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Are Australian Critics Softer On Locally Made Films?
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- Written by Matthew Toomey
Imagine that you have a 20-year-old daughter who has landed a feature role in a university musical. You go along to the opening night and you are stunned by just how bad it is. You can see your daughter is trying her hardest but she just can’t cut it.
When you see her backstage afterwards, what do you say? Do you lie and say how much you loved the show and her performance? Or do you be honest and find a polite way of expressing what you really think?
This was a question I posed in a review from last year. If someone has the magic answer, I’d love to hear it.
It leads into what I want to talk about this week - are critics softer when it comes to reviewing locally made stuff?
I debated this with a friend last Friday night after having seen a theatrical production (Elizabeth, Almost By Chance A Woman) at the Powerhouse here in Brisbane.
I don’t have any direct evidence when it comes to theatre but so many plays and shows that come to Brisbane receive praise. It’s not always glowing praise but I’d say reviews range from “excellent” to “pretty good”.
I have done a little more research when it comes to cinema. Over the past 5 years, a total of 103 Australian movies have been eligible for best feature at the AACTA Awards (previously known as the AFI Awards). Of these, 95 have been reviewed by Australia’s two most well-known critics, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, on their ABC program At The Movies.
For those familiar with their program, the results shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The following table shows the star ratings for the abovementioned films:
|
| Margaret | David |
| 5 stars | 1 | 2 |
| 4.5 stars | 4 | 7 |
| 4 stars | 34 | 13 |
| 3.5 stars | 30 | 36 |
| 3 stars | 17 | 18 |
| 2.5 stars | 3 | 9 |
| 2 stars | 3 | 7 |
| 1.5 stars | 0 | 3 |
| 1 star | 0 | 0 |
Of the 187 reviews for Australian films, the statistics show:
- 13% of reviews had a score of 2.5 stars or worse.
- The average grade was 3.43 stars.
This is in comparison to the non-Australian films (between 2007 and 2011) where the statistics show:
- 22% of reviews had a score of 2.5 stars or worse.
- The average grade was 3.26 stars.
Some could make an argument that Australia makes better films than the rest of the world. I personally don’t think that’s the case. We’re not special. We make great movies (Samson & Delilah, Animal Kingdom) but we also make some shockers (A Heartbeat Away, Big Mamma’s Boy).
The best explanations as to why critics are softer on local product always seem to revolve around the future of the industry in this country. We are a small fish in a very big pond. Even in a good year, you’d be lucky to see 20 Aussie films make their way into our cinemas. Most of these only get a limited release in small theatres and they struggle to find an audience when up against the huge marketing budgets of Hollywood blockbusters.
Those with influence will therefore do whatever they can to protect the filmmaking industry in this country. We need people to hand over their hard earned dollars and help boost the box-office for Australian films. If we don’t, fewer films will get made and it’ll make it even harder for our budding actors, directors, writers, editors and cinematographers to forge a career.
But are forgiving film reviews helping or hurting? If critics “talk up” an Aussie film and the public are subsequently disappointed, are we doing everyone a disservice? It’s kind of like the boy who cried wolf. Sooner or later, people will stop believing and they’ll look at every review of an Australian movie with a degree of scepticism. I have friends who feel this way already.
It’s a fine line and I’m not purporting to have an easy answer. I try to be independent and objective when writing a review but every now and again, I do show a slight bias towards an Australian movie. That was the case a couple of weeks ago with the Brisbane-based documentary The Curse Of The Gothic Symphony. It’s rough around the edges but I wanted it to succeed and so gave it a “slightly better than average” review.
To cut to the chase… how do you react to reviews of Australian movies and theatrical shows? Do you treat them the same as all others? Or do you read them with an element of doubt? I’m curious to know.
Tasty Offerings At The 2012 Sydney Film Festival
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- Written by Matthew Toomey
Brace yourself Sydney. I’ll be paying you a visit in June.
