Thursday, November 01, 2012

Movie review - "Australia After Dark" (1975) **

John D Lamond's Aussie knock off of Mondo Cane proved enormously popular in terms of its low budget - the right film at the right time. It's not all about sex, it's about weird and wonderful aspects of Australian society, with an emphasis on sex.

It's a real grab bag - nude modelling, bikini shops, Arnhem Land, Todd Henley regatta, a gay wedding ceremony (sensitively treated, and a rebuke to those who think Lamond was just an exploitation merchant), a pre-op transexual stripper, artists, a look at the amount of beer Australians drink, a prison museum, UFO spotters in Tully, fortune tellers, brothels. It was shot on 16mm and doesn't look too crash hot, and has several leering moments, but it's actually quite interesting in spots. Some of the sequences (e.g. witch ceremonies) look obviously faked but that's part of this movie's charm. It's exploitative but not mean spirited. Hayes Gordon does the straight faced narration.

No comments: