A reader writes:
I wanted to thank you for linking to "The Magician" in one of your (fairly) recent blog posts. <oz>Bloody brilliant film, mate!</oz>
Can you recommend any other outstanding films from your sector of the hemisphere?
John
The Magician, for the benefit of other readers, is a low-budget mock-documentary about an Australian hit man, who's played by the actual filmmaker. Like many other Australian crime films, it is hilarious and unsettling, often simultaneously.
And yes, I do have a few suggestions, particularly in this genre.
To get the better-known ones out of the way first, there's Chopper, of course, and Two Hands. Then Dirty Deeds, with numerous Australians trapped in John Goodman's gravity well, and Gettin' Square, which is heavier on the comedy and lighter on the crime.
If you're looking for something similarly Aussie and gritty but less... cheerful... there's early Russell Crowe flick Romper Stomper, the significantly more miserable Metal Skin, and the bleaker still Ghosts... of the Civil Dead.
I also have to digress and give the short Zombie Movie a plug, because there ain't no zombie like a New Zealand zombie, and that movie can be had for free on Steam. And while we're talking antipodean zombies, Undead adds something quite unexpected to the genre.
And now, some Amazon affiliate links for the above flicks. Several of them are now discontinued, but new and used DVDs are still on offer:
Chopper
Two Hands
Dirty Deeds
Gettin' Square
Romper Stomper (fancy 2-disc version)
Metal Skin
Ghosts... of the Civil Dead
Undead
(Whipping through the IMDb "recommendations" for the above titles also reminded me of The Limey, in which various Americans discover that being on the enemies list of both General Zod from Superman II and Bernadette from Priscilla is very, very bad. The Limey is nice and cheap on Amazon.)
The Magician itself is a bit hard to find in the States. You might very well be able to find it in some wretched hive of scum and villainy; I couldn't possibly comment. If you want it legally, though, it's elusive.
Once you filter out the incorrect hits ("...not Simon The Magician, not either Mandrake The Magician, not The Magician from 1993 with Clive Owen in it, not Melies' 1898 Le magicien, not the one from 1926, not the 1973 Bill Bixby movie or TV series..."), there aren't a lot of hits left. The Magician's very recognisable DVD cover helps a bit, though:
Here The Magician is on Amazon UK, here it is at a random Australian online DVD shop, and there are a couple on eBay at the moment too. But they're in the UK, and shippable to Australia and of course also to the UK but, as I write this, not to the USA.
I invite other suggestions, particularly of low-budget quirky crime films from lesser-seen countries. Feel free to widen the net enough to include, for instance, A Dog's Breakfast, which some of us laugh at in unexpected places.
31 January 2010 at 11:30 am
Not having Steam installed, I had a look around to see if I could catch Zombie Movie somewhere else. It's in three parts on YouTube. Might help someone out, if I'm not the only person on Earth without Steam.
Part One.
Part Two.
Part Three.
Of course I'd rather support indie filmmakers (especially local ones) than just watch it on YouTube. But it's free on Steam anyway, and I don't hold out much hope for finding a copy on DVD.
31 January 2010 at 11:42 am
There's Bad Boy Bubby of course.
31 January 2010 at 11:50 am
There's Idiot Box as well, which was more thrill-high thugs than serious murderous intent, but a good watch. Bloody hard to find on DVD though.
The Boys and The Interview were OK, but a bit over the top in their dramatisation.
And, of course, if you're after a truly harrowing experience you could watch Baz's Australia.
31 January 2010 at 1:04 pm
I have to give my recommendation for another violent and dusty Australian film: The Proposition.
Written (and soundtrack provided) by Nick Cave.
[...who, 17 years earlier, was in "Ghosts of the Civil Dead", too! -Dan]
31 January 2010 at 1:17 pm
You are dead right about NZ Zombie flicks...
Sometimes the directors even get to be famous.
31 January 2010 at 1:53 pm
Braindead and bad taste, now added to my list of stuff to download.:)
31 January 2010 at 2:00 pm
Not quite on-genre, but similarly parochial, Death in Brunswick immediately sprang to mind. You'll never look at a take-away pizza in quite the same way...
31 January 2010 at 2:07 pm
While we're on the subject of New Zealand zombie flicks: Last of the Living (2008)
Morgan, Ash, and Johnny might just be the only humans left, but they don't seem to mind and find enjoyment lounging around in their underwear living in vacant homes. When they stumble upon a hot girl who just may have a cure, the three decide it's finally time to step up to the plate and save the world- and the girl. Now the only hope for survival lies in their hands.
