The Best (And Most Underseen) Australian Films of 2014
Forget the kitchen-sink drama stereotype; 2014 was Australia’s year of genre films. Here's some you might have missed.
Tracks, dir. James Curran
In the 1970s, a heavy-duty introvert walks two thousand miles across the Australian desert, from Alice Springs to the Indian Ocean. In a sentence, this sounds like a terrible thing to watch — but Tracks has none of the faux-uplifting, life-affirming stuff of your usual ‘overcoming obstacles’ travelogue film. Mia Wasikiowska makes it real. She’s a stunningly honest performer, and when she says “I’m so alone”, she intones none of the self-pity that phrase might suggest. As Adam Driver replies, “We all are”.
Based on a memoir by Robyn Davidson, Tracks is like life – it’s meandering; it takes ages to get anywhere, and cut through the nonsense; and it leaves us longing for a simpler, less bullshit existence. Watch it to have a holiday, and to feel a bit more human again.
View on: iTunes or DVD
Or try: The Tree (Julie Bertuccelli, 2010), or Dingo (Rolf de Heer, 1998; available to stream via SBS On Demand)