I haven’t attended the Sydney Film Festival before but I’m making the effort to do so in 2012. I’d love to be able to return to the Toronto Film Festival again this year but I won’t be able to given it’s a huge investment of my time and money. Plus, I have another holiday planned for November. Perhaps I’ll get back to Toronto in 2013 but for now, Sydney is at the front of my mind.
I'll be doing a special Sunday afternoon show on ABC Digital (which can be heard around Australia) covering my time at the Festival and hopefully there'll be some good stories and good films to talk about.
I’ll be at the Festival for 3 days – flying down on the morning of Friday, June 8 and returning in the evening on Sunday, June 10. I’m squeezing 9 films into the calendar and for those interested, here’s what I’ll be seeing. The plot overviews come from the IMDB.
Where Do We Go Now?
Friday, June 8 – 6pm
A group of Lebanese women try to ease religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in their village. Winner of the audience award at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival.
Jeff, Who Lives At Home
Friday, June 8 – 8:30pm
Dispatched from his basement room on an errand for his mother, slacker Jeff might discover his destiny (finally) when he spends the day with his brother as he tracks his possibly adulterous wife.
First Position
Saturday, June 9 – 10am
A documentary that follows six young dancers from around the world as they prepare for the Youth America Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world.
Beasts Of The Southern Wild
Saturday, June 9 – 12pm
Faced with her father's fading health and environmental changes that release an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy leaves her Delta-community home in search of her mother.
Not Suitable For Children
Saturday, June 9 – 4pm
A young playboy who learns he has one month until he becomes infertile sets out to procreate as much as possible. An Australian film that stars Ryan Kwanten
Moonrise Kingdom
Saturday, June 9 – 9pm
A pair of young lovers flee their New England town, which causes a local search party to fan out and find them. The latest from director Wes Anderson (The Royal Tenenbaums) and the cast includes Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton and Frances McDormand.
Bully
Sunday, June 10 – 9:30am
A documentary on peer-to-peer bullying in schools across America.
On The Road
Sunday, June 10 – 2pm
Dean and Sal are the portrait of the Beat Generation. Their search for "It" results in a fast paced, energetic roller coaster ride with highs and lows throughout the United States. Stars Viggo Mortensen.
Undefeated
Sunday, June 10 – 4:30pm
A documentary on an underdog football team who look to reverse their fortunes with coach Bill Courtney. Winner of the 2012 Academy Award for best documentary feature.
If you’re going to be in Sydney yourself for the Festival, do let me know (through email, Facebook, Twitter) and I’ll try to say hi.
Hopefully it’ll be a great few days.
Back From Adelaide & The Avengers Amazing Box-Office
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- Written by Matthew Toomey
Back From Adelaide
I have returned from a fun week in Adelaide with the Queensland men’s golf team. They were competing in the 2012 Australian Men’s Interstate Series at Royal Adelaide and my role was to act as manager. I drove them around, kept them well fed (sometimes a challenge given their healthy appetites) and made sure they got to the 1st tee each day on time.
I was in awe at the standard of golf being played. There are talented players in every state and seeing them face off in head-to-head match play was exciting.
I used the opportunity to strengthen my photography skills and you can check out the players in action by clicking here. I took a lot of video footage as well and am currently editing together a highlights package to upload to Youtube. A few shots are already up and you can see them in my Youtube feed right here.
It was great to come back to a long weekend in Brisbane as it’s given me time to catch up on a plethora of emails and see a few movies. I’m now back on track and ready to resume normal transmission.
The Avengers Conquers The United States
We already saw the amazing box-office in Australia and now The Avengers has taken the U.S. by storm with a ridiculous $200.3m take on its opening weekend. That smashes the previous record of $169.2m held by Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2. It benefits from 3D ticket prices and a large number of screens but it’s still an amazing total. To put it into perspective, only 7 films made more than $200m in total last year in the U.S. The Avengers has made that in just 3 days!
It’ll be interesting to see where its box-office finishes up. What we know for sure is that The Avengers is now a franchise to be reckoned with for many years to come. There’ll be sequels… and lots of them!
Bizarre Release Dates & Great Looking Film Festivals
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- Written by Matthew Toomey
The Cabin In The Woods – Why So Late?
There is a film that was released this weekend in the United States and the United Kingdom. It’s name is The Cabin In The Woods.
That’s about all I can tell you. Well, except for the fact that it’s a horror film and it has an amazing twist. What is the twist? I don’t know… and I don’t want to know.
It’s incredibly frustrating because The Cabin In The Woods isn’t released in Australia until mid July (the week before The Dark Knight Rises). Given social media is as prevalent as ever, how can I possibly avoid all knowledge of the twist until then? It’s an odd strategy for Roadshow Films and I wonder if it the “spoiling” of the film over the next 3 months will impact its box-office here in Australia.
If you’re one of those people that can’t wait, feel free to Google the film and find out what the fuss is all about. Perhaps the hype surrounding the twist is overrated. Don’t tell me though. I’m going to have my hands over my ears for quite a while.
Battleship – Why So Early?
If you think that’s strange… then brace yourself for another bizarre release story.
Battleship was released in most of the major markets this past weekend – here in Australia as well as in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan. Notice anything missing from that list?
Despite being a big Hollywood blockbuster with a $200m budget, the film isn’t being released in the United States and Canada for another 5 weeks.
Why? I don’t the answer to that question either. It’s not the greatest of films – evidenced by its Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 45% and a score from the public on the Internet Movie Database of just 6.6 out of 10.
Why wouldn’t Universal want to hold onto the film for so long in the United States? Isn’t there a risk that these mediocre reviews will have an impact on the box-office back home? Isn’t that why many blockbusters are released around the world on the same weekend – to make the most of the marketing budget and to get people’s cash before negative sentiment starts to spread?
If anyone has the answer, I’m all ears.
Gold Coast Film Festival
I touched on it above but if you can’t wait until July, The Cabin In The Woods is screening as part of the Gold Coast Film Festival! I’d love to be there myself for the screening but I fly out to Adelaide with the Queensland golf team – I’m a manager, not a player! J
The Festival runs from 19-29 April 2012 and features a small but interesting mix of films. They include the new Daniel Radcliffe film (The Woman In Black), an Aussie sci-fi comedy about Nazis who have set up a base on the moon (Iron Sky) and an action flick with Jason Statham (Safe).
If you’re interested in attending, full details can be found on the Gold Coast Film Festival website - http://www.gcfilmfestival.com/. I was hoping to get along to opening night but regrettably, all tickets are sold out.
Festival Of German Films
Running parallel with the Gold Coast Film Festival is the Festival of German Films which is being held in Brisbane at the Palace Centro and Palace Barracks. It kicks off this Thursday night (April 19) and runs for a week with 16 different films being screened. I haven’t had a chance to preview any myself but hope to get along to see a couple.
Tickets are now on sale and you can find out more at http://www.goethe.de/ins/au/lp/prj/fia/ffg/ffb/enindex.htm.
Contemporary Australia: Women In Film
But wait! There’s more! If you can’t find anything in the above mentioned film festivals, you should try your luck with the Contemporary Australia: Women In Film program that kicks off this weekend (April 21) and runs for 3 months at the Queensland Gallery Of Modern Art at Southbank.
It gets underway on Saturday at 5pm with a special Q&A session involving Margaret Pomeranz and three Aussie directors – Gillian Armstrong (Oscar & Lucinda), Ana Kokkinos (Blessed) and Louise Alston (Jucy).
The quantum of great films being screened as part of this retrospective is amazing. There’s Look Both Ways, Lantana, The Boys, Animal Kingdom, Suburban Mayhem, Love Serenade, Somersault, My Year Without Sex, Praise, Muriel’s Wedding, Better Than Sex, Looking For Alibrandi, 2:37, Jucy, Japanese Story, Burning Man, Blessed, Samson & Delilah and The Jammed.
If most of these films sound unfamiliar to you, now’s your chance to remedy the situation. You can find out more by clicking here - http://qagoma.qld.gov.au/cinematheque/current/contemporary_australia_women_in_film.
That’s it from me until next week!