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.

Patrick Hughes' primal thriller RED HILL rivets and moves us in equal measure

What a fine, smart, fast, intelligent -- and humane -- thriller is RED HILL, the new Australian movie from writer/director Patrick Hughes. At its core is a country’s history, telescoped down to a single event -- and the long-brewing aftermath of that event. Younger viewers, those who have come to movies too late to remember the 1970s and the resurgence of the Australian film industry during that decade, will probably accept Red Hill on its own initial-if-deceptive, simply-a-thriller terms. And that's fine -- because the movie certainly does provide a series of non-stop thrills, each one backed up by something primal and upsetting. Things are more than amiss here. Civilization is threatened.

After a sweet start, as a husband and wife awaken in their new home and hubby goes off to work (she's pregnant; he's a cop, transplanted from the city to a small-town outpost in the country), the film quickly takes off and never lets up its rapid-fire pace, even as it consistently keeps us on our toes by subver-ting expectations. This is B-movie-making of a very high order, the best of its kind since Wes Craven made Red Eye. Mr. Hughes (pictured, left) is a relative newcomer to the international film scene. He's made only three short films in over a decade, but Red Hill, his first full-length feature, should change his status fast.

Among the things Hughes handles best are clichés. He knows which to use, which to avoid and which to stand on their head for maximum impact and surprise, while making certain that his film never hops the rails of believability. Most succulently, when it does appear to defy credibility, wait a bit and, to your delight, you'll see that this is hardly the case.

Hughes also combines the thriller genre with a modern day western in which the threat comes from a source that appears as frightening as it is lethal. Primal "elements" are also present here, one of which is a major storm that's brewing. And, as with almost all good B movies, the running time is short: just 96 minutes.

Red Hill is an "aboriginal" movie in several ways. It deals with an Aborigine, played by Tommy Lewis (shown above), star of one of those seminal '70 Australian films, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith). Its themes -- from birth and death to vengeance and the animal nature of man -- while present and accounted for are not driven home with a hammer. Finally, there is the idea of the "imported" menace: the wild animal said to be killing the livestock (below) harks back to the importation of British criminals and the destruction of the Aborigines that soon followed. While none of this is "stated," all of it is present in the tale itself.

Though the film's cast is first-rate, other than its "star," Ryan Kwanten (shown at bottom and best known for True Blood), only Mr. Lewis may ring a bell with older "arthouse" audiences. Kwanten is very good, by the way: direct and real, as believable as a young cop and father-to-be as he is a dead-set hero when the occasion demands. Lewis remains a force of nature who finally and rightly commandeers the movie. Equally fine is Steve Bisley as Kwantan's no-nonsense new boss, who has a surprise or two up his sleeve, as well.

There's a lot of violence in Red Hill, but this is no gore-fest. Considering what might have transpired in the hands of certain other directors, the film is a model of containment and righteousness. Consider, for example, what Hughes does and does not do with the killer-on-the-loose/pregnant woman combination. Suspenseful as hell, the film shows no more blood-and-guts than necessary to make its point. Gorgeous to look at (technical credts are first-rate), this is a model movie in so many ways.
Jimmie Blacksmith chants again!

Red Hill, from Strand Releasing, opens Friday, November 5, in New York City at the AMC Empire 25 and the Clearview Cinema Chelsea.  Other venues should follow fast, once word-of-mouth takes off.