The Australian drama premiered at Cannes and stars Cate Blanchett.
Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy leads the nominations for the 2024 Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Awards with 12 nods, closely followed by horror Talk To Me with 11 nominations.
The New Boy is up for best film, actress for Cate Blanchett and actor for newcomer Aswan Reid while Australian Indigenous filmmaker Thornton is nominated for best director, screenplay and cinematography.
The film is set in 1940s Australia and stars Blanchett (who also serves as a producer) as a nun who takes in a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy. It...
Warwick Thornton’s The New Boy leads the nominations for the 2024 Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Awards with 12 nods, closely followed by horror Talk To Me with 11 nominations.
The New Boy is up for best film, actress for Cate Blanchett and actor for newcomer Aswan Reid while Australian Indigenous filmmaker Thornton is nominated for best director, screenplay and cinematography.
The film is set in 1940s Australia and stars Blanchett (who also serves as a producer) as a nun who takes in a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy. It...
- 12/11/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Apra Amcos and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (Agsc) will honour composer and conductor Nigel Westlake’s four decade career at the Screen Music Awards next month, presenting him the Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen Award. Born in Perth, Westlake began touring the world at 17 as a freelance clarinettist, bass clarinettist, and saxophonist […]
The post Nigel Westlake to be honoured at the Screen Music Awards appeared first on If Magazine.
The post Nigel Westlake to be honoured at the Screen Music Awards appeared first on If Magazine.
- 10/26/2022
- by Staff Writer
- IF.com.au
“Take a good close look at what we’re fighting for,” says Mia Wasikowska’s oceanographer in “Blueback,” as she scans the Australian bay where she grew up. She’s talking to a colleague, even as writer-director Robert Connolly (“Paper Planes”) is really saying the same thing to us.
Connolly has turned Tim Winton’s 1997 novella into his own environmental cri de coeur — premiering at the Toronto Film Festival — and while the specifics can get a bit clunky, his passion drives our interest all the way to the end.
The end is where we begin, actually, with Wasikowska’s Abby getting a call while she’s working. Her aging mother, Dora (Liz Alexander), has had a stroke, and Abby has to rush back to remote Longboat Bay (Western Australia’s Bremer Bay stands in for the fictional coast) to care for her.
Also Read:
‘Judy & Punch’ Film Review: Provocative...
Connolly has turned Tim Winton’s 1997 novella into his own environmental cri de coeur — premiering at the Toronto Film Festival — and while the specifics can get a bit clunky, his passion drives our interest all the way to the end.
The end is where we begin, actually, with Wasikowska’s Abby getting a call while she’s working. Her aging mother, Dora (Liz Alexander), has had a stroke, and Abby has to rush back to remote Longboat Bay (Western Australia’s Bremer Bay stands in for the fictional coast) to care for her.
Also Read:
‘Judy & Punch’ Film Review: Provocative...
- 9/16/2022
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
‘Gurrumul’.
Director Paul Williams and producer Shannon Swan’s portrait of the late blind Indigenous musician Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Gurrumul, won Best Documentary Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) in Brisbane last night.
It was the first time an Australian film has won in the category, with Gurrumul beating out Amal, Of Fathers and Sons (Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon, Qatar, Germany), Of Love & Law (Japan, UK, France) and Up Down & Sideways
Accepting the award together with Williams, Swan described the moment as bittersweet knowing that Gurrumul wasn’t there to share in it.
“To G, thank you so much for inviting us into your life and trusting us with your story,” he said.
Gurrumul also won Feature Documentary of the Year at last week’s Screen Producers Australia Awards, and is also nominated for five awards at next week’s AACTAs, including for Best Feature Documentary alongside Mountain,...
Director Paul Williams and producer Shannon Swan’s portrait of the late blind Indigenous musician Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Gurrumul, won Best Documentary Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) in Brisbane last night.
