Tim Robertson Movies

Directed by Mark Joffe, Australia's The Man Who Sued God centers around Steve (Billy Connelly), an ex-lawyer who is unable to collect insurance money for his destroyed boat. Deeming the accident an "act of God," Steve decides to sue the man at the root of his problem -- namely, God. Anna (Judy Davis), a jaded journalist who took a particular interest in Steve's case, decides to help him out on his quest to collect from the almighty. The movie raises a host of philosophical issues, some of which include who should represent God in court, who pays up should God be convicted, and the status of Steve's eternal soul. The Man Who Sued God also features Vincent Ball and Billie Brown. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

In this drama, a daughter defends her aging father against scandalous accusations. Joseph Mueller (Max Von Sydow) was born in Germany but emigrated to Australia shortly after the end of World War II. Joseph is happily spending the autumn of his years doting on his two grandchildren and giving friendly business advice to his daughter Anne Winton (Carol Drinkwater) and son-in-law Bobby (Steven Jacobs), who have inherited the hotel that Mueller founded. One morning, as Joseph walks his grandchildren to school, he discovers that a camera crew is following him from a distance, led by reporter Leah Zetnick (Julia Blake). A few days later, Leah broadcasts a report alleging that Joseph is in fact Franz Kessler, a former member of Hitler's S.S. and a war criminal responsible for the death of Leah's parents, among many others. Suddenly besieged by the media, Anne and Joseph go into hiding after authorities issue an indictment against him. Joseph eventually steps forward to stand trial, defended by attorney George Coleman (Tom Robertson). After George calls Leah's credibility into serious question in court, Joseph is cleared of all charges, and a seriously distraught Leah commits suicide in front of Joseph and Anne. But Joseph's casual reaction to Leah's shocking act makes Anne wonder if Bobby's suspicions about her father's past might have a basis in fact. Max Von Sydow and Julia Blake both won Australian Film Institute awards for their performences. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This grim drama examines the situation of Aya (Eri Ishida), a Japanese war bride living in Australia in the late forties. Her husband has little use for her cooking or her company, aside from sex, but a family friend who also knew her during the war offers a more generous form of companionship. Perhaps he would have married her, too, but he's probably homosexual. Later, she has an affair with a Japanese/Australian and conceives a child. Her attempt to abort the fetus lead her to a particularly repellent abortion doctor. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Two detectives decide to take the law into their own hands after they determine the court system has failed to serve justice. Ian Scott and James Clayden play the cops who want to permanently press the mob kingpin known as The Laundryman (Peter Green) into unemployment. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Dot Bloom (Lyn Pierse) is a 32-year-old Jewish woman who contemplates whether she should choose a man to settle down with in this light romantic comedy. She aspires to be a serious writer while making a living writing for a popular soap opera. With her politically active mother off helping the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, Dot's Aunt Esther (Ruth Yaffe) looks out for her favorite niece. She turns down her suggestion to date a gynecologist and hooks up with the boring, divorced attorney Karl (Kim Gyngell), an old college friend. Alistair (Bruce Spence) is a charming but shy computer devotee who asks her for a date via cyberspace, but she neglects to read her E-mail. Dot goes through a number of comedic circumstances as she experiences the unpredictability of the dating game. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Tim Burstall directed this adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's semi-autobiographical novel recalling his experiences in Australia in the early 1920s. The film, set at the height of World War I, begins at the English coastal home of writer Richard Somers (Colin Friels) and his German-born wife Harriet (Judy Davis). Since Somers is a conscientious objector and his wife is the nationality of the enemy, the British police pay him a visit. Somers is then drafted and undergoes a humiliating physical examination at the draft board. Seeing harassment in the air, Somers and his wife decide to leave England for the relative calm of Australia, where their neighbors are a pair of earthy suburbanites, Vicki (Julie Nihil) and Jack Calcott (John Walton). Jack, disillusioned by the war, has joined a fascist paramilitary group called the Diggers, led by a wealthy old general with the code name "Kangaroo" (Hugh Keays-Byrne). The Diggers want to stifle the emerging union movement in the country, and Kangaroo hopes to enlist Richard in the cause because "a country does not exist until it has found a voice." But Somers finds himself torn between opposing camps, since the Socialist trade unionists also want to utilize his writing skills for their own ends, looking for Somers to help them carry through "a partnership between poetry and power." ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Woven around premises that are hard to swallow, this is a saccharine story of how the love of a child can transform the worst situations into a day of sunshine. But since the child's mother, Carol (Deborra-Lee Furness), becomes a prostitute at one point, this is not exactly Disney fare either. Carol lives with Lindsay (Ivar Kants), who dotes on Carol's daughter, Jenny (Tamsin West), even though she does not seem particularly dotable. Cynical viewers will think "incest," but not so. Carol gets irked at Lindsay and moves out with Jenny to stay with Gaynor (Paula Duncan), a friend who happens to be a prostitute. Carol decides to try Gaynor's profession and after one night's work, she brings home 500 dollars -- the wages of sin can be profitable. Lindsay, now dying of an incurable illness, steals Jenny away from this life of vicarious inequity -- and Carol, overwhelmed by a suddenly awakened conscience, rushes to Lindsay's bedside. As harps play, the story continues on into even more rarified strata. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Two-fisted Gerard Kennedy plays "Tarzan," the foreman of a central Australian mine who maintains his authority by virtue of his formidable fists. Michael Preston plays "Pansy," a boastful miner who irritates all of his co-workers, none more so than Tarzan. The foreman calls out Pansy, challenging him to a bare-knuckle boxing match. The climax finds virtually everyone in town gathering for this battle royale, with several bankrolls wagered on the surprising outcome. Based on a play by John Powers. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Based on a novel by Thomas Keneally, which was in turn inspired by actual events, this drama is a shocking indictment of the racism inflicted on the indigenous people of Australia. Jimmie (Tommy Lewis) is a half-white, half-aborigine young man raised by a Methodist minister. Feeling outcast among the aborigines, Jimmie moves to the city and gets a job working for a white family. When a white serving girl at the estate becomes pregnant, everyone is convinced that Jimmie is the father; to spare the girl's honor, Jimmie marries her and is allowed to live with her on the estate. But after the child is born, everyone realizes that the father was a white man, not Jimmie; he is still willing to accept the child and stand beside his wife, but his employers now feel that he married a white girl under false pretenses, and they bar him from the estate. Forbidden to see his wife and fired without receiving his pay, Jimmie finally explodes in a fury of violent revenge. Director Fred Schepisi's original cut of this film runs 122 minutes, though it was more widely distributed in a shortened version running 108 minutes. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi