Australian Social Realism
by lachiesholl-86054 | created - 2 months ago | updated - 2 months ago | PublicAre They?
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1. Yolngu Boy (2001)
88 min | Adventure, Drama
An Indigenous teen and his friends embark on a challenging journey to Darwin from Arnhem Land to meet a tribal leader with the aim of creating a better future after troubles take them away from their dreams.
Director: Stephen Johnson | Stars: John Sebastian Pilakui, Nathan Daniels, Sean Mununggurr, Lirrina Mununggurr
Votes: 378
2. Winter of Our Dreams (1981)
89 min | Drama, Romance
When a womanizing bookshop owner hears about the suicide of his former girlfriend, he tries to find out more and meets her friend, a prostitute. They hook up, but when she finds her friends... See full summary »
Director: John Duigan | Stars: Judy Davis, Bryan Brown, Cathy Downes, Baz Luhrmann
Votes: 366
3. Vacant Possession (1995)
95 min | Drama
Following the death of her mother Tessa (Pamela Rabe), a young woman, returns after many years to the weather-beaten family home on the shores of Sydney's Botany Bay. But the old family ... See full summary »
Director: Margot Nash | Stars: Pamela Rabe, John Stanton, Toni Scanlan, Linden Wilkinson
Votes: 83
4. The Sentimental Bloke (1919)
106 min | Drama, Romance
A down-at-heal ex-convict undergoes an epiphany as he experiences the love of a good woman for the first time.
Director: Raymond Longford | Stars: Arthur Tauchert, Lottie Lyell, Gilbert Emery, Stanley Robinson
Votes: 299
5. The F.J. Holden (1977)
101 min | Drama
Bankstown, NSW, Australia, 1970s. Kevin and his mate Bob spend their time drinking and cruising around the western suburbs of Sydney in Kevin's yellow FJ Holden, looking for girls. One day ... See full summary »
Director: Michael Thornhill | Stars: Paul Couzens, Eva Dickinson, Carl Stever, Gary Waddell
Votes: 272
6. The Combination (2009)
96 min | Drama
Set in the multi-racial suburbs of Sydney, Lebanese-Australian John is released from goal to find his younger brother Charlie caught in the very same world of crime that put him behind bars.
Director: David Field | Stars: George Basha, Clare Bowen, Firass Dirani, Doris Younane
Votes: 843
7. 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: 17,492 | Gross: $0.86M
8. The Boys (1998)
R | 86 min | Crime, Drama
Brett Sprague is a violent and psychopathic man, who is released on parole after serving a sentence for assault. As he returns to his family house and we watch him and his brothers, Stevie ... See full summary »
Director: Rowan Woods | Stars: David Wenham, Toni Collette, Lynette Curran, John Polson
Votes: 1,724 | Gross: $0.00M
9. The Book of Revelation (2006)
Unrated | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An erotic mystery about power and sex, the entanglement of victim and perpetrator, and a man's struggle to regain his lost self.
Director: Ana Kokkinos | Stars: Tom Long, Greta Scacchi, Colin Friels, Anna Torv
Votes: 1,677
10. The Black Balloon (2008)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Romance
All Thomas wants is a normal adolescence but his autistic brother, Charlie, thwarts his every opportunity. Will Thomas, with the help of his girlfriend, Jackie, accept his brother?
Director: Elissa Down | Stars: Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Toni Collette, Erik Thomson
Votes: 9,234 | Gross: $0.09M
11. Sweetie (1989)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
An introspective young woman's life is upturned by the arrival of her maladjusted sister.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Geneviève Lemon, Karen Colston, Tom Lycos, Jon Darling
Votes: 5,374 | Gross: $0.94M
12. Sunday Too Far Away (1975)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama
A hard-drinking but hard-working gun shearer leads a group of Outback sheep herders into striking after wealthy landowners attempt to drive them from their territory.
Director: Ken Hannam | Stars: Jack Thompson, Max Cullen, Robert Bruning, Jerry Thomas
Votes: 947
13. 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
14. Romper Stomper (1992)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A group of skinheads become alarmed at the way their neighbourhood is changing.
Director: Geoffrey Wright | Stars: Russell Crowe, Daniel Pollock, Jacqueline McKenzie, Alex Scott
Votes: 41,615 | Gross: $0.18M
15. Radiance (1998)
83 min | Drama
Three sisters reunite after some years apart, for their mother's funeral. Cressy (Maza), the eldest of the three, is a diva - an opera singer who is reluctant to visit the past and ... See full summary »
Director: Rachel Perkins | Stars: Deborah Mailman, Trisha Morton-Thomas, Rachael Maza, Russell Kiefel
Votes: 352
16. My Year Without Sex (2009)
Not Rated | 96 min | Comedy, Drama
A tender story from Australia highlights the realistic ups and downs of an Australian family in the year following a parent's emergency medical procedure.
Director: Sarah Watt | Stars: Portia Bradley, Jonathan Segat, Sacha Horler, Matt Day
Votes: 919 | Gross: $0.00M
17. My Entire Life (1996)
R | 112 min | Comedy
All Wally Mellish, an ex-convict in 1960s Australia, wants to do is live a quiet life with his girlfriend Beryl. Unfortunately when two police officers come around to disturb this, a ... See full summary »
Director: Nadia Tass | Stars: Colin Friels, Jacqueline McKenzie, Kenneth Radley, Graham Rouse
Votes: 551
18. Mouth to Mouth (1978)
96 min | Drama
Mouth to Mouth follows the lives of four young people, trying to improve their lives in a harsh and unforgiving city.
