Film Illiterate, wherein the proprietor records movies seen, and sporadic progress through assorted lists of the "best". Originally started after regretfully renting something forgettable for the third time. I've forgotten what, but never again! A tedious endeavour since 2005. Hello. 🙂
The higher class of Australian cinema is well-remembered -- the likes of Picnic at Hanging Rock and Sunday Too Far Away -- but, for some reason, classics like Razorback and Howling III: The Marsupials have faded from memory. For a while there the Australian film industry didn't take itself quite so seriously.
Mark Hartley's documentary tracks the development of "Ozploitation", Australian exploitation cinema, from ocker comedies like Stork, drive-in trash made largely to take advantage of tax concessions, all the way to modern takes like Saw and Undead.
It's told through interviews with directors, actors, critics and, credited only as "Fan", Quentin Tarantino. At least, it's told through fragments of interviews, interspersed with fragments of the movies in question. Ironically, this hyper-kinetic style is both the weakest aspect of the film and far closer to modern, big-budget Hollywood style than the comparatively laconic films being celebrated. You can't shoot from a thousand angles in two takes with one cameraman, after all, and these budgets didn't allow for excess.
A fascinating and funny piece, though I think it would've been better if it focused on Brian Trenchard Smith alone -- there's obviously more than enough material for a fuller treatment.