H231 Australian Cinema
Film Review by Sophie Johnston 991741K
A film by Alan White.
ERSKINEVILLE KINGS
Coming home is hard…
Staying home is harder.
Genre: Drama
Starring: Hugh Jackman as Wace
Marty Denniss as Barky
Aaron Blabely as Tunny
Joel Edgerton as Wayne
Leah Vandenburg as Lanny
Marin Mimica as Kane
Andrew Wholley as Coppa
Running time: 90 minutes
Awards and Nominations: Hugh Jackman. Nominated for AFI award. Best Performance by a leading actor in a feature film.
Australian Censorship: M (Medium Coarse Language, Adult themes and Drug use)
Stock: Fuji film
Sound: Dolby SR
International Sales: Southern Star Film sales, Sydney
Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Palace films.
Australian Premiere Screening: Noosa Film Festival, September, 1999.
Opening dates in Cinemas: 23rd Sept., 1999 Sydney
- Norton St., Leichhardt
- The Verona, Paddington
23rd Sept., 1999 Melbourne
- The George, St. Kilda
- Cinema Como, Sth. Yarra
30th Sept., 1999 Adelaide
- Eastend Cinemas, City
Video release: February, 2000
Release in UK: Sometime in the new Millennium. (No official dates given)
BIBLIOGRAPHIC DETAILS OF INTERVIEWS
I was successful in finding two interviews. After carrying out extensive research using the Murdoch University Library Catalogue Database. I located the issues of several magazines. These included Cinema Papers, Encore and Variety magazine.
The Variety magazine did not prove to be as helpful as the others. The articles tended to be focused a lot more on the American Box office successes. However, I did locate in an issue of Cinema Papers an interview with director of Erskineville Kings, Alan White and leading actor, Hugh Jackman. (Cinema Papers No.130, June 1999. Pp.12) This was the only interview I could find in the magazines that was published prior to or around Erskineville Kings release. The interview was by Mark Smith and discussed Alan White’s background in the direction of television commercials and it also mentioned some more information that I will include later under the heading of "Circumstances of Production and Release".
Encore magazine didn’t contain an interview in the issues I searched in around the release of the film (Sept. and Oct.), although I was able to find articles that contained quotes and information relating to the films release in Australia.
The other interview I came across was featured as a link on the International Movie Database web page. The link directed me to an interview, also between Hugh Jackman and Alan White, done by Andrew.L.Urban.
http://www.mymovies.net/features/urbancinefile/interviews/link.html
One of the web pages devoted to Hugh Jackman revealed an interviews and article link. This link however contained no articles or interviews that talked about his role and performance in Erskineville Kings . The articles in this link recognised more his roles in Paperback Hero (which seems to have had greater success than Erskineville Kings), and the musicals Oklahoma, Sunset Boulevard and Beauty and the Beast. This can only be explained due to the fact that these articles were published well before Erskineville Kings release.
http://members.xoom.com/HughJackman
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS OF REVIEWS
I was able to come across a few reviews during the research I carried out.
Firstly, the International Movie Database web page contained a useful segment encouraging users to the page to comment and review the film. One user known as EdgarB from Sydney quite freely expressed his opinions about the film Erskineville Kings. Other users were encouraged to follow suit.
On a more professional basis, the database showed a segment titled "External Reviews". Once I had clicked on this I was able to access an article that had been written by David Stratton reviewing Erskineville Kings in The Australian. Unfortunately the page displayed no date or year of publication in the newspaper so I can’t provide a reference, but I am assuming it was either just prior to its release or shortly after.
http://us.imdb.com/ (follow the search for Erskineville Kings under title search!)
Under the same segment the International Movie Database also provided a link to another website called Filmink. This site contained reviews that have been written for the magazine. The particular review for Erskineville Kings was published on 20/09/99, which is only just prior to the films release.
http://www.filmink-online.com/hbs.cgi?movie=2216
The other review was located on The Movie Show web page and was compiled by both Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, each rating Erskineville Kings and commenting on the film.
http://www.sbs.com.au/movieshow/REVIEWS/E/erskineville_kings.html
"ERSKINEVILLE KINGS" ON-LINE PRESENCE
To commence my research by using the world wide web, I visited the sites I was already familiar with and that may have aided me in my research. These included the International Movie Database and SBS’s The Movie Show site. The other pages I found by using a Yahoo search engine. I typed in either Erskineville Kings, Australian films or Hugh Jackman. It was then just a matter of scrolling down the found matches and clicking on the sites I wanted to visit. While I expected that the film would not be exposed so readily on the net, I did expect to find more information about Erskineville Kings on the pages I did find. Some of the pages were no help whatsoever, but here is a list of the site I found to be generally most useful.
