The best movies made in Victoria over past 30 years
From indie rom-coms to Oscar nominated global hits and quotable classics to fan favourites, here’s 30 of the best movies made in Victoria over the past 30 years.
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Ali’s Wedding (2017)
Billed as the country’s first Muslim rom-com, and filmed mostly around Brunswick and Coburg, Ali’s Wedding is sweet-natures, warm-hearted tale of love and tradition and a modern reflection of multicultural Melbourne.
Animal Kingdom (2010)
One of the best ever Australian movies, this dark, gritty crime thriller was loosely based on the infamous Walsh Street. Writer-director David Michod zoomed in on a family of criminals to examine the chillingly mundane evil and thuggery lurking in everyday suburbia. Not only was the film a critical hit around the world – and spawned a US TV series – it launched the international careers of veteran actors Jacki Weaver and Ben Mendelsohn. Weaver’s calmly terrifying portrayal of family matriarch Smurf earned her an Oscar-nomination for Best Actress and Mendelsohn’s amoral, calculating gangster Pope, helped make him Hollywood’s go-to villain for the next decade. “Without Animal Kingdom, none of the rest of it happens,” says Mendelsohn. “It all comes back to Animal Kingdom.”
The Bank (2001)
Director Robert Connolly tapped into a deep vein of animosity against faceless, financial institutions with his thriller set in the world of high finance. Anthony LaPaglia, channelling his inner Gordon Gekko as a shifty bank CEO, and David Wenham, as a gifted mathematician, were bang on the money.
The Big Steal (1990)
Director-producer-writer-team Nadia Tass and David Parker had already had hit with the quintessentially Melbourne heist movie Malcolm, and found similarly feel-good form with this breezy comedy starring a young Ben Mendelsohn as a car-mad, lovestruck teen trying to get payback on Steve Bisley’s hilariously oily used-car salesman.
The Castle (1997)
“Tell him he’s dreaming.” “How’s the serenity?” “It’s the vibe.” Working Dog’s first film is one of the most quotable in Australian history. Michael Caton, who plays family patriarch Daryl Kerrigan in the David V Goliath story of a knockabout bloke trying to save his house from demolition, says he still gets bailed up regularly by strangers spouting his character’s lines back at him. Caton says the spot-on writing and the furious pace helped the movie become a modern Australian classic. “We just went for it because we couldn’t muck around,” he says. “It had a beautiful energy about it because we shot it in ten and half days. Usually making a feature film is like watching grass grow but with this it was two takes and on to the next scene.”
Charlotte’s Web (2006)
Victoria has rarely looked better than in this sweet-natures live-action version of the beloved children’s book, with Greendale, Heidelberg and Spotswood admirably subbing in for rural Maine.
Chopper (2000)
Eric Bana made an impressive entry into the movie world, first as boneheaded kickboxer Con in The Castle and then as Mark “Chopper” Read in Andrew Dominik’s crime-drama-biopic. Bana stacked on the kilos to play the heavily-tatted, charismatic career criminal, earning rave reviews, a Best Actor AACTA Award and a calling card to Hollywood. And despite his roles since in blockbusters such as Troy, Star Trek, Hulk and Munich, those early homegrown efforts still have a special place in his heart. “It’s something I constantly get reminded of, like The Castle,” Bana says of Chopper. “For whatever reason it’s really resonated with Australian viewers and I have always felt really fortunate to be a part of Australian cinema in a way that isn’t quickly forgotten. It feels like a real privilege and it’s not something that I take for granted.”
Crackerjack (2002)
Who knew a comedy set in the sedate, senior citizen world of lawn bowls could be a hit? Comedian and radio presenter Mick Molloy did, writing himself a leading role as smart-arse layabout who helps save an old-school club (actually filmed at the Melbourne Bowling Club in Windsor) from oblivion.
Death In Brunswick (1991)
A gem of a black comedy set and shot in the inner-north suburb before it became a haven for hipsters and craft beers. Sam Neill is in top form is in top form as a slightly clueless chef who becomes gets tangled up with drug-dealers, and the late, great John Clarke is at his deadpan best playing his gravedigger mate.
The Dressmaker (2015)
Gorgeous-looking – with a whole town erected at Mount Rothwell just for the shoot — darkly funny adaptation of Rosalie Ham’s much loved book. Director Jocelyn Moorhouse assembled an all-star cast and drew a career-best performance from Liam Hemsworth and a flawless Aussie accent from Oscar-winner Kate Winslet.
Holding the Man (2014)
Powerful, positive, funny and heart wrenching true story of two men who meet as teenagers at Melbourne’s prestigious Xavier College in 1976 and their complicated relationship for the next two decades.
The Interview (1998)
Melbourne director’s Craig Monahan’s intense, claustrophobic drama centres around a mysterious police interrogation. There are mostly just three actors on screen, but it hardly matters when they are of the calibre of Tony Martin, Aaron Jeffery and Hugo Weaving.
