Australia bears all the hallmarks of an old Hollywood epic: sappy romance, horrifying bombing scenes, exotic culture, campy comedy, beautiful panoramas, evil villains and a majestic musical score. It's all grand and nostalgic. So then why is the movie such a disappointment?
For one thing, it's way too long. I recently heard an interview with L.A. Times critic Kenneth Turan, who quipped that Australia was one of the few movies to feature its own sequel within its running time. It's true - the movie literally ends, with everything tidily resolved, before starting all over again. But it's not that having two movies in one is Australia's problem. It's that both of the movies are bad, which makes it a doubly long chore to sit through.
Unfortunately, Australia bears little of the experimental fun of Baz Luhrmann's last two films, the acclaimed Moulin Rouge! and the underrated Romeo + Juliet. Like most people, I enjoyed those for their wild spirits, not for their conventional character, which makes you wonder why Luhrmann decided on telling a story from his native land with such by-the-book blandness. Somewhere in Australia (and Australia) is an interesting story, but it's obscured by all kinds of unnecessary details (who really cares about the technicalities of a real estate battle in the Outback?).
I'd have liked to learn more about Aboriginal culture, for example, which hasn't been touched on film since 2002's unforgettable Rabbit-Proof Fence (which also starred David Gulpilil, who plays King George here). In Australia, we get whiffs of the controversy and a cute face to admire (newcomer Brandon Walters, who was evidently directed by Luhrmann to channel Jar-Jar Binks), but the discussions are hardly thought-provoking, mostly because you realize everything is meant to revolve around the romance between Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, both native Australians who agreed to star without having read the screenplay. The end result is that I wasn't moved by either the love story or the cultural story, and I was rolling my eyes much more than I was my wiping tears away from them.
It's not that there aren't touching moments, but they're mostly accidental and even then they can be attributed to honest acting more than honest writing. Several deaths are truly tragic, and the backdrop of war behind everything eventually adds a somber mood (it's almost welcome by that point). But everytime you feel a touch of emotion coming on there's a silly joke to break up the mood or an impressive visual (and there are some very beautiful shots) to distract you from your own feelings.
Nicole Kidman searches for the end of the movie, not knowing it doesn't exist...
Australia presents us with a veritable smorgasbord of cinematic delights and plot tangents, and it's impossible not to feel uncomfortably full after consuming all of them. You can't push the plate away because it just keeps piling up with more, like some nightmarish buffet for the senses (it's fitting that the film was released at Thanksgiving). The same could probably be said for Moulin Rouge!, but as showy and theatrical as that was, there was something more... real about it. Additionally, it had a great soundtrack compared to Australia, which is almost entirely centered around "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Hugh Jackman asks his droving buddy not to whistle the tune near the end of the movie because it reminds him of a happier time in his life. I felt the same way, actually, and was relieved when he mercifully stopped whistling, partly because I'd grown tired of the song, but mostly because it reminded me of a better movie - one that I knew I'd rather be watching.
