Leone Carmen Movies
- 2004
A man on the edge of collapse falls into a well of despair in this psychological drama from Australia. Tom White (Colin Friels) is an architect who is emotionally reaching the end of his rope. Edgy, confused, and losing touch with reality, White finds himself obsessively working on a project from which he was removed weeks before, and his hands shake so badly he can barely hold a pencil. Tom's superiors suggest he should spend a few days away from the office to regain his bearing, but instead of returning home to his wife (Rachael Blake) and children, he goes on a bender. After getting beaten in a fist fight, he wanders into a gay club and strikes up a conversation with a hustler named Matt (Dan Spielman). Matt lets Tom stay at his flat for a few days before Tom moves on and drifts into an affair with Christine (Loene Carmen), who runs a carnival-sideshow shooting gallery. Tom sinks deeper and deeper into hopelessness and depression, and eventually finds himself living on the streets and running with Jet (Jarryd Jinks), a troubled teenager who blots out his misery by sniffing glue. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Praise is a love story about a man and a woman, both of whom have low self-esteem, and another woman from the man's past. Obsessive Cynthia suffers from a skin disorder and an insatiable desire for men. She sees something special in Gordon, who is twenty-five, unemployed, a chain smoker and asthmatic. She invites him to a party where he is the only guest. After much alcohol, grass, Scrabble, and conversation, they make love. But just as Gordon is ready to lose himself in this new experience, his old love Rachel appears. His body now belongs to Cynthia, but Rachel still has his soul. In the meantime, Gordon's lungs are collapsing. In his first film, Australian director John J. Curran examines human frailties with insight. Praise was screened as part of the Panorama section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Fenton, Sacha Horler, (more)
- 1987
- PG13
The life of a teen in an isolated small town is the subject of Australian writer/director John Duigan's film, set in 1962 in New South Wales. Duigan's coming-of-age story has many familiar elements -- Danny Embling (Noah Taylor) discovers his sexual attraction to a childhood playmate (Leone Carmen as Freya), he undergoes the taunts of bullies at his school, rages against the narrow-minded views of his parents and many of the townspeople, and comes under the influence of a sympathetic adult (Bruce Spence as Jonah, a would-be writer who lives in an abandoned railroad car). The twist is that Danny's rival for Freya's affections, Trevor (Ben Mendelsohn), is a Jewish jock who becomes Danny's friend by standing up to the bullies and treating Freya with more respect than the other boys do. Duigan, who had been making films in Australia since the mid-'70s, broke through to U.S. audiences with this film and its sequel, Flirting, in which Noah Taylor reprises the lead role. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi
- Starring:
- Noah Taylor, Leone Carmen, (more)