It was the first time an Australian film has won in the category, with Gurrumul beating out Amal, Of Fathers and Sons (Syrian Arab Republic, Lebanon, Qatar, Germany), Of Love & Law (Japan, UK, France) and Up Down & Sideways
Accepting the award together with Williams, Swan described the moment as bittersweet knowing that Gurrumul wasn’t there to share in it.
“To G, thank you so much for inviting us into your life and trusting us with your story,” he said.
Gurrumul also won Feature Documentary of the Year at last week’s Screen Producers Australia Awards, and is also nominated for five awards at next week’s AACTAs, including for Best Feature Documentary alongside Mountain,...
- 11/30/2018
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Caitlin Yeo and Apra Amcos CEO Dean Ormston.
Caitlin Yeo and Matteo Zingales each won two awards at the annual annual Screen Music Awards staged by Apra Amcos and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (Agcs) at the City Recital Hall in Sydney on Monday night.
Yeo won feature film score of the year and best soundtrack album for The Butterfly Tree, Priscilla Cameron’s movie about an ex-burlesque queen (Melissa George) who puts a curse on single dad Al (Ewen Leslie) and his son Fin (Ed Oxenbould).
The president of the Agsc, Yeo previously won feature film score of the year for Kim Mordant’s The Rocket in 2013.
Matteo Zingales was rewarded for his work on Hoodlum Entertainment’s Harrow as best television theme and for his collaboration with Antony Partos on Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road, which was deemed best music for a miniseries or telemovie.
Nerida Tyson-Chew took...
Caitlin Yeo and Matteo Zingales each won two awards at the annual annual Screen Music Awards staged by Apra Amcos and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers (Agcs) at the City Recital Hall in Sydney on Monday night.
Yeo won feature film score of the year and best soundtrack album for The Butterfly Tree, Priscilla Cameron’s movie about an ex-burlesque queen (Melissa George) who puts a curse on single dad Al (Ewen Leslie) and his son Fin (Ed Oxenbould).
The president of the Agsc, Yeo previously won feature film score of the year for Kim Mordant’s The Rocket in 2013.
Matteo Zingales was rewarded for his work on Hoodlum Entertainment’s Harrow as best television theme and for his collaboration with Antony Partos on Bunya Productions’ Mystery Road, which was deemed best music for a miniseries or telemovie.
Nerida Tyson-Chew took...
- 11/19/2018
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
Robert Connolly.
Writer, director and producer Robert Connolly will receive the 2018 Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen Award at the Screen Music Awards later this month.
Musical director Jessica Wells will be joined by musicians Jared Underwood, Damian de Boos Smith, Julian Langdon and special guest bass player Jonathan Zwartz to pay musical tribute to Connolly on the night.
The Distinguished Services award is selected by the Apra board of directors. Over his career, Connolly has showcased the works of composers such as Lisa Gerrard, Alan John, Bryony Marks, Nigel Westlake, François Tétaz and Evelyn Ida Morris in his film and television projects.
Connolly said: “I remain in awe of the creative insight and impact that composers have contributed to the film and television productions I have worked on. So many times the profound emotional and narrative elements that have eluded me as a filmmaker have been so much more clearly explored by the composer.
Writer, director and producer Robert Connolly will receive the 2018 Distinguished Services to the Australian Screen Award at the Screen Music Awards later this month.
Musical director Jessica Wells will be joined by musicians Jared Underwood, Damian de Boos Smith, Julian Langdon and special guest bass player Jonathan Zwartz to pay musical tribute to Connolly on the night.
The Distinguished Services award is selected by the Apra board of directors. Over his career, Connolly has showcased the works of composers such as Lisa Gerrard, Alan John, Bryony Marks, Nigel Westlake, François Tétaz and Evelyn Ida Morris in his film and television projects.
Connolly said: “I remain in awe of the creative insight and impact that composers have contributed to the film and television productions I have worked on. So many times the profound emotional and narrative elements that have eluded me as a filmmaker have been so much more clearly explored by the composer.
