At the beginning of Baz Luhrmann’s Faraway Downs, 12-year-old Aboriginal boy Nullah (Brandon Walters) recounts the abiding lesson his grandfather taught him growing up in the wilderness of the Northern Territory of Australia: “Tell ‘em story.” Over the course of the six-part series, a reimagining of Luhrmann’s 2008 film Australia, story will emerge as one of the four cornerstones of Aboriginal identity, the others being country, song, and dreaming.
Luhrmann uses footage from the film, scenes that were lost to the cutting-room floor, and a modern soundtrack by Indigenous artists to expand the story and give it new depth. The narrative arc of the series, though, remains largely identical to that of Australia: When an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), travels to Australia to convince her husband to sell the titular ranch, she comes into the orbit of a cattle drover named Drover (Hugh Jackman), and after embarking on a journey together,...
Luhrmann uses footage from the film, scenes that were lost to the cutting-room floor, and a modern soundtrack by Indigenous artists to expand the story and give it new depth. The narrative arc of the series, though, remains largely identical to that of Australia: When an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman), travels to Australia to convince her husband to sell the titular ranch, she comes into the orbit of a cattle drover named Drover (Hugh Jackman), and after embarking on a journey together,...
- 11/27/2023
- by Amelia Stout
- Slant Magazine
Plot: The story centers on an English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley, who travels halfway across the world to confront her wayward husband and sell an unusual asset: a million-acre cattle ranch in the Australian Outback called ‘Faraway Downs’. Following the death of her husband, a ruthless Australian cattle baron, King Carney, plots to take her land and she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle drover to protect her ranch. The sweeping adventure romance is explored through the eyes of young Nullah, a bi-racial Indigenous Australian child caught up in the government’s draconian racial policy now referred to as the “Stolen Generations.” Together the trio experiences four life-altering years, a love affair between Lady Ashley and the Drover, and the unavoidable impact of World War II on Northern Australia.
Review: Baz Luhrmann’s films have always defied filmmaking norms. From Romeo + Juliet to Elvis, Moulin Rouge to The Great Gatsby,...
Review: Baz Luhrmann’s films have always defied filmmaking norms. From Romeo + Juliet to Elvis, Moulin Rouge to The Great Gatsby,...
- 11/22/2023
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
Statue of the late star posing over a drafty subway vent causes outrage in Chicago
The big story
It's the big Marilyn. And the big fuss a 26ft-statue of the Hollywood icon has caused in Chicago, where a monolithic Monroe - stuck with her skirt blown up in the famous pose from The Seven Year Itch - towers over the city's Pioneer Court, allowing leerers and jeerers alike to cop a giant's eyeful.
Labelled Forever Marilyn by 80-year-old New Jersey sculptor Steward Johnson, the statue has been described as "sexist" and "creepy" by critics, among them film writer Richard Roeper: "Men (and women) licking Marilyn's leg, gawking up her skirt, pointing at her giant panties as they leer and laugh," huffed the Chicago Sun-Times columnist, which sorta cooled the ankles of those who had been merrily papping the blonde bombshell's giant errrrr ... smalls.
Still, you suspect this Marilyn would...
The big story
It's the big Marilyn. And the big fuss a 26ft-statue of the Hollywood icon has caused in Chicago, where a monolithic Monroe - stuck with her skirt blown up in the famous pose from The Seven Year Itch - towers over the city's Pioneer Court, allowing leerers and jeerers alike to cop a giant's eyeful.
Labelled Forever Marilyn by 80-year-old New Jersey sculptor Steward Johnson, the statue has been described as "sexist" and "creepy" by critics, among them film writer Richard Roeper: "Men (and women) licking Marilyn's leg, gawking up her skirt, pointing at her giant panties as they leer and laugh," huffed the Chicago Sun-Times columnist, which sorta cooled the ankles of those who had been merrily papping the blonde bombshell's giant errrrr ... smalls.
Still, you suspect this Marilyn would...
- 7/21/2011
- by Henry Barnes
- The Guardian - Film News
Hugh Jackman pays tribute to "extraordinary man, actor and friend".
Australian actor David Ngoombujarra, known for his roles in international releases like Rabbit Proof Fence, Ned Kelly and Australia, was yesterday found dead in a park in the Australian city of Fremantle, near Perth. although he was only 44 years old police are not treating his death as suspicious.
