Must-See Australian Movies for 2011?

Far be it from me to skeptical of a major Australian news publication actually having something positive to say about the Australian film industry, but... well, I'm skeptical. Anybody who has followed these sort of things would know that most Australian media writers like to use the Aussie film industry as one it's prime whipping boys; the moment a film disappoints at the box office it's because the industry isn't making movies Australians actually want to see. So on and on and it gets very tiresome. So, yes, I was skeptical to read this article at the Sydney Morning Herald, but was pleasantly surprised.

All 12 titles mentioned were featured in my Australian Films of 2011 list from a few weeks back. There's a nice cross-section, too. I can already attest to Ivan Sen's Dreamland, but it's uber-artiness makes it's inclusion in such a list makes me smile. Many of the other titles show promise. Movies like Happy Feet 2, The Eye of the Storm and Griff the Invisible could be box office heavyweights; The Reef and Wasted on the Young (the new trailer to which I've included below - love the very end with the winking smiley face) could be solid genre pieces; Mad Bastards and Here I Am look to continue to formidable reputation of indigenous cinema and Mrs Carey's Concert could prove to be a break out documentary.


Of course, there are the prerequisite trolls that come with such an article in the comment section. How about these doozies of idiocy?

I read this list for a laugh, as "must see" and "Australian film" are rarely used in the same sentence by any tax payer, or anyone who actually goes to see an Australian film. More likely they say, "I saw a film last night that was rubbish, but I noticed it was financed by the Australian government".

Why dont film makers make films that a larger audience would like to see, instead of these art house failures that go straight to DVD if they are lucky.

how about we have an aussie movie that isn't about the aboriginals? or an aussie movie that isn't about the hardship of the land?
honestly, if aussie movies weren't depressing or pandering to the left wing tree-huggers out there, people might actually go out to see them on the big screen.

But what can you expect? They make my blood boil for several minutes and then I promptly remember they're dimwitted idiots without a clue as to what they're talking about and move on. I guess all the people who routinely complain about movies "larger audience(s) would like to see" conveniently forgot all about Tomorrow When the War Began, Bran Nue Dae, Mao's Last Dancer, Animal Kingdom, The Kings of Mykonos: The Wog Boy 2 or Sanctum 3D that has been released just this weekend. They're the same sort of people who think it's good journalism to not even do research for a column on Australian cinema. They'll never disappear until every single movie we make is aimed at the same sort of multiplex zombies who made Little Fockers one of the biggest hits of the Christmas season.