Blacktown

2005

Back to the Australian Classics. Recapping the movie Blacktown, which I first capped in 2007. Basically a low budget kitchen sink drama about an Indigenous man who decides to ask out an emotionally unavailable woman (Nikki Owen) after he saves her from a date that ends in a bad way. Her problems with men make it hard to connect with the man but he is persistent and a nice guy who puts all his flaws out on the table for her to see and slowly but surely she comes around to him. Cheap looking movie with some serious technical issues but it's made by one of the most prolific directors in Australia, Kriv Stenders, before he went mainstream and it's actually a pretty likeable movie and the male lead Tony Ryan is very charismatic. Not for everyone but if you like low budget almost mumblecore dramas, this one is pretty good.

Nikki Owen film clip (sample below)

Duran Duran

1998, 720p

Well, if Blacktown isn't obscure enough for you, how 'bout a movie not even listed on IMDB? Duran Duran is a 1998 sci-fi drama from the director of possibly the worst Australian movie ever made Meat Pie, set in 2037 where the world was taken over by women and the remaining men just skateboard and play videos games (oh good, not much change then...). Anyway Rittyay (writer/director Garnet Mae) and his friend Measles (Jade Gatt of Cheez TV), skateboard away the days with his drug dealer cousin Wiff (Ben Oxenbould) and his friend Drongo (Rob Carlton) hoping to get laid but women aren't interested in men anymore. One day, an all girl group take over their skate ramp, lead by Bum Fluff (Rebekah Elmaloglou) who beat up Wiff. Later, they meet up at a dance party and Rittyay and Bum Fluff hit it off and over time they fall for one another but Bum Fluff is being 'initiated' in a week, something about going to a higher plane. The wile down the days skating and snowboarding and when Bum Fluff finally gets horny for Rittyay, he goes missing and she ends up sleeping with Wiff. Also, it turns out that Rittyay (and his cousin Wiff) is a hermaphrodite and might be able to join Bum Fluff in being initiated.

Amateurish movie, barely a feature at 52 minutes but at least it's short which is to it's advantage because the plot holds together just long enough that anything else would be padding. Some of the actors, including well known ones are overdubbed, thankfully Rebekah Elmaloglou keeps her voice and is enthusiastic participant in the movie, well save for the sex scene below although thinking about it further that might be what the scene was going for. There's a fairly well known cast for a movie made for barely anything and apparently they were getting paid after it got released, which it never did until it turned up on YouTube. Whoops! While the movie is very poor and plot is remarkably silly, at least it has a drive that is seriously lacking in Meat Pie and it riffs off Barbarella (see title) which isn't the worst thing. Duran Duran is in no way a good movie but it tries hard, it's writer/director has passion but lacks skills and money and it shows big time.

Well, I sat on Duran Duran for a while, I don't know why but I was looking through my hard drives and come across it, so finally got around to capping it. It features possibly the only onscreen nudity from Rebekah Elmaloglou, completely unexpected, so that's one bonus to this movie. Also just a quick look around suggests that maybe another film the director made around the same time, Love's Brokers, is possibly getting a release of some sort soon although I wouldn't count on it. This was a movie where the makers somehow got Ben Mendelsohn for the lead but then suspiciously his name disappeared from the movie despite the trailer showing a few shots of him. There's also a bit of nudity in the trailer, so who knows, maybe it'll get released. Probably not.

Rebekah Elmaloglou film clip (sample below)