Australia
Set against the scenic backdrop of pre-World War II Australia, Baz Luhrmann's romantic period adventure stars Nicole Kidman as an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch, and Hugh Jackman as the rough-and-tumble cattle driver who helps protect her property from greedy English cattle barons. As the pair attempt to herd 2,000 head of cattle hundreds of miles across the treacherous Australian outback, they are stunned to bear witness to the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces -- who just a few months prior launched a devastating attack on Pearl Harbor.
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, David Wenham, Bryan Brown, Jack Thompson
A wildly ambitious, luridly indulgent spectacle of romance, action, melodrama and historic revisionism, Australia is windy, overblown, utterly preposterous and insanely entertaining.
It is exuberantly old-fashioned, and I mean that as a compliment.
A testament to movie love at its most devout, cinematic spectacle at its most extreme, and kitsch as an act of aesthetic communion.
If you are willing to take the plunge and view things through Luhrmann's prism, "Australia" does deliver the classic dramatic and romantic satisfactions its ambitious advertising campaign promises.
movie is all over the map. But what a gorgeous map it is. The too-muchness, like the too-longness, befits the Northern Territory's vastness. In its heart of hearts Australia is an old-fashioned Western -- a Northern, if you will -- and all the more enjoyable for it.
Best Achievement in Costume Design
Academy Awards (2009)
Best Costume
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (2009)
Best Sound
Australian Film Institute (2009)
Avid Award for Best Editing on a Feature Film
Australian Screen Editors (2009)
Feature Film Soundtrack of the Year
Australian Screen Sound Guild (2009)
No lists