"We shot about 90% of it for $5,000 USD. Then cut a trailer together put it up an Youtube and got a further $40k USD as a pre-sales deal." -Logan McMillan (director)
[I think that's pretty much how "The Magician" came to be, too. And then there's the considerable number of shorts that've been picked up to be expanded into a feature, like "9" and the aforementioned "Rockfish" -Dan
31 January 2010 at 4:34 pm
I don't have a lot of good things to say about Australian movies in general.
The Interview (1998) with Hugo Weaving however was a rather pleasant suprise.
It's basically a budget movie that is dialog based (ala Glengarry Glen Ross, Clerks or 12 Angry Men [1957]) set in the crime/drama genre.
I don't like to say much about movies I recommend; But like the examples above it is a movie worth watching.
31 January 2010 at 6:41 pm
From NZ: The Quiet Earth.
"A lost gem" indeed.
31 January 2010 at 10:05 pm
As far as New Zealand zombie movies go, I must recommend "Black Sheep". I guess it's not so much "zombie" as "undead genetically engineered sheep", but it's truly an amazing film.
1 February 2010 at 9:24 am
Hey Dan; now I know they're the Australian films everyone knows about, but what're your thoughts on the Mad Max films? I've always loved them but with the talk of the new one in production, I've been reading about them more lately, and I remember a piece that said that they enjoy nearly-universal popularity in Australia; not just because they're awesome, but because they became well-known worldwide. How true is that? Are they that popular "Down Under?" Do YOU like them?
1 February 2010 at 12:24 pm
I got beaten to 'The Interview', 'Black Sheep' and 'The Quiet Earth' - all great films, particularly the shotgun-in-the-church scene in The Quiet Earth; the brilliant Bruno Lawrence as the by-then quite insane Zac Hobson holding a shotty to the head of Jesus being crucified, shouting "Come out or I shoot the kid!" Well, it made me laugh. I think he declared himself emperor of Earth after that.
The Interview also starred Tony Martin, pretty much reprising his role in ABC's excellent series Wildside, itself also a pretty full-on series, right up to various episodes being banned due to overt political references (The "Pauline Hanson" episode and the "Heart Transplant" episodes come to mind).
Another great crime film, also quite full-on is Blue Murder which is scary due to it being all true. Also fun for me as my first girlfriend lived two doors down from Michael Drury at the time.
Other worthwhile somewhat unknown Australian films worth seeing are The Cars That Ate Paris and Sky Pirates, with the later being surprisingly good, and chock-full of great vintage Australian planes, and a cameo by the late Col Paye. Am I the only one who saw 'Sky Pirates' I went with my brother and were the only two people in the cinema on opening day for it. For memory it closed about 2 days later.
I remember The Cars That Ate Paris for the very disturbing Bruce Spence as the even more disturbing Charlie.
You should beware of giant pigs, known in Australia as Razorbacks.
Wow, I'm having an 80's flashback here - Running On Empty and please see the original Edge of Darkness rather than Mel's remake, if only for the line from Darius Jedburgh: "Dallas? That's where we shoot our presidents!". The original was just a touch anti-US (and anti-UK for that matter, actually it was pretty anti-homo sapiens too), I can't imagine a film like that being terribly popular in the States nowadays. Oh, except Avatar I guess. I was expecting that to be about Lord British, so I was a touch disappointed.
And yes, Red October, the Mad Max films were a bit popular down here. I went to school with one of the 'feral kids' from 3, by the way. Personally I quite liked Kevin Costner's epic Waterworld too, precisely because it was almost exactly "Mad Max 3 On (melted) Ice".
I think the Mad-Max genre (around a lot longer than Mad Max, by the way) - see Peter Wier's early films like the above-mentioned Cars That Ate Paris and Picnic at Hanging Rock - being that Australia is a really scary place resonates with a lot of Australians as reality - this country really is downright spooky a lot of the time. The Nargun and the Stars by Patricia Wrightson is a childrens book, but is full of the stuff nightmares are made of. To this day I still warn people about Narguns, and always blame sticks and leaves all over my car on Turongs. Sure, I'm atheist and all, but the Nargun sounds a whole lot like C'thulu to me; it's waiting for the stars to be right again, you see...
I am sure Dan can vouch for the noises made by possums at night; they don't sound like fluffy cute things, they sound like they will break through the roof and tear your face off. The Australian bush and outback are full of lots of delightful ways to end your life rapidly and painfully, from Irikandji jellyfish to Eastern Taipans & to mundane yet deadly fires, flash floods, narcoleptic truck drivers or boring old thirst (which still claims a few ignorant or unlucky people a year). I think we have a record year for drownings too.
