Gil Brealey Movies

The Opera Australia mounted this lavish production of Giuseppe Verdi's 1842 opera Nabucco, starring Elizabeth Connell, Bruce Martin and Jonathan Summers. The Australian Opera Chorus and The State Orchestra of Victoria, the latter under the direction of Carlo Felice Cillario, lend added musical accompaniment. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The opera Don Giovanni - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's dark tale of the consummate seducer who meets his own grisly end via a ghost's revenge - receives a startling interpretation in this 1991 production by the Opera Australia. As co-directed by Lindy Hume and Peter Butler, this version stars Lisa Gasteen, David Hobson, Fiona Janes, and Gillian Sullivan, with added musical support by the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra and the Australian Opera Chorus. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

This emotional true story is about Annie O'Farrell (Tina Arhondis -- who suffered brain damage at birth and as a result was later institutionalized with other children like herself, physically unable to mature past the age of 8 or 9, even though in chronological years they are much older. When therapist Jessica Hathaway (Angela Punch McGregor meets Annie for the first time, her interactions with the girl tell her that she has been misdiagnosed. Convinced that Annie's mind is functioning perfectly well, Jessica runs up against solid opposition from Annie's parents and has to bide her time until the girl reaches the age of 18. At that point, Jessica obtains an injunction to get Annie released from the home -- and begins her own session of therapy. Due to the non-fictional content of the film, the disagreements between Jessica and Annie's parents are sidelined, and, as in many other films of this type, the unusual court battles and subsequent change in the disabled patient are dramatic but not in keeping with the day-to-day reality of patients and clinical staff working to make small steps towards progress -- with never a chance for any miraculous recovery in the vast majority of cases. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The eponymous Dusty is an appropriately named dingo, or wild dog. Roaming the fertile fields of Australia, Dusty is captured as a puppy. Though dingoes are normally averse to human companionship, Dusty attaches himself to an old, worn-out shepherd, played by Bill Kerr. The dog gives Kerr a reason for living, and vice versa. Be sure to have plenty of Kleenex handy for some of the mistier passages of Dusty. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Director Ken Hamman's breakthrough historical drama was the first Australian film of the 1970s to gain international acclaim, paving the way for the Australian New Wave and the success of movies such as The Last Wave and Breaker Morant. Sunday Too Far Away is a story about the struggles of itinerant sheep shearers in the Outback in the 1950s. Jack Thompson won an Australian Best Actor prize for his role as Foley, a hard-drinking, hard-working shearer who is the best at his profession. When local landowners try to drive away the sheep herders, Foley leads a strike to establish their right to exist and live off the land. The dispute turns violent as the landowners retaliate, and Foley struggles to maintain his supremacy. Many scenes were shot in the same shearing barn used in the 1960 British-Australian hit The Sundowners, which was about an Irish sheepherder who emigrates to Australia. The title comes from a traditional song of complaint sung by sheep shearers' wives. The film became a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi