Burning Man, trailer, a comedy drama, is the third feature of Sydney based Australian film director Jonathan Teplitzky (Better Than Sex, Gettin’ Square). Set in present day Sydney, Burning Man is partly autobiographical, based on Teplitzky’s own experiences, and explores personal loss and grief.
Tom (Matthew Goode) is a man who seems to have it all. He is a successful chef who owns a highly regarded restaurant at the iconic Bondi Beach. He is married to the beautiful Sarah (Bojana Novakovic), and lives in a cottage in a leafy city fringe suburb, which the couple share with their eight year old son, Oscar (Jack Heanly).
Tom leads a leads a tightly scheduled, chaotic, life. He’s impatient, impulsive, hot-headed, and often obnoxious. But after tragedy strikes, Tom’s life veers off the rails spectacularly, leaving him trying to put the pieces back together, and come to terms with what has happened.
In his heartbreak he seeks solace through a succession of liaisons with sex workers, women he meets randomly, and even mothers of Oscar’s friends, if he can manage it. And while friends and family including Karen (Essie Davis), and Brian (Anthony Hayes), try to help, Tom remains inconsolable.
Tom becomes ever more self-absorbed as he recalls earlier and happier days. His puzzled son, meanwhile, wonders why they live in motels instead of at home, which Tom quite abruptly sold. Not helping are unsettling illusions of fire and flame that Tom sees with disturbing regularity.
Burning Man throws audiences in the deep end with a racing opening sequence that stitches together various of the film’s key scenes. While I have no problem with non-linear narratives, L’appartement and Mulholland Drive, for instance, are great instances of the form, here the result is confusing and disorientating.
While Burning Man disparate threads eventually find a place, and even if there is a certain intrigue in trying to work out their significance, it’s at the cost of what could have been an effecting exposé into an almost destructive trauma. Solid performances, and striking camera work, especially a time-lapse like car crash scene, are however pluses.
Fox’s, or rather McFly’s, rendition of Johnny B. Goode at the Enchantment under the sea dance in 1955, is one of the (fictitious) historical events I’d like to witness. It’d also be an opportunity to be a dance floor innovator/early adopter, by showing 1950’s dance-goers a whole new way to trip the light fantastic.
Fighting Fear, trailer, a documentary, is the second feature of Sydney based Australian film director Macario De Souza, and follows his 2007 debut Bra Boys, which he co-directed with Sunny Abberton.
Here De Souza focuses on the story of two members of the Bra Boys surf gang, which is based at Sydney’s Maroubra beach. Narrated by Australian actor Joel Edgerton, Fighting Fear profiles Mark Mathews, a big wave pro-surfer, and Richie “Vas” Vaculik, also a surfer and mixed martial arts fighter, who have been friends since meeting as boys at Maroubra in the early 1990’s.
Both also appeared briefly in De Souza’s earlier Bra Boys feature.
While working as a carpet layer to fund his surfing escapades, Mathews would closely monitor Australian swell forecasts. The instant he spotted conditions conducive to the formation of big waves, such as at Shipstern Bluff, on the southeast coast of Tasmania, Matthews would, along with Vaculik, travel there as quickly as possible.
On top of his passion for surfing though, Vaculik began to develop an interest in mixed martial arts and cage fighting, where he quickly acquired a formidable reputation after a string of victories. While both worked hard, they also loved to party with the same fervour, and sometimes found themselves at odds with the law as a result.
With Vaculik facing serious assault charges, and Mathews recovering after a surfing mishap at Shipstern Bluff, incidents that presented threats to their sporting ambitions, both found themselves struggling to save their respective careers. But the pair were able to draw on their long-standing friendship to help each other through.
Fighting Fear blends interviews, archival news and video clips, reenactments, plus some spectacular surfing footage. Appearances by Kelly Slater, Steph Gilmore, Mick Fanning, and Bruce Irons among others, flesh out the story of Mathews and Vaculik, as they overcome various fears in order to reach their potential.
While soul baring and compelling, Fighting Fear isn’t quite as absorbing as Bra Boys, which I thought told more of a story. There are also references to the Bra Boys, but a lack of context might confuse audiences outside of Sydney, or those unfamiliar with the surf gang. The film is bound together by an animated soundtrack, including music by De Souza in his Kid Mac persona.
Originally published Friday 11 November 2011, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
Last Wednesday night, 2 November 2011, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, two of Australia’s best known film critics, spoke at the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, in the Sydney suburb of Cremorne. The special event was part of celebrations marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of their working partnership.
Usually referred to as Margaret and David, the pair presented The Movie Show on SBS Television from 1986 until 2004, and since then At the Movies, on the ABC.
Their association with film isn’t restricted to television work though. Stratton writes reviews for The Australian newspaper, and lectures in film history at the University of Sydney. Pomeranz, meanwhile, is known for her work with anti-censorship lobby, Watch on Censorship.
I’ve seen both at various film events in recent years. I saw Pomeranz speak with Stephen Frears, director of Tamara Drewe, earlier this year. Stratton, whom I occasionally see at some of the preview screenings I go to, interviewed Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood, who starred in 2001: A Space Odyssey, in September 2006, also at the Hayden.
And after twenty-five years they certainly have much to say about the film industry, both in Australia and overseas. Not all of their thoughts are positive though. Both feel the rise of multiplexes have drained the movie going experience of its charm, something I agree with. That point comes into clear focus, particularly, at a place like the Hayden, which is certainly no multiplex.
Both were also critical of the work of many directors in France, Italy, and the United States, previously influential centres of filmmaking. Stratton went so far as to suggest a correlation between a society’s lack of imagination and its decline. However they had much praise for the work of Eastern filmmakers, particularly those in Japan, Korea, and China.
It’s difficult to ignore the contribution Pomeranz and Stratton have made, individually and collectively, to the Australian film industry, to say nothing of forging a successful professional partnership for so long. Despite this, I am often baffled by the ratings they accord to some of the films they review.
In my opinion, some decidedly poor efforts have received high-praise. On other occasions, their individual ratings of a film are at odds with each other. One, say, awards a film four stars (out of five), while the other offers two stars. Still, when it comes to film, it is, as Stratton says, all a matter of taste. It should be noted I still read the transcripts of their show each week regardless of my qualms.
Rounding out the evening was a preview screening of Tomas Alfredson’s new film Tinker Sailor Soldier Spy, which is scheduled for release in Australia in January 2012. This is something I will write more about at another time.
Originally published Friday 4 November 2011, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.
