All feature films
342 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 next
1980s (continued)
Bliss 1985
To say Bliss was ahead of its time is an understatement: the bold metaphors and sharp satire weren’t appreciated by everyone in 1985.
Burke & Wills 1985
The epic and tragic story of the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, in 1860–61.
The Coca-Cola Kid 1985
The Coca–Cola company sends its top trouble shooter to boost sales in Australia. He plans to win customers away from a much loved, old-style soft-drink maker.
Crocodile Dundee 1985
This is not just the most commercially successful Australian film ever made, but also one of the most successful non-Hollywood films.
Fran 1985
A vivacious young mother is married to a violent man. Her desperate need for love leads her to some tragically inappropriate choices.
Playing Beatie Bow 1985
Playing Beatie Bow has the sumptuous look and feel of a period film, thanks to its award-winning cinematography and production design.
Short Changed 1985
The script is beautifully weighted so that the political context of the film does not inhibit the personal journey of the characters.
A Street to Die 1985
A Vietnam veteran and his wife fight for legal recognition of the damage done to him by the defoliant Agent Orange.
Around the World in 80 Ways 1986
Eddie and Wally Davis fake a round-the-world holiday for their senile old father.
Backlash 1986
Much of the dialogue in Bill Bennett’s film, about two police officers and a young indigenous woman, was improvised on location.
Cactus 1986
Cactus explores both the horror of not being able to see and the notion that blindness can sharpen the senses and lift the spirits.
Dead-end Drive-in 1986
In the 1990s authorities convert a drive-in into a jail for unemployed youths. Falsely imprisoned with his girlfriend, Jimmy ‘Crabs’ Rossini attempts to escape.
Dogs in Space 1986
Inner-city Melbourne, 1978. Aspiring rock singer Sam and his girlfriend Anna live in a crowded share house. The party atmosphere is shattered by tragedy.
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.
Malcolm 1986
Malcolm is one of the most charming modern Australian comedies, and probably the closest we’ve come to matching the joyful silliness of Britain’s 1950s Ealing comedies.
The Surfer 1986
Vietnam veteran Sam Barlow uncovers a conspiracy in Surfers Paradise involving police, politicians and a Vietnamese gang.
High Tide 1987
Judy Davis makes her deeply flawed character compelling and, without her in the role, audiences may have rejected the character.
The Lighthorsemen 1987
In Palestine in 1917, two regiments of the Australian Light Horse attack Beersheba, in one of the last great mounted charges in history.
Shame 1987
Perth lawyer Asta Cadell uncovers a series of sex crimes and dark secrets in a small town in Western Australia.
The Tale of Ruby Rose 1987
In 1933 Ruby Rose leaves her isolated home in the Tasmanian highlands to rediscover her past.
The Time Guardian 1987
The Time Guardian is one of the great missed opportunities of Australian cinema and symbolic of its wavering fortunes in the 1980s.
Travelling North 1987
Casting Leo McKern was a coup because he almost never accepted roles in his place of birth once he’d become successful in England.
The Year My Voice Broke 1987
This comedy-drama is both a nostalgic memoir of growing up in the countryside and a shocking denunciation of its values.
Crocodile Dundee II 1988
This sequel, in which Mick Dundee battles drug dealers, follows the pattern of the first movie but in reverse.
Emerald City 1988
Successful screenwriter Colin Rogers moves from Melbourne to Sydney and becomes involved with commercial movie hustler Mike McCord.
Evil Angels 1988
Evil Angels is a highlight of ‘80s Australian cinema but did not perform as well locally as it deserved, perhaps because it presents the dark side of the easygoing ‘g’day mate’ nation.
Grievous Bodily Harm 1988
Movie critic David Stratton described Grievous Bodily Harm as 'one of the most satisfying thrillers made in Australia’.
Incident at Raven’s Gate 1988
Strange things are happening around the remote homestead of Raven’s Gate.
The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey 1988
Medieval Britons journeying through time and space find a contemporary city, where they attempt to fulfil a prophecy that will save them from the plague.
Dead Calm 1989
Nicole Kidman was 20 when she was cast in Dead Calm. Within a year of the film opening, she was in Hollywood – partly as a result of her performance in this film.
Father 1989
Elderly widower Joseph Mueller is accused of being a war criminal by Holocaust survivor Iya Zetnick.
Sweetie 1989
Ambiguity is filmmaker Jane Campion’s preferred method in Sweetie, and it works superbly as a destabilised narrative because of it.
1990s
The Big Steal 1990
The Big Steal is generally known as a romance and an exuberant comedy but is also about teenagers outwitting corrupt adults.
Blood Oath 1990
A fictionalised drama about the true-life struggle to successfully convict Japanese military officers responsible for war crimes in Indonesia during the Second World War.
Death in Brunswick 1990
An under-achieving Aussie cook falls for a young Greek waitress at a seedy Melbourne nightclub, but a dead body gets in their way.
Flirting 1990
In 1965 a rebellious private schoolboy finds his romantic soulmate in an African pupil from the neighbouring girls’ school.
Return Home 1990
Suburbs in Australian cinema are usually the place that characters flee from; this film suggests you can also go back.
Black Robe 1991
In 17th century Canada a Jesuit missionary confronts his faith and mortality while travelling up river to reach a settlement of Huron Indians.
Breathing Under Water 1991
The director’s preoccupation with humankind’s tendency to self-destruct was one factor that lead to the creation of this complex film.
Dingo 1991
Dingo is a French-Australian co-production starring an American jazz legend. According to director Rolf de Heer, Miles Davis turned out to be a wonderfully instinctive actor.
Fatal Bond 1991
Fans of iconic 1960s cars will be able to see a Valiant S series take on a Citroen Goddess in the final scenes.
Proof 1991
This is a textbook example of how to make a film logistically simple without sacrificing complexity and dramatic impact.
A Woman’s Tale 1991
Rarely has a film shown so eloquently that beauty is not a function of age, but of spirit. Sheila Florance seems to be playing very close to her real personality, but that is part of what makes the film so moving.
The Last Days of Chez Nous 1992
The Last Days of Chez Nous was one of the most interesting films of the early 1990s.
Romper Stomper 1992
Romper Stomper makes viewers participants, forcing them to confront how they feel about violence as entertainment.
Spotswood 1992
The film is charming, funny, eccentric and affectionate towards its characters, most of whom work in a run-down moccasin factory.
