Lynette Curran Movies

Heidi (Abbie Cornish) is a pretty teenager who leaves home after getting caught making out with her mother's boyfriend. She impulsively travels to Jindabyne, a snowy ski resort town, because she once met a man from there who said she should call him if she was ever in town. When that connection doesn't materialize, Heidi is forced to fend for herself with little money. Her first night in town, she goes to a bar, drinks, meets a boy, and goes home with him. She doesn't even notice Joe (Sam Worthington) watching her. The next morning, Heidi is dismayed to find that the guy she slept with has a girlfriend, and is on his way back to Sydney. Desperate and broke, she goes looking for work. Despite her good looks and charm, she's a bit too aggressive in trying to win friends and influence people. That night, she hooks up with Joe, and senses a connection between them. Instead of taking her home, he takes her to a motel. He seems reluctant to get involved with her, but she is persistent. The next morning, he hurriedly leaves for work. Joe works for his father, a wealthy farmer. Heidi meets the motel owner, Irene (Lynette Curran), who kindly offers to let her stay a couple of days, until she finds a job. Heidi ends up working at the local gas station with Bianca (Hollie Andrew). She begins to settle in, but her relationship with Joe deteriorates, her emotional instability takes hold. Somersault marks the feature debut of writer/director Cate Shortland. The film won 13 of the Australian Film Institute's annual awards in 2004, and was selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art for inclusion in the 2005 edition of New Directors/New Films. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Babe: Pig in the City (1998) screenwriter Mark Lamprell makes his directorial debut with this understated drama about a middle-aged woman who is looking to reinvent her life. Frances Regina Aileen Nano Kennedy, AKA Frank Ryan (Sinead Cusack) is a devoutly Catholic widow with two grown children and a few grandchildren. She is also bored to tears with her life. Meanwhile, her college-aged son David (Matthew Newton) is utterly smitten with Jenny (Rose Byrne), the beautiful girlfriend of his buddy Mick (Nicholas Bishop). When Frank decides to take art courses at the same university that her son attends, David is unenthusiastic. Moreover, so is her crusty professor Mortlock (Sam Neil), who believes that older students take places from younger ones. This film was screened at the 2000 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Though featuring a simple straightforward story of a small town turned upside down when a car carrying four members of the local women's bowling team flips over and leaves the occupants trapped and hanging, it is the sprightly performances of the ensemble cast that make this quirky Australian comedy special. The first person on the scene of the bizarre accident is Maurie, a somewhat dim-bulbed pig farmer. Unable to think of a way to help poor Margot, Nell, Jean and Carmel -- the ladies inside the car -- he goes off to call the Emergency Services. Unfortunately, the fire department doesn't understand Maurie and can't decide whether he said the women were on Nhill Road (it's pronounced "Nil") or the road to Nhill, and they immediately speed off in the wrong direction. The town sheriff is nowhere in sight. Meanwhile Maurie returns with Brian, a vegetable farmer who just can't cope with the horror of it all, and they both fret about what they should do. As they worry and figuratively wring their hands, the women try to figure out how to save themselves. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this drama, Alexandra Polonski is the owner/manager of a boxing-oriented gymnasium located in an inner-city suburb of Sydney. As the film opens, she is having considerable difficulty with Pearl Elkington, a politically ambitious real-estate developer, who wants to buy Alex out and tear down the gym to put up some luxury apartments. She also claims, in her political campaigning, that the gym attracts a bad element -- like the hot young boxer both she and Alex are wooing. Meanwhile, the mysterious Mr. Keats is apparently manipulating almost everything that goes on. Alex asks her old boyfriend, a retired boxer, to come in and "help out," which basically means to be her bodyguard. Their old romance is rekindled, complicating matters tremendously. Australian reviewers enjoyed this brisk noir drama and appreciated its many cinematic homages to similar movies from the classic era, especially to the films of Joan Crawford. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The life of a teen in an isolated small town is the subject of Australian writer/director John Duigan's film, set in 1962 in New South Wales. Duigan's coming-of-age story has many familiar elements -- Danny Embling (Noah Taylor) discovers his sexual attraction to a childhood playmate (Leone Carmen as Freya), he undergoes the taunts of bullies at his school, rages against the narrow-minded views of his parents and many of the townspeople, and comes under the influence of a sympathetic adult (Bruce Spence as Jonah, a would-be writer who lives in an abandoned railroad car). The twist is that Danny's rival for Freya's affections, Trevor (Ben Mendelsohn), is a Jewish jock who becomes Danny's friend by standing up to the bullies and treating Freya with more respect than the other boys do. Duigan, who had been making films in Australia since the mid-'70s, broke through to U.S. audiences with this film and its sequel, Flirting, in which Noah Taylor reprises the lead role. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi

Based loosely on a true story, Bullseye takes place in the Australia of the mid-19th century. Disgruntled ranch hand Paul Goddard finds a ray of happiness in his relationship with maidservant Kathryn Walker. But when the maid comes into an inheritance, she takes on highfalutin' airs and breaks off their romance. Almost as an act of consolation, the ranch hand turns to cattle-rustling. Arriving safely in an outback settlement with his stolen cows and bulls, the ranch hand discovers that the maid has arrived in town ahead of him, and that she's been reduced to working in the local bordello. Gallantly, the cowboy decides to rescue the surprisingly still-virginal maid from that fabled worse-than-death fate. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Heatwave is the mildly interesting story of a woman's attempt to stop a redevelopment plot which she thought was the cover-up for fraud and other criminal activity. Kate (Judy Davis), through her own efforts, manages to find some evidence to support her claims and also have a romance. Davis gives an energetic performance as the crusading woman, but the script lacks a convincing plot or characters. While it has some good moments, Heatwave is primarily notable because it was one of the earlier efforts of Australian director Phillip Noyce, who went on to make the very exciting Dead Calm. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

A hilarious sex romp about Alvin, an ordinary guy who works in a waterbed store in Australia. Remarkably, he is always pursued by over-sexed women, which constantly gets him into hot water. The film that created a market for Australian films worldwide. ~ Rovi