Director: John Duigan | Stars: Kim Krejus, Sonia Peat, Ian Gilmour, Serge Frazzetto
Votes: 89
19. Mallboy (2000)
84 min | Drama
The world of 14 year old Shaun revolves around his broken family home, and a group of truant friends who inhabit Melbourne's northern suburb shopping centres. As he tries to make the ... See full summary »
Director: Vincent Giarrusso | Stars: Kane McNay, Nell Feeney, Brett Swain, Maxie Rickard
Votes: 137
20. 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: 3,590
21. Idiot Box (1996)
R | 83 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Looking for the fast track out of suburban hell, two natural born losers scheme an impossible heist. Two undercover cops and a highly strung speed dealer are not far behind.
Director: David Caesar | Stars: Ben Mendelsohn, Jeremy Sims, John Polson, Graeme Blundell
Votes: 915
22. Holidays on the River Yarra (1991)
88 min | Drama
Two teenagers get entangled in a criminal coup enterprise but must raise $500 each in order to set sail for Africa.
Director: Leo Berkeley | Stars: Craig Adams, Luke Elliot, Alex Menglet, Tahir Cambis
Votes: 57
23. Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger (2008)
PG-13 | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
A coming-of-age story about a 13-year-old girl trying to fit into both a posh private school and an ordinary public school.
Director: Cathy Randall | Stars: Danielle Catanzariti, Cassandra Jinman, Talia Monaghan, Yen Yen Stender
Votes: 1,515 | Gross: $0.01M
24. Head On (1998)
Not Rated | 104 min | Drama, Romance
A 19 year old Greek Australian youth struggles with his sexual identity and has one clumsy heterosexual and several homosexual encounters.
Director: Ana Kokkinos | Stars: Alex Dimitriades, Elle Mandalis, Damien Fotiou, Alex Papps
Votes: 4,626 | Gross: $0.38M
25. Hail (2011)
PG-13 | 104 min | Drama
Fresh from a Melbourne jail, Dan is reunited with the love of his life, Leanne. A fierce, passionate and tender couple who have learnt to appreciate the simplest pleasures in life, Dan and ... See full summary »
Director: Amiel Courtin-Wilson | Stars: Daniel P. Jones, Leanne Letch, Tony Markulin, Jerome Velinsky
Votes: 279
26. Ghosts... of the Civil Dead (1988)
93 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Prison gangs clash in a high-tech security jail where there are no rules.
Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: David Field, Mike Bishop, Chris DeRose, Kevin Mackey
Votes: 1,959
27. Fu sheng (1996)
95 min | Comedy, Drama
An aging Hong Kong couple move to Australia with their two youngest sons. They stay with a daughter who has already begun a successful career. Meanwhile their eldest daughter lives in ... See full summary »
Director: Clara Law | Stars: Annette Shun Wah, Annie Yip, Anthony Brandon Wong, Edwin Pang
Votes: 308
28. Gerry (2002)
R | 103 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A friendship between two young men is tested when they go for a hike in a desert and forget to bring any water or food with them.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Casey Affleck, Matt Damon
Votes: 19,701 | Gross: $0.24M
29. 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: 47,741 | Gross: $0.04M
30. Beneath Clouds (2002)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, Romance
Lena is the daughter of an Aboriginal mother and Irish father and Vaughn is a Murri boy doing time in a minimum security prison in North West NSW. Dramatic events throw them together on a journey with no money and no transport.
Director: Ivan Sen | Stars: Dannielle Hall, Damian Pitt, Jenna Lee Connors, Terry Dahlstron
Votes: 1,189
31. Backroads (1977)
60 min | Crime, Drama
A black and white lowlife duo drives around Australia's Outback in a stolen vehicle and finds trouble after trouble.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Bill Hunter, Gary Foley, Zac Martin, Terry Camilleri
Votes: 252
32. Angel Baby (1995)
R | 105 min | Drama, Romance
Two schizophrenics meet during therapy and fall passionately in love. Ahead of them lies the inevitable road to disaster - one they share to the end.
Director: Michael Rymer | Stars: John Lynch, Jacqueline McKenzie, Colin Friels, Deborra-Lee Furness
Votes: 1,550
33. Fistful of Flies (1996)
85 min | Drama, Thriller
Maria Lupi is a 16 year old teenager. She is the only daughter of conservative Catholic Italians. She clashes with her sexually repressed mother and violent, philandering father.
Director: Monica Pellizzari | Stars: Dina Panozzo, John Lucantonio, Anna Volska, Tasma Walton
Votes: 218
34. Fran (1985)
98 min | Drama
A single mother, Fran (Noni Hazlehurst) is selflessly devoted to her children. But something is lacking in her life, and that something is the love of a man her own age. Her efforts to ... See full summary »
Director: Glenda Hambly | Stars: Noni Hazlehurst, Annie Byron, Alan Fletcher, Narelle Simpson
Votes: 123
35. 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
36. Blessed (I) (2009)
113 min | Drama
Seven lost children wander the night streets while their mothers await their return home.
Director: Ana Kokkinos | Stars: Frances O'Connor, Miranda Otto, Deborra-Lee Furness, Victoria Haralabidou
Votes: 782
37. Teesh and Trude (2002)
93 min | Drama
In Unit 16b at Platypus Rise Flats, two hard and damaged women living on a diet of soapies, sarcasm and frustration are about to reach breaking point. A bad day becomes worse by the hour and to top it off, the toilet won't flush.
Director: Melanie Read | Stars: Susie Porter, Linda Cropper, Peter Phelps, Bill McCluskey
Votes: 57
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