1 February 2010 at 12:26 pm
I got beaten to 'The Interview', 'Black Sheep' and 'The Quiet Earth' - all great films, particularly the shotgun-in-the-church scene in The Quiet Earth; the brilliant Bruno Lawrence as the by-then quite insane Zac Hobson holding a shotty to the head of Jesus being crucified, shouting "Come out or I shoot the kid!" Well, it made me laugh. I think he declared himself emperor of Earth after that.
The Interview also starred Tony Martin, pretty much reprising his role in ABC's excellent series Wildside, itself also a pretty full-on series, right up to various episodes being banned due to overt political references (The "Pauline Hanson" episode and the "Heart Transplant" episodes come to mind).
Another great crime film, also quite full-on is Blue Murder which is scary due to it being all true. Also fun for me as my first girlfriend lived two doors down from Michael Drury at the time.
Other worthwhile somewhat unknown Australian films worth seeing are The Cars That Ate Paris and Sky Pirates, with the later being surprisingly good, and chock-full of great vintage Australian planes, and a cameo by the late Col Paye. Am I the only one who saw 'Sky Pirates' I went with my brother and were the only two people in the cinema on opening day for it. For memory it closed about 2 days later.
I remember The Cars That Ate Paris for the very disturbing Bruce Spence as the even more disturbing Charlie.
Bugger, there must be a word limit, I just lost 2/3rds of this post. I got on a ramble...
1 February 2010 at 1:07 pm
My ramble was in reply to Red October - Yes, Australians like Mad Max quite a bit, and not just because it was popular, but because it taps into a common theme of Australian culture that Australia is a really scary place most of the time.
I am sure Dan can vouch for the nocturnal sounds of possums; they don't sound cute and fuzzy, they sound like they will eat their way through your roof and chew your face off. Koalas sound even worse when they get territorial. Finally, the Nargun, just like Great C'thulu, waits for the stars to be right again, occasionally eating the odd sheep or passer-by. Oh, and the deadly Drop-Bears and Marsupial Panthers...
Go walking in the rainforest in tropical North Queensland, encounter a Cassowary and 'only' get 1.5cm puncture wounds, or luck out and bleed to death!
Meet a razorback!
Die of thirst! Still a favourite of tourists, the unprepared and unlucky.
Have fun outrunning bush fires.
Australia - a laugh a minute! That said, I'm still happy I live here.
1 February 2010 at 4:57 pm
Well that's a mess. When Chrome decides to play up, it really plays up. Nuts.
2 February 2010 at 1:01 am
I'll put in a word for Undead. It's one of the best zombie movies ever. I wish I could talk about it but I would hate to ruin it for anyone.
2 February 2010 at 1:20 am
I recently saw "Not Quite Hollywood", a documentary about ozploitation films that made me want to watch a whole slew of them... yet a lot are not readily available in the states, which stinks.
I'll throw in a vote for The Bank, which is a pretty solid quasi-bank heist movie (perhaps not as dark as many other movies talked about here, but certainly worth a watch)...
2 February 2010 at 11:06 am
I have always been a huge fan of the film Malcolm; were I to hazard a guess, I would imagine that anyone who is a fan of Mr Rutter's work would find it to be a very entertaining film.
3 February 2010 at 6:46 am
"And yes, Red October, the Mad Max films were a bit popular down here. I went to school with one of the 'feral kids' from 3, by the way. "
To most real fans of Mad Max, there were only 2 films - a lot of fans would prefer to ignore the third one and hope it is never mentioned. For that reason I'm not too hopeful about the prospects for #4.
And I knew someone from one of the films, too - Moira Claux, who was 'Big Rebecca' in Mad Max 2. A loud, abrasive, opinionated character - exactly as she was in real life!
10 February 2010 at 11:59 pm
I just finished watching Brain Dead. It's actually pretty good in a Gore/comedy kinda way. Kind of like The Reanimator series and House series.
11 February 2010 at 10:16 pm
Fortunately, there is no sequel-relationship between Braindead and Bad Taste. You can see them in any order. As long as you do.
Thanks to Bad Taste, I have for many years, in any situation when anything - material or conceptual - needs to be gotten rid of by anybody at all, reflexively said "gut rud uf ut".
Oh, and here's a further quick wildcard-match blanket recommendation to add to the above:
Anything Bruce Spence Has Ever Been In, That Had A Budget Of Less Than $20 Million.
(Look, Cillian Murphy, it's nothing personal, you're really doing a perfectly good job as The Scarecrow, love yer work. But I think you really must agree that Bruce is just genetically perfect for the role. Economical, too; the older he gets, the less makeup he needs.)
11 February 2010 at 10:23 pm
(And also for Judge Death. Obviously.)
12 February 2010 at 12:29 pm
Hercules Returns is hilarious