FILM
Game changer Comedian Damian Callinan causes a stir as a footy coach who enlists refugees to save his team Fiona Purdon
CALL THE REF… Damian Callinan (centre) wrote and stars in the new film, The Merger.
He’s a diehard Aussie rules fan, so it comes as no surprise that Damian Callinan has written a film with a footy focus. The Melbourne comedian is the writer and star of dramedy The Merger, which centres around a small rural town whose local team, the Bodgy Creek Football Club, is set to fold or merge unless they find enough numbers. Damian plays ex-footy star and coach Troy Carrington, who controversially recruits the town’s refugees to boost numbers, much to the angst of club president Bull Barlow (John Howard). “The film is about empathy and Australians are good at empathy. The town has its own issues, while there are plenty of people with personal tragedies,’’ Damian says. “Sport is a platform and it’s the reason for everyone to come together.” Damian, who previously staged a one-man theatre show about his passion for footy, kicks a footy twice a week with a high-profile bunch of mates including Paul Kelly, Tim Rogers, Colin Lane, Frank Woodley and David Hobson. “Paul Kelly is a founding father from 20-odd years ago. We train but we never play because we don’t do the physical contact. It’s hilarious. We even have a presentation night and an AGM.” The idea for The Merger stemmed from Damian’s one-man show, in which he
CRAZY RICH ASIANS (PG) hhhkj Director: Jon M Chu Starring: Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Awkwafina Running time: 120 minutes In this modern Asian fairytale, Cinderella has already met her Prince. The problems begin when he takes her home to meet his family – bringing the differences of their respective upbringings into sharp relief. Economics professor Rachel Chu (Wu) is a successful, second-generation ChineseAmerican born to a self-sacrificing single mum (Tan Kheng Hua). Nick Young (Golding) is the oldest son and heir apparent to an obscenely wealthy dynasty of Singaporean property developers. During the pair’s smooth, year-long courtship in New York, however, Nick has somehow failed to mention this fact. So when they fly to Singapore for his best mate’s wedding, Rachel is utterly unprepared for the opulence to which her boyfriend is accustomed, not to mention the lengths his family will go to in order to scare off “foreign gold-diggers”.
Adding a more complex layer to this good-looking romantic crowd-pleaser are the couple’s cultural differences. Rachel is a multicultural hybrid (English is her first language). Nick might be a citizen of the world, but his roots are firmly in Asia, where family duties take priority
over contemporary Western values such as self-realisation. This allows Michelle Yeoh’s class-conscious Tiger Mom to be a much more nuanced villain than the classic evil step-parent. Based on Kevin Kwan’s novel of the same name, Crazy Rich Asians puts a new
The film is about empathy and Australians are good at empathy. Sport is the reason for everyone to come together played all the characters. On screen, the Bodgy Creek team features Queensland actors including Josh McConville (as Snapper) and comic duo Aaron Gocs (Porterhouse) and Ben Knight (Harpo). “Queensland is a big state full of largerthan-life personalities,” Damian says. He says the players sport some memorable looks, including Aaron Gocs’ mullet. “We were looking for a gentle giant to play Harpo and we found Ben.” A former teacher, Damian taught at Toowoomba Grammar School in the late 1980s where he also played footy – but always felt drawn to the stage. “I kept running away from the classroom,’’ he jokes. “The first year I tried to start to write and think about what I really wanted to do was the year I was in Toowoomba and wrote a column about the team for the university newspaper.’’ See Damian at a special Q&A screening of The Merger, Sep 5, Dendy Cinemas, Coorparoo. To book: dendy.com.au/events/
spin on a familiar story while showcasing Singapore as a stunning, ultra-modern backdrop. The film’s climactic sequence, for example, takes place on the jaw-dropping rooftop of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Director Jon M Chu (Now You See Me 2) uses his genetically blessed cast to good effect in the first major Hollywood studio film to feature an all Asian or AsianAmerican cast since Wayne Wang’s The Joy Luck Club (1993). While the male characters acquit themselves handsomely enough, it’s the women who drive this narrative. Wu is terrific as the film’s plucky, down-to-earth protagonist. If Rachel is going to survive in Nick’s world, she’s going to have to practise the game theory she preaches back at NYU. “The key is playing to win, instead of trying not to lose,” Rachel tells her students. New York rapper-actor Awkwafina (Ocean’s 8) turns in another scene-stealing performance as Rachel’s eccentric former college roommate Peik Lin. Crazy Rich Asians is being touted as a breakthrough for cultural representation, but it’s also a wonderfully engaging romp. VICKY ROACH