Too much of everything

the audience applauded

Best movie ever!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

In the last year, I saw a film ("In My Father's Den") with much the same themes. In that New Zealand film, a man, a celebrated war correspondent returns to his rural home on the death of his father. There are significant unresolved frictions between father and son. The returning man had sex with a girl when a boy, had left immediately thereafter, and that drives the tension. People are unhappy (the man burns his dad's stuff) but some unknown facts about the youthful relationship (there is a brother who hid something) are revealed and the man is freed of his ghosts.The similarity with this story is so striking that it distracted me. That film managed to mix the emotions of rambling in inner hurt with the curiosity of a detective far better than this, and was thus more engaging. This is adapted for the screen and directed by an actress for her husband, who plays the dying father. So it is no wonder that the structure of the long form is sacrificed for the power of certain scenes with the old man. And it is no wonder that unduly long episodes are included to establish character, for instance, we have a quarter of the film between our returning fellow and the dopey girl he brings with him. As far as we can tell, this is to show how messed up he is with women. Meanwhile, we get nothing about his life as a writer other than he is successful and writes autobiographically inspired pieces. Wouldn't this have been important, since the implication in all such situations is that we are reading his work in seeing the story?The scenery is compelling but not folded into the story. While others may find the acting adequate or better, the only role that seemed real to me was the girl of the title. She plays a maturing Lolita temptress, and the cinematic handing of her is really quite superb. She flits in and out of the story for the first two thirds in such a way that we know she is the ghost. But then again, I just saw a similar character in "Carried Away" that was so much better integrated between the dramatic unfolding and the camera eye.So put this one down as appealing scenery, and another entry in the directors who direct their lovers database.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

No one involved in this production has put a single foot wrong in bringing this profoundly moving and overwhelmingly beautiful film to the screen. It is as fine a film as has ever been made.Don't be put off by any comments claiming it is a dark or depressing film. It is not. Rather, it is poignant, tender and uplifting. At its heart it is illuminated by love and forgiveness. Do not miss this haunting and rewarding cinema experience.Twenty years after his sister's death and his brother's suicide, a man returns to his childhood home in the remote Australian outback. He has come to see his dying father who is being cared for by his remaining sister. He brings his much younger fiancé with him. The visit brings back memories of long ago and for the first time the man fully comprehends the key tragedy in the lives of himself and his family.After the early death of their mother, a father, who is ill equipped to show his love and affection, has raised four children in the remote and demanding outback. It is a tough life that lost its emotional anchor with the loss of the mother. Educated at home via the school of the air the children, and their father, are truly isolated from the wider world and from other human contact. Elder son Cliff has been subjected to "toughening up" treatment, younger sister Sally, though only a child, is aware of the currents within the household, while middle children, Ned and Kate have the deep and interdependent connection often observed in twins.Within this isolated, oppressive and emotionally constrained environment, the children's need for love, affection, and for models for their developing sexuality and for human relationships goes unmet. Normal adolescent confusion and uncertainty mutates with tragic consequences when Kate's fear of growing into womanhood, with its concomitant morbid fear of her mother's breast cancer, finds resonances with Ned's primary emotional connection to her and his emerging sexuality.Kate's fear of loosing her twin by them both growing up and by Ned finding a girlfriend is compounded by Ned's recognition also that the love between the twins is the single most important thing in each other's life. Love, fear, confusion and the desire for a physical manifestation of love propel their relationship into sibling incest. Ned's rejection of this results in the tragedy at the core of the film, when Kate seeks to both punish Ned for his rejection and to bind herself to her other brother Cliff in an escalation of emotional turmoil that was bound to be destructive. The effect is immediate and by night's end two of the siblings are dead.This film is about love, and by the end, it is love that triumphs for the man, his sister and their father who dies surrounded by it.The South Australian Flinders Ranges location for the film is absolutely stunning. Every frame of this film is perfect. Every performance is rich with understated nuances of character and emotional depth. Intelligence, understanding, compassion and empathy shine from this film and it is just a pity that these qualities are lost on some of the audience.

