On the JoBlo Movies YouTube channel, we will be posting one full movie every day of the week, giving viewers the chance to watch them entirely free of charge. The Free Movie of the Day we’re getting this week started with is a very cool one, as it happens to star Oscar-winner Russell Crowe! Crowe was born in New Zealand and got his start working on Australian projects – and today’s free movie, the 1997 crime thriller Heaven’s Burning, was the last Australian production he worked on for almost twenty years. You can check it out over on the JoBlo Movies YouTube channel, or you can just watch it in the embed at the top of this article.
Directed by Craig Lahiff from a screenplay by Louis Nowra, Heaven’s Burning has the following synopsis:
Thrown together amid chaos and violence, a man and a woman stumble upon unexpected passion.
Directed by Craig Lahiff from a screenplay by Louis Nowra, Heaven’s Burning has the following synopsis:
Thrown together amid chaos and violence, a man and a woman stumble upon unexpected passion.
- 11/10/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Hilary Linstead, the agent, casting director and film producer who launched Australia’s first talent agency, has died aged 83.
Talked of as a “force of nature” by industry friends, Linstead is considered to have nurtured many of Australia’s most successful stage, film and TV talents, and is known for discovering Rome and Juliet director Baz Luhrmann among others, representing him and the likes of Power of the Dog director Jane Campion, Gillian Armstrong (Little Women) and Adelaide festival joint artistic director Neil Armfield.
Linstead was born in London in 1938 but moved to Australia to become an actress. However, she soon switched to become a casting director and worked at International Casting Services representing actresses. She then teamed with Liz Mullinar to form M&l Casting Consultants, which led casting on productions such as Rocky Horror Show and Jesus Christ Superstar and Australian film classics such as Picnic at Hanging Rock.
Talked of as a “force of nature” by industry friends, Linstead is considered to have nurtured many of Australia’s most successful stage, film and TV talents, and is known for discovering Rome and Juliet director Baz Luhrmann among others, representing him and the likes of Power of the Dog director Jane Campion, Gillian Armstrong (Little Women) and Adelaide festival joint artistic director Neil Armfield.
Linstead was born in London in 1938 but moved to Australia to become an actress. However, she soon switched to become a casting director and worked at International Casting Services representing actresses. She then teamed with Liz Mullinar to form M&l Casting Consultants, which led casting on productions such as Rocky Horror Show and Jesus Christ Superstar and Australian film classics such as Picnic at Hanging Rock.
- 8/18/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Anni Browning accepts the 2017 Spa Award to Film Finances for Best Service and Facilities.
In 22 years with Film Finances Australasia, Anni Browning experienced numerous highs and faced a few challenges as the cinema industry ebbed and flowed.
Browning, who has stepped down as MD of the completion bond company but is still a consultant, supported Rachel Perkins’ debut feature Radiance.
She took one of her biggest risks on a Rolf de Heer movie, which she counts as one of her proudest achievements.
The biggest trend during her time has been the proliferation of low budget films, despite the need to pay crews and allocate reasonable money for post- production. Film Finances bonded a lot of films budgeted at $1 million- $1.5 million and one-off feature docs costing as little as $100,000- $200,000.
One thing which has not remained constant is the insurance bond premium. When she started it was as high as 6 per cent of the budget.
In 22 years with Film Finances Australasia, Anni Browning experienced numerous highs and faced a few challenges as the cinema industry ebbed and flowed.
Browning, who has stepped down as MD of the completion bond company but is still a consultant, supported Rachel Perkins’ debut feature Radiance.
She took one of her biggest risks on a Rolf de Heer movie, which she counts as one of her proudest achievements.
The biggest trend during her time has been the proliferation of low budget films, despite the need to pay crews and allocate reasonable money for post- production. Film Finances bonded a lot of films budgeted at $1 million- $1.5 million and one-off feature docs costing as little as $100,000- $200,000.
One thing which has not remained constant is the insurance bond premium. When she started it was as high as 6 per cent of the budget.
- 7/7/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Sir John Monash.
Producers Helen Leake and Gena Ashwell and director Bruce Beresford aim to start shooting Monash, a biopic of Sir John Monash, hailed by many as the foremost Allied military commander in World War 1, in Europe in the northern spring.
The screenplay is by Louis Nowra, who started collaborating with Leake in 2012. Beresford joined the project in the middle of last year.
Leake and her Dancing Road Productions partner Ashwell have secured investment from the UK and France and are confident of raising the rest of the budget in Australia, including the Producer Offset.
They plan to start shooting in France and England next May/June with a high-profile ensemble cast of Aussies and Brits. Screen Australia has provided story development funding.
Explaining the rationale for the film, Leake tells If: “Monash was a winner, a hero, unlike the Gallipoli story which was about loss. As Bruce said,...
Producers Helen Leake and Gena Ashwell and director Bruce Beresford aim to start shooting Monash, a biopic of Sir John Monash, hailed by many as the foremost Allied military commander in World War 1, in Europe in the northern spring.
The screenplay is by Louis Nowra, who started collaborating with Leake in 2012. Beresford joined the project in the middle of last year.
Leake and her Dancing Road Productions partner Ashwell have secured investment from the UK and France and are confident of raising the rest of the budget in Australia, including the Producer Offset.
They plan to start shooting in France and England next May/June with a high-profile ensemble cast of Aussies and Brits. Screen Australia has provided story development funding.
Explaining the rationale for the film, Leake tells If: “Monash was a winner, a hero, unlike the Gallipoli story which was about loss. As Bruce said,...
- 5/31/2019
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
‘Away.’
Grant Dodwell and his partners in Australian National Theatre Live are building a business by screening films of live performances of plays in cinemas across the country.
Dodwell, fellow actor Raj Sidhu and former journalist, ABC and Nine Network executive producer Peter Hiscock launched the company in 2016 after receiving a federal government catalyst grant.
Their first production, Liberty Equality Fraternity by Mother & Son’s Geoffrey Atherden screened in cinemas in 2016.
That was followed by David Williamson’s Emerald City, the 15th anniversary edition of the Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf Revue, Rumpelstiltskin, a kids’ musical by Rosemary Myers and Julianne O′Brien, and The Dapto Chaser, a comedy about a greyhound racing family by Mary Rachel Brown.
For the first time they are partnering this month with Dendy Cinemas and the Independent Cinemas Association to show the Stc/Malthouse Theatre revival of Michael Gow’s Away.
ANTLive filmed the 1960s-set play,...
Grant Dodwell and his partners in Australian National Theatre Live are building a business by screening films of live performances of plays in cinemas across the country.
Dodwell, fellow actor Raj Sidhu and former journalist, ABC and Nine Network executive producer Peter Hiscock launched the company in 2016 after receiving a federal government catalyst grant.
