This month we watched Lantana, an Australian movie.
Genre: Mystery Drama
Plot: The relationships of four couples unravel after the disappearance of a woman in Lantana bush in suburban Sydney.
Key Characters: Leon and Sonya (Anthony LaPaglia and Kerry Armstrong), John and Valerie (Geoffrey Rush and Barbara Hershey), Paula and Nik (Vince Colosimo and Daniela Farinacci), Jane and Pete (Rachael Blake and Glenn Robbins)
Location: Set in Sydney, and filmed at various locations around Sydney
Other comments: Was it necessary to include smoking in the movie – it was set in current times and filmed during the 21st century? The IMDb web site suggested the genre was also a romance, but the group did not agree that there was any real romance in the movie.
Review: Opinion of the movie varied, with some enjoying it more than others. The real mystery did not come apparent until halfway through the movie, with the first hour setting up the various relationships. It was based mainly on the four couples, but each of the partners encountered others co-coincidentally throughout the movie. For example, Pete met Leon in a pub, after Pete had a strange interaction with Valerie. It was good to see so many strong Australian actors in the same movie. Geoffrey Rush’s performance was very different from his other movies.
Our next session is on July 12. We plan to watch the movie Eddie the Eagle. We will be in our new location at the Senior Citizens, but we will start promptly at 1:00pm.
Genre: Mystery Drama
Plot: The relationships of four couples unravel after the disappearance of a woman in Lantana bush in suburban Sydney.
Key Characters: Leon and Sonya (Anthony LaPaglia and Kerry Armstrong), John and Valerie (Geoffrey Rush and Barbara Hershey), Paula and Nik (Vince Colosimo and Daniela Farinacci), Jane and Pete (Rachael Blake and Glenn Robbins)
Location: Set in Sydney, and filmed at various locations around Sydney
Other comments: Was it necessary to include smoking in the movie – it was set in current times and filmed during the 21st century? The IMDb web site suggested the genre was also a romance, but the group did not agree that there was any real romance in the movie.
Review: Opinion of the movie varied, with some enjoying it more than others. The real mystery did not come apparent until halfway through the movie, with the first hour setting up the various relationships. It was based mainly on the four couples, but each of the partners encountered others co-coincidentally throughout the movie. For example, Pete met Leon in a pub, after Pete had a strange interaction with Valerie. It was good to see so many strong Australian actors in the same movie. Geoffrey Rush’s performance was very different from his other movies.
Our next session is on July 12. We plan to watch the movie Eddie the Eagle. We will be in our new location at the Senior Citizens, but we will start promptly at 1:00pm.
With all the movies we watch we can look at them as literature – literature in a different medium, that of film. This helps to focus the discussion, covering ideas around genre, characters, plot, but also adding the aspects that relate to film, such as cinemascope, music and atmosphere.
Joy Shirley
Joy Shirley
