Australian Musts
by Chloe-norris | created - 09 Oct 2015 | updated - 09 Oct 2015 | PublicMust do of Australian Films
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1. Muriel's Wedding (1994)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama
A young social outcast in Australia steals money from her parents to finance a vacation where she hopes to find happiness, and perhaps love.
Director: P.J. Hogan | Stars: Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Bill Hunter, Sophie Lee
Votes: 41,721 | Gross: $15.19M
2. Strictly Ballroom (1992)
PG | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A maverick dancer risks his career by performing an unusual routine and sets out to succeed with a new partner.
Director: Baz Luhrmann | Stars: Paul Mercurio, Tara Morice, Bill Hunter, Pat Thomson
Votes: 29,397 | Gross: $11.74M
3. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Music
Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
Director: Stephan Elliott | Stars: Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, Terence Stamp, Rebel Penfold-Russell
Votes: 55,028 | Gross: $11.22M
4. The Castle (1997)
R | 85 min | Comedy, Drama
A working-class family from Melbourne, Australia fights city hall after being told they must vacate their beloved family home to allow for infrastructural expansion.
Director: Rob Sitch | Stars: Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, Stephen Curry, Anthony Simcoe
Votes: 17,491 | Gross: $0.86M
5. Looking for Alibrandi (2000)
103 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
At seventeen Josie Alibrandi is about to enter her final year as a scholarship student at an exclusive Catholic College. It's the year her life is turned upside down and changed forever.
Director: Kate Woods | Stars: Greta Scacchi, Anthony LaPaglia, Elena Cotta, Kerry Walker
Votes: 3,589
6. Samson & Delilah (II) (2009)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, Romance
A glue-sniffing boy and his girlfriend escape the government-controlled no-hope Aboriginal community they live in and go to the city, Alice Springs, looking for a better life.
Director: Warwick Thornton | Stars: Rowan McNamara, Marissa Gibson, Mitjili Napanangka Gibson, Scott Thornton
Votes: 3,763
7. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
PG | 94 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
In 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Kenneth Branagh, Laura Monaghan
Votes: 30,253 | Gross: $6.17M
8. Two Hands (1999)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
A 19 year old finds himself in debt to a local gangster when some gang loot disappears and sets him on the run from thugs. Meanwhile two street kids start a shopping spree when they find the missing money.
Director: Gregor Jordan | Stars: Heath Ledger, Bryan Brown, David Field, Tom Long
Votes: 13,660
9. Balibo (2009)
Not Rated | 111 min | Biography, Drama, History
War correspondent Roger East and the young Jose Ramos-Horta travel to East Timor to investigate the murders of the Balibo Five in 1975.
Director: Robert Connolly | Stars: Jane Hampson, Bea Viegas, Christine Martins, Ana Rosa Mendoça
Votes: 2,925
10. Babe (1995)
G | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Gentle farmer Arthur Hoggett wins a piglet Babe at a county fair. Narrowly escaping his fate as Christmas dinner, Babe bonds with motherly border collie Fly and discovers that he too can herd sheep. But will the other animals accept him?
Director: Chris Noonan | Stars: James Cromwell, Magda Szubanski, Christine Cavanaugh, Miriam Margolyes
Votes: 134,089 | Gross: $66.60M
11. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Mystery
During a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Rachel Roberts, Anne-Louise Lambert, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse
Votes: 41,021 | Gross: $0.23M
12. The Piano (1993)
R | 121 min | Drama, Music, Romance
In the mid-19th century a mute woman is sent to New Zealand along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a farmer, but is soon lusted after by a farm worker.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin
Votes: 95,134 | Gross: $40.16M
(This one is NZ but ... you know)
13. Dating the Enemy (1996)
97 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
A couple wake up one morning to find they have now switched bodies.
Director: Megan Simpson Huberman | Stars: Claudia Karvan, Guy Pearce, Matt Day, Lisa Hensley
Votes: 1,972
14. The Nugget (2002)
R | 97 min | Comedy
'The Nugget' looks at how instant wealth suddenly changes the lives of three working class men - not necessarily for the better, but always with hilarious consequences.
Director: Bill Bennett | Stars: Eric Bana, Stephen Curry, Dave O'Neil, Peter Moon
Votes: 2,033
15. Peaches (2004)
109 min | Drama
Steph, a dyslexic teenager girl lost her parents in a car accident while still a baby. She was adopted and raised by her parents' best friend, Jude, an over-protective woman. She never left... See full summary »
Director: Craig Monahan | Stars: Emma Lung, Hugo Weaving, Jacqueline McKenzie, Matthew Le Nevez
Votes: 516
16. Somersault (2004)
Not Rated | 106 min | Drama, Romance
A young girl flees her hometown and arrives in the Australian Alps, where new experiences help her learn the differences between sex and love.
Director: Cate Shortland | Stars: Abbie Cornish, Sam Worthington, Lynette Curran, Damian de Montemas
Votes: 8,192 | Gross: $0.09M
17. Candy (2006)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance
A poet falls in love with an art student who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle -- and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
Director: Neil Armfield | Stars: Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Budge
Votes: 47,740 | Gross: $0.04M
18. Animal Kingdom (2010)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A seventeen-year-old navigates his survival amongst an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him.
Director: David Michôd | Stars: James Frecheville, Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton, Bryce Lindemann
Votes: 60,488 | Gross: $1.04M
19. The Snowtown Murders (2011)
Not Rated | 119 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Based on true events, 16 year-old Jamie falls in with his mother's new boyfriend and his crowd of self-appointed neighborhood watchmen, a relationship that leads to a spree of torture and murder.
Director: Justin Kurzel | Stars: Lucas Pittaway, Daniel Henshall, Louise Harris, Bob Adriaens
Votes: 20,609 | Gross: $0.01M
20. Wish You Were Here (I) (2012)
R | 89 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Two Australian couples, two sisters, are on vacation in Southern Cambodia. Jeremy goes missing. What happened? Were drugs involved? Secrets are slowly revealed after the 3 return to Sydney.
Director: Kieran Darcy-Smith | Stars: Joel Edgerton, Teresa Palmer, Felicity Price, Antony Starr
Votes: 6,149 | Gross: $0.05M
21. December Boys (2007)
PG-13 | 105 min | Drama, Romance
One summer, four orphans boys who have grown to be the closest of friends find themselves competing for the attention of the same family.
Director: Rod Hardy | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Teresa Palmer, Lee Cormie, Christian Byers
Votes: 12,431 | Gross: $0.05M
22. He Died with a Felafel in His Hand (2001)
Not Rated | 107 min | Comedy, Romance
A nightmare chase through hell in a never-ending, unrequited daisy chain of desire...
Director: Richard Lowenstein | Stars: Noah Taylor, Emily Hamilton, Romane Bohringer, Sophie Lee
Votes: 4,052
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