International Movie Database
This web page was most beneficial and I used it as my primary source of information. From this site I obtained a list of cast members and credits including the names of the director, scriptwriter, producer and the lead actors. This page also provided me with information on reviews, awards and nominations, plot summary and some release dates of the film.
Hugh Jackman Pages
I was successful in finding two web pages devoted to lead actor in Erskineville Kings, Hugh Jackman. Both sites only provided me with limited information about the release dates for the film and the size of its budget. The majority of the pages were devoted to a biography of his prior involvements in the entertainment industry, with significant focus placed on his previous roles in musicals and Broadway productions.
http://members.xoom.com/HughJackman/
The Movie Show Web Page
This page provided me with a review of Erskineville Kings only. No other subsequent information was supplied about the film.
http://www.sbs.com.au/movieshow/REVIEWS/E/erskineville_kings.html
Palace Web Page
I found this web page to be the most useful. This page provided me with much more detail on the film than any of the other sites. Here I was able to access information on the synopsis, filming, development of the script, direction notes and production notes. This site also listed the major creatives involved in the production of the film and some information on their previous and feature or current works.
http://www.palace.net.au/erskinville/
NOTE: None of these web pages accessed offered information on the box office figures for Erskineville Kings.
PERSONAL REVIEW
In Erskineville Kings Alan White imparts the story of two brothers. This idea itself may sound relatively simple, but it is the addition and audiences gradual understanding of prior events that makes the relationship all the more complex and awkward. Barky, 25 years old, is returning home after two years of living in the northern sugar cane growing areas. We learn from flashbacks that he left home two years ago to escape the clutches of his father’s violent rages. Now he has returned home because of the death of his father. Wace, the older brother, is not too happy about Barky’s prolonged absence, having been left to manage looking after the father in his last years of life. Upon arrival, Barky seeks the whereabouts of his brother, Wace. After walking through the streets he finds an old mate of his, Wayne, who assures him of the location of his brother. While trying to find his brother, Barky also crosses paths with his ex-girlfriend, Lanny, and he has desires to rekindle old flames. He succeeds in finding his brother, through the help of Wayne who has a few other friends in what seems to be a small suburb where everyone knows each other. Barky realises he has things to talk about with Wace and The Kings Hotel becomes the setting whereby the combinations of a lot of beer, anger and pain prove to be a dangerous cocktail.
Despite the film having been filmed on a very limited budget, it proves to be a devastatingly real and gut wrenching representation. The capturing of reality is made possible by beautifully framed shots that create a sense of still lifes. Some may have found this film tedious to watch, but for me it was what made it more realistic and believable. Hugh Jackman gives us a very convincing performance of the older brother, capturing his aggressiveness. Overall, I believe Alan White has been successful in producing a film that has avoided the stereotypes commonly presented in Australian Cinema. His aim "to put on screen an honest interpretation of Australian urban life" has been accomplished.
CRITICAL UPTAKE OF THE FILM
Apart from the reviews and interviews I found published before and around Erskineville Kings date of release in the various magazines and on-line sites, the rest of what was retrieved heralding the success and uptake of the film seemed minimal.
The Encore magazines provided me with slightly more information about the success and uptake of the film. Erskineville Kings was mentioned briefly and photos of the stars appeared under the headline "Oz Triumphs at Noosa Film Festival". No comments in regard to the film’s success at the festival were actually contained in the rest of the written text for the article. (Encore, Vol.17 Issue 18 Sept.24, 1999 pp.6)
The only other additional information I found published around the time of Erskineville Kings release was in quite a different form. I came across an advertisement for Fuji Film (which Erskineville Kings was shot using) also printed in an issue of Encore. Once again David Stratton described Erskineville Kings as being "one of the most strikingly photographed Australian films in a long time." (Encore, Vol.17 Issue 19, Oct.8th 1999, pp.9) As none of the web pages or magazines provided me with box office figures I can not therefore rely on them to assess the success or uptake of the film. I searched through the lists in the box office tables (mainly Sept. and Oct. issues) or the rental tables (Feb. and March issues) around the time of Erskineville Kings release and found those figures to not be listed either. The only other Australian film that appeared to be successful at the time was "Two Hands".
CIRCUMSTANCES OF PRODUCTION AND RELEASE
When Anik Chooney( aka. Marty Denniss) first met Alan White all he had of Erskineville Kings was a single scene written for a theatrical stage performance. Erskineville Kings was Anik Chooney’s first feature film script and it took him 3 years to develop and write.
