Posts Tagged ‘Australian Arthouse’

The Narrow Road to the Deep North (2025)

Dir: Justin Kurzel | Cast: Jacob Elordi, Odessa Young, Ciaran Hinds, Heather Mitchell, Masa Yamaguchi, Sho Kasamatsu, Simon Baker, Essie Davis, Olivia DeJonge | Australia, Drama 2025 | 5 Episodes

The Narrow Road to the Deep North offers an incandescently glamorous view of Australian high society during the early 1940s contrasted with the scaldingly hot tropical forests of Burma where a railway was under construction by of a handful of hapless Austrian prisoners of World War II all seen from the perspective of one of them, the camp doctor Dorrigo Evans, (a gently charismatic Jacob Elordi) who is struggling with his own personal demons: his scheming sweetheart back home (Olivia DeJonge) who promises to further his medical career, and his burning desire for his uncle’s wife Amy (Odessa Young). The story flashes back and forth from wartime to the 1980s where Dorrigo, now a cynical and world weary surgeon (Ciaran Hinds) engaging in another affair, this time with Essie Davis, reflects on his torrid love affair with Amy and his devastating experiences caring for his comrades broken and brutalised by the draconian Japanese warlords.

Filmmaker Justin Kurzel, known for his corruscating psychological dramas Snowtown  Macbeth and Nitram,bases his livid feature on the book by Booker Prize winning author Richard Flanagan and brings alive the vicious brutality of the Japanese during their occupation of Burma, making these scenes an almost impossible watch even for hardened critics like me who have become inured to screen violence over the years.

This treatment of the young Australian soldiers posted in the dangerous tropical forests to build a railway is meted out in the name of ‘honour’ for the Emperor via the auspices of the serving Japanese officers tasked with completing the project, underfunded and understaffed.

The TV serialisation allows Kurzel and his regular co-writer Shaun Grant to fully flesh out the past and present storylines and the various characters. This a compelling piece of filmmaking best viewed with English subtitles and at close-up due to the hazy tropical atmosphere evoked by Sam Chiplin (who lensed The Stranger) and accompanied by Jed Kurzel’s signature electronic score.

You may cast your mind back to Divd Lean’s epic The Bridge over the River Kwai but here the Japanese hold sway impervious to the visceral suffering of their underlings who are entirely at their mercy, making the centenary for Victory over Japan day on August the 15th 2025 a day to be celebrated at all costs.@MeredithTaylor

NOW ON BBC TV AND BBC IPLAYER | PREMIERE DURING BERLNALE 2025

 

 

Long Weekend (1975) BFI player

Dir: Colin Eggleston | Writer: Everett De Roche  | Cast: Briony Behets, John Hargreaves | Horror | 97′

Long Weekend literally shouts 1978 in a garish aesthetic, tinkly soundtrack and flared trousered kind of way. But it could also be classed as an Avantgarde eco-thriller. Not up there with Wake in Fright but thrilling as Australian cult horror films go (and kangaroo kills are also included, not to mention glorious seascapes).

It sees a miserably unhappy couple head off for a doomed few days on the beach – or at least that’s the plan. Early on in the journey they hit a kangaroo who is dazed by the headlights, and this roadkill seems like a metaphor for the death of their love life. As they venture deeper and deeper into the outback, a supernatural element rears its head through strange exotic sounds in the forest. Come morning though things are looking more positive and they manage a pre-breakfast kiss on the idyllic seashore.

But the primeval forces of Nature are not far away (thanks to an eerie soundscape and a repetitive Hammond organ chord motif, set to vibrato). It feels like Nature will get them in the end, if they continue to catch fish, use insecticide and shoot every bird in sight – and these events are over-laden with symbolism, signalling  the impending doom. And to be fair, Peter gets his just desserts – he’s a pretty base individual who doesn’t seem to have much sympathy for his gorgeous girlfriend (a dazzling Briony Behets), or the local flora and fauna, which he destroys with alarming frequency (even by 1970s standards). Peter’s a latent misogynist (a brash John Hargreaves) and Marcia’s dislike of camping and loss of sex drive makes things unfeasible, particularly as she is depressed and mourning an unwanted abortion. They finally decide to hit the road after he gets bitten by a possum. But things go from bad to worse, and their conversation is scintillating: “You should have married your mother!” –  she says. He replie”but you’ve got better tits”.  Fun doesn’t even begin to cover to it!. MT

ON BFI PLAYER AND BLURAY at SECOND SIGHT films

https://youtu.be/3SNl4aUq8zk

 

Snowtown (2011) **** LFF 2011

Dir: Justin Kurzel | Cast: Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall | Score: Jed Kurzel | 120mins Australia

Serial killer John Bunting is currently serving 11 life sentences for crimes that took place in Snowtown near Adelaide during the late nineties.  This haunting and at times unwatchable film grips with a palpable sense of foreboding made all the more sinister by Jed Kurzel’s menacing soundtrack that heightens the tension throughout with pavlovian effect. The story plays out through the eyes of Jamie (Lucas Pittaway)  He’s a sensitive teenager living with his single mum and brothers in a poor community riddled with crime, violence and suspicion and makes ideal prey for Bunting.  James longs for a better life but is drawn to the controlling but charismatic father figure of Bunting.

SNOWTOWN_1

Daniel Henshall, brilliantly cast here as Bunting, is a highly manipulative sociopath masquerading as a self-styled vigilante.  Mixing freely in this sad town of social misfits from paedophiles to the mentally ill,  he gains the support of Jamie by purporting to stand up for him.  Other locals are gradually coralled into this social circle and take part in the killings believing that they are justified in ridding society of its evil elements. Bunting’s real agenda is to control and steal their benefits. This sinister feature is a remarkable directorial debut for Justin Kurzel and one of the most disturbing and shocking films of 2011. MT

Copyright © 2025 Filmuforia