An Open Letter To Americans With A BlockBuster In Their Town

Dear Americans (And Possibly People of Other Nationalities That I Am Too Lazy To Do Research About),

For a lot of last year I waxed very lyrical about the Australian film Jindabyne, which was directed by Ray Lawrence and stars The Lovely Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne and Deborra-Lee Furness. I named it my number one film of 2006 and gave it UMA awards for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. I pleaded for people to go see it in cinemas but not many did. Granted, not many of you could but that's beyond the point because Jindabyne is released on DVD in America on October 2. That's just two weeks away.

So, please, if you would be so kind, do go hire this movie out on DVD. Perhaps take the dog for a walk and as you're walking past the local Blockbuster (or whatever other crazy video store chains you have in your part of the world) and ponder to yourself "Hmm, Glenn did recommend that movie with the Lovely Laura Linney". Perhaps you could be out for a jog and realise "Wow, the only thing on tv tonight is Two and a Half Men! Perhaps I'll get that movie Glenn has been raving about." No? I think YES!

If you're unsure of what you are to be looking for I will show you. If you scroll down a tad there is the cover for the American DVD release. Not only can you tell "it stars the Lovely Laura Linney!" you can also tell that "the cover design is a piece of shite!" because, let's face it, it is. Not only is it guilty of the "floating head" syndrome, it's also guilty of several other design offences, such as:

No Deborra-Lee Furness - Seriously!

Switched Name Credits - Is it so hard to have "Gabriel Byrne" and "The Lovely Laura Linney" typed above their own images?

No Deborra-Lee Furness - Again, seriously! They have mini pictures of five other cast members and not one of Hugh Jackman's wife?

A Terrible Tag Line - Cliched Uneducated Couple: "Oh, this movie is set in Australia? Let's rent Who's Your Caddy instead."

It's General Sucky Photoshop Design - It's just so... blah


But nevermind that. Please do go watch this wonderful movie. Even if you don't like it at least you will have seen it and been able to say so (just don't tell me). And while you're at it go hire out Ray Lawrence's Lantana as well. It's sort of like Jindabyne but even better!

And that brings this letter to an end.

Yours in moviedom,

Glenn

Review: Jindabyne

For whatever reason, there were probably many, I never did a review of Ray Lawrence’s Jindabyne. I have mentioned on many occasions about how fond I was of it, and I wrote an appreciation of Deborra-Lee Furness’ startling performance. And I’m sitting here with nothing to do, but not enough time to do something bigger, so I figured I’d belt out a thousand words or so on it.

Jindabyne
Director: Ray Lawrence

I think to start I should mention Ray Lawrence’s 2001 film Lantana. It was a film that I saw right as I was really getting into films as a lover of the art form and not just as something to do on a Friday or Saturday night. I was only 16 at the time, but I could recognise it as a strong and powerful film. It’s words and performances stung and have stayed with me to this day. When Lawrence’s third film in 21 years was announced, I was thrilled. And thankfully watching Jindabyne, based on Raymond Carver’s So Much Water, So Close to Home (previously adapted by Robert Altman in Short Cuts), it brought me back to that place. It’s a film based around words, small actions and characters. It’s not epic, it’s not reinventing the wheel. It’s just simple economic filmmaking at it’s best.

Jindabyne transports Carver’s story into the resort town of Jindabyne, New South Wales. Four men go on a fishing trip and upon their arrival discover the body of a young Aboriginal girl floating in the river. Instead of leaving and reporting it to the police, they tie her up with fishing wire and continue on their trip, only telling anybody about it until their return several days later. What follows is something that’s rare – dialogue driven thrills. Not thrills in the typical sense of James Bond or the like, no, but the thrills that come from watching brilliant actors reciting stunning dialogue and seeing images that just hit you in the gut.


Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney star as a couple living in the town of Jindabyne. She thinks she’s pregnant, but doesn’t want to be – she has a past that I’ll let you discover. He is the man who discovers the young girl’s body along with his mates. She can’t understand how she could hold her lifeless body and wrap fishing wire around her ankle, tie her to a tree and then keep on fishing. John Howard, Stelios Yiakmas and Simon Stone play the other three fishermen. Deborra-Lee Furness is Howard’s alcoholic and temperamental wife. A woman who takes care of her granddaughter after the death of the girl’s mother and a father who is never mentioned.

They all give great awards-worthy performances. Linney is superb, even if her strong American accent seems out of place at the start. She really gets into the role of Claire and it feels like one of those performances where the performer just instinctively knows their character inside and out. Byrne is an actor I have never been able to like, but here when he’s working in a modern setting and with the absence of the ability to go over the top, he is magic. His accent doesn’t sound strange though because Irish accepts are much more common here than American.


