No. 5 (2023) BLUEBACK. 19th Jan.

 

Film No. 5 (2023)  January 19th.  10:10 AM  UNITED Cinema 4,  Rockingham.

 

"Gropers can live up into their seventies. Old and wise. They live in the same place most of their life" (Dora tells her teenage daughter of the legend behind the beautiful fish they have just seen).

NOMINEE:  Audience Award, Best Film.  Perth Film Festival 2022/23.

This was such the film I'd love taking my growing school aged girls to. We loved, and still do, going to the movies together, but when a film came along that told a heartfelt story depicting their own backyard, (Western Australia) we'd love the experience even more. Tim Winton's tales have been an important part of our interpretation of the environmental and sociological fabric of life in coastal Western Australia (Bremer Bay in this case). A message that has translated (28 languages) globally.   

Writer/Director Robert Connolly (THE DRY) and author Tim Winton have collaborated to create an earnest screen adaptation of this tween novel of the same name. It could be because they are trying to attract an older audience that the earnestness of the work doesn't totally do the screen adaptation justice. Any teacher worth their salt will tell you, "don't speak down to your audience".  The script simply dawdles along. The true attraction of BLUEBACK is the cinematography, the seascape and the score. So if you loved Winton's novel, his words have been brilliantly encapsulated by this sumptuous visual "meal".

 World renowned, eminent marine scientist, Abby (Mia Wasikowska, later years) is called back to fictional Longboat Bay, (the place she'll  always call home) because her mum Dora (Liz Alexander) has had a stroke. She comes out of a coma and can't talk. Once back in the family's idyllic stone cottage, the film becomes a collage of Abby's memories. An affirmation of who she is now. Other than the brilliant, CGI created, monstrous Blue Groper, the storyline is as sturdy as a paper mâché ocean jetty. Actors Ariel Donoghue (young Abby), Ilsa Fogg (teenage Abby) and Radha Mitchell (middle age Dora) transition smoothly and believably from era to era with Wasikowska the anchor point. The screen particularly likes Fogg. The film does have charisma from this film-making POV. 

Macka, played with great warmth by Eric Bana, steals a few, oh so short scenes. He gets the best lines and proves what star power can do to a flagging script. His final scene, on the deck of his fishing boat with Mitchell and Fogg is a highlight.

As I say. Forget the script and the loosely melded storyline. Focus on the majestic seascapes, underwater camera work and the lovable big Blue Groper. There aren't enough big-screen glimpses into the unique southern coast of Western Australia.  Family, film going doesn't come much better than this.  8GUMS.