Their first production, Liberty Equality Fraternity by Mother & Son’s Geoffrey Atherden screened in cinemas in 2016.
That was followed by David Williamson’s Emerald City, the 15th anniversary edition of the Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf Revue, Rumpelstiltskin, a kids’ musical by Rosemary Myers and Julianne O′Brien, and The Dapto Chaser, a comedy about a greyhound racing family by Mary Rachel Brown.
For the first time they are partnering this month with Dendy Cinemas and the Independent Cinemas Association to show the Stc/Malthouse Theatre revival of Michael Gow’s Away.
ANTLive filmed the 1960s-set play,...
- 11/5/2018
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Emma Slade, Steve Kearney, Briget Callow-Wright heading for the UK’s Production Finance Market.
Sales agents from across the world yesterday voted New Zealand’s Emma Slade as the producer at the 37º South Market who most deserves a spot at the UK’s Production Finance Market (Pfm) in October, plus $1,860 (A$2,000) in travel assistance.
Runner-ups Steve Kearney and Bridget Callow-Wright from Australia also won places – but no cash.
Organizers said 2,203 meetings were held as part of the eighth edition of the co-financing film market, which is part of the business arm of the Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff).
Slade will be seeking a sales agent for The Love Of Humankind, the lead project in her slate, during her visit to London.
The “vodka-fuelled tragicomedy about unrequited love” is to be directed by comedian Danny Mulheron (Fresh Meat) from a script by he and Brian Sergent.
Based on a stage play, her one-liner...
Sales agents from across the world yesterday voted New Zealand’s Emma Slade as the producer at the 37º South Market who most deserves a spot at the UK’s Production Finance Market (Pfm) in October, plus $1,860 (A$2,000) in travel assistance.
Runner-ups Steve Kearney and Bridget Callow-Wright from Australia also won places – but no cash.
Organizers said 2,203 meetings were held as part of the eighth edition of the co-financing film market, which is part of the business arm of the Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff).
Slade will be seeking a sales agent for The Love Of Humankind, the lead project in her slate, during her visit to London.
The “vodka-fuelled tragicomedy about unrequited love” is to be directed by comedian Danny Mulheron (Fresh Meat) from a script by he and Brian Sergent.
Based on a stage play, her one-liner...
- 8/4/2014
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
Craig Lahiff, director/writer and producer and one of the pillars of the South Australian screen industry, died in Adelaide on Sunday after a short illness. He was 66.
His final film, Swerve, a thriller about an honest guy who stumbles upon a suitcase of money and a decapitated body on a desert highway, starring David Lyons, Jason Clarke and Emma Booth, was released in Australian cinemas in 2012 and was sold to the Us and the UK.
Helen Leake produced three films with Lahiff: Heaven.s Burning, Black and White and Swerve. .Renowned for his calmness and quiet persuasion in all aspects of his work Craig brought to all of his films a very clear vision that he imparted to all his collaborators,. she said. .Long-time friend Louis Nowra recalls Craig.s .grace under pressure. as a director, and all his colleagues found his craft skills and technical understanding of all...
His final film, Swerve, a thriller about an honest guy who stumbles upon a suitcase of money and a decapitated body on a desert highway, starring David Lyons, Jason Clarke and Emma Booth, was released in Australian cinemas in 2012 and was sold to the Us and the UK.
Helen Leake produced three films with Lahiff: Heaven.s Burning, Black and White and Swerve. .Renowned for his calmness and quiet persuasion in all aspects of his work Craig brought to all of his films a very clear vision that he imparted to all his collaborators,. she said. .Long-time friend Louis Nowra recalls Craig.s .grace under pressure. as a director, and all his colleagues found his craft skills and technical understanding of all...
- 2/3/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
The Australian Writers’ Guild held its annual awards ceremony on Friday 24 August. The Sapphires and screenwriters Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson won most outstanding script. Michael Lucas won two awards, in the feature film original category for Not Suitable For Children and in the TV series category for an episode of Offspring.
The announcement:
The 45th Annual Australian Writers’ Guild Awgie Awards were held on Friday 24th August at Doltone House in Sydney. The only Australian scriptwriting awards judged solely by writers on the basis of the script recognised a new crop of creative talent bringing Australian stories to our screens and stages.
The best of Australian performance writing across feature films, theatre, television, radio, interactive and animation were celebrated at a star-studded affair at Doltone House in Sydney last night as part of the golden 50-year anniversary of the Australian Writers’ Guild. The awards were hosted by iconic Australian...
The announcement:
The 45th Annual Australian Writers’ Guild Awgie Awards were held on Friday 24th August at Doltone House in Sydney. The only Australian scriptwriting awards judged solely by writers on the basis of the script recognised a new crop of creative talent bringing Australian stories to our screens and stages.
The best of Australian performance writing across feature films, theatre, television, radio, interactive and animation were celebrated at a star-studded affair at Doltone House in Sydney last night as part of the golden 50-year anniversary of the Australian Writers’ Guild. The awards were hosted by iconic Australian...
- 8/28/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
The 45th annual Australian Writer.s Guild Awgie Awards, held at Doltone House in Sydney, have honoured local productions including The Sapphires, Not Suitable for Children and The Slap.
Hosted by Roy and Hg.s John Doyle, the event was attended by key industry figures and featured Australian writing talent from across film, theatre, television, radio and animation.
Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson work on The Sapphires earned them an Awgie Award for Most Outstanding Script of 2012 and another for best Feature Film Adaption. Up-and-comer Michael Lucas also collected two awards, for an episode of the television show Offspring and in the Feature Film Original category for Not Suitable For Children.
The teams behind The Slap and The Straits won AWGIEs for Best Mini Series Adaption and Television Mini Series . Original respectively. Brides of Christ and The Leaving of Liverpool scribe Susan Smith cemented her place as a Australian scriptwriting...
Hosted by Roy and Hg.s John Doyle, the event was attended by key industry figures and featured Australian writing talent from across film, theatre, television, radio and animation.
Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson work on The Sapphires earned them an Awgie Award for Most Outstanding Script of 2012 and another for best Feature Film Adaption. Up-and-comer Michael Lucas also collected two awards, for an episode of the television show Offspring and in the Feature Film Original category for Not Suitable For Children.
The teams behind The Slap and The Straits won AWGIEs for Best Mini Series Adaption and Television Mini Series . Original respectively. Brides of Christ and The Leaving of Liverpool scribe Susan Smith cemented her place as a Australian scriptwriting...
- 8/27/2012
- by Anthony Soegito
- IF.com.au
Peter Andrikidis is one of Australia's most respected directors. The Straits marks the third series where he has worked with rising talent Aaron Fa.Aoso, and the first to be based on aspects of his life.
