of the Revolution features a host of great actors -- Judy Davis, F. Murray Abraham, Sam Neill, Richard Roxburgh -- and two extremely moving low-key performances by Geoffrey Rush and Rachel Griffiths. Just that cast alone can sustain a hell of a lot, and Children of the Revolution isn't shy about pitting them against one another.

The beginning and middle of the movie are deft blends of socio-political satire and personal drama, laughter and emotion. It's too bad that in the second half of Act 2 it takes a turn for melodrama. Given the calibre of the acting, it works (Griffiths plays especially nicely against Davis, and Rush -- his character increasingly isolated in the story -- is bewitching), but I wish there could've been more of a mix of the comic and the tragic near the end of the movie. The comedy wasn't so much forgotten (the "Ronald McDonald" bit, and the last interview with "Joe Welch" still hit the funny bone) as underweighted in the final parts of the story. The film deserves credit, nonetheless, for even aiming towards this complicated mix in the first place and succeeding 90% of the time. And the setups and subplots are brilliant -- Anna's Latvian background weaving into the Dave-Joan relationship; Welch's jealousy of Stalin; Joe's eventual megalomania; the cellmate and future assassin; even the final hilarious reveal about Anna and Dave was set up.

A small but bright gem, not easy to discover (the eye-popping video cover helped), but well worth the hunt.

Tears of Laughter and Tears of Sadness
I felt this movie is one of the best films I have ever seen in my life. As a Communist, I first assumed the movie was just a farce of stalinist Russia. Throughout the first 30 minutes, I laughed a lot. I thought the notion of some-one as evil as Stalin singing and dancing is funny, to me. I really felt with the main charrecter and her ideology, except her love of Stalin, and was happy that she finally realises he was evil. At the end, the Son (concieved by Stalin) turns into his father, and proclaims that he is doing the work of the Revolution. It gives a good example of Stalin's acts and how they ruined Lenin's Russia.

Children of the Revolution is a brilliant film, and Leninists and true Communists can plainly see this. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Strange Planet captures a year in the intertwined lives of a gaggleof young Australians. Judy (Claudia Karvan) aspires to work in televisionand gets involved with an older tv executive (Hugo Weaving, TheMatrix, Proof). Judy's roommate Alice (Naomi Watts,Mulholland Drive, The Ring) struggles to get over a breakupafter two years; Joel (Aaron Jeffery) is reeling from the collapse of hismarriage; Ewan (Tom Long) loses faith in being a lawyer and becomes a taxidriver. It's a bit like an elaborate episode of Friends, exceptthat Strange Planet dives into much richer and more complexemotional territory. Comic discussions about biology and love arecounterpointed by doubt, loss, and simple confusion--which the sharpwriting, directing, and acting manages to make real while maintaining afluid and dexterous storyline. The conclusion may be too tidy, but you'llfeel like these well-drawn characters have earned it. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Description

Bryan Brown (FX, Breaker Morant) stars in this powerful and provocative thriller as a lawman caught in the middle of a racially charged murder mystery.Interactive Menus, Production Credits, Scene Access, Trailer, Filmographies ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Touches the living heart
Bryan Brown heads an excellent cast in this tightly-scripted story about a clash between Australian and Aboriginal law. Brown is a "whitefella" torn between his duty as a policeman, and his connection to the land and community. His counterpart (Ernie Dingo) is a "blackfella" with the opposite problem--his aesthetics lie with the mainstream culture, but his heart forces him to stand by aboriginal customs. Behind these two men are a host of other characters, each adding a rich note to the theme of ambivalence connected to life in an outback settlement.
Dingo's final plea for tolerance strikes right to the heart. A wonderful film.

One comment: DVD is not captioned and the complex story can be a bit hard to follow--there were places I had to back up and watch twice to understand the Aboriginal side of the story. It was worth it!

PROVOCATIVE DEPICTION OF THE CLASH OF TWO CULTURES
Made in the Australian outback, this movie depicts the clash of cultures between the Aborigine people and the 'white man.'

Wonderful acting by Bryan Brown as the police officer (Ray)trying to maintain peace and Ernie Dingo as an aborigine preacher who is sometimes caught between the aboriginal 'ways' and the 'white man's ways.'

A murder investigation brings about bitter tension between the two peoples as Ray tries desperately to bring about justice that is fair to both cultures which doesn't always work.

Very good movie. Each time you see it you see something that you didn't the time before.

Powerful depiction of the collision of cultures
A few years ago, when visiting the Australian outback, I met an elderly Aboriginal man who asked me, through an intereter, "Did your parents or grandparents tell you where you come from?" By this, he went on to explain that he meant was I descended from the kangaroo, lizard, emu etc? This is not a question that a European American would easily be able to answer. When I saw this excellent Australian film, it reminded me so much of that encouter, because it depicts the divergence of the Aboriginal and European cultures in Australia. The acting and cinematography are uniformally good.

In a way, "Dead Heart" is a sort of "Mississippi Burning", set in Australia, as it depicts racial intollerance. But in another way, this film is a far more profound examination of the complexity of culture collisions. It would be interesting to view this film together with other films that explore this fascinating theme in Australia...notably Nicolas Roeg's "Walkabout" and Werner Herzog's "Where the Green Ants Dream". Too bad that, to my knowledge, there are no Aboriginal directors creating films that depict their views of all this. Perhaps they are too busy living life than viewing it at a cinema.

INTENSE DRAMA - Very Australian
This movie involves the struggles of two cultures - Aboriginal and white man's - trying to live side by side in a very demanding and unredeeming environment.

It pits the Aboriginal laws against the white man's laws and shows how the officer (Brown) assigned to the post, struggles to integrate the two and keep peace between them, although not always succeeding. Bryan Brown is, as usual, very good.

If you are interested in things Australian and the outback in particular, this is a must see movie. Interesting and informative for everyone else. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A fantastic pilgramage! I call for higher-budget remake!
The Navigator is a great movie, although the plot seems cloudy at times and the movie too short. After watching it I was left wanting more. I would definately like to see a higher-budget remake of The Navigator: A Medieval Odessy. The idea of pious medieval peasants really time traveling to the modern day makes for a story of adventure and fantasy. One full of human moments and perhaps even a little humor. How will modern day priests react to these pilgrams? and their story? These are just a few things I was left wanting to see. I recommand renting this movie first. Then decide for yourself if its worth owning.

Unparalleled in its visual brilliance and imagination
Vincent Ward's The Navigator is truley a unique movie. Despite its low budget, it is visually stunning and tremendously imaginative. Some viewers may find the storyline too odd for those taste, but movie fans with a sense of adventure will be rewarded. Combining elements of time travel, adventerous quests, prophecy, tragedy, and set in the time of the great plague the film keeps the viewer engrossed throughout. The cast of no name New Zealand actors do a incredible job of bringing together an incredbily complicated story. Vincent Ward (director of Map of the Human Heart and most recently What Dreams May Come) has the courage to experiment, but pulls it off!

A movie for Science Fiction fans who recognize a world beyond Star Trek and movie fans who recognize a world beyond Hollywood.

an amazing, thought-provoking experience
As a PhD student in medieval history, I usually approach films set in the Middle Ages with no small sense of trepidation. The Navigator: A Mediaeval Odyssey is the exception. It is a visually stunning, well-written well-acted little film that manages to be both thought-provoking and entertaining. What I found particularly worthy of note is Vincent Ward's use of imagery. His choice to film the medieval scenes in mid-winter and in black and white conveys the bleakness of medieval peasant life and the muted colours of the modern scenes have a mystical feel to them. The film actually feels medieval, and since it does not refer to an historical event more specific than the Black Death, there's no opportunity to get annoyed with historical inaccuracy (a curse of all we would-be professional historians!) I recommend it highly to anyone who likes fantasy and adventure.

Haunting
I rented this film at the local Video Store in the most casual manner: by scanning the box art for a clue to something different, knowing nothing of the movie or its creators. It turned out to be the most haunting cinema experience I have ever had. Images from the film have never left me. A modern city is magically transformed and redefined through the eyes and spirits of people from another time. The quest for protection by a higher power highlights a universal need. This is a wonderful film.

A compelling fable
Set in 1348 in Cumbria in North West England during the plague this is an outstanding tale.

There are many reasons why the film is outstanding, the mix of black and white and colour photography is beautifully balanced, even to the extent of mixing within individual scenes,this all adds to the mythical qualities of the story. The desolate snow swept landscape of Cumbria (New Zealand doubles up for Cumbria)are stunning and the perfomance by Hamish McFarlane as the visionary boy is suberb.

It is partly about time travel, the boy with a small group of his fellow villages go through a mine to find themselves in a modern day New Zealand city, that essentially is more barren than where they came from. They are in search of a miraculous church and their quest is to place an icon on top of the steeple. There are some nice gags but essentially the film is about the boy's vision. Did in fact the travel through time actually happen or was it part of the boy's spirituality.

Is in fact the film a subtle allegory that,without preaching, equates the plague with Aids and the barreness of the landscape and the villagers on the edge of not surviving, a post nuclear apocalyptic vision? The film was made in 1988 when these possibilities dominated. Equally though, these possibilities are as relevant today.

A lyrical but disturbing fable. ... Read more