Australian Rules: Special Edition (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio Audio Commentary-Paul Goldman(Dir),Mark Lazarus(Prod)Phillip Gwynne(CoWriter) Featurette-Behind The Scenes Outtakes Interviews-Cast-Andrew Mercado Interviews Nathan Phillips and Luke Carroll Theatrical Trailer-International And Domestic Gallery-Photo-28 Biographies-Cast & Crew Biographies-Character Trailer-Erskineville Kings, Yolngu Boy, The Rage In Lake Placid Trailer-The Best Man's Wedding
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	94:10
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Paul Goldman
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Nathan Phillips Luke Carroll Lisa Flanagan Simon Westaway
Case	?
RPI	$31.95	Music	Mick Harvey

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     It is often rewarding to go back and take another fresh look at a film that had such an impact when you first watched it. The second time round you are more aware of what is going on and can really immerse yourself into the plot and the underlying themes at play. Such is the case with this, my second viewing of Australian Rules, as it has now been released as a retail version with a few extras included.

    Directed by Paul Goldman and based on the Phillip Gwynne novel Deadly, Unna? it is a story set in the small South Australian coastal fishing town of Prospect Bay. It is the tale of Gary 'Blacky' Black (Nathan Phillips) and Dumby Red (Luke Carroll), two players at opposite ends of the social divide in the town who share a strong friendship and a place on the local Australian Rules football team. Blacky is a white boy and lives in the town with his parents. He is also one of the least talented players on the team. Dumby is Aboriginal and lives on the outlying mission (most probably in squalor, though this is not seen at all). He is also the most talented player on the team.

    The football team is coached by local butcher Arks (Kevin Harrington) and is making a grand final appearance with the possibility of winning the town's first premiership in thirty-odd years. The team is comprised of roughly half-and-half white boys and lads from the Aboriginal mission. While not exactly all the best of mates, the team is at least a team and on the field racial tensions are absent. There are some quite humorous moments in the first half of the film as Arks berates the team for their ignorance of the game plan, and poor talentless Blacky having to step into the rucking duties when the incumbent ruckmen is carted off to gaol.

    Once the football action is complete at around the half-way mark, the film takes a sudden and wrenching turn. The gloss and shine that the football season brought to the town is removed and is replaced by a definite racist and intolerant undertone. Tensions come to a head when Dumby is overlooked for the end of season awards and he realises it can only be because he is black. The foul, racist underbelly of many of the townsfolk is exposed and the results are not pleasant. Blacky is further caught up in this tension when he falls for the charms of Dumby's sister Clarence (a delightful performance from Lisa Flanagan) despite the absolute abhorrence of his fisherman father Bob (Simon Westaway like you have never seen him before). Bob Black is your archetypal racist redneck, beer-swilling buffoon who beats his wife and puts his sons down at every turn. His actions later in the film prove to be the turning point of the story and Blacky and Dumby's friendship is changed forever because of them.

    This is a dramatic film that will leave you laughing one minute and flinching uncomfortably the next. The performances from the cast are varied with a couple of the characters being not much more than one dimensional stereotypes. The highlight is without a doubt the job done by the three leads in Nathan Phillips, Luke Carroll, and Lisa Flanagan. They are superb. They bring youthful enthusiasm and some gentle naivety to roles that wouldn't have been easy.

    Well worth a viewing. I appreciated its intensity and message even more the second time round.

Video

    This would appear to be the same transfer that was used in the rental only version of this disc. Being shot on an extremely low budget, I was expecting many and varied problems with the source material. I must say that I was suitably impressed with the quality of this print. Apart from a couple of minor niggles, this is a rather impressive effort that was a real pleasure to watch. There are several wide angle shots of the bleak South Australian coastal landscape that have been very nicely conveyed with plenty of colour and composition.

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the transfer is also enhanced for 16x9 televisions.

    There is a nice level of sharpness throughout, with only the barest traces of edge enhancement popping up here and there. The most notable of these is an example at 58:57 when Blackie walks into the Memorial Hall. There are several quite dark scenes, but the shadow detail is handled very well and there is no loss of clarity as a result. There is virtually no grain. This was somewhat surprising, given the use of wide angle shots on the clear, bright South Australian sky - just the conditions I would have thought would have highlighted this problem. There is no low level noise.

    Colours are quite unusual. They are nicely saturated with few problems, but it must have been the light conditions outside that have led to a sort of muted look (much like an eclipse) for some of the shots. The colours of the bush and the football uniforms are superbly rendered. Skin tones are all perfectly natural.