Ngoombujarra was one of Australia's displaced generation of Aboriginal children, forcibly transplanted and raised by a white family. He first made a splash on the big screen with a bit part in Young Einstein, and...
Australian actor David Ngoombujarra, known for his roles in international releases like Rabbit Proof Fence, Ned Kelly and Australia, was yesterday found dead in a park in the Australian city of Fremantle, near Perth. although he was only 44 years old police are not treating his death as suspicious.
Ngoombujarra was one of Australia's displaced generation of Aboriginal children, forcibly transplanted and raised by a white family. He first made a splash on the big screen with a bit part in Young Einstein, and...
- 7/20/2011
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Jackman Pays Tribute To Aboriginal Actor Ngoombujarra
Hugh Jackman has paid tribute to his Australia co-star David Ngoombujarra, who passed away over the weekend, aged 44.
The aboriginal actor, born David Bernard Starr, was found in a park in Fremantle, western Australia, on Sunday, before being pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Police are now waiting for toxicology reports in a bid to determine the cause of death, but representatives insist they are not treating it as suspicious.
Jackman has rushed to pay tribute to his pal, who he worked with on Baz Luhrmann's 2008 epic, writing in a post on Twitter.com, "So saddened to hear about the passing of David Ngoombujarra Starr. An extraordinary man, actor and friend. His laugh, warmth and humanity will live on with all who knew him."
Ngoombujarra was one of Australia's most famous indigenous actors, winning a number of Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards throughout his career and appearing in movies such as Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles with Paul Hogan, Ned Kelly opposite Heath Ledger and 2003's Kangaroo Jack with Jerry O'Connell and Christopher Walken.
The aboriginal actor, born David Bernard Starr, was found in a park in Fremantle, western Australia, on Sunday, before being pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Police are now waiting for toxicology reports in a bid to determine the cause of death, but representatives insist they are not treating it as suspicious.
Jackman has rushed to pay tribute to his pal, who he worked with on Baz Luhrmann's 2008 epic, writing in a post on Twitter.com, "So saddened to hear about the passing of David Ngoombujarra Starr. An extraordinary man, actor and friend. His laugh, warmth and humanity will live on with all who knew him."
Ngoombujarra was one of Australia's most famous indigenous actors, winning a number of Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards throughout his career and appearing in movies such as Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles with Paul Hogan, Ned Kelly opposite Heath Ledger and 2003's Kangaroo Jack with Jerry O'Connell and Christopher Walken.
- 7/19/2011
- WENN
Australian star of films such as Crocodile Dundee, Australia and Rabbit-Proof Fence has been found dead in a park near Perth
David Ngoombujarra, one of the best-known Aboriginal actors and a three-time Australian Film Institute award winner, has died. Ngoombujarra, 44, had leading roles in films such as Australia, Ned Kelly and Rabbit-Proof Fence, and also featured in Crocodile Dundee and TV series Home and Away.
He was found dead in a park in Fremantle, the port city near Perth, on Sunday. Police report they are waiting for a toxicology report to determine the cause of death but say it was not suspicious.
Hugh Jackman, who worked with Ngoombujarra on Australia, expressed his sorrow on Twitter. "So saddened to hear about the passing of David Ngoombujarra Starr. An extraordinary man, actor and friend," he said. "His laugh, warmth and humanity will live on with all who knew him."
Ngoombujarra was born...
David Ngoombujarra, one of the best-known Aboriginal actors and a three-time Australian Film Institute award winner, has died. Ngoombujarra, 44, had leading roles in films such as Australia, Ned Kelly and Rabbit-Proof Fence, and also featured in Crocodile Dundee and TV series Home and Away.
He was found dead in a park in Fremantle, the port city near Perth, on Sunday. Police report they are waiting for a toxicology report to determine the cause of death but say it was not suspicious.
Hugh Jackman, who worked with Ngoombujarra on Australia, expressed his sorrow on Twitter. "So saddened to hear about the passing of David Ngoombujarra Starr. An extraordinary man, actor and friend," he said. "His laugh, warmth and humanity will live on with all who knew him."
Ngoombujarra was born...
