That Sugar Film (2014); documentary film review

Poster artwork for the Australian documentary feature That Sugar Film.

Hidden Harms by Linh

That Sugar Film is a feature documentary by Australian film-maker Damon Gameau and is a companion piece to his book 'That Sugar Book', yet works well as a stand-alone documentary. Although the film omits some of the book’s facts and figures of Gameau’s discovery of sugar’s effect on his physical and mental health, it is an entertaining and visually appealing presentation of recent sugar statistics in seemingly healthy food and drinks. Prior to the experiment, Gameau gave up eating sugar three years ago and began eating 2300 calories per day on a healthy, non-refined sugar diet (with 50 percent fat). This film is similar to Morgan Spurlock’s documentary Super Size Me, yet That Sugar Film is more specific in its experiment and focus.

The documentary follows Gameau’s 60-day experiment of eating the equivalent of forty tablespoons of sugar every day, by not consuming any junk food or soft drinks, but eating perceived healthy food and drinking fruit smoothies and juices. During the sugar experiment, Gameau maintains the same level of exercise and consumes the same amount of calories, 2300, as he did pre-experiment. Gameau focusses on the sugars in perceived healthy food, such as fructose, that is often hidden or renamed on food labels.

Gameau conducts the sugar experiment on his own body with the support of his pregnant partner actress Zoe Tuckwell-Smith and a team of expert advisors comprising of author and chief sugar advisor David Gillespie, clinical pathologist (blood tests) Dr. Ken Sikaris, nutritionist Sharon Johnston and general practitioner Dr. Debbie Herbst. 

A supporting cast, which includes Stephen Fry, Isabel Lucas, Brenton Thwaites and Jessica Marais, do a sterling job of presenting some of the sugar statistics and other information of perceived healthy food sugars in colourful and interesting ways. Adding to the film’s visual delight, videos of interviews with medical practitioners and other health professionals or researchers are cleverly positioned on items such as food and drink labels, book covers, medical equipment, computer or television monitors and are sometimes accompanied with some CGI effects.

Stephen Fry explains the different types of sugars in the Sugar Family segment from the documentary film That Sugar Film. Image: Madman Entertainment.

Gameau broadens the scope of his sugar experiment to explore the effects of sugar on different communities. He travels to the Northern Territory’s remote town named Amata where Aborigines were consuming high amounts of sugar every day and dying of preventable diseases caused by high sugar consumption. Gameau then takes his mission overseas and travels to the United States, visiting North Carolina, New York and Kentucky. In Kentucky, many people suffer tooth decay and other oral diseases resulting from excessive consumption of sugary soft drinks such as Mountain Dew or Pepsi.

After the 60-day experiment, Gameau had an increase of 7 percent body fat, gained 8.5 kilograms (18.7 pounds) and added 10 centimetres (3.9 inches) of fat around his waist. The fat around his waist is a dangerous type of visceral fat that wraps around his internal organs. All these are the physical changes yet Gameau’s mental health was affected in the form of erratic behaviour, mood swings and feelings of highs and lows. The sugar gives him a huge but brief adrenaline rush and the dips in mood will make him crave more sugar. Gameau’s doctors inform him that he has developed full-blown fatty liver disease and is on the way to developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is interesting to note, that although Gameau consumed the same amount of calories from the perceived healthy food sugars, the effects and results are very different to his pre-experiment diet. Apparently, calories are not all the same and calories of fat have different effects to calories of sugar.

This documentary film offers some interesting and thought-provoking insights into the hidden health risks of sugar in commonly perceived healthy food such as muesli bars, fruit juices, cereals, baked beans, canned tomato soup, barbeque sauce, and sports/energy drinks. More education is required to raise the public’s awareness on the effects of hidden sugars, such as fructose, in perceived healthy foods and better food labelling on all products is necessary. A big hurdle is to battle the huge food corporations’ hunger for profits and the bigger challenge of our appetite for sugar.

Damon Gameau and his partner Zoe Tuckwell-Smith in the documentary film That Sugar Film. Image: Madman Entertainment.

Director: Damon Gameau

Writers: Damon Gameau (book and screenplay)

Cast: Damon Gameau, Zoe Tuckwell-Smith, Stephen Fry, Isabel Lucas, Jessica Marais, Brenton Thwaites, David Gillespie, Dr. Ken Sikaris, Sharon Johnston, Dr. Debbie Herbst, John Tregenza, Edwin Smith, Larry Hammons, Angelia Hammons, Gary Taubes, David Wolfe, Thomas Campbell, Kathleen DesMaisons

Producers: Seth Larney, Jason Sourasis, Paul Wiegard, Damon Gameau, Nick Batzias, Rory Williamson, Virginia Murray, Suzanne Walker

Cinematographer: Judd Overton (director of photography)

Film Editor: Jane Usher

Music Composer: Jojo Petrina

Production: Gareth Davies (production designer)

Running Time: 1 hour and 40 minutes

Red Dog (2011); drama comedy film review

United Kingdom poster artwork for the drama comedy film Red Dog.