Grade:
Writing - 7
Acting - 9
Production - 7
Emotional Impact - 6
Music - 5
Social Significance - 5
Total: 39/50= 78% = C+
Background: British author Philip Pullman took the U.K. by storm in the late 90's with his massively popular trilogy of books titled "His Dark Materials," the first installment of which was The Golden Compass. Capitalizing on the success of the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia films, Chris Weitz (About a Boy) adapted the book with Pullman over several years and much controversy. The story is by Pullman's own admission a direct counterargument to C.S. Lewis's case for Christianity in the Narnia series. This has of course raised the hackles of many Christians, some of whom have called for a boycott of the film. Starring Daniel Craig (Casino Royale, Layer Cake), Nicole Kidman (Margot at the Wedding), Sam Shepard (Hulk, Ghost Rider), and newcomer Dakota Blue Richards, The Golden Compass was filmed in Norway, England, and Scandinavia, and features extensive use of computer animation. Synopsis: Lots going on here. Each human has a "daemon" - a talking animal that embodies the person's soul, and trots alongside them like a lifelong pet. Lyra Belacqua (Richards) is a troublesome young girl who lives as an "orphan" at Jordan College in England. Her uncle, Lord Asriel (Craig) is a dashing scientist who is on the verge of discovering the source of "dust," which binds all the worlds in the universe together, and which (I think) represents free will and/or the Holy Spirit. In the other corner is the Magisterium (the Catholic church), which seeks to control people's behavior and prevent humans from learning about dust by any means necessary, including attempts to dispatch of Lord Asriel. Its chief operative is Marisa Coulter (Kidman), who is leading a research experiment on the North Pole in which "Gyptian" children are kidnapped and inoculated with dust - their daemons are stripped from them, and they are forever the submissive property of the Magisterium. Back to Lyra: she attains a Ouija-board-like "alethiometer" - a divine truth-telling compass that can only be read by the child (her, of course) who will fulfill the prophesy of "the witches." (Does EVERY fantasy story have to have a "chosen one"?) On her quest to infiltrate and destroy the Magisterium's research experiment, Lyra befriends the wily aeronaut Lee Scoresby (Shepard) and the armored bear Iorek Byrnison (voiced by Ian McKellen), who has a score to settle with the illegitimate bear king Ragnar Sturlusson. Several surprisingly violent battles follow, and Lyra heroically frees the kidnapped children before setting off to save Lord Asriel (her father - gasp!), but not before the obligatory "war to end all wars" is prophesied by the witch Serafina Pekkala (Eva Green from Casino Royale). More to come in the next installment of the trilogy...
I Loved:
+ The visual effects - start the debate, because these are the best I've seen in any movie this year.
I Liked:
+ Dakota Blue Richards - and the other child actors, for that matter. She likely has a successful career ahead of her, and is not obnoxiously precocious like Dakota Fanning.
I Disliked:
- Sam Shepard, who showed up right off the set of Tombstone. "I reckoned you fellers was in some kind of trouble." What? Are you Virgil Earp or an "aeronaut" in a British religious fantasy film? The character of Lee Scoresby, by the way, was apparently originally intended for Samuel L. Jackson.
- That seemingly none of the characters could put two and two together: people's daemons represent their core psyche. Helloooo? The daemons of the children and "good" people are cute puppies, mice, kittens, sparrows, and rabbits. The daemons of the "evil" people are wolves, snakes, crows, and evil monkeys. Lyra, don't go in that door! His daemon is a preying mantis!
- The Gyptians - are they gypsies? Pirates? Egyptians? Why are they always hiding?
- The alethiometer - how exactly does it work again?
I Hated:
- Nicole Kidman's daemon - part Gollum, part evil monkey from "The Family Guy," part Gremlin, and part Satan-baby from The Passion of the Christ. I thought daemons were supposed to be regular animals? And what, hers is the ONLY one that can't talk?
- That the end of the polar bear faceoff was a reenactment of the climactic George McFly vs. Biff Tannen scene from Back to the Future.
- The most tacked-on cliffhanger ending in a long time - "We have so much to do! This, this, this, this, that, and this! Just try and stop us...in the next movie!" OK, I'm paraphrasing, but still...
Grade:
Writing - 7
Acting - 8
Production - 7
Emotional Impact - 7
Music - 4
Significance - 4
Total: 32/50= 74% = C
Last Word: I've not read any of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, but what I've gathered so far is that the books are quite dark, and the themes of The Golden Compass have been toned down to make a more kid-friendly film. Further exploration of "dust" and the history of the Magisterium would certainly make for a more thought-provoking movie, but I don't think even that could save what is really just a poorly told story. The plot is fairly predictable and conveniently contrived in all the usual scenes. There is no subtlety to the evil of the "bad" characters, and we don't even know anything about the heroes - Lyra and Lord Asriel. Worst of all, the casting of the Gyptians and Sam Shepard seem completely out of place. The saving grace of the production is the dazzling display of visual effects, which are not necessarily better than those in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, but are more impressive here because they're used in almost every single shot. Regarding the religious aspects of the movie (and I'll admit I'm biased by my own convictions), it seems to me Pullman is not necessarily promoting atheism so as much as he is promoting the destruction of organized religion, particularly Catholicism. Though it may be simplified from the book, the symbolism is still quite clear, as muddled as his argument may be. Looking at it as a kid's movie, The Golden Compass seems dark, bleak, and hopeless. I'll stick with The Chronicles of Narnia, thank you very much.
