John Maynard Movies
- 2009
In the aftermath of the shooting of five Australian journalists in East Timor, a curious sixth named Roger East (Anthony LaPaglia) is convinced by charismatic acquaintance Jose Romas-Horta, a man who would prove to have a bright and influential future, to investigate the incident. Balibo is a political thriller and true-crime story based on 1975's Balibo Five executions and an ensuing 30-year cover-up. ~ Jonathan Frey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Oscar Isaac, (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)
A young man fascinated with the workings of the world of banking forms an alliance with an unscrupulous corporate predator in this drama. Jim Doyle (David Wenham) developed an interest in finance while he was a young boy growing up in a small Australian town, and as an adult he and his partners have developed BTSE (Bank Training Simulation Experiment), a sophisticated computer program that can anticipate the ups and downs of the world's money markets. Jim's program attracts the interest of Simon O'Riley (Anthony LaPaglia), the head of a major Aussie financial services corporation, Centabank; O'Riley is looking to cut costs and increase profits, and he's convinced BTSE can help him do just that. However, O'Riley has other, more aggressive ways of boosting his bottom line; Centabank has been shutting down small-town branch offices that have been faithfully serving customers for decades, and has developed a new enthusiasm for foreclosing on loans from smaller customers having trouble making ends meet. Two such customers are Wayne and Diane Davis (Steve Rodgers and Mandy McElhinney), who obtained a loan to start their own business building houseboats; when the local economy went into a nosedive, the Davises found themselves under the thumb of Centabank, and the bank's hounding of the couple led to an unfortunate accident that took the life of their young son. Determined to make Centabank pay for their son's death, Wayne takes on the corporation with the help of Stephen (Mitchell Buell), an activist lawyer. Jim, meanwhile, becomes romantically involved with Michelle (Sibylla Budd), a Centabank employee, and through her gets a clearer idea of just what O'Riley is trying to do. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Wenham, Anthony LaPaglia, (more)
A female detective discovers the dark side of the world of contemporary literature in this unusual thriller from Australia. Mickey (Abbie Cornish) is a brash young female poet who is gaining a potent reputation for her powerful verse about love and sex. When she suddenly disappears, private detective Jill Fitzpatrick (Susie Porter) is hired to help find her. Jill doesn't know much about poetry, so she starts her investigation by tracking down Mickey's teacher and mentor, Diana (Kelly McGillis), to learn more about Mickey and the circles in which she traveled. Jill is a lesbian, and quickly finds herself strongly attracted to Diana; though Diana is married to Nick (Marton Csokas), she finds herself equally infatuated with Jill, and the two are soon having an affair. When Mickey is found murdered, her parents ask Jill to step up the investigation, and Jill digs deeper into the facts of Mickey's life -- learning the young woman was willing to sleep with nearly anyone who could advance her career. She also discovers that the two older male poets with whom Mickey had become involved are not at all eager to answer questions about her disappearance. The Monkey's Mask is based on a mystery novel written in verse form by Dorothy Porter; the novel became an international bestseller and the biggest-selling book of poetry published in Australia since World War II . ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Susie Porter, Kelly McGillis, (more)
- 1998
- R
This Australian drama, following events during the 24 hours prior to a horrible (but unseen) crime, is adapted from the award-winning 1991 Gordon Graham play, which was inspired by the real-life rape-murder of a nurse in Sydney, Australia. After serving time for an assault on a liquor-store owner, troubled Brett Sprague (David Wenham, repeating the role he created onstage) is released from prison and returns home to his brothers, mother, and girlfriend. As Brett begins to drink his way through the day, his anger and suspicions turn into a psychopathic rage. Shown at the 1998 Berlin Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Wenham, Toni Collette, (more)
- 1996
This thoughtful Australian-produced drama centers upon the experiences of the Chans, a Hong Kong family who emigrates to Sydney Australia one year before Mainland China is to take over the island city. Ma and Pa Chan choose to move to Australia with their two adolescent sons because that is where Bing, their second daughter lives with her husband. Their eldest daughter Yen lives in Munich with her German husband. Their eldest son, Gar Min (the family playboy) must remain in Hong Kong until his immigration papers clear. The Chan's arrive at Bing's home and find it cold, ultra-safe and utterly uninviting. Bing wants to fit in to Aussie society quickly and insists that her younger brothers speak English only. She also makes very sure her parents understand how different and dangerous Australia, with it's deadly spiders and vicious dogs, can be. Though the boys quickly find friends and a place in school, Ma and Pa Chan seem disoriented. Things do not improve when Yen and then Gar Min come visiting with all of their many problems. The story is filmed in Cantonese with English subtitles. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
- NR
Mistaken identity provides the basis for this Australian screwball transvestite comedy. The trouble begins in the rural town of Worondilla in the sugar cane district of northern Australia. The town is preparing for its annual Sugar Week celebrations. This year an all-girl band is being brought in. Three of the five members are lesbians. When the band leader Courtney learns that her guitarist, Jo, has had sex with a local lothario, who also bedded lead singer, Angie, Jo is out of a job, and the band is without a guitar. They begin advertising. At the same time, an angry wife, Irene, leaves her obnoxious husband and town barber, Barry, after he pawns her piano. Barry is crazy about Elvis and loves singing his songs at the local tavern with his sons. The sons are terribly upset that their mother has left them and do not know that she is secretly staying at the same hotel as the band. When her son Mick, an effeminate looking fellow, sees the band's ad, he dresses up as a female and applies for the job. He will spend the money he earned to get his mother's piano back. More trouble ensues when Angie,who thinks of herself as straight, falls in love with the new guitarist, "Michelle." ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Toni Pearen, David F. Price, (more)
