Dean Spanley, 2008 - Movie Review

Director: Toa Fraser
Starring: Jeremy Northam, Sam Neill, Peter O'Toole, Bryan Brown, Art Malik
Score: 8 / 10

This review by SusurrusKarma. Trailer is below.

In what is perhaps one of the most peculiar of films to be released this year, director Toa Fraser adapts a classic book written by the late Lord Dunsany and translates it into a memorable production of dream-like perceptions. Indeed there is much to be said for a movie which revolves around hotpots, spaniels, the transmigration of souls, Thursdays and fine wine of all things, all the while telling a remarkably profound story of whimsical-like form inhabited by sternly grounded characters unaware of their otherworldly characteristics. It is a rather unique mix of the fantastic with the mundane and cynical; a study of the human spirit, and all the little frivolous things that occupy us without bringing attention to their remote significance. In that vein writer Alan Sharp makes his screenplay an insight into how the ordinary can suddenly be turned upside on its head and given extraordinary resonance. Dean Spanley is, by all accounts, a notably dry experience, but accompanied with the always engrossing performances of the central cast and a wry sense of humour present in the script, the experience like it is central character is warm and comforting behind the rather harsh shell that surrounds it.

The most remarkable of all of the movie's components is its plot, which counteracts against central character Fisk Senior's (Peter O'Toole) callous, very much close-minded approach to life. Going from happenstance to coincidence and then closely followed by an almost prophetic like relationship, Fisk's son strikes up an interesting bond with the local Dean (Sam Neill), who when under the modest influence of the rarest of wines, recalls his past life as a canine. From here on in the feature exposes its most bizarre roots, showcasing a character and story that often perplexes more than intrigues, but amuses all the same. It's certainly an interesting, and for the most part engaging narrative, but for all intents and purposes always feels like second batter to much firmer and more developed elements. This, along with a somewhat overdone conclusion forms what are perhaps the movie's only two major faults, but even then such moments are not without their inherent charm and significance to the remainder of the feature.

It is instead through the character of Fisk Senior and his relationship with his ever unappreciated and frustrated son Fisk Junior (Jeremy Northam) that Dean Spanley is best at documenting and exploring. As a father and a general human being, Senior is a callous, opinionated and close minded bastard; by all means he means no real harm through his stern actions -in fact through his eyes he sees himself as teaching the world a well deserved lesson- but to those around him, he remains a senile old coot not worth paying attention to. Junior is very much his antithesis, no doubt taking more of his deceased mother's genes than his fathers, and as a result the dynamic between the two is consistently engaging to watch and always palpable. Director Toa Fraser does particularly well in directing the two to be familiar but withdrawn from each other, resulting in a relationship that counteracts that between Junior and Dean Spanley.

As mentioned above however, it is within these frequent highlights of the film that only go to make the less tangible moments that exist without Senior's presence more obvious and dubious. Dean Spanley tells a fine, and notably uplifting story, but its heart and core lies within its characters that are most prominent in the forms of O'Toole and Northam. It's worth mentioning then that as the feature goes on, focus on each is given adequate balance, culminating in a clashing of the two characters' stories in a timid manner that is made all the more profound by Mr. O'Toole's performance. It's a somewhat out of place resolution, and one that seems to go against the character of Fisk Senior a little too much, but the emotional payoff that is warranted from such a shift makes up for any out of balance characterisation.

For all its eccentricities, dry humour and rich sense of character however, it must be noted that the experience of watching Dean Spanley certainly isn't for everyone. A drama rooted in classic prose, focusing heavily on character, philosophy and small nuances of psychology and life, Toa Fraser here sticks to his guns and delivers an unapologetically intelligent, cultured and insightful character study kept in check by warmth of heart and unique personality. If there is one major selling point for the feature that will allow all audiences to get something from the feature however, it simply lies within the timeless presence of Peter O'Toole who gives a wonderful performance befitting of his stature and the character in which he resides. It can be a touching, humorous and even thought-provoking experience, but like a fine wine, you're best not to get too involved here; this one's for sitting back and soaking in one sip at a time, and yes, it might be a little syrupy but it's enough to get lost in and enjoy all the same.