.He.s had a pretty hard life . he.s got a lot to say,. Andrikidis says, who first worked with Fa'Aoso on crime series East West 101 and the soon-to-be released bikie telemovie Brothers in Arms.
"Aaron.s grown so much from East West one to East West three . he.s just learnt so much. He.s like a sponge and he just keeps getting better and better. Certainly, with this character [Noel Montebello] there.s a balance of humour and also, he has a heavy touch as well, so getting the tone of the show right was the big thing with all that cast, so it.s not corny stuff and it still has dramatic levels.
.He.s had a pretty hard life . he.s got a lot to say,. Andrikidis says, who first worked with Fa'Aoso on crime series East West 101 and the soon-to-be released bikie telemovie Brothers in Arms.
"Aaron.s grown so much from East West one to East West three . he.s just learnt so much. He.s like a sponge and he just keeps getting better and better. Certainly, with this character [Noel Montebello] there.s a balance of humour and also, he has a heavy touch as well, so getting the tone of the show right was the big thing with all that cast, so it.s not corny stuff and it still has dramatic levels.
- 2/7/2012
- by Brendan Swift
- IF.com.au
ABC’s new series The Straits has had a slow ratings start to its ten episode run.
Produced by Matchbox Pictures, producers of last year’s success The Slap, The Straits movie length premiere averaged 599,000, peaking at 696,000 viewers last night, according to preliminary ratings by Oztam.
Matchbox Pictures’ creative director Penny Chapman spoke to Encore in January: “It’s the violence and the black humour that is going to make this pretty special. I’ve not made a show like this – maybe blue murder but the Straits’ humour is quite enjoyable. Young men respond to it strongly. It’s a real blokes show. And for the ABC that’s great because young men don’t watch the ABC.”
The Straits is based on an idea by Aaron Fa’aoso which has been developed by a team of writers, including: AFI winning Louis Nowra (Cosi, K-19: The Widowmaker, Radiance); Blake Ayshford (Crownies,...
Produced by Matchbox Pictures, producers of last year’s success The Slap, The Straits movie length premiere averaged 599,000, peaking at 696,000 viewers last night, according to preliminary ratings by Oztam.
Matchbox Pictures’ creative director Penny Chapman spoke to Encore in January: “It’s the violence and the black humour that is going to make this pretty special. I’ve not made a show like this – maybe blue murder but the Straits’ humour is quite enjoyable. Young men respond to it strongly. It’s a real blokes show. And for the ABC that’s great because young men don’t watch the ABC.”
The Straits is based on an idea by Aaron Fa’aoso which has been developed by a team of writers, including: AFI winning Louis Nowra (Cosi, K-19: The Widowmaker, Radiance); Blake Ayshford (Crownies,...
- 2/3/2012
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
ABC1′s new 10 hour drama, The Straits, produced by Matchbox Films’ Penny Chapman and Helen Panckhurst begins shooting today. Scottish actor Brian Cox (The Bourne Supremacy, Troy, Braveheart) joins the troupe of Australian actors assembling in Cairns and Torres Strait Islands.
The Montebello family are Far North Queensland’s Corleones, running drugs into Australia and guns and exotic animals out with ambitious bikies in Australia and Papau New Guinean raskols across the Strait also wanting a piece of the action. Cox plays Patriach Harry Montebello, with actress Rena Owen playing his part Torres Strait Island, part Maori wife, Kitty.
Joining Cox and Owen in the cast will be AFI Nominated Aaron Fa’aoso (East West 101, Ran), Logie winner Firass Dirani (Underbelly, Pitch Black) as well as new Australian talent; Jimi Bani (Ran, The Sapphires) and Suzannah Bayes-Morton (All Saints, The Tumbler), who together play the Montebello’s children.
In a statement,...
The Montebello family are Far North Queensland’s Corleones, running drugs into Australia and guns and exotic animals out with ambitious bikies in Australia and Papau New Guinean raskols across the Strait also wanting a piece of the action. Cox plays Patriach Harry Montebello, with actress Rena Owen playing his part Torres Strait Island, part Maori wife, Kitty.
Joining Cox and Owen in the cast will be AFI Nominated Aaron Fa’aoso (East West 101, Ran), Logie winner Firass Dirani (Underbelly, Pitch Black) as well as new Australian talent; Jimi Bani (Ran, The Sapphires) and Suzannah Bayes-Morton (All Saints, The Tumbler), who together play the Montebello’s children.
In a statement,...
- 6/14/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
The Nsw Government has used almost a quarter of its recently announced $25m budget for the film industry to fund five features, four TV series, one telemovie, 12 docos and one cross-platform project.
The projects include Mei Mei, an Australia/China co-production starring Guy Pearce, and The Hunter, with American actor Willem Dafoe.
The biggest winner is Joanna Werner’s children’s drama Dance Academy, with $500,000 towards production of season two.
Vincent Sheehan’s production The Hunter will be shot in Tasmania and China, with a majority of crew from Nsw and post-production also taking place in this state – it will receive $400,000 from the Government.
The production expenditure of these projects is expected to reach $62m.
These are the projects receiving funds from the Nsw Government in this round:
Features
Mei-mei
Production Company: Portal Pictures Finance: $200,000 Writers: Martin Edmond, Pauline Chan, Philip Dalkin. Producers: Penny Carl-Nelson, Pauline Chan, Lesley Stevens,...
The projects include Mei Mei, an Australia/China co-production starring Guy Pearce, and The Hunter, with American actor Willem Dafoe.
The biggest winner is Joanna Werner’s children’s drama Dance Academy, with $500,000 towards production of season two.
Vincent Sheehan’s production The Hunter will be shot in Tasmania and China, with a majority of crew from Nsw and post-production also taking place in this state – it will receive $400,000 from the Government.
The production expenditure of these projects is expected to reach $62m.
These are the projects receiving funds from the Nsw Government in this round:
Features
Mei-mei
Production Company: Portal Pictures Finance: $200,000 Writers: Martin Edmond, Pauline Chan, Philip Dalkin. Producers: Penny Carl-Nelson, Pauline Chan, Lesley Stevens,...
- 8/4/2010
- by Miguel Gonzalez
- Encore Magazine
Venue: Sydney Film Festival
In the stunning docu-drama "Rain of the Children", New Zealand-born filmmaker Vincent Ward revisits the past to unravel a mystery that's niggled at him for three decades. Here meticulous research reveals the family secrets burdening the stooped old Maori woman who was, in fact, the subject of Ward's 1978 observational film "In Spring One Plants Alone". It's a masterful companion piece -- a kind of marathon director's cut -- but it also stands alone as a haunting historical epic. "Rain" is guaranteed a warm Art House reception.