A group of six British youths must deal with the accidental death of one of their members during a weekend outing in this British drama. The main character is Neil who goes to meet his buddies at a country house to make a film. Included in the group are Rose, his girlfriend, Zita, a strong, young black woman, Giles who is into psychopaths, Lance and his girlfriend Charlotte, and finally Lionel who wants this film to be his calling card into the world of cinema. Things are fine until, after dropping some acid, Neil and Lance accidentally run over Lionel on their way to get cigarettes. The group decides to bury the body in the forest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Oliver Milburn, Nick Patrick, (more)
A genetics experiment gone wrong spawns a reptilian mutant who soon escapes and begins hunting humans for their spinal fluid. Will a newspaper reporter and security chief stop the beast before it mates with a female and offs the rest of humanity? ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
New Zealand poet Janet Frame is the subject of Jane Campion's biographical drama, which presents a poetically evocative look at the authoress' turbulent life. The film begins with a look at Frame's childhood, showing her as a bright but odd-looking, emotionally fragile young girl with a knack for writing. Frame faces great difficulty in adapting to the conventional rural life around her, and her social awkwardness only worsens as she grows older. After she fails in her attempt to become a schoolteacher due to an intense panic attack, she is subject to a psychiatric evaluation and shamefully misdiagnosed as a schizophrenic. Frame is subsequently committed to a mental institution, where she suffers years of unnecessary shock treatments and other horrors. Her salvation comes through her writings, however, which attract the attention of a renowned author who arranges her release. While the nightmare of Frame's institutionalization is presented with great sensitivity and power, Campion and screenwriter Laura Jones, to their credit, refuse to simplify her story to this one pivotal event. Instead, they pay equal attention to Frame's subsequent life, as she slowly adjusts life in the outside world, experiencing literary success and her first romance. Expressive visuals add immeasurably to the total effect, while Kerry Fox's superb performance creates a truly affecting portrait of Frame. Impressively, the film was originally made as a mini-series for New Zealand television, and slightly reedited for a later theatrical release. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kerry Fox, Alexia Keogh, (more)
New Zealand-born filmmaker Jane Campion directs the darkly humorous family drama Sweetie. Thin and mousy Kay (Karen Colson) works in a factory and lives a dreary existence with her well-meaning boyfriend, Louis (Tom Lycos). One day, her sister Dawn (Genevieve Lemon) arrives with her so-called manager, Bob (Michael Lake). Nicknamed Sweetie, Dawn is everything Kay is not: boisterous, impulsive, and overweight. Kay is consumed with uptight phobias, while Dawn hangs on to her unrealistic childhood dreams of show business. Meanwhile, their parents, Gordon (Jon Darling) and Flo (Dorothy Barry), are involved in a strange separation. Kay, Louis, and Gordon trick Dawn so they can visit Flo at a ranch in the Australian outback. Everyone gets together back at the family home where Dawn pulls an immature stunt, exposing the psychological realities of the situation. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Genevieve Lemon, Karen Colston, (more)
- 1988
- PG
This modest Australian fantasy stars Hamish McFarlane as a young 14th Century boy with acute psychic powers. During the period of the Black Death, Hamish believes that he can rescue his fellow villagers by leading them into an abandoned mine. The fugitives tunnel their way through the darkness and emerge on the other side--into a bustling New Zealand metropolis in the year 1988. The phenomenon is seen from the point of view of the "aliens," to whom every modern convenience and invention is a miracle comparable to the Resurrection. The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey successfully creates and sustains its own logic, framing the story in the linear form of an ancient legend, and never treating the bedazzled time-travellers in a condescending manner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Lyons, Chris Haywood, (more)
- 1984
Vincent Ward directed and co-wrote this stately coming-of-age film that features a subtly nuanced performance from twelve-year-old Fiona Kay. Toss (Kay) is a sweet girl on the verge of adolescence, who lives on a sheep farm with her father in the rolling hills of New Zealand. When her father dies in a tragic accident, Toss' mother Elizabeth (Penelope Stewart) puts the farm up for sale. But her grandfather (Bill Kerr) wants to keep the farm in business and enlists the hunter Ethan (Frank Whitten) to help get the farm back into functioning shape. At first Ethan and Elizabeth react to each other's presence with restrained hostility, but their nearness to each other eventually erupts into a passionate love affair. Through all of this, Toss tries to deal with the up-front passions of the two adults as she also adjusts to her coming womanhood. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Penelope Stewart, Frank Whitten, (more)
- 1983
In this human drama, five passengers are held in isolation on a remote island in New Zealand to find out if any are carrying the cholera bacteria. They rebel and escape, unintentionally heading into the mountains. Among them are Eric (Tom Brennan) an American businessman, Keith (Roy Billing) a New Zealander, and Thomas (Ctibor Turba) a man from central Europe. After several days, the group is rescued by the somewhat introverted Victor (Nigel Davenport) a geologist studying volcanoes, a photographer, and a woman writer who is doing a book on Victor. The drama heads into a series of potential eruptions once it is revealed that Eric is in the weapons business, and Turba is a hired assassin with Eric as his target. Turba's animosity grows as he is cheated out of his intended victim and he is goaded beyond endurance by another member of the group. The various actors in this drama manage to evoke a range of depth in their characters that indicate there are several kinds of "strata" involved in this story. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nigel Davenport, John Banas, (more)
- 1978
Filmed in New Zealand, Skin Deep is a sharp-eyed look at how ethics evaporate when money flies in the window. A small-town booster is ever on the prowl for means of bringing progress to his sedentary community. His latest plan is to import a big-city masseuse and set up a profitable massage parlor. The city elders are aghast, but they are willing to swallow their shock when the town's economy begins accelerating. This 1978 Skin Deep should not be confused with the 1989 Blake Edwards comedy of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim MacFarlane, Ken Blackburn, (more)
