Lantana
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Movie Reviews of Lantana
Movie Review: Intelligent, Ingenious, Compelling.
Summary: 5 Stars
Australian Director Ray Lawrence’s second movie and his first for 17 years is an articulate, intelligent and totally compelling examination of human relationships, as well as a thought provoking thriller. Award winning and critically acclaimed, this is the type of movie that Oscar should be honouring, instead of the commercial Hollywood formulaic mediocrity the Academy often seems to prefer.Lantana opens with camera panning down through a tangle of shrubs to reveal the dead body of a woman, stockings ripped and one shoe missing. Immediately drawn to this image we are led to wonder who the dead woman is and to wonder how she died and who killed her but rather than this being merely a thriller it is also a highly intelligent and very rewarding examination of troubled marriage. The title ‘Lantana’ perhaps doesn’t translate well to most countries outside of Australia. It is never explained during the movie, which is a bit of a shame, because Lantana (the name of the tropical shrub which surrounds the deceased) is used as a metaphor for the web of tangled relationships portrayed throughout this film.
At the centre of the plot is Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia), a burnt-out forty something Sydney police detective. Over-weight and troubled by chest pains, he is conducting an affair with a woman by the name of Jane O’May (Rachael Blake), who is separated from her husband. Meanwhile, unbeknown to Leon, his unhappy wife, Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) is seeing a therapist, Valerie (Barbara Hershey) about their troubled marriage. However, Valerie’s own marriage is also in crisis: Following the death of her 11-year-old daughter her husband (Geoffrey Rush) no longer engages in sexual relations and appears to deliberately avoid spending time with her, whilst often “working late at the office”. Leading Valerie to suspect her husband of a homosexual affair with one of her clients, Michael, who appears to be baiting her.
A third couple are also central to the plot and become embroiled in the tangled web; unemployed Nik (Vince Colosimo) and his wife (Keira Wingate) live with their kids next door to Leon’s mistress, Jane. Nik is friendly with Jane’s estranged husband, Pete (Glen Robbins) but overlooks Jane’s ‘affair’, on the advice of his wife, when he spots Leon leaving his mates house. Meanwhile two other relationships between gay Michael and his married lover and Leon’s police partner and a mystery stranger also play out in this beautifully judged, thoughtful and well-written movie, adapted by Andrew Bovell from his original stage play, Speaking in Tongues.
Not only is ‘Lantana’ well-written and well-directed but it has depth. At its core are the central themes of trust, grief, fidelity, betrayal and redemption. Anthony LaPaglia (The Client, So I Married An Axe Murderer), Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hershey and Kerry Armstrong all give great performances, subtly conveying a broad range of emotions throughout the course of the movie. In particular, LaPaglia, an Australian perhaps best known for his TV appearances (Murder One, Frasier, Without A Trace) and whom I previously assumed was Italian-American, is superb as Leon and it is his uncompromising performance that is at the core of this excellent film.
Ray Lawrence, an Aussie TV commercials director must take enormous credit too for the pace and balance of the movie, as well as the performances, which are all pitch-perfect. Lantana is at once a psychological thriller/drama, an essay in love, and an intelligent examination of human relationships, marriage and fidelity. After making this little gem of a movie, let’s just hope that Ray Lawrence doesn’t wait another 17 years before making his next one.
Totally compelling, Lantana kept me hooked throughout every moment of its two-hour minute running time. If you're open minded and looking for something intelligent, this absorbing and superbly acted Australian drama that shouldn’t be missed.
Movie Review: Intelligent, Ingenious, Compelling.
Summary: 5 Stars
Australian Director Ray Lawrences second movie and his first for 17 years is an articulate, intelligent and totally compelling examination of human relationships, as well as a thought provoking thriller. Award winning and critically acclaimed, this is the type of movie that Oscar should be honouring, instead of the commercial Hollywood formulaic mediocrity the Academy often seems to prefer.Lantana opens with camera panning down through a tangle of shrubs to reveal the dead body of a woman, stockings ripped and one shoe missing. Immediately drawn to this image we are led to wonder who the dead woman is and to wonder how she died and who killed her but rather than this being merely a thriller it is also a highly intelligent and very rewarding examination of troubled marriage. The title Lantana perhaps doesnt translate well to most countries outside of Australia. It is never explained during the movie, which is a bit of a shame, because Lantana (the name of the tropical shrub which surrounds the deceased) is used as a metaphor for the web of tangled relationships portrayed throughout this film.
