High infidelity: Have we cast Australian films into the arms of another?

High infidelity: Have we cast Australian films into the arms of another? By Simon Miraudo.

“What came first, the movies or the misery?”

 

Forgive my misquoting of the break-up flick High Fidelity, but as a fan of Australian cinema, I feel a bit like a spurned lover. Perhaps it’s our own fault (and yes, I’m dragging everyone who enjoys quality home-grown films into this sordid coupling). We ignored and often dismissed Australian movies, reminding them that we “didn’t really need them”. We treated them like our ‘safety’ date, feigning interest, whilst intending all along to take American cinema to the dance instead. But Aus cinema has gone all Pretty in Pink on us. Suddenly, a whole bunch of new suitors have emerged from around the world, each beguiled by Australian pictures such as Animal Kingdom, The Loved Ones, The Tree and Red Hill. Local films are no longer saving themselves for us; they’re debuting in every country but Australia. And as heartbreaking as it is, we only have ourselves to blame. Not the films. Us.

The Daily Telegraph’s associate editor Sarrah Le Marquand’s published an op-ed piece entitled ‘The ugly truth of Australian film’, in which she laments the lack of Social Network-quality features being produced in Australia. Le Marquand claims “overly cautious critics” use convenient excuses such as “lack of funding, lazy audiences and an unwillingness to engage with our own culture” to explain away the Australian film industry’s failures. Her argument is based upon one giant fallacy: that Australia does not produce Social Network-quality features. The one recent Australian release Le Marquand mentions is Tomorrow When The War Began (err, ok?). Has she partaken of Claire McCarthy’s enchanting The Waiting City, or Julie Bertucelli’s haunting fable The Tree? What about our slick genre pieces The Loved Ones and Daybreakers? Or Joel Anderson’s brilliant, evocative, mind-numbingly underseen Lake Mungo (a horror-drama that deserves to sit amongst the all-time greats)? Talk about “an unwillingness to engage with our own culture”. As Encore Editor Miguel Gonzalez astutely points out in his retort to Le Marquand’s dismissive piece, “the media and the public should be critical, but they can’t expect any positive changes if they rarely pay attention to their industry and, when they do, it’s always from a negative, out-dated point of view”.

What happens when you don’t pay attention in a relationship (except to point out your partner’s faults)? They walk out on you. In the past 12 months alone, Australian audiences have had to sit on the sidelines while local directors shared their films at international festivals, months before bringing them to our shores. Animal Kingdom director David Michôd scored a slot at Sundance in January of 2010, picked up the World Cinema Jury Prize, and is now enjoying some genuine Oscar buzz. This is all wonderful. But it would have been even more wonderful if Australian critics have been the first to discover and share this fine talent with the rest of the world. How did we let him slip through our fingers?

I asked The Loved Ones’ director Sean Byrne why his film – which won the Midnight Madness prize at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2009 – took so long to arrive in Australia. Byrne casually said, “Australians traditionally don’t always embrace Australian cinema unless it’s had some endorsement internationally”. Is that really what we’ve come to? Australian directors now expect local audiences – and that includes local media – to ignore their films unless the Yanks and the Brits and the Canucks have given them the stamp of approval?

The neo-western Red Hill similarly made a splash overseas before arriving in Oz; it played at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival, and bowed in U.S. cinemas a full three weeks before landing in Australia. Director Patrick Hughes shared his thoughts on this new trend of “international endorsement”. Although he could see the positive side, he expressed exasperation at the apathy of Aus audiences; “I think it’s a wonderful testament that you go ‘Hey, here’s a movie that actually works overseas’. I don’t think that’s a bad thing for Australian viewers. It’s scary, how do you get Australian viewers to go see Australian films?”

How indeed. And more pressingly, why aren’t they going in the first place? Although Animal Kingdom grossed a respectable $5 million, Red Hill and The Loved Ones have both disappointed at the box office despite largely positive reviews. Should we blame “lack of funding, lazy audiences and an unwillingness to engage with our own culture”? And is it so bad if local films make such a big splash internationally before arriving on our shores?

Perhaps not. I’m deeply proud of all the aforementioned films for going out into the world and making a name for themselves, and our country, almost in spite of our treatment of them. And their “international endorsement” is indeed deserved. I guess, like the recently-dumped ex of a newly-engaged fiancé, I feel as if I’ve missed the boat on a beautiful marriage.

As I write this, Mad Bastards-director Brendan Fletcher is likely celebrating his film’s inclusion at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. It’s a festival that Winter’s Bone director Debra Granik describes as necessary “for making known … films … made outside of the larger system; … [a] journalist-intensive forum for that discussion and that circulation.” Sure, we have some fine film festivals in Australia – MIFF, SFF, Revelation – but we’d be deluding ourselves if we similarly described them as being a “journalist-intensive forum for that discussion and that circulation”. Wouldn’t it be nice to see these fine local films first, and then collectively champion them to the rest of the world, instead of having to hear everyone else shower them with praise first. We need to expand our media coverage beyond the cursory “Australian cinema is depressing” conversation, and start treating this industry with the respect and attention it deserves. Brilliant films will follow. Hell, the brilliant films have arrived. We wish Mad Bastards the best of luck. It will make its world debut at a Sydney Festival special event in January before moving onto Sundance, and finally arriving in Australian cinemas May 2011. Let’s start the discussion before the Americans this time.

This article has been written in honour of the Oz Film Blogathon; a celebration of, and critical commentary on, Australian cinema. The Oz Film Blogathon is hosted by critic Scott Henderson.