- 11/1/2018
- by jkeast
- IF.com.au
Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Japanese composer who will this week be honored as the Asian Filmmaker of the Year in Busan, will head the jury for the best original score prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. It is the first time that the APSAs, now in their 12th edition, present a best original score prize.
Sakamoto was previously the 2012 recipient of the Apsa Fiapf award, and performed extracts from “Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence” at the Brisbane prize ceremony. Also on the jury are Indian composer and music director Sneha Khanwalkar (“Gangs of Wasseypur”) and Australian composer, conductor and musician Nigel Westlake (“Babe,” “Paper Planes”).
The five nominees are: Eleni Karaindrou for “Bomb, A Love Story” (aka “Bomb, Yek Asheghaneh”) (Iran); Harry Gregson-Williams for “Breath” (Australia); Hildur Guonadottir, Johann Johannsson for “Mary Magdalene” (Australia, U.K.); Ryan Cayabyab for “The Portrait” (aka “Ang Larawan”) (Philippines); and
Omar Fadel for “Yomeddine” (Egypt...
Sakamoto was previously the 2012 recipient of the Apsa Fiapf award, and performed extracts from “Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence” at the Brisbane prize ceremony. Also on the jury are Indian composer and music director Sneha Khanwalkar (“Gangs of Wasseypur”) and Australian composer, conductor and musician Nigel Westlake (“Babe,” “Paper Planes”).
The five nominees are: Eleni Karaindrou for “Bomb, A Love Story” (aka “Bomb, Yek Asheghaneh”) (Iran); Harry Gregson-Williams for “Breath” (Australia); Hildur Guonadottir, Johann Johannsson for “Mary Magdalene” (Australia, U.K.); Ryan Cayabyab for “The Portrait” (aka “Ang Larawan”) (Philippines); and
Omar Fadel for “Yomeddine” (Egypt...
- 10/3/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
This is a wolf in pig's clothing. "Babe: Pig in the City" -- while waddling along in the guise of a family film -- is down to its shank, a grizzled depiction of a vicious and hideous world. Dark-toned and laden with oppressively grimy aesthetics, it's more akin to the sort of snide-and-sour offering one encounters at independent film festivals or Left Bank art houses, not what one expects given the film's sweet pedigree. Undoubtedly, Universal will slice some hefty boxoffice grosses over the holiday weekend based on the giddy expectations that recall this sequel's proud lineage, but word-of-mouth will be decidedly "Oscar Mayer" -- this porker is headed quickly to the slaughterhouse. Sensible parents with tots will be particularly nettled by the film's cruel and sadistic depictions such as animals squirming in death throes, etc.
While those folk who shop at Piggly Wiggly may be turned off by its dark and nasty ingredients, "Pig in the City" may find its best pastures overseas. With its pessimistic underpinnings, addled plotting and abstract meanderings, it's the sort of surreal cinematic slab that might be selected as a first-weekend competition entrant at Cannes.
Narratively, "Pig in the City" is a pig-out-of-water yarn. Old man Hoggett (James Cromwell) has been laid up and is in danger of losing ye olde farme. It's up to his spunky wife Esme (Magda Szubanski) to take hold of the reins and save it from foreclosure. The only course of action is to go to the city and capitalize on Babe's recent fame and garner an appearance fee at a big-time fair. Unhappily, air travel, being what it is today, botches things up and Esme and Babe never make it to the fair on time. They're left stranded in the big, bad city and take refuge in a seedy Bates-like hotel infested with all sorts of weird and dysfunctional creatures. Undeniably, the sweet-natured Babe and the stout Mrs. Hoggett are a sympathetic duo and we certainly want them to experience no harm. It's in these initial city scenes as Babe and Mrs. Hoggett counter The City Slickers' hostilities with their down-home brand of kindness that "Babe" really jells. Babe's naive and helpful ways are not only endearing, they are inspiring, and given the awfulness of the situations, quite funny.
