CANNES -- A joke about flatulence comes early in Australian writer-director Rolf de Heer's tragicomedy Ten Canoes, yet this richly layered film couldn't be further removed from the low-brow concerns of a Hollywood sex comedy.
Set a thousand years ago in Australia's far northern Arnhem Land, it manages to skirt the issue of race relations, a hot-button topic in a country where black and white Australians are still coming to grips with their recent disharmonious history. Yet, in telling this ancient story with style and humor, de Heer and his Aboriginal collaborators promote cultural understanding and acceptance by stealth, if you will.
The beauty of the otherworldly landscapes and the authenticity of the detail gleaned from anthropologist Donald Thomson's mid-1930s photographs will appeal to arthouse audiences, and the film should have legs on the international festival circuit. (It will open the Sydney Film Festival on June 9, ahead of its Australian release June 29.)
De Heer's latest outing -- co-directed by Peter Djigirr and written in collaboration with the Arnhem Land community of Ramingining -- is playful where his 2002 political allegory The Tracker was potent.
Frequent bursts of bawdy humor are as unexpected as they are welcome, leavening the ethnographic raw material and providing handy points of entry into the first Australian feature shot entirely in a number of indigenous languages, predominantly Ganalbingu.
This mythic history lesson also is buoyed by naturalistic performances from a cast of first-time Aboriginal actors and chatty narration by the legendary David Gulpilil.
Ten Canoes opens with a grand aerial swoop over the remote Arafura swamp region of northeast Arnhem Land while Gulpilil's Storyteller solemnly intones: "Once upon a time in a land far, far away ..." The spell is broken -- and a capricious tone set -- when the voice cracks up at the fairytale stereotype and says, I'm only joking.
Old Minygululu (Peter Minygululu) discovers that his younger brother Dayindi (played by Gulpilil's 22-year-old son, Jamie) covets his third and youngest wife, and decides to tell him an ancestral story to, in the words of the narrator, "help him live proper way."
The screen is saturated with color as this parable -- set in the mythical past -- begins. The action then switches nimbly between the two periods for the remainder of the film.
Minygululu's cautionary tale concerns Yeeralparil (also played by Jamie Gulpilil), a young single man who desires one of the wives of his older brother, Ridjimiraril (sculptor and dancer Crusoe Kurddal.)
The core story is a relatively simple one of forbidden love, made epic by the many narrative offshoots and asides that flesh out the meandering tale. Soon we are up to our ears in kidnapping, sorcery, murder and bloody revenge -- though de Heer always has time for a jokey aside about the rampaging sweet tooth of the Honey Man (Richard Birrinbirrin.)
Ian Jones' superb photography underscores the majestic beauty of the landscapes and leaves a lingering impression, while intuitive editing by Tania Nehme keeps the narrative threads from tangling. Kudos also to the cast and crew for enduring the hard slog of a weeks-long shoot fending off leeches, mosquitoes and crocodiles in the unforgiving swamplands of Australia's top end.
TEN CANOES
Vertigo Prods./Fandango Australia
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Rolf de Heer
Co-director: Peter Djigirr
Producers: Rolf de Heer, Julie Ryan
Executive producers: Sue Murray, Domenico Procacci, Bryce Menzies
Director of photography: Ian Jones
Production designer: Beverley Freeman
Co-producers: Richard Birrinbirrin, Belinda Scott, Nils Erik Nielsen
Costumes: Beverley Freeman
Editor: Tania Nehme
Cast:
Ridjimiraril: Crusoe Kurddal
Dayindi/Yeeralparil: Jamie Gulpilil
Honey Man: Richard Birrinbirrin
Minygululu: Peter Minygululu
Nowalingu: Frances Djulibing
The Storyteller: David Gulpilil
The Sorcerer: Philip Gudthaykudthay
The Stranger: Michael Dawu
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 91 minutes...
Set a thousand years ago in Australia's far northern Arnhem Land, it manages to skirt the issue of race relations, a hot-button topic in a country where black and white Australians are still coming to grips with their recent disharmonious history. Yet, in telling this ancient story with style and humor, de Heer and his Aboriginal collaborators promote cultural understanding and acceptance by stealth, if you will.
The beauty of the otherworldly landscapes and the authenticity of the detail gleaned from anthropologist Donald Thomson's mid-1930s photographs will appeal to arthouse audiences, and the film should have legs on the international festival circuit. (It will open the Sydney Film Festival on June 9, ahead of its Australian release June 29.)
De Heer's latest outing -- co-directed by Peter Djigirr and written in collaboration with the Arnhem Land community of Ramingining -- is playful where his 2002 political allegory The Tracker was potent.
Frequent bursts of bawdy humor are as unexpected as they are welcome, leavening the ethnographic raw material and providing handy points of entry into the first Australian feature shot entirely in a number of indigenous languages, predominantly Ganalbingu.
This mythic history lesson also is buoyed by naturalistic performances from a cast of first-time Aboriginal actors and chatty narration by the legendary David Gulpilil.
Ten Canoes opens with a grand aerial swoop over the remote Arafura swamp region of northeast Arnhem Land while Gulpilil's Storyteller solemnly intones: "Once upon a time in a land far, far away ..." The spell is broken -- and a capricious tone set -- when the voice cracks up at the fairytale stereotype and says, I'm only joking.
Old Minygululu (Peter Minygululu) discovers that his younger brother Dayindi (played by Gulpilil's 22-year-old son, Jamie) covets his third and youngest wife, and decides to tell him an ancestral story to, in the words of the narrator, "help him live proper way."
The screen is saturated with color as this parable -- set in the mythical past -- begins. The action then switches nimbly between the two periods for the remainder of the film.
Minygululu's cautionary tale concerns Yeeralparil (also played by Jamie Gulpilil), a young single man who desires one of the wives of his older brother, Ridjimiraril (sculptor and dancer Crusoe Kurddal.)
The core story is a relatively simple one of forbidden love, made epic by the many narrative offshoots and asides that flesh out the meandering tale. Soon we are up to our ears in kidnapping, sorcery, murder and bloody revenge -- though de Heer always has time for a jokey aside about the rampaging sweet tooth of the Honey Man (Richard Birrinbirrin.)
Ian Jones' superb photography underscores the majestic beauty of the landscapes and leaves a lingering impression, while intuitive editing by Tania Nehme keeps the narrative threads from tangling. Kudos also to the cast and crew for enduring the hard slog of a weeks-long shoot fending off leeches, mosquitoes and crocodiles in the unforgiving swamplands of Australia's top end.
TEN CANOES
Vertigo Prods./Fandango Australia
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Rolf de Heer
Co-director: Peter Djigirr
Producers: Rolf de Heer, Julie Ryan
Executive producers: Sue Murray, Domenico Procacci, Bryce Menzies
Director of photography: Ian Jones
Production designer: Beverley Freeman
Co-producers: Richard Birrinbirrin, Belinda Scott, Nils Erik Nielsen
Costumes: Beverley Freeman
Editor: Tania Nehme
Cast:
Ridjimiraril: Crusoe Kurddal
Dayindi/Yeeralparil: Jamie Gulpilil
Honey Man: Richard Birrinbirrin
Minygululu: Peter Minygululu
Nowalingu: Frances Djulibing
The Storyteller: David Gulpilil
The Sorcerer: Philip Gudthaykudthay
The Stranger: Michael Dawu
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 91 minutes...
- 5/19/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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