Lucky Country (2009)
1902....the Australian Federation is a year old. Twelve year-old Tom's father, Nat, has dragged him and his sister, Sarah, to an isolated farm at the edge of the woods. But Nat's dream of living off the land has died and he is losing his grip on sanity. When three ex-soldiers arrive at their cabin one night Tom, like his father, believes they are providence.
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Wonderful Movie
Pretty Good
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
A young boy learns what it means to be a man. This is the summary that I gleaned from watching. I believe the focus is to be on the boy the whole movie. He learns from his dad. He learns from the strangers. He learns from his sister. You must keep your focus on the boy, or the movie can be a bore and you can end up mislead. He trusted the strangers, but got betrayed. His trust came back full circle with his dad. He learns from the guy at the end of the movie what it means to be a man. You know he learned what it means to be a man by his last look in the movie. Look at his eyes. He has the eye of the tiger. Fear has been removed. He lived his life in fear, and now he has courage to face anything because he's been through everything.
It's certainly a grim and disturbing film but it also has a strange beauty. There is no sentiment and no easy solutions. For me, the triumph of this film is the way it captures the desperate struggle to establish a foothold in the Australian landscape. The tension throughout the film is brilliantly achieved and everything is done with subtlety. No-one in this film is truly bad but bad things still happen to them because they are engaged in a life or death struggle. The idealistic father must be representative of many men and women who came to Australia to create a land with none of the old world's injustices. Even at the end of the film the boy still has this dream to cling to and he will rise from the ashes. In short, it's definitely worth watching!
I took my son to see this movie at the Australian Cinema Festival at the London Barbican earlier this year and we were both really moved by it. The entire theatre was gasping for breath at the end and many had tears in their eyes. Very powerful stuff. We immediately ordered the DVD to share with friends here.I felt compelled to write a review after seeing an earlier posting and reading back through some of the reviews of the film on other sites, to find either thoughtful praise on the one hand or vitriolic ranting on the other, and this was a curious thing because it's really a very simple, powerful film.I'm old enough to remember the reactions to Wake in Fright. Now regarded as an Australian classic the first responses were an explosion of anger. I left Australia for the UK a few years after and always felt that we had an almost pathological inability as a nation to shine a light on ourselves, and that's really what this film is doing. Being a regular at the London Australian Film Festival I've watched with some pride the change happening with brave independent films over the last few years, scratching at the surface of the Australian national psyche, and was very saddened to find in some of the Australian reviews the same old knee-jerk disdain for intellect and anything that doesn't paint the country in a noble light. Certainly the multiple ironies at work in the character who says the wonderful line 'bet you thought it was going to be all Henry bloody Lawson' seem to have gone over the heads of some people.Watching the DVD extras I found there was a different opening that was taken out - why isn't explained - that sets up the characters better: the mother is present in the original and the film now appears to start ten minutes in. This may help some people access the film a little easier, but regardless of this the film works so magnificently as a dark, visceral thriller anyway that it's really hard to see how people could have a hard time with it unless they're responding with a political agenda. I notice that Christos Tsiolkas is receiving the same kind of responses for The Slap and in an interview in today's Guardian he celebrates this, saying that if you can move an audience to those extremes of anger on one side and thoughtful praise on the other you're doing something right because you're forcing people's insecurities to the surface. The filmmakers of Lucky Country should be equally proud and I wouldn't be at all surprised if this brave film finds itself being lauded in a few years' time in the same way Wake in Fright has been.For anybody interested in a genuinely thoughtful dialogue about Australia and Australians' place in it this really is a must-see. And if you happen to like unusual thrillers with great visual beauty and a considerable amount of menace this film is for you.
Attended critic's screening today (10/06/09), of this film. Visually, the cinematography is very reminiscent of "Ned Kelly" (both Mick Jagger and Heath Ledger) . Strong use of the emotive lighting and colours of the Australian bush. Enjoyed the performances of the two younger cast members, whilst finding the characters you were mean't to find scary, were really scary. If you are seeking a happy ending, this film is not really for you. In fact, it is very much the story of how twisted and cruel mankind becomes, when lured by the temptation of gold and riches. The end of the film is left somewhat open, so the viewer can take the time to consider what may have happened beyond the story presented. Musical score is extremely effective.