But alas, this sequel focuses more on the maliciousness of the city characters as well as the inherent evil of the city (civilization) itself than it does on Babe's goodly, transcendent nature. Thematically, the power of one tiny individual to make the world a better place is lost in the film's overall ferociousness. As written by George Miller, Judy Morris and Mark Lamprell, the screenplay is not so much a scenario as it is a pessimistic smear of the dangers of city life. Narratively, it's merely assaultive as Babe and Mrs. Hoggett endure evil after evil. Structurally, the story is largely without tendons: it's a mere compendium of similar scenes -- Babe and Mrs. Hoggett enduring attack after attack. Eventually, this larder limps off to a pat and force-fed resolution, a happy-feel ending that is, well, just plain out of left field. Nonetheless, there is considerable skill in the writing: the dialogue is droll, deadpan and downright funny in a sparse kind of way. Unfortunately, it's going to be lost on much of its target audience, indicative of the enterprise's elevated, coffeehouse-noir sensibilities.
Still, "Babe" is filled with delightful moments in large part due to the charming animal cast, including not only pigs, but ducks, dogs, monkeys, kitties and cows. The voicework is terrific, particularly E.G. Daily's winning warbles as Babe and James Cosmo's wily deliveries as a monkey named Thelonius. Not only are these animals winning in their "performances" but they are integrated nicely into the story by the skilled and creative workings of the production team. In particular, costume designer Norma Moriceau's animal and human costumes are a constant delight chock full of personality and humor. Also a plus is cinematographer Andrew Lesnie's smartly composed groupings: back shots of Babe peering out at the big-bad world are wonderfully cute and comforting.
This time out, James Cromwell appears only briefly as a bookend as the sinewy Hoggett. That's a shame, for his gangly, practical-mannered performance in the original was a true highlight. As the determined Mrs. Hoggett, Szubanski brims with energy and chubby cheerfulness, while Mickey Rooney is well-cast as a comedic codger. Mary Stein's angular agility perks up her landlady part with some nifty comic touches.
While wildly appealing as a pet show, as a movie, "Babe: Pig in the City" is penned in by the lackadaisical story line as well as the film's grimy sensibilities. Despite the funny flourishes of the costumes and some sprightly animated figures and spunky visual effects, "Babe" is a pretty oppressive-feeling production. Under Miller's dark hand, the film's inventively expressionistic production design (Roger Ford) and baleful musical score (Nigel Westlake) only serve to further sodden this surprisingly dreary family outing.
BABE: PIG IN THE CITY
Universal Pictures
A Kennedy Miller film
Producers: George Miller, Doug Mitchell, Bill Miller
Director: George Miller
Screenwriters: George Miller, Judy Morris, Mark Lamprell
Additional unit director: Daphne Paris
Director of photography: Andrew Lesnie
Music: Nigel Westlake
Editors: Jay Friedkin, Margaret Sixel
Production designer: Roger Ford
Costume designer: Norma Moriceau
Executive producer: Barbara Gibbs
Visual effects and animation: Ryhthm & Hues, Mill Film, Animal Logic Film
Animatronics: Neal Scanlan Studio
Concept artist: Peter Pound
"That'll Do" written by Randy Newman, performed by Peter Gabriel
Animal action: Karl Lewis Miller
Casting: Alison Barrett, Nicki Barrett, Barbara Harris
Art director: Colin Gibson
Sound recordist: Ben Osmo
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Mrs. Hoggett: Magda Szubanski
Farmer Hoggett: James Cromwell
The Landlady: Mary Stein
Fugly Floom: Mickey Rooney
Voices:
Babe: E.G. Daily
Ferdinand: Danny Mann
Zootie: Glenne Headly
Bob: Steven Wright
Thelonius: James Cosmo
Easy: Nathan Kress, Myles Jeffrey
The Pitbull and the Doberman: Stanley Ralph Ross
The Pink Poodle: Russi Taylor
Flealick: Adam Goldberg
Nigel and Alan: Eddie Barth
The Sniffer Dog: Bill Capizzi
Fly: Miriam Margolyes
Rex: Hugo Weaving
The Narrator: Roscoe Lee Browne
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
While those folk who shop at Piggly Wiggly may be turned off by its dark and nasty ingredients, "Pig in the City" may find its best pastures overseas. With its pessimistic underpinnings, addled plotting and abstract meanderings, it's the sort of surreal cinematic slab that might be selected as a first-weekend competition entrant at Cannes.