At the centre of the plot is Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia), a burnt-out forty something Sydney police detective. Over-weight and troubled by chest pains, he is conducting an affair with a woman by the name of Jane OMay (Rachael Blake), who is separated from her husband. Meanwhile, unbeknown to Leon, his unhappy wife, Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) is seeing a therapist, Valerie (Barbara Hershey) about their troubled marriage. However, Valeries own marriage is also in crisis: Following the death of her 11-year-old daughter her husband (Geoffrey Rush) no longer engages in sexual relations and appears to deliberately avoid spending time with her, whilst often working late at the office. Leading Valerie to suspect her husband of a homosexual affair with one of her clients, Michael, who appears to be baiting her.
A third couple are also central to the plot and become embroiled in the tangled web; unemployed Nik (Vince Colosimo) and his wife (Keira Wingate) live with their kids next door to Leons mistress, Jane. Nik is friendly with Janes estranged husband, Pete (Glen Robbins) but overlooks Janes affair, on the advice of his wife, when he spots Leon leaving his mates house. Meanwhile two other relationships between gay Michael and his married lover and Leons police partner and a mystery stranger also play out in this beautifully judged, thoughtful and well-written movie, adapted by Andrew Bovell from his original stage play, Speaking in Tongues.
Not only is Lantana well-written and well-directed but it has depth. At its core are the central themes of trust, grief, fidelity, betrayal and redemption. Anthony LaPaglia (The Client, So I Married An Axe Murderer), Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hershey and Kerry Armstrong all give great performances, subtly conveying a broad range of emotions throughout the course of the movie. In particular, LaPaglia, an Australian perhaps best known for his TV appearances (Murder One, Frasier, Without A Trace) and whom I previously assumed was Italian-American, is superb as Leon and it is his uncompromising performance that is at the core of this excellent film.
Ray Lawrence, an Aussie TV commercials director must take enormous credit too for the pace and balance of the movie, as well as the performances, which are all pitch-perfect. Lantana is at once a psychological thriller/drama, an essay in love, and an intelligent examination of human relationships, marriage and fidelity. After making this little gem of a movie, lets just hope that Ray Lawrence doesnt wait another 17 years before making his next one.
Totally compelling, Lantana kept me hooked throughout every moment of its two-hour minute running time. If you're open minded and looking for something intelligent, this absorbing and superbly acted Australian drama that shouldnt be missed.
Movie Review: A film on the quiet sins of omission and happenstance
Summary: 5 Stars
"Lantana" begins with the camera revealing a dead body in a wooded thicket. The obvious questions are whose body is it, how did it get there, and who did it? After all a dead body pretty much signifies a murder mystery, but this 2001 film from director Ray Lawrence, adapted by Andrew Bovell from his play "Speaking in Tongues," does not fit the conventions of that genre. The is a cop, Detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia), but what is important is not that he is on the case of the woman who shows up missing but that his life is already connected to her.
Who is the woman whose body is waiting in the thicket to be discovered is not really a secret in the film, but there is a moment or two when you suspect it might not be who you think it is going to be and I think you should let this film reveal itself to you the same way it revealed itself to me. That is because the chance meetings of strangers and acquaintances end up with some unexpected resonances as the story proceeds. The only mistake is to expect there to be any big moments in this film, because it is about how small ones add up. This is a story where finding your house has been cleaned is adding insult to injury.
Detective Zat is the central character, not because he becomes the investigating officer for the case of the missing woman, but because he is the most obvious surrogate for the viewer. Zat is waiting for something big to happen. He is cheating on his wife and believes two one night stands do not constitute an affair. He has chest pains but does not think that is a warning of a heart attack. He resorts to violence with a suspect or a man on the street without much provocation. We wait for his life to explode, but instead it implodes.
His wife, Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) is seeing a psychiatrist, Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey), to whom she confides that it would not be the physical betrayal that would hurt if Leon is having an affair, but the fact he would not tell her. Valerie is married to John Knox (Geoffrey Rush) and eighteen months ago their daughter was killed. She wrote a book and however he is dealing with the loss is buried beneath a facade his wife cannot penetrate. One of Valerie's clients Patrick Phelan (Peter Phelps) is a gay man who keeps talking about his married lover to the point that Valerie suspects the lover is her own husband. Jane O'May (Rachael Blake), the woman that Leon has been cheating with, is separated from her husband Pete (Glenn Robbins) and lives next door to Nik (Vince Colosimo) and Paula Daniels (Daniella Farinacci), a happily married couple.
