Chris Haywood Movies

Critically lauded Australian author Julia Leigh makes the leap to feature films as the writer/director of this haunting and erotic take on the Sleeping Beauty legend. Beautiful college student Lucy (Emily Browning) has just begun dabbling in sex work when she accepts an interview with Clara (Rachael Blake), the proprietor of an elegant prostitution business which caters to a wealthy clientele. Accepting the opportunity with the understanding that the job is to be handled with the utmost discretion, Lucy's unconventional duty is to consume a sleeping potion that will render her completely unconscious, at which time the clients are permitted to enter her chamber and indulge their prurient desires. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A criminal looking to go straight finds an unusual obstacle in his path in this crime thriller from Australia. Jack Barrett (Colin Friels) is a hired killer who has spent years snuffing out the lives of strangers at the behest of the Sydney Mafia. Jack has lost his taste for violence and wants to get out of the game, but while trying to sell his gun collection at a pawn shop, Jack makes the acquaintance of Billie Finn (Bojana Novakovic). Billie is a university student who is writing her master's thesis on organized crime, and when she guesses what Jack does for a living, she becomes a near-constant presence in his life, wanting to know everything about murder for profit and the men who pay him for his talent. While Jack is initially wary, he develops a soft spot for the nervy student, and he tells her a bit about what she wants to know. However, Jack's superiors soon get wind of his new friend and her project, and they begin to suspect she's learned more than they'd like, and they assign Jack a final hit -- kill Billie. Solo was written and directed by Morgan O'Neill, who won the assignment as part of a screenwriting contest sponsored by Miramax Pictures and Live Planet. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

24 star Kiefer Sutherland stars as celebrated French painter Paul Gauguin in director Mario Andreacchio's slice of life biopic. A highly successful Paris stockbroker, Gaugin decides to drop out of the rat race in favor of developing his self-taught painting skills. Despite his determination to use primitivism as a means to revolutionizing the world of modern art, Gauguin soon spirals down a disastrous drain of financial ruin. Realizing that a change of scenery is in order if he is to rekindle his creativity, the devoted artist travels to the South Seas in order to realize his true potential on the canvas. Nastassja Kinski co-stars in a fascinating look at one of the 19th Century's most celebrated artists. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Mort S. Seben's Subterano stars Alex Dimitriades as Conrad, an escaped convict who becomes the central figure in a brutal underground game that shares the same name as the title of the film. He must learn the rules of the game and help others stay alive, or else he will be killed by the game's deadly robots. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

Australian director Bill Bennett (Kiss or Kill) adds broad slapstick comedy to his repertoire with this rags-to-riches tale of luck and greed. The Nugget follows three pals whose occasional searches for gold in the outback are little more than an inane hobby. That is, until a sign from above directs them to an actual reserve of the precious metal hidden in the hills. Overcome with avarice, the trio bickers over how to split up the booty, all the while not noticing that two other enterprising men are waiting in the wings to steal their find. The Nugget stars future Hulk actor Eric Bana in a leading role. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi

Coma meets Heathers in this Australian black comedy about crime, revenge, and kidney thieves. Brad (Matt Day) and Gregor (Jason Barry) are eager med students struggling to make ends meet. Thanks to government cutbacks, they are forced to share a cockroach-infested one-bedroom apartment, which they rent from their odious landlord (Reg Evans), and they're even forced to share the same bed (an inflatable sex doll in a nurse's uniform divides the mattress and reasserts their nervous heterosexuality). Their living situation is made even worse by their obnoxious neighbors; one guy who lives upstairs (Robert Carlton) engages in loud parties and noisy lovemaking at all hours of the night while another guy's car alarm constantly goes off. Unable to sleep or eat, much less study, the two are on the brink of giving up their studies. To make matters even worse, they are up to their stethoscopes in debt to gangster/western-enthusiast George Roy Rogers (Chris Haywood). Though his penchant for cheesy western memorabilia and silly hats seems a bit daft, he is deadly serious about collecting, and his two muscle-bound thugs Dale and Trigger are hell-bent on enforcing the debt. Brad and Gregor's luck changes when they learn of a noted surgeon, Marcus Browning (Rod Mullinar), who is willing to pay top dollar for organs, just before a sharply-dressed yuppie takes a flying leap and splatter-lands at their feet. Thinking quickly, Brad yanks out a kidney, crams it in an ice cream carton, and carries it over to Browning. Counting their cash, they realize that they have happened upon a neat little way of getting out of the red. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

Lovers in Belgium during WWII, Claire (Julia Blake) and Andreas (Charles Tingwell) are shocked to discover that, after a 45-year separation, they are neighbors in the same Melbourne neighborhood. Andreas has been a widower for 30 years, while Claire is happily though not passionately married to John (Terry Norris), whom she hasn't slept with for two decades. Andreas and Claire resume their heady sexual relationship, much to the disapproval of their loved ones. Director Paul Cox cuts between footage of the couple in the present and the past, examining how they have and haven't changed over the years, and the bond that continues to keep them together. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi

Based on the true story of a priest who risked his life in order to help people no one else would touch (a wager he would eventually lose), Father Damien stars David Wenham as the titular Belgian saint. In 1872, Damien, a young Catholic priest serving as a missionary near Hawaii, volunteers to spend three months working in a colony for victims of leprosy on the island of Molokai. When he arrives, he discovers the lepers have been herded to a barely inhabitable part of the island where they're treated like animals. Damien is shocked, and makes it his crusade to improve the lives of the lepers, planting trees to help buffer the island's strong winds and building huts to house the sicker members of the tribe. Damien also concerns himself with their spiritual needs, restoring a sense of dignity and self-respect among the diseased and urging them away from drinking, sex, and other sinful behavior. At first, Damien's pleas to the mainland for medicine, supplies, and medical help fall on deaf ears, but soon the press picks up on Damien's story -- which only angers the Hawaiian government, who would prefer the plight of the lepers be forgotten. Damien is destined to spend the last years of his life on Molokai when he contacts the disease himself, working to ease the pain of his fellow victims to his last breath. Father Damien boasts a star-studded supporting cast, including Sam Neill, Peter O'Toole, Leo McKern, Kris Kristofferson, and Derek Jacobi. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The Australian coastal community of Blackrock goes into an uproar after the badly beaten, gang-raped corpse of a 15-year-old girl is discovered after an all-night beach party goes out of control. As the moral outrage heats up, the sole witness to the crime, 17-year-old surfer Jared Kirby (who organized the shindig to celebrate the return of surfing guru Ricko) is left with the wrenching decision whether or not to rat on his friends. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The wonderful performances of three developmentally challenged teenage actors placed House Gang several cuts above the usual Australian sitcom. The plot got under way when builder Mike Wilson (Chris Haywood) went bankrupt, forcing him to give up ownership of his house. With nowhere else to go, Mike and his contentious 15-year-old daughter Chloe (Jocelyn Rosen) decided to move in with their tenants: a trio of handicapped young adults named Belinda (Ruth Cromer), Trevor (Saxon Graham), and Robert (Chris Greenwood), and their special-ed teacher Jack (Jeanette Cronin), who had an iconoclastic streak a mile wide and who loved motorbike racing. At first appalled by their new roommates, the Wilsons soon discovered that they had a lot to learn from the industrious, well-adjusted Belinda, Trev, and Robert, who in many ways were the cleverest and most resourceful characters on the show. Created by Diana Emry, Gaby Mason, and Craig Pearce, the 12 episodes of House Gang were originally telecast in Australia from 1996 to 1998. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The true story of a gifted Australian piano prodigy, this biographical drama was nominated for seven Oscars, with actor Geoffrey Rush winning for Best Actor. Rush stars as David Helfgott, a pianist with a history of mental problems. As a fragile boy genius at math, chess, and piano, David is driven hard by his overbearing father (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a tyrant who forbids him to accept a scholarship offered by the great violinist Isaac Stern. Although he studies briefly in London under tutor Cecil Parks (John Gielgud), David has a nervous breakdown after performing Rachmaninoff's daunting "Piano Concerto No. 3" (known as the "Rach 3"). Years later, the adult David keeps up a steady patter of nervous stammering at all times and has been reduced to playing in a bar. Through a friend, he meets astrologer Gillian (Lynn Redgrave), and falls in love with her. With Gillian's help, David embarks down the road to regained fame and mastery of the "Rach 3." The international popularity of Shine caused a sensation leading to a musical tour for Helfgott, whose performances were less adroit than many audiences expected, sparking criticism that writer-director Scott Hicks had exaggerated his subject's talent for dramatic purposes. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi