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Aussie Filmmaker Hoping to Crash the Super Bowl

For seven years running, Doritos enthusiasts have been invited to try their hand at filmmaking and create a thirty second commercial for the cheesy triangular snack to be played during the NFL Super Bowl. The Doritos ‘Crash the Super Bowl’ competition this year extended its invitation to include all their fans outside of the United States to enter as well. Thousands of entries were sent in from over thirty different countries and now the competition has been whittled down to five finalists. One of which is a commercial created by Australian Tom Noakes, entitled Finger Cleaner. In Noakes’ preferred style of ‘oddball’ comedy, Finger Cleaner is about a bizarre invention that can be used to clean the flavoursome orange stains appearing on one’s fingers post Doritos consumption. The twist in the tail of the video is unnervingly hilarious and could well be the key component that caused Finger Cleaner to stand out from its fellow entries and reach the final stage of the competition. “Perhaps [the judges] really liked the invention of the Finger Cleaner and are looking to patent it?” Noakes joked with IF. “In all honesty, I’m sure [the ad’s success] has something to do with playing into the sensibilities of a younger and open-minded Doritos eating crowd with an unexpected twist. It’s a kind of, ‘oh wow, they actually really went there,’ comedy that has no doubt worked in our favour.” An ad director from Sydney, Noakes has been directing commercials for approximately four years, establishing his directing career after completing post-graduate studies at AFTRS. The only non-American amongst the five finalists, Noakes found inspiration for Finger Cleaner from a distinctly Australian figure. “I was watching the recent Australian Federal Elections,” he said, “The debates were taking place and Abbott was raging against Rudd. I was overcome with the sudden urge to turn off the volume and just stare deeply into Abbott’s bottomless eyes. Bam! Next minute I’m scribing at breakneck speed what was to be coined the Finger Cleaner script.” From the casting stage through to uploading the video to the competition (with just an hour to spare until deadline, according to Noakes), the whole production took about three weeks. Noakes names casting as one of the most integral and the most challenging parts of the process. “It’s always a battle, especially when you are looking for people who can nail comedy,” Noakes told IF. “It’s not often you can say that you really won, but in this case we did. The cast were truly outstanding and I owe them my infinite gratitude.” Another Sydney-sider, Casey Schweikert, was also successful in the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl competition, managing to reach the semi-finals with her commercial, Body Cast. Body Cast shows an evil little boy tormenting a hospitalized man in a full body cast. Schweikert had a helpful team who worked together to make the project happen. “We really weren’t sure if we’d be able to pull it off until we saw it through the camera,” she said. “Everyone was happy to pitch in building the set in the morning and helping out with things they wouldn’t normally do which was great.” “We had no idea we’d make it in with so many submissions and a few real standouts. We were so stoked to make the semi’s,” Schweikert said, “I think we’ve achieved what we set out to do.” The finalist and semi-finalist commercials can all be viewed on www.doritos.com. There, fans can also vote for their favourite finalist from now up until January 29th. Ultimately two winning commercials will be aired to a global television audience during the broadcast of the Super Bowl XLVII on Febrauary 2nd on FOX. One winner will be chosen by fan votes and the other by the Doritos brand team. Both winners will also have the opportunity to work alongside Marvel Studios on the set of Marvel’s The Avengers: The Age of Ultron. Finally, the entrant whose commercial receives the most fan votes will win US$1million in prize money, the runner up will receive US$50,000 and the three remaining finalists will receive US$25,000.

You can see 'Finger Cleaner' below.

Published by IF Magazine

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Director Jonathan Teplitzky talks The Railway Man

Close to 2,600 people awarded The Railway Man with an extended standing ovation at the film’s Gala Premiere screening at the Toronto International Film Festival this year. When director Jonathan Teplitzky invited ‘the real’ Patti Lomax on stage, who is portrayed in the film by Nicole Kidman, the ovation was triggered once more. This wholehearted response from the festival audience is the stuff of any filmmaker’s dreams, and for Teplitzky, it was an experience which he considered “once in a lifetime.” “You make films for audiences to respond to and hopefully engage with, to be moved by, to become involved with,” Teplitzky tells IF. “When they palpably are, you feel like you’ve made a film that can reach an audience and the reasons that you set out to make the film are also resonating with 2,600 other people. It’s amazing.” The Railway Man tells the story of Eric Lomax, a man who is struggling to deal with the horrors of his experiences as a prisoner of war working on the construction of the Thai/Burma railway during World War II, and his wife, Patti’s determination to do whatever she can to help rid Eric of his demons. The power of the story had Teplitzky dedictaed to the project from early on, “I always felt it was such a great portrait of the very worst and the very best of human nature, in a sense what it is to be a human being,” he says. Colin Firth, who plays Eric Lomax, showed enthusiasm for the film in its early stages as well. “It was a character that he almost could not not play,” Teplitzky says, emphasizing that the role required an actor capable of expressing much of the characters’ emotions through non-verbal expressions, given Lomax’s difficulty in talking about the traumas he went through. “I needed an actor who was going to be able to tell that story in the complexity of his internal landscape. Colin does that with such humility and such dignity but also with great emotional power and that is the foundation to the movie.” Firth worked quite closely with the actor who plays a young Eric Lomax (Jeremy Irvine) in the prisoner of war camp sequences, in order to form the character into the perfect whole. “The work that Jeremy did was amazing in preparing for that role. [Irvine and Firth] take us on a journey that is both tense and dramatic and emotional, and all the things that you want from a good movie,” Teplitzky says. It was also largely due to Firth that Kidman came on board to play Eric’s wife Patti Lomax. Friends with Kidman, Firth suggested the actress to Teplitzky and the director had nothing but praise for her performance. “As with Colin, she was able to open that character up in a way that didn’t need a lot of dialogue,” he said. “We ran very hard with the emotional climate of the film and she has that nuanced beauty that just lights up a screen. So much of the story could be told in her face and the way that she was responding to the things going on around her. The pain of realising that someone you love so much has gone through so much is a palpable part of her performance.” The depth of emotions in The Railway Man was not only expressed by the actors’ performances, but also through the film’s visual aesthetic and its musical score. Teplitzky worked at endowing the contemporary scenes in the film with an icy feel and colder colour palette, juxtaposing these with the war scenes which were shot with a lot more warmth. This not only reflected the tropical climate of the Thai setting but also the naivety of the characters at that stage before the realisation of their situation had set in. “I always try and set up visual contrasts within the way that we structure and put the film together so that sometimes the most horrific things are shown sort of ironically in beautiful light, beautifully framed images and other times that are more peaceful, loving and warm are more spontaneous and thrown away images. I think those contrasts set up a visual dynamic that, in a way, subconsciously helps tell the story.” Composer, David Hirschfelder, created a musical score for the film that was described by Allan Hunter of Screen Daily as, “warm and stirring” and by David Rooney from The Hollywood Reporter as, “robust and dramatic.” Of Hirschfelder, Teplitzky says, “I think he understands that it’s a very intimate film and a very emotional one. Good composers tap into the emotional landscape of a film and articulate the moments of irony and the moments of action; every moment of a film that can be re-interpreted and enhanced with a score. It makes the experience that much richer.” With all these elements merging perfectly, Teplitzky set out to achieve his main goal for the film, which was to do justice to Eric Lomax’s story. “What was really important to me was that, not only was it authentic, but that it represented in a truthful way what Eric went through,” he said. “It was very important that the film contextualized Eric’s experiences so that it didn’t de-value, it didn’t dilute where it ends up. What I would say is that I think we struck a good balance between showing some of the violence, leaving a lot of it to the audience’s imagination, but also being tough enough to give value to the story as it’s being told.” The Railway Man premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 6th and will be released in Australia on December 26th.

Published by IF Magazine

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Cate Blanchett Nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe

‘Our Cate’ has done it again, earning her fourth Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) to date, this time for her portrayal of the tragic deterioration of Jasmine in Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. In a ceremony hosted by Olivia Wilde, Zoe Saldana and Aziz Ansari on Thursday at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, the nominations across 25 categories were unveiled. Of the films nominated, 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle are the frontrunners, receiving seven nominations apiece. As for the television categories, Netflix series House of Cards dominated with four nominations, as did Behind the Candelabra which was released as a HBO TV movie in the US, also with four nominations. While several of Blanchett’s fellow Aussie actors may have missed out on nominations, there were at least some films featuring Australian artists that earned nomination nods. Among these were Rush starring Chris Hemsworth, which has been nominated for Best Motion Picture (Drama), and Hemsworth’s co-star Daniel Brühl is nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Also, The Wolf of Wall Street starring Aussie newcomer, Margot Robbie has been nominated for Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical). Finally, Australian residing director Jane Campion’s TV mini-series Top of the Lake has received nominations in the categories of Best Mini Series and Best Actress in a Mini Series for star Elisabeth Moss. Blanchett’s previous Golden Globe nominations in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) include Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Veronica Guerin (2004) and Elizabeth (1999), the last of which she won. Her other previous Golden Globe win was for 2008’s I’m Not There, for which she won Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) for her portrayal of Bob Dylan. Following the announcement of 2014’s Golden Globe nominations, Blanchett had this to say to the Golden Globes official website, “Thank you to the Hollywood Foreign Press for this wonderful news coming to me in the middle of the night in Sydney! And I’m thrilled to say that my ‘sister’ Sally was nominated. Going back to sleep now. Good night!” Given that Blanchett has also been nominated for a Screen Actor’s Guild award for her performance in Blue Jasmine, she is now a favourite contender for the Oscar as well. The Oscar nominations will be announced next year on January 16, with the ceremony taking place on March 2. The 71st annual Golden Globe Awards will be held in Beverly Hills on January 12 with the event being hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.

Published by IF Magazine

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Good Pitch Coming to Australia in 2014

With the mission to connect good films to good people, Good Pitch, the international forum for high impact, feature-length documentaries, is launching its satellite version called Good Pitch² (Good Pitch Squared) for the first time in Australia next year. To be held in Sydney in October, 2014, Good Pitch² Australia will be hosted by Shark Island Institute and Documentary Australia Foundation. The event will also be supported by leading philanthropic bodies and Community Partners of the initiative, Philanthropy Australia and Pro Bono Australia. Ian Darling from Shark Island Institute wants to make it clear that the event is not a traditional pitch. “I think the key thing to understand is that it’s not a traditional pitching forum,” he tells IF. “If you think of it as a traditional pitch and then do a 180, [that would be right.] It’s about supporting the films and creating outreach, not about a broadcaster assessing the merits of a film.” An event originally devised by a partnership between BRITDOC and Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, Good Pitch has been gaining momentum since the first international event in 2009. It brings together documentary filmmakers with foundations, not-for-profits, campaigners, philanthropists, policy-makers, brands, educators, broadcasters and media to forge powerful alliances around ground-breaking films that are not only beneficial for the partners, but also great for the films and in turn, good for society. The satellite version of the forum, Good Pitch² was launched in 2011, held in the US and the UK. It enabled select organisations to put on their own Good Pitch events in their own region. So for next year, Shark Island Institute and Documentary Australia Foundation are eager for documentary filmmakers to begin submitting their projects. “It’s an event which I think is driving documentary filmmaking overseas and it’s creating these extraordinary sustainable communities with documentary filmmakers, philanthropic foundations and not-for-profit organisations,” Darling says. “It’s all about creating a sustainable funding source for documentary. That combination [of people involved] put together creates something quite exciting. “What we desperately need in Australia is new recurring sources of funding for documentaries and a belief in the feature documentary as the best way to tell that story.”

The process of a Good Pitch event sees seven filmmaking teams chosen to feature documentary and its associated outreach campaign to the ten invited representatives at the table as well as a theatre of up to 300 participants. Following each pitch, a moderated session occurs, aiming to create a lasting and unique coalition around each film to maximize its impact and influence in the future. Rather than being in the style of a ‘dragon’s den’ competition, Good Pitch is organized so that all projects can successfully pitch for support. “It really wraps their arms around the filmmakers to give them extraordinary tools,” says Darling.  “I have seen the magic that happens when you actually create theatre out of this community." Throughout its existence, Good Pitch has seen more than 128 feature documentaries presented at the events in London, Oxford, New York, Washington DC, Toronto and Chicago, as well as Good Pitch² events in San Francisco, Johannesburg, Taipei and Buenos Aires. Both Australia and Mumbai will be added to that list in 2014. Across these locations, more than 2,137 organisations have attended a Good Pitch event, each one bringing a wealth of expert knowledge, research and archives, memberships, networks and mailing lists, campaigning and lobbying expertise, access to policymakers, and production and outreach funding to the table. Darling said, “I’ve seen first hand how powerful a forum Good Pitch can be. My colleagues at Documentary Australia Foundation and I are all determined to bring the event to Australia so that filmmakers here can benefit from the same opportunities and international exposure.” The team at Good Pitch² Australia will select seven outstanding feature documentaries with potential for high social impact. Typically, these films will be at the late stages of the production process and may be seeking completion and outreach funding. Projects are distinguished by their commitment to building an outreach strategy. The first all-day event will be held on October 8, 2014 in Sydney, with successive events to be held in both Sydney and Melbourne for the following five years. Selection of projects will be completed by April 2014 with the first Good Pitch² Australia event taking place at the Sydney Opera House. For further information about Good Pitch² Australia, please email http://[email protected] or visit http://www.goodpitch2australia.com.au

Published by Published by IF Magazine

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The Inbetweeners Movie 2 Shooting in Australia

The awkward foursome of Jay, Neil, Simon and Will from successful UK comedy series, The Inbetweeners are being reunited in the follow-up to 2011’s The Inbetweeners Movie, this time taking their ill-fated escapades to the Land Down Under. Having begun production in Queensland, just last Saturday, December 7th, the sequel will continue shooting in locations across Australia until late January when the team will return to the UK. Roadshow Films has secured the Australian distribution rights to the hotly anticipated comedy, which will be directed by the series creators, Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, who have also written the script. Spencer Millman (The Mighty Boosh, Man Down) is on board as producer. Starting out as a series on E4, The Inbetweeners won multiple awards and after three full seasons, it went on to enjoy great success with its debut film, The Inbetweeners Movie. Fully financed by Channel 4/Film4 and distributed by Roadshow Films in Australia, the film was a huge local success, grossing over $9.2m. It spent four weeks at the top of the UK box office charts. Produced by Bwark Productions, a Zodiak Media company, who will co-finance with Channel 4/Film4, The Inbetweeners Movie 2 will be distributed in the UK by Entertainment Film Distributors. It will be released in Australian cinemas in August, 2014 by Roadshow Films.

Published by IF Magazine

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Change in the Air at Tropfest 22

The hosts for Tropfest 22. 

  The times are a-changing for Tropfest this year. Not only has Australia’s most prestigious short film festival, now in its 22nd year, switched locations from Sydney’s Domain in the Royal Botanic Gardens to Centennial Park, it has also been bumped forward to a December date rather than its traditional February date, in hopes for better weather. ‘Change’, rather appropriately, is also the Festival’s signature item (TSI) this time around. “I guess the theme this year was chosen with quite a great deal of intention,” said Marc Fennell, one third of the hosts of Tropfest 22. Best known as ‘That Movie Guy’ to triple j listeners, Fennell will join fellow presenters Yumi Stynes and Adam Spencer in hosting the Festival, which will also be telecast on its new home of SBS2. Another exciting new change for Tropfest. “I think it’s the first time Tropfest has had a really proper free-to-air channel home,” said Fennell. “The fun thing about Tropfest is that it’s a social occasion. It’s not just about the films, it’s about everyone getting together and having an opinion on the films and having a fun time watching them together.” With today’s ease of accessibility to short films via platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo, now more than ever events such as Tropfest are placing the emphasis firmly on the social aspect of the Festival. Tropfest 22 aims to greatly involve home viewers as well as Festival goers via Twitter, Facebook, and of course, the Tropfest app. “What will make Tropfest work is if the audience at home gets as involved as possible. You can pack a million people into live sites around Australia and into the audience at home, and everybody may watch the same film but everyone sees a different film. It’s the discussion and debate that comes from that, that I think is what actually makes Tropfest as an event,” Fennell explains. “Tropfest is that one big live event when everyone can get involved and everyone can have their say and bitch and cheer and that’s what makes it important.” The sixteen chosen finalists for Tropfest 22 are an eclectic mix of films, interpreting the TSI of ‘Change’ in a variety of different ways and in a range of different genres. “I think what they’ve got this year is kind of a nice cross-section,” Fennell said. “Depending on what kind of Tropfest film you’re in the mood for, you’ll definitely find a few films that fit your taste. They’ve curated it quite well for that viewing experience.” With change comes uncertainty, but Fennell is confident in the success of the giant conversation that will be Tropfest 22, “From my point of view, I think it’s all upside, but again time will tell.” There are, however, some key ingredients of the Tropfest tradition that will never change. “You should be visualizing in your head that I’m on the picnic rug and I’ve had a few too many spumates. That’s the visual image you should have in your head about your experience,” Fennell laughed. Tropfest 22 is a free Festival being held in at Brazilian Fields in Sydney’s Centennial Park on Sunday, December 8 and broadcast to public spaces in other capital cities at 8.30pm on SBS2.

