Fresh from her Oscar tipped turn in the current box office smash, BLUE JASMINE, Cate Blanchett also shines in THE TURNING, the audacious and ambitious rendering to the screen of Tim Winton’s story cycle of the same name.
The seventeen chapters of the book have each been turned over to a film maker for cinematic rendition all linked by literary heritage and augmented by a motif of animated sand drift, a sort of sand script that introduces and connects each vignette.
As with any composite piece there will be segments better realised than others and indeed appreciated by different audiences, just as a degustation offers myriad tastes and textures.
But whichever any individual may favour above another, the sum of the whole is a pretty satisfying experience.
The sheer breadth of talent on show guarantees an overall success, spearheaded by producer instigator Robert Connolly, who also directs one of the stories, AQUIFIER, where the raging river of the past threatens to swamp the banks of the present.
The river of the past snakes through the hills and valleys of many of these stories as it flows into the sea of the present and on into the horizon of the future.
Experienced helmers like Warwick Thornton, Justin Kurzel and Tony Ayres are joined by newby directors like David Wenham, Mia Wasikowska and Simon Stone.
Stone has summoned his Sydney Theatre Company cohorts Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh and Robyn Nevin for a reunion in the aptly titled segment, REUNION, an unexpected bon bon of Christmas joy. It is an assured piece by an established theatre director making his first foray into film.
Similarly, David Wenham’s transition from film actor to film director shows him to be a master apprentice In COMMISSION, he directs Hugo Weaving in award winning mode as a hermit tracked down his son. It’s an awesome performance by both actor and director.
Mia Wasikowska, currently on show as camel queen Robyn Davidson in TRACKS, dons her debutant director’s mantle with LONG, CLEAR VIEW in which she disarmingly explores the imaginative powers of a young boy, his peculiar habits, social anxieties and fixations with his father’s rifle.
Fans of Robert Altman’s cavalcade films like Short Cuts, Prairie Home Companion and Nashville will surely embrace and be edified by this project.
True to its source material, to the extent that the chapters of the film correspond chronologically to the chapters of the book, THE TURNING is nonetheless an original take on Winton’s creation and offers a kaleidoscope of cinematic styles and characterisations that, on the whole, mesh and synchronise, compiling rather than colliding.
The DVD comes with an Australian Teachers of Media Study Guide and audio commentary.
Tim Winton’s THE TURNING is available now on Blue ray and DVD through Madman Entertainment.
Sydney Arts Guide has three copies of the DVD to give away. Be one of the first three people to email the editor at:- editor.sydneyartsguide@gmail.com- to win and please provide your postal address