The key to the film is how the characters who do not have obvious connections meet each other. Valerie and Pete meet on the street, which leads to Pete and Leon talking to each other in a bar. The film serves as a reminder that sins of omission can have consequences as serious as more overt acts. More importantly, as sins they are such small things, which serves to make there significance all the more surprising. When that one character disappears it affects the rest in subtle ways and with unexpected repercussions. The result is that "Lantana" is a quiet film, but one that runs much deeper than you would suspect.
Movie Review: C O N N E C T I O N S
Summary: 5 Stars
The year 2001 will go down in film history thus far at least, as the watershed Year of the Adult Thriller and "Lantana" is the latest example of this sub-genre. Others this year would be "Burnt Money," "In the Bedroom," "Dinner Rush," and "L.I.E." to name several.All the Adult Thrillers have one or more of the following in common: a crime (usually a murder), several plot lines, mis-connection among the various characters, though they may be connected by marriage or birth and literate scripts involving adult material.
"Lantana's" central character, Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) is a police detective conflicted about his impending middle age, his marriage and his recent affair ("2 night stand") with Jane (Rachael Blake) who has just broken up with her husband. Leon's wife,Sonja (Kerry Armstrong)knows something is wrong and is seeing a psychiatrist, Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey) who turns up missing one day and sets the movie in motion.
Along the way we witness some of the finest, most profound dialogue and ensemble acting of this year. As in "In the Bedroom," the pathos comes from character not situation: the actor interpreting, ingesting really the core of the character and using the script as a jumping off point; improvising, in a way, his reactions based on the "facts" of the storyline.
Anthony LaPaglia is a genuine revelation here. In his work thus far where/how was he hiding this amazing depth of talent? His Leon Zat is a macho, confused, rabidly sexual, violent yet tender and loving man who finds himself at a crossroads in his middle life: he loves his wife and family, he loves his work but he's thinking of chucking it all to do...what? It's never really resolved and this is all to the good of his character and of the film in general. Nothing in this film is tied up with a ribbon and resolved...for sure or for good.
The women in Leon's life, Kerry Armstrong and Rachael Blake turn in strong, nuanced performances with Blake making the stronger impression I think, because of the showier role. Blake's Jane calls to mind women of 1950's melodrama's like Rosalind Russell in "Picnic" : prim and proper, together women out in public; but behind closed doors: heartsick, needy, always with a drink in their hands. Good women, just flawed like the rest of us.
Ray Lawrence's "Lantana" is a wise, beautifully acted and well-observed film that demonstrates, once again that it's the connections in life that matter; and that we are always looking for the right one.
Movie Review: Trust me, I love you...
Summary: 5 Stars
Do you trust your partner? Totally? Do you think they would be capable of having an affair? Could they be betraying you about their sexual orientation? Could they kill someone and not tell you? If they denied any of the above, would you believe them unequivocally? What about your friends, say, your best friend...could he or she have an affair with your partner? And everything you say in the sanctity of a professional relationship with your psychiatrist, surely you can trust in confidentiality here? Can you trust your own body? Your own self?*
Questions like these arise naturally on seeing this brilliant film. Make sure you see it with a friend, or a group of friends, better still a few enemies too, because you'll want to talk about it afterwards, and the discussion is likely to be as interesting as the film itself.
*
Trust is central, and it is explored in a myriad of nuanced relationships and situations. The husband and wife relationship is viewed in several forms, but trust is also tested between parents and children, work colleagues, even between the audience and the film itself - our expectations are, after all, constantly being played with, and if you expect a conventional thriller, as the opening shots might promise, then you will be disappointed. If you expect psychological depth and highly crafted film-making, then you're in for a treat.
*
This film looks and sounds great. If somehow you manage to stop yourself thinking about the characters (and judging them (and then revising those judgements)), you can wallow in the moody art direction, editing, and score.
*
The actors are all brilliant and, given that in most cases they are better here than elsewhere, the director, Ray Lawrence, deserves much of the credit. Kerry Armstrong, in particular, is just superb. Even the more opaque and less likable characters demand the audience's attention, and reward further dissection - Geoffrey Rush and Barbara Hershey won't allow us an easy view of their secrets, but then they are no easier on each other, possibly no easier even when facing a mirror.
*
Go see this. It just might be the best Australian film ever made. In terms of psychological interest and depth the only comparison I can think of is with Bergman - in terms of sheer cleverness and playing with our expectations of the medium, Hitchcock. It really is that good.