Published by IF Magazine

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Eco-Warriors Rise to the Challenge

In the spirit of her IF Award winning documentary of 2008, The Burning Season, Cathy Henkel has returned to the jungles of Borneo for her latest venture, Rise of the Eco-Warriors. The Burning Season saw Henkel track the story of one Australian entrepreneur, Dorjee Sun, who fought tirelessly for a carbon trading deal with the aim to protect millions of hectares of rainforest in Borneo from de-forestation. This time, Henkel witnesses the journey of a team of fifteen young ambassadors from around the world who are selected to spend 100 days in Borneo with a shared mission of confronting deforestation and giving hope to endangered orangutans. The call for a group of young Eco-Warriors went out in January 2011 and entries poured in from 26 different countries around the world. Fifteen individuals were selected from the pool of entrants, with three of the group hailing from Australia. The other Eco-Warriors came from the US, Canada, the UK, France, Kenya, the Netherlands, Indonesia and Singapore. Split into four smaller groups, the Eco-Warriors managed to attack the global challenge of deforestation from all sides. One group was responsible for building a rehabilitation facility for orangutans. Another group assisted a village elder’s nursery by preparing the land for 6,000 sugar palm seedlings as an alternative to oil palms. The education group devised a music theatre show in the local language to perform to students. The remaining team worked on introducing a satellite technology monitoring system, enlisting the help of school students worldwide to monitor patches of forest for any evidence of illegal logging. With the Eco-Warriors split into four groups and heading off in different directions to work on their delegated tasks, this made documenting the process somewhat difficult for Henkel and her small crew of only four. “For me, it was just part instinct and part information,” Henkel explained. “We got very close to the Eco-Warriors obviously, after such a long time of being there. It was about knowing what they were going to be doing over the next, say, week and my gut feeling of whether this was going to become a major point in the documentary.” The Eco-Warriors continue to carry on their mission long past their time spent in Borneo. Aiming to educate consumers about the presence of palm oil in certain products and palm oil free alternatives, the Eco-Warriors launched an urban Eco-Warrior campaign in Singapore. The group also continues to raise funds and spread their message via online and social media platforms, whilst retaining connections they formed with the local people of Sintang and Tembak in Borneo. Henkel and her crew faced many challenges during the filmmaking process, including Borneo’s intensive heat and the treacherous environment of the rainforests, basic circumstances and a frustrating lack of funding. Key partners involved in the early stage of the process, Creative Enterprise Australia as well as National Geographic both withdrew before filming was complete. Furthermore, delays at Screen Queensland for final approval once the filming was complete forced the producers to launch a crowd-funding campaign on Pozible to begin the editing process. With support from QUT staff and students, the campaign raised $10,000 in 20 days and Rise of the Eco-Warriors was finally completed in August, 2013. “We financed this film outside of the mainstream and I’m very proud of that,” Henkel said. “We largely raised it from private investment, sponsorship and philanthropy. No broadcasts are attached and no Screen Australia.” Not only has Henkel and her team managed most of the film financing themselves, they’ve also retained control of the distribution of Rise of the Eco-Warriors which is scheduled for a cinematic release in March. “I’m also proud that we’re releasing the film in a hybrid distribution model. Doing a lot of it ourselves, taking control, not handing it over to a distributor who just runs away with it,” Henkel told IF. “We’re working with John L. Simpson at Titan View who is really smart and really understands the film. Plus we’ve got Palace and Event Cinemas involved in releasing the film and doing school screenings.” When Rise of the Eco-Warriors is seen up on the big screen by school groups and cinema-goers, Henkel hopes first and foremost that the film will act as a motivational tool. “I hope that they will walk out of the cinema and feel inspired to do just one thing,” Henkel said. “To recognise that every individual does matter and every action, no matter how small, counts.” For more information about Rise of the Eco-Warriors and its release in March, visit www.ecowarriorsrise.com.

Published by IF Magazine

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Australians Flying North to Shoot

Many Australian content creators endeavour to work on a project, either entirely or in part, in the United States. However, accessing the right information about the logistics of shooting films in the U.S. can sometimes prove difficult. This year’s IPW Chicago will see the launch of the brand new Broadcast and Media Production Programme, giving screen industry members from the UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada the chance to find out more about the process. Created through the partnership between the U.S. Travel Association and Brand USA, the official tourism marketing organisation for the United States of America, the new program will see attendees having access to face-to-face appointments with U.S. destinations and travel organisations, including airlines, hotels and attractions, and taking part in networking events. Joe Ponte, Strategy Director for Brand USA in Australia and New Zealand, describes the Program as a kind of one-stop-shop for networking and building professional contacts. “What would normally take multiple international trips, with the one trip you’ll get to meet, connect with, and have one on one appointments with decision makers from all of the major tourism bodies who can really assist with background support and as well financially in the production of television shows in the USA,” Ponte told IF. Often, when Australian filmmakers head to American shores to shoot, the biggest difficulty they’re faced with is the significant difference in licensing and regulations from state to state and even city to city. This is where the Broadcast and Media Production Programme at IPW Chicago can help. “There are certainly different laws and legislations in every state that you come across so as long as you know what you’re doing and you’ve made these right connections, it can be really rewarding and it can be a breeze,” Ponte said. “Obviously, if you haven’t done that homework then it can be a bit of a challenge knowing where to start so that’s really what this event is all about.” Taking place from the 5th to the 9th of April this year, the travel industry’s premier international marketplace will play host to over 1,000 U.S. travel organisations from every region of the country and more than 1,200 buyers from more than 70 different countries. For more information, visit www.ipw.com

  This article was sponsored by Brand USA.

Published by IF Magazine

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Nebraska

The transitional space of the open road appears to be the setting most conducive to good storytelling for director, Alexander Payne. He gave us a disheveled Jack Nicholson on a mission to travel across the US to sabotage his daughter’s approaching wedding in About Schmidt (2002), a heartbroken Paul Giamatti taking a wine connoisseur’s tour around the vineyards of California in Sideways (2004) and now he gives us a boozy and befuddled Bruce Dern on a road-trip to collect scam prize money in Nebraska. Let’s not bother mentioning any quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson about life being a journey, not a destination, agreed? Good.

Nebraska begins with a wide-reaching, study-in-perspective shot focused on the man of the hour, Woody Grant (Dern) ambling towards us with a character-defining wobbly and bow-legged gait. Therein lie the two focus points of the film – Woody, and the American Midwest landscape. Payne’s curiosity with the enchanting banality of the Midwest is constantly referred to throughout the film. The director delights in interrupting the narrative in order to show us signs for scout halls, churches, taverns, local sporting teams and town populations, highlighting their distinct unglamorous-ness and very basic charm.

Wispy-haired and prickly-chinned Woody has just received a million dollar sweepstakes in the mail and is doggedly determined to make his way from Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska to collect his winnings, even if that means hoofing it all the way. This is much to the dismay of Woody’s fed-up, straight-talking wife Kate (June Squibb) and their exasperated sons, David (Will Forte) and Ross (Bob Odenkirk). Agreeing that Woody’s general confusion and tendency to wander off have gone too far, Kate and Ross want Woody in a home. David, on the other hand, comes around and sees a road-trip to Nebraska as a welcome opportunity to spend some time with his old man, believing there to be no harm in entertaining Woody’s fantasy for a few days.

Father and son set off on their adventure, making plans to stop in Woody’s old hometown of Hawthorne on the way. Visiting family and old friends brings to light significant life events, regrets and unburied hatchets of Woody’s past. A careless word about the winnings quickly makes Woody the talk of the town and greed begins to rear its ugly head, with various family and friends keen to settle supposed ‘debts’ Woody has with them. The most persistent moocher of them all is Woody’s old business partner, the cruel and insufferable Ed Pegram (Stacy Keach).

Shot in frosty black and white by Phedon Papamichael with a deliberately grainy tone, Nebraska sucks you in to the simultaneously picturesque and plain Midwest landscape, pulls a stool out for you at the bar and lets you watch as the locals filter in and out. The chiaroscuro of black cows against snowy white flatlands is visually striking and contrasts perfectly with the muddled grey spectrum of a collection of plaid-shirted gentlemen, positioned in semi-circular fashion around a loungeroom television with drowsy eyes transfixed and beer in hand, watching the game.

Not only does Nebraska look great, but it sounds great too. The score, by Mark Orton, is all plucking guitars and lilting violins, coloured by the addition of trumpets and accordions, collectively keeping a wonderful steady walking rhythm. Catchy and honest, happy but tempered with a certain pathos, Orton’s score enhances the black and white imagery, the tone and the narrative of the film perfectly.

Atmosphere and visuals aside, the performances of Nebraska are its crowning glory. Dern is faultless as Woody, able to express so much in screwed up facial expressions, puppy-dog eyes, that bow-legged walk and befuddled shrugs for a character that is of so few words. Squibb steals every scene she’s in with her unabashed and inappropriate honesty, and her cheeky stories of youthful debauchery with numerous would-be suitors. Forte gives a strong performance in a more serious role than the SNL actor may be used to, as the disheartened and exhausted but loving son, David.

Nebraska is a film that hits the proverbial nail on the head when it comes to representing an older family and the mundanity of a family’s day-to-day dealings. There is a joyful humour and an omnipresent pathos in Nebraska as it deals with ideas about growing old, memories and regrets, family tensions, and the notion of having something to live for, however not once does the film fall victim to the lure of sentimentality. It is simply honest and unashamedly plain, and that’s what makes it so refreshingly relatable. A beautifully-made, sweet film, more than worthy of its numerous accolades.

Review Score: FIVE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)

Duration: 115 minutes Rating: M – Coarse language and sexual references.

Published by The AU Review

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Alliance Francaise French Film Festival ~ Mademoiselle C.

About mid way through Mademoiselle C, we see the Miss C of the documentary’s title herself, Carine Roitfeld being guided by a personal trainer through a ballet-inspired workout. After her workout, Roitfeld explains to the filmmakers that she is obsessed with ballet and admires it so for its grace and dignified control in concealing the hard work and pain behind every movement. “That’s what I like. Never show it hurts,” she says. Unfortunately, this is exactly what the film tends to do. All glamour and no struggle might work for the perfect ballet routine, but not so much for documentary filmmaking.

Director Fabien Constant follows Roitfeld, the former editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris and revered fashion icon as she embarks on a new foray in fashion publishing after resigning from a neat decade-long reign at Vogue in 2011. The venture is a New York based magazine/book hybrid called CR Fashion Book and Constant uses the publication – from inception to launch – as the documentary’s narrative structure. While one might expect elements of stress, high stakes and pressure as the deadline looms for the launch of the inaugural edition of CR, the story is almost completely devoid of these. Instead it flits from fashion shoot to exclusive party and back again, punctuated with occasional interviews with Roitfeld and comments from her family, collaborators and adoring admirers.

There are only two moments in Mademoiselle C depicting any kind of difficulty arising during the process of creating CR. One mentions Condé Nast, Roitfeld’s old bosses, putting some pressure on photographers to remove themselves from Roitfeld’s new project. The other shows the eleventh-hour cancellation of a model for a CR shoot, which occurs when Roitfeld and her Senior Fashion Editor are attending a Chanel runway show. Don’t worry, I haven’t spoiled anything because these moments are as fleeting as a fashion trend and only briefly hinted at and apparently dealt with before they even have the chance to leave a wrinkle on a furrowed brow.

The appeal in fashion documentaries often lies in their ability to allow audiences a fly-on-the-wall view of the glamorous and bizarre world of haute-couture and the characters who populate said fantasy-land. Mademoiselle C certainly satisfies in this sense. There are appearances throughout the film by Tom Ford (with whom Roitfeld collaborated heavily on Gucci during the 1990s), Donatella Versace, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kirsten Dunst, Linda Evangelista, Kanye West, James Franco, Beyoncé Knowles, Jean Paul Gaultier, Giorgio Armani, Joseph Altuzarra, Riccardo Tisci, Alexander Wang, J. W. Anderson and a host of other designers, models, actors and celebrities.

By far the most enjoyable appearances come from the instantly recognisable Karl Lagerfeld. Creative director of Chanel, the German designer with the white ponytail, dark sunglasses, gothic suits and leather fingerless gloves features prominently in Mademoiselle C exhibiting more warmth and humanity than the outwardly icy man probably intended. He is captured a couple of times interacting adorably with children, and one particular image of Lagerfeld pushing Roitfeld’s weeks-old granddaughter in a stroller during a fashion shoot is equal parts oddly amusing and endearing.

Some of the shoots themselves that Roitfeld styles and coordinates for CR Fashion Book are interesting in their visual creativity and make for some highlight moments of the film. One involves Kate Upton dressed in a sort of naughty Dorothy pinafore dress cuddling furry miniature donkeys and a bare-chested male model wearing a bear hat, shot by the jolly American photographer, Bruce Weber. Another shoot, which apparently caused some controversy, sees a near-naked model sheathed by a flowing mauve sheet, walking through a cemetery.

Aside from the celebrity spotting and frivolity of the fashion shoots, Mademoiselle C doesn’t offer much for those who aren’t already avid fashion followers. It does little to delve into the nitty gritty of Carine Roitfeld. The film and its subjects sing Roitfeld’s praises – and not without good reason, as she comes across as a very positive person, a warm, well-loved and respected member of the fashion industry – however, we never really get to know her as a real person, with real struggles, stresses and emotions. One brief glimpse of feeling is captured when she is discussing the generations of her family in relation to her new granddaughter and becomes slightly choked up. Yet again however, the film lingers in a moment of seriousness only for a breath before it is distracted by the lure of another vodka martini waiting at the next after party.

Mademoiselle C is fun and colourful, peppered with appearances by the elite of the fashion elite, however it is definitely a fashion documentary for those who prefer to just flick through a glossy magazine for the pretty pictures, rather than take the time to read any of the articles.

4/10

Published by Reel Good

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Review: Night Train to Lisbon

“The real director of our life is accident,” quotes Jeremy Irons’ character, Raimund Gregorius in Night Train to Lisbon. Accident, interpreted here to be synonymous with ‘chance’, is the driving force of the film, particularly in relation to chance encounters and the way in which humans move in and out of one another’s lives unbeknownst of the profound effect they may have caused to that person’s timeline of life events.

On his way to work one day as a high school Latin professor in Bern, Switzerland, Gregorius, clad in typical professor tweed, corduroy and clunky spectacles, rescues a young woman from jumping to certain death off the Kirchenfeld Bridge. After walking in the rain with Gregorius all the way to his classroom, the woman mysteriously disappears, leaving behind her vibrant red leather jacket, containing a book in its inside pocket. From the pages falls a ticket to Lisbon, Portugal, leaving in fifteen minutes. Upon finding this, Gregorius, races to the train station hoping to find the woman and return her jacket and ticket. Since she is nowhere to be seen on the platform, Gregorius spontaneously jumps on board, luggage-less and having left his Latin students hanging.

The train ride to Lisbon gives Gregorius plenty of time to read the book in the woman’s jacket, which just so happens to be a tome of the philosophical musings of a Portuguese doctor named Amadeu de Prado (Jack Huston) who lived during the dictatorship of Salazar in the 60s and 70s. Profoundly moved by the writings, Gregorius becomes determined to track down the doctor and find out his fate. His search leads him to unravel the mystery of a tragic love triangle amidst the dangerous times of the Portuguese revolution.

For a story about passion and betrayal during a time of political revolution, and upheaving one’s life in order to follow the intrigue of an untold mystery, Night Train to Lisbon is really quite tame. The story is revealed at a plodding pace through conversations Gregorius has with characters he finds are associated with Amadeu’s story, including his possessive sister Adriana (Charlotte Rampling), a Catholic priest (Christopher Lee), a fellow Resistance member, João (Tom Courtenay) and finally, the other two points in the love triangle, Amadeu’s best friend Jorge (Bruno Ganz) and his lover, Estefânia, (Lena Olin, and played as a young woman by Mélanie Laurent).

The flashback scenes depicting Amadeu’s story show a revolution in Lisbon which feels about as threatening as a Gregorius’ tweed jacket. With the exception of one slightly violent interrogation scene early in the film, the presence and cruelty of the dictatorship is never felt. We simply watch as the Resistance members have secret meetings and scatter themselves through the cobbled streets of Lisbon, hiding in dark alleyways from police cars. But for what? We don’t really know.

Similarly, the love triangle between Amadeu, Jorge and Estefânia is dull and unconvincing. The gorgeous Laurent, here almost unfamiliar with brown hair and brown eyes, does well with what little she has, however there is a lack of fiery lust, longing or heartbreak between any of them, which is what you might expect from young people impassioned enough to risk their lives for freedom from a cruel regime.

The widescreen cinematography captures the stunning seaside cliffs, hilltop city views and winding cobbled streets of Lisbon quite beautifully and the philosophical musings punctuating the unravelling mystery in Night Train to Lisbon are thought provoking. There are some enjoyable performances of supporting roles big and small from Lee, Laurent, Courtenay, Ganz and Rampling, and Irons as Gregorius is endearingly charming. As a man who was accused by his ex-wife as being “boring”, it is sweet to watch him become invested in Amadeu’s story and slowly open up to his optometrist love interest, Mariana (Martina Gedeck).

By and large however, Night Train to Lisbon is in want of some guts. It’s missing the passion and fire which is enough to cause best friends and lovers to betray one another, to make a group of young people rise up against an oppressive government, and to prompt a teacher to be so intrigued by a story as to leave his students mid-class, leave his life behind and jump on a train to another country. Chance and fate can indeed be powerful forces, but the effects of their intervention in this film were not as dramatic as their potential in the realm of cinema allows.

5/10

Published by Reel Good

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Hola Mexico Film Festival - Nosotros los Nobles (We are the Nobles)

Underneath coloured lights and Sol bottles suspended from the roof of the Chauvel Cinema in Paddington, the Sydney leg of the 8th annual Hola Mexico Film Festival kicked off with a spirited “Olé!” Guests who were feeling particularly fanciful had their faces painted in the Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) style, and for the more conservative, there were sombrero shaped badges and fake flowers which the ladies could pin in their hair. Or perhaps the gentlemen could too after a few too many $10 margaritas. There was vigorous Spanish guitar and thumping box drum music played by Australian band, Kallidad, and Guzman y Gomez provided tasty Mexican inspired treats. And of course, there was the film.

