AICN-DOWNUNDER: Borat, The Prestige, and Hunt Angels!!!

Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it. Because you want to be fooled.

AICN-DOWNUNDER

There's nothing more boring than listening to a film critic complain about how boring red carpet events and premieres are. So you might want to skip down to the news section.

I attended the BORAT premiere the other night, which was relatively cool. I mean, it's a cool feeling walking up the red carpet as hundreds of people either side try to work out why someone dressed as poorly as you would ever be invited to something like this. Anyone who says they don't enjoy it is lying. It's cool. Also, I used to work at the Jam Factory, so pausing to cheek kiss all the pretty Village employees working the event certainly adds to the "Hey, aren't I awesome?" factor.

Then, of course, you have to wait for an hour until Borat arrives and the film can begin. That in itself isn't a huge problem, but the crowds at these things... Most people seem to attend so they can see the guy in person and then tell their friends later about how cool it was to be there. (Yes, I did do that beforehand, but my primary reason for being there was to see the film. It's why I didn't go to, say, the TORQUE premiere.) The problem with this is that the film is populated by the crowd that doesn't see any problem in talking during the film. Especially if they've already seen a downloaded copy, and they loudly announce what the next scene will contain and how funny it will be.

If you're actually a fan of, y'know, movies, let me tell you it's not the most ideal place to see a film for the first time. I'm not complaining, mind you, and I do enjoy these events on some level, but only up until it's time to watch a film. I guess I'm saying this because if you ever hear a critic or any prominent film lover say that premieres are cool, but they'd rather watch a film in a cinema full of devotees, they're not pandering. It's the truth. I'll take a crowd of cinophiles at the Astor any day of the week over the metrosexuals who think they're at home in front of their plasma.

NEWS

So, the AFC released a National Survey of Feature Film and TV Drama Production for 2005/2006. The good news? Australian films made a combined gross of seventy billion dollars in the past year. No, that's a lie. I mean, I know you know it's a lie, but I have to write that or else I get a bunch of letters. Anyway, production activity was $361 million, thirty-three per cent down from last year's $542 million. Head to http://www.afc.org.au for the complete rundown.

One of the questions I'm most frequently asked (behind "Do the police know you have that?" and ahead of "Go between the boats? Are you crazy?!?") is "Have you seen KENNY?". Unfortunately, I haven't, and it seems like I'm the only one. The film has picked up $7 million and is still on Australian screens after thirteen weeks, and will now be seen internationally after Lightning Entertainment picked up the overseas distribution rights. All of you lucky aliens will get to see the romantic story of a portable toilet cleaner... which I'm told it actually quite good.

I mention this only because I only have two other news items and I want it to look like Australians have been up to more than doing studies on themselves and making sales to the US, but Greg McLean has spoken of the possibility of doing a WOLF CREEK sequel. According to Moviehole, the Weinsteins approached McLean and asked him to make a sequel immediately, but he wanted to give it some time. He's up for the idea, so give it a few years and we could be buying tickets for WOLF CREEK 2: CREEK HARDER.

AWARDS, FESTIVALS AND SCREENINGS

HUNT ANGELS

If you're one of the millions of AICN-D readers living in Swanpool, Victoria (population: 30), you'll want to go along on Wednesday night to the premiere of HUNT ANGELS, the true story of Australian maverick filmmakers Rupert Kathner (Ben Mendleson) and Alma Brooks (Victoria Hill). The film, a mix of drama and documentary, is excellent and well worth a look.

BOX OFFICE

Okay, so fourteen year olds have more disposable income than any of us initially realised. Combined, they seem to have more money than Russell Crowe, whose strategy of buying thousands of tickets to his own movie seems to be paying off (although not really). Thank you, Marty, for being awesome.

1. JACKASS NUMBER TWO
2. SAW III
3. A GOOD YEAR
4. THE DEPARTED
5. THE WRONG MAN

RELEASED THESE TWO WEEKS PAST

Johnny Knoxville takes business away from Werribee school students, Muriel and Faramir star in an Austro-English SE7EN, a new documentary looks at the effect that the steel industry has had on the road trips of cranial injury patients, Christopher Nolan gives us the best reason ever to watch closely, Tim Allen loses the "Why Tim Allen should be thrown out of a plane" debate, the Australian Family Association goes on holiday, the remake nobody needed gets a prequel nobody asked for, and LUCKY NUMBER SLEVIN gets a title change.

JACKASS NUMBER TWO
LIKE MINDS
METAL: A HEADBANGER'S JOURNEY
THE PRESTIGE
THE SANTA CLAUSE 3: THE ESCAPE CLAUSE
SHORTBUS
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING
THE WRONG MAN

REVIEWS

THE PRESTIGE

Between THE PRESTIGE and THE DEPARTED, I can't help but wonder if this is a new trend for blockbusters. Take a high concept idea, write the script with layers upon layers of depth, then cast it with A-list stars who also happen to be brilliant actors. Then give it to one of the best directors working today. Bake for twelve months.

I really hope this is the beginning of a new sub-genre. On the surface, they look like action popcorn flicks. THE DEPARTED has Leo and Matt going toe-to-toe with each other as other bankable actors support them in the wings. THE PRESTIGE has Batman and Wolverine fighting it out with magic tricks as other bankable actors support them in the wings. Your average Friday night movie goers are going to be satisfied. Those of us who like our cinema smart and layered and brilliant will also be satisfied. Is it possible that Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan have figured out how to please all of the people all of the time?

