Helen Buday Movies
Australian lead actress Helen Buday has appeared onscreen from 1985. ~ Rovi
Rolf de Heer's psychological thriller Alexandra's Project captures a turning point in a very unhappy marriage. Steve (Gary Sweet) and Alexandra (Helen Buday) have two children and numerous grievances against each other. After a birthday in which Steve received a birthday cake and a raise at his job, Steve arrives home to find his family is gone and a videotape awaiting his viewing. On the tape, Alexandra lists all of her frustrations and begins to strip for the camera. She then reveals that she suffers from breast cancer. Before the now emotionally reeling Steve can recover, he learns that Alexandra has paid to have the neighbor he hates change the locks in the house. Steve is trapped inside with little to do but think about what he has done to his wife, and his only company is the video that continues to provide disturbing information. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gary Sweet, Helen Buday, (more)
- 1992
Jazz great Miles Davis makes his acting debut and farewell playing an inspirational jazz trumpeter in this lively drama that centers on a young Australian country boy who dreams of becoming just like him. Unfortunately, some dreams are never realized, and the boy grows up to become a dingo trapper with a wife and nearly grown children. As his latest birthday inexorably approaches, he begins suffering a mid-life crisis. The fellow had been playing jazz trumpet with his band, the "Dingo Dusters" for many years. They came up with a unique form of jazz that was popular in their area, but he still cannot escape his disappointment about never playing music in Paris. For many years, he has been writing to Cross, who has never replied, and saving up his pennies for a trip to the City of Light, where Cross lives. But times are hard and money is tight. His devoted wife, seeing her husband is seriously depressed, writes a letter to Cross' agent. The agent's wife, who, knowing that Billy would never listen or respond, has secretly saved all of the Australian's letters and tapes. When she reads the letter, she decides to forward it through. Billy is touched and then asks to hear the demos. In the end, it becomes a touching dream-come-true for the hard-working Australian who somehow manages to discover that he already has the best of both worlds. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Miles Davis, Colin Friels, (more)
- 1986
Christina Stead's novel For Love Alone was a best-seller in Australia, but remains essentially unknown to the outside world. The same can be said for this 1986 film version, likewise a homegrown Australian product. Set in the 1930s, the film stars Helen Buhay as a starry-eyed young girl chafing under the oppressive attitudes of society in general and her father in particular. She kicks over the traces to enter into a romance with college Latin professor Hugo Weaving. Still not realizing that Weaving considers her a pleasant diversion and nothing more, Helen nearly misses out on a chance for happiness with liberal-minded banker Sam Neill. Once she's settled down with Neill, the idealistic Buhay is smitten by another aesthete, poet Huw Williams. Neill encourages this affair, hoping that Buhay will eventually realize that there's more to true love than mere sexual impulsiveness. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Helen Buday, Sam Neill, (more)
About 15 years after the events of Mad Max 2, nuclear war has finally destroyed what little was left of civilization. Grizzled and older, former cop Max (Mel Gibson) roams the Australian desert in a camel-drawn vehicle -- until father-and-son thieves Jebediah Sr. (Bruce Spence) and Jr. (Adam Cockburn) use their jury-rigged airplane to steal his possessions and means of transportation. Max soon winds up in Bartertown, a cesspool of post-apocalyptic capitalism powered by methane-rich pig manure and overseen by two competing overlords, Aunty Entity (Tina Turner) and Master (Angelo Rossitto), a crafty midget who rides around on the back of his hulking underling, Blaster (Paul Larsson). Seeking to re-equip himself, Max strikes a deal with the haughty Aunty to kill Blaster in ritualized combat inside Thunderdome, a giant jungle gym where Bartertown's conflicts are played out in a postmodern update of blood and circuses. Although Max manages to fell the mighty Blaster, he refuses to kill him after realizing the brute is actually a retarded boy. Aunty's henchmen murder Blaster nonetheless, then punish Max for violating the law that "Two men enter, one man leaves." Lashed to the back of a hapless pack animal and sent out into a sandstorm, a near-death Max is rescued by a band of tribal children and teens. The descendants of the victims of an airplane crash, the kids inhabit a lush valley and wait for the day when Captain Walker, the plane's pilot, will return to lead them back to civilization. Some of the children, refusing to believe that Max isn't Walker and that the glorious cities of their mythology no longer exist, set off in search of civilization on their own. Max and three tribe members must then rescue their friends from Bordertown and the clutches of Aunty Entity -- a quest that ends in a lengthy desert chase sequence that echoes the first two Mad Max films. Spence also appeared in Mad Max 2 in a different role, that of the Gyro Captain. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Mel Gibson, Tina Turner, (more)
