Page 19 - Metro

accelerate our worst impulses. Unlike the fallible, suggestible JODVVHG LQ DSDUWPHQW EXLOGLQJ WR WKH VXEWHUUDQHDQ EXQNHU
human brain, the impeccably accurate grain footage allows ZKHUH KHU VWDUW XS LV EDVHG LWpV VWULNLQJ WR VHH 3HUWKpV VXQQ\
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%\ WKH HQG 5HQ KDV VXFFHVVIXOO\ WUHDWHG KHU RZQ WUDXPD 6KH The ocean – so often the focus of Perth stories – book
has coded her memories and desires into the digital prison of ends .SGDQ+HED $W WKH VWDUW RI WKH ĺOPpV WKLUG DFW 5HQ DOORZV
the carceral software, transforming the essential loneliness of KHUVHOI WR EH VZDPSHG E\ D VSDUNOLQJ ZDYH LW VZDOORZV KHU
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to make peace with her past and mend broken relationships. UHWXUQV WR JD]H RYHU WKH ZDWHU ĺQDOO\ DW SHDFH QRZ WKDW VKH
has reconciled the isolation and obsession of her ‘real’ life.
How Australian is OtherLife?
Mel Campbell is a Melbourne-based freelance journalist and
$IWHU VFUHHQLQJV DW WKH 6\GQH\ 0HOERXUQH DQG &LQÆIHVW2= cultural critic, author of the book Out of Shape: Debunking
festivals, .SGDQ+HED was released worldwide via streaming ,XSGR @ANTS %@RGHNM @MC %HS EkQL /QDRR @MC BN
SODWIRUP 1HWĻL[ 7KH ĺOPpV YLUWXDO UHDOLW\ QDUUDWLYH DV ZHOO DV @TSGNQŭNE SGD MNUDK The Hot Guy $BGN /TAKHRGHMF m
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concerned with national identity than with exploring broader 1 %HQ & /XFDV TXRWHG LQ *OHQ )DONHQVWHLQ o'LUHFWRU %HQ /XFDV
philosophical and ethical concerns. on the OtherLife :RUOG 3UHPLHUHp FalkenScreen -XQH
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$QQNQR NE SGD 'TL@M !NCX for Metro, for instance, Alexandra 2 1LFR /DQJ o$ 4XLFN +LVWRU\ RI WKH )LUVW SHUVRQ )LOPp Consequence
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regarding each and then deliberately ignores them’. /LNHZLVH 1RYHPEHU
WKH 0HOERXUQH ĺOPHG H[LVWHQWLDO P\VWHU\ $WHS (Marek Polgar, 3 &KULVWRSKHU &DPSEHOO o:K\ $UH 0RYLHV 6KRW )XOO\ LQ q)LUVW
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illuminating answers. DUH PRYLHV VKRW IXOO\ LQ ŷUVW SHUVRQ SRY VXFK D EDG LGHD
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makers should be pursuing international audiences (who dislike 4 6HH -DQH 0D\HU o=HUR &RQVFLHQFH LQ Zero Dark Thirty’, The
excessively parochial Aussie stories), local multiplex audiences New Yorker 'HFHPEHU KWWSV ZZZ QHZ\RUNHU
(who enjoy traditional Australian imagery and lifestyles) or art FRP QHZV QHZV GHVN ]HUR FRQVFLHQFH LQ ]HUR GDUN WKLUW\>,
house audiences (who respond to ‘dark, depressing’ dramas). DFFHVVHG 1RYHPEHU
*HQUH KDV EHHQ WUHDWHG DV D oVLOYHU EXOOHWp WKDW FDQ DSSHDO WR 6HH $QJHOLFD -DGH %DVWLHQ oDetroit’, RogerEbert.com -XO\
all of these viewers at once, even though the Australian screen KWWSV ZZZ URJHUHEHUW FRP UHYLHZV GHWURLW >,
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FOHYHU 86 LQGLH /QHLDQ 6KDQH &DUUXWK RIIHUHG D WHP %HQ & /XFDV t OtherLife’, Moviehole -XQH http://
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cool with the resources we had available.’ And it was always 0DUN 'DYLG 5\DQ o$ 6LOYHU %XOOHW IRU $XVWUDOLDQ &LQHPD" *HQUH
JRLQJ WR EH D 3HUWK VWRU\ o1RW MXVW VKRRW WKHUH EXW DOVR EH Movies and the Audience Debate’, Studies in Australasian
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tion. Its uncanny frontier atmosphere was put to disturbing (QG RI WKH :RUOG $XVVLH 6FLHQFH )LFWLRQpV 1HZ :DYHp The

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violent anarchy as the asteroid that’s already annihilated the ŷFWLRQ ŷOPV! DFFHVVHG 1RYHPEHU
rest of the world approaches Western Australia. The same 11 %HQ & /XFDV o:ULWHU 'LUHFWRUpV 6WDWHPHQWp LQ &DUUHUD 3UHVV
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ers often shoot in Western Australia because of its natural, 13 6HH .DWH /HDYHU o)HDUV RI q&XOWXUDO ,VRODWLRQrp Weekend
rugged beauty. Yet .SGDQ+HED uses Perth’s sleek emptiness to Courier 6HSWHPEHU KWWSV ZZZ FRPPXQLW\QHZV
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