- 7/19/2011
- by Catherine Shoard
- The Guardian - Film News
Casting Directors: Ronna Kress and Nikki Barrett Director: Baz Luhrmann Writers: Baz Luhrmann and Stuart Beattie Starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown The Pitch: During World War II, an English aristocrat (Kidman) inherits a massive ranch and teams up with a rough-hewn drover (Jackman) to protect her new property from a takeover plot.Baz Luhrmann tackles everything in large-scale, unorthodox fashion. After completing his "red curtain" trilogy — Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet, and Moulin Rouge! — he decided to go back to his cultural roots with the epic Australia, which follows an Englishwoman who teams with an Aussie cattle driver to save her inheritance, just as World War II comes knocking Down Under. He turned to Australian casting director Nikki Barrett (Candy, The Proposition, Babe: Pig in the City) and American CD Ronna Kress to populate the film, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. Kress is accustomed to Luhrmann's scale,...
- 12/11/2008
- backstage.com
Australia Studio: 20th Century Fox Rated: PG-13 for some violence, a scene of sensuality, and brief strong language. Starring: Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson, David Gulpilil, David Ngoombujarra, and Brandon Walters Directed by: Baz Luhrmann What it’s about: A lot of things... A cattle drive across Australia. A romance between ...
- 11/26/2008
- by Kevin Carr
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Black and White
Opened Friday Jan. 9
LONDON -- In a remote desert town in South Australia in 1958, a 9-year-old girl is found raped and murdered. On the flimsiest evidence, local police almost immediately arrest a young Aboriginal man and obtain a confession. Only the efforts of a stubborn, inexperienced Adelaide lawyer stand between the accused and the hangman.
Craig Lahiff's sturdy courtroom drama "Black and White", based on real events, follows a predictable path and is unlikely to make substantial gains at the boxoffice, but it's a laudable effort and certain to please fans of Robert Carlyle.
The "Full Monty" star plays obstinate lawyer David O'Sullivan, whose dislike of the antiquated British-based Australian judiciary drives him to take seriously a case he's obliged to take without a fee. He quickly learns that the Aboriginal, Max Stuart, played with unsentimental grace by David Ngoombujarra, is illiterate and put his mark on a confession he couldn't read.
When it turns out that Curtis was in police custody for being drunk at the time the murder took place, it appears that a dismissal is inevitable. But the pathologist changes her mind and fixes the death outside the time frame of his alibi.
Only when he's sent for trial does Curtis claim that the police beat him in order to obtain the confession. By now, O'Sullivan is going head-to-head with a pillar of the judicial establishment, Roderic Chamberlain, played with typical elegance and power by Charles Dance.
More evidence emerges that tends to suggest Curtis' innocence when a compassionate priest becomes involved, but Curtis is convicted and sentenced to hang. O'Sullivan's fight to win appeals goes all the way up to a Royal Commission, putting Curtis near the hangman's door seven times, while the local newspaper -- published by one Rupert Murdoch -- gets on the bandwagon to defend him.
Ben Mendelsohn plays the young Murdoch as a callow opportunist, and the film suggests that his enthusiasm for the campaign swiftly ended when he was threatened with prosecution for seditious libel.
The film dips a toe into the role of newspapers influencing trials but drops it as a topic to focus on O'Sullivan's class struggle with Chamberlain. Screenwriter Louis Nowra and director Lahiff develop that theme effectively and take the trouble to invest Chamberlain with considerable human dimension.
There is a clever scene in which the aristocratic hopeful for the chief justice's chair snarls out his view of the case to his wife and their genteel friends, sparing them no brutal detail of the rape and murder as he believes they happened.
O'Sullivan runs into almost uniformly supercilious representatives of the British legal establishment, however, all with condescending stares and snooty voices. But the lawyer's dependence on his reluctant but loyal partner, played sympathetically by Kerry Fox, is well drawn, and at no point does Carlyle allow himself to showboat. His is a fully professional performance that shows no strain from the fact that he carries the film on his shoulders.
Lahiff shows little visual flair, and the film will fit nicely on the small screen. It's a grim tale not told in a grim way
an honorable argument not angry enough. A bit more of Chamberlain's superb self-belief might have given the piece a lot more power.