Ward introduces us to his 21-year-old self with amusement. Back then he was an earnest art student, who lived with 80-year-old Puhi and her mentally ill adult son, Niki, in the remote ranges of New Zealand's north island. He recorded striking images of this old woman scratching out a lonely existence and fussing over her son. But he sensed a troubling undercurrent and, 30 years later, set out to discover what it was she was trying to chase away with her ceaseless praying.
Combining early photographs, personal narration, interviews with descendants of her tribe and gloriously shot re-enactments, Ward paints a portrait of a remarkable woman who believed she was cursed -- and for good reason.
After being chosen by the Maori prophet Rua Kenana to marry his son, she fell pregnant at the age of 14. Over the years, she had another 13 children, all but one of whom either died or was taken from her. Niki was her only surviving child.
It's a tragic tale, compelling in its personal detail and almost mythic in its sweep. As he showed in "Map of the Human Heart", Ward is a romantic, but here he undertakes an almost forensic exploration of both rational and mystical interpretations.
Is Puhi cursed, as much of her tribe believes, or the victim of bad luck? Was her son brain-damaged in an accident or truly visited by demons? Ward communicates through grand gestures and indelible images: The stark beauty of a White Horse standing watch over a suddenly orphaned Niki is not soon forgotten.
Production companies: Wayward Films, Forward Films and Vincent Ward Films. Cast: Puhi Tatu, Niki Takao, Temuera Morrison, Rena Owen, Miriama Rangi. Director: Vincent Ward. Screenwriters: Vincent Ward, Alison Carter and Louis Nowra. Producers: Margaret Slater, Tainui Stephens and Vincent Ward. Director of photography: Adam Clark, Leon Narbey. Production designer: Shayne Radford. Music: Jack Body and John Gibson. Costume designer: Pauline Bowkett, Gavin McLean. Editor: Chris Plummer. Sales agent: New Zealand Film Commission/Rialto.
No MPAA rating, 98 minutes.
In the stunning docu-drama "Rain of the Children", New Zealand-born filmmaker Vincent Ward revisits the past to unravel a mystery that's niggled at him for three decades. Here meticulous research reveals the family secrets burdening the stooped old Maori woman who was, in fact, the subject of Ward's 1978 observational film "In Spring One Plants Alone". It's a masterful companion piece -- a kind of marathon director's cut -- but it also stands alone as a haunting historical epic. "Rain" is guaranteed a warm Art House reception.
Ward introduces us to his 21-year-old self with amusement. Back then he was an earnest art student, who lived with 80-year-old Puhi and her mentally ill adult son, Niki, in the remote ranges of New Zealand's north island. He recorded striking images of this old woman scratching out a lonely existence and fussing over her son. But he sensed a troubling undercurrent and, 30 years later, set out to discover what it was she was trying to chase away with her ceaseless praying.
Combining early photographs, personal narration, interviews with descendants of her tribe and gloriously shot re-enactments, Ward paints a portrait of a remarkable woman who believed she was cursed -- and for good reason.
After being chosen by the Maori prophet Rua Kenana to marry his son, she fell pregnant at the age of 14. Over the years, she had another 13 children, all but one of whom either died or was taken from her. Niki was her only surviving child.
It's a tragic tale, compelling in its personal detail and almost mythic in its sweep. As he showed in "Map of the Human Heart", Ward is a romantic, but here he undertakes an almost forensic exploration of both rational and mystical interpretations.
Is Puhi cursed, as much of her tribe believes, or the victim of bad luck? Was her son brain-damaged in an accident or truly visited by demons? Ward communicates through grand gestures and indelible images: The stark beauty of a White Horse standing watch over a suddenly orphaned Niki is not soon forgotten.
Production companies: Wayward Films, Forward Films and Vincent Ward Films. Cast: Puhi Tatu, Niki Takao, Temuera Morrison, Rena Owen, Miriama Rangi. Director: Vincent Ward. Screenwriters: Vincent Ward, Alison Carter and Louis Nowra. Producers: Margaret Slater, Tainui Stephens and Vincent Ward. Director of photography: Adam Clark, Leon Narbey. Production designer: Shayne Radford. Music: Jack Body and John Gibson. Costume designer: Pauline Bowkett, Gavin McLean. Editor: Chris Plummer. Sales agent: New Zealand Film Commission/Rialto.
No MPAA rating, 98 minutes.
- 6/30/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Opened Friday Jan. 9
LONDON -- In a remote desert town in South Australia in 1958, a 9-year-old girl is found raped and murdered. On the flimsiest evidence, local police almost immediately arrest a young Aboriginal man and obtain a confession. Only the efforts of a stubborn, inexperienced Adelaide lawyer stand between the accused and the hangman.
Craig Lahiff's sturdy courtroom drama "Black and White", based on real events, follows a predictable path and is unlikely to make substantial gains at the boxoffice, but it's a laudable effort and certain to please fans of Robert Carlyle.
The "Full Monty" star plays obstinate lawyer David O'Sullivan, whose dislike of the antiquated British-based Australian judiciary drives him to take seriously a case he's obliged to take without a fee. He quickly learns that the Aboriginal, Max Stuart, played with unsentimental grace by David Ngoombujarra, is illiterate and put his mark on a confession he couldn't read.
When it turns out that Curtis was in police custody for being drunk at the time the murder took place, it appears that a dismissal is inevitable. But the pathologist changes her mind and fixes the death outside the time frame of his alibi.
Only when he's sent for trial does Curtis claim that the police beat him in order to obtain the confession. By now, O'Sullivan is going head-to-head with a pillar of the judicial establishment, Roderic Chamberlain, played with typical elegance and power by Charles Dance.
More evidence emerges that tends to suggest Curtis' innocence when a compassionate priest becomes involved, but Curtis is convicted and sentenced to hang. O'Sullivan's fight to win appeals goes all the way up to a Royal Commission, putting Curtis near the hangman's door seven times, while the local newspaper -- published by one Rupert Murdoch -- gets on the bandwagon to defend him.
Ben Mendelsohn plays the young Murdoch as a callow opportunist, and the film suggests that his enthusiasm for the campaign swiftly ended when he was threatened with prosecution for seditious libel.
The film dips a toe into the role of newspapers influencing trials but drops it as a topic to focus on O'Sullivan's class struggle with Chamberlain. Screenwriter Louis Nowra and director Lahiff develop that theme effectively and take the trouble to invest Chamberlain with considerable human dimension.
There is a clever scene in which the aristocratic hopeful for the chief justice's chair snarls out his view of the case to his wife and their genteel friends, sparing them no brutal detail of the rape and murder as he believes they happened.