I effuse because I'm impressed. I had pretty high hopes for THE PRESTIGE, and all of my hopes were matched. And then some. I would have been satisfied with a lesser film, but THE PRESTIGE never lets up. It never lets you relax into scenes of "Oh, the next five minutes will be a chase" or "Here we go with the obligatory love scene". There are chases, there are many moments of action, and there are love scenes, but nothing is forced or token. At no moment does the film lose your attention. Everything is earned.

To give away anything in the film is to commit war crimes of the highest order, so I will keep my mouth shut. I will give credit to Christopher Priest, the author of THE PRESTIGE, for most of the leg work was already done by him. Every plot element, every setup and payoff (in both the surface storyline and the underlying subtext) is superbly woven. As much as you may love the film when you see it, it actually gets better the more you think about it afterwards. When you remember small moments from earlier scenes and are suddenly struck by their significance hours after the end credits have rolled, the film gets just that much better.

The other thing is it's never trying to be too clever. The film's tagline (and the phrase uttered many times throughout) is "Are you watching closely?". It's perhaps the most apt and enticing tagline in at least a year. If you are, indeed, watching closely, you will be able to figure everything out. I picked it somewhere between the halfway mark and the two-thirds mark. I mention this partly to show how clever and awesome I am, but mostly to impress upon you that THE PRESTIGE is not predictable. It gives you the clues to the mystery, and you can choose to piece them together or choose to let the film reveal them to you at its own pace. Either way, I guarantee that there will be mystery left for you at the end. There's so much going on that even if you work out all the big stuff, there is a lot of small stuff that will still surprise you when it's announced. Perhaps I'm focusing on my own personal experience with the film too much, but I doubt that you won't find yourself experiencing a few "Oh, of course!" moments in the closing moments.

Acting-wise, everybody's at the top of their game. This is most notable for Hugh Jackman, who is a really good actor that hasn't really been in many good films. Take a look at his filmography. There's not a lot of greatness in there (note I haven't yet seen THE FOUNTAIN). Thankfully, his talents are put to excellent use in THE PRESTIGE. Bale rules. Caine rules. Johnasson rules. Everyone is really, really good.

I've told you nothing about the film, have I? Good. Films like this should be viewed with as little pre-knowledge as possible. Put it at the top of your list. It's essential viewing.

BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN

I'm wondering if there's anything left to say about this film. It was over-exposed before it even came out, and I'm not sure if there are any opinions or points of view left that haven't been covered many times over. So I'll try to keep to the basics.

It's a very, very funny film that had me holding my hands to my mouth in shock more often than I'd care to admit. It's surprisingly touching at times. Oh, and it's very, very funny.

I think a lot of your enjoyment will come from how much you believe is staged. I saw it with a friend who believed that the vast majority of it was a set up, and he didn't enjoy the film much at all. Whether this is directly to do with his belief being unsuspended, I don't know, but I think it was a big factor. I believed quite a lot of it as I watched it, although I've become a little sceptical about some elements since I saw it. That scepticism has affected how I remember the film, which is a pity.

The more you believe is real, the more you'll enjoy it, and I can totally understand why some people have gone back to see it three, four, five times over. I'll keep this mercifully brief and unwaffling, and just say that I experienced some genuine pain at times from all the laughter, and that I'd recommend it both to people who get the joke, and to people who won't (though for entirely different reasons).

EXOTIQUE 2

Okay, this is something a bit different than usual. I don't usually review books, having only just learned to read the other day, and that was only 'cos of some stupid new AICN editorial policy requiring the staff to have a basic grasp of teh English language. Luckily, EXOTIQUE 2 isn't one of those wordy books. It has pretty pictures.

The publishers of the book asked if I'd mind taking a look at it, and I couldn't think of a good reason not to. It's a collection of CGI characters, with different artists from all around the world creating persons of all bents (fantasy, historical, emo) for the sake of art. It sounds exactly like a book I'd flick through in Borders and then not buy, but it's beautiful. At first I thought I might not be qualified to talk about this book, being as I was someone who had no interest in a book of art. Now, however, I think I'm perfectly qualified, as I would totally pick up the other books in the collection if they're anything like this one.

Let me give you a rundown of my apartment. There are a lot of DVDs, a lot of CDs and records, and a lot of books. We have this awesome double-layered coffee table that's filled with comics, trades, American Cinematographers, New Scientists, Poe and Shakespeare collections, and anything else we've collected over the years. My point is that you can lose weeks of your life just by entering my place, and part of that is because of how seriously we take the art of coffee table reading. There are certain books that are just made for a coffee table, and EXOTIQUE 2 is one of them. The work inside is absolutely stunning, and just off-centre enough to be intriguing.

I know I'm probably sounding like a shill, but there's always a degree of excitement when you feel like you've discovered something impressive that nobody else knows about. Even if this doesn't sound like something you'd get a kick out of, it would honestly make a good present for someone who may not necessarily be into CGI art. Really, really amazing work. To order the book or take a look at some of the artwork examples, go to http://www.ballisticpublishing.com.

NEXT WEEK

- Ed Zwick is brought in to re-shoot chunks of Mel Gibson's APOCALYPTO, casting Ashton Kutcher as a white American who time travels back to the Mayans and saves the day on behalf of the natives

- John Hodgeman signs on to play Dr Honeydew in the new live-action MUPPETS movie

- Fox Searchlight to release the film following the US President at the APEC summit in Vietnam, titled BUSH: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF HANOI FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF TEXAS

Peace out,

Latauro
AICNDownunder@hotmail.com