Australian Quotables

I was reading over my AFI (Australian Film Institute) newsletter today (er, via email) and there was an interview with a man called Nigel Bluck. He's an upcoming Australian cinematographer who has worked on work such as the previously mentioned Home Song Stories, the Toni Collette mystery Like Minds and the award-winning New Zealand feature Stickmen. Well, it turns out he is working on Baz Luhrmann's Australia as a second unit something or other. That means he gets to help photograph Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Tough job. Check out the quote below, or read the entire interview here.

AFI: What can you tell us about Baz Luhrmann’s Australia?

NB: I’m doing second unit and I’m really interested in it because of its classical elements. It seems to be grounded in very classical filmmaking, almost like a Western. So there’s a real degree of purity that I’m looking forward to being a part of. The scale is very large but I think the style of the film will be close to the early Westerns which were made with a smaller style. Even though it’s a big film I think what Baz is trying to do is pure and simple and succinct rather than a big show. It’s also an opportunity to look at the Australian landscape and film it as if it’s a character, which a lot of films have done before, but it’s interesting for me because I’m not all that familiar with the Australian landscape. That’s part of the reason that Bahman got me to go to Iran for Half Moon - it's that directors often look for someone with an ‘objective’ eye – an eye that’s not too familiar with the landscape.

Pan's Links

I'm gonna discuss Pan's Labyrinth in a tick, but right now - here are some links.

The Envelope has an article about cinematography. I ooh and aah over this category every year (it's my absolute favourite outside of the "majors") and this year was an exceptional year. I haven't seen Dick Pope's work on The Illusionist (that movie is out next week down here), but the other four nominees (Vilmos Zsigmond for The Black Dahlia, Emmanuel Lubezki for Children of Men, Wally Pfister for The Prestige and Guillermo Navvaro for Pan's Labyrinth) are all in my own personal ballot (alongside David Williamson for Jindabyne).

The Age takes to the Oscars from an Australian point of view. But the writer sort of lost me when he mentioned the Brownlow. Don't compare the two, please.

Thank god for Lizzy Gardiner's American Express Gold Card dress, and for Bjork and Cher and people prepared to live dangerously and flirt with the sartorial absurd.

How about a HELL YES! The Kramer Vs Kramer jibe on page 2 warmed the cockles of my heart.

We all know about Penelope Cruz' padded arse in Almodovar's Volver, but was some of Cruz's hair fake as well? I loved her hair in that movie. So big.

At The Gilded Moose I was a runner up on the Prove Your Wit competition. Not only did I throw an insult Oprah Winfrey's way, but I also poked fun at The Last King of Scotland. I make myself so proud sometimes.

In Dreamgirls news - those you thought you would never get to see the original (and apparently the best) Effie White will actually get the chance to when Jennifer Holliday takes to the stage in an Atlanta Dreamgirls revival.

Annette Bening at the Film Experience offers up who she ticked the boxes for on her Academy Award form. She's smart. She knows that finally she'll have a change to win (aka, she won't be up against The Skank) and the Academy will feel they "owe" Kate Winslet.

Adam at Crumb by Crumb offers his predictions, which I pretty much agree with. I'll offer my final predix in a day or so.

RC over at Strange Culture goes through the archives and details explicitly his Oscar-prediction shortcomings. I think we're all guilty of doing that. I thought Judy Davis was surely gonna get nominated for Marie Antoinette back in 2005. LOL, right?

I am immediately intrigued by Zoo. Is this some sort of Equus-on-film or what? Man turns into horse? WHAT?

Arden (Not her real name) over at Cinephilia reviews George Hickenlooper's abstract ode Factory Girl. The reasons why she liked it are the exact reasons I've wanted to see it for ages and why I just know I'll like it. It's that time period and all that stuff. I wish they'd release it down here. We got Miss Potter and Breaking and Entering pretty much at the same time, so why not this?

Lastly, did you know you could order flavoured m&ms?

Glenn's 'Top 5 Movies That Changed My Life' List - #5

I'm bored and am deliberately not doing homework! Let's start at #5!

5. Days of Heaven (1978, dir. Terence Malick)



This movie wasn't on my radar at all, ever. It was on television one day and I noticed it starred Richard Gere and was directed by Malick - who I had heard of because of The Thin Red Line being released a few years prior - but never seen anything of. I thought I'd give it ago and from the very first frame I was entranced by it's oddly stoic-yet-inviting beauty. The movie starts and then within about 2 minutes it had already surprised me (remember I had zero idea what it was all about).

I continued watching and revelled in it. The movie was existing only for me at that moment. The second that Ennio Morricone's Oscar nominated score (one of my all-time favourites) merged with the Oscar-winning images (who knows who they're by, there's so many conflicting stories - but Nestor Almendros was the one with the statue) I new I was viewing something special.



It showed me that you didn't need specifically words or powerful acting to create a masterpiece. I am a very visual person and when I saw the images of a dusk sky saturated in locusts it just hit me extremely hard. I don't really know how to explain it. But it's something I've been in love with ever since. I always think a movie that can show us and not tell us is interesting. The other one's that come to mind are Gus Van Sant's recent death trilogy. He may very well have been taking a page out this this movie's book (in fact, Last Days I think does so very much). When the movie was over I really liked it but it to is a movie that really grows with you. You remember the images, the music, the everything. It has since become a strong favourite of mine, as you can see in the sidebar. But why can't I find the soundtrack anywhere?