O'Sullivan runs into almost uniformly supercilious representatives of the British legal establishment, however, all with condescending stares and snooty voices. But the lawyer's dependence on his reluctant but loyal partner, played sympathetically by Kerry Fox, is well drawn, and at no point does Carlyle allow himself to showboat. His is a fully professional performance that shows no strain from the fact that he carries the film on his shoulders.
Lahiff shows little visual flair, and the film will fit nicely on the small screen. It's a grim tale not told in a grim way
an honorable argument not angry enough. A bit more of Chamberlain's superb self-belief might have given the piece a lot more power.
BLACK AND WHITE
Tartan Films
Credits:
Director: Craig Lahiff
Screenwriter: Louis Nowra
Producers: Helen Leake, Nik Powell
Director of photography: Geoffrey Simpson
Production designer: Murray Picknett
Costume designer: Annie Marshallp
Editor: Lee Smith
Cast:
David O'Sullivan: Robert Carlyle
Roderic Chamberlain: Charles Dance
Helen Devaney: Kerry Fox
Father Tom Dixon: Colin Friels
Rupert Murdoch: Ben Mendelsohn
Max Stuart: David Ngoombujarra
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating " />Shane McCutcheon: Katherine Moennig
Dana Fairbanks: Erin Daniels
Alice Pieszecki: Leisha Hailey
Kit Porter: Pam Grierppencott, David Vanacore, Mark T. Williams
Main title theme: The O-Jays
Casting: Rob LaPlante...
LONDON -- In a remote desert town in South Australia in 1958, a 9-year-old girl is found raped and murdered. On the flimsiest evidence, local police almost immediately arrest a young Aboriginal man and obtain a confession. Only the efforts of a stubborn, inexperienced Adelaide lawyer stand between the accused and the hangman.
Craig Lahiff's sturdy courtroom drama "Black and White", based on real events, follows a predictable path and is unlikely to make substantial gains at the boxoffice, but it's a laudable effort and certain to please fans of Robert Carlyle.
The "Full Monty" star plays obstinate lawyer David O'Sullivan, whose dislike of the antiquated British-based Australian judiciary drives him to take seriously a case he's obliged to take without a fee. He quickly learns that the Aboriginal, Max Stuart, played with unsentimental grace by David Ngoombujarra, is illiterate and put his mark on a confession he couldn't read.
When it turns out that Curtis was in police custody for being drunk at the time the murder took place, it appears that a dismissal is inevitable. But the pathologist changes her mind and fixes the death outside the time frame of his alibi.
Only when he's sent for trial does Curtis claim that the police beat him in order to obtain the confession. By now, O'Sullivan is going head-to-head with a pillar of the judicial establishment, Roderic Chamberlain, played with typical elegance and power by Charles Dance.
More evidence emerges that tends to suggest Curtis' innocence when a compassionate priest becomes involved, but Curtis is convicted and sentenced to hang. O'Sullivan's fight to win appeals goes all the way up to a Royal Commission, putting Curtis near the hangman's door seven times, while the local newspaper -- published by one Rupert Murdoch -- gets on the bandwagon to defend him.
Ben Mendelsohn plays the young Murdoch as a callow opportunist, and the film suggests that his enthusiasm for the campaign swiftly ended when he was threatened with prosecution for seditious libel.
The film dips a toe into the role of newspapers influencing trials but drops it as a topic to focus on O'Sullivan's class struggle with Chamberlain. Screenwriter Louis Nowra and director Lahiff develop that theme effectively and take the trouble to invest Chamberlain with considerable human dimension.
There is a clever scene in which the aristocratic hopeful for the chief justice's chair snarls out his view of the case to his wife and their genteel friends, sparing them no brutal detail of the rape and murder as he believes they happened.
O'Sullivan runs into almost uniformly supercilious representatives of the British legal establishment, however, all with condescending stares and snooty voices. But the lawyer's dependence on his reluctant but loyal partner, played sympathetically by Kerry Fox, is well drawn, and at no point does Carlyle allow himself to showboat. His is a fully professional performance that shows no strain from the fact that he carries the film on his shoulders.
Lahiff shows little visual flair, and the film will fit nicely on the small screen. It's a grim tale not told in a grim way
an honorable argument not angry enough. A bit more of Chamberlain's superb self-belief might have given the piece a lot more power.
BLACK AND WHITE
Tartan Films
Credits:
Director: Craig Lahiff
Screenwriter: Louis Nowra
Producers: Helen Leake, Nik Powell
Director of photography: Geoffrey Simpson
Production designer: Murray Picknett
Costume designer: Annie Marshallp
Editor: Lee Smith
Cast:
David O'Sullivan: Robert Carlyle
Roderic Chamberlain: Charles Dance
Helen Devaney: Kerry Fox
Father Tom Dixon: Colin Friels
Rupert Murdoch: Ben Mendelsohn
Max Stuart: David Ngoombujarra
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating " />Shane McCutcheon: Katherine Moennig
Dana Fairbanks: Erin Daniels
Alice Pieszecki: Leisha Hailey
Kit Porter: Pam Grierppencott, David Vanacore, Mark T. Williams
Main title theme: The O-Jays
Casting: Rob LaPlante...
"K-19: The Widowmaker" is an impressive achievement all around. At once a story about human folly and heroism, a historical near-miss, political and military brinksmanship and men displaying grace under pressure, this submarine drama earns the right to be favorably compared to "Das Boot", arguably the greatest of all submarine movies. The film provides juicy roles for top-billed Harrison Ford (who executive produces) and Liam Neeson. There is brilliant film craftsmanship in every frame. And, finally, director Kathryn Bigelow gets a chance to show what she can do with a first-class script.
"K-19"'s appeal skews heavily male without any female role. Nevertheless, good reviews and a strong marketing push could turn this Paramount/Intermedia production into a top summer movie at the boxoffice.
Desperate to counter the psychological damage and military imbalance created during the Cold War when the United States sent its first Polaris missile subs on patrol in 1960, the Soviet leadership rushes its own ballistic missile sub into service the following year. The early scenes emphasizes how unready that boat, the K-19, is. Leaks are everywhere. Wiring is substandard. And the crew is unfamiliar with the sub. After 10 men die building the K-19, a champagne bottle used to dedicate the ship fails to break. "We are cursed", moans a superstitious crew member.
Troubling the crew further is a bizarre change in command. Capt. Alexei Vostrikov (Ford), a politically connected skipper, takes over for Capt. Mikhail Polenin (Neeson), who becomes second in command. Once under way, Alexei subjects the sub and its crew to grueling tests, culminating in a dive to "crush depth" and a fast resurface that sends the K-19 crashing through the Arctic ice shelf.
