Sam...
PLUS The DIGGER campaign begins; Reviews of THE ODYSSEY, TECHPLOMACY and HUNGRY; Trailers from BENOFF; Costner bound for Locarno; Vale Nansun Shi; and more Sam.
It was late 1990, and a full house at Parramatta’s Greater Union multiplex was on seat’s edge as John McTiernan’s THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER entered its third act. Capt. 1st Class Marko Ramius’ mission to guide his Russian nuclear submarine to American waters was on course, until a saboteur opens fire within its steel walls. As the shooting eases, we learn the identity of a Russian sailor tragically victim to a fatal bullet. The audience audibly gasps; murmurs of “Oh, no” are heard. It is Capt. Borodin, a loyal officer under Ramius.
It is Sam Neill.
One of those gasps was mine; I was at that session, and I remember the stillness of the room as Neill, having conquered this early studio pic support part with the grace, integrity and effortless warmth for which he’ll become known, held the audience’s emotion in his grasp. It is one of many moments in his screen career that I’ve thought about since his passing this week. Every film fan has a Sam Neill performance - one of his magnetic, mesmerising moments - that will keep the man alive in our collective memories.
Mine include his Harry Beecham in MY BRILLIANT CAREER (above), the farmer whose smouldering has a ‘Heatcliff’-like impact on Judy Davis’ womanhood; the scene in EVIL ANGELS where his Michael Chamberlain explodes with a father’s repressed grief; the iconic glare-and-grin of his adult anti-christ Damien Thorn in THE FINAL CONFLICT; the descent into insanity he experiences and manifests as author John Trent in IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS; and, a similar unravelling as Mark, the spurned husband opposite Isabelle Adjani in POSSESSION. Others dip in and out of my recollections - THE PIANO (below), DEATH IN BRUNSWICK, DEAD CALM, THE DISH, SIRENS.
I interviewed him in a Sydney hotel lounge for the DEAN SPANLEY press tour in 2008. He was funny, present, insightful, happy to recall his career. He signed my JURASSIC PARK DVD, joking he didn’t approve the box design so is probably not getting a residual. He was very much an articulate, exceptional everyman, who just happened to also be one his generation’s most instinctive and gifted actors. Vale…
Simon Foster, Editor: SCREEN-SPACE
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TOM CRUISE, FAKE TIME AND THAT DIGGER TRAILER
Tom Cruise has entered a new career phase with the release of the trailer for DIGGER. The star, working with Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, has transformed his movie-star visage into that of a saggy billionaire who must undo his past mistakes to save the world from ecological disaster.
A cute part of the film’s pre-release publicity (it drops early-October globally) is a fake TIME magazine photo-spread that captures the actor in character as only the iconic magazine can - and would, if ‘Digger’ were a real guy.
FOSTER’S FILM REVIEWS
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THE ODYSSEY (Dir: Christopher Nolan; starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya and Charlize Theron). Long an integral part of Hollywood spectacle, the sword ’n’ sandal epic is resurrected by director Christopher Nolan with all the cinematic bravado one is afforded after an Oscar sweep. Somewhat surprisingly, Matt Damon proves sturdy casting as Odysseus, the mighty warrior separated from his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and loyal son Telemachus (Tom Holland) after he leads a covert raid to seize Troy - an act of that descends into bloody carnage. Like his physical self, detached from the world he knew, his mind begins to separate (thanks in no small part to the lotus petals fed to him by Charlize Theron’s Calypso), until fate and the guiding ethereal hand of goddess Athena (Zendaya) brings him home. The iconic mythology of Odysseus’ journey is recalled in flashback, with Nolan giving literal weight to such preposterousness as a cyclops shepherd, an army of giants and, in the film’s most bizarre detour, Samantha Morton’s predatory witch. It is spectacular, wildly indulgent and thunderously staged, but the film only connects as a human story, and Odysseus as a man capable of humility and regret, when he must fight not the titans of the gods but for his family’s reconnection. Much is made of Zeus’ Law, which demands strangers be afforded grace and generosity - a kindheartedness that defines civilised society - and how the failure to abide signifies moral collapse. Nolan is playing within a conventional thematic framework - family and decency, above all else - in an old-fashioned film setting. But, like he proved with OPPENHEIMER, history, real or imagined, holds the answers we need presently. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TECHPLOMACY (Dir: Susanne Kovács) Anne Marie Engtoft Larsen is a Danish technologist, a woman of immense intelligence and charisma, whose global role is to sit with tech bro billionaires and web regulators and advocate for governance, democratic ideals and human rights in the online space. As the subject of a film portrait that might have been a tad ‘insider’, Larsen is a tour de force presence who practices the diplomacy she preaches when dealing with commercial opportunists who refuse to rein in the monster they have created. The monumental scale of the moment in time that documentarian Susanne Kovács captures in TECHPLOMACY is summed up in one soul-rattling observation by journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Maria Ressa. She cites the hurried response by world leaders to control nuclear weapons in the wake of Hiroshima as the historical precedent for what society now faces from emerging technologies. We will not know until humankind emerges from the ashes just how important Larsen’s mission was, and why ignoring her now may prove an act of wilful self-destruction. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
HUNGRY (Dir: James Nunn; starring Madison Davenport, Tracey Bonner, Michel Curiel, Samantha Coughlan, Olivia Bernstone, Jim Meskimen, River Codack and Joaquim de Almeida). A tourist group taking a bayou ‘gator cruise find themselves becoming meaty playthings for a feral hippopotamus. In writer/director James Nunn’s script, each is afforded just enough backstory and occasional moments of heroism and/or villainy to flesh out this much-better-than-expected creature feature. Instead of a tongue-in-cheek romp ala ANACONDA or LAKE PLACID, Nunn reworks a ‘70s disaster movie character roster (think THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE), borrows the plot of Greg McLean’s Aussie killer-croc pic, ROGUE, and resurrects the very ‘90s-feeling ‘action heroine’ in Madison Davenport’s ‘Sistine’. Particularly impressive is the four-legged baddie, a CGI beast who slow-reveals his mightiness, but when his time to enter monster-movie mythology arrives….oh, baby! ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
WORLD WATCH
INDIAN AUTHORITIES BLOCK RELEASE OF PUNJAB KILLINGS FILM: Honey Trehan’s SATLUG tells the true story of Jaswant Singh Khalra, a rights activist who investigated the disappearance and presumed killing of thousands of Sikhs in 1995 (READ: Al Jazeera)
LOCARNO FF PREMIERES 4K DANCES WITH WOLVES RESTORATION: The 4 hour Director’s Cut of Kevin Costner’s Oscar-winning western will play the Piazza Grande at Switzerland’s premiere film event (READ: Variety).
JAPANESE AUDS IGNORE INDIAN BLOCKBUSTER DHURANDHAR: The much-hyped global hit sold a mind-boggling 900 tickets - yes, 900 - on its first day in Japan’s multiplexes (READ: Wion)
WORLD CINEMA LOSES NANSUN SHI, 75: The Hong Kong film giant, co-founder with Tsui Hark of the influential Film Workshop Co., left a profound legacy on Eastern audiences and global film culture (READ: Asian Movie Pulse).
LATEST TRAILERS | BOULDER ENVIRONMENTAL / NATURE / OUTDOORS FILM FESTIVAL, July 16-19
BENOFF celebrates the natural world – the ocean, land, nature, and the air we breathe. Feature and short films from around the world bring both a local and global perspective of the challenges and solutions ahead for our environment.
THE KEEPER (Dir: Jon Bowermaster) Cantankerous, charismatic and passionately committed, John Lipscomb reflects on his 25 years patrolling the Hudson River, traveling more than 80,000 miles by wooden boat.
YANUNI (Dir: Richard Ladkani) Juma Xipaia from the Brazilian Amazon represents the Indigenous leaders who live in harmony with the Earth. Her courage, wisdom, and leadership inspire a global movement to defend nature, culture, and community.
THE ART OF ADVENTURE (Dir: Alison Reid) Between 1957 and 1958, Robert Bateman and Bristol Foster undertook the adventure of a lifetime — driving a Land Rover dubbed “the Grizzly Torque” 30,000 kilometres across Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia.
WHY WE LOVE MOVIES
SLEEPING DOGS (Dir: Roger Donaldson; 1977, New Zealand) | “I’d done SLEEPING DOGS, and I thought, ‘That was a one-off, I’ll never do another film.’ And if you look at SLEEPING DOGS, you think, ‘Well, I wouldn’t use that bugger again.’ But I did get cast in MY BRILLIANT CAREER. I kind of understood a little bit more about what was necessary, and it was a great opportunity for me.”
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect?” - Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), JURASSIC PARK (Dir: Steven Spielberg; 1993)
And if SCREEN-SPACE isn’t enough Simon for you…:
LISTEN to me co-host the weekly film and TV podcast SCREEN WATCHING with Dan Barrett, of Always Be Watching notoriety;
WATCH/LISTEN Dan and I reflect on the films of 1987 in our fun retro-podcast, BEST MOVIE YEAR (available to watch on our YouTube channel)
FOLLOW my curatorial efforts as Festival Director of the SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL.