Issuu

despite being the first film to be directed by Harry Weinmann. The craftsmanship of the technical tal ent is a constant. From the elegant cinematography of Ellery Ryan to the haunting and lyrical score of Rajan Kamahl, the production design of Simon McCutcheon, the prosthetics make-up work of Jose Perez and computer-effects work that is often invisible, all hands seemed to have been working at optimum performance, which speaks volumes for Harry Wein mann who orchestrated all. Perhaps it can all be put down to thorough preparation and Weinmann’s background in storyboard presentation. While it might read like some sort of exercise in retrochic, the finished product of Succubus is more related in tone and style to the director’s stated influence of German Expressionism than he could’ve probably hoped for. It’s the real thing. Whether Suc cubus can find a home in the multiplex world of modern cinema remains to be seen, but don’t knock back any opportunity to see it. © MICHAEL HELMS

TERRAIN

Strange consequences await both parties. From its opening frames, Succubus cleverly goes about creat ing its own thoroughly-mapped-out and entirely-convincing dramatic universe. Opening credits of gold set against a rich background of cobalt turn to dust as we dive into a familiar yet different view of the Melbourne skyline. A shadow caresses a sleeping man before we’re all led into the home of one Lilah Liebermann, a woman of obvious wealth and taste. Although we’ve already been alerted by the gothic décor and opening shadowplay, in the tradi tion all sorts of renderings of the fantastique, all is not what it seems. While the use of special effects play a central rôle in the actual revelation, the ability of Suc cubus to dramatically engage rests solely with the acting of its stars, Stephanie Power and Nick Barkla. By its end, we all should’ve been • transported, if not transformed. Succubus is the sort of short that should precede a feature. At once, it’s mysterious and fascinat-

ing, was made with obvious exact ing care and, to hang a hook on it, comes on like an up-market version of an episode of Bryan Brown’s Twisted Tales. To retain maximum impact and be true to sumptuous production values that belie its low budget, Succubus positively requires bigscreen viewing. Pairing it with something like Legend or Willow, for example, would allow it to com plement the main film and enhance its own standing like few other shorts produced in Australia. Suc cubus is a complete fantasy film that takes an age-old theme (the elements of relationships) and marries it to a finely-honed story (by Tobsha Learner), enacted against meticulously detailed backdrops. Once we’re inside the abode of the titular character, an other worldly ambience seeps in that is as equally seductive and perfectly balanced as the incredible, string laden score. Unlike many others, Succubus is no first-timers shot in the dark,

C I N E M A P A P E R ' S • OCTOBER 1998

Directed by T erry Kyle . Producers ; T erry Kyle , Peter G regory . Associate producer : Belinda G laistner . S criptwriter : T erry Kyle . Director of photography : Peter G regory . Production designer : Adam Head. Composer : Craig Hanacek . S ound recordist : Jeff Licence . Cast : Jonathan Hardy (Ballard), Amanda Mires (ASria), Gerowyn Lacaze (Lear), Daniel Kealy (Joyner ), S allyanne Ryan (Manderson ), Marc James (Felle). Archipelago Films . Filmed : January-F ebruary 19 9 4. A ustralia . V ideo .

errain is listed in Scott Mur ray’s Australia On The Small Screen 1970-1995 as being pro duced on video and as being an unreleased theatrical feature. It was made in Queensland in 1994 on a small budget, written and directed by Terry Kyle. It seems to be the work of film students. It is set in the galaxy, a small group working in a research sta tion on a distant planet, which to all intents and purposes is like earth except that there is some thing destructive in the atmosphere which has had cata strophic effects on the mission leader. One of the difficulties of this kind of film is picking up who is who and who is doing what in the expedition. The technological jar gon gets in the way of identifying characters and working out what the tensions are and where they come from.

