Colin Friels Movies

A talented dancer who was abducted and tortured by three mysterious women struggles to come to grips with his harrowing experience in director Ana Kokkinos' adaptation of Rupert Thompson's unsettling novel. A beautiful and charismatic dancer who has immersed himself in a dream world of graceful movement, Daniel (Tom Long) maintains an amiable but somewhat detached relationship with his girlfriend, and a passionate relationship with his mentor and choreographer Isabel (Greta Scacci). When Daniel ventures out for cigarettes one day and doesn't return, the women in his life are devastated. Upon returning without explanation eleven days later, the profoundly shaken Daniel is unable to articulate his experience and loses his ability to dance. To make matters worse, Daniel is unable to engage emotionally with even the people who were closest to him before the strange incident. Now, in order to reclaim his identity by confronting his abductors, Daniel sets out to find the three women with only his memories of the ambient sounds that flowed into his window to guide him. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A man on the edge of collapse falls into a well of despair in this psychological drama from Australia. Tom White (Colin Friels) is an architect who is emotionally reaching the end of his rope. Edgy, confused, and losing touch with reality, White finds himself obsessively working on a project from which he was removed weeks before, and his hands shake so badly he can barely hold a pencil. Tom's superiors suggest he should spend a few days away from the office to regain his bearing, but instead of returning home to his wife (Rachael Blake) and children, he goes on a bender. After getting beaten in a fist fight, he wanders into a gay club and strikes up a conversation with a hustler named Matt (Dan Spielman). Matt lets Tom stay at his flat for a few days before Tom moves on and drifts into an affair with Christine (Loene Carmen), who runs a carnival-sideshow shooting gallery. Tom sinks deeper and deeper into hopelessness and depression, and eventually finds himself living on the streets and running with Jet (Jarryd Jinks), a troubled teenager who blots out his misery by sniffing glue. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Between 1934 and 1940, Shirley Temple was the biggest little star in Hollywood; the curly-headed tyke began doing song-and-dance numbers in one-reel comedies at the age of four, at six years she stole the show in the musical Stand Up and Cheer, and at ten she was the number one box-office attraction in America, and had even taken home a special Oscar. Based on Temple's 1988 autobiography, Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story stars Ashley Rose Orr as the pint-size superstar in a story that concentrates on the sunny side of her rise to fame and soft-peddles allegations that her parents (here played by Connie Britton and Colin Friels) mismanaged the fortune she earned during her years as a pre-teen celebrity. Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story was produced by the mother-and-daughter team of Paula Hart and Melissa Joan Hart; the Harts have their own perspective on life as a youthful celebrity, thanks to Melissa's career as the star of the TV series Clarissa Explains It All and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, while Paula's younger daughter (and Melissa's younger sister) Emily Anne Hart appears in the film as the teenaged Shirley Temple. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Alex Proyas (The Crow) directed this noir-styled futuristic thriller, scripted by Proyas, Lem Dobbs (Kafka), and David S. Goyer (The Puppet Masters). Separated from his wife Emma (Jennifer Connelly), amnesiac John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) awakens alone in a strange hotel to learn he is wanted for a series of brutal killings -- but he can't remember if he did or didn't commit these murders. Indeed, most of his memories have completely vanished, and he becomes the focus of interest for both mad genius Dr. Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland) and sympathetic detective Frank Bumstead (William Hurt). Attempting to unravel the twisted riddle of his identity, Murdoch encounters a group of ominous beings known as the Strangers, shadow-like figures who have a collective memory and possess the ability to stop time and alter physical reality through a process called The Tuning. Focusing their minds, they are able to change the size and shape of the material world. Murdoch manages to stay a step ahead of his adversaries as he slowly jigsaws together the puzzle of his past-bittersweet memories of his childhood, his love for Emma, and the key to the murders -- while following a labyrinth leading to the Strangers' Underworld, a set inspired by Fritz Lang's Metropolis. Rufus Sewell commented on the Underworld: "When Alex first sent me the sketches for that set, I was more excited than I had been when I read the script. The Underworld was truly remarkable -- a little bit scary, very thrilling, and full of hundreds of bald people." At the Fox Film Studios in Sydney, Australia, where 50 sets were built, three months were spent constructing the set for the Underworld, the largest indoor set ever built in Australia. The production design by George Liddle (Rapa Nui) and Patrick Tatopoulos (Godzilla, Space: Above and Beyond) is a composite of different styles and eras, combining the look of 1940s Manhattan with German Expressionism. The music is by Trevor Jones (G.I. Jane). The film's dedication reads: "In Memory of Dennis Potter with gratitude and admiration." ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

In this Australian comedy, adapted by Louis Nowra from his own play and updated from a '70s to a '90s setting, a Sydney slacker gets the chance to stage an opera, but his cast is assembled from the ranks of the mentally ill. After a long stretch sponging off his law-student girlfriend Lucy (Rachel Griffiths), college dropout Lewis (Ben Mendelsohn) fakes his way into a job doing occupational therapy with a group of asylum inmates. Although his original assignment is to stage a variety show, manic-depressive patient Roy (Barry Otto) soon hijacks the project and convinces Lewis to helm an adaptation of his favorite opera, Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutti. Lewis' unlikely cast ranges from psycho firebug Doug (David Wenham) and scruffy loudmouth Sandra (Kerry Walker) to depressive, dirt-obsessed Ruth (Pamela Rabe) and self-effacing drug addict Julie (Toni Collette). Given the dearth of acting and singing experience among these players, Lewis opts to translate the piece from Italian to English and stage it as a play with only a few pieces of music. The show still proves to be more than its director bargained for -- despite the dubious assistance of his friend Nick (Aden Young), an actor/director who's currently staging his own over-the-top production of Diary of a Madman. Although Cosi reteams Muriel's Wedding co-stars Collette and Griffiths, their characters here never share a scene. The production also includes former Men at Work singer Colin Hay in a featured role, plus cameos from Greta Scacchi and Paul Mercurio (who appeared alongside Otto in Strictly Ballroom). ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

This romantic, adventurous Australian thriller is set in the continent's Red Center. There Tom McGregor and his sister Susan work their lonely desert gas station. He and Susan are first seen racing along a desert road towards the horizon. Soon afterward, he is seen walking alone towards the seemingly abandoned filling station. During the course of the film, many interesting characters happen by, including the girl friend of a diamond thief on the lam. His car breaks down and he sends her to the station for assistance. Once there, she finds herself falling in love with Tom. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Based on a novel by satirical comedian (and dedicated environmentalist) Ben Elton, the British miniseries Stark was set in the bleak near-future, with mankind facing utter extinction due to rampant pollution. The action took place in Australia, home base for the Stark Conspiracy, a secret organization of politicians and corporate fat cats who intended to save themselves from Armageddon at the expense of everyone else on earth. When zillionaire Sly Morgan (Colin Friels) was invited to join the Stark group, gonzo journalist CD Dobson (played by author Ben Elton himself) intended to uncover the facts behind the organization. To this end, he began romancing Rachel (Jacqueline McKenzie), an activist in league with a group of overaged hippies who hoped to destroy Stark and save the world on their own. A co-production of BBC2 and Australia's ABC network, Stark originally aired in Britain in three 55-minute installments, from December 8 to 22, 1993. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Jazz great Miles Davis makes his acting debut and farewell playing an inspirational jazz trumpeter in this lively drama that centers on a young Australian country boy who dreams of becoming just like him. Unfortunately, some dreams are never realized, and the boy grows up to become a dingo trapper with a wife and nearly grown children. As his latest birthday inexorably approaches, he begins suffering a mid-life crisis. The fellow had been playing jazz trumpet with his band, the "Dingo Dusters" for many years. They came up with a unique form of jazz that was popular in their area, but he still cannot escape his disappointment about never playing music in Paris. For many years, he has been writing to Cross, who has never replied, and saving up his pennies for a trip to the City of Light, where Cross lives. But times are hard and money is tight. His devoted wife, seeing her husband is seriously depressed, writes a letter to Cross' agent. The agent's wife, who, knowing that Billy would never listen or respond, has secretly saved all of the Australian's letters and tapes. When she reads the letter, she decides to forward it through. Billy is touched and then asks to hear the demos. In the end, it becomes a touching dream-come-true for the hard-working Australian who somehow manages to discover that he already has the best of both worlds. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Neglecting Julie (Frances McDormand), his lawyer lady friend, Dr. Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) works feverishly to perfect his latest invention -- artificial skin that could be used to treat burn victims. Peyton himself falls victim to an explosion when one of Julie's crooked clients sends his henchmen to sniff out an incriminating document that's been left in Westlake's lab. Hideously disfigured and left for dead, the good doctor receives an experimental medical treatment that renders him super-strong, impervious to pain and prone to heightened fits of rage. Rebuilding his lab into an underground hideout, Westlake begins using his synthetic skin to impersonate various characters and engineer his revenge against those who destroyed his life. Reconnecting with Julie, however, becomes the unsightly vigilante's biggest challenge. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi

In this stylish and smart 1988 thriller, reporter Tom Stewart accidentally falls on the wrong side (not that he's ever on the right side) of the law during a psychotic killer's spree of murders. Stewart's no angel having already stolen money from a car wreck. At the center of the killings is Morris Martin, a schoolteacher on a rampage supposedly searching for his "dead" wife. As Martin's killings become progressively more violent and heat from the police increases, Stewart is forced to hunt Martin down himself, teaming up with crooked cop Ray Birch to do so. Stewart and Birch eventually corner Martin, but have no idea the mystery they'll uncover when they find him. ~ Brian Whitener, Rovi

Ground Zero details a governmental cover-up as seen through the eyes of commercial photographer Colin Friels. Tipped off to the possibility that the death of his father was tied in with radioactive contamination, Friels runs into several official brick walls as he presses his investigation. At the root of everything is a hush-hush nuclear radiation test, conducted in Australia in the mid-1950s. With the help of a slightly-addled survivor (Donald Pleasence) of those tests, Friels uncovers the truth. Ground Zero was inspired by the real-life nuclear testings at Maralinga. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi