Here’s a list of Australian films recommended (and categorized) by Justin’s coworker, G, who used to manage a video store (before he was a linguist).
Drama
Lantana
Walking on Water
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Mullet
Swimming Upstream
Oscar & Lucinda
Japanese Story
Comedy
Love Serenade
The Castle
Kath & Kim
Bush Mechanics
Aboriginal Themed
Beneath Clouds
The Tracker
Dead Heart
Yolngu Boy
Radiance
One Night The Moon
Where the Green Ants Dream
Weird Arse (“Oddball”)
Bad Boy Bubby
Bliss [Jenny’s suggestion]
The Cars That Ate Paris
Chopper (with Eric Bana)*
Reserve (not sure what this category means)
Dirty Deeds
The Bank
Alexandra’s Project
Before They Were Hollywood Stars
Flirting (Nicole Kidman)
The Sum of Us (Russell Crowe)
Two Hands (Heath Ledger [who is he?])
* Chopper (Eric Bana--well, maybe not a star, but...)
Other
I have to add Rabbit-Proof Fence and Walkabout, if you haven’t seen those. Then of course there are the Mad Max cult classics. I've been trying to find My Brilliant Career, which I saw as a young teenager I think, and remember really liking (my age at the time being a caveat, though), but neither video store in town has it. I haven't checked the library yet.
Question for fellow Americans:
If you could name only 5 movies that, taken together, really represent the American Experience, what would they be? (This question is also open to non-citizens who have lived in the US for long enough to know....)
Bittersweet
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Eyal and I always knew that it would be difficult building a family from
two different countries. It is just now, however, that we have to really
put that ...
12 years ago
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4 comments:
It's funny that I've only seen one of the movies on your list of five. When the Aussies asked us this question, Easy Rider came right to my mind, but I haven't seen it in ages.
Can you add explanatory notes or a comment for each movie?
(I'm not sure why your comment posted twice. It happened with another comment the other day, too. Any idea?)
Showgirls (senseless vulgarity & celeb culture)
The Godfather (power)
Little Big Man (the settling of the west)
Five Easy Pieces (rootlessness, anomie)
Back To The Future (eternal belief in a malleable future)
-- David
I've seen 'American Beauty' from Forest's list and 'The Godfather' and 'Back to the Future' on David's list.
Here's a little context for this request (as I recall it.) We asked the Aussies for the quintessential Aussie movies. They then asked us for the quintessential American movies. Justin immediately thought of 'Gummo' and said, "It really captures a lot of what's wrong with America." After we continued in that vein for a bit, Greg the Aussie said, "What about films that show what's right about America?" That kind of stumped us.
So if I phrase the question that way, do you choose different films than those you chose above?
Gummo? That's pretty funny.
OK, in the interests of trying to be nice to the USA, on this very very special Inauguration Day, I would choose:
Simple Men (a very beautiful sweet movie about dreamers searching for love)
All The President's Men (the system works!!)
X (fight tha power)
Easy Rider (the open road, optimism, self-discovery)
City Lights (only in America...)
I'm sure there's a ton more...
-- David
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