DVDebut for Ivan Sen's modern-day, Australian-outback, slow-burn western, GOLDSTONE

The award-laden (in Australia, at least) Australian movie GOLDSTONE harks back to those American westerns (with a sizeable helping of film noir tropes added to the mix) in which an outsider appears in town to investigate what looks like a simple problem that soon opens up into an entire web of corruption and sleaze. So, yes, we've seen this before. (Bad Day at Black Rock, anyone?). The difference in Ivan Sen's movie resides in the compellingly bleak-but-beautiful outback vistas that amaze the eye, and in the two lead performances, especially that of Aaron Pedersen in the role of the mixed-race detective who comes to "town" (we use that word loosely) to investigate.

Mr. Pedersen (above), who was so frighteningly fine as one of the two crazy murderers in last year's best couple-in-jeopardy survival movie, Killing Ground, is even better here as the taciturn fellow who just wants to do his job. The actor is especially good at allowing us to imagine all that roils beneath his quiet-but-deep surface.

His co-star is the younger actor Alex Russell, above, who plays the town's one lone cop, a man in the process of slowly being corrupted by the powers-that-be -- both corporate and political --

played respectively by David Wenham (above, right) and Jacki Weaver (left, getting a piggy-back ride). Few actors do buttoned-down sleaze better than Mr. Wenham, while Ms Weaver is always a delight, especially when she is being sweetly vicious, as here (and in Animal Kingdom).

De rigueur these days is a nod to sex trafficking, here via a bevy of beautiful Asian girls like the one played by Michelle Lim Davidson, above), whom one of our heroes decides he must help.

Also often seen in Aussie films is that sub-plot about native Aboriginal lands being stolen by the sadly winning combination of corporate power and local politics. That surfaces here via two characters: an old man named Jimmy (David Gulpilil, above) who appears to be a kind if spiritual leader to the particular group of Aboriginals and another named Tommy, played by Tommy Lewis (aka Tom E. Lewis), shown below,

who has renounced his tribe to go to work for the opposite side. Both actors -- probably the most seen of all Aborigine performers -- hold a special place in Australian film. Lewis, who died earlier this year, made his movie debut in that classic (and still hugely powerful) The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), while Gulpilil made his in Nicolas Roeg's famous Walkabout (1971). Both have worked steadily ever since, and their contribution to Goldstone, in terms of performances and the movie's underlying theme of the destruction of Aboriginal land and culture add to the undeniable gravity here.

Goldstone opens with a montage of archival photos showing, among other fascinating shots, Australia's use of slave labor via the Chinese and the Aboriginals. What follows brings all this up to date in a tale that offers its own depressing plus ça change effect.

For all its weight and slow-burn build to an exciting climax, the movie will seem to many older viewers not all that original. We've seen its like before, many times over.

And yet writer, director, editor, composer and cinematographer (whew!) Ivan Sen (shown at right) still manages to make most of it seem reasonably fresh and consistently compelling. He draws fine performances from his cast -- and a super one from Pedersen -- leaving us, once again and forever, it seems, watching the "haves" slowly, quietly and very effectively destroy the "have-nots."

From Lightyear Entertainment and running 110 minutes, the movie, after finding a limited theatrical release this past March, hits DVD this coming Tuesday, September 11, via MVD Entertainment -- for purchase and (I hope) rental.

Note to Lightyear and MVD: Please invest in the English subtitles options for any future release that sports thick Aussie accents. We missed probably one-quarter of the dialog, thanks to this omission.

Blu-ray/DVDebut: Martin Butler and Bentley Dean's BFLF Nominee TANNA arrives on video

Certainly the most visually gorgeous of the five Best Foreign Language Film nominees, TANNA -- which hits home video this coming week -- is a spectacularly beautiful movie. Rather than being (as TrustMovies imagined) the name of a character in the film, Tanna is actually an island in the Venuatu group located in the South Pacific. The main characters in the film are Wawa and Dain, young lovers who defy their tribe's wishes in order to make a life together.

Yes, this is aboriginal culture as exotic and (somewhat) primitive as anything movies have given us in awhile -- in terms of color and landscape and flesh. The flora and fauna are particularly lovely, brought to especially interesting life as a father and daughter walk along a path ingesting a snack of cicadas. We even get a live volcano, with a goddess named Yahul to go with it.

