Aussie movies used to be fun. A teen hit proves we still have it in us

About a month ago, my brother and I saw the Eric Bana movie The Dry 2: Forces of Nature. This title got even funnier after I saw the film and discovered it is entirely set in a rainforest. There is not a single “dry” thing in the movie.

The Dry 2 has a measly 47 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes but I loved it, in particular for its ridiculousness. The movie was so over the top that it exhibited a form of “actors’ brain” – the idea that what an actor is doing is so important and impactful that the rest of the world should thank them.

Crocodile Dundee may be decades-old but it still inspired a $38 million Tourism Australia campaign that included an ad that aired during the 2018 Super Bowl. Credit: Tourism Australia

While The Dry 2 and its sense of self-belief was ultimately endearing to me, too many Australian movies have become inflicted with this seriousness. We have a type of film now. In the 1980s and 1990s, that did not exist. During those decades, Australian cinema flourished with a diverse range of narratives and genres and included the likes of Crocodile Dundee, Mad Max 2, Monkey Grip, Proof, Muriel’s Wedding, The Castle, Priscilla ... and many more. These days, Aussie films seem so solemn – all about murder, sexuality or drought.

In the case of the original Dry, it scored an Aussie hat trick.

Now, I may be no David Stratton or Bill Collins, or a scholar of Australian cinema, but as a young screenwriter and filmmaker, I find it concerning how rarely I see people like me or my friends reflected on our nation’s screens.

If you look at the movies Australia has released over the past 20 or so years, you see an odd formula in Candy, Chopper, The Nightingale, Animal Kingdon, Breath, and bloody Snowtown! What was once a diverse range of narratives and genres has been largely replaced with rather grim stories best classified as “drama”. Australian cinema is convinced that we, as a country, are serious people when, in reality, we’re not.

Talk To Me was a big-screen hit from Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou (aka YouTube sensations RackaRacka).Credit: Umbrella Entertainment

For the most part, things in Australia aren’t so bad. Our political system is not completely corrupt, we are not torn apart by radical violence, our streets are clean and we tend to qualify for the FIFA World Cup every four years. Things are not, despite what the cinema of Australia would have you believe, so bad.

The best movies that portray Australians in any light that isn’t serious and self-important are those not made by Australians. The recent romantic comedy, Anyone But You, was set entirely in Sydney and grossed about $US220 million worldwide. Ryan Gosling’s new action comedy The Fall Guy is also set in Sydney and features Australian actors … being funny.

A few years ago, Tourism Australia launched a $34 million campaign riffing on Crocodile Dundee. The ad premiered during the Super Bowl and featured American actor Danny McBride, who was billed as Crocodile Dundee’s American son. The campaign was a “fake trailer” for a sequel to the series, which saw Australian icons such as Hugh Jackman, Chris Hemsworth, Ruby Rose, Margot Robbie and the original Dundee himself, Paul Hogan, appear. The ad was bloody funny and a resounding success.

Tourism Australia realised that, to promote Australia in a cinematic way, it made sense to use our most iconic film: a weird, super-dated, transphobic comedy from 1986. Tourism Australia did not choose The Dry or Snowtown. The 38-year-old film still represents the cultural “vibe” of the country significantly better than most of what Screen Australia believes is “integral Australian cinema”.

In Australia, unlike the United States, if you have an idea for a film or television show, you cannot go to a random producer and say you want to make this. There is no “studio system” here. You have to go through months, and sometimes years, of government applications, and then, and only then, will you be able to talk to a network partner like SBS or a streaming service such as Stan.

In theory, it should give anyone, no matter their financial background, gender, sexuality, etc the same opportunity. However, it’s well understood in the industry that Australia’s screen hubs are really only looking for a few types of things, from a few types of people. These hubs are determined to make Australian cinema look and feel a certain way and want taxpayer money for “important” and “culturally significant” projects.

But this is not the way to craft important or culturally significant narratives at all; it’s perfecting a formula.

Australia’s latest hit at the international box office was Talk to Me, a horror film that embraced how genuinely stupid Australian teenagers are. The film absolutely could not have been made by someone who was not a delinquent themselves in their youth. It was perfect, which was why it found a massive audience worldwide, grossing just over $92 million, far more than any other recent Screen Australia release.

Talk To Me was a much-needed step in the right direction. It should be the start of a whole new approach to making Australian movies. One that focuses on narrative and genre over importance or cultural significance. I guarantee, more people will remember movies like Talk to Me in 50 years than the ones Screen Australia thinks you want to see.

Roby D’Ottavi is a writer and director based in Melbourne.

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