Terrain has a brief running time, but it moves quite slowly trying to create the other-worldly atmosphere, and the tension is not achieved, even in the climax. The film has a strong plot resemblance to John Tatoulis’ Zone 39 (1996), highlighting Aus tralians’ love for science fiction as well as the difficulties in making it. © PETER MALONE

SEE JACK RUN Directed by Stephen Am is . Producer : Roger Gough. Line producer : Christine Collins . Associate producers : Darrel Stokes , Martin Hunter, Christopher Hewitt . S criptw riters : Stephen Am is , Robert Gough. Based on the play, Who Cares , by G illian Wadds . Director of photography : Darrel S tokes . Production

doomed life), the callow condem nations of the science master/sports master. It also involves teenage friendships and relationships, his girlfriend’s preg nancy and his brother’s drug habits. The film is unevenly acted and shows signs of its small-budget production values. Flowever, it holds some interest and certainly has proved to be useful viewing for city teenage student audiences and for parents. © PETER MALONE

LIVING COLOR Directed by Neal Taylor . Producer : René Nagy . Co- producer : S ummer Nicks . S c r ip t w r it e r : N e a l M. E. T a y l o r .

DESIGNERS: KlM BOUNDS, SALLY SHEPHERD.

Editor : Robert Murphy . Composer : Barry Campbell . Cast : T rent Mooney (Brian Johnson), Molly Brumm Gan), Ellis Ebell (Colin), Elissa Holloway (Karen ), Peter Docker (Steven ), Ka th y T homaidis (Maria), John McCullough (Moss ), Barbara Hughes (Desmond), John Flaus (Mr Greeves ). A.F.M.S. Productions. Budget: $9 7,0 0 0. Filmed : August -S eptember 19 9 1. Australia . V ideo .

small-budget Australian tele-feature with a brief run ning-time, See jack Run was made at Open Channel, Melbourne. Based on the play Who Cares by Gillian Wadds, it focuses on a teenager, Brian Johnson (Trent Mooney), who has learning diffi culties and comes from a problematic social background. Like Don McLennan’s Mull (1988), which was set in St Kilda and made the suburb and its envi ronment the equivalent of a character, See Jack Run uses innercity locations and Port Phillip Bay. Also like Mull, it crowds a great number of social problems into its short running time, probably too many. Drugs, truancy, absentee parents, teenage pregnancy and Catholic moral teaching are all issues. Brian is also a poetic dreamer. Throughout the film, he tells the story of his fantasy of sailing the ocean, going to Africa and encoun tering a witch-doctor with a special plant that can give a dead child new life. This acts as a kind of cho rus focusing on his ambitions and potential. Flowever, the facts of the plot concern his being at school, his inability to read, his covering-up, his being befriended by a teacher who wants to teach him to read (perhaps the use of Romeo and Juliet is a bit optimistic in terms of comprehension as well as for sug gesting interpretations of Brian’s

D ir e c t o r

of ph o to g ra ph y:

P r o d u c t io n

d e s ig n e r :

N ic k Pa t o n .

Ken t S h er lo c k .

E d it o r : G e o f f L a m b . C o m p o s e r : S h a n e B r y z a k . Ca s t : D e r e k R u c k e r (D o u g l e ), K im D e n m a n (M o lly ), M ic h a e l Ju lia n K n o w l e s (C h r is t ia n ), Ev e l y n T a y l o r (Ra c h e l ), S c o t t W e b b (D o c t o r ). A u s t r a l ia . C in e r g y M.P.E. B u d g e t : $ 2 .5

m il l io n .

F il m e d : 5 -2 1 Ja n u a r y 19 9 2 . 35

mm.

95 MINS.

n unreleased theatrical feature that hails from Queensland, the film is basically a twist on a stalking game. A deranged man wants to kill a young woman because of his woman-hating ide$ ology. The woman’s lover is also trapped and becomes part of the killing game. The film creates some tension, but it tends to rely on a blood-andguts approach to terror and mayhem. And the mayhem, malefemale violence and male-male violence, is protracted well beyond its dramatic power. One of the difficulties with Liv ing Color is that its screenplay degenerates into the ‘you bitch’ mode and relies on aggressive swearing rather than more imagi native ways of communicating hostility and building up tension. What is disturbing about the film is the rampant misogyny of the killer. Because he comes all full blast from the beginning, his anti-women rantings have no welldrawn character base and so remain at the level of gratuitous rantings, which an audience can only take so much of. The killer would be at home ‘in the company of men’, taking the callous atti tudes and behaviour of Chad in Neil Labute’s film to its murderous conclusions. The film looks and sounds more like a practice exercise in the cat-and-mouse genre.