In 2003, just as the first bombs were about to hit Baghdad, Natalie Maines, lead singer of the Dixie Chicks, announced to a London audience that she was ashamed that President Bush came from Texas. Whoops, cheers and applause. But Maines’ joking protest sparked outrage across America. Radio stations stopped playing the Chicks’ music, fans trashed their CDs and Maines herself received death threats. So much for freedom of speech.
This excellent documentary by Barbara Kopple (who gave us the brilliant Woody Allen music doco Wild Man Blues) charts the three year journey of the Chicks. We see the three spunky gals go from being chart-topping Country Western superstars, to reviled pariahs. Finally, there’s their reinvention as tortured artists who write their own heartfelt songs that transcend genre boundaries.
The beauty of this film lies in its portrait of a trio of sexy, talented, outspoken women who refuse to be silenced. They stand united and make their music – all the while managing their multi-million dollar ‘brand’, their marriages and their young children – seven between them. Yes, there’s swagger and bravado here – particularly from the fabulously charismatic Maines. But mostly, its just ego-free honesty and true courage. Good old-fashioned American values.
Rochelle Siemienowicz
Monday, 30 July 2007
Thursday, 26 July 2007
I Have Never Forgotten You
For decades Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal was a regular figure on the world stage, a constant reminder of the need to bring war criminals to justice. A one-time architect who was sent to the Nazi concentration camps and lost his entire family bar his wife there, he spent the rest of his life working from a small office in Vienna collecting information on war criminal sightings and publicising the need to keep vigilant.
This thorough biography benefits enormously from the many televised interviews Wiesenthal gave in the latter part of his life, and slightly less enormously from a limp
narration by Nicole Kidman. For a documentary made by the Simon Wiesenthal Center this is refreshingly honest about its subject, especially regarding the various controversies that surrounded Wiesenthal’s work.
His refusal to condemn Austrian leader Kurt Waldheim and his mistakes regarding the death of Josef Mengele may have damaged his credibility in some eyes, but their inclusion here only strengthens this portrait of a engaging man driven by a desire for justice it’s hard not to admire. Plus conspiracy buffs should enjoy how almost every Nazi Wiesenthal identified who managed to escape confinement died very, very soon afterwards of a heart attack.
Anthony Morris
This thorough biography benefits enormously from the many televised interviews Wiesenthal gave in the latter part of his life, and slightly less enormously from a limp
narration by Nicole Kidman. For a documentary made by the Simon Wiesenthal Center this is refreshingly honest about its subject, especially regarding the various controversies that surrounded Wiesenthal’s work.
His refusal to condemn Austrian leader Kurt Waldheim and his mistakes regarding the death of Josef Mengele may have damaged his credibility in some eyes, but their inclusion here only strengthens this portrait of a engaging man driven by a desire for justice it’s hard not to admire. Plus conspiracy buffs should enjoy how almost every Nazi Wiesenthal identified who managed to escape confinement died very, very soon afterwards of a heart attack.
Anthony Morris
Monday, 2 April 2007
God on my Side
Fans of Andrew Denton's pre-Enough Rope comedy work could be forgiven for expecting God on my Side to be a savage comedy take-down of the Religious Right. But Denton's moved one since then, and this restrained effort isn't interested in making fun of the often extreme and sometimes unsettling views held by those visiting the 63rd National Religious Broadcaster's Convention at the Gaylord Convention Centre in Dallas, Texas. Rather, a respectful and subdued Denton comes to them with a genuine interest in finding out what makes these committed Christians tick, and in the process comes away with a lot more insight into what motivates the people who put George Bush into power twice than he would have uncovered by cracking jokes. Denton's visit to the 2006 NRB convention was originally meant for an episode of Enough Rope (only in post-production was it expanded into Denton's first ever feature-length documentary) and it's limited origins show in this 75 minute film's slow start and video-quality footage. But Denton's gentle questioning of Bible salesmen, evangelists, religious sculptors, marketing experts and Mumps the preaching puppet, eventually gets to the heart of the matter: seeing the near-universal condemnation of all other personal choices on the grounds that they're '"not God's way" pure and simple is chilling viewing.