Erskineville Kings had a budget of a half a million dollars and was unsupported by any of the government funding bodies. Despite these restrictions of particularly strained circumstances, Erskineville Kings proved to be quite an achievement. An achievement that Anik Chooney said could not have been possible without " a mixture of admiration for people’s acting ability, plus a network of common thinking people who really wanted to make a film together."
It’s success is surprising considering it is Alan White’s debut attempt at producing a feature film. Erskineville Kings can definitely be described as an attempt by Alan White to avoid the stereotypes more commonly presented by Australian Cinema and create an honest interpretation of Australian Urban life. He achieves this by delving behind the picture postcard facades to reveal the more everyday, old and worn aspects of Urban Sydney.
Australian Cinema is also well known for it’s larger than life characters found in the productions of such films as Crocodile Dundee and Priscilla. Director Alan White was tiring of the jokes centred around the production of such films containing these characters that display such "down under quirkiness". Alan White understood that people are a lot more interested in contemporary Australian films that seek to tell the truth about life in Australia, and in understanding that, made Erskineville Kings.
Erskineville Kings sets out to explore the reality that the Australian male is portrayed as being emotionally removed, uncommunicative, tough and withdrawn. Erskineville Kings is therefore an attempt by Alan White to "find a communication that goes beyond the impassivity and cynicism of the typical Aussie male" (http://www.palace.net.au/erskinville/)
SUBSEQUENT OR PRIOR WORK FOR CAST AND CREW MEMBERS
Hugh Jackman
He has worked extensively in the past in musicals such as Sunset Boulevard, Beauty and the Beast and Oklahoma. He has also appeared regularly on Australian Television incl. Halifax F.P, Blue Heelers, Correlli and the Law of the Land. His most recent feature film credit was Paperback Hero.
Marty Denniss
Has appeared on a number of Australian Television Series incl. Wildside, Cody and Home and Away.
Aaron Blabey
Aaron’s extensive career includes theatre, television and film. His feature film credits include Mr Reliable and Turning April.
Joel Edgerton
He has appeared on television on Wild side, Big Sky and Water Rats. His most recent feature film credit is Dogwatch.
Andrew Wholley
He has appeared on Television in Cody and All Saints. Erskineville Kings is Andrew’s first feature film.
Leah Vandenberg
Television credits incl. GP, Wildside and Blue Heelers. Her most recent feature film credit is Strange Planet.
Marin Mimica
His Television credits incl.Wildside, Water Rats and Big Sky. Dark City and Soft Fruit are among his feature film credits.
Alan White
Erskineville Kings is his first feature film. He is currently adapting the novel Marchlands for production.
Julio Caro (Producer)
He is currently producing The Cell starring Jennifer Lopez and executive producing Jack Carter starring Sylvester Stallone.
Anik Chooney (Writer)
Erskineville Kings is his first feature screenplay, although he has directed a few short films.
John Swaffield (Director of Photography)
His most recent feature film credits incl. A Wreck A Tangle and The Good Fruit.
Jane Moran (Editor)
She has edited short films, documentaries and feature films. Her latest feature film editing was for Soft Fruit.
Shauna Wolifson (Casting)
Her latest casting credits incl. The Matrix, Dark City, Idiot Box and most recently of all Me, Myself, I.
Don Miller-Robinson (Music)
He has toured, recorded and produced for Dragon, Jenny Morris and Wendy Matthews. His compositions have featured in the films Monkey Grip and Spotswood.
Overall, I was not surprised with the lack of presence of the film on-line and in magazines and newspapers. This is mainly due to the fact that the film is one of few in a new wave of productions that represents the true contemporary reality of Australia and seeks to deal with the true intense study of the Australian contemporary male psyche. Although these productions are becoming increasingly popular, the need to create films that develop a greater understanding of the true Australian culture is still prominent and I feel that Erskineville Kings has succeeded. Erskineville Kings has placed itself in the current place contemporary market by breaking down already existing stereotypes. I feel that Erskineville Kings needed a lot more recognition and value placed on it as a film that clearly succeeded in breaking away from the norm. Erskineville Kings lack of uptake and recognition prior to and subsequent to it’s release demonstrated a lack of appreciation for such a feature film. It is my opinion that we need more directors like Alan White who seek to have these goals expressed through their cinematic works. Whilst I was only able to find a limited amount of information on Erskineville Kings, I am estimating it was because it occupied a minor position within the Australian Cinema milieu in comparison with other Australian films on release at the same time, especially "Two Hands".
Are we frightened of reality?? Especially the reality that is shown on the screen in Erskineville Kings?