Lantana

Rating:
Summary: Brilliance and Wisdom
Review: If a film can be said to take one's breath away, then this one most certainly does. The interwoven plots and characters bring together a handful of Sydney's citizens for what proves to be a pivotal moment for them all. In fact, this release is better seen on DVD than in theatres because it almost demands to be seen over and over again as its secret geometry reveals itself to the viewer. (Wait! Is that guy in the Chinese restaurant the same one who got a bloody nose on the street half hour ago?) While the story is about life and change, it is mostly about what we need in order to be in a relationship. It demands that we look at the courage and faith we must possess just to keep loving another human being.

There are no words to describe the perfection of Geoffrey Rush's portrait of loss. He nearly shimmers with pain. Anthony La Paglia's cop is absolutely his finest moment and I cannot believe the joy of watching Daniela Farinacci's performance. (are those two married in real life?) While the name of the actress who portrays Sonja escapes my memory, her performance never will as her performance is a lesson in what it means to be a grown-up.

See this movie when you can. You will be changed by its beauty.

Rating:
Summary: A very good Australian movie
Review: This movie is surprisingly good. All the actors are good, especially the female who played as the wife of the adultered cop, with deep feelings and emotions, sometimes vulnerable, sad, helpless, but most of the time deep, strong, kind, and understanding. I also felt sad during watching, and could not help shaking my head constantly about the boredom of an urban life, men, women, kids, are all so lonely and bored. There was a dislogue between the cop and his wife that I could not agree more. The wife told the husband that it is so easy to go out to find a man or woman to fool around to kill the boring of your life, but it is so hard not to. This is the sentence worth the whole movie by watching it. All the incidents, co-incidents were well woven and developed. Life in a coastal city in Australia is like elsewhere, bored and bored, unless you go out to the night clubs, bars to kill it in vain, as life itself is a boring cycle, it repeats again when you have to face it night after night.

Rating:
Summary: Who Done Did It?
Review: It's goes without saying, the script holds a few thin lines,
and you expect it, when it's a movie; all in all it's still
one of the best on the shelves, in the last 4 or 5 years.
Direction, very keen.
Camera work, rather involved, but good.
The actors knew how to get the viewer involved.
Would like to see more of these types of movies.
Where you know what's involved, but not how it ends.
Enjoyed Anthony's role, very much.

Rating:
Summary: Restores faith in film's ability to reflect life
Review: Lantana is one of the better movies I've seen in a long while. Watching it is like reading a well written novel on contemporary life. It's the story of a police officer, his family, the interwoven lives of friends and acquaintances, all revolving around the themes of love, honesty, guilt and commitment.

What is impressive is the film's ability to show things from different personal angles. There are no black and white characters in Lantana. Because of this the characters are believable- thank the script and the acting for that. In fact there probably isn't a below-average performance in the cast.

It's a very adult film that treats its audience as if they were intelligent and understanding of complex people. Just for that it rises above most films.

It's a "small" film that delivers a powerful commentary.

Rating:
Summary: Tip Top
Review: One of the best movies I have ever seen. Quick reasons why: the dialogue, the riveting acting, the writing, the absolute lack of pre-ordained formula, the cinematography,the pure cerebral enjoyment it provided while remaining entertaining at a basic level-quite a feat.

Rating:
Summary: Subtle, Affecting Drama
Review: One of the defining characteristics of the human condition is the inevitability of change, both physically and emotionally. Though most would deny it, one is not the same person at forty years of age that they were at twenty; the emotional growth one undergoes over a period of time dictates that it cannot be so. Unlike the changes one experiences during puberty and adolescence, however, that emotional growth is unceasing. It may be said, in fact, that "change" within that context is the only real constant in life; and the effects of this perpetual state of flux on any particular individual is determined by that individual's experiences and derived from a personal frame of reference. And the challenge of coping with the changes in our own lives forms a common thread that binds us together as a species, and it is those challenges and the ways in which we respond to them that forms the basis for director Ray Lawrence's affecting drama, "Lantana," in which he explores the disparate ways that individuals, dissimilar and yet the same, strive to deal with this thing we call "Life."

Police officer Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) is at a crossroads in his life. In the parlance of Pink Floyd, he has grown numb, though not "comfortably." He has a wife, Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) and two children, and though he loves Sonja, this "numbness" that has left him devoid of feeling has driven him to an affair with Jane O'May (Rachael Blake), who has recently separated from her husband, Pete (Glenn Robbins). Unlike Leon, however, Jane admittedly no longer loves her husband, and has no intention of taking him back. Sonja, meanwhile, affected by the emotional distance Leon has put between them, is seeing a therapist, Dr. Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey), who is currently coping with the emotional estrangement of her own husband, John (Geoffrey Rush), a chasm born of personal circumstances which neither seems capable of bridging. The only happy couple in town, apparently, is Jane's neighbors, Nik and Paula Daniels (Vince Colosimo, Daniella Farinacci). But as Nik is out of work, that, too may soon change.

Different people, from different walks of life, each in their own way undergoing that change that is so inevitable. But when one of those involved in the drama suddenly disappears one night, and another is subsequently implicated, it precipitates the intersection of the lives of all four couples, in a way that will ultimately effect a drastic change for some, and resolution for the others.

