Oceania Challenge (Official, May 2023)

[DulceDoes]

Australia, New Zealand and Other Oceania Challenge





Goal
Watch movies from Australia, New Zealand and other Oceanic countries. Discuss them.

Challenge runs from May 1, 2023 to May 31, 2023 in your local time zone.

Eligible Countries
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Papua New Guinea
- Fiji
- Cook Islands
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Kiribati
- Marshall Islands
- Nauru
- Niue
- Palau
- Samoa
- Solomon Islands
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu

Rules
- Each feature film (over 40 minutes) counts as one entry.
- 80 minutes of short films or miniseries/TV episodes counts as one entry.
- Films must be watched one at a time and at single speed (not sped up).
- Rewatches are allowed and are good for the soul.
- Please include year of release when listing your viewings.
- Please indicate each film's country when listing your viewings


Eligibility
For films to qualify for this Challenge, they need to have an eligible country listed as a production country on the film's IMDb page. If you've seen something that you strongly believe should be eligible and isn't, please submit a correction to IMDb and you can include the film as soon as IMDb accepts your correction. Films by ex-pat directors (e.g. Peter Weir's Dead Poets Society) are not eligible unless they meet the IMDb country listing requirement. I know it isn't ideal that I have to put in hard and fast rules like this, but you wouldn't believe some of the random stuff that participants have tried to include in previous years without such guidelines in place.

Co-Productions
A number of Oceanic films are co-productions with non-eligible countries. Please use some common sense to determine whether these films really represent Oceanic cinema. As a general guide, a film that has both Australia and France as production countries but which is filmed in English with a mostly Australian cast and crew is eligible; a film that has New Zealand listed as a third production country but is filmed in Canada with a mostly Canadian cast and crew isn't eligible. I am happy to provide advice for any borderline cases. In most cases, co-productions are eligible unless the involvement of the listed production country is insignificant.

Official Lists
- 100 Greatest Films of Australian Cinema
- UNESCO's Memory of the World (Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea only)

Challenge template shamelessly copied from sol, thanks!

Rank	Participant	Points
1	gunnar	33
2	Maddieanne	15
3	flavo5000	12
4	dirty_score	7
5	blocho	6
5	Fergenaprido	6
5	sol	6
5	Tngy	6
9	DulceDoes	5
10	vortexsurfer	4
11	Cinepolis	3
11	Mario Gaborović	3
11	zzzorf	3
14	maxwelldeux	2
15	AB537	1
15	Lonewolf2003	1

[gunnar]

I've been looking forward to this challenge and plan to finally get bronze on the Scott Hocking list (I'm at 22/100 right now). Maybe I'll go a bit further than that, though I also have plenty of westerns to watch next month.

[DulceDoes]

Don't know how I ended up reposting all that. Weird things happen when you're dealing with insomnia and haven't slept for over 24 hours

[Cinepolis]

1. The Boys (Australia, 1998) - 7/10

[Mario Gaborović]

01. The Proposition (2005) - Australia

[Maddieanne]

New Zealand:
1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey(2012)
2. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug(2013)
3. The Hobbit: The Battle of The Five Armies(2014)

Australia:
4. The Loved Ones(2009)

Fiji:
5. Brandon Semenuk's Rad Company(2014)[this is a borderline case but at least half seemed to be in Fiji]

[DulceDoes]

1. Dogs in Space (1986) - Australia 9/10
I love a good punk film and this gave me everything I wanted from one.

[Tngy]

Let's start the challenge with the opening picture

1. Braindead (1992) 7.5/10 [New Zealand]

[Mario Gaborović]

02. Trouble in Paradyz (2007) - Fiji

Spoiler

01. The Proposition (2005) - Australia

[OldAle1]

I doubt I'll be playing in this challenge much - maybe not at all - but I want to give y'all heads up that one of my DTC noms, White Lies (2013) is from NZ. And it's on Amazon Prime, at least in the USA.

[gunnar]

1 - Lantana (2001) - 6.5/10 - A police officer with marital problems is letting affect his job performance. A therapist still dealing with the death of her young daughter goes missing. Those and other people's lives intersect in a film that is alternately interesting and somewhat boring.

2 - Wolf Creek (2005) - 6.5/10 - A man and two women set out on a road trip through the Australian Outback. Their car breaks down at Wolf Creek National Park with nobody else around. A man in a truck shows up and offers to tow them to his place so that he can fix their car for them. This is the start of their nightmare. It isn't a bad film, though I think I would have liked it a lot more had it stuck to the road trip vibe of the first 10-15 minutes rather than becoming a horror film.

3 - The Tracker (2002) - 7.5/10 - Three white men and a native tracker head into the Outback in search of an Aboriginal man accused of killing a white woman. David Gulpilil is very good here as the tracker and the soundtrack is also very good. The journey occupies much of the film and some might see it as excessive, but I enjoyed it.

4 - The Overlanders (1946) - 6.5/10 - Fearing a Japanese invasion, Australian ranchers go on a long cattle drive through the Outback to safer pastures. They face a number of dangers and problems along the way. The film is scenic and has its moments, but otherwise the story isn't that compelling very often.

[sol]

1. What We Do in the Shadows (2014) REVISION New Zealand



Revisited after seven years, this mockumentary was funnier than I recalled; perhaps the end credits hypnosis simply worked? With the film largely improvised and culled down from hours of footage, some sequences invariably drag, but at its funniest, two police officers visit the vampires' den and (without checking) accept that a bloodied corpse is a drunk friend who has passed out, instructing them to at least place a pillow under his head! The film is pretty cleverly assembled with archive footage and fake newspaper headlines too. It was also fun to watch them fail to get "invited" into local nightclubs.

[Tngy]

2. Apparitions (2021) 2/10 [Australia]

Spoiler

1. Braindead (1992) 7.5/10 [New Zealand]

[gunnar]

5 - Alvin Purple (1973) - 4/10 - Alvin has been irresistible to women since he was a teen. He also has a near insatiable appetite for sex. He eventually sees a psychiatrist for his condition and ends up as a sort of sex therapist. I didn't really find this sex comedy all that amusing much of the time.

6 - Bad Boy Bubby (1993) - 4/10 - Bubby is a 30-something year old who has lived his whole life shut in a squalid home with his mother. She has told him that the air outside is poisonous and can't be survived without a gas mask. Then one day his father visits and it eventually leads him to go outside to explore. I hated the first half hour. It did get better after that, though I still didn't like it very much.

7 - Beneath Clouds (2002) - 7.5/10 - A girl whose absent father is white and whose mother and stepfather are indigenous leaves home to go in search of her father. She is joined on the road by an indigenous boy who escaped from a low security prison facility so that he could visit his sick mother. The two are somewhat antagonistic toward each other at first, but slowly bond.

Spoiler

1 - Lantana (2001) - 6.5/10
2 - Wolf Creek (2005) - 6.5/10
3 - The Tracker (2002) - 7.5/10
4 - The Overlanders (1946) - 6.5/10

[Tngy]

3. Celia (1989) 7.5/10 [Australia]

Spoiler

1. Braindead (1992) 7.5/10 [New Zealand]
2. Apparitions (2021) 2/10 [Australia]

[sol]

Spoiler

1. What We Do in the Shadows (2014) REVISION New Zealand

2. Braindead (1992) REVISION New Zealand



The best film ever made about a man escaping from the clutches of an overbearing mother? Watched for the first time in more than fifteen years, this feels as fresh as ever and quite aside from being an imaginative splatter-fest with every form of atrophy possible on screen, it is one of those films where the meek and mild prove their worth. Timothy Balme is excellent as the introverted protagonist with some amazingly funny pantomime scenes (the pram parts are a riot) but best of all is the inner strength he saddles his character with beneath his milquetoast exterior. Some great stop motion animation too.

[flavo5000]

1. The Coca-Cola Kid (Dusan Makavejev, 1985)
Man, Eric Roberts is good at playing assholes... Also that Tim Finn Coca Cola jingle is danged catchy.


2. The Marshes (Roger Scott, 2018)
Yet another "Australia will kill you" movie...I can't decide if the somewhat ambitious, more artfully done cinematography was appreciated or annoying.


3. Marauders (Mark Savage, 1986)
A couple of crazy punks go on a killing and raping spree but receive comeuppance. Very low budget. Very shitty.

Spoiler

1. The Coca-Cola Kid (Dusan Makavejev, 1985)
2. The Marshes (Roger Scott, 2018)
3. Marauders (Mark Savage, 1986)

[zzzorf]

1. Lantana (2001, Australia) - 6/10


Not quite what I was expecting when I went into this movie, I thought it would be mainly be a mystery but that didn't really kick in till half way through. What we got instead was more a drama in the style of a traditional Australian Drama show which I wasn't fully interested in. Yeah it was good as a whole but it didn't fully win me over. Great cast though.

[Cinepolis]

2. Backroads (Australia, 1977) - 6/10
3. Wake in Fright (Australia, 1971) - 7/10

Spoiler

1. The Boys (Australia, 1998) - 7/10
2. Backroads (Australia, 1977) - 6/10
3. Wake in Fright (Australia, 1971) - 7/10

[Maddieanne]

Australia:
6. BMX Bandits (1983) 3.5/5
7. Sissy (2022)
8. The Invisible Man (2020) 5/5
9A. Kokoda Front Line! (1942) [9 minutes] 3/5

Cook Islands:
9B. Mou Piri: A Rarotongan Love Song [13 minutes] 4.5/5
9C. Little Girl's War Cry (2003) [17 minutes] 3/5

Kiribati:
9D. Operation Dominic (1962) [26 minutes] 2.5/5

Nauru:
9E. Nauru 1973 (2008) [4 minutes] 4/5

Niue:
9F. Niue: This Is Your Land (2003) [14 minutes] 4.5/5

Solomon Islands:
9G. Where Am I?{a.k.a Wea Nao Mi} (2012) [10 minutes] 3.5/5

New Zealand:
10. What We Do In The Shadows (2014) 4.5/5
11. Braindead{a.k.a. Dead Alive} [1992] 4/5

[gunnar]

8 - Black Robe (1991) - 7.5/10 - A Jesuit priest in the 1630s travels with an Algonquin tribe in an effort to convert them to Catholicism. It was pretty scenic and a decent historical drama.

9 - Cunnamulla (2000)- 6/10 - This documentary looks at residents in the town of Cunnamulla, which is located at the end of the rail line in Queensland. It had a few interesting characters in there, though the film itself was only mildly interesting through much of it.

10 - Dead Calm (1989) - 8/10 - Sam Neill and Nicole Kidman portray a married couple who lose their young child in an accident. They decide to take a trip on their yacht to get away from civilization and try to recover. They come across a disabled boat with a frantic man who rows aboard (Billy Zane). This is the start of their real troubles. I thought this was pretty good and Nicole Kidman in particular was very good in it.

11 - Don's Party (1976) - 6/10 - A group of friends with diverse political beliefs gather for a party on the night of an important election in 1969. Lots of drinking and discussion follows, much of it sex related. There's also a fair amount of nudity and sexual behavior. It sounds a bit more interesting than it actually was.

Spoiler

1 - Lantana (2001) - 6.5/10
2 - Wolf Creek (2005) - 6.5/10
3 - The Tracker (2002) - 7.5/10
4 - The Overlanders (1946) - 6.5/10
5 - Alvin Purple (1973) - 4/10
6 - Bad Boy Bubby (1993) - 4/10
7 - Beneath Clouds (2002) - 7.5/10

[Tngy]

4. Coming Home in the Dark (2021) 5.5/10 [New Zealand]

Spoiler

1. Braindead (1992) 7.5/10 [New Zealand]
2. Apparitions (2021) 2/10 [Australia]
3. Celia (1989) 7.5/10 [Australia]

[Maddieanne]

Australia:
12. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) 5/5

[gunnar]

12 - Erskineville Kings (1999) - 6/10 - A man named Barky returns home for the first time in many years. He left home due to his father who has recently died. Barky comes into conflict with his older brother Wace (Hugh Jackman in his debut). It was okay, but not really all that interesting.

13 - Man of Flowers (1983) - 5/10 - A wealthy man is interested in flowers, art, and watching pretty women undress. It's a pretty dull film.