BLACK AND WHITE
Tartan Films
Credits:
Director: Craig Lahiff
Screenwriter: Louis Nowra
Producers: Helen Leake, Nik Powell
Director of photography: Geoffrey Simpson
Production designer: Murray Picknett
Costume designer: Annie Marshallp
Editor: Lee Smith
Cast:
David O'Sullivan: Robert Carlyle
Roderic Chamberlain: Charles Dance
Helen Devaney: Kerry Fox
Father Tom Dixon: Colin Friels
Rupert Murdoch: Ben Mendelsohn
Max Stuart: David Ngoombujarra
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating " />Shane McCutcheon: Katherine Moennig
Dana Fairbanks: Erin Daniels
Alice Pieszecki: Leisha Hailey
Kit Porter: Pam Grierppencott, David Vanacore, Mark T. Williams
Main title theme: The O-Jays
Casting: Rob LaPlante...
LONDON -- In a remote desert town in South Australia in 1958, a 9-year-old girl is found raped and murdered. On the flimsiest evidence, local police almost immediately arrest a young Aboriginal man and obtain a confession. Only the efforts of a stubborn, inexperienced Adelaide lawyer stand between the accused and the hangman.
Craig Lahiff's sturdy courtroom drama "Black and White", based on real events, follows a predictable path and is unlikely to make substantial gains at the boxoffice, but it's a laudable effort and certain to please fans of Robert Carlyle.
The "Full Monty" star plays obstinate lawyer David O'Sullivan, whose dislike of the antiquated British-based Australian judiciary drives him to take seriously a case he's obliged to take without a fee. He quickly learns that the Aboriginal, Max Stuart, played with unsentimental grace by David Ngoombujarra, is illiterate and put his mark on a confession he couldn't read.
When it turns out that Curtis was in police custody for being drunk at the time the murder took place, it appears that a dismissal is inevitable. But the pathologist changes her mind and fixes the death outside the time frame of his alibi.
Only when he's sent for trial does Curtis claim that the police beat him in order to obtain the confession. By now, O'Sullivan is going head-to-head with a pillar of the judicial establishment, Roderic Chamberlain, played with typical elegance and power by Charles Dance.
More evidence emerges that tends to suggest Curtis' innocence when a compassionate priest becomes involved, but Curtis is convicted and sentenced to hang. O'Sullivan's fight to win appeals goes all the way up to a Royal Commission, putting Curtis near the hangman's door seven times, while the local newspaper -- published by one Rupert Murdoch -- gets on the bandwagon to defend him.
Ben Mendelsohn plays the young Murdoch as a callow opportunist, and the film suggests that his enthusiasm for the campaign swiftly ended when he was threatened with prosecution for seditious libel.
The film dips a toe into the role of newspapers influencing trials but drops it as a topic to focus on O'Sullivan's class struggle with Chamberlain. Screenwriter Louis Nowra and director Lahiff develop that theme effectively and take the trouble to invest Chamberlain with considerable human dimension.
There is a clever scene in which the aristocratic hopeful for the chief justice's chair snarls out his view of the case to his wife and their genteel friends, sparing them no brutal detail of the rape and murder as he believes they happened.
O'Sullivan runs into almost uniformly supercilious representatives of the British legal establishment, however, all with condescending stares and snooty voices. But the lawyer's dependence on his reluctant but loyal partner, played sympathetically by Kerry Fox, is well drawn, and at no point does Carlyle allow himself to showboat. His is a fully professional performance that shows no strain from the fact that he carries the film on his shoulders.
Lahiff shows little visual flair, and the film will fit nicely on the small screen. It's a grim tale not told in a grim way
an honorable argument not angry enough. A bit more of Chamberlain's superb self-belief might have given the piece a lot more power.
BLACK AND WHITE
Tartan Films
Credits:
Director: Craig Lahiff
Screenwriter: Louis Nowra
Producers: Helen Leake, Nik Powell
Director of photography: Geoffrey Simpson
Production designer: Murray Picknett
Costume designer: Annie Marshallp
Editor: Lee Smith
Cast:
David O'Sullivan: Robert Carlyle
Roderic Chamberlain: Charles Dance
Helen Devaney: Kerry Fox
Father Tom Dixon: Colin Friels
Rupert Murdoch: Ben Mendelsohn
Max Stuart: David Ngoombujarra
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating " />Shane McCutcheon: Katherine Moennig
Dana Fairbanks: Erin Daniels
Alice Pieszecki: Leisha Hailey
Kit Porter: Pam Grierppencott, David Vanacore, Mark T. Williams
Main title theme: The O-Jays
Casting: Rob LaPlante...
- 7/9/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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