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This film and Picnic At Hanging Rock made me..

Posted by Harmonia (A) on November 1, 2008 at 12:33:22

In Reply to: The Last Wave in letterbox on IFC in November - SEE IT !! posted by Awe-d-o-file on November 1, 2008 at 09:57:30:

...fall madly in love with Peter Weir. These two films, along with the films of Antonioni and Nicholas Roeg (as well as many works more obscure), had a huge impact on my young mind of what movies could be and how they could be structured.

Weir is one of the strongest visual storytellers around, although his movies have become gradually less eliptical and more conventionally structured over the years. The magic and mystery of Last Wave and Picnic At Hanging Rock remain very special movie experiences for me. Weir assumes the intelligence of his audience in these open ended films, allowing you to connect the dots and fill in the spaces, bringing your own imagination into play. No dumbing dowm, no underlining. Just show, don't tell. Music and soundscape have always played an important role in Weir's films - he uses sound in interesting and unexpected ways but feeling fully organic when paired with the images on the screen. Weir's best films immerse us in different/alien worlds, the heroes pitted in struggle against unfamiliar landscape. Weir has made extensive use of subtle electronica in his soundtracks as well as traditionally scored cues.

Weir has had an interesting career arc, long on quality and short on quantity. His resume includes only about a dozen feature films in his long career. The mature work - which he reached by his second feature (Picnic), is always intelligent, always elegantly shot. His first movie, the low budget, outrageous The Cars That Ate Paris, is a cult favorite but virtually unseen in the US. Picnic At Hanging Rock put Weir on the international map and proclaimed him a young modern master - I remember him being hailed as one of the "Australian New Wave" along with fellow directors Gillian Armstrong and George Miller.

After TLW, Weir's next two, Gallipoli and The Year Of Living Dangerously were excellent, ambitious and heartfelt films, but different from the early work. Gallipoli is undoubtedly one of the best "war" movies ever made. And I will never forget Linda Hunt's incredible, Oscar winning turn as Billie in Year Of Living Dangerously. In fact, Weir is quite adept at coaxing fine, understated performances from his actors, even from unlikely suspects not renowned for subtlety (Harrison Ford, Rosie Perez, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams).

I still find Weir's Amish thriller Witness highly entertaining, a commercial movie that doesn't make you cringe. The Mosquito Coast was fine but flawed, as Weir drew a searching performance from Ford. Dead Poet's Society and Green Card were lowpoints in Weir's career for me (I know a lot of people love DPS, I can't abide it). Weir redeemed himself in my eyes with the unconventional and vastly underrated Fearless. (This movie contains one of Jeff Bridge's best performances.) The Truman Show was a hugely ambitious, critically acclaimed experiment. Master and Commander is simply the best movie of its kind (tall ships and the sea) ever made. I love it. Even though it doesn't follow the famous Patrick O'Brien novels closely, it distills the spirit and essence of the series into an emotionally stirring and visually thrilling high seas adventure. In addition to its gorgeous cinematography and excellent performances, M&C has the most brilliant and dynamic soundscape in recent memory, truly immersing you in the aural world of life ona RB ship in the early 19th century. It's a wonderful movie, but not a conventional action film or swashbuckler - the studio sold it as "Gladiator on the sea", much to my utter disgust.

Weir has a new movie in the works set to start lensing next year - he's been drawn again to a man out of place theme. The Way Back, a fact based tale scripted by Weir, follows a group of soldiers from their escape in 1940 from a Rusian Gulag, tracking their flight across Siberia, the Gobi desert, the Himalayas, finally to India.

Edits: 11/01/08

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