    I saw no MPEG artefacts. There are few instances of film-to-video artefacts, with only minor traces of aliasing on the odd window frame or sill. There are a few film artefacts throughout, though not in the quantity or size that I was expecting. Most notable in the closing scenes, they are seldom distracting.

    Strangely, there are no subtitles present on this disc. I was really disappointed with this on this retail version because I like to switch them on when the commentary track is going so I can keep up with the film dialogue at the same time. I have deducted a full mark for this omission.

    This is a dual layered disc, but I was unable to spot the layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are three audio soundtracks on this disc. English Dolby Digital 5.1, and English Dolby Digital 2.0 round out the selections for the film dialogue, while an English Dolby Digital 2.0 commentary track is the third option. For what is essentially a dialogue-based drama, there is still plenty of front channel separation across the left, right, and centre channels, most notably during the football games. Dialogue is anchored squarely in the centre. Clean and powerful with no apparent problems, despite the low budget, this is still a quality soundtrack.

    Dialogue is precise and clear with no audio sync problems. Some of the Aboriginal dialect is a little difficult to understand at times, but the meaning of the plot is never misunderstood.

    The original score is credited to Mick Harvey and is certainly restrained and suited to the drama on screen.

    There is consistent surround channel use, though this isn't the sort of film that really requires a great deal of surround action. A couple of door knocks reverberate around the room and during the football games there is quite a bit of action.

    There is some quite deep and rumbling subwoofer use which was quite surprising. At 10:16 there is a real solid rumble during the early football game. It adds quite an impressive dimension to the soundtrack and is handled extremely well.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio

Audio Commentary -Paul Goldman (Director), Mark Lazarus (Producer), Phillip Gwynne (CoWriter).

    An extremely informative, intelligent, and entertaining commentary from three of the people that had the most creative input into the finished product (aside from the actors of course). All three talk consistently throughout the whole length of this screen-specific commentary and discuss all manner of aspects of the production. Casting, scene composition, problems, how scenes differ from the book (which Phillip Gwynne of course wrote). All three are quite open and frank in their discussion of the underlying themes of the story and how they often hated the roles and attitudes taken by each other during the filming process. Director Paul Goldman is particularly scathing of producer Mark Lazarus, but they all seemed to work it out in the end and the result is fantastic.

Featurette-Behind The Scenes

    A 13:56 minute featurette that was made during filming which features a few brief interviews with the principal cast and director. Brief but interesting without resorting to the usual promotional fluff.

Outtakes

    A nicely arranged series of very short outtakes, all compiled in a montage complete with music. Runs for 6:30 minutes.

Interviews-Cast

    Andrew Mercado from Foxtel's Channel V and MusicMax chats with Luke Carroll (Dumby) and Nathan Phillips (Blacky) for 2:25 minutes about their experiences and perceptions of the film.

Theatrical Trailers

    There are two theatrical trailers present. The first is The International Sales trailer. It runs for 2:08 minutes and contains many of the humorous images from the early parts of the film and gives only a hint of the darker side of the story. The Australian Theatrical trailer is also available and is very similar to the former, running for a little longer at 2:34 minutes, with perhaps a little more of the racial undertones evident. Both are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 but are not 16x9 enhanced. The audio is a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Gallery-Photo

    A series of 28 very large (the full 1.78:1 screen is used) photos taken from the film and a couple of behind-the-scenes shots.

Biographies-Cast & Crew

    The usual comprehensive biographical text screens for the principal cast members and three main crew members (director, writer, producer).

Biographies-Character

    One page of text for each of the ten main characters that feature in the story. If you've watched the film you really don't need to see these as they will just state what you already know.

Trailers

    Additional trailers for other Palace film releases. Included are Erskineville Kings, Yolngu Boy, The Best Man's Wedding, and The Rage in Lake Placid.

    This title is not yet available in Region 1.

   Australian Rules is one of a handful of really must-see Australian films. It is an interesting film that combines elements of comedy and Aussie larrikinism with some uncomfortably disturbing drama. Early scenes feature quite a few comedic moments, but it soon turns into something more dark and complex. The racist and bigoted underbelly of life in a small remote town is soon exposed and will leave you pondering just how advanced and civilised Australian society really is. The three young cast members are sensational. Their portrayal of earnest, yet somewhat naive teenagers adds much to the believability of the plot. I enjoyed this immensely.

    The video transfer is excellent, with few faults to report.

    The audio is modern and at times quite powerful in its delivery. I was suitably impressed given the low budget nature of the film.

    The extras are comprehensive with the commentary track adding immense value to the package.

    Highly recommended.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall