Jacek Koman Movies
Set against the scenic backdrop of pre-World War II Australia, Baz Luhrmann's romantic period adventure stars Nicole Kidman as an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch, and Hugh Jackman as the rough-and-tumble cattle driver who helps protect her property from greedy English cattle barons. As the pair attempt to herd 2,000 head of cattle hundreds of miles across the treacherous Australian outback, they are stunned to bear witness to the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces -- who just a few months prior launched a devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, (more)
Y Tu Mamá También and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban director Alfonso Cuarón returns to the helm to tell this futuristic tale in which society is without hope since humankind lost its ability to procreate. The year is 2027, and women can no longer give birth. The youngest inhabitant of the planet has just died at the age of 18, and all hope for humanity has been lost. As civilization descends into chaos, a dying world finds one last chance for survival in the form of a woman who has become inexplicably pregnant. Now, as warring nationalistic sects clash and British leaders try to maintain their totalitarian stronghold on the country, a disillusioned bureaucrat (Clive Owen) is brought back into the fold of activism by his guerrilla ex-wife (Julianne Moore). Reluctantly, he takes on the daunting task of escorting Kee (Claire-Hope Ashitey), the refugee who represents humankind's last hope for survival, out of harm's way and into the care of a mysterious organization known as The Human Project. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Charlie Hunnam, and Michael Caine co-star in this adaptation of author P.D. James's gripping 1992 novel. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, (more)
Adapted from the book Garry O'Connor, the two-part Australian TV movie Darlings of the Gods tells the story of the benighted romance between stage and film stars Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. Anthony Higgins and Mel Martin look and sound so much like the very famous characters they're playing that the effect is somewhat eerie. This highly fictionalized account charts one year in the stormy Oliver-Leigh marriage. Also appearing are Jerome Ehlers as Peter Finch, Rhys McConnochie as Ralph Richardson, and Shane Briant as Cecil Beaton. Filmed in 1989, part one of Darlings of the Gods was first presented in the US over the A&E cable service on February 21, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony Higgins, Mel Martin, (more)
Inspired by a true story, director Edward Zwick's epic World War II drama Defiance tells the tale of three Jewish Eastern European brothers (Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Bell) who narrowly escape certain death at the hands of the Nazis, subsequently vowing to avenge the deaths of their loves ones by launching a desperate battle against the forces that seek to exterminate their entire race. The year is 1941, and the setting is Nazi-occupied Poland. The Final Solution is in full effect, and the Jews of Eastern Europe are being slaughtered wholesale. Tuvia (Craig), Zus (Schreiber), and Asael (Bell) have miraculously managed to escape into the dense surrounding forest. Having played in these woods since childhood, the brothers have a distinct advantage over their adversaries, and soon decide that simply surviving is not enough. In order to make a difference, they must take action, but in order to take action they will need support. As whispers of their bravery take wind, others like them appear determined to lay their lives on the line for the cause of freedom. Tuvia has become the de facto leader of the group, but he's still somewhat reluctant to take on such a heavy responsibility and his brother Zus expresses concern that his idealistic plan will ultimately bring about the group's downfall. With winter setting in, everyone works to create a functioning community that will help them endure the frigid months that lie ahead, and Asael reluctantly finds himself caught in the crossfire of his older siblings' rivalry. Is it possible to keep faith alive in a time when the world seems devoid of humanity and survival becomes a way of life? ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, (more)
Eddie and his buddy Mick have entered their young adulthood without any plans, skills, or regular employment. They live in urban Australia, subsisting on the fringes of everything, looking for a bit of action and a bit of a good time. They fall into a job working for a mysterious, monied and very racist man, painting obnoxious slogans on factory walls. Soon, their employer lets them know that they could join the racist and a crew of mercenaries on a military adventure in Africa. However, as newbies, they must raise some money to prove their sincerity. In fact, Eddie, who doesn't look rough enough, is nearly left out in the cold altogether but gets considered for the job of cook. Now the two lads have a purpose in life. No, they're not committed to "the cause," but it looks like some real action for a change. However, raising the money for their entry fee gets them into far more trouble than they bargained for. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alex Menglet
Australian filmmaker Stavros Kazantzidis directs the dark comedy Horseplay. Con man Max Mackendrick (Marcus Graham) wants a bit of horseracing action, so he marries the snobby Alicia Coxhead (Tushka Bergen), the daughter of famous horceracer Barry Coxhead (Bill Hunter). However, Max gets eternally barred from the sport after he gets caught swapping horses. Undaunted, Max and his sex-addict sidekick Henry (Jason Donovan) come up with a plan to make a million dollars at the Melbourne Cup. He needs the money to get back at his nemesis Barry and to reunite with his needy ex-girlfriend Jade (Natalie Mendoza). He hires two crooks (Jacek Koman and Robert Menzies) for an elaborate kidnapping scheme that inevitably and quickly goes awry. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcus Graham, Tushka Bergen, (more)
A humble but beautiful secretary tires of her husband's eternal depression and embarks upon an affair with a dashing media magnate in this melodrama. The woman is at first dazzled by the man's wealth, charisma, and sexual prowess and pays no heed to the darker side appearing through the cracks of his charming exterior, but soon enough she comes to see that she is in love with a ruthless man when he has her husband killed, making it look like suicide. He is also blackmailing politicians and heartlessly buying up international businesses with no regard for anyone else but himself. Still the woman passionately loves him even though she refuses to become the traditionally submissive mistress. Unfortunately, for him, she refuses to be dumped and at one point crosses a line and insults him during a business dinner. He gets angry, throws her on the dinner table and rapes her in front of his clients. Finally the light dawns on the shattered woman--this entertainment mogul who piously appears the perfect philanthropist on screen is not a nice man. She then decides to get revenge and stop him for good. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Savage, Kerry Armstrong, (more)