Anthony Morris
Wednesday, 22 November 2006
Borat:Cultural learnings of America for make benefit of glorious nation of Kazakhstan
In case you’ve been buried alive for the last month, Kazakhstan journalist Borat is the creation of UK comedian Sasha Baron Cohen. He’s a guileless anti-Semite who asks shocking questions under cover of coming from a land where they don't know any better. Until now he’s been confined to short sketches in Cohen's various Ali G TV series; given eighty minutes to stretch out in, he’s created the funniest film of the year.
The plot sends Borat from his cartoony homeland to New York to make a documentary. There he falls in love with Pamela Anderson and travels cross-country to California to make her his wife. It’s a thin justification for a series of stunning skits in which Borat mocks both cultural stereotypes and clueless Americans. But as the film goes on it becomes increasingly difficult to tell the staged moments from the real ones, giving the film a giddy feel unlike other reality prank films.
Clearly some moments are too bizarre to be ‘real’ - but where do you draw the line? Time and again you’re left wondering if you really saw what you thought you did. Which makes for a great excuse to see this hysterical film again.
Anthony Morris
The plot sends Borat from his cartoony homeland to New York to make a documentary. There he falls in love with Pamela Anderson and travels cross-country to California to make her his wife. It’s a thin justification for a series of stunning skits in which Borat mocks both cultural stereotypes and clueless Americans. But as the film goes on it becomes increasingly difficult to tell the staged moments from the real ones, giving the film a giddy feel unlike other reality prank films.
Clearly some moments are too bizarre to be ‘real’ - but where do you draw the line? Time and again you’re left wondering if you really saw what you thought you did. Which makes for a great excuse to see this hysterical film again.
Anthony Morris
Friday, 6 January 2006
Macbeth
If the only goal director Geoffrey Wright had for his movie career was to make a classic piece of Australian cinema, he could have retired after his debut feature Romper Stomper. For most cinema-goers, he did: after his uneven follow-up Metal Skin he headed to Hollywood, where a string of bad luck saw a decade pass with only the quirky teen horror Cherry Falls to his name. Returning to Australia and low-budget film-making for a version of Macbeth set in Melbourne’s underworld, many wondered whether he could still make a film with the power and intelligence seen in Romper Stomper. Here’s the short answer: yes.
This is a Macbeth where the witches are sexy schoolgirls who appear on a nightclub dancefloor shrouded in mist from a smoke-machine and Macbeth’s downfall comes in the form of a Scarface-style gun battle. But though the setting is a glamourous gangster’s paradise the story remains the same: driven by ambition, his wife (Victoria Hill), and the fortellings of three witches, Macbeth (Sam Worthington) murders his boss Duncan (Gary Sweet) and sets himself up in his place, only to see his kingdom crumble into suspicion and bloodshed that leads all-too-swiftly to his own downfall.
It’s not just the plot that’s unchanged; these gun-toting mobsters in flashy suits speak Shakespeare’s original dialogue in a bravura move that, thanks to the cast’s natural range of Aussie accents, doesn’t always pay off. Wright’s clearly gone for attitude in his casting – a Macbeth with Gary Sweet as Duncan is a version not afraid to admit it’s going for a certain kind of mood – and it gives the film a rough-edged energy that’s all too often absent from Australian film.
Worthington grows into his role as the film goes on; by the final battle he brings off a leather kilt like he was born to it. Equally powerful is Lachy Hulme’s slow burn as Macduff, while Hill as Lady Macbeth is equally adept at ruthless ambition and crippling madness. But the biggest surprise – and perhaps the film’s most impressive performance – comes from Mick Molloy. Cast against type as a creepy and brutal murderer, he brings real menace to every scene he’s in.
Wright isn’t quite back to his Romper Stomper form here. Some scenes don’t quite work, and the play’s somber mood doesn’t always gel with the high energy approach this version takes. But Wright’s Macbeth has energy and passion to spare; whatever its flaws, films like this are too rare to pass by.
