Greetings
valued Dan's Movie Report readers. I must admit, I know very little
about Aussie Holiday traditions, but apparently Australia Day is a
holiday which actually celebrates the apparent conquering of
indigenous people and still divides the nation today. Australia is a
huge place, yet with under 30 million total population it has so much
land, yet much of it is very arid, the coasts, which are home to most
of the population have huge numbers of people, and are a real melting
pot of cultures, and thus, there are racial tensions.
Australia
Day as a movie makes an attempt to put to light various racial groups
and perceptions of them by the 'Blue Bloods' the English. There is
use of slang and jargon, which will probably be unfamiliar to the majority of a
U.S.A. Audience, yet it does mirror what is happening in the United States. Australia Day
has intersecting stories like the U.S. Film's David Cronenburg's
Crash, and of course the modern Traffic, yet, feels fresh as new
cultural divides are explored, and lives of the characters are made more personal from screenplay writer Stephen M. Irwin.
Australia
Day is not a movie inherently for the masses, yet should find a niche
market in the west. Strong performances from legendary Aussie actor
Bryan Brown who portrays a down on his luck farmer. His leading man
influence guides the film and provides a solid focal point. Actress
Jenny Wu, plays a Chinese national Lan Chang, who is running, and
continues to run, and trust no one. Her performance is great and the
fact that she speaks Chinese throughout and subtitles are used adds
to it. Young actress Miah Madden goes all out hard as a teenager with
a dark secret. A masterful nuanced performance that is far beyond her
years. Other strong performances stand out, yet refuse to spill the beans, watch the film and formulate your own opinions.
I
refuse to spoil this plot, it is on Itunes and YouTube Red, yet, I do
wish at 1.5 hours more time was taken to set up the lives of the
characters. We do learn about them, yes, but it is on the fly, that
coupled with the copious subtitles in various languages, makes
Australia Day a tough one to follow. The action is rife with some
standard ideas, yet is varied enough to entertain, again, the rapid
fire pace seems to detract from the message and story.
Director
Kriv Stenders keeps the pace frantic, and yes it does work and needs
to work. The actors are well coached and all have torrid expressions
and realize the gravity of what they are doing. I am curious how much
of his initial edit was left on the table to the final output of
Australia Day. I see a film that is perhaps 10-15 minutes longer in
there, yet by picking up the pace, the audience is thrust into the
lives of the characters.
Australia
Day is a hard film to rate, not a polished as the U.S. Film Traffic,
which is one hour longer, and a 50mil budget. I liken it more to the
the David Cronenburg 'Crash' based on the novel by J.G. Ballard, of
course minus the NC-17 copious sex and violence, yet with appx. the
same length and frantic pace. Australia Day should find it's specific
western audience of erudite film fest attendees, and art house fans,
Dan's Movie Report rates the film a 7 out of 10.
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