Narratively, "Pig in the City" is a pig-out-of-water yarn. Old man Hoggett (James Cromwell) has been laid up and is in danger of losing ye olde farme. It's up to his spunky wife Esme (Magda Szubanski) to take hold of the reins and save it from foreclosure. The only course of action is to go to the city and capitalize on Babe's recent fame and garner an appearance fee at a big-time fair. Unhappily, air travel, being what it is today, botches things up and Esme and Babe never make it to the fair on time. They're left stranded in the big, bad city and take refuge in a seedy Bates-like hotel infested with all sorts of weird and dysfunctional creatures. Undeniably, the sweet-natured Babe and the stout Mrs. Hoggett are a sympathetic duo and we certainly want them to experience no harm. It's in these initial city scenes as Babe and Mrs. Hoggett counter The City Slickers' hostilities with their down-home brand of kindness that "Babe" really jells. Babe's naive and helpful ways are not only endearing, they are inspiring, and given the awfulness of the situations, quite funny.
But alas, this sequel focuses more on the maliciousness of the city characters as well as the inherent evil of the city (civilization) itself than it does on Babe's goodly, transcendent nature. Thematically, the power of one tiny individual to make the world a better place is lost in the film's overall ferociousness. As written by George Miller, Judy Morris and Mark Lamprell, the screenplay is not so much a scenario as it is a pessimistic smear of the dangers of city life. Narratively, it's merely assaultive as Babe and Mrs. Hoggett endure evil after evil. Structurally, the story is largely without tendons: it's a mere compendium of similar scenes -- Babe and Mrs. Hoggett enduring attack after attack. Eventually, this larder limps off to a pat and force-fed resolution, a happy-feel ending that is, well, just plain out of left field. Nonetheless, there is considerable skill in the writing: the dialogue is droll, deadpan and downright funny in a sparse kind of way. Unfortunately, it's going to be lost on much of its target audience, indicative of the enterprise's elevated, coffeehouse-noir sensibilities.
Still, "Babe" is filled with delightful moments in large part due to the charming animal cast, including not only pigs, but ducks, dogs, monkeys, kitties and cows. The voicework is terrific, particularly E.G. Daily's winning warbles as Babe and James Cosmo's wily deliveries as a monkey named Thelonius. Not only are these animals winning in their "performances" but they are integrated nicely into the story by the skilled and creative workings of the production team. In particular, costume designer Norma Moriceau's animal and human costumes are a constant delight chock full of personality and humor. Also a plus is cinematographer Andrew Lesnie's smartly composed groupings: back shots of Babe peering out at the big-bad world are wonderfully cute and comforting.
This time out, James Cromwell appears only briefly as a bookend as the sinewy Hoggett. That's a shame, for his gangly, practical-mannered performance in the original was a true highlight. As the determined Mrs. Hoggett, Szubanski brims with energy and chubby cheerfulness, while Mickey Rooney is well-cast as a comedic codger. Mary Stein's angular agility perks up her landlady part with some nifty comic touches.
While wildly appealing as a pet show, as a movie, "Babe: Pig in the City" is penned in by the lackadaisical story line as well as the film's grimy sensibilities. Despite the funny flourishes of the costumes and some sprightly animated figures and spunky visual effects, "Babe" is a pretty oppressive-feeling production. Under Miller's dark hand, the film's inventively expressionistic production design (Roger Ford) and baleful musical score (Nigel Westlake) only serve to further sodden this surprisingly dreary family outing.