Furness, as I’ve mentioned before, is a firecracker in the role. Other roles are filled with class and esteem by people such as Leah Purcell and Alice Garner, with 10-year-old Eva Lazzaro shining brightest amongst them as the orphaned girl obsessed with death. Chris Haywood shows up at the start and at the end as the menacing Gregory and with nary a single word throughout the entire film, creates one of the villains of the year. Even Charles “Bud” Tingwell shows up for a brief scene.

Technically the film is tops too. Karl Sodersten’s smart and clean editing is never showy and treats the film’s subjects with the respect they deserve. Letting actors act with no frustrating cutting to pointless reaction shots. Paul Kelly and Dan Luscombe’s haunting score reminds of Kelly’s similar work on Lantana, yet it feels singular, effective and setting-appropriate. David Williamson’s camerawork is a treat too. Constantly appearing as if his camera is static and still and only using natural light, he will ever so slightly zoom in or focus on something, giving it a dark sinister edge that I just loved.


But it is Beatrix Christian’s amazing screenplay adaptation that sits centre stage. Lawrence knows when to just let the words flow, and listening to the actors say this dialogue just makes me giddy. It makes me feel truly happy to see all these actors having such a perfectly rounded screenplay to work from. It feels entirely natural and with Lawrence’s abilities behind the camera (he often does only one take) it just feels right.

In the end, Jindabyne works because all of these things click together perfectly in sync. It feels like a wholly formed film and not just an assemblage of good parts, which even some of the best films of the last few years have felt like. It’s a drama for adults who like to listen to actors recite well-written words for two hours. It asks questions but doesn’t expect you to answer them, so much as to acknowledge them (could the film’s townspeople’s near non-acknowledgement of the Aboriginals be a slight dig at the Australian government? That’s a big fat yes, if you ask me). Jindabyne is a marvel. It’s also the best film of the year. A

Let us ride the Ferris Wheel

My recent love fest for Deborra-Lee Furness got me thinking: What is in store for my favourite supporting actress of the year? Well, a quick glance at her IMDb profile shows just one project in her timeline. I suppose that's something to be thankful for. I mean, she ain't Meryl Streep (7 films in some form of production) and she seems to work on average about once every few years, so two films in two years is a deluge as far as I'm concerned.

The film is called Ferris Wheel and is set to be released this year, but I haven't heard much about it so who knows. It's set in Canada and revolves around an 11-year-old girl (Annasophia Robb) dealing with her mother's abandonment. It stars (and is produced by) Charlize Theron and apart from Deborra-Lee will also feature Nick Stahl, Woody Harrelson and Dennis Hopper. Odd cast, so who knows.

Deborra-Lee is credited as one of the leads though (alongside Charlize, Dennis and Woody) so that's a good sign! It will be directed, to continue the strangeness, by Bill Maher (yeah, him) and is from a screenplay by The Chumscrubber's Zac Stanford.

10 Things I Learnt From Movies in 2006

1. Every movie set in the town of Jindabyne must mention the fact that the Jindabybe lake has a town buried underneath (Jindabyne and Somersault.)

2. Dancing penguins are much better than non-dancing penguins (Happy Feet.)

3. Movies with multi-narrative structures needed to not have so many subplots, and actually finish the good ones (Babel, 2:37, Fast Food Nation.)

4. Large casts of unknowns can sometimes be just as good as large casts of stars (United 93, 12 and Holding, 2:37, Ten Canoes vs A Prairie Home Companion, The Departed, Fast Food Nation, The Black Dahlia.)

5. Deborra-Lee Furness is just as awesome as Hugh (but not as hot, sorry)

6. One certain popcorn movie is better than all the Best Picture contenders (except for United 93) that I've seen. That would be The Devil Wears Prada vs The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, Flags of Our Fathers, Babel and The Queen. I haven't seen Dreamgirls yet.

7. Snakes + Plane + Samuel L Jackson really does = a good mothafuckin' time!

8. Australians are still capable of making great films (Jindabyne, Ten Canoes, Happy Feet, Kenny, etc)

9. Alfonso Cuaron is infinitely better than Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu. Like, bucketloads (Children of Men vs Babel)

10. So that's how scared I can possibly get in a movie cinema. I didn't know! (The Descent)

Supporting Actress Blogathon: Deborra-Lee Furness

Deborra-Lee Furness as "Jude" in Jindabyne

Deborra-Lee Furness. What to make of her. She came to prominence in the Australian film industry in titles such as Shame and Angel Baby after studing acting in America (where she appeared in Newsies amongst some others). She starred as Corelli on the Australian TV series of the same name (er, Corelli) where she met future husband and future sex-on-a-stick Hugh Jackman. Since then she has been very quiet, only appearing in guest roles on television shows such as SeaChange and directing a short film or two.