14 - Muriel's Wedding (1994) - 8/10 - Muriel is socially awkward and finds herself put down by her father and friends. She takes some money and uses it for a tropical vacation where she makes a friend and starts making some changes in her life. The film is offbeat, but generally fun. Toni Collette is good in the lead role.

15 - Newsfront (1978) - 6/10 - The lives of newsreel cameramen during the 1940s/1950s after WWII. Newsreels are threatened by the coming of TV. The film is okay, though not really all that captivating.

Spoiler

1 - Lantana (2001) - 6.5/10
2 - Wolf Creek (2005) - 6.5/10
3 - The Tracker (2002) - 7.5/10
4 - The Overlanders (1946) - 6.5/10
5 - Alvin Purple (1973) - 4/10
6 - Bad Boy Bubby (1993) - 4/10
7 - Beneath Clouds (2002) - 7.5/10
8 - Black Robe (1991) - 7.5/10
9 - Cunnamulla (2000)- 6/10
10 - Dead Calm (1989) - 8/10
11 - Don's Party (1976) - 6/10

[sol]

Spoiler

1. What We Do in the Shadows (2014) REVISION New Zealand
2. Braindead (1992) REVISION New Zealand

3. High Tide (1987) Australia



An unlikely coincidence forces an out-of-work backup vocalist to confront the now-teenage daughter she had abandoned years before here. Judy Davis is expectedly great in the lead role and a really young Claudia Karvan is even better as her daughter with a lot to like in their initial bonding while both of them are unaware of who the other is. As the film plods along though and Karvan's grandmother forbids Davis from revealing the truth, the whole thing begins to become highly melodramatic. The film has a nice saxophone score though and some of the beachside low tide shots are pretty. Great locations.

[zzzorf]

Spoiler

1. Lantana (2001, Australia) - 6/10

2. Jojo Rabbit (2019, New Zealand) - 7/10


Been putting this movie off because honestly it never interested me and especially when I watched the trailer a couple of months back it turned me off even more. Put it on this morning though and you know what, it honestly ain't that bad. It was reasonably funny yet still told a great story.

[vortexsurfer]

1. Footy Legends (Khoa Do, 2006) - 7/10 Australia
2. Red Dog (Kriv Stenders, 2011) - 8/10 (rewatch) Australia
3. The Delinquents (Chris Thomson, 1989) - 6/10 Australia
4. Razorback (Russell Mulcahy, 1984) - 8/10 (rewatch) Australia

[Tngy]

5. Disturbing Behavior (1998) 6.5/10 [Australia]

Spoiler

1. Braindead (1992) 7.5/10 [New Zealand]
2. Apparitions (2021) 2/10 [Australia]
3. Celia (1989) 7.5/10 [Australia]
4. Coming Home in the Dark (2021) 5.5/10 [New Zealand]

[Lonewolf2003]

1. The Overlanders (1946,Harry Watt): 5.8 - Based on the real events of Australian herders, who fearing a coming Japanese invasion, evacuated thousands of cattle from Northern Australia to Queesnland. While it looks beautiful, the problem with this movie is that it primary purpose seems to be to educate people about this event and telling a compelling story is only secondary to that instead of making a good engaging movie that also educates its viewer. The acting is terribly wooden.

[gunnar]

16 - Proof (1991) - 7.5/10 - Hugo Weaving stars as Martin, a blind man who takes photographs to document places and people. He later will have other people describe the photographs for him. He befriends a restaurant worker named Andy (Russell Crowe) and this relationship causes jealously in the woman who cleans for Martin and cares for him deeply. It's a pretty good movie. It was interesting seeing Jeffrey Walker as young Martin in flashbacks since I know him from his tv roles.

17 - Puberty Blues (1981) - 4/10 - Teens cheating on tests, having sex, and surfing. It's pretty dumb.

18 - Pure S (1975) - 5/10 - Heroin junkies chasing a fix. They don't seem to be very good at it.

19 - Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) - 8/10 - In 1931, three Aboriginal girls are taken from their home and sent to a camp for re-education. It's all in their best interests of course. They escape and make their way home by following the rabbit-proof fences in the Outback.

