John Flaus Movies

In the late 1940's, as Australian politics became increasingly polarized in the wake of the growing Cold War, a group of leftist film enthusiasts who were increasingly troubled by the hesitance of most exhibitors to screen Russian or European films with radical themes founded a film society called the Realist Film Unit. While the Realists initially showed films made by others, the group soon began producing documentaries on political and social issues they believed were being ignored by the mainstream media, including economic injustice and unfair housing practices. While members of the Realist Film Unit found themselves hounded by police and were subjected to surveillance by Australian Security and Investigation Organization, the group continued to make films and document political actions through the 1950's. Australian filmmakers John Hughes and Uri Mizrahi were given a cache of the Realist Film Unit's archival materials by the daughter of founder Bob Matthews, and the documentary The Archive Project looks back at the men and women who comprised the RFU, the issues they explored, the opposition they faced from the Australian authorities, and the historic footage they left behind. The Archive Project received its world premiere at the 2006 Sydney Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Pressured by moneyhungry Bernie (John Clarke) to redevelop their club and install poker machines when the begin having financial difficulties, Cityside Bowling Club members Stan (Bill Hunter), Len (Frank Wilson) and Eileen (Monica Maughan) make a last ditch effort to enter a tournament and win the prize money needed to stay afloat. Desperate to form a winning team, the ageing trio quickly learns that dispite his lack of presence, young Jack Simpson (Mick Molloy) has held a membership for years for the sole purpose of maintaing a cheap parking spot - not to mention renting out a few on the side for a little profit. Finally called on to serve his duty as an actual member, will Jack pitch in to save to club from certain extinction, or simply drive a few extra blocks to find another parking spot. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Loosely based on the real-life story of Bea Miles, an eccentric character living in Sydney, this fine Australian drama tells the tragic tale of Lilian Singer, a woman whose cruel father placed her in a mental institution where she spent forty years. The story looks at the circumstances surrounding her commitment as a young woman, her childhood and life after she is finally released. In the opening scenes, Lilian leaves the asylum and is taken to a seedy downtown hotel frequented by prostitutes and other shady characters. Fortunately, the working girls prove friendly and sympathetic. Lilian becomes convinced that she is in love with a stodgy bank manager, but her love abruptly dies when he calls the police upon her. She next meets her long-lost lover Frank, who has unfortunately turned into an alcoholic and is unable to respond to her. As Lilian has more experiences, flashbacks gradually reveal the terrible things her father did to her. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Michael is the extremely impoverished nephew of George, a wealthy mining magnate. Not only is he poor now, but he grew up poor. Michael has reason to believe that his uncle cheated him of his inheritance from his father's share in the family mining operation. Michael is concerned about taking care of a mentally handicapped brother and a half-brother who is part aboriginal. George, when confronted, indicates that whatever the facts of the case are, he isn't letting go of a penny. Michael decides to kidnap George's granddaughter for ransom. The snatch takes place while the girl's aunt, a Polish nun, is visiting her mother (the nun's sister), who is not well. She gets caught up in the abduction as well, and a relationship develops between the angry young man and the otherworldly religious woman. She only knows that he seems like a ruffian, and she expects to be raped. He just wants her to be respectful of him. The situation brings on a degree of personal intimacy neither of them has anticipated. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Heat, both climatic and erotic, imbue this Australian thriller from first-time directors Colin South and John Tatoulis. The film takes place in mid-summer in the sweltering city of Melbourne and concerns a love affair between Wendy (Santha Press), a jazz singer, and Mack (Hugo Race), a knife-wielding punk who wants to be a rock star but is planning to rob a bank. Wendy's younger sister, 15-year-old JoJo (Rebekah Elmaloglou), has moved in with Wendy, and she is rapidly becoming sexually aware, because she is secretly observing her sister and Mack as they make love. Meanwhile, two cops -- Dinny (Dominic Sweeney), an inexperienced rookie, and Milas (John Flaus), a weary veteran cop -- are following Mack because he has an audiotape in his possession that shows evidence of government corruption. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

In this tragicomedy, Luke and Boady O'Hagan (Ben Mendelsohn and Mark Little) are brothers who live together in a seedy section of Melbourne. Luke is in all respects an upstanding citizen. The only thing the least bit unusual is his clandestine romance with a Greek-Australian teacher; it's clandestine because her conservative parents would be horrified to know that she was seriously considering marriage to a non-Greek. Boady, on the other hand, is a highly exciteable fellow, given to living on the edge. When one of the drug deals he is involved with goes wrong, all three of them, along with Boady's pregnant girlfriend, must go into hiding. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In this downbeat drama, Sal (Nick Carrafa), a young Italian/Australian doctor, tries to deal with his growing sense of dislocation. At first he pals around with his chums, narrowly avoiding getting into big trouble. Then he starts going out with Katie (Kimberley Davenport), a girl with a very different background from his. After a brief romance, it seems to him that they have broken up. That doesn't stop his former girlfriend from having a fit when she discovers that he has slept with her roommate. This spare story is enlivened by a huge cast of secondary characters. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train, written and directed by Bob Ellis, belongs to a genre of highbrow 1980s films which pushed the conventions of art house cinema. An unnamed fine arts teacher struggles to support her brother's drug addiction. To raise money, she moonlights as a prostitute on a midnight train. For each encounter, she dons a different identity, ala Cindy Sherman, and seeks out her john for the night. That is, until she meets the Man and falls for him which forces her to choose between her love or her lifestyle. Warm Nights does have the benefit of Ellis' characteristic fine writing, but it is generally regarded as one of the more dismal failures in this genre. ~ Brian Whitener, Rovi

In 1975, nearly five years before Ronald Reagan became President of the U.S., replacing relatively liberal Democratic and Republican regimes, Australia's Labor Party experienced a similarly sweeping and devastating reversal of fortunes. At the time, many on the left suspected that the C.I.A. had a hand in this startling transformation of the political landscape. This docudrama explores this thesis and carries it as far as it will go, as it follows the efforts of a journalist to trace the changes which took place in 1975 through to the time of this film (1986). Whatever one's views about the probability of the theories explored here, the film's style made waves among local critics at the time, who found it both innovative and irritating. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Australia's Victorian Alps serve as the backdrop for Panic Station. The setting is a satellite-relay station with a two-man crew. Naturally, our heroes are lonely and bored. But this state of affairs changes with a literal bolt from the blue. Richard Moir, Reg Evans, and Gerard Kennedy star in this 80-minute character study, which was released in some areas as Plains of Heaven. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this thriller, set in Sydney Australia's Palm Beach (which is to Sydney what Malibu is to Los Angeles), the lives of four hard-pressed individuals briefly become interwoven. Paul Kite (Bryan Brown) has been out of work for some time. While at a sociable party, he quietly pockets a handgun he finds there. Later, he bungles the robbery of a supermarket, killing a policeman in the process, and goes into hiding in some caves. Leilani Adams (Amanda Berry) is a sexually adventurous girl who has run away from home. She is being sought by private detective Larry Kent (John Flaus), a relic of the 1950s. Finally, Joe Ryan (Ken Brown) is trying to pay off a debt and put together a drug deal, without a lot of success. In one fashion or another, they all meet in Palm Beach. Some may find the strong Australian regional speech patterns in this film difficult to understand. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi