Ever since a bunch of Cuban-heeled youngsters became responsible for unleashing the GFC upon the tiny economy of Iceland, the words ‘dragon’ and ‘Viking’ have fallen distinctly out of favour with the worldwide zeitgeist. Not that Dreamworks or Paramount Pictures Australia are too concerned, with March 25 boasting the release of their latest 3D blockbuster, “How to Train Your Dragon.” Based upon the book by Cressida Cowell, the light-hearted film tells the tale of Hiccup, a reluctant Viking teenager whose world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that may in fact not be a fire-breathing colossus of death and destruction. Paramount Pictures Australia have just released the local version of the trailer so check it out below (funky shades not required).
In the information hustle and bustle that dominates the Internet, so many blogs wind up abandoned, pieces of cyberspace junk floating in the ether, unvisited except for the occasional Google typo.
I’m soon to be moving on from Screentrek, my new permanent home ready and waiting over at 20/20 Filmsight, but both myself and Mr Mountain Fog were determined this site wouldn’t die a slow death, its content calcifying into an irrelevance dictated by time.
So, in the coming days my graceless face will be replaced by a rather fetching depiction of the Blueys, and the scribbles of Mr Matt Shea substituted for the wiser and altogether more considered words of Fog – the Kobe Bryant of film blogging, I like to think.
I can’t say it hasn’t been fun – I saw some good films and some bad films, and a couple of people flamed me every now and then – and if you in any way value my opinion on film, you can catch me over at 20/20.
Now hardly remembered in some circles, “The Big Steal” was very much the local hit in 1990, picking up three AFI Awards for Best Original Music Score, Best Screenplay, and Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role.
Revisited almost 20 years later, the film doesn’t hold up quite so well; it’s pace is up and down and a good portion of the script is overwritten. Still, “The Big Steal” was a genre film when the form was quickly disappearing in Australia. It borrows heavily from the blueprint of American classics such as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “Say Anything”, but imbues the teenage high jinks with a solid streak of down under culture.
Ben Mendelsohn plays Danny, a young man obsessed with two things: Jaguar motorcars and Joanna (Claudia Karvan), the class paragon of both beauty and brains. Danny’s eccentric parents (Marshall Napier and Maggie King) have little idea about teenage love and would certainly rather he forget about leaping cats, providing him instead on his birthday with their 1963 Nissan Cedric.
But Danny, having finally asked Joanna out on a date and needing to impress, trades the Cedric in for a 1973 Jaguar. Little does he know that dodgy car salesman Gordan Farkas (Steve Bisley) has switched the car's engine and soon his new pride and joy has broken down, leaving an unimpressed Joanna covered in oil and Danny covered in shame. With his good name destroyed and bank account depleted, a desperate Danny has to gather his best mates to help both win back Joanna and stitch up Farkas.
It is of course pretty formulaic stuff. There’s the awkward meeting with the nutjob father; the rich girl’s bitchy friends; the working class guy’s loyal mates: “The Big Steal” picks them all off one by one. But the fact it’s Australian automatically gives the film the individuality it needs, and when combined with a steady dedication to its central characters, a tight central plot and a clutch of clever scenes, “The Big Steal” easily charms its audience.
The film doesn’t work nearly so well when it goes out of its way to sew the gags. Danny’s parents are completely overwritten, their quirkiness quickly becoming irritating, and the boys’ scheming in their graphic arts class tries to be funny, but just comes off as implausible. A late car chase is also surplus to requirements, director Nadia Tass and editor Peter Carrodus being much better when dealing with the less stunt worthy material.
Thankfully, Mendelsohn and Karvan make an appealing young couple, and both performers benefit from the extra shades given to them by screenwriter David Parker. Bisley too was a deserving award winner for Farkas, his smarm almost greasing up the camera. The rest of the supporting cast tend to overplay their roles slightly, but in the case of Napier and King it’s perhaps as much the fault of the material as it is the performances.
Ultimately, it says a lot for the film that its faults take little away from the final product. Perhaps best remembered for making local stars out of Mendelsohn and Karvan, “The Big Steal” deserves a little more credit, remaining a charming teenage caper film in its own right.
I say: An engagingly light concoction that simply wouldn’t get made today.
See it for: A brilliant scene where Joanna’s parents come home early from vacation.
Visiting an Australian cinema in recent times, you almost certainly would have witnessed the solemn adverts blaming piracy for a decline in the local film industry. Perhaps the ads have a point, but the Australian film bodies should first take a closer look at the material they’re producing to better understand why things might be in such a parlous state.
Ana Claudia Talancón and Daniel Giménez Cacho in "Tear This Heart Out".
You’re understanding of Mexican cinema may be limited to midget-battling wrestlers, but the North American country is becoming increasingly well known for its thriving film industry. Thankfully, in Australia we have the Hola Mexico Film Festival for a yearly reminder of the silver screen greatness churned out by this culturally resilient country.
Learning to surf is easy once you know how to snowboard.
What an experience it would be to peer inside the frazzled brain of Roland Emmerich: Aliens! Monsters! Natural disasters! Danny Glover as President! The man obviously has problems.
It was a momentous occasion in 1989 when the Berlin Wall finally crumbled at the hands of the people it had separated for so long. The celebrations were overwhelming as families, countries, and continents reunited.
It sometimes seems a monumental risk for a first-time feature-maker to tackle a subject too close to his or her own personal experience. A reverence for the material can dominate the screenplay, muddying the narrative and crippling the final product.
There were more than a few peculiar looks when Departures won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at this years Academy Awards. In a category stacked with fine nominees, including Waltz With Bashir and The Class, Departures was almost seen as making up the numbers.
Watching “The Long Good Friday” it’s easy to imagine Guy Ritchie and his friends – circa 1995 – sitting on a crisp-scattered velour couch, smoking joints, drinking lager and furiously taking notes.
Ruby, totally agree regarding Romeo and Juliet. Performances are wooden and the editing totally out of touch with the language of the play, thus coming off as awkward and, well, garish, as you say.
Another fantastic review, Bryn - I've had trouble keeping up with your output recently! This sounds like interesting stuff, despite the dodgy dub. I love Wicked City (BTW, have you ever seen the live action version?).
Talking about the dubs though - this is what s**ts me about watching anime in these parts: most of the time you never really know if you're getting the film as its makers intended it. And so many of the American voice actors are used over and over again: 'Oh, it's that guy...' It makes me hesitant to invest in anime releases when you can't quite be sure of the final product.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Bryn - appreciate it. Yep, Cibby will still be contributing every now and then, but he's too busy to run the blog full time, and maintaining both was wiping out my other work, so consolidation it is!
JD - you've been digging up some interesting numbers recently and this is yet another I haven't seen. Great review and I'll be checking this out. Seconds is right up there as one of my favourite films BTW.
Hey Anon - thanks for the comment. Yep, I actually paused for thought on that one - the info changes depending on which text you consult. I was inclined to go north due to being a NAFTA nut when studying economics in my younger years, but both my atlases disagreed with me. I've swung the festival director an email and his word will be the clincher!
Add Comments
Comments (7)
Read More
Comment by Matt Shea
on Hola Mexico Film Festival 2009
20/20 Filmsight