Wandering Wonder by Linh

Red Dog is an Australian film that captures the beauty of the Western Australian landscape, encompasses the quirkiness of Australian culture and depicts a strong sense of community spirit in regional and remote towns. Director Kriv Stenders (The Illustrated Family Doctor, Lucky Country) brings a charming and crowd-pleasing adaptation of Louis de Bernières’s novel to audiences. Red Dog is based on the true story of a legendary red cloud kelpie whose travels across Western Australia’s Pilbara region during the 1970s became legendary. After Red Dog’s death, a statue bearing his likeness was erected in Dampier, Western Australia, by his many friends whom he met on his travels. The majority of the characters in the film and the novel are fictional but this does not affect the story.

PILBARA PALS: Red Dog (Koko) and John (Josh Lucas) become close companions in the film Red Dog. Image: Roadshow Films.

The film is told in flashbacks and begins with a visiting truck driver named Tom (Luke Ford) who arrives at the local pub, where he is met with sad and forlorn faces. The publican Jack (Noah Taylor) starts telling Tom about Red Dog (Koko). Tom soon finds out Red Dog has been poisoned and seriously ill, with the vet on his way. As Tom listens to the different stories from the locals including Vanno (Arthur Angel), Jocko (Rohan Nichol) and Peeto (John Batchelor), he begins to understand Red Dog is no ordinary dog, but he is considered a friend to everyone in the community.

Red Dog is explicitly Australian in its depiction of the humour, colloquialisms, multi-culturalism and mateship in the community. The scenes of miners from different ethnicities working side by side in the outback heat and sharing laughs provide some of the comedy in the film. Another Australian cultural trait is the love of betting on anything, as seen when the miners are all betting to see how fast Red Dog can eat a can of dog food, and when Jack hollers “Place your bets! Red Dog and Red Cat are at it.” The Australian tradition of shortening names then adding the letter ‘o’ or sometimes the letter ‘y’ to the end of people’s names is also apparent and demonstrates a friendly and laid-back attitude to addressing friends and colleagues.

DRIVER'S DOG: Red Dog (Koko) insists on sitting on the bus behind John (Josh Lucas) in the film Red Dog. Image: Roadshow Films.

The cast is excellent and Josh Lucas (The Lincoln Lawyer, Big Sur) is affable as the American bus driver John who never manages to stay in one place for more than two years. Red Dog chooses John as his master and never leaves his side; Rachael Taylor (Transformers, The Loft) is lovely as Nancy the secretary who holds her own among the all-male mining team; John Batchelor is superb as Peeto, the big, burly, bearded softie at heart who likes to set things right by giving wrong-doers an “ed-u-cation”; Arthur Angel’s homesick then lovesick Vanno is hilarious and at times goofy; keep an eye out for the late Australian acting legend Bill Hunter (The Wedding Party, The Cup) as a local at the pub. His final film role before he passed away was in The Cup as horse-trainer extraordinaire Bart Cummings.

HEROIC HOUND: Nancy (Rachel Taylor) is proud of Red Dog who is a friend and hero to residents of Dampier in the film Red Dog. Image: Roadshow Films.

Cinematographer Geoffrey Hall (Chopper, Dirty Deeds) beautifully filmed the dusty plains, the dry arid bushland and the dusk/dawn scenes. His photography is complemented by composer Cezary Skubiszewski’s score and a ripsnorting soundtrack. Red Dog is already a favourite with Australian audiences and won the Best Film Award at the inaugural AACTA (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts) Awards in 2012. Sadly, seven year old Koko who played Red Dog in the film died in Perth after a battle with congestive heart disease in 2012.

COMMUNITY'S CANINE: The town stands united for Red Dog and supports his right to be a member of the community in the film Red Dog. Image: Roadshow Films.

Director: Kriv Stenders

Writers: Daniel Taplitz (screenplay), Louis de Bernières (book)

Cast: Josh Lucas, Rachael Taylor, Koko, Noah Taylor, Luke Ford, Arthur Angel, John Batchelor, Rohan Nichol, Bill Hunter, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Leone Carmen, Eamon Farren, Tiffany Lyndall-Knight, Brett Heath, John Leary, Costa Ronin, Shingo Usami, Neil Pigot, Yure Covich

Producers: Nelson Woss, Su Armstrong, Marc Van Buuren, Aaron Ryder, Julie Ryan

Cinematographer: Geoffrey Hall

Original Music Composer: Cezary Skubiszewski

Film Editor: Jill Bilcock

Production: Ian Gracie (Production Designer), Tuesday Stone (Art Director), Rebecca Cohen (Set Decorator)

Costume Designer: Marriott Kerr

Running Time: 1 hour and 32 minutes

The Loved Ones (2009); horror thriller suspense comedy drama film review

Poster artwork for the horror thriller suspense comedy drama film The Loved Ones.

Deranged Desires by Linh

Australian cinema has stepped into darker and more twisted territory with The Loved Ones giving horror genre fans a taste of torture-porn with a jab of comedy. In director/writer Sean Byrne’s feature film debut, there is a concoction of Brian De Palma’s Carrie, director Steven Scheil’s Mum and Dad, John Hughes’s 1980s teen comedy dramas, and Eli Roth’s gory Hostel, with some scenes so ghastly it may cause distress. Despite the disturbing scenes, The Loved Ones is fabulously paced for suspense and horrific thrills that send shudders down the spine, especially during the electric drill moment.

PINK PRINCESS: Lola (Robin McLeavy) tries on her pink power prom dress in the film The Loved Ones. Image: Madman Entertainment.

The film opens six months earlier, when Brent (Xavier Samuel) is driving his Dad home when he swerves to avoid a blood-covered youth, and crashes the car into a tree. Fast forward to the current day and we see Brent accosted by the high school outcast Lola (Robin McLeavy), who asks him to be her date for the school dance. Brent has already asked Holly (Victoria Thaine) and declines Lola’s invitation.  Lola instantly appears hurt by Brent’s rejection and her jealousy of Holly leads to anger. The events leading up to the night of the school dance escalates into a series of intense and horrific torture involving a syringe, a hammer, knives/cutlery, guns and an electric drill. Lola’s crush on Brent turns deadly as the film progresses.

TORTURE TIME: Brent (Xavier Samuel) awaits his next challenge in enduring painful torture in the film The Loved Ones. Image: Madman Entertainment.

The Loved Ones is not the usual formulaic horror film despite depicting elements that are familiar to the horror genre. It has strong multi-faceted character roles, an infectious soundtrack, references to other horror films and teen prom comedy dramas. The film presents its characters as interconnected to each other and to the story, through parallels of losing a loved one, manipulating/hurting or meeting a loved one. The all-Australian cast do an excellent job in bringing fear and panic to life on the screen, while keeping the audience repulsed but delighted.

PROM PALS: Lola (Robin McLeavy) is delighted to finally have Brent (Xavier Samuel) as her prom partner in the film The Loved Ones. Image: Madman Entertainment.

Xavier Samuel (Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Anonymous) is the handsome young hero, Brent, who feels guilt and grief from losing his Dad in a car accident and he spends his time listening to heavy hardcore metal music. Brent listens to loud metal music and smokes pot to block out the emotional pain, but this pain is externalised as physical and real after his abduction and during his torture. Samuel’s character is muted and tied to a chair for most of the film, and he does a convincing job of conveying all the terror and pain of a torture victim with his facial expressions, his eyes and the occasional bloodcurdling scream.

The standout performance is from Robin McLeavy as the demented and bloodlusty Lola. A social misfit and loner, Lola has a disturbing and dark history of luring males who have spurned her, to her Daddy’s house and subjecting them to all forms of torture, even turning some into mindless zombies that are kept in an underground room inside the house. McLeavy is brilliantly effective as Lola, the wildly unhinged and bratty teenager, who becomes more psychotic and brazen throughout the film. McLeavy has created a memorable monstrous feminine of the horror genre, providing a twist in the traditional gender roles of horror films where the empowered woman becomes a killer rather than the victim.

HERO'S HOPE: Holly (Victoria Thaine) hits the road in search of Brent in the film The Loved Ones. Image: Madman Entertainment.

The supporting cast are equally excellent with John Brumpton (Last Ride, Red Hill) as Lola’s father, whose incestuous relationship with Lola makes for intriguing insights into the power relations between the two during the torture scenes; Victoria Thaine is the sweet-natured and gentle heroine Holly, who is the binary opposite of Lola – when Lola kills or wounds, Holly would help and heal; best known for her role in TV series Packed To the Rafters, Jessica McNamee makes her film debut as the shy and reserved goth Mia, and McNamee has also filmed a role alongside Rachel McAdams, Sam Neill and Jessica Lange in The Vow.

LIKE LOLA: Mia (Jessica McNamee) is Lola's parallel double who succeeds in getting a date for the school dance, but expresses her frustrations through sexual activity instead of violence in the film The Loved Ones. Image: Madman Entertainment.