- Starring:
- Izabella Miko, Mateusz Damiecki, (more)
The third film from pop-music-obsessed director Baz Luhrmann tweaks the conventions of the musical genre by mixing a period romance with anachronistic dialogue and songs in the style of his previous Romeo+Juliet (1996). Ewan McGregor stars as Christian, who leaves behind his bourgeois father during the French belle époque of the late 1890s to seek his fortunes in the bohemian underworld of Montmartre, Paris. Christian meets the absinthe- and alcohol-addicted artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), who introduces him to a world of sex, drugs, music, theater, and the scandalous dance known as the cancan, all at the Moulin Rouge, a decadent dance hall, brothel, and theater that's the brainchild of Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent). Christian also meets and falls into a tragically doomed romance with the courtesan Satine (Nicole Kidman), who becomes the star of the play he's writing, which parallels the couple's romance and utilizes rock music from a century later, including songs by Nirvana, Madonna, the Beatles, and Queen, among others. Loosely based on the opera Orpheus in the Underworld, Moulin Rouge was shown in competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, (more)
In this offbeat, romantic comedy, a young woman tries to conceal her paralyzed leg in order to get her man. Sophie is a young and creative writer. Her stories are quite sexual. One night, as she reads one of her erotic tales aloud she is overheard by Eddie, a jeweler known for his womanizing. Eddie is engaged to a forthright, demanding woman. Sophie falls in love with Eddie. He too, seems similarly attracted to her. But Sophie has a secret that may present an obstacle; she has a paralyzed leg and she fears that will turn Eddie off. Eddie had never seen her stand so he doesn't know this. Love-struck Sophie begins to spy on Ed. She gets a chance to win him after she accidently breaks her crippled leg. Telling him she injured it while skiing, the two begin a relationship. That Eddie is involved with stolen jewelry and a Russian policeman presents other obstacles to their happiness. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gia Carides, Anthony LaPaglia, (more)
Lucy is apparently very confident, and quite "forward," as the saying used to be; she has made all the moves to pick up a staid lawyer-type for sex. Once back at her apartment, she sets a video camera going to record their coupling. However, someone breaks into the place while they are having at it, and she is barely able to leave the bed and hide before her sex-partner is killed. She never sees the intruder's face herself. In the aftermath, the terrified lass finds herself with a sympathetic female state-appointed attorney (since she's the obvious suspect) and together, they try to track down the murderer. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Karvan, Catherine McClements, (more)
Longtime Australian actor Richard Roxburgh makes his directorial debut with this adaptation of Raimond Gaita's acclaimed memoir, adapted for the screen by poet Nick Drake and starring Eric Bana, Franka Potente, and Kodi Smit-McPhee. Despite their hardships in life, Romulus (Bana) and his beautiful wife, Christina (Potente), struggle to raise their son, Raimond (Smit-McPhee), to the best of their abilities. As the deeply moral Romulus struggles to make up for the absence and neglect of the boy's depressive mother, father and son build an unbreakable bond that is only strengthened with the passing of time. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eric Bana, Franka Potente, (more)
Novelist Richard Flanagan (Death of a River Guide) rewrote his screenplay for this film into his second novel, published in 1998. He also made his directorial debut with this Australian drama about European refugees who sought a new way of life in Australia. Flanagan lives in Australia's island state of Tasmania, the setting for this tale of a father seen from his daughter's viewpoint. Back in Hobart after a 20-year absence, unmarried 36-year-old Sydney resident Sonja Buloh (Kerry Fox) is pregnant and planning an abortion. The sight of her alcoholic father Bojan (Kristof Kaczmarek) recalls her childhood, and the film flashes back to show Bojan arriving from Slovenia with wife Maria (Melita Jurisic). One winter she abandons Bojan and three-year-old Sonja and vanishes into the night. Employed by Tasmania's hydroelectric company on remote corners of the island, Bojan is forced to have friends watch Sonja, but after a molestation of the eight-year-old Sonja by Picotti (Jacek Koman), Bojan begins working in Hobart to take care of her himself. He finds happiness with kind-hearted Jean (Essie Davis), owner of an apple orchard, but Sonja's objections to her father's lover, end the affair. When the bitter Bojan turns to alcohol, his drunkenness eventually prompts the teenage Sonja to flee. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kerry Fox, Rosie Flanagan, (more)
Guy (Richard Roxburgh), a lonely bachelor, meets the woman of his dreams in Lizzie (Cate Blanchett), an impossibly beautiful doctor with elegance, style, and sophistication. Their six-week courtship leads to marriage, and the wedding is a big one, with 100 guests and a posh reception that never ends. It's during the reception that Guy begins to have flashbacks -- and second thoughts -- about Jenny (Frances O'Connor), the free-spirited woman who was his first love and who is the opposite of Lizzie. The more he thinks about warm and fun-loving Jenny, the more he sees Lizzie as cold and remote. Although it's a little late in the game to be getting cold feet, that's exactly what Guy has.
~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Roxburgh, Cate Blanchett, (more)
This intellectual, witty Australian drama offers an intriguingly sophisticated look into adultery. Too say too much about this plot would give away the secrets and surprises that gradually unfold, so what follows is the barest sketch. The story features two couples from Melbourne (both played by the same actors) whose lives and romantic troubles seem to overlap or perhaps intertwine in unexpected ways. University lecturer Christopher and his wife Sorrel comprise the main couple. A recent trip to Europe seems to have brought their marriage close to ruins. Avery and Gillian also experience marital turmoil when Avery gets involved with an older French seductress, Catherine. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide



















