All feature films
313 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 next
F (continued)
Footy Legends 2006
Anh Do, best known as a stand-up comedian, gives a heartbreakingly real performance as a man of limited education trying to keep his family together, and get back into the economic mainstream.
For the Honour of Australia 1916
War melodrama about two brothers in 1915: one joins the navy, the other discovers a German spy ring in Australia and is saved after the Sydney batters the Emden.
For the Term of His Natural Life 1927
The use of locations, particularly Port Arthur, is probably the film’s strongest asset, lending both veracity and visual impact. The other real strength of the film is its confident use of special effects.
Forty Thousand Horsemen 1940
Chauvel introduced a very young and fresh-faced Chips Rafferty, who modelled his performance in part on the comical digger created by Pat Hanna in Diggers (1931).
Fran 1985
A vivacious young mother is married to a violent man. Her desperate need for love leads her to some tragically inappropriate choices.
The Fringe Dwellers 1986
This film has an Aboriginal ensemble cast, but a narrative based on a Western woman’s experience of an Aboriginal community.
G
Gallipoli 1981
Gallipoli remains one of the most loved of all Australian films. It’s one of Weir’s most nakedly emotional films and one of his most poetic.
Gettin’ Square 2003
David Wenham’s performance as a hopeless junkie, especially when he bamboozles everyone in court, is a comic tour-de-force.
The Getting of Wisdom 1978
The affair between two school girls was only hinted at in Henry Handel Richardson’s 1910 novel, but lesbian overtones are obvious in the film.
The Goddess of 1967 2000
The Goddess of 1967 is a love story that’s made more powerful by its ambiguity and its lack of conventional storytelling.
Going Down 1983
Four women friends leave behind the feral days of youth after a night of uncontrolled excess in inner-city Sydney during the early 1980s.
The Golden Cage 1975
Murat and Ayhan are Turkish migrants living in Sydney. Ayhan falls in love with Sarah, but religious and cultural differences create problems.
Gone 2007
The not uncommon notion of this film is that the isolation felt in the outback can be fatal, especially for the young and seemingly innocent.
Gone to the Dogs 1939
The second comedy that George Wallace made with Cinesound features a musical interlude with dogs, children, dancing girls and backing singers on bicycles!
Goodbye Paradise 1981
This evocative picture of the Gold Coast as paradise lost includes a gaudy, sleazy fun park, tawdry politics and busloads of old ladies singing.
Grandad Rudd 1935
Some of the comical sketches are old-fashioned while others are beautifully designed to get audiences laughing during the Depression.
Grendel Grendel Grendel 1980
A lonely, philosophical monster ruminates on the stupidity of men, whose heads he occasionally devours.
Grievous Bodily Harm 1988
Movie critic David Stratton described Grievous Bodily Harm as 'one of the most satisfying thrillers made in Australia’.
H
Happy Feet 2006
Filmmakers spent two months in Antarctica photographing landscapes and fauna to make this animated film look photoreal.
The Hard Word 2002
The Hard Word is both a comical crime fable and a story of brotherly love, an unusual mix of elements.
Harlequin 1980
Smoothly directed in widescreen, Harlequin is one of the more polished Australian films of its day and a notch above the ordinary genre film.
Harmony Row 1933
George Wallace’s talent for physical comedy is fully evident in the boxing match which serves as the film’s climax.
The Hayseeds 1933
This is the seventh and last film about a comical rural family known as the Hayseeds — it is also the first with sound.
He Died with a Felafel in His Hand 2001
An aspiring writer moves between share households in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
Head On 1998
In terms of iconoclastic daring, Head On has no equal in Australian cinema. It broke so many rules, offended so many polite conventions, attacked so many silences, that it left audiences stunned and gulping for air.
Heritage 1935
Heritage is a thunderous piece of endorsement for the pioneer mythology of Australia, made by the prolific Charles Chauvel.
The Hero of the Dardanelles 1915
Hero is the first surviving feature film depiction of Australian troops of the First World War and includes images of a real army camp and real soldiers, in training at Liverpool, NSW.
Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger 2007
Esther hates conformity but also needs to be part of a group, and it is this contradiction that gives the character complexity.
High Tide 1987
Judy Davis makes her deeply flawed character compelling and, without her in the role, audiences may have rejected the character.
His Royal Highness 1932
The performance of George Wallace, star and writer, is a road map of comic techniques from the passing vaudeville era.
The Home Song Stories 2007
The film succeeds on the basis of uniformly superb performances. Joan Chen’s Rose is a tour de force, perhaps the best role of an already distinguished international career.
I
Idiot Box 1996
Idiot Box argues that bored men who spend years watching television, desire catharsis on a theatrical scale.
Il Contratto 1953
In 1950s Melbourne, four recent Italian migrants eager for work to pay off their debts finally find employment on a rural farm near the city.
In a Savage Land 1999
Evelyn’s misadventures in the Trobriand Islands are in the foreground of this exploration of racism, colonialism and voyeurism set during the Second World War.
In Search of Anna 1978
This film has a restless energy and is part of a pre-professional maverick tradition that grew out of the experimental cinema of the 1970s.
In the Wake of the Bounty 1933
Made by Charles Chauvel and with Errol Flynn in the cast, In the Wake of the Bounty is an odd mixture of re-creation and travelogue.
In the Winter Dark 1998
There have been genre films that explored this kind of rural paranoia, but not so many that take the loneliness of the bush seriously as a cause of real mental trauma.
Incident at Raven’s Gate 1988
Strange things are happening around the remote homestead of Raven’s Gate.
Innocence 2000
Innocence depicts an adulterous romance with a difference – the lovers are retirees, rekindling the flames of their intense youthful relationship.
Into the Straight 1949
Australian horse breeder WJ Curzon hires British trainer Hugh Duncan and his playboy son Paul. Father and son are both attracted to JW’s daughter, June.
It Isn’t Done 1937
1937 was Cinesound’s golden year – the studio’s films now boasted wittier scripts, more attention to performance, and a series of strong leading players.
J
Jack and Jill: A Postscript 1970
Jack lives in a condemned house and rides with a bikie gang. Gillian, a kindergarten teacher from a middle-class family, is attracted to Jack.
The Jammed 2007
The Jammed (2007) is a rare kind of Australian film – a passionately committed thriller about a great wrong. It was shot on a low budget and struggled to find a cinema release until it was championed by critics.
Japanese Story 2003
An unexpected plot development in the middle of Japanese Story left audiences stunned and disbelieving — and occasionally hostile.
Jedda 1955
Jedda (1955) is probably Charles Chauvel’s best film, as well as his last. It is historic both for being the first colour feature film made in Australia, but more importantly, because it is arguably the first Australian film to take the emotional lives of Aboriginal people seriously.
Jindabyne 2006
Jindabyne is based on a 20-year-old short story by American Raymond Carver, but it’s been so well adapted to the Australian milieu that it feels home-grown.
Journey among Women 1977
Making this film in the 1970s became politically charged: should and could a male director make a meaningful film about women?
Journey Out of Darkness 1967
In 1901 Constable Peterson arrives in Central Australia to arrest an Arrernte man who has committed a ritual killing.
K
Kenny 2006
Audiences loved Kenny because his calm response to adversity made him a heroic figure, though he’d never see himself like that.