After the successful launch of a test missile, Moscow orders the sub to patrol waters off the U.S. coastline. Here, the reactor cooling system springs a leak, raising its core temperature close to meltdown. An eruption could set off missile warheads near a NATO base and trigger World War III.
In the film's key sequence, crew members take turns entering the reactor compartment to try to stabilize the temperature, exposing each to huge doses of radiation. The doctor on board, a last-minute replacement, knows nothing about radiation poisoning. The men emerge like characters in a cheesy horror film, staggering and vomiting as reddened skin slides from their bodies.
It's hard to know how much of the narrative in Christopher Kyle's script (based on Louis Nowra's story) derives from actual events. Much of the conflict and incidents could come from any number of military movies: Clashes between the two main officers escalate to the point of mutiny. The kid with a gal back home stands little chance of surviving the mission. Men exchange brave talk they only half believe.
The highly conventional approach of Kyle's script does smooth over the unfamiliarity of watching a peacetime submarine story in which the battle is as much emotional as physical. The main conflict also undergoes a curious switch midstream that is meant to take an audience by surprise but does so by not fully disclosing all factors.
Ford is the personification of military steel, a hard-headed captain focused single-mindedly on his mission. Neeson, as the more crew-friendly captain, is his counterpart, roiling beneath Ford's command with undisguised disdain for his willingness to jeopardize everyone's safety. Among 50-odd roles, another standout is Peter Sarsgaard's Vadim, the rookie reactor officer who must prove his valor.
Bigelow gracefully choreographs the shipwide action without ever losing focus. Her effort is greatly enhanced by Jeff Cronenweth's fluid camera, Walter Murch's sharp editing and Karl Juliusson and Michael Novotny's military-gray design. A major plus is Klaus Badelt's score, shifting from ominous rumbles beneath the action to full-throated shouts of alarm and, in the core reactor sequence, choral music.
K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER
Paramount Pictures
Paramount and Intermedia Films present a National Geographic/Palomar Pictures/First Light/IMF production
Credits:
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Screenwriter: Christopher Kyle
Story by: Louis Nowra
Producers: Kathryn Bigelow, Joni Sighvatsson, Christine Whitaker, Edward S. Feldman
Executive producers: Harrison Ford, Nigel Sinclair, Moritz Borman, Guy East
Director of photography: Jeff Cronenweth
Production designers: Karl Juliusson, Michael Novotny
Music: Klaus Badelt
Co-producers: Steven-Charles Jaffe, Basil Iwanyk, Brent O'Connor, Mark Wolfe, Mary Montiforte
Costume designer: Marit Allen
Editor: Walter Murch
Cast:
Capt. Alexei Vostrikov: Harrison Ford
Capt. Mikhail Polenin: Liam Neeson
Vadim Radtchenko: Peter Sarsgaard
Pavel Loktev: Christian Camargo
Demichev: Steve Nicolson
Suslov: Ravil Isyanov
Running time -- 138 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13...
"K-19"'s appeal skews heavily male without any female role. Nevertheless, good reviews and a strong marketing push could turn this Paramount/Intermedia production into a top summer movie at the boxoffice.
Desperate to counter the psychological damage and military imbalance created during the Cold War when the United States sent its first Polaris missile subs on patrol in 1960, the Soviet leadership rushes its own ballistic missile sub into service the following year. The early scenes emphasizes how unready that boat, the K-19, is. Leaks are everywhere. Wiring is substandard. And the crew is unfamiliar with the sub. After 10 men die building the K-19, a champagne bottle used to dedicate the ship fails to break. "We are cursed", moans a superstitious crew member.
Troubling the crew further is a bizarre change in command. Capt. Alexei Vostrikov (Ford), a politically connected skipper, takes over for Capt. Mikhail Polenin (Neeson), who becomes second in command. Once under way, Alexei subjects the sub and its crew to grueling tests, culminating in a dive to "crush depth" and a fast resurface that sends the K-19 crashing through the Arctic ice shelf.
After the successful launch of a test missile, Moscow orders the sub to patrol waters off the U.S. coastline. Here, the reactor cooling system springs a leak, raising its core temperature close to meltdown. An eruption could set off missile warheads near a NATO base and trigger World War III.
In the film's key sequence, crew members take turns entering the reactor compartment to try to stabilize the temperature, exposing each to huge doses of radiation. The doctor on board, a last-minute replacement, knows nothing about radiation poisoning. The men emerge like characters in a cheesy horror film, staggering and vomiting as reddened skin slides from their bodies.
It's hard to know how much of the narrative in Christopher Kyle's script (based on Louis Nowra's story) derives from actual events. Much of the conflict and incidents could come from any number of military movies: Clashes between the two main officers escalate to the point of mutiny. The kid with a gal back home stands little chance of surviving the mission. Men exchange brave talk they only half believe.
The highly conventional approach of Kyle's script does smooth over the unfamiliarity of watching a peacetime submarine story in which the battle is as much emotional as physical. The main conflict also undergoes a curious switch midstream that is meant to take an audience by surprise but does so by not fully disclosing all factors.
Ford is the personification of military steel, a hard-headed captain focused single-mindedly on his mission. Neeson, as the more crew-friendly captain, is his counterpart, roiling beneath Ford's command with undisguised disdain for his willingness to jeopardize everyone's safety. Among 50-odd roles, another standout is Peter Sarsgaard's Vadim, the rookie reactor officer who must prove his valor.
Bigelow gracefully choreographs the shipwide action without ever losing focus. Her effort is greatly enhanced by Jeff Cronenweth's fluid camera, Walter Murch's sharp editing and Karl Juliusson and Michael Novotny's military-gray design. A major plus is Klaus Badelt's score, shifting from ominous rumbles beneath the action to full-throated shouts of alarm and, in the core reactor sequence, choral music.
K-19: THE WIDOWMAKER
Paramount Pictures
Paramount and Intermedia Films present a National Geographic/Palomar Pictures/First Light/IMF production
Credits:
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Screenwriter: Christopher Kyle
Story by: Louis Nowra
Producers: Kathryn Bigelow, Joni Sighvatsson, Christine Whitaker, Edward S. Feldman
Executive producers: Harrison Ford, Nigel Sinclair, Moritz Borman, Guy East
Director of photography: Jeff Cronenweth
Production designers: Karl Juliusson, Michael Novotny
Music: Klaus Badelt
Co-producers: Steven-Charles Jaffe, Basil Iwanyk, Brent O'Connor, Mark Wolfe, Mary Montiforte
Costume designer: Marit Allen
Editor: Walter Murch
Cast:
Capt. Alexei Vostrikov: Harrison Ford
Capt. Mikhail Polenin: Liam Neeson
Vadim Radtchenko: Peter Sarsgaard
Pavel Loktev: Christian Camargo
Demichev: Steve Nicolson
Suslov: Ravil Isyanov
Running time -- 138 minutes
MPAA rating PG-13...
