The first words that come to mind when describing the best Australian films of 2017 are “new talent”. Of the 10 titles ranked below – comprising, in my opinion, the year’s greatest homegrown achievements in cinema – five are from first-time feature film-makers, giving this year’s list a kick of freshness and spark.
Another description could be “creepy”. This year has been widely considered a vintage year for horror films worldwide. Not wanting to feel alone, possibly in the dark with a psycho killer stomping around outside, Australian film-makers appear to have received the memo, putting forward a bunch of squeamishly effective scary movies.
Eligibility for this list is mostly determined by release date according to local theatrical distribution. So, for example, Sweet Country, which premiered locally at this year’s Adelaide film festival, will appear on next year’s list as it arrives in cinemas 25 January. One title, Ellipsis, played at the major Sydney and Melbourne film festivals, with no theatrical release that I am aware of – but I could not bear to omit it.
10. Mountain
Following her outstanding 2015 documentary, Sherpa, film-maker Jennifer Peedom returns to high altitude for Mountain, the Willem Dafoe-narrated exploration of why humans climb mountains and what they mean to us. In another context, lines like “mountains humble the human instinct” and “are so much more than a challenge” might have sounded like overkill. In this visually breathtaking film, they befit the awe-inspiring environments captured.
9. Whiteley
The director James Bogle’s visually splashy documentary about the late Brett Whiteley, arguably the leader of the avant-garde art movement in Australia, focuses on the expected talking points, ie sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. It also paints a powerful picture of genius and obsession going hand-in-hand. Hardly an original message but utterly relevant in any discussion of Whiteley’s extraordinary art and career.
8. Killing Ground
If the words “Deliverance down under” float your boat, the writer/director Damien Power’s camp site thriller is a must-watch. A couple (Harriet Dyer and Ian Meadows) venture to a secluded location for New Year’s Eve. They are disappointed to discover they are not the only ones there – though that disappointment soon gives way to far more distressing emotions. The film’s realism is airtight, the tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. Not for the faint-hearted, Power’s film is confronting but beautifully made.
7. Better Watch Out
This Australian-US co-production plays like a bizarro fusion of Home Alone, Funny Games and Last House on the Left. Beginning as a standard home invasion horror pic, with a babysitter (Olivia DeJonge) looking after a couple of young teens (Levi Miller and Ed Oxenbould) the film audaciously morphs into something quite different. One best suited to fans of scary, stabby-stabby movies, perhaps, though there’s no denying the artistry involved – including faultless performances and a cheeky, pressure-packed screenplay from director Chris Peckover and co-writer Zack Kahn.
6. David Stratton: A Cinematic Life
It was a terrible year for arts criticism in Australia, with many jobs lost and the ABC scrapping programs such as Good Game and The Book Club. A slither of sunshine came with the release of the director Sally Aitken’s David Stratton: A Cinematic Life, which explores two key areas: the career of the titular veteran critic and several key themes in (mostly modern) Australian cinema. The film (which aired on ABC as an expanded, three episode miniseries) is unexpectedly touching. Also, like Whiteley, it is an ode to obsession, with an inspiring message about a person devoting themselves entirely to their craft.
5. That’s Not Me
The cheap-as-chips feature film directorial debut of Gregory Erdstein, about an aspiring actor whose identical twin sister has achieved great success, was reportedly shot for just $60,000. In a star-making turn, Alice Foulcher is a sharp-tongued, stiff-necked, magnetic force of nature as the vulnerable but headstrong protagonist. A finely developed screenplay (written by Erdstein and Foulcher) finds interesting paths to explore a story about pursuing your dreams and the burden of having them measured against somebody else’s achievements.
4. Ellipsis
Shot in seven days from a script workshopped in three, there are notes of Richard Linklater and Woody Allen in this sweetly affecting, semi-improvisational dramedy that follows two strangers (Emily Barclay and Benedict Samuel) who share a night together on the town in Sydney. Set in a city that is often criticised for, as Alex McKinnon put it, “not creating and reflecting culture with the people in mind”, it is nice to see a film – the feature-length directorial debut of David Wenham – that presents another side to that. So rich in spirit, with an eye for matching human and geographic detail.
3. Hounds of Love
Gross. Thrilling. Bone-chilling. Stephen Curry and Emma Booth are sickeningly effective as a pair of murderous, cold-blooded suburban sickos in a horror-thriller that makes the Get Out seem like pleasant weekend viewing. In a sense, the most powerful performance in Hounds of Love comes from behind the camera, with Perth-born writer/director Ben Young – Australian cinema’s new enfant terrible – fashioning his first feature with a style and chutzpah that has to be seen to be believed. Devilishly atmospheric but ultimately cathartic.
2. Lion
The director Garth Davis’ profoundly moving Oscar-nominated drama, about an Indian-born man who locates his estranged family via Google Earth, is a rare kind of film. Boldly structured, with a prolonged opening act following protagonist Saroo Brierley as a child (played by Sunny Pawar) as well as broadly accessible and affecting. Beautifully acted and directed, Lion builds towards a quintessential and exquisitely humane “not a dry eye in the house” ending.
1. Casting JonBenét
The director Kitty Green’s extraordinary, convention-shattering documentary explores how real-life narratives are distorted into legends. Its genesis is the unsolved 1996 murder of six-year-old beauty pageant star JonBenét Ramsey. In Casting JonBenét, local actors from Boulder, Colorado (where the murder transpired), audition for various roles, not knowing their tapes will form the backbone of this film – an ingenious, self-reflexive study of how human beings shape and arrange the details of other people’s lives.
