someone posed the following question to me: Why do you think Aussie film doesn't make it in the international market?

it seems to me that there have been aussie films that have been critically acclaimed or underground hits (gallipoli and mad max come immediately to mind), but i thought i'd call on the incredible knowledge of this community to get more answers.

please help. they're australian and i want to be able to show them what australian film has to offer (as a lineage, i guess). in any case, it seems they are definitely ignorant of their own film history and lineage...

There was an explosion of Australian film in the late seventies and early eighties, films that were widely viewed here in America. Lots by Peter Weir, of course. Walkabout was made earlier than that (1971), but was shown a lot at revival/rep theatres during that time.

Picnic At Hanging Rock - 1975
The Getting Of Wisdom - 1977
The Last Wave - 1977
The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith - 1978
My Brilliant Career - 1979
Mad Max - 1979
Breaker Morant - 1980
Gallipoli - 1981
The Man From Snowy River - 1982
Road Warrior - 1982
The Year Of Living Dangerously - 1982

There may have been others of note in that time, but those are the ones that come to mind right now. It's some list of terrific films there.

After that, I'm harder pressed to come up with titles. The popular (indeed, crass) Crocodile Dundee in 1986. The Piano in 1993, which experienced a critical backlash a few years ago, but was hugely celebrated in its day - a good fit with that earlier wave. Muriel's Wedding was very popular in 1994, as was Adventures of Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert (1994).

More recent Aussie titles that have made an impact internationally would include Lantana (2001), Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) and Jindabyne (2006).

I'm sure there are others, but that's what comes to mind. Fact is, during those Aussie "glory years," I (a Canadian) kept wondering why Canada made such bland movies that never went anywhere, while a country that's similar in many ways could so dominate the movie screens.

Strictly Ballroom?

Do Baz Luhrman's later films count?

While it certainly wasn't an international blockbuster, and probably doesn't qualify as a film-making masterpiece, everyone I've introduced to The Dish (2000) has loved it.

Somersault is a pretty impressive recent Aussie flick, reminds me in some ways of Black Snake Moan.

A bit older, but Walkabout is worth a look.

Ron wrote:
: The Piano in 1993, which experienced a critical backlash a few years ago, but was hugely celebrated in its day - a good fit with that earlier wave.

Technically more of a New Zealand film, though. Don't go calling those Kiwis Aussies, you Yankee, you.

I was going to mention Baz Luhrman, too. I remember doing a radio interview on a call-in show the weekend of the 2001 Oscars, and someone phoned in to complain about all the American crap that was being celebrated at the Oscars, and I said, "Hmmm. Well, Gosford Park has an American director, but it's got a very British setting and most of the actors are British. And The Fellowship of the Ring is a New Zealand director's adaptation of a British novel, with lots of Aussie actors as well. And Moulin Rouge! has an Aussie director and an Aussie co-star and was shot in Aus, while the other co-star is Scottish and the story is set in Paris. And that's just looking at the Best Picture nominees."

Of course, the Oscar ended up going to A Beautiful Mind. But, hmmm, the STAR of that film was Australian, wasn't he?

Question: Would Aussie director George Miller's Aussie-animated Oscar-winning cartoon Happy Feet be an "Australian film"?

According to this, yes.

just watched this last night and in a departure from our usual routine, could not stop it midway to finish on another night. Lovely little film!

"Rabbit Proof Fence" was a wonderful film, shot in Australia, in association with the Australian film commission.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0252444/

When Ron listed several of Weir's films above, he left out The Cars That Ate Paris. I've not been to Oz, but I think it probably captures something real about the country.

Hmm Crowe was born in New Zealand.

But worse than that, if you scroll down the site calls Heath Ledger a "rising star".

Which leaves me feeling a little uneasy.

Matt

PS - Why has no-one mentioned The Delinquents?

My favorites in no particular order.

Chopper. Directed by Andrew "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" Dominick. Great crime film starring Eric Bana as real life Aussie criminal Mark "Chopper" Reid. Bana was so powerful and fun to watch in that film, almost everything he's done since has been a let down.

The Road Warrior.

The Proposition.