Milestone movies
Touch and Go
Australian Perspectives gives a cheerful salute to some defining Australian cinematic works.
1980 was a particularly big year in Australian film. We were in the thick thick of the Ozploitation era and the industry was firing on all cylinders. Mad Max had stormed cinemas the year before and filmmakers were finally given freedom (due to censorship and independent funding) to express the Aussie 'personality'.
In October and November, Australian Perspectives screens five films drawn from this era, showcasing acting talents such as Bryan Brown, Steve Bisley, Wendy Hughes and Carmen Duncan, and stunt visionaries such as George Miller, in films spanning historical interpretation to crime, comedy and carnage.
John Honey's Manganinnie, set in the 1830s, offers a child's-eye view of the virtual genocide of the Indigenous peoples of Tasmania by British Colonial forces. This affecting story about Manganinnie searching for her lost tribe is an extraordinary historical interpretation and features the Tasmanian landscape spectacularly.
Starring Wendy Hughes, Chantal Contouri and Carmen Duncan Touch and Go is a criminal caper comedy about three society ladies who join forces to rob a luxurious island resort - all for the good of charity.
We go from hilarity to horror the following week with John D. Lamond's slasher movie Nightmares. After witnessing her mother die in a gruesome car accident, a girl grows up to be an actress with an unhealthy fascination with shards of glass.
Blood Money is a well-heeled crime story about a professional criminal (John Flaus) aware he will soon die but reserving the right to decide when and how; preferring to go out in a blaze of glory. Co-written by John Ruane (who directed Dead Letter Office and Death in Brunswick), Blood Money offers exciting action sequences and features Aussie icon Bryan Brown.
The Chain Reaction is the story of a potential nuclear holocaust and a corporate cover-up. Littered with high-octane car chases (capitalising on the wave of Mad Max mania), the action sequences were mostly supervised by the film's second unit director, George Miller, and there's also a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo from Mel Gibson.
With all year round tickets to Australian Perspectives only $8 (or $6 for ACMI Members), don't let this celebration of Aussie movie milestones pass you by.
Published Monday, 4 October 2010
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