20 - Romper Stomper (1992) - 6/10 - Russell Crowe portrays the vicious leader of a Neo-Nazi skinhead gang. The gang regularly attacks local Vietnamese residents until the Vietnamese finally get tired of the abuse and attack the gang in large numbers, burning their headquarters and sending some of those who escape on the run. There is plenty of violence and the whole thing felt kind of hollow and underdeveloped.

21 - Storm Boy (1976) - 7/10 - Mike lives a lonely life with only his father for company. He gathers driftwood and other material that washes up on the shore. One day, he makes friends with an Aboriginal man who also lives a reclusive life and the man nicknames him 'Storm Boy'. Mike is given the opportunity to help raise three young pelicans and this gives him something else to do and be responsible for. It's a decent film.

Spoiler

1 - Lantana (2001) - 6.5/10
2 - Wolf Creek (2005) - 6.5/10
3 - The Tracker (2002) - 7.5/10
4 - The Overlanders (1946) - 6.5/10
5 - Alvin Purple (1973) - 4/10
6 - Bad Boy Bubby (1993) - 4/10
7 - Beneath Clouds (2002) - 7.5/10
8 - Black Robe (1991) - 7.5/10
9 - Cunnamulla (2000)- 6/10
10 - Dead Calm (1989) - 8/10
11 - Don's Party (1976) - 6/10
12 - Erskineville Kings (1999) - 6/10
13 - Man of Flowers (1983) - 5/10
14 - Muriel's Wedding (1994) - 8/10
15 - Newsfront (1978) - 6/10

[blocho]

1. The Efficiency Expert (1991) - Australia
A business-minded fellow is sent to an isolated community for mercenary purposes, but finds the warmth of the locals causes him to reconsider his choices in life. It’s a classic plot, from Local Hero to Trapped in Paradise. I tend to enjoy these movies because they’re affable and easygoing and even when the comedy is hit-or-miss, there’s always some charm. In this movie the remote community is a shoe factory in 1960s Melbourne that’s old-fashioned and inefficient and losing money under the direction of its kindly owner. The protagonist, played by Anthony Hopkins, is the expert of the title, what today would be called a business consultant. And like consultants today, Hopkins’ character wants to lay off all the employees and outsource the work. This movie isn’t as good as Local Hero (even if the poster is a direct copy), but it’s still enjoyable. It's also an opportunity to see Ben Mendelsohn, Russell Crowe, and Toni Collette before any of them became famous.

2. Wish You Were Here (2012) - Australia
Two Australian couples go to Sihanoukville for a week’s vacation, where one of them mysteriously vanishes. We know from the get go that one of the remaining three knows more than he lets on, and most of the movie takes place in Sydney in the aftermath of the disappearance as the mystery unravels. For me, this domestic thriller falls into the category of decent idea but subpar execution. Though there’s some satisfaction in the resolution of the story, too much of it drifts by rather aimlessly.

[dirty_score]

1. The Year My Voice Broke (1987) | Australia



Nice coming of age story

[DulceDoes]

2. The Castle (1997) - Australia 8/10
This movie was way more wholesome than I was expecting it to be

Does anyone have any recommendations for murder mystery comedies that count for this challenge?

[zzzorf]

Does anyone have any recommendations for murder mystery comedies that count for this challenge?

To be honest that isn't a very big sub-genre in Australia I can't even really find any. Drop the comedy and we have some good murder mysteries (but still not many and not to other countries standards) and we have many great comedy movies but nothing that really puts the two together.

[gunnar]

22 - Sunday Too Far Away (1975) - 6/10 - The film follows a sheep shearer and his coworkers at a shearing station in the Outback. It's not bad, but it isn't really all that interesting through much of it. I thought it did get better toward the end, though.

23 - Sweetie (1989) - 5.5/10 - Kay is neurotic and superstitious. Her sister Dawn (aka Sweetie) is much worse. Her parents also have their issues. This is supposed to be a comedy, but I found most of the characters more annoying than funny. I did like the second half of the film a bit more, but this is an odd film.

24 - The Cars That Ate Paris (1974) - 6/10 - A small rural town called Paris survives in part by causing accidents for people who drive through their area and then salvaging what they can from the bodies and the wrecks. One person happens to survive, though he now has a fear of driving in cars. The mayor tries to integrate him into the town. The film is a little slow and odd. It's not bad, but doesn't seem to really go anywhere until near the very end when there is a sort of Death Race 2000 feel to it.