The Loved Ones screened at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival in September, where it won the coveted audience award in the Midnight Madness horror film section, gaining more attention than Daybreakers and Jennifer’s Body. This film is certain to gain cult status and cement a spot for director Sean Byrne and his young Australian cast in the hearts and minds of horrorphiles worldwide.

Director: Sean Byrne 

        

Writer: Sean Byrne (screenplay)

Cast: Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, John Brumpton, Victoria Thaine, Jessica McNamee, Richard Wilson, Andrew S. Gilbert, Suzi Dougherty, Victoria Eagger, Anne Scott-Pendlebury, Fred Whitlock, Eden Porter, Stephen Walden, Leo Taylor, Igor Savin, Brandon Burns,Tom Mahoney, Gully McGrath, Liam Duxbury, Stevie-Lou Answerth, Jedda (the dog)

Producers: Matthew Street, David Whealy, Bryce Menzies, Christopher Mapp, Michael Boughen, Mark Lazarus

Cinematographer: Simon Chapman

     

Original Music Composer: Ollie Olsen

 

Film Editor: Andy Canny

             

Production: Robert Webb (Production Designer), Robert Webb (Art Director)

Costume Designer: Xanthe Heubel

Running Time: 1 hour and 20 minutes 

Passengers (2009); drama film review

Poster artwork for the drama film Passengers.

Marital Mess by Linh

Making its Australian film premiere at the 2010 Adelaide Fringe Festival, Passengers is an original and innovative film from one of Australia's emerging talents. Passengers is the debut feature film from Australian director/writer Michael Bond, who achieves a sense of realism and immediacy in a film about lack of trust and suspicions weighing on the human psyche.

Passengers is a road movie with a difference that presents some unexpected moments between a married couple, and allows the audience to enter a personal space to become observers of an intense marriage breakdown. The film seems frustrating to watch as the audiences switch sides from sympathising and supporting one character to the other.

Passengers follows a married couple, Tom (Cameron Daddo) who is an aspiring screenwriter and Melony (Angie Milliken), a struggling actress, on a drive from Santa Monica to Hollywood for a dinner arrangement with Melony’s friend Kath.  Melony suspects Tom of cheating after she finds a name and number on a receipt. Along the way, they stop off to see Tom’s writing partner Roger (Bruce Davison) and his second wife Nina (Patty Yu), but Melony’s suspicions grow and their marriage deteriorates as they continue to their doomed dinner date.

Cameron Daddo stars as Tom and also produces for the first time, contributing to a film that highlights his acting prowess in a dramatic role. Daddo gives a subtle and understated performance that suggests his character may be hiding more than one would suspect.

Angie Milliken is superb as the neurotic, emotionally-fraught actress Melony who keeps the film’s pulse pumping as the long drive to Hollywood intensifies between the pair. Although Tom is in the driver’s seat, Melony appears to be the one driving the relationship towards its end, and her suspicions spill over in a melodramatic display of tears and tantrum.

Hungarian-born and Melbourne-based cinematographer László Baranyai captures all the subtle and idiosyncratic performances from both Cameron Daddo and Angie Milliken, as well as the conspicuous and enveloping traffic of night-time Los Angeles. His changing camera angles from close-ups to long shots assists in the depiction of a relationship breakdown as if witnessed in person.

The film's title could suggest that the viewer becomes a passenger in the car with Tom and Melony, who witness the conversations and interactions between the couple. The scenes are filmed in ways to give the audience a sense of sharing a confined space with people they hardly know and as the journey continues, they know even less and questions arise from their observations.

Director Michael Bond may have deliberately left the film open-ended with so much for the audience to decide and discuss about the couple, their friends and the journey itself. Passengers is beautifully filmed with strong and nuanced performances from the cast that gives a certain level of intrigue. It’s a character study of how two intelligent and talented people experience a communication breakdown as they each try to forge a career in the seemingly shallow world of Hollywood.

DIVIDED: Tom (Cameron Daddo) and Melony's (Angie Milliken) marriage is on the rocks in the film Passengers. Image: Quantum Releasing, Passengers LLC.

Director: Michael Bond

Writer: Michael Bond (screenplay)

Cast: Cameron Daddo, Angie Milliken, Bruce Davison, Patty Yu, Lotus Daddo, River Daddo, Oscar Williams, Christopher Mario Parker, John Rogers, Martie Ashworth

Producers: Michael Bond, Cameron Daddo, John ‘JJ’ Rogers, Jonathon Stretch,

Cinematographer: László Baranyai

Original Music Composer: Gerald Brunskill

Film Editor: Drew Thompson

Production Manager: Marvin Cheng

Art Director: Robert M. Bouffard

Costume Designer: Meredith Montano

Running Time: 1 hour and 24 minutes.