Stephen Rae Movies
The formative years of celebrated Australian feminist Jill Ker-Conway are recounted in the two-hour TV biopic The Road From Coorain. Growing up in the Outback of New South Wales in the 1930s, Jill chafes under the domination of her mother, Eve (Juliet Stevenson), a prickly relationship that becomes even more so after the death of Jill's father. Though she grows wealthy from various investments, Eve becomes a bitter alcoholic, all but forcing Jill to go out into the world and stand on her own two feet. Drawn into the Australian intellectual renaissance of the 1940s, Jill finds her feminist values challenged when she falls in love with rough-hewn American mining engineer, Alec (Tim Guinee). First telecast in Australia on March 3, 2002, The Road From Coorain was seen in America as an episode of the PBS anthology Masterpiece Theatre on May 13, of that same year. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Juliet Stevenson
- 1998
The thriller A Difficult Woman features Caroline Goodall as Anne, a pathologist for a multinational drug corporation. Her good life takes a turn for the worse after her best friend is killed. Anne decides she must solve the mystery of the murder and starts applying her scientific skills to the evidence. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- 1997
In her feature film directorial debut, Samantha Lang offers a subtle and moving psychological portrait of a female friendship and the effects of an unexpected tragedy upon it. Dowdy, tired, middle-aged and sexually frustrated Hester Harper and free-spirited, young, beautiful dancer Katherine are an unlikely pair of friends, but somehow the relationship works. In the prologue the two are seen at a local community dance. Katherine is having too much fun dancing crazily by herself in front of everyone. Hester, who is lame, watches her silently. Tired, she decides it's time to leave and must wrest Katherine away from the crowd. Katherine ignores Hester's protestations and insists on driving the narrow, winding road home. Unfortunately, Katherine isn't paying attention, disaster strikes and the screen goes black. After the credits, the story shows how Katherine and Hester became friends and then roommates. Eventually the story jumps past the beginning incident to chronicle the aftermath of the accident which left a stranger dead. The women decide to dispose of the body in a deep, dry well near their cottage. They return home and discover that someone has stolen the small fortune they'd been saving. Could the thief be the man in the well? While wrestling with the logistics of whether they can or should get him out, cracks appear in their friendship that are only worsened when the two find themselves plagued by supernatural occurrences. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
Though not quite a western, this gripping Australian drama contains similar themes as it chronicles the unending struggle between native aborigines and ever-encroaching Europeans. Set in the arid red-rock desert west of Alice Springs, a region called Dead Heart by the whites and hailed as a sacred place by the aborigines, the story centers on the travails of Ray Lorkin (Bryan Brown) the local lawman who sees that Australian laws are obeyed in the tiny village of Wala Wala where he is one of only seven whites. The story itself unfolds via flashback as told by the Aboriginal village elder Poppy. The trouble begins in the town jail when an Aboriginal prisoner is discovered dead. Believing the hanging to be murder, the town tribesmen demand revenge. Lorkin, while not fully understanding aboriginal customs, has always tried to remain tolerant and respectful of their ways and so allows his deputy, Billy, to be ritually wounded during a ceremony of vengeance. More trouble brews when Aborigine bootlegger Ray Tony takes the schoolteacher's bored wife Kay out to a particularly sacred area for an illicit tryst. Later, Kate finds Tony dead. Strangely, his body shows no signs of violence. Despite the lacking evidence, Lorkin suspects a murder and demands justice. His investigation leads him down a dangerous, winding path that culminates in a tense and surprising manner. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bryan Brown, Ernie Dingo, (more)
Low-down and earthy, this Australian comedy, the sophomore effort from director David Caesar, tells the tale of two jobless Sydney slackers who try to become bank robbers. Though they could be out looking hard for work, Kev and Mick prefer to wile their days away drinking beer and watching crime dramas on television. They only show motivation when they run out of suds, though Kev does occasionally take time have sex with his girlfriend Betty on the living room couch in between shows. Mick is attracted to Lani, the pretty virgin who works in their favorite drive-through liquor store. It doesn't take long for Mick to steal Lani away from her older brother's overprotective eye and become her lover. Shortly thereafter Mick and Kev, feeling they have learned all they can from the telly, begin plotting their first heist. Unfortunately, a pair of robbers dressed as clowns rob the boys' intended bank before they do and this brings in a pair of detectives. Throw in the obstacles presented by the neighborhood crime lord, and the stage is set for the story's darkly humorous conclusion. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- 1995
- R
In this Australian thriller set in Queensland, a writer returns from LA to Michelton, his tiny hometown, to attend the funeral of his best friend, and finds himself involved in a manhunt for a deranged serial killer. It all begins at the funeral when Matt Curran sees the sister of Andy, his late friend. Cathy, who is also an ex-lover of Matt's, and who doesn't believe the official report that Andy committed suicide. She believes that he was murdered because Andy knew that the courts convicted the wrong man for the killings of several young men. Matt is intrigued and decides to look for the truth. He is opposed by Chris, the town cop who is jealous because his wife Sandra had once loved the writer. Matt is not deterred and continues looking. Soon he finds himself following a baffling trail of clues, consisting of obscure biblical references, and body parts from the slain women. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Judd Nelson, Dee Smart, (more)
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