Idea Fix - The Blog

Saw the new Aussie film release Cactus. It’s had a bad critical response and box office results so far haven’t been good, but due to my on going critique of the local industry I trotted off to the Kino to check it out. One other person in the cinema at a 9pm session.

The film wasn’t all that bad. Better than I thought. At least its a genre film. Why it hasn’t had better notices I’m unsure. Part of the critical Oz anti genre conspiracy perhaps? Its a semi crime film about a wanna be kidnapper delivering a gambler in debt to somewhere, in the middle of nowhere, where he will get his comeuponce. Travis McMahon from Good Guys Bad Guys plays the kidnapper/hitman well. David Lyons is just as good as the victim. Add Bryan Brown as a psycho cop trying to quit smoking and Shane “Kenny” Jacobsen as a truck driver and would be rescuer of Lyons and you have a good support cast too. Shane Jacobsen would be good in a crime film, he’d make an excellent gangster I’d suspect. And Bryan Brown is always a pleasure to watch.

Jasmine Yuen Carrucan, who has worked on films with Quentin Tarrantino, does a work women like job directing. The cliche of the Oz outback is used, but its isolation is actually part of the story, so its cool. The cinematography is effective to convey this feeling.

The main problem though is the script. Its just a bit corny and unbelievable at times. For example, the motivation of Bryan Brown’s character, a cop who kills one of the main characters, is sort of absurd. So to David Lyons character who feels sympathy for his abducter, when he gets a chance to escape. The film ends on an obtuse moral note that doesn’t ring true of Lyon’s character or the film in general.

What is it with Australian films and morality? Always ladelled on, corn syrup thick and in a condescending way to its audience way. Please, Australian filmmakers, read Nietzsche before you make another film, he’s only been around like120 years and its time you all caught up with the lay of the land. The script has some other odd moments, that mean the film just doesn’t really work. But still its a competent job and a lot better than early 08 turkeys Esther Blueberger and The Black Balloon. You could do worse than see this Aussie flick. But its lacklustre box office continues the Australian Film Industry Crisis. My report on the Film Vic Mindshift conference coming soon.

Ein report, mein leiblings, von The St.Kilda Film Fest Opening Night, 2008.

First, the films. A tad mediocre, was the general consensus. Exceptions, The Funk by Chris Jones and Melanie Coombs, Nash Edgerton’s film clip and Summer Breaks by Sean Kruck. The Funk was snappy, clever and dark, three things I like. The Edgerton clip used some interesting footage and juxtapositions. And Summer Breaks had a teen energy that worked but it could have had a bit more substance. Len’s Love Story and Yolk were both about mental illness or down syndrome… being the PC flavor of the month this year lead by The Black Balloon. As for Wind, I’ve passed wind better than this film. The Roger Spottiswoode (who I met briefly last year), short The Touch Of a Kiss. had some good editing and shots of Spanish dancing but was little more than a well shot film clip and bit light weight.

Jason Turley, the MUFF shorts programmer, who accompanied me, said he would have rejected all but those two or three praised above, from MUFF. So there you go my dears, MUFF has high standards! MUFF 8 shorts like Forged by David No, Lap Of Death by Jean Luc Synikas, The Interrogation of Bryan by Tom Salisbury and Physical Graffitti by Daniel Hayward all blew me away at my own festival at the quality of the work we show and that doesn’t get selected elsewhere. I have not seen many of these shorts play at other festivals and they all showcase major new Australian directing talent.

But anyway back to St.Kilda, the fest has some other good shorts to look out for over the five days. See their catalogue for details.

The host for the Opening Night, by the way, was inspired. Pete Smith did a great job with showbiz flair and suitable memories about the Palais venue.

Then onto the after party. The main reason to go, was sadly not the free piss up it normally is, with only one free drink on offer. I got palmed a few extra drink cards and bought a few rounds, as well, so soon Jason and I were on the rampage. I chatted to many industry cognoscenti like fest director Paul Harris, Richard Sowada, Jeremy Weinstein, Damian Walshe Howling (’Benji’ from Underbelly), Greg Sitch, Mark Spratt and many others. I spoke to a female circus acrobat who wanted to liven things up by staring a ‘pashing’ contest. I was all for it, but not sure how some industry professionals might take to it. Jason Turley was eyeing Rose Byrne and telling me how ‘gorgoeous’ she was. She’s a new Aussie ‘it’ girl, who has been in some major Hollywood stuff of late and is coming out in The Tender Hook later in the year. We got stupid and hung out ’til late, as you do. I need to rope in these big nights out, as I have a flu that is just lingering and I can’t be fucked getting antibiotics. Nights on the bricks like these, makes it all linger longer.

St.Kilda fest is a good short film event and Paul Harris (in his tenth year) should be proud of his captain ship of the festival by the bay. He could be a little more risque on some Opening Night films. But, hey, who am I to judge, beeatchhhs! But do bring back the free booze for the 09 Opening, there’s a good chap…

Its been a busy few weeks. I’ve attended three OZ film events and will share my thoughts on them in the coming days. The first was my reaction to the Framed Open Channel forum of April 24. I was on a panel with James Hewison, now Madman cinema’s head, Tait Brady from the FFC, Megan Gardiner from Film Vic and Andrew Apostola from The Portable Film Festival, all hosted by filmmaker Peter George.

The questions were fairly broad concerning getting films into festivals and distribution possiblities. James spoke about Madman’s innovative role in Australian distribution and about how he recently joined them, Tait spoke about the producers off set, the ramifications of Screen Australia and the importance of certain major festivals like Cannes, Toronto and Rotterdam. Megan spoke about the role of Film Victoria in assisting filmmakers selected to International Film festivals actually getting to the festival and various grants for such. Andrew Apostola spoke about content platform diversification and his initiatives at The Portable Film Festival.

James and I spoke of the importance of seeing films still at a cinema. I expounded the importance of DVD’s as a forum for watching cinema today, like Criterion collection and DVD extras, etc. Tait spoke of the lack of or reduced revenue streams that can come from digital content. My own feelings are that Digital formats are great, especialy for short films or music videos and a whole world is expanding, that is open to everyone with a computer. This is all good. But feature films are best viewed at a cinema, at home on Large TV’s or home cinema from DVD or Blu Ray or on a laptop when the other two are unavailable or one is in transit.

Tait from the FFC spoke about the lack of good genre scripts he receives. If you have a good genre script send it to Tait Brady at the FFC, as he does not get enough he says. I know from experience at MUFF at least 20 local filmmakers who have excellent projects, all genre related, in various stages of development or script writing. I said that maybe first time filmmakers might feel intimidated going straight to the FFC, as it requires Sales Agent attachments and Distribution agreements, etc., that most first time filmmakers do not usually have organised. So maybe lets overcome this issue, the FFC I believe can see scripts at various stages of development, i.e. before any attachments, so get those genre scripts in the mail, people.

I spoke about genre, how cool Underbelly was, how getting your first short or feature into Cannes should not always be your first priority. I suggested building up to it through a first film playing fests like MIFF and MUFF, then a second aiming at Berlin / Rotterdam axis, then maybe a third aimed at Cannes, etc. I suggested having a low budget guerilla film in development, at the same time as applying for funding for a larger industry standard budget project.

Andrew Apostola’s ideas were very interesting and we both I think felt like ‘the outlaws’ on stage. Regarding Digital Cinema you can see these portable platforms playing a larger part in how content is viewed in the future. Ever the iconoclast, I quoted David Lynch on watching a feature on a mobile phone or ipod, being “a terrible sadness”. But still one can’t help but be excited at the possiblities for rebel short film making on You Tube, ipods and laptops. Its clear cinema is expanding into these platforms and as small monitor resolution gets better, it becomes another vital medium for us to watch cinema. Shit, I bought one of these cheap mini dvd/monitor sets in Thailand, that I enjoyed on the way back on the plane, with my pirated mainstream release booty, so I dig it, baby…

All round it was productive session with near full attendance. Great people came up afterwards to chat, too.

Stand by for reports of St.Kilda Film Fest and Film Vic’s Mindshift conference.

Yes, I’m making an appearance at an Open Channel panel Thursday 24 April (Tomorrow) at 12.30pm. Come down if your free.

Press Release about the event:

FRAMED #03 - IT’S IN THE CAN(NES): FESTIVALS, FUNDING & DISTRIBUTION!

