I haven’t seen as many Australian films over the last 2 or 3 years as I would have liked, so my evaluation is a very partial one. But I generally agree with your comments. Mostly the problem comes down to poor script writing and self-indulgent editing (leading to flabby, overly long films with slight story lines).

Mostly the acting is excellent as is the cinematography. But that isn’t enough. A beautifully filmed and acted piece of rubbish is still rubbish. This year’s AFI best film award winner Somersault (which jen and I saw the other night and were disappointed by) is a good example. I wouldn’t quite call it a piece of rubbish but it certainly didn’t merit a best film award (althought the acting and cinematography were generally excellent).

I hate to sound like a stereotyped RWDB, but I reckon part of the problem flows from the narrow, urban middle class latte left background of many if not most current Australian film-makers. As you commented, they seem to have little connection with and no sympathy for real Australian characters and situations (or even real life situations, dilemmas, nuances in general). There are, of course, honourable exceptions, and Lantana is one of them. But I don’t find it easy to recall many other examples in the serious drama genre.

Comedy is a slightly different picture. Some films of a few years ago (e.g Muriel’s Wedding; Strictly Ballroom) worked really well. But cartoonish cardboard cutout characters and situations don’t really matter all that much in that genre.

Your suggestion of adapting Australian novels is an excellent one. There are numerous novels by people like Tim Winton, David Malouf, Peter Carey and others that would make excellent movies. And they’d be a lot more bankable than some of the scripts that actually get turned into films at the moment. I wonder why this doesn’t happen more often?

I don’t know too much about this, but I seem to remember that a speaker at a recent industry forum attributed the decline of Oz film to the funding model for industry support.

Perhaps that part of the problem, and yes there is a problem. Too many films try to be quirky these days and they end up instead being cringeworthy.

The problem also may have something to do with believability. Would we believe in a ‘big’ story? One with lots of guns and violence? Mostly this stuff happens elsewhere, not in Australia, and although there might be a few Australian participants, there’s bound to a lot more Americans running around calling the shots.

The only big successful shootem up that I can remember being set in Australia is Mad Max, and the only reason that worked was that it wasn’t this Australia.

There was of course, Gallipolli, which was pretty good, and personally, on this Rememberance day, I’d like to see a good historical war movie called “Kokoda” or “Pashendale”

The recent spate of underworld murders in Melbourne would have to make a pretty exiting story, and come to think of it “Chopper” was brilliant.

Sophie, I endorse your call. Its time to ditch quirky, its time to get bloody.

Sorry, I should have included the fantasy genre. There are numerous fantasy works, especially yours, that would also make excellent movies. And Australia has the digital production and editing skills (Finding Nemo, The Matrix series etc) to make fantasy films that stand up with the best in the world (as does New Zealand, with LOTR being undoubtedly the best fabtasy films ever made).

Jen and I also went last week to see a local youth theatre production of a play derived from The Obernewtyn Chronicles by Australian author Isobelle Carmody. It’s more children’s sci-fi than fantasy, and I haven’t read the books. But judging by the play it would certainly be possible to make an excellent film from this material.

I figure that comedians must understand their subjects to satirise or recreate them. Good comedians have an instinctual skill at striking towards the human condition for a laugh. It’s their job.

Actually comedians tend to be excellent actors, I’ve noticed.

I didn’t even realise you had a blog. I’ll add it to the Troppo blogroll next time I muster the motivation to update it.

Unlike continental Europeans, who can create a niche market with their ‘arty’ films, Australia is much more easier to swamp and penetrate from Hollywood because we share the same language. Sometimes this works the other way (Shine) but it very rare.

While we are happy to see ‘our’ Kates, Nicoles, Rachels etc. (and in the past directors) making it big in LA, this does create a talent deficit which is hard to be breached.

So the question is should Australian films concentrate on the Swedish model, making art-house films that are critically acclaimed and win prices in Venice etc. But may not have popular appeal. Or should we follow the New Zealand path of basically become an Holywood off-shore a la Lord of the Rings? (which employs plenty of editors, technicians etc).

The other thing about being popular and so on. ‘Rabbit-Proof Fence’ was on TV last night. It was one of the most popular Australian films when it came out and was on top of the TV ratings last Sunday beating a Lord of the Rings movie on Channel 9. We hear about people switching off in movies that confront our past but this seems not to be the case.

Hope this entry gets widest readership …

Generally speaking, in the thinking bits of the film industry like the independent producers, the guilds and associations, the bureaucrats and the FFC, there is a general consensus that something needs to happen a lot better. There is a very big problem and the business seems to be going down the toilet.

Whether that translates to a heartfelt search around the question: What am I doing wrong? is another matter of course. And here we are no more or less honest than any other sector. Sugar production? Want to talk about cotton and water useage?

To some extent the current industry and community questioning has been obscured by recent politics. The industry has had to defend itself in public at the same time as some ruthless internal analysis has gone on. It is very wise of the industry to recognise that audiences, like the people on this blog, approach watching Australian films with hope and affection.

There’s a huge number of issues in here. One of the big ones is cash; almost all our films are ludicrously underbudgeted which cramps the mind all the way back to choosing which book to option.

The careers of Australian directors are very salutary. We have a lot of great directors, but they don’t work here. Imagine what the AFIs would be like if there was a Noyce film up against an Armstrong against Weir etc, all set here and telling our stories. No more lame, half assed shit.

The halcyon days of director creation ended with the end of 10BA, and the removal of protection on Australian commercials. Made even worse by the slow collapse of training in television by Grundy’s (so I am told) and the ABC.

So the pressure is on the bureaucrats – the AFC and state agencies – to provide the support for development of people and talents. But there ain’t enough cash, and the government should anyway only have a subsidiary role – it is better if the marketplace makes the running and provides the practice. Even if it is an artificial market.

It is important to recognise that no-one makes a living or is fully employed in creative origination in the Australian film industry, at home. It just isn’t that big. There is a terrible lack of practice, and we all rely on work in other sectors. Mostly television, which is suffering from falling real budgets, and the ruthlessness of commercial proprietors, crossed with the dilemmas of the national broadcasters.

Over the last ten years, I reckon we can fairly say that the crap factor is no worse than anyone else’s. We don’t get to see the ghastly, talky arthouse movies that the French and Germans put out in great quantities; a lot of the serious films at film festivals are fascinating but wouldn’t find a larger audience. And Hollywood’s strike rate is low too – we’ve done the research on that.

The trouble is, of course, that it is one thing to identify the issues, and quite another to fix it. All the above just makes people feel really grim.

I don’t have any answers either, except to note that people like the Canadians really do put a lot more government money in than we do, and they are a pretty comparable society. The per capita subsidy rate in Britain of the motion picture arts, including television, is at least five times ours. That is a bloody big difference. Generally speaking, we can say that the solution is to put in significantly more money, while agreeing on the disciplines that the industry should adopt.

I suggest that would mostly take the form of subsidising top level television production, for telefeatures, minseries and the initial run of eps for series. The Commercial Television Production Fund from 1996-99 was pretty successful at this and killing it was a big mistake.

My particular plug is this: it is virtually impossible in Australia for a screenwriter to get a script made which was written independently. I think that is a terrible indictment, which shuts out some of our most creative and independent people. And the cheapest to develop.

Do you know what Chopper grossed in the US? $236,185
The Boys? – no sale
The Castle? – $877,621
The Rabbit Proof Fence? – Six mill; sixteen mill world wide.

Figures from Box Office Mojo. These are gross numbers, not amounts to the investors, and wouldn’t cover the marketing budget. Even the ..Fence is pretty bad.

Bingo! Too many half hour long scripts packed into 120 minutes, nervously sheparded through a self-interested establishedment.

Bring back the 10BA. Sure crap films got made through it but so did good ones. The thing was a lotta films got made and a lotta careers got launched -from name directors to world-class techs. Let the market decide. After all the audiences will.

Working on a film project m’self now and we feel fuck Australia. We’re going straight to Singapore, Honkers and South Korea for the money.

In checking that ‘In my fathers den’ was adapted from a novel and not a short story I came apon this from a website review. “The New Zealand-UK co-production In My Father’s Den is an adult drama-mystery in the vein of Lantana”. It might be in the vein of Lantana, but they’re chalk and New Zealand cheddar in achievement. Lantana was a quite good mood flick. I thought ‘In my father’s den’ was awesome in its reflective but relentless depiction of some of the deepest feelings us poor little critters have. (I have to admit for about 5 minutes I thought it lapsed into melodrama but then that was easy to ignore). Go see it before it leaves our screens.

I’m not really sure why we can’t find competent scripts, though maybe its because there are too many wankers writing who underrate the need for technical competence rather than ‘artistic vision’. I’m sick of scripts that combine creaky plotting, a complete tin ear for how people speak and ham-fisted propaganda that destroys complexity (Re that last point, does anyone else think the portrayal of Neville as a cardboard villain in “Rabbit Proof Fence” spoiled the film? Giving him more imagination and ambivalence would have opened up potential for a tragedy in the Greek sense.).

But there are plenty of wankers trying their hand at novels too, and sophie is right to note that a fair number of good Oz books still get found and published. So I dunno – maybe whoever’s making the money decisions in Oz movies can’t tell shit from diamonds.