BABE: PIG IN THE CITY
Universal Pictures
A Kennedy Miller film
Producers: George Miller, Doug Mitchell, Bill Miller
Director: George Miller
Screenwriters: George Miller, Judy Morris, Mark Lamprell
Additional unit director: Daphne Paris
Director of photography: Andrew Lesnie
Music: Nigel Westlake
Editors: Jay Friedkin, Margaret Sixel
Production designer: Roger Ford
Costume designer: Norma Moriceau
Executive producer: Barbara Gibbs
Visual effects and animation: Ryhthm & Hues, Mill Film, Animal Logic Film
Animatronics: Neal Scanlan Studio
Concept artist: Peter Pound
"That'll Do" written by Randy Newman, performed by Peter Gabriel
Animal action: Karl Lewis Miller
Casting: Alison Barrett, Nicki Barrett, Barbara Harris
Art director: Colin Gibson
Sound recordist: Ben Osmo
Color/Stereo
Cast:
Mrs. Hoggett: Magda Szubanski
Farmer Hoggett: James Cromwell
The Landlady: Mary Stein
Fugly Floom: Mickey Rooney
Voices:
Babe: E.G. Daily
Ferdinand: Danny Mann
Zootie: Glenne Headly
Bob: Steven Wright
Thelonius: James Cosmo
Easy: Nathan Kress, Myles Jeffrey
The Pitbull and the Doberman: Stanley Ralph Ross
The Pink Poodle: Russi Taylor
Flealick: Adam Goldberg
Nigel and Alan: Eddie Barth
The Sniffer Dog: Bill Capizzi
Fly: Miriam Margolyes
Rex: Hugo Weaving
The Narrator: Roscoe Lee Browne
Running time -- 88 minutes
MPAA rating: G...
- 11/25/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In a superb, award-winning performance, Judy Davis plays an Australian Communist who admits she "can't relax." Thankfully, like her, this film's nervous energy rarely flags.
The feature debut of writer-director Peter Duncan, Miramax's "Children of the Revolution" is a deliciously cracked, one-of-a-kind comedy-satire about a strong-willed woman who unexpectedly ends the life of Josef Stalin and then comes to regret perpetuating his legacy.
Prospects in the cutthroat marketplace -- despite a cheeky print advertising campaign that's attention-getting but does not always do the film justice -- are modest at best. The presence of Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush and Sam Neill in the cast will help, but video and cable are more likely venues for this clever concoction.
At times resembling a "mock documentary," but most memorable when it takes one inside the heads and homes of Down Under revolutionaries, "Children" zeroes in on those international party members who clung to their beliefs even in the face of overwhelming evidence that Stalin murdered millions.
The set-up is swift and amusing, with fiery Joan (Davis) trying to stir up the working class in Sydney and writing letters to Stalin for advice and inspiration. One of her comrades is the affable Welch (Rush), who longs to romance her and does not pretend to endorse her every tactic or conviction. Also keeping an eye on her is a spy for the government (Neill).
In a goofy sequence, her letters to Stalin are read by adjuncts and then by the Big Man himself F. Murray Abraham), who we are told has quit smoking and is more cranky than usual. The all-powerful leader of the proletarian revolution invites her to Moscow for official party reasons, but he really wants a date.
Joan goes on the trip and is shadowed by Neill's character, who reveals he's with the KGB. She's wined and dined by Stalin and they end up in bed. Presumably in the throes of lovemaking, Stalin dies and Joan is devastated. Aroused, Nine makes a pre-emptive strike and Joan sleeps with him too before heading home.
