Bea says...
Yet another film that seems to have escaped all notice here in London. Cecil and I saw it in Paris on our recent Movie Marathon there ( 3 films in 24 hours). Despite being made in partnership with the South Australian Film Corporation and Adelaide Festival I'd never heard of it - and although I don't spend a whole lot of time in Adelaide these days I thought I had my finger on the pulse enough to know when a new South Australian film was knocking about. Guess it goes to show I don't.
10 Canoes is narrated by David Gulpilil, well known to Australian people of my age for roles in films like "Storm Boy", and well known to the world for a part in "Crocodile Dundee". I wish I knew more about how this film came to be made (I'd be glad of any enlightenment) as it felt like something Gulpilil may have taken a lead in creating.
A story within a story, the 10 Canoes refer to a group of traditional Aboriginal men who are making canoes and hunting magpie geese and eggs, and during this event, taking place over a number of days, an older man tells a younger man an ancient story of longing, law, and getting the thing you most desire.
Beautiful cinematography and the strong narration of Gulpilil make this film an excursion into another world entirely. Time slows down in both stories. Many chuckles were heard in the cinema when the younger man complained "all I've learnt so far is that you take a long time to tell a story!"
***1/2
Cecil says...
I never thought I'd go to a film in Paris where half the spoken word is in an Aboriginal language so I was darting to the French subtitles to follow what was going on. David Gulpilil's voice (in English, as he narrates the story) is mesmerising - I could listen to his stories for hours, however long they are and however slowly they get to their point! Interesting switch from colour to black & white as the stories switched from the present to the time long-since past. Interesting also to look at the cinema audience in Paris: a total of 13 people, apart from us and a teenage boy, all over 60 - not sure whether this says something about Parisians and their taste for cinema from far-off places telling ancient stories or whether all the young people saw it when it first came out....
***
Yet another film that seems to have escaped all notice here in London. Cecil and I saw it in Paris on our recent Movie Marathon there ( 3 films in 24 hours). Despite being made in partnership with the South Australian Film Corporation and Adelaide Festival I'd never heard of it - and although I don't spend a whole lot of time in Adelaide these days I thought I had my finger on the pulse enough to know when a new South Australian film was knocking about. Guess it goes to show I don't.
10 Canoes is narrated by David Gulpilil, well known to Australian people of my age for roles in films like "Storm Boy", and well known to the world for a part in "Crocodile Dundee". I wish I knew more about how this film came to be made (I'd be glad of any enlightenment) as it felt like something Gulpilil may have taken a lead in creating.
A story within a story, the 10 Canoes refer to a group of traditional Aboriginal men who are making canoes and hunting magpie geese and eggs, and during this event, taking place over a number of days, an older man tells a younger man an ancient story of longing, law, and getting the thing you most desire.
Beautiful cinematography and the strong narration of Gulpilil make this film an excursion into another world entirely. Time slows down in both stories. Many chuckles were heard in the cinema when the younger man complained "all I've learnt so far is that you take a long time to tell a story!"
***1/2
Cecil says...
I never thought I'd go to a film in Paris where half the spoken word is in an Aboriginal language so I was darting to the French subtitles to follow what was going on. David Gulpilil's voice (in English, as he narrates the story) is mesmerising - I could listen to his stories for hours, however long they are and however slowly they get to their point! Interesting switch from colour to black & white as the stories switched from the present to the time long-since past. Interesting also to look at the cinema audience in Paris: a total of 13 people, apart from us and a teenage boy, all over 60 - not sure whether this says something about Parisians and their taste for cinema from far-off places telling ancient stories or whether all the young people saw it when it first came out....
***
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