Anthony Morris
(this review appeared in The Big Issue)
This is a Macbeth where the witches are sexy schoolgirls who appear on a nightclub dancefloor shrouded in mist from a smoke-machine and Macbeth’s downfall comes in the form of a Scarface-style gun battle. But though the setting is a glamourous gangster’s paradise the story remains the same: driven by ambition, his wife (Victoria Hill), and the fortellings of three witches, Macbeth (Sam Worthington) murders his boss Duncan (Gary Sweet) and sets himself up in his place, only to see his kingdom crumble into suspicion and bloodshed that leads all-too-swiftly to his own downfall.
It’s not just the plot that’s unchanged; these gun-toting mobsters in flashy suits speak Shakespeare’s original dialogue in a bravura move that, thanks to the cast’s natural range of Aussie accents, doesn’t always pay off. Wright’s clearly gone for attitude in his casting – a Macbeth with Gary Sweet as Duncan is a version not afraid to admit it’s going for a certain kind of mood – and it gives the film a rough-edged energy that’s all too often absent from Australian film.
Worthington grows into his role as the film goes on; by the final battle he brings off a leather kilt like he was born to it. Equally powerful is Lachy Hulme’s slow burn as Macduff, while Hill as Lady Macbeth is equally adept at ruthless ambition and crippling madness. But the biggest surprise – and perhaps the film’s most impressive performance – comes from Mick Molloy. Cast against type as a creepy and brutal murderer, he brings real menace to every scene he’s in.
Wright isn’t quite back to his Romper Stomper form here. Some scenes don’t quite work, and the play’s somber mood doesn’t always gel with the high energy approach this version takes. But Wright’s Macbeth has energy and passion to spare; whatever its flaws, films like this are too rare to pass by.
Anthony Morris
(this review appeared in The Big Issue)
Friday, 2 December 2005
The Extra
Five years in the making - well, the writing at least - The Extra poses the cinematic question: how long do you really need to write a film this average? Sure, there's stuff to enjoy in this almost fairy-tale like story of a would-be actor (scriptwriter Jimeoin) who comes to the big city hoping to be a star but ends up as an extra / leather bar dancer who stumbles into both a (not-so-big) break and love. Jimeoin is a likeable screen presence, Bob Franklin as the shaven-headed night-club owner / movie buff villain deserved a larger role, and Shaun Micallef as a detective / host of a 'crime-stoppers'-style show is a highlight. Problem is, there's no real reason for his character to even be in this film, and he's not the only one. Worse, the story takes forever to get started, and when it does it's too bogged down in subplots and extra characters to really take off. On their own, some individual scenes work well (the romance between Jimeoin's un-named character and fellow extra Claudia seems to belong in a different, much better, movie), but they never come together as anything like a solid story. If The Extra was funnier, none of this would matter. But the laughs are few and far between, and the uneven tone suggests the film-makers weren't even sure how funny a film they wanted to make. Whatever they were aiming for, it must have been better than this.
Anthony Morris
Little Fish
If ever a film was crushed by the burden of big expectations, Little Fish is it. Directed by Rowan Woods (his first film since The Boys), and with Cate Blanchett (in her first local effort in years) heading up an all-star cast, this had hit written all over it. So what went wrong? Well, for a film that's beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, and has some really impressive sound design, it seems kind of strange that no-one ever asked if an audience really wanted to sit through a half-hour story dragged out to close to two hours. Basically ex-junkie Tracey Heart (Blanchett) wants to start her own business in Sydney's Vietnamese west but she can't get a loan. She hangs out with her mum's ex (Hugo Weaving), her brother (Martin Henderson) acts dodgy, her old boyfriend (21 Jump Street's Dustin Nguyen) returns after years away and wanders around a bit, and a retiring crime figure (Sam Neill) wonders what his right-hand man is up to. Sure, it's important for a movie to have interesting characters - and no-one here is boring - but they eventually have to do interesting things and that's where this falls down. Little Fish is yet another arty character study, and we just don't need any more right now.
Anthony Morris
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