Comments on: Romulus my arse

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:28:17 +0000

Thanks very much for that Peter - pls come back and tell us what you think if you manage to see the film.

By: Peter Ferguson

Peter Ferguson — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:08:29 +0000

I knew Romulus from 1970 for over 10 years while working as a vet in Maryborough ( I treated his Goats). I have never met his son but after reading the book I feel his son has captured the persona I knew, not easy for a son. I have not seen the film. He would philosophise while drinking a potent clear spirit he distilled from some fruit (I can’t remember what). He always paid his account with small bottles of this potent potable.

By: Don Arthur

Don Arthur — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 09:32:41 +0000

I felt the absense of a narrator when I saw the film. I know some people say that a good film should rather than tell, but this film reads like a man looking back on his boyhood. It seems strange that the adult man’s voice missing.

Maybe I like films with narrators better than most people. I like films that have a strong point of view and that suggest that you shouldn’t completely trust your narrator’s recollection of events and what they mean.

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:07:07 +0000

You’re quite right Darlene - the review is too harsh and if it were a piece for the paper, I guess I would have toned it down a little. It was a reaction to my disappointment that the main theme of the book isn’t really in the film - something corroborated by Gaita’s piece. It would I hope also be clear from my comments however that lots of the film was technically well done. Good cinematography, good acting. But I didn’t think Bana was much chop, though in my book he didn’t get much chance to be. But then I don’t really put much store by that stuff if the film doesn’t seem to me to have any real heart. I could see the point of the book very powerfully. I couldn’t really see why anyone bothered making the film, though it’s a good vehicle for the talents of quite a few cast members.

By: Darlene

Darlene — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 04:01:20 +0000

Yeesh, a bit harsh. The film was flawed, but it has some lovely moments (it must be said that the last film I saw was The Dead Girl so I am into very happy cinema). Totally going to disagree about Bana. He did very well and made you really feel the decency of the man (surely a film about decent blokes is long overdue in Australia). As a whole did feel like it only touched the surface, though. I note that Richard Roxburgh directed it. Roxburgh starred in a film about an eccentric Australian composer (can’t remember name of it) and it was also superficial. I give it three and a half out of five. The Dead Girl gets 5 out of 5, by the way.

By: James Farrell

James Farrell — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:40:04 +0000

Thanks for this post, Nicholas. It won’t be the first time the release of a film has hurried me to read the book it’s based on, though I have no intention of seeng the film itself. Perhaps RG is counting on the film affecting lots of people this way!

By: jen

jen — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:55:46 +0000

From David’s Link -

‘”Honesty” was not for my father or for Hora the name of a narrow virtue, nor indeed of a single one. Their sense of it was crucially informed by their fierce contempt for the external signs of status and prestige. They believed that an honest person could never take pleasure in pretending to be better than someone else, because (they thought) only someone who is wilfully blind could fail to realise that at any time they could lose everything that gives them even the appearance of superiority. More seriously, they could lose everything that gives sense to their lives. Acknowledgement of that vulnerability, fully in his head and in his heart, defined my father’s “compassionate fatalism”. It informed his response to my mother’s need and his sense of a common humanity with everyone he met.’

As Nigel’s(a young stockman in NW NSW)old Dad used to say ‘You used to to know where you stood. A man used to be judged by his work but now….’
- now there is virtual living!

We have no access to Clubl;and in the NT - moving to melbourne when we get the roof.

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:56:54 +0000

Thanks for the link to Gaita. A magnificent way to respond to the film - filling in all the gaps that upset me.

By: david tiley

david tiley — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 09:46:54 +0000

By the way, Romulus has taken two million dollars in six weeks at the cinema, doing rather better than Clubland. This has an interesting effect - it tends to suggest that our audiences are preferring a dark film with a known Australian marquee actor over a film sold as lighter with a less well know British marquee actor.

None of this is inspiring, by the way. At $10 per ticket, it suggests that less people have seen it than watch the average SBS documentary, though they do have to visit another place to do it. I allus reckon the most important figure for a film is the total number of Australians who see it, and we don’t know that figure until the TV screenings have occurred and the DVD results are in as well.

There is also the matter of prints and advertising budgets, which have to be outlaid to get a return. A film with a very modest release and budget needs to do about a million dollars at the Oz box office before it starts to return money to the investors.

Clubland is gnawing a tiny hole in the US market, starting on a handful of screens. It will be fascinating to see how it goes. Romulus is yet to start that adventure.

By: Nicholas Gruen

Nicholas Gruen — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 00:05:43 +0000

Thanks for that David,

I read a couple of reviews before I posted. They were both favourable. Glad to see the link - which I’ll read soon - got to run. But doesn’t surprise me RG was gracious.

By: david tiley

david tiley — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 15:15:45 +0000

You can read Gaita’s response to the film here. He is very gracious; nonetheless I am amazed it doesn’t have a narration track. Such an obvious thing to do.

By: Link

Link — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 13:44:35 +0000

Thanks Nicholas, I too heard snippets of it on RN and was very impressed with Romulus and Raimond, you could hear his reflective wisdom in the tone of his voice. His father’s influence seemed to have had a big and positive impact on him, and certainly has shaped his approach to life, and is possibly the reason he took up philosophy.

After reading your review however, I wont bother seeing the fillum.