| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
  Film: Nell Schofield previews The Painted Veil and Cactus April 27, 2008 Reporter :Nell Schofield  Watch the review of Cactus Film: Nell Schofield previews The Painted Veil and Cactus She was catapulted to international stardom when David Lynch cast her in 'Mulholland Drive' but Australian audiences have known and loved Naomi Watts ever since her debut in John Duigan's film 'Flirting'. Her latest outing sees her starring in a new screen adaptation of Somerset Maugham's classic novel ‘The Painted Veil', a film that she also produced along with her co-star Edward Norton. There have been a couple of other screen adaptations of The Painted Veil, including a 1934 version starring Greta Garbo. This one was directed by John Curran who debuted a decade ago with the award-winning Aussie film Praise, and who directed Naomi Watts in another intense relationship drama called We Don’t Live Here Anymore. It's a Chinese co-production and the crew have gained access to some stunning locations captured on celluloid by Stuart Dryburgh who won an Oscar for his work on The Piano. It also has a wonderful Golden Globe Award-winning score by Alexandre Desplat with some lovely Eric Satie pieces played by Watts herself in the film. This one really leaves you thinking about stuff, like the devastating, almost suicidal emotional trial that the main characters go through. Unlike a new Australian film that leaves you feeling somewhat empty. Cactus is the story of one John Kelly who kidnaps a guy called Eli and transports him out west for reasons that are never really quite made clear. Following written instructions from his mysterious employers, John resets his odometer at regular intervals to find hidden props like a road sign supposedly designed to deter anyone on his trail. One such character is the hapless Thommo, played by Kenny's Shane Jacobson. Another is the local cop Jack Rosscoe played by Bryan Brown who also worked on the film as Executive Producer. Cactus is the first feature film from writer/director Jasmine Yuen-Carrucan who worked as a camera assistant on films like Shine and Babe 2. She also worked with Quentin Tarantino as an editing assistant on Kill Bill 2. Her German cinematographer husband Florian Emmerich has some big runs on the board too, operating cameras on The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Supremacy among other films. Cactus looks good, with lots of stark shots of the baking landscape and big blue skies but we all know what the outback looks like. What's needed are some more layers of story and character inserted into that vista. Jacobson’s character, for instance, has practically nothing to do at all and Brown’s cop could have been a lot more developed as well. Travis McMahon and David Lyons, who play John and Eli respectively, are both fine in their roles but with so little exposition it’s awfully hard to engage with them. In the end, it’s Bonnie, the red Ford Fairmont that threatens to steal the show. And while there are some visual gags about the rivalry between Fords and Holden’s unfortunately that’s just not quite enough. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
