Reply to Topic
The Hard Word is an Australian film that is currently in release down here. It stars Guy Pearce and Rachel Griffiths, so it may actually make it out onto the streets up there as well, and let's hope so. Also starring Joel Edgerton, Robert Taylor and Damien Richardson, The Hard Word is a film that begins like another Australian film about criminals, The Boys, but becomes more and more like Pulp Fiction or Australia's Two Hands as it moves on.
Pearce stars as Dale, the eldest of three brothers who make up a criminal trio. He is rat like, juts out his jaw and works in the prison library. Richardson stars as Mal, the middle-child, the 'good' one, the one who has a knack for slaughter, butchery and blood sausage and Edgerton stars as Shane, the f*ck up with an anger managment problem who falls for his counsellor. Griffiths plays Dale's wife, and Taylor their corrupt lawyer who may or may not be having an affair with her. There are other assorted characters that create a surreal little landscape around these top five -- including two corrupt cops who meet grisly fates, a hostage who falls for Mal, and a British terrorist named Tarzan. There's also a cameo as an in-prison butcher by Aussie comedian Greg Fleet which is worth keeping an eye out for.
The Hard Word is uniquely Australian. It runs on the themes of mateship, with a good dose of violence and sex and greed thrown in for good measure. The first half takes itself seriously, the second, not so much, but it's always the same movie. Never does the film skip a beat. It surrounds itself with Australia. Cafes at Bondi Beach, the Melbourne Cup, giant animals that double as museums (you know the ones). It doesn't bother wrapping up stories that don't aid the main one, the boys. We never find out what happens to Shane's councellor, for example.
But it doesn't matter. That's part of the smarts.
It's funny, it's intelligent, it's violent and sexy and everything else, and it leaves you smiling.
It is, quite frankly, a bloody ripper.
Pearce stars as Dale, the eldest of three brothers who make up a criminal trio. He is rat like, juts out his jaw and works in the prison library. Richardson stars as Mal, the middle-child, the 'good' one, the one who has a knack for slaughter, butchery and blood sausage and Edgerton stars as Shane, the f*ck up with an anger managment problem who falls for his counsellor. Griffiths plays Dale's wife, and Taylor their corrupt lawyer who may or may not be having an affair with her. There are other assorted characters that create a surreal little landscape around these top five -- including two corrupt cops who meet grisly fates, a hostage who falls for Mal, and a British terrorist named Tarzan. There's also a cameo as an in-prison butcher by Aussie comedian Greg Fleet which is worth keeping an eye out for.
The Hard Word is uniquely Australian. It runs on the themes of mateship, with a good dose of violence and sex and greed thrown in for good measure. The first half takes itself seriously, the second, not so much, but it's always the same movie. Never does the film skip a beat. It surrounds itself with Australia. Cafes at Bondi Beach, the Melbourne Cup, giant animals that double as museums (you know the ones). It doesn't bother wrapping up stories that don't aid the main one, the boys. We never find out what happens to Shane's councellor, for example.
But it doesn't matter. That's part of the smarts.
It's funny, it's intelligent, it's violent and sexy and everything else, and it leaves you smiling.
It is, quite frankly, a bloody ripper.
__________________
www.esotericrabbit.com
www.esotericrabbit.com