Home / Forum / Guestbook

Australia, 2008 - Movie Review

Director: Baz Luhrman
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Brandon Walters, Bryan Brown
Running Time: 165 minutes
Score: 7 / 10

This review by Sandra Hall of the Sydney Morning Herald.

NOTHING succeeds like excess. Oscar Wilde coined the phrase and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Baz Luhrmann has it embroidered on scatter cushions all over the house.

Not that he needs reminding. It is a mantra stamped on everything he does and Australia is the apotheosis. It has become the movie as superhero, charged with the job of rescuing the Australian film industry and giving us a new and shiny view of ourselves. And shiny it certainly is.

It's also much too long at almost three hours, deliriously camp and shamelessly overdone - an outback adventure seen through the eyes of a filmmaker steeped in the theatrical rituals and hectic colours of old-fashioned showbiz. To quote Oklahoma, one of the few Hollywood classics not to lend its influence to Luhrmann's style, or rather medley of styles, the corn is as high as an elephant's eye.

And so strong is his urge to celebrate the exoticism of old Australia that you half-expect to see the elephant, as well, lumbering across one of those majestic stretches of the Kimberley. Yet the film's vigour and yes, its passion - that overused word - do engage you.

As you watch, memories of other movie moments flicker into view. The film's orange skies conjure up Gone With The Wind. Yet Nicole Kidman's transplanted English aristocrat, Lady Sarah Ashley, looks to be claiming kinship with Meryl Streep's Karen Blixen in Out Of Africa.

Then the pitch changes again and she and Hugh Jackman as her rough-and-ready lover, the Drover, are embarking on unreliable imitations of a bickering Hepburn and Bogart in The African Queen.

But underpinning everything here is the ethos of the musical. David Hirschfelder's score is so integral to the action that everybody seems perpetually on the brink of bursting into song. When Sarah, the Drover and their rag-tag band of riders decide to brave the odds to take 1500 cattle across the desert to Darwin, I was reminded of every Hollywood musical in which somebody has leapt up and said brightly: "Let's put on a show and take it on the road."

The film's rapid changes of tone often make for a bumpy ride. Luhrmann has always had a taste for the cartoon and the opening scenes with their quick cuts, screen-filling close-ups and liberal use of slapstick, hark all the way back to Strictly Ballroom.

It is an effect that sits strangely with the lyricism of the film's red and ochre expanses.

It is also tinged with condescension - as if were going to be looking down on the past as a place peopled exclusively by hams and buffoons. But it does make for some brisk passages of exposition.

Having come to the Northern Territory in search of her wayward husband, Lord Ashley, Sarah discovers first that she's a widow. Then she rashly decides to take over her husband's cattle station, Faraway Downs - a move that puts her up against Bryan Brown's ruthless cattle baron, and his accomplice, played by David Wenham, laying on the deadpan menace with a lavish hand.

More important, she also forms a bond with Brandon Walters, doing an endearing job as Nullah, a mixed-blood Aboriginal boy, in danger of being forced into state care.

Anachronisms abound. Kidman and Jackman speak quaintly of doing a drove. There's an action sequence that pushes the concept of the cliffhanger much further than it was ever meant to go, and Sarah's romance with the Drover is rife with Mills & Boon moments.

There is even a role-reversal version of that much-loved romantic convention, the Makeover. This one has the Drover getting in touch with his inner-glamour boy by shaving off his beard and donning a white tuxedo to join his princess at the ball.

After the long, long lead-up, the big set-piece - the bombing of Darwin - seems oddly perfunctory, maybe because so much energy has been expended on the orgasmic task of bringing all plot strands to a simultaneous climax. But the agile camerawork bestows a dizzying sense of scale and distance. And once Kidman stops playing the easily shockable Victorian heroine, she and Jackman do start generating some heat, largely because they evoke a relationship which seems based on genuine affection.

As to whether the film is going to enjoy a success big enough to shed its radiance over the whole industry, who can say? I suspect the hype, and the budget, impose too heavy a load. A big-hearted melodrama, it takes a series of fascinating risks, some of which come off. But it's no super-movie.

HOME / FORUM.