Newly appointed Theatrical Distribution Manager of Madman, and former Artistic Director of MIFF James Hewison joins Tait Brady, Feature Film Evaluation Manager, FFC Australia, and Megan Gardiner of Film Victoria at the free FRAMED seminar on April 24. Completing the panel will be Richard Wolstencroft, Artistic Director of Melbourne’s alternative Underground Film Festival, and new kid on the festival block, Andrew Apostola from Portable Film Festival. With the Cannes, St Kilda and Melbourne Film Festivals just around the corner, FRAMED #03 will examine the following topics: • Funding agencies, initiatives and film festivals • What festivals look for when selecting a film as opposed to what funders look for • How best to market your film at a festival [ie putting together a press kit] • Preparation for attending a major festival • What type of travel assistance is available from government film agencies • First hand festival experiences from around the world • Distribution & exhibition FRAMED is an innovative series of free lunchtime seminars held on the last Thursday of every month, presented by OPEN CHANNEL and generously supported by Film Victoria. The FRAMED seminar series showcases current issues and trends in developing screen based content, presented by leading practitioners in film, television and digital media. FRAMED is a great opportunity for anyone pursuing a career in the screen industry to network, make new contacts, and get up to speed with industry issues. FRAMED #03 takes place on Thursday 24 April, 12.30 – 2.00pm at the NAB Theatrette, 800 Bourke St, Docklands, and will be facilitated by producer Peter George. Bookings: marketing@openchannel.org.au / 8610 9300.

Again responding to the State of Emergency in the Australian Film Industry, Robert Connolly has written a paper called Embracing Innovation (aka The White Paper) about the need for innovation in the Australian Film Industry. From a quick glance it looks very interesting.

See here.

Maybe I was wrong about this guy. The Bank wasn’t too bad, Three Dollars had David Wenham in it, who is ace. He produced Romulus, while it wasn’t my cup of tea, I can see why it was made and it also had magic man Eric Bana in it. Connolly is also making a film called Balibo, about the Indonesian invasion of East Timor and the murder of the Balibo five. I hope its bloody, brutal and shows both sides of the battle being equally corrupt. Connolly’s quotes on Into the Shadows trailer… are good also. So, Bob Connolly’s OK in our book. We salute him for at least getting off his arse and coming up with a constructive document for much needed change. Why don’t more people do this? Afraid to rock the boat? This Embracing Innovation paper and The MUFF manifesto should act as a guide to what to do at 2020. And Bob C, as he’s on the guest list, if you read this… good luck at the conference. Transform those words about innovation in vital action.

An examination and my own detailed views on Connolly’s paper will be posted in coming weeks.

Daniel Scharf sent me this article (below) by Jim Schembri, Age film critic.

I like Jim Schembri, he has criticised the Australian film industry in the 00’s. He has now embraced and is espousing what we have been saying - the genre philosophy in Australian film making - as outlined in the MUFF manifesto and elsewhere. This theory we have seen proven many times in practice in this country and this decade (see his article). While many critics walk around praising crap like Black Balloon, Clubland, Blueberger, September, etc. Schembri stands firm and tells it like it is.

Here is his article (in blue) with my comments after:

Tough lessons for the film industry

2007 MUFF hit - Andrew Traucki and David Nerlich’s excellent Blackwater blew everyone away at our 35mm screening at the Erwin Rado Theatre in September 2007. We were proud to be the only festival in Australia to have played it, after every other dull fest rejected it and were equally chuffed to World Premiere it at MUFF 8.

We can now add Traucki and Nerlich to our ever growing and important list of MUFF discovered talent!

But in some good news for the Black Water team, their new film has become one the biggest selling Oz movies of 2007. They claim the biggest! They have sold it overseas to over 40 territories and have a theatrical in the UK and Australia next month. So stand by around the world for this cool Dogme style croc attack flick. Its got a documentary feel and is a scary cinema experience.

See story here.

Black Water is also on the cover of the latest issue of IF mag, out now.

Here is the the trailer for Wachowski Brothers film, “Speed Racer”. I’m sure a lot of you may have seen it. I like the work of these guys (the Wachowski’s I mean, especially Larry who is into S&M and has a dominatrix girl friend), though the last Matrix movie was poor. I liked their V For Vendetta producing/writing effort, from a few years ago and Bound is a perverse low budget guilty pleasure.