Kenny (2006)
The Jacobson brothers Shane (writer-star) and Clayton (writer-director) based the knockabout plumber on their dad and various uncles and his endless optimism and down-to-earth attitude struck a chord – and still do to this says according to Shane. “He’s the guy who’s the ultimate optimist and sees the good in everyone and particularly now, we need Kenny more than ever. He’s the friend you want and he always sees the best in everyone.” Despite a more muted reception to the TV spin-off Kenny’s World, Jacobson remains open to pulling on the overalls again. “You can never say never because you don’t know what the future holds,” he says. “But he won’t answer my calls. The only person Kenny doesn’t like – and he says this openly – is Shane Jacobson because he thinks I am a fraud.”
Knowing (2009)
Slick, big-budget sci-fi, disaster thriller was set in Boston but shot in Melbourne, with Nicolas Cage staring down the end of the world. The Oscar-winner must have liked the place, he’d also been here a couple of years earlier filming the supremely silly superhero blockbuster, Ghost Rider.
Lion (2016)
Melbourne director Garth Davis’ stranger-than-fiction true story (partly shot in his home town) of a young boy who is adopted by an Australian couple after being separated from his family in India. Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman – both among the film’s six Oscar nominations – led a quality cast, helping make it a global $200 million hit.
Love and Other Catastrophes (1996)
Charming, indie student rom-com, set and shot at Melbourne University, with early roles for Frances O’Connor and Radha Mitchell, both of whom would go on to have big success in Hollywood within the next five years.
Love Serenade (1996)
Criminally critically overlooked in Australia on its release, this heartfelt comedy set in a fictional town on the Murray River and starring a pre-Lord Of the Rings Miranda Otto found love at the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Camera d’Or.
The Loved Ones (2009)
Thanks to its gratuitous gore, this absolutely bonkers horror-comedy (with school scenes shot at Kew High School) is not for the faint-hearted, but became a fan favourite of the genre thanks to a star turn from Robin McLeavy.
Mary and Max (2009)
Already an Oscar-winner for short film Harvie Krumpet, Adam Elliot’s stop-motion feature about a lonely Melbourne girl and her obese New York pen pal is an utter delight and attracted a stellar voice cast that included Toni Collette and Phillip Seymour-Hoffman.
Noise (2007)
Sunshine set and shot drama-thriller about a traumatised, tinnitus-afflicted cop and a murder witness doesn’t make for easy viewing but packs a serious dramatic punch.
Ned Kelly (2003)/ True History of the Kelly Gang (2019)
Given Melbourne gave the world its very first feature film, 1906’s The Story Of the Kelly Gang, it’s fitting that filmmakers keep going back for more. Neither Heath Ledger’s take, nor last year’s left-of-field version with Brit George MacKay in the lead role, are perfect but are testament the endless fascination with Australia’s most famous outlaw.
Oddball (2015)
Based on a true story about a Warrnambool farmer who hit upon the idea of protecting an endangered colony of penguins with his Maremma Sheepdog, Oddball makes for quality family viewing, largely due to an expertly judged performance from Shane Jacobson and some very cute critters.
Predestination (2014)
The more you think about the Spierig brothers’ mind-bending sci-fi thriller, shot at the Docklands Studios and the Abbotsford Convent, the more it will bend your mind. Baffling though the time-shifting, paradox-prone cult hit may be, it’s never boring.
Proof (1991)
Magnificent comedy-drama from Melbourne director Jocelyn Moorhouse, about a love triangle between a blind photographer, his housekeeper and his friend swept the AACTA Awards that year and helped launch the international careers of Hugo Weaving and Russell Crowe.
Ride Like a Girl (2019)
Just like Michelle Payne’s against-the-odds victory in the 2015 Melbourne Cup, director Rachel Griffiths’ biopic is an unashamed crowd-pleaser. “I got savaged by the critics who thought I should have made a racing film that shamed men and I thought ‘well no one would have seen that film’,” says Griffiths. “I made it for the people – it’s not a ‘fillum’, it’s a movie and it’s designed to take everything that was wonderful about that story and repeat it but hopefully with more.” Audiences agreed with her take and flocked to the cinemas, making it the country’s highest grossing homegrown hit of last year.
Romper Stomper (1992)
Set and shot on the then grim, seedy streets of Footscray, with Russell Crowe in vilely, mesmerising from as the leader of a neo-Nazi, Vietnamese immigrant baiting gang of skinheads, Geoffrey Wright’s debut feature film remains as compelling and controversial as when it was released.
Romulus My Father (2007)
Sensitive exploration of the struggles and aspirations of post-WWII immigrant experience, with Eric Bana and Kodi Smit-McPhee forming a tough, tender and touching bond as father and son and shot in rural Victorian locations including Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemaine.
Spotswood (1992)
Fresh from filming his Oscar-winning role as Hannibal Lecter in Silence Of the Lambs, Anthony Hopkins found himself in Melbourne’s inner west playing an uptight efficiency expert in a gently old-fashioned comedy.
Upgrade (2018)
Before he had a Hollywood hit with this year’s The Invisible Man, Saw creator and hometown hero Leigh Whannell showcased his flair and feverish imagination in this underrated sci-fi-horror-action thriller.
The Wog Boy (2000)
Many critics savaged Nick Giannopoulos’ big screen evolution of the ethnic based comedy he had been doing for years. Audiences thought otherwise and embraced his mouthy Greek dole-bludger to the tune of more than $11 million at the local box office.
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