The Waiting City

The Waiting City
Year: 2009
Director: Claire McCarthy
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Radha Mitchell, Samrat Chakrabarti, Isabel Lucas

In My Own Words
Another Aussie film for the year! I am so proud of the large variety of films that my country is producing at the moment. One can only hope that the world beyond Australia will get to see these films as well. “The Waiting City” is a first for Australian film as it is the first Australian movie filmed in its entirety in India. This was one of the two things I personally loved most about this movie. I have a fascination with India at the moment. I mean, what isn’t fascinating about it? There is not much about it which resembles Australia or any other country I have ever visited, which is what intrigues me the most about it. All the Indian cities seem extremely like extremely spiritual places and just by seeing them on the screen, you can just imagine the how it must feel to be there. Well, that s probably a result of the filming of the films set in India that I have seen! Of course the poverty is extremely confronting just on the screen, I can’t imagine how it would feel seeing all that suffering in front of your eyes. I guess I will find out one day! However, I still can’t wait to go! Not to see the poverty, but to see things like the Taj Mahal and experience the culture! It didn’t surprise me at all to learn that Claire McCarthy has India close to her heart, as she has lived and worked there in the past.

The other thing I like about this film is the underlying message. You never quite figure out who you are or the place you are in until you step outside your everyday life. You never really know how things really are until you step back and take a look at yourself from outside the bubble. I found this about myself over three years ago when I went over to the United States for the first time by myself. I found out who I really was and realised where my life was heading, it’s a very healthy thing to do! I did the same thing when I lived in Los Angeles for six months in 2008. I don’t think it was a better way to find out who I really am. I think that I have to thank my six months away from my usual habitat for what I am doing on here! And also for the great relationships in my life, as you never realise how hard it is to find the wonderful people you have in your life until you don’t have them around. You have got to love travelling! It does so much for the soul.

These are my own words and here is my review.

Review
Claire McCarthy’s newest film, “The Waiting City” is breakthrough in many ways. Not only is it the first Australian film to be completely filmed in India, but it is her breakthrough film as a director. This is McCarthy’s fourth film, but is definitely her most successful to date. Not to mention it made its debut at the inaugural Toronto International Film Festival last September. The film has many good points, but even though it can be extremely confronting and emotional at times, it still lacks the intensity that it should in parts. Fiona (Radha Mitchell) and Ben Simmons (Joel Edgerton) touch down in Calcutta and are immediately culture shocked by the country in which they have arrived in to pick up their adopted daughter. One setback turns into another as they are forced to wait longer than they expected to meet their new child and bring her home. As they wait, they feel the power of their new daughters homeland as it pulls them in and exposes Fiona and Ben’s flaws in themselves and in their relationship.

“The Waiting City” is one of those rare films which has the ability to make you feel like you really are there experiencing it all with the characters. Even without being to India, you can smell the same things they do, feel the humidity and see things the same way Fiona and Ben do. The star of this film is really India. It is on show in “The Waiting City” and one can truly believe how the main characters can get so caught up in its mystery and how they start to feel like they are as one with the country. This film is visually stunning and the visuals make it extremely memorable. The clash of cultures is perfectly represented and it is intriguing as well as being humorous at times. The cinematography is very well done as it again captures the essence of Calcutta and its surrounds by the choice of camera angles and modes of filming.

The acting is good, but unfortunately it is the one part of the film that is a let down. Both Radha Mitchell and Joel Edgerton are very good actors in their own right, and do have chemistry on screen, but it almost feels as though the roles were a bit too easy for them to play. The roles they play are subtle, but they are too subtle in the most complex situations. The emotion of the situations they find themselves in, except for one main event, does not grab the audience in the way it should. Edgerton is the better of the two in this film as he is the one who gives more in his role.This doesn’t mean that Mitchell did a bad job, but it wasn’t as strong a performance as one would expect from such a role as this. Samrat Chakrabarti, who plays the Simmons’ personal chauffer, Krishna, does do a great job with the role he is given and is a joy to watch on screen. Maybe McCarthy focused more on the visuals in the film and how India is represented, rather than how far the actors could have been pushed to reach the heights their roles should have.