Ned (Ben Mendelsohn) is a middle aged writer, driving with his much younger girlfriend Toni (Maeve Dermody), to his father's outback ranch. His father (Bryan Brown) is dying. Ned has not seen his father for twenty years, the last time was the summer when his sister Kate (Sophie Lowe) and also his brother Cliff both died. Ned is haunted by the memories of his sister and it is gradually revealed that they shared an incestuous relationship. Also staying on the ranch is Ned's other sister (Rachel Griffiths) who is at odds with the immaturity and rudeness of Toni.Based on the novel by Newton Thornburg, Beautiful Kate is another competently made Australian film, written and directed by Rachel Ward. Shot on location in South Australia, the film is beautifully photographed and takes its time to reveal its secrets. This is quite a nostalgic film but ultimately a passive experience. The film uses many integrated flashbacks to show how Ned and his sister came together. Unfortunately, despite being the most poignant and interesting aspect of the film, much of this is relationship remains highly fragmented and never fully explored. Had the film been shown from the perspective of the children, rather than from adulthood, it may have been a more fascinated film. The isolation in such an area, along with little intimacy from their parents – their mother died and their father was tough – suggests their affection for each other but it deserved to be explored in more depth. Given that are our view of Ned and Kate as a brother and sister is highly fragmented and scarce their incestuous behaviour is perhaps never as shocking as it should be. It would be interesting to see if it was more thoroughly described in the novel. As it stands not a lot happens in the present stages of the film. A stationary area like the ranch in the film does not offer a lot of opportunities for action.The films performances are collectively excellent. Bryan Brown captures the vulnerability of the old man strongly. His character is an extremely rough and hardened man, often crudely spoken. When Toni asks him what Ned's weakness is he replies with the word 'cunt'. Yet despite his coarseness there is little doubt over the grief for both of his children. Mendelsohn is fine as well, but we have to question why his character Ned chose such an immature partner in Toni. Perhaps this is an echo of his youth with Kate, but with such guilt about his behaviour with her, it is difficult to understand this complexion between his sexual longing and his remorse. The weakest character is easily Dermody's Toni. Toni has been characterised intentionally as an extremely rude, immature, brat. Her comments throughout the film are regularly irritable. When she is told that Kate is no longer with the family, she asks "she's dead?" It is little loss to the film when she eventually leaves. Alone her character offers little, by in relation to Ned it allows him to develop by the end of the film from a man who yearns for his sister, in memory and sexually through Toni, to someone who we assume will understand his limits. Ned ominously places Toni's name tag next to the speed limit of his car as he drives away at the end of the film.Beautiful Kate is a mature Australian film, but one that could have been more insightful and sophisticated in its handling of its youngest relationship. The performances are terrific but like many adaptations one must question how much of the novel was omitted for the screen. Had more time been dedicated to the childhood of the characters, the emotion of the film could have been further elevated, and a more thoroughly powerful story could have been delivered.

Beautiful Kate is a beautiful movie albeit a difficult, challenging movie but one that will remain with you long after leaving the theatre. Diane and I saw this film yesterday at SX Luna and as we waited to enter a lady exited and said she did not like anything in the film and we thought she had seen another film. Now I realise what she meant although I would vehemently disagree with her. Beautiful Kate takes place in a 30s house on a small farm with South Australia's Flinders Ranges as a backdrop: it is kind of dilapidated, very dry and probably hugely depressing to people coming from more salubrious surrounds. Bryan Brown who plays a pivotal role has been made-up perfectly to fit his part as the father of his family that must live out the mental re-enactment of long past deeds. I mention Brown because his appearance (a wonderful tribute to the makeup artist's skill) is, to me at least a metaphor for the lives of the children gathered at their families' farm. This film is raw; the title may have given the woman who so disliked it the wrong idea of its substance because the movie is exactly opposite of beautiful. Personally I thought Rachel Ward, director and writer, examined the emotions of the players brilliantly. I cannot speak highly enough about this film. We have developed a movie genre that is unique to Australia and conveys ranges of nuanced emotion that can only be dreamed about in other countries. Hollywood came close with The Last Picture Show but that was almost 50 years ago and they seem not to want to return to the genre. Make every attempt to see this movie but be aware when you walk in that the vehicle is not fancy.