what´s all the fuss about this movie?!
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heyheymel_82 — 22 years ago(July 12, 2003 04:12 AM)
I'm with Glumpy. I thought the movie was great, with a wonderful cast. But I have to admit, I found it sooo hard to see Glenn Robbins in a movie like this. I was expecting him to start with all the jokes, but not even one joke, bit disappointed there! (haha) But I'm glad he was in this film; we got to see what he has to offer as a straighter actor (what he calls it), and not an outback person or a Panel boy or anything like that. So full marks to Glenn Robbins for taking a chance and appearing in a movie like this. I'm glad he did.
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radicalmedia — 21 years ago(April 02, 2005 12:54 PM)
NOI think it has to do with cinema literacy.
This film is easy to watch. There is so much exposition. You are spoonfed everything. Your dad is probably used to watching films from the seventies by directors such as Ken Russell, Robert ALtmann Midnight Cowboy, DoG Day Afternoon, Billy Liar, Marathon Man, Day of the Locust, A woman under the influence, Women in LOve, City of Women where the plot was not so convenient. Where the audience had to work a little harder
The characters lives and plot is spoon fed to us in the dialogue and incessant over coverage of scenesso that the themes of self help and integration are fed to us like grazing cattle. Digested with some Paul Kelly syrupthis work is no more refined than Titanic without the boats, Forest Gump without the chocolatesA safe politically correct character drama that could be used for the HOWARD propaganda team in my opinion to promote THE ASSIMILATION of American and Australian culture. -
johan-gunnarsson-1 — 19 years ago(October 05, 2006 06:41 AM)
Sorry for this late addition to the thread, I do NOT consider myself a film freak / cineastic but I really LOVE this film, the story it tells and how it's being told. The slow pace, the music, the way you can follow the inner life of each character by just seeing their faces. Minimalistic acting. It really grabs hold of me. And to top it all off, they managed to do all that without even a murder in the plot.
Cheers Australia!
Johan
Sweden -
radicalmedia — 21 years ago(April 02, 2005 12:45 PM)
Im glad that in your worldRelationshipahemis a level you attain.
THen you get your beach house, your country house. Your sports car. You sound so beep middleclass.
Maybe you need to experience pain, my friend. This film is NOT about outsidersit's not about beauty, suffering, the inexplicable desire to survive. It's about sewing up the plot. It's about American self help psycho babble therapy thats lost and then found in our landscapegiving us a real sense of pseudo cultural identity. What a weak politics this film fills us with?
Are you satisfied that this American woman fulfils the gaps in our lives? Wouldnt it be more interesting if we punished her for leaving us empty? -
x111b3825 — 22 years ago(August 15, 2003 11:10 AM)
Every movie is crap and wonderful at the same time, depending on one's tastes. It's interesting to see how with almost every movie on here, there are people on both ends of the spectrum bickering a point of view.
Some are definitely overblown and more elaborate, while others at other extremes claim "it sucks," or conversely"great flick!"
Ultimately who cares, but it's all in fun. I liked Lantana, but as overblown and at points unrealistic as Armageddon or XXX were, liked them also. The Fast and the Furious had a dumb plot point I thought since they only appeared to steal to build faster carsetc. etc. and I thought it'd be more realistic selling drugs or whatever. Still, who cares? I'm not sure why I'm wasting time writing this, but I thought I might just because I think its important not to take yourself too seriously at times. We all should remember how ridiculous we all seem sometimes here, paying homage or disgust to the glowing God of the silver screen. I know I sure do. I really dig countering these snobs who have like four thousand reviews written like they come from a Harvard education and personlly knew John Cassavetes (whom I personally admire simply because he seemed a lover of the experience of life and tried to bring this to the film world).
Regardlessthink about it and enjoy what you will, recommending it, and thrash about on what you don't. Here it's all in fun and maybe someone will listen in their perusal of your review, but ultimately, it is hardly significant in the scheme of things. -
darreneatworld — 21 years ago(March 27, 2005 03:59 AM)
Without having waded through this entire thread, I thought I would add my own two cents.
Lantana is the best Australian drama I have ever seen. In fact, it's one of the best dramas I have ever seen. I honestly don't understand how married adults could not appreciate this moviemaybe they shouldn't be married in the first place? Anyway. What I love about this movie is its tension. It is a slow build up of traumatised, subtle characters, their interactions and their convergence before a truly brilliant plot twist.
This movie has some of the most insightful, personal, emotional dialogue of any I have ever seen, and its ensemble cast delivers such a fine-tuned performancewow. I can't speak highly enough of Lantana. Geoffrey Rush is simply breath-taking; Glenn Robbins delivers an unusual (yet not unexpected) convincing perfomance; Peter Phelps is fantasticI think what Lantana does so well is take some very ordinary people, place them in an unusual circumstance, and shows us every single degree of emotion that they each go through, and how this affects others around them.
I have never been married but I have been in emotionally confronting relationships and Lantana captures this perfectly. It's happy, sad, torcherous, violent, sensual
I love this movie. -
radicalmedia — 21 years ago(April 02, 2005 01:03 PM)
Please note:
This film only got Local and American acclaim. Sundance and AFI. Sundance is a cheesy festival. Disregard its opinions. It likes easy expositional style movies mostly.
MOULIN ROUGe although flawedwas far more ingenious. -
darreneatworld — 20 years ago(May 03, 2005 08:41 AM)
I disagree with both your points.
Anyway, as far as I can tell, American acclaim is the only acclaim that seems to be worth anything. I wasn't aware it was ever even given a formal release over there.
Lantana is the movie I hold up as the height of Australian movies (of the ones I've seen, anyway). I also love Moulin Rouge, but they are too different to be compared. Different genres completely, different cinematography and direction, different actingjust COMPLETELY different (let's not even mention budgets). Anyway, I like Lantana more. -
imdb-6414 — 20 years ago(May 11, 2005 05:26 AM)
American acclaim is a bit like a pat on the head for a faithful dog. Whether it be cultural or political; if your not with us yeah yeah. You need to have credibility to bestow judgement thats "worth anything" so please, spare us the righteous crud.
that aside
Lantana is a beautifully expressive film. If you cant appreciate or understand it, give in to your inner revhead and see fast and furious. -
radicalmedia — 20 years ago(May 15, 2005 04:15 PM)
Lantana is about as expressive as my high school art teacher. Safe, palatable and aesthetically uninteresting.
Here is a list of truly beautiful films dealing with infidelity:
LE BONHEUR by Agnes Varda,
FACES by John Cassavettes,
UNAGI by Shoshei Immamura,
JULES ET JIM by Francois Truffaut,
DARLING by John Schlesinger -
RogueTwilight — 20 years ago(June 07, 2005 04:21 PM)
I agree, it wasn't the easiest to sit through at times, but overall was a lovely and enjoyable film- and who doesn't love Phelpsy!!!
But if the lameness of the Scary Movie type films is your thing, then by all means . . .
Oh, forgive my bluntness. It's a device I use to cope -
UncleBobMartin — 20 years ago(June 18, 2005 03:06 AM)
I trust that you are too young to realize what an absorbing theme the difficulty of making marriage work is for anyone who's been married longer than a couple of years.
Also, the tightly-wound cop whose job destroys his marriage is among the most common themes in the typical Hollywood cop tale. It's refreshing to see a movie that plays against that old saw, just as it is refreshing to see a suspense film that has no violence in it, not even the expected "murder." And I love violent films myself (when well done). -
UncleBobMartin — 20 years ago(August 12, 2005 04:39 AM)
I was responding to the initial post, that essentially questioned what interest there lay in this film for anyone. I specified why I felt I may have found it more satisfying than others did.
If you find that my answer makes no sense to you, you'll need to point out the exact words that failed your understanding, so I can break it down for you. Unless, that is, you are just "taking the piss." -
primitifcinema — 20 years ago(August 27, 2005 04:20 AM)
Good to hear you love violent films. We'll all sleep better at night. Also good to hear you like to be challenged. Now see the films on INFIDELITY. Plus the french film "Marie and her 2 Lovers" Then talk to me about Lantana. It really only stands up as TV drama.