In this day and age only bad guys, such as the hunters, may be shown carrying firearms.įor many viewers the chief attraction of this movie will be the pelicans that absorb an even greater slice of the story. Unlike the character in the book and the first film, this Fingerbone doesn't go around shooting a gun at his enemies. Jamieson wisely makes no attempt to recreate Gulpilil's performance, being much older and less fiery in temperament. Trevor Jamieson plays Fingerbone, the Aboriginal outcast who befriends young Mike. Jai Courtney puts in a solid performance but he seems an unlikely hermit in comparison to Peter Cummins in the Safran film. Once again we find ourselves on that lonely beach with young Mike (Finn Little) and his sullen father, Hide-away Tom. Suspense having been taken out of the equation, we are left to concentrate on the extended flashbacks that pick up Colin Thiele's tale. As the environmentally-friendly days of childhood come flooding back we know, with mind-numbing certainty, that by the end of the film Michael won't be voting in favour of the deal. Suddenly he's seeing pelicans in the same way that people in horror movies see dead people – although it would be a little peculiar to face the camera with a glazed stare and say "I see dead pelicans". It takes a storm and a broken window in the boardroom to snap Michael out of his stupor. It's left to Michael to sort out the familial and corporate traumas, even though he initially seems too world-weary to care. His son, Malcolm (Erik Thomson) is eager to conclude a lucrative but controversial deal, while Maddie – a passionate environmentalist – is vowing never to speak to her father again. It's surprising to find that the older Michael is now the patriarch of a mining company embroiled in a dispute over native title lands in the Pilbara. Rush should have been a drawcard for this film but his court battles over sexual misconduct allegations have created an unwelcome distraction. Seet's big innovation is to create a story within a story, with the elderly Michael Kingley (Geoffrey Rush) recalling his childhood in the Coorong for the benefit of his teenage granddaughter, Maddie (Morgana Davies). True-to-type, the new Storm Boy is a watchable but uninspired affair that relies heavily on the pelican factor. Michael (Finn Little) with Mr Percival, a pelican with supernatural intelligence, in a new version of Storm Boy. It confers a certain fluency but tends to breed tradesmen rather than artists.
As one can see with Garth Davis' transition from the small to big screen with Lion, TV is not an ideal preparation for would-be directors of feature films.
Like Safran, director Shawn Seet has spent most of his career in television, as has scriptwriter, Justin Monjo. Given the popularity of the earlier film it's a daunting task to make a new Storm Boy. It was a lyrical, atmospheric, coming-of-age story in an era when Australian filmmakers were probing the edges of the national psyche, pitting sensitivity against vulgarity, innocence against experience. (He has a small cameo in the new film.) There was also an unusual soundtrack by Michael Carlos, which created mood with a discreet use of strings. The star of the show was a pelican called Mr Percival, but all the main actors put in memorable performances, especially David Gulpilil, who was already a cult figure in Australian cinema. Directed by Henri Safran, who made only a handful of feature films but numerous TV programs, Storm Boy is one of those movies everyone seems to remember. The first screen adaptation came along in 1976, and has proven to be no less enduring than the book. Colin Thiele's Storm Boy is a slender novella that has plucked Australian heartstrings ever since it was released in 1964.
0 kommentar(er)