“The Waiting City” is really an aesthetically pleasing film. If anything, it will make you want to pack your bags and go to this beautiful place to enjoy the simpler things in life and to find yourself, if you feel that you need to be found. The key to this film being a success would have been to focus more on the raw emotion of the difficult and complicated situations presented. Therefore, this film will be remembered more as a great tourism product for India rather than the all round great film it could have been.
7/10

Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom
Year: 2010
Director: David Michod
Cast: James Frecheville, Guy Pearce, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Jacki Weaver

In My Own Words
I just have to say how proud I am to be a movie critic and have the opportunity to review so many Australian films this year. Not only do I get to review them, but I get to tell everyone how wonderful they are! And I am not the only one saying so. “Animal Kingdom”, which is my latest review, premiered at Sundance 2010 and showed the world what the Australian film industry can do by winning the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema- Dramatic category. “Animal Kingdom” is a brilliant piece of work. Not for the faint hearted, as people would expect from hearing the subject matter, but still a film that has to be seen. Australian viewers, don’t be fooled, this film is not an “Underbelly” rip off.

Just a side note, it still amazes me how some people can leave their manners at the front door when going to the movies. I know people normally see groups of teenagers as being the main offenders of this, but I find grown adults to be just as bad times. During this film, a lady’s phone went off three times before she realised she should turn it off. Turning off my mobile has become like a ritual for me as soon as I buy my ticket and so many cinemas place a clever advertisement in the preview about turning your mobile off for the sake of others, but some people still just don’t get it. I find more and more people talking throughout films now too, or maybe I just go to too many films so it seems like there is more people falling into this category. All I’m saying is, where has cinema etiquette gone?

These are my own words and here is my review.

Review
“Animal Kingdom” is one of the best Australian films to be released in a long time. Not only this, it is perhaps the best crime drama released this year thus far. A film with outstanding characters brought to life by fantastic acting and an extremely well written script by director and writer, David Michod. Joshua Cody(James Frecheville) goes to live with his grandmother (Jacki Weaver) and his uncles after the death of his mother from a heroin overdose. Although this may seem like a better situation, his uncles are a group of armed robbers who the police are always out to get. As the police get closer and more family deaths occur, life gets more and more complicated for Josh. However, blood runs thicker than water.

What an amazing story and script. “Animal Kingdom” has so many twists and turns that it becomes clear sooner rather than later that things will never turn out the way you think. It is so easy to become emotionally involved in this film with the way the characters are constructed. Although not as hard-hitting as it may have been ( but in no way is it a subtle or easy to watch film), there are many shocks and suspenseful scenes. There is a lack of violent scenes which is interesting. There is violence spoken of and hinted, but no gruesome scenes. Just the hint of blood here and there. Quite interesting for a crime drama. The soundtrack is absolutely superb in the way in which it enhances the emotion of each scene. The opening title sequence is accompanies by music, sounds and also images that create an uneasy air and almost a feeling of evil. This is completely turned around a few scenes after when the family leaves a restaurant in fits of laughter and smiles and the soundtrack has the ability to make the audience see how much the family love each other and even though they are involved in crime, they are just like any other family when they have a good time together. Such an accomplishment in film making.

Unlike many other crime dramas, this film focuses more of the interrelations of the family and those around them rather than the actual crimes they commit. The characterisation is absolutely outstanding. The audience feels an attachment to each of the main characters and shares everything with them. It is a great tribute to a film when the audience feels every emotion with the character and can feel as if they know them personally. In his debut and breakthrough film role, James Frecheville is the lead as Joshua Cody. His performance at the beginning seems a little dry, but it is soon realised that that is all part of his character and he definitely proves himself as an actor as the film goes on. Jacki Weaver is outstanding here. Her role as the optimistic Cody mother and grandmother, Janine has many dimensions. She can be so annoying in her optimism, superficiality and overbearing love for her sons that she is just brilliant. Ben Mendelsohn as Andre “Pope” Cody is extremely creepy and evil, and is easily hated throughout the film by the audience, but he is absolute pleasure to watch. Sullivan Stapleton is also a standout in his role as Craig Cody, as is Joel Edgerton as Barry Brown.

“Animal Kingdom” is a film that must be seen. It is an accomplishment in film making and contains all the factors necessarily to make a successful and well done film. Disturbing, but beautifully so.
8.5/10