Background: Writer/director Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale was the critics' darling in 2005, and earned Baumbach his first Oscar nomination. He tries the same recipe of quirky family dysfunction with a dash of mental illness in Margot at the Wedding, starring Nicole Kidman (The Invasion), Baumbach's wife Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Anniversary Party), and Jack Black (The Holiday). John Turturro (Transformers, The Good Shepard) and Ciaran Hinds (The Nativity Story, Amazing Grace) act in supporting roles. You may notice a faded bronze fog in many of the shots due to cinematographer's Harris Savides use of old lenses while filming. Synopsis: Self-absorbed author/columnist Margot (Kidman) and her son Claude (Zane Pais) are off to Margot's childhood Long Island home for the weekend, where her hippie sister Pauline (Leigh) is preparing to marry unemployed Malcolm (Black) under the old climbing tree. All three adults are selfish, immature, and mentally unbalanced - a flammable combination when you throw in psychotic hillbilly neighbors, Margot's cloying husband Jim (Turturro), her former lover Dick (Hinds), and his sexually charged teenage daughter. In the days leading up to the wedding, screaming matches and spontaneous bawling outbursts are the norm, with a few disgusting scenes sprinkled in for a change of pace. At the end, each character is still immature and utterly miserable.
I Loved:
+ The first parts of the first scene on the train.
I Liked:
+ Jack Black, when he was in control.
+ The acting debut of Zane Pais as Claude.
+ John Turturro - is this guy ever bad?
I Disliked:
- One of the most truly frightening moments of the year - you'll know it when you see it.
- Nicole Kidman's continual inability to speak with an "American" accent - compare hers with Jennifer Jason Leigh's if you somehow need any evidence.
I Hated:
- Every character. "Despised" is a better word.
- Nicole Kidman's glasses.
- The unrealistically honest and disgustingly personal dialogue.
Grade:
Writing - 6
Acting - 8
Production - 7
Emotional Impact - 6
Music - 5
Significance - 4
Total: 36/50= 72% = C-
Last Word: There are two lines spoken at the end of Margot at the Wedding that accurately summarize the movie: "You don't need to tell me that, sweetie," & "Hey - you're acting like a baby." That's pretty much what I was thinking throughout the whole movie, as every character had multiple mental breakdowns - none more outrageous than Jack Black's final freakout. If annoying, chemically dependent, self-absorbed, neurotic characters are your thing, than Margot at the Wedding is for you. For the rest of us it's an unbearable crash course in failed marriages, failed families, failed parents, and manic depression. Noah Baumbach was able to find at least some comedy in The Squid and the Whale, but this is more cringe-inducing than anything. Are these unbearably cruel characters supposed to be charming in some pitiful way? Am I supposed to feel sorry for them? I'd rather spend time with the Vogler neighbors next door. Well, maybe not, but I would surely have a difficult time tolerating adults who act more immaturely than their children. Margot at the Wedding is like reliving all of your nastiest family arguments, with never a second to come up for air. Psychoanalytic New Yorkers (especially Baumbach) love to write and praise these oh-so-intellectual films as examples of their own tragic upbringings, but the inaccessible, esoteric family dysfunction really is tragic, not comedic, and the morally void characters in Margot at the Wedding are nothing to laugh about. Maybe that's the real tragedy here - an unfunny movie starring Jack Black.