Utilizing his remarkable ensemble cast to great effect, director Lawrence achieves success with this film through a studied and sensitive presentation of the material contained in the insightful screenplay by Andrew Bovell, which he adapted from his own play, "Speaking In Tongues." Very gradually, Lawrence carefully establishes the characters and their particular situations with an objective eye that refuses to allow a rush to judgment with regards to any and all of those involved here, even as he takes the drama to the heights of emotional involvement. There is a natural rhythm and flow to his presentation, with an emphasis on the human aspects of the story, that enables the audience to make that vital connection with the characters as their story unfolds. Lawrence succinctly peals away that protective outer shell of his characters and digs deep, exposing and laying bare their innermost thoughts and desires, ultimately achieving the result of giving everyone in the audience someone or something with which to identify and relate. He puts it all on a very personal level; and it's a demonstration of filmmaking at it's best.

Lawrence also exacts some extraordinary performances from his actors, beginning with LaPaglia, who does some of the best work of his career with his portrayal of Leon. LaPaglia explores Leon from the inside out, and most importantly, manages to convey his findings to his audience. While some actors in similar situations have a tendency to remain ambiguous, LaPaglia makes Leon's growth and development entirely discernible. Unexpectedly, in fact, it is Leon in whom the emotional pinnacle of the film is realized, attained through a memorable performance by LaPaglia.

Extremely effective, as well, is Geoffrey Rush, who turns in a performance that is so subtle it fairly crackles with understated emotion. Some of the most affecting moments of the film, in fact, are those in which John and Valerie strive to reconnect and put their marriage aright. And Hershey is terrific, too, with her portrayal of this woman who is so fragile and vulnerable beneath her requisite mask of professional strength and authority.

It is in Sonja, however, that we see most clearly the inner turmoil that, in the final analysis, is shared by all of the characters in the film, albeit in accordance with their own, individual situations. But as portrayed by Kerry Armstrong, we get, especially, that sense of the common challenge of coping with the changes life throws at us seemingly at random. It's a notable performance, entirely convincing, and it adds greatly to the overall credibility of the film.

Also noteworthy are the performances of Colosimo, Blake, and especially Farinacci, whose winning portrayal makes Paula the most empathetic of all the characters in the film.

The supporting cast includes Russell Dykstra (Michael), Peter Phelps (Patrick), Leah Purcell (Claudia), Nicholas Cooper (Sam) and Marc Dyer (Dylan). A film that works as entertainment, but even more by way of enlightenment, "Lantana" is engrossing, engaging cinema that will make you think and reflect about the changes you've encountered and will encounter in your own life; an inspired film that reaches out and touches the humanity that resides within all of us, that mirror being held up that affords us a good look at ourselves and allows us to decide whether or not we like what we see. And if we don't, perhaps this film will become the catalyst that makes us do something about it. And that's the magic of the movies.

Rating:
Summary: Top Notch Film !!!
Review: I thought this award-winning Australian movie was incredibly well-done and I am still mulling it over days after seeing it. Every character was fully developed and every performance by this stellar group of actors was outstanding. The confluence of the lives of the various characters was natural and did not seem at all contrived....the movie really was about their interactions and relationships, an examination of deep issues, not a murder mystery as some might think prior to seeing it. Much of the film appeared to try to mislead us as characters who never might have met each other became intimately acquainted. Leon is married to Sonja but sleeping with Jane who lives next door to Nik and Paul. Sonja is seeing a psychiatrist whose disappearance Leon investigates.

Suspicion abounds in "Lantana," as it does in real life. Intimacy and its accompanying trust is scarce, except for Nik and Paula. Most of the characters demonstrate that once happiness is no longer part of a relationship, people move through their lives on auto-pilot, their lives routine and predictable.

Much is hidden beneath the surface here - "lantana" is a tangled nuisance shrub in Australia, with hidden thorns masked by beautiful flowers....much as the unpleasant parts of life can be hidden by what is on the surface.

I liked what James Berardinelli said about this movie: " Being alive and living are not the same......What constitutes happiness - is it the presence of pleasure of the absence of pain? What is the strongest foundation for a lasting marriage - trust, love, familiarity, or grief?"

When I read the reviews, I was afraid "Lantana" was going to be confusing but it wasn't at all. The characters were so well introduced and developed that it was easy to follow the story right from the beginning. I really appreciated the short wrap-up at the end, showing us what all the characters were doing after the main part of the story ended.

This is the best movie I have seen all year!

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular Murder who-done-it with a Latin/Cuban soundtrack
Review: Great movie...one of those that slips by unnoticed. Real and to the point. And the soundtrack is incredible...someone knew his latin music

Rating:
Summary: I found out why it's an award winner.
Review: I was astonished when Lantana won all the Australian film awards, over Moulin Rouge! So, I made the effort to find it on the big screen to see what could have charmed the Aussi audience so. Well, I found an intelligent, adult and finely crafted movie that moved me to the core. Although I am a devoted Russell Crowe fan, my favorite movie last year was not A Beautiful Mind, wonderful as it is, but Lantana. If you do not value a relationship story, then go elsewhere. If you do, then you are in for a treat with Lantana!

Rating:
Summary: Perfect
Review: "Lantana" demonstrates just how good a film can be when everything, and everyone, works together. What is, in retrospect, a very complicated plot is rendered simple and compelling by the strength of Bovell's writing and the understated performances of a stellar cast. And unlike so many adapted plays, this isn't wordy or limited in its scope. It's thematically grand, yet domestically real - and for that reason totally convincing. There isn't a false note in this film, not anywhere. It's something of a coming-of-age for Australian cinema, too. It doesn't debase itself in pursuit of an American audience, nor remain so precious as to appeal only to Australians. Here at last we have a serious, intelligent, realist film of international calibre which doesn't have to trade on the uniqueness of Australian life or humour. This is only Ray Lawrence's second film ("Bliss", adapted from Peter Carey's novel, was his first). Let's hope he doesn't wait another 16 years to make his third.