Australian New Wave?

February 27, 2019 11:12 AM

Anyone interested in watching some movies from the Australian New Wave beyond the most well known examples like Mad Max?

Strange and unsettling: Walkabout, Picnic at Hanging Rock
Dramas: The Year of Living Dangerously
Romance: The Man from Snowy River
Comedies: Crocodile Dundee
Thrillers: Dead Calm
War films: Gallipoli, Breaker Morant

There are many more that I haven't seen and want to discover! Anyone want to come with?

posted by Fukiyama (7 comments total)

I would! This is the exact sort of thing I am trying to do with film this year; Aussie New Wave --with which I am entirely unfamiliar--seems like a perfect category of watches to add to the list. I would be far more interested in the independent, stranger, more unsettling options than mainstream stuff, but am happy to follow the lead of those more in the know.
posted by youarenothere at 4:22 AM on March 1, 2019

As a survey of the weirder side eddies of Aussie New Wave, the documentary Not Quite Hollywood is magnificent.
posted by zamboni at 5:32 AM on March 1, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have heard of that one, zamboni. It could be a good first step. I will look for it.
posted by Fukiyama at 10:11 AM on March 2, 2019

Just saw a relevant thread pop up on /r/TrueFilm: https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueFilm/comments/axk20s/thoughts_on_australian_film/
posted by youarenothere at 9:35 AM on March 5, 2019

Two films I'd recommend that are missing from that Wikipedia list are 1990's Death in Brunswick and 1986's Dogs In Space, starring the late Michael Hutchence. Like 'Malcolm' and 'The Big Steal' the films capture a part of life in Melbourne's inner northern suburbs that has largely disappeared, replaced with a kind of hipster bohemian simulacra.
posted by MarchHare at 10:16 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]

youarenothere, if you like unsettling, track down The Magican, https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0461989/ , 2005, feels horrifyingly real. It is about a hitman\enforcer so is quite violent, altho' not gratuitious IMO. Like much Australian\NZ film-making the landscape is used to add to an unsettled aura.
posted by unearthed at 4:53 PM on March 11, 2019

I started a club under aussienewwave_club. I'm getting Not Quite Hollywood to watch first.
posted by Fukiyama at 4:17 PM on March 12, 2019