While I generally dislike CGI, these guys are being creative with it like Robert Rodrigeuz did in Sin City, i.e. to capture a whole new look and color spectrum only possible with the help of CGI, that also recreates the hyper energy or actual look of comics/cartoons.

The films colors look dazzling and startling… like the photographs of that (rumored) famous crack head photographer David La Chapelle. Indeed, the look of “Speed Racer” I will dub the first example of “Crack Cinema”, whose bright and flashing spectrums of color seems to be the cinematic equivalent of crack. Hollywood has been heading in this direction since the hyper action films of Don Simpson and his partner Jerry Bruckheimer and their ‘borrowing’ of the look of Michael Mann’s work. Bruckheimer produced “Thief”, so can perhaps truly claim to have helped invent this look. Another famous coke head Paul Schrader influenced this look as well with American Gigolo. Simposon/Bruckheimer added silly and childish scripts, pumped up machismo, action sequences that look they were directed by or for someone on coke, etc., that all pepper their films and they established a new aesthetic. I dub this look, logically called, ‘Cocaine Cinema’ that appeared through Simpson/Bruckheimer in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Since then, this aesthetic has become the predominant language of the American action film, ever since. It can be seen in the cheap imitation of an imitation works of Hollywood hacks like Brett Ratner, Mc G (!) and other Simpson wannabe’s.

The stakes have been raised though, it seems as the Wachowski brothers have moved from ‘coke’ to ‘crack cinema’. How appropriate this comes from the production house of Joel Silver - who was supposedly the basis for Saul Rubinek’s Lee Donowitz character in True Romance.

Crack cinema appears to be here, people. Look out, Bling Bling…

Here is a review of the new Gillian Armstrong movie Death Defying Acts from intrepid cinematic truth speaker - Bobby Galinsky.

I’ve never been overtly fond of Armstrong’s work and her rise to prominence in the Australia film industry almost heralded the death nell for the excitement of the Oz cinema Renaissance of the 70’s. Some of her early features are good, especially My Brilliant Career, but in recent years what I have seen of her work has been a bit dull.

I have not seen Unfolding Florence, but think I would like that movie having seen and admired the film subject’s erotic art over the years. I’ll find it on DVD.

Anyway, Bobby’s review is entitled: “My Not So Brilliant Career”.

Over to you Mr.Galinsky:

Okay, it’s official: Gillian Armstrong is dead. After meandering through an marginally interesting but ultimately disappointing and highly overrated two decades of film making after MY BRILLIANT CAREER, she tippy-toed through a semi-groovy doco (UNFOLDING FLORENCE) a couple of years ago–convincing government bodies around the world that she was still alive—and truly could take one more grand dive at ruining a great premise and ensure that Rohypnol was just the liquified version of 99% of her films. DEATH DEFYING ACTS is the hat-trick, the triptych of local rubbish that completes the double-act that HEY HEY IT’S ESTHER BLUEBERGER and THE BLACK BALLOON started the year with. No small accomplishment here!

Local Documentarian Steve Jennings has turned his project previously known as The Muffumentary (which we sneak previewed a 30 minute version of - at MUFF last year) into a broader canvas project. He intends covering the whole Oz Film community with a focus on the Australian Film Industry Crisis. As MUFF was born of this crisis, we applaud the direction he is taking his film in. We are a little sad the cool name The MUFFumentary is gone… with its MUFF exclusive focus . But that’s the way the MUFFumentary crumbles, as they say…

The new Trailer looks good. Along with that other doco project I wrote about Into the Shadows, see here, thats now two new films about the State of Emergency in the Australian Film Industry. As declared in the MUFF manifesto three years ago, see here.

Below is the new trailer for Jenning’s “Nothing But The Struth”.

Great quotes from many people including Mark Savage, Cate Blanchett, Stefan Popescu, Paul Moder, George Miller, Dee McLachlan, James Hewison, Murali K. Thalluri to name just a few. Of course there’s a quote from yours truly as well. Shannon Young’s point is poignant and sadly true and one that we all have to work hard on to change…

Micheal Bodey wrote a piece about Struth in The Australian. See here.

Get in contact with Jennings if your in the Industry and have an opinion to share. Contact details for Jennings are at the end of the video.