Then along comes 2006 and director Ray Lawrence. Lawrence's first feature was 1985's Bliss. His second? Well, that came a full 16 years later with the widely heralded masterpiece Lantana. Thankfully audiences didn't have to wait another 16 years, for Lawrence had decided to adapt the Raymond Carver's short story So Much Water So Close to Home as his third feature - Jindabyne. The short story was originally used as one of the many jigsaw pieces in the late Robert Altman's Short Cuts. It follows a group of men on a fishing trip who discover a young girl's body floating in the river. Instead of returning and tell the police they remain on their vacation as the body sits in the water. Jindabyne explores further what implications these actions have on the town and the people in it.

Furness plays the character of Jude, the wife of John Howard's Carl, one of the fishermen. She has recently taken up guardianship of her grand daughter, Caylin-Calandria, after the death of her daughter. A minor alcoholic, Jude struggles to deal with Caylin-Calandria's growing interest in sex and death while trying to protect her family against the growing anger spreading throughout the town.

Deborra-Lee gives one of the most stunning performances of the year. She does one of the things I love my supporting actresses to do. They charge through the movie at 200 km/h. You can witness this in another fabulous supporting turn this year that I loved - Fiona Shaw in The Black Dahlia. Furness is not content to let the international stars (Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne) take all the credit and quite simply steals the film away from them. While I am no Byrne fan (in fact, I am quite honest in my dislike for the man - although he is great in this film), the mere fact that Furness is able to pull the rug out from under LAURA LINNEY is no minor feat.


Furness comes into each scene with a sort of bravura swagger. Her, well let's be blunt, non-petite body frame acts as a sort of bulldozer, destructing everything in her path. She tears into her scenes with the fierce tanacity of a great white shark or blood-thirsty lion. She widens her eyes and phrases her words. She makes the viewer sit up and take notice as if sending telekenetic thoughts to the audience "YOU WILL NOT FORGET ABOUT ME"

Mission accomplished. She is the stand out. Everything she does just feel pitch perfect. Even when she accidentally walks into a wall (a biproduct of Ray Lawrence's near-strict one take policy) it feels noteworthy. Furness's Jude is a sad woman, but she's strong. She's powerful and resourceful and loves her family. Furness shows all of this beautifully. Her skill is amazing.

I just hope we don't have to wait this long to see it again on the big screen, because Deborra-Lee belongs on that silver screen just as much as her husband.

And that's why Deborra-Lee Furness is my favourite Supporting Actress of 2006.

Make sure you check out the comments as there's more discussion in there relating to this fabo performance.

Jindabyne is out now on DVD in Australia and (maybe?) New Zealand. It will be released throughout North America (hopefully) in April 2007. To view the trailer check out the official April Films site. Look out for it to be a presumed powerful source in the 2006 UMAs.

Now, if you didn't come here via StinkyLulu's Base of Operation then Go. There. Now. Check out all the other fabulous supporting actresses of the year of '06 - there were some real doozies this year! And do check out The Cellar Door's wonderful YouTube Tribute to the supporting ladies of 2006. Alas, my two favourites are not there, but that's to be expected. One wasn't released in America and the other is not exactly that well-liked.

The AFI Awards: The Highs, The Lows and the Downright Bizarre

So... it was a strange night. There were big winners, and there were big bloody surprises (and not the good kind for the most part).

The Lows
Deborra-Lee Furness losing Best Supporting Actress - Seriously. I just... I... I... *shakes head* It's just wrong. And to Susie Porter, who just minutes before winning this category won a different prize (the one I did predict she'd win). I mean, I understand why (she'd been nominated three times before with no wins), but giving her two statues was just greedy. Deborra-Lee - If you're feeling down, please give me a call (or better yet, let Hugh). Also, read Stinky LuLu's on January 7. I'll give you a nice present. Jindabyne went home empty, quite strangely. I don't really understand why.

The Technical Awards - Not even announcing the winners in some form during the big night. I can understand having them seperated (nobody wants to see them, they just drag it out) but it'd be nice that people know Ten Canoes won an extra three awards or that Macbeth won two or so one.

The Dresses - Not the quality of the dresses - Victoria Hill, Dannii Minogue, Saskia Burmeister all looked stunning - but that's the thing. We didn't see enough of them.

The stage - It was huge yet so freakin' empty. Except for the podium and some weird lighting... things, there was nothing there. So the award girl just had to stand there looking awkward and when Geoffrey Rush wasn't at the podium he too just had to stand in the vacant nothingness.