25 - The Castle (1997) - 7.5/10 - A man receives notice that the state is using the law to purchase their property whether they agree or not and that they will need to vacate the premises soon. The man takes the case to court to try and stay in their home. The film is a comedy and while it isn't really laugh out loud funny, it was still a decent story and entertaining.

26 - The Efficiency Expert (1991) - 7.5/10 - Anthony Hopkins stars as an efficiency expert who is brought in by the owner of a small moccasin factory that seems to be stuck in the past in the way that they do business. He goes about his job to make recommendations to improve the bottom line, but eventually finds himself being affected by the character of the workers. Toni Collette makes her film debut here and Russell Crowe (who seemed to be in about every Australian movie in the 90s) also appears. I enjoyed it.

I'm two films away from bronze on the Scott Hocking list now. I should get there on Tuesday.

Spoiler

1 - Lantana (2001) - 6.5/10
2 - Wolf Creek (2005) - 6.5/10
3 - The Tracker (2002) - 7.5/10
4 - The Overlanders (1946) - 6.5/10
5 - Alvin Purple (1973) - 4/10
6 - Bad Boy Bubby (1993) - 4/10
7 - Beneath Clouds (2002) - 7.5/10
8 - Black Robe (1991) - 7.5/10
9 - Cunnamulla (2000)- 6/10
10 - Dead Calm (1989) - 8/10
11 - Don's Party (1976) - 6/10
12 - Erskineville Kings (1999) - 6/10
13 - Man of Flowers (1983) - 5/10
14 - Muriel's Wedding (1994) - 8/10
15 - Newsfront (1978) - 6/10
16 - Proof (1991) - 7.5/10
17 - Puberty Blues (1981) - 4/10
18 - Pure S (1975) - 5/10
19 - Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002) - 8/10
20 - Romper Stomper (1992) - 6/10
21 - Storm Boy (1976) - 7/10

[DulceDoes]

Does anyone have any recommendations for murder mystery comedies that count for this challenge?

To be honest that isn't a very big sub-genre in Australia I can't even really find any. Drop the comedy and we have some good murder mysteries (but still not many and not to other countries standards) and we have many great comedy movies but nothing that really puts the two together.

That's too bad. If you want to suggest any of those murder mysteries I would still be interested.

[gunnar]

Does anyone have any recommendations for murder mystery comedies that count for this challenge?

I haven't watched them, but a couple of tv shows that I've heard some positive feedback on are Darby and Joan (8 episodes) and My Life is Murder (30 episodes) in case you want to check either series out.

[DulceDoes]

I want to promote the two films I nominated for DTC that are eligible for this challenge and if any of y'all nominated anything eligible I would encourage you to promote it a bit here as well.

Dogs in Space (1986), this is actually the first movie I watched this month, but I loved it so much that I had to nominate it. It's just a really good punk film that focuses on the day to day life of a punk band and the house they share together with themselves and other people.

screenshots

Starstruck (1982), I've been nominating this for DTC for years and I refuse to give up on it. This is a new wave musical directed by Gillian Armstrong that is a lot of fun. It's a bout a working class young woman and her dreams to become a big star

screenshots

[DulceDoes]

Does anyone have any recommendations for murder mystery comedies that count for this challenge?

I haven't watched them, but a couple of tv shows that I've heard some positive feedback on are Darby and Joan (8 episodes) and My Life is Murder (30 episodes) in case you want to check either series out.

Thanks! I will look into them

[zzzorf]

Does anyone have any recommendations for murder mystery comedies that count for this challenge?

To be honest that isn't a very big sub-genre in Australia I can't even really find any. Drop the comedy and we have some good murder mysteries (but still not many and not to other countries standards) and we have many great comedy movies but nothing that really puts the two together.

That's too bad. If you want to suggest any of those murder mysteries I would still be interested.

My favourites are the movie Mystery Road (2013), it's sequel Goldstone (2016) (actually a missing person this time) and the follow on tv series, Mystery Road (2018). I will get back to you with others later, I am at work at the moment.