3.35 - AUSTRALIA (2008) and Epic
This week our focus shifts to Luhrmann’s sweeping Antipodean magnum opus, AUSTRALIA. We sort of already know what there is to be said about this film, so we spend a lot of time talking about the movie’s politics, its visuals, and how it tries to do many different things, but doesn’t always succeed — and how this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Next Week
Our final Baz Luhrmann film is his latest: the 2013 adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s THE GREAT GATSBY, available here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Gatsby-Leonardo-Dicaprio/dp/B00IHS048U
This Week’s Media
JESSICA JONES S2 (2018): Melissa Rosenberg, Kristen Ritter, Rachael Taylor
THE MACHINE GIRL (2008): Noboru Iguchi, Minase Yashiro, Asami
Recommendations
THE MATRIX: REVOLUTIONS (2003): the Wachowskis, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne
THE SEARCHERS (1956): John Ford, John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter
PADDINGTON (2014): Paul King, Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins
RABBIT-PROOF FENCE (2002): Paul Noyce, Everlyn Sampi, Kenneth Branagh
Footnotes
Firstly, this book is particularly good on the postcolonial ethics behind some of the debates in this film: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=difIAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=info:pOGIhm_SRvAJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=vjWkvAM_7a&sig=X6s8WO9L1LED6xQgI-Q3xO_HzXI#v=onepage&q=Stolen%20generations&f=false (Chapter 4 is especially good on the Stolen Generations). There’s more here: https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=5zHAGNPTkqIC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=info:zNarV2dx7-MJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=PRKYmalN5f&sig=_hpxr3pmZr49SzWeVbAjMyA6uTM#v=onepage&q&f=false. We don’t have space to focus on MOULIN ROUGE this month, but it’s the only Luhrmann film we don’t deal with, and is an...interesting watch! https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ET1OQ2E For some alternative viewing — and some other touchstones we mention this week — have a look at CROCODILE DUNDEE (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00FYO5KIE/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1527329695&sr=8-4&pi=PI_PJPrime-Sash-Extra-Large-2017,TopLeft,0,0_AC_SX118_SY170&keywords=crocodile+dundee+video&dpPl=1&dpID=61y8Q6LV0-L&ref=plSrch) or BUTCH CASSIDY (https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00YI9PSY2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527329750&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=butch+cassidy+video&dpPl=1&dpID=51v0SQEjnVL&ref=plSrch). Here’s the apology to the Stolen Generations issued by then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2008: https://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/our-people/apology-to-australias-indigenous-peoples. Finally, this is a good treatment of the epic film genre: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pxCRAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.