The film continues to zoom through the next several decades as pregnant Joan marries Welch. Uncertainty about the father of the child is dispelled when the youngster, named Joe, takes delight in criminal pursuits and going to jail. As a young man, Joe (Richard Roxburgh) falls for a pretty policewoman (Rachel Griffiths), but his dark nature comes to the surface when he's sent to prison on serious charges.
Eventually Joe becomes the head of a super-union of law enforcement agencies and creates an alternative government with the goal of achieving Joan Long's dreamed-of revolution.
Davis dominates when she's on screen, but Roxburgh ("Oscar and Lucinda") is also terrific. Director Duncan skillfully uses old footage, still photos, on-screen graphics and eclectic music on the soundtrack - from Cole Porter to Sergei Prokofiev.
CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION
Miramax Films
Writer-director Peter Duncan
Producer Tristram Miall
Director of photography Martin McGrath
Production designer Roger Ford
Costume designer Terry Ryan
Music Nigel Westlake
Editor Simon Martin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Joan Judy Davis
Joe Richard Roxburgh
Nine Sam Neill
Welch Geoffrey Rush
Anna Rachel Griffiths
Stalin F. Murray Abraham
Running time -- 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
The feature debut of writer-director Peter Duncan, Miramax's "Children of the Revolution" is a deliciously cracked, one-of-a-kind comedy-satire about a strong-willed woman who unexpectedly ends the life of Josef Stalin and then comes to regret perpetuating his legacy.
Prospects in the cutthroat marketplace -- despite a cheeky print advertising campaign that's attention-getting but does not always do the film justice -- are modest at best. The presence of Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush and Sam Neill in the cast will help, but video and cable are more likely venues for this clever concoction.
At times resembling a "mock documentary," but most memorable when it takes one inside the heads and homes of Down Under revolutionaries, "Children" zeroes in on those international party members who clung to their beliefs even in the face of overwhelming evidence that Stalin murdered millions.
The set-up is swift and amusing, with fiery Joan (Davis) trying to stir up the working class in Sydney and writing letters to Stalin for advice and inspiration. One of her comrades is the affable Welch (Rush), who longs to romance her and does not pretend to endorse her every tactic or conviction. Also keeping an eye on her is a spy for the government (Neill).
In a goofy sequence, her letters to Stalin are read by adjuncts and then by the Big Man himself F. Murray Abraham), who we are told has quit smoking and is more cranky than usual. The all-powerful leader of the proletarian revolution invites her to Moscow for official party reasons, but he really wants a date.
Joan goes on the trip and is shadowed by Neill's character, who reveals he's with the KGB. She's wined and dined by Stalin and they end up in bed. Presumably in the throes of lovemaking, Stalin dies and Joan is devastated. Aroused, Nine makes a pre-emptive strike and Joan sleeps with him too before heading home.
The film continues to zoom through the next several decades as pregnant Joan marries Welch. Uncertainty about the father of the child is dispelled when the youngster, named Joe, takes delight in criminal pursuits and going to jail. As a young man, Joe (Richard Roxburgh) falls for a pretty policewoman (Rachel Griffiths), but his dark nature comes to the surface when he's sent to prison on serious charges.
Eventually Joe becomes the head of a super-union of law enforcement agencies and creates an alternative government with the goal of achieving Joan Long's dreamed-of revolution.
Davis dominates when she's on screen, but Roxburgh ("Oscar and Lucinda") is also terrific. Director Duncan skillfully uses old footage, still photos, on-screen graphics and eclectic music on the soundtrack - from Cole Porter to Sergei Prokofiev.
CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION
Miramax Films
Writer-director Peter Duncan
Producer Tristram Miall
Director of photography Martin McGrath
Production designer Roger Ford
Costume designer Terry Ryan
Music Nigel Westlake
Editor Simon Martin
Color/stereo
Cast:
Joan Judy Davis
Joe Richard Roxburgh
Nine Sam Neill
Welch Geoffrey Rush
Anna Rachel Griffiths
Stalin F. Murray Abraham
Running time -- 102 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
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