- 7/15/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
"The hogs ate Grandma". Remember that jarring Southern Gothic line? Well, that's the tone of "Radiance", a story of three aboriginal Australian women who reunite at their mother's funeral.
It's a turbulent, fiery story awash with the decadent flavors of good melodrama. Directed by Rachel Perkins, the rousing Aussie film could find a niche on the art house circuit. Of course, it will be a tricky enterprise enticing audiences to a story that does not synopsize in commercial terms, but strong reviews and excellent word-of-mouth could make it a sleeper hit on the circuit.
Torched with all the incendiary ingredients of Down South writers Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote and William Faulkner, the yarn is about three abused sisters whose cantankerous, sleep-around mother caused them extreme grief as children. When she dies, the sisters gather at her ramshackle home; each has a different father and a far different approach to life. There's svelte Cressy (Rachel Maza), who escaped to become a successful opera singer; sullen Mae (Trisha Morton-Thomas), who had given her life to caring for her deranged mother; and sleazy Nona (Deborah Mailman), whose greatest accomplishment has been traveling the rodeo circuit as a party girl. Though different, each bears scars.
Based on a Louis Nowra play, the story chronicles a convulsive, scorchingly emotional day as each woman's life is refracted through their recollections of abuse, abandonment and atrocity. While definitely theatrical in structure, Perkins' adaptation is an adroit filmtic work.
The acting makes "Radiance" shine. Highest praise to Mailman for her juicy, wild portrayal of Nona. Maza's patrician cool manner is perfect. As bitter Mae, Morton-Thomas brings an apt fire and anger.
RADIANCE
Eclipse Films
Credits: Producers: Ned Lander, Andrew Myer; Director: Rachel Perkins; Screenwriter: Louis Nowra; Director of photography: Warwick Thornton; Production designer: Sarah Stollman; Costume designer: Tess Schofield; Editor: James Bradley; Music: Alistair Jones. Cast: Cressy: Rachel Maza; Nona: Deborah Mailman; Mae: Trisha Morton-Thomas. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 83 minutes.
It's a turbulent, fiery story awash with the decadent flavors of good melodrama. Directed by Rachel Perkins, the rousing Aussie film could find a niche on the art house circuit. Of course, it will be a tricky enterprise enticing audiences to a story that does not synopsize in commercial terms, but strong reviews and excellent word-of-mouth could make it a sleeper hit on the circuit.
Torched with all the incendiary ingredients of Down South writers Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote and William Faulkner, the yarn is about three abused sisters whose cantankerous, sleep-around mother caused them extreme grief as children. When she dies, the sisters gather at her ramshackle home; each has a different father and a far different approach to life. There's svelte Cressy (Rachel Maza), who escaped to become a successful opera singer; sullen Mae (Trisha Morton-Thomas), who had given her life to caring for her deranged mother; and sleazy Nona (Deborah Mailman), whose greatest accomplishment has been traveling the rodeo circuit as a party girl. Though different, each bears scars.
Based on a Louis Nowra play, the story chronicles a convulsive, scorchingly emotional day as each woman's life is refracted through their recollections of abuse, abandonment and atrocity. While definitely theatrical in structure, Perkins' adaptation is an adroit filmtic work.
The acting makes "Radiance" shine. Highest praise to Mailman for her juicy, wild portrayal of Nona. Maza's patrician cool manner is perfect. As bitter Mae, Morton-Thomas brings an apt fire and anger.
RADIANCE
Eclipse Films
Credits: Producers: Ned Lander, Andrew Myer; Director: Rachel Perkins; Screenwriter: Louis Nowra; Director of photography: Warwick Thornton; Production designer: Sarah Stollman; Costume designer: Tess Schofield; Editor: James Bradley; Music: Alistair Jones. Cast: Cressy: Rachel Maza; Nona: Deborah Mailman; Mae: Trisha Morton-Thomas. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 83 minutes.
- 10/6/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Since World War II, U.S. presidents who have had more than a wee bit of Irish in them -- Kennedy, Reagan, Clinton -- have won voters with their charm and affability.
All three made trips back to the "homeland" and invariably received boosts (both personal and political) from the experience. A cynical version of that phenomenon, "The Matchmaker" is a trying-to-be cute romantic comedy swaddled around one Boston campaign worker's trek to Ireland to seek out the ancestors of her boss, a lunkish pol who needs the Irish-American vote to return to the Senate in Massachusetts.
Starring Janeane Garofalo as the traveling aide, this romantic comedy is about as romantic as a belch, although not as comedically subtle. Billed as a romantic comedy for those who generally don't like standard romantic comedies, this film has the potential to greatly widen that demographic. Actually, it exudes the kind of romance for those type of folks who like to take world tours without ever leaving the tour bus.
With roughly following the same geographic road map and plot line as Bill Forsythe's charming 1983 film "Local Hero", with Peter Riegert as a callow yuppie who is assigned to travel to Scotland to negotiate a land purchase for his oil company and subsequently falls in love with the pristine setting and unspoiled people, "The Matchmaker" is formulaic fodder glazed in green and hardened with the broadest of comedic elements.
Garofalo stars as Marcy, an overworked and jaded political pro who toils day and night for the re-election of self-styled Kennedy-type Sen. John McGlory. The brawny senator often likens himself to JFK, although he's clearly more a Ted Kennedy type. Not since Dan Quayle compared himself with JFK in a vice presidential debate with Lloyd Bentsen has such nonsense been uttered.
So right off we're presented with an unappealing lout running for the Senate and his snippy aide who, against her will, is sent off to Ireland to find his ancestral home and dredge up some sort of photo op for the doltish demagogue.
With a slug's sense of adventure, an elitist's disdain for everyday folk and a pisser's disposition, Marcy arrives in the Irish seaside town of Ballinagra. Although the setting is so picturesque that you would expect to see it in National Geographic, mopey Marcy carries on like a spoiled blue blood.
She's further distressed that she arrived in the middle of the town's Matchmaking Festival and, despite her obviously single status, resents the fact that all the local folk want to set her up. Incredibly, all the area's single menfolk show up at a campaign stop in hopes of matching up with her. Such a scene leads one to believe there is a severe female famine in Ireland.
Still, the film is sagely peopled by some colorful Irish, which, admittedly, is a redundancy. Screenwriters Karen Janszen, Louis Nowra and Graham Linehan have crammed in an array of appealing oddball, supporting characters, but, alas, they're more comic caricatures that are ancestrally more related to previous movies than, one suspects, small-town Irish.