The story is simple but stirring: Arranged marriage is a hallmark of the tribes on the island -- two of which seem to be constantly warring with each other -- and the young woman Wawa (played by Marie Wawa, above), is about to be given in marriage as a kind of peace offering to the other tribe. Wawa loves Dain (played by Mungau Dain, below), the grandson of the chief of their tribe, and he returns that love, but, hey, the good of the tribe must come first.

Writers/directors Martin Butler (at right, below) and Bentley Dean (at left, below) offer us, along with their simple but compelling story, enough of the culture and habits of the tribe to keep our interest primed, and the various actors -- all tribes-men and -women -- seem real enough to properly anchor the tale.

How it all works out becomes a kind of Romeo & Juliet story -- but to a purpose. Along the way, we get near-murder, tribal betrayal, banishment, a chase, and finally sacrifice that brings to the fore the importance of romantic love.

The marketing for the movie bills it as a true story, though the end credits assure us that all the characters here are fictitious. Well, why not have it both ways? Out of all the many fine foreign-language films that the Academy could have chosen, this one may strike some as a tad too simple. But it is quite beautiful and, in its way, compelling enough to warrant a watch.

From Lightyear Entertainment, Tanna hits the street on DVD and Blu-ray this coming Tuesday, March 7, for purchase and/or rental. The dialog is in one (or more) of the three languages spoken on Tanna, but the English subtitles are easily enough read.

A new movie musical -- Rachel Perkins' BRAN NUE DAE -- opens from Australia

Is there anything quite as uplifting as a great new musical?  Good songs, fab dancing, some funny comedy, a nice love story and nifty performances.  How wonderful it would be if BRAN NUE DAE, the new Australian road movie/coming-of-age comedy/socially relevant musical were something approaching that -- rather than the utter embarrass-ment it turns out to be.  If you have ever undergone the experience of watching a movie that just refuses to jell, to work, to score (forget hitting the bull's eye, even the target, just something within a mile radius), you'll know what I mean. If you're anything like TrustMovies, you'll want to give this thing the benefit of the doubt, hoping against hope that it will right itself eventually.  So you keep on keeping on.  But when things don't get any better -- in fact, grow worse --  you turn a little nasty.

This is unfair, perhaps, particularly to the director/co-writer (Rachel Perkins, pictured at right) and the other two co-writers (Reg Cribb and Jimmy Chi) and to their cast of very hard-working semi-professionals who sort of sing, sort of dance and sort of act, while giving life to one of the most clichéd jumbles of characters and events imaginable. In terms of right and wrong, social justice for Aborigines and a rallying cry against hypocrisy, the movie's heart is in the right place. But oh, my god, its brain!  Every character seems one-note, each event appears cut from the same garish cloth, and so far as music, lyrics and choreography go, the movie rises almost to the level of a pretty fair high-school performance. Perhaps all of the above is meant to be part of the film's innocent charm, but a little of this goes an awfully long way.

The plot, such as it is, has to do with a young Aborigine (Rocky McKenzie, above, left) who has a crush on a girl but does not have the courage to do much about it.  After he's shipped off to religious school (run by Geoffrey Rush, below, the major "pro" in the cast whom I hope will never attempt another musical: He can't sing, he can't dance, but, wow, can he mug!), the boy breaks away from "religion" and determines to go back home.

The rest of the film is road trip, in which our hero meets a bunch of crazy nut cases who grate after a minute or two but stay on to wear out their non-welcome. By the finale (I think there's not really any spoiler here), so many coincidences and "reunions" have occurred that Shakespeare himself would have blushed and pronounced whatever the olde English was for "Too much already!"

The original music is from co-writer Chi and, like most else here, is so-so -- with the exception of the song "Nothing I Would Rather Be," which is repetitive but fun, while making a worthwhile point. This is probably why the need was felt to toss in some non-original work, such as Stand By Your Man, here given a less than stellar interpretation vocally and choreographically.

The rudimentary plotting, cheap characterization and generally sloppy overseeing renders Bran Nue Dae a misfire on almost every level. Yet unaccountably (so far as I'm concerned), it is said to have been a hit at Sundance, and one of my compatriots, The NYC Movie Guru is also on record as having enjoyed it immensely.  Your move, as they say.  Meanwhile, I'll hold out for the movie version of Wicked.

Bran Nue Dae, said to be the number one Australian movie of the year (another unaccountability!), from Freestyle Releasing, opens nationwide this Friday, September 10.  In New York City it plays at Regal's E-Walk and 64th @ 2nd theaters, at the Clearview Chelsesa and at City Cinema's Village East.  You can find many of the other playdates, cities and theaters across the country here.