The opening night film, Nosotros los Nobles (We are the Nobles), reigned king at the Mexican box office, breaking an 11 year long record by becoming the highest grossing local film in Mexico since the Gael García Bernal drama of 2002, El Crimen de padre Amaro (The Crime of Father Amaro). Director Gary Alazraki reportedly wanted to make a Hollywood film in Spanish. And that is precisely what he managed to do. Nosotros los Nobles is a feel-good blockbuster dramedy, delivering a genuinely enjoyable story without requiring explosions, explicit sex scenes or toilet humour to bait its audience.

Germán Noble (Gonzalo Vega), a wealthy construction magnate, widow and father to two sons and a daughter, all adult-aged yet have never worked a day in their lives. Concerned about their ungrateful attitudes and frivolous spending, he decides (logically) to play an elaborate trick on his offspring, convincing them that they have been charged with fraud and faking bankruptcy. Fleeing the ‘police’, the family takes cover in an abandoned old house, which once belonged to Germán’s father. With no credit cards, smart phones or luxury cars, the spoiled rich kids (adults) are miserable, especially the daughter Barbara (Karla Souza), a typical princess who goes by Barbie and who was on the verge of planning a wedding with her gold-digging fiancé. The three siblings must now do the unspeakable – get jobs and earn their living. Gasp! Hilarity ensues.

The performances are good, there are some witty one-liners and the film points out some topical issues of class difference in Mexico without sinking too deeply into serious mode or coming across as preachy. One glaringly unsettling problem in Nosotros los Nobles (and forgive me if it’s simply a matter of needing to lighten up a bit) is the blatant sexual harassment to which one character is subjected. We chuckle away in the audience, safe in the zone of watching a nice comedy film, while the youngest Noble brother, Cha, is forced to give sexual favours to his older female boss in order to keep his job as a bank teller. Somehow, we are led to believe that this is ‘cool’ and ‘funny’ because he’s young and good-looking and it’s ok for a woman to demand sex from a man as a negotiation tool. And moreover, somehow it’s more disturbing to watch Barbie endure a group of seedy men catcall and wolf whistle at her as she waits tables in a cantina. Certainly not acceptable behaviour by any means, but not as deplorable as using sex as blackmail in the workplace.

Besides the disconcertingly casual attitude towards sexual harassment however, Nosotros los Nobles is the perfect execution of a fun, light-hearted comedy with themes of family, class differences and a lesson to be learned about honesty and integrity, as well as the value of hard work. Ideal Sunday afternoon viewing.

8/10

Published by Reel Good

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Mystery Road Review

If there’s one thing that Australian filmmakers have excelled at throughout our nation’s cinematic history, it’s the ability to, and the clear delight taken in choosing a genre and subverting it’s traditional tropes in order to stamp it with a big, bold ‘Made in Australia’ kangaroo shaped watermark. P.J. Hogan’s glorious Muriel’s Wedding (1994) took the traditional romance film and re-worked it to tell a love story between two female friends who escape the terrors of Australian suburbia and drive off into the sunset together. The Proposition (2005), penned to perfection by Nick Cave and directed by John Hillcoat, took the classic conventions of the Western and shuffled them like a deck of cards; blurring the lines between the good guys and the bad guys – particularly the ‘Sheriff’ equivalent character, Captain Stanley – whilst proudly showcasing the grim, brutal mercilessness of the Australian landscape, a character in its own right. Mystery Road is the most recent release which is all too worthy of a place in this hall of fame of Australian genre subversion films.

Somewhere along Mystery Road, not far from Massacre Creek (not even joking about these place names), the body of a teenage Aboriginal girl is found by a truckie in a drainpipe underneath the highway. Detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) takes charge of investigating the murder. Having recently returned to his outback hometown to take up this posting, Jay finds himself ostracized not only by his fellow local Aboriginal community, who distrust and despise anyone authoritarian, but also from his uninterested and prejudiced police department peers; all white Australians. As Jay works doggedly on unravelling the mystery of the murdered girl, links to a sinister underworld of crime, drug trafficking and prostitution operating in the town begin to come to light, and this outback thriller reaches its epic climax with an impressively shot, refreshingly real, and heart-stopping shootout scene at Slaughter Hill (again, totally legit).

Mystery Road certainly draws from traditional conventions of the film noir. Jay is a typical noir anti-hero in many ways. Caught between the mistrust of the Aboriginal community in the town and the racism of his fellow cops, he is a brooding lone wolf, disillusioned with the bleak corruption of his old hometown. He struggles to express or deal with his emotions and carries with him a heavy burden of guilt due to his prolonged absence in the lives of his ex-wife and daughter. Furthermore, despite being set in the heat of the Queensland outback, the film exudes a cold atmosphere of fear, melancholy, alienation, pessimism, moral corruption and desperation – all moods distinctly belonging to films of the noir style.

However, in its visual style the film also manages to subvert many of the noir characteristics.Mystery Road opens in the very early moments of dawn and ends in the bluish haze of dusk. This clever bookending makes for a film playing out almost entirely in the gleaming white light of day, unlike the darkness of the mostly night time set noir films of the post Cold War era, such as The Maltese Falcon (1941) and Double Indemnity (1944). Similarly, the majority of the film is set outside, which is a direct contrast to the way that most noir films set in interiors, their protagonists staring out suspiciously through venetian blind slats.

Mystery Road also has clear stylistic and thematic inspirations taken from Western films. Jay’s look is reminiscent of Western heroes with his cowboy boots, jeans, gun holster belt and, of course, his white cowboy hat (the colour screaming out the good guy role, loud and clear). The final shootout is also characteristically Western. Director Ivan Sen, who also wrote, shot, edited and scored the film, seems ultimately to be aiming towards using the Western and film noir genre tropes as a platform from which to investigate more prevailing and complex themes of racial prejudice, identity, displacement and culture. Aside from the obvious ways in which Jay is treated differently because of his racial background, there are also more subtle recurring links made to ‘dogs’ and ‘wild dogs’ and how it is that someone can tell the difference between the two. Also, Johnno (played with a brilliant menacing feel by Hugo Weaving), one of Jay’s fellow police investigators, constantly refers to Jay as ‘Jay Boy’, a very racially loaded nickname.

It is in this way that some may be disappointed with Mystery Road, depending on one’s expectations of a murder mystery. It doesn’t play with plot twists and turns as much as most other crime thrillers, and it progresses at a slow pace, peeling back the surface layers bit by bit to steadily reveal the darkness of the criminal underworld which is tightening its grip on the town. Mystery Road focuses on examining issues of racial, cultural and gender differences in Australian society in this harsh, rural setting which seems stuck in a nondescript time zone. Jay’s car is an indication that the film is set in the present day, however, many of the other characters drive utes from the 70s, endowing the film with a blurry sense of timelessness. Thus, Sen seems to want to provoke thought and discussion in his audience about the past, present and potential future issues which influence Australian society, rather than simply entertaining us for two hours. His use of the stylistic and thematic traits of Western films and film noir are merely a dive-board from which to plunge into the depths and get to the very bottom of things.

Mystery Road is a dark, cold crime thriller set in the unforgiving heat of the rural Queensland sun. It is a film influenced by traditional Western and film noir genres, but one that subverts and experiments with their classical tropes as well. It’s an absorbing investigation into questions of difference in race, class, and gender in Australian society. Highlighting various contrasts in its characters as much as the film itself is a surprising contrast of stylistic traditions and modern twists, Mystery Road is a welcome addition to the canon of Australian films which refuse to conform to genre rules and in doing so, stand their ground as unabashedly Australian.

Published by Reel Good

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Chris Lilley's Ja'mie: Private School Girl receives conflicted reviews

Character actor specialist, Chris Lilley, initially introduced audiences to his over-achieving, relentlessly self-absorbed and superficial private school girl character, Ja’mie King on 2005’s We Could Be Heroes, as one of six unlikely contenders for Australian of the Year. He then plunged her into the unchartered territory of public school on his next series, Summer Heights High in 2007. Now, Ja’mie is the centre of attention in Ja’mie: Private School Girl. A co-production of ABC, BBC and HBO, the series premiered last night on ABC1 to a total audience, inclusive of regional ratings, of 1.27 million.  Memorable quotes and buzz words from the show were already trending on Twitter shortly after the first episode aired; particularly the term ‘quiche’ which Ja’mie uses to describe someone who is especially attractive, or in her words, “better than hot.” Some critics sang the Hillford Girls’ Grammar School Captain’s praise, such as David Mills from the Herald Sun, who wrote, “It was vintage Ja’mie: narcissistic, offensive, bullying and hilarious.”  Debi Enker of The Age admired Lilley for his ability to captivate us with abhorrent characters we love to hate, but whom we then feel for as their worlds begin to fall apart. “That’s part of his genius. Even with characters as contemptible as Ja’mie, he guides us to engage with their wrong-headed exploits,” she wrote, and concluded, “Over the years and through an array of series, we’ve become accustomed to Lilley’s edgy creations and extraordinary transformations, and perhaps we’re no longer dazzled by them. But we should be.” However, many critics also expressed concern about the series lacking a balance of light and shade, wondering whether or not Ja’mie might just be too mean to stomach without the contrast of a variety of characters alongside her.  From The Guardian, Rob Moran considered Ja’mie way too cruel this time around, calling her a “teenage Medusa” and claiming that “Ja’mie’s all-encompassing nastiness could become this series’ biggest obstacle.” A fan of Lilley’s, Ben Pobjie, also of The Age, named him “one of the most brilliant comedic minds and greatest actors Australia has produced,” however, Pobjie felt as though the character of Ja’mie has already reached her full potential and may not have enough comedic power to carry a series alone. He writes, “It looks like Private School Girlis the same old mannerisms, the same old situations, the same old teen-grotesque routine.”  Ja’mie: Private School Girl airs on ABC1 on Wednesday nights at 9pm.

Published by IF magazine

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Signature Shades

Hollywood was onto a sure thing when Steve McQueen landed his debut film role alongside Paul Newman. He joined actors like Newman, James Dean and Marlon Brando as the new antiheroes of the silver screen. Straight out of the Marines to become a student of Strasberg's, McQueen was pure daredevil who lived for himself and answered to nobody. Tamed for a time by Ali MacGraw, he was rough around the edges and the personification of '60s cool. 

We lost this legend too soon, but his legacy remains in the iconic set of shades he adored so much - the Persol PO 714 SM's - which first became his favourites on the set of The Thomas Crown Affair in 1968. Persol has now released a special Steve McQueen edition of the blue lensed, collapsable sunglasses which, through their allegiance with the Great Escape artist himself, have gained immortality. 

Published by RUSSH 

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Off Duty

Soft cotton blazers paired with track pants too chic to limit to days on the couch and easy prints are the stalwarts in Viktoria+Woods' SS 13 collection. It's sports luxe in peak condition, with comfort as the star player.

Published by RUSSH

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Double Digits

Tenth birthdays are worth a celebration. The aptly titled Ten Years of Monster Children Magazine is three hundred pages of the best stories, photographs and artworks that have been seen, read and loved throughout the decade long existence of Monster Children magazine. Emerging from Sydney back in 2003 as an alternative to other action sports publications in the market, Monster Children has grown to have offices in L.A. and New York City, with its first US edition launched in 2010.

To keep the party going, they are collaborating with a handful of their favourite brands such as Chocolate, RVCA, Incase and MAKR to create a range of limited edition items due for release throughout the course of the year. Co-founder Campbell Milligan seems sufficiently surprised with his project's longevity, saying at the magazine's birthday party in Sydney: "Here's to the next ten months." 

Published by RUSSH