Athough patently unbelievable, the romantic portion of the scenario is also doggedly predictable as Marcy develops a hate-love relationship with a quirky local (David O'Hara).
In general, Mark Joffe's broad direction lacks the precision and touch necessary to blend farce with romance. Even in the broadest fish-out-of-water terms, "The Matchmaker" sinks. In like manner, the performances are often cartoonish and, in Garofalo's case, largely unappealing. Constant mugging characterizes her performance, which turns on a dime midway through when she transforms from churlish ugly American to a swoony, in-love girl. It's a character leap too great to fathom -- nowhere along the way has Garofalo layered it with any subtleties or hints that there is something other than a lout lurking behind her sullen smirk.
On the plus side, supporting characters are well cast. Denis Leary is aptly snide as the political campaign's treacherous media guru, while Jay O. Sanders is marvelously dopey as the self-serving senator. In a small role, Saffron Burrows stands out as an elegant Irish lass who is The Real Thing, Kennedy-wise and classwise.
On the technical side, a mug at the pub for costume designer Howard Burden's character-perfect stitchings and to cinematographer Ellery Ryan for the magical, misty scopings.
THE MATCHMAKER
Gramercy Pictures
Producers Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Luc Roeg
Director Mark Joffe
Screenwriters Karen Janszen, Louis Nowra, Graham Linehan
Based on a screenplay by Greg Dinner
Line producer Nicky Kentish Barnes
Executive producer Lyn Goleby
Director of photography Ellery Ryan
Editor Martin Smith
Production designer Mark Geraghty
Costume designer Howard Burden
Music John Altman
U.S. casting Amanda Mackey Johnson, Cathy Sandrich
Sound recorder Brendan Deasy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Marcy Janeane Garofalo
Sean David O'Hara
Nick Denis Leary
Sen. John McGlory Jay O. Sanders
Declan Paul Hickey
Moira Saffron Burrows
Millie Rosaleen Linehan
Annie Olivia Caffrey
Michael Claude Clancy
Sgt. Riley James Ryland
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
All three made trips back to the "homeland" and invariably received boosts (both personal and political) from the experience. A cynical version of that phenomenon, "The Matchmaker" is a trying-to-be cute romantic comedy swaddled around one Boston campaign worker's trek to Ireland to seek out the ancestors of her boss, a lunkish pol who needs the Irish-American vote to return to the Senate in Massachusetts.
Starring Janeane Garofalo as the traveling aide, this romantic comedy is about as romantic as a belch, although not as comedically subtle. Billed as a romantic comedy for those who generally don't like standard romantic comedies, this film has the potential to greatly widen that demographic. Actually, it exudes the kind of romance for those type of folks who like to take world tours without ever leaving the tour bus.
With roughly following the same geographic road map and plot line as Bill Forsythe's charming 1983 film "Local Hero", with Peter Riegert as a callow yuppie who is assigned to travel to Scotland to negotiate a land purchase for his oil company and subsequently falls in love with the pristine setting and unspoiled people, "The Matchmaker" is formulaic fodder glazed in green and hardened with the broadest of comedic elements.
Garofalo stars as Marcy, an overworked and jaded political pro who toils day and night for the re-election of self-styled Kennedy-type Sen. John McGlory. The brawny senator often likens himself to JFK, although he's clearly more a Ted Kennedy type. Not since Dan Quayle compared himself with JFK in a vice presidential debate with Lloyd Bentsen has such nonsense been uttered.
So right off we're presented with an unappealing lout running for the Senate and his snippy aide who, against her will, is sent off to Ireland to find his ancestral home and dredge up some sort of photo op for the doltish demagogue.
With a slug's sense of adventure, an elitist's disdain for everyday folk and a pisser's disposition, Marcy arrives in the Irish seaside town of Ballinagra. Although the setting is so picturesque that you would expect to see it in National Geographic, mopey Marcy carries on like a spoiled blue blood.
She's further distressed that she arrived in the middle of the town's Matchmaking Festival and, despite her obviously single status, resents the fact that all the local folk want to set her up. Incredibly, all the area's single menfolk show up at a campaign stop in hopes of matching up with her. Such a scene leads one to believe there is a severe female famine in Ireland.
Still, the film is sagely peopled by some colorful Irish, which, admittedly, is a redundancy. Screenwriters Karen Janszen, Louis Nowra and Graham Linehan have crammed in an array of appealing oddball, supporting characters, but, alas, they're more comic caricatures that are ancestrally more related to previous movies than, one suspects, small-town Irish.
Athough patently unbelievable, the romantic portion of the scenario is also doggedly predictable as Marcy develops a hate-love relationship with a quirky local (David O'Hara).
In general, Mark Joffe's broad direction lacks the precision and touch necessary to blend farce with romance. Even in the broadest fish-out-of-water terms, "The Matchmaker" sinks. In like manner, the performances are often cartoonish and, in Garofalo's case, largely unappealing. Constant mugging characterizes her performance, which turns on a dime midway through when she transforms from churlish ugly American to a swoony, in-love girl. It's a character leap too great to fathom -- nowhere along the way has Garofalo layered it with any subtleties or hints that there is something other than a lout lurking behind her sullen smirk.
On the plus side, supporting characters are well cast. Denis Leary is aptly snide as the political campaign's treacherous media guru, while Jay O. Sanders is marvelously dopey as the self-serving senator. In a small role, Saffron Burrows stands out as an elegant Irish lass who is The Real Thing, Kennedy-wise and classwise.
On the technical side, a mug at the pub for costume designer Howard Burden's character-perfect stitchings and to cinematographer Ellery Ryan for the magical, misty scopings.
THE MATCHMAKER
Gramercy Pictures
Producers Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Luc Roeg
Director Mark Joffe
Screenwriters Karen Janszen, Louis Nowra, Graham Linehan
Based on a screenplay by Greg Dinner
Line producer Nicky Kentish Barnes
Executive producer Lyn Goleby
Director of photography Ellery Ryan
Editor Martin Smith
Production designer Mark Geraghty
Costume designer Howard Burden
Music John Altman
U.S. casting Amanda Mackey Johnson, Cathy Sandrich
Sound recorder Brendan Deasy
Color/stereo
Cast:
Marcy Janeane Garofalo
Sean David O'Hara
Nick Denis Leary
Sen. John McGlory Jay O. Sanders
Declan Paul Hickey
Moira Saffron Burrows
Millie Rosaleen Linehan
Annie Olivia Caffrey
Michael Claude Clancy
Sgt. Riley James Ryland
Running time -- 96 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 9/29/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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