The production - Poor lighting (way too dark), sitting nominees way too far from the stage (including a woman, who won, who was pregnant), and just a general oddness about the whole affair. Nobody knew what they were doing or where they were going and everyone got lost. It was strange. Plus, whenever they cut to people's reactions it wasn't interesting and was usually of somebody nobody knew.

Gargoyle winning - After Furness, this was the strangest win of the night. I didn't think anybody liked it.

Magda Szubanski - I'm sorry love, the jig is up. When you're outclassed and outjoked by Dannii Minogue you know there's a problem. And it sort of soured a win that Heath Ledger by all accounts should have been proud about.

Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish - The Candy stars... umm... okay, if this is what a Ledger exceptance speech is then maybe it's a good thing he didn't get the Oscar (okay, that will never be true, but you get the drift). So... uninterested and off with the fairies. Although I'll give him credit for pashing Magda and then joking about it later, for his Brokeback Mountain joke ("I just can't seem to get away from this movie") and for, well, showing up. And Abbie Cornish? As Seinfeld once taught us you can't just "acquire" grace and lordy does this girl have no grace. Sorry love, you're a champ but, dear god it's called SMILING ("Smile. ... Don't Smile.")

Those weird interludes - They just kind of popped up out of nowhere. Like at EUROVISION!

David Campbell - I'm sorry, you exist... why?

The Downright Bizarre
Geoffrey Rush - Sometimes he knew what he was doing and at others times he went on weird tangents about cookies and other random things. He did a strange strange job. Can I make a suggestion for next year? Julie Zamiro kthnx.

Johnny Depp - HOLYOHMYGODFREAKINGJESUSCHRISTSONOFGODMOTHERMARY what the fuck was that? Like... that was probably the most surreal moment ever in the history of forever.

The clips - It's as if the producers had no idea what clips to show for certain people so they just showed them STARING AT SOMETHING or SHAKING THEIR BODY AROUND or CRYING AND THEN BREATHING REALLY HEAVY - although, I suppose it would be hard to pick a clip of Teresa Palmer that wasn't a) of her crying or breathing heavily, or b) of her being raped. But, still, for Susie Porter's clip they showed her covering her face as she cried. I did love the delightful inclusion of profanity in the clips though. "Shit" and "Fuck" could be heard everywhere.

Sam Neill - I'm fairly certain he was drunk as a skunk and slurred his way through a Rolf de Heer tribute that was...

Rolf de Heer Tribute - ...so bland you could feel the room falling asleep. Does Sam Neill even like de Heer? And the presentation? One clip from four of his movies (The Tracker, The Old Man Who Read Love Stories, Dance Me To My Song and Bad Boy Bubby) that didn't really show much about him at all. And they didn't even include Ten Canoes? WTF?

Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne - Hey, you guys nominated them! The least you could've done was applaud. Maybe if they'd bothered to show up... compare that to the applause Ten Canoes and Kenny (especially) received.

Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin - Baz was either drunk or still pissed off about that whole Lantana beating Moulin Rouge! thing from 2001. Either way he was strange. And Catherine Martin? Oh sweet baby Jesus. Catherine Martin. Why is it that costume and fashion designers always wear such hideous abominations to big events? And then there's... the walk. I love Catherine Martin (seriously, I want her to design my afterlife) but she is as unglamourous a walker as I've ever seen (and I've seen a few, quite obviously uncomfortable, drag queens in my time). I'm not sure what was going on with that (as my friend Simon called it) upside-down cupcake dress, but she was stomping around something crazy.

Radha Mitchell - She was nominated in the Internation Performance category for Silent Hill. I KNOW!!! Hilarious, right?

THE GOOD
The winners - For the most part, they were good. Yay for Ten Canoes sweeping the pool with six trophies.

That Sony Blu-Ray plug - Rush and Depp used again in a joke, but this time it was funny and not at all my-head-is-gonna-explode-from-my-eyes-bugging-out-of-my-head-so-much...ish?

The Elizabeth sketch - The bit of the night. Stealing a scene from Elizabeth (or was it actually from The Golden Years?) with Rush putting his own dialogue over the top. Geoffrey: "If you don't go to the AFI awards we'll get... Helen Mirren. She's played Queen Elizabeth the First and Queen Elizabeth the Second" Cate: "THAT WHORE!" - i paraphrased that entire thing, but you catch the drift, right?

Daniel Radcliffe - Strangely, he was one of the best presenters.

Er, that's about all. I'll do my roundup of the winners tomorrow, but I predicted all of the four major categories, missed the supporting ones and screenplays, predicted most of the rest. Ten Canoes took out Best Film in the end.

Oh.My.God.!!!.

Maybe I shouldn't renew my membership with the AFI in protest. Cause seriously, WTF? That is not cool. Not cool at all.