Thursday, August 18, 2022

Watership Down Under

Celia (Ann Turner, 1989)

Films set in the fifties are like waiting for a bus around here, as this is the third film I've reviewed this month which is set in that decade. Ann Turner's Lord of the Flies style drama, Celia, is located in rural Australia, where the film's titualar heroine is experiencing some serious growing pains. These problems are of the mental variety and range from: the bereavment of her grandmother; a thoroughly viscious school rival; and being tormented by fictitious creatures knowns as Hobyahs.

The setting deals with two important historical occurrences prominent in 1950s Australia: the communist hysteria known as The Red Scare, and the rabbit invasion which had plagued Australia's agricultural industry. The latter of which was so probelmatic that the Australian government went to such an extent, that the myxoma virus was introduced to thwart them. Both subplots do play an integral part in Celia's deteriorating mental state and aren't just there for the sake of flimsy historical dressing. With it being set in the past and along with its rural location, it seems parents weren't too concerned about their kids burning effigies of them at a quarry during all hours of the night. Also, as as much my desensitised self enjoys on-screen violence, even I had to raise an eyebrow at how savage these cheeky little scamps were to one another and that poor pet rabbit. Goes without saying, if you're an animal lover, you might want to avoid this one, as it has about as much compassion for animal welfare as an Italian jungle horror flick.

The performances are competent; especially from Rebecca Smart in the lead title role, since everything rests on her making this film so watchable. Apart from playing the character Melanie Black from the Aussie teen TV series Heartbreak High back in the day, it's too bad she wasn't in anything remotely significant ever since (from what I can tell, at least), but then again, despite its critical appraisal, the film was a commercial flop upon its release.

Really should state that I went into this film under the allusion that this would be a bonafide horror movie, solely on its inclusion in Severin's All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror deluxe box set, however, Celia is more of a dark drama. Already watched some other titles featured in the aforementioned box set: Otakar Vavra's Witchhammer (1970) and Ian Coughlan's Alison's Birthday (1981); where I shamelessly also used the 'down under' pun there, too. A very positive video on Celia came out recently by Marx Kermode for the BFI serves as another reason to check it out. Ultimately, it paid off, as it's another enjoyable entry in the killer kiddie canon.

Celia (Umbrella Entertainment Trailer)
(Ann Walker, 1989)

18 comments:

  1. This sounds like total me-bait right down to the fact it's young Melanie Black.

    Only other thing I've ever seen her in is The Coca Cola Kid but she's even younger in that. Like Ben Mendelsohn, she's got such a distinctly Aussie face.

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  2. I have The Coca Cola Kid on my ever increasing unwatched pile. Any good?

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  3. Yeah, very decent entry into the Aussie Flick canon.

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  4. Nice. I'll try and give it a watch over the weekend.

    Speaking of Aussie Flick canon, have you seen Bad Boy Bubby?

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  5. Does a koala bear shit in the woods? Of course.

    Aussie classic (with another very uncomfortable scene involving an animal.)

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  6. Much of the beginning I find disturbing. Strangely ends up a feel-good movie by the end. The Aussie Forrest Gump, imo.

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  7. On the Heartbreak High tip, spotted Drazic in the beginning of The Grey Man,. Only memorable part of that film, tbh.

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  8. Rivers directed/appeared in the Neighbours finale (he used to play Lucas the garage owner.)

    My last #HeartBreakHighHive spot before that was Nick in season 1 of Wanted.

    Alas, never seen the bird who played Thania is anything else.

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  9. One of Heartbreak High's direcors, Nick Lathouris, co-wrote Mad Max Fury Road with George Miller and Bredan MacCarthy. There's a Netflix reboot of Heartbreak High on the way. Doesn't look promising, though.

    Recognised Rivers in the Neighbours finale with the leather jacket and goatee, but I wasn't sure who he was meant to be.

    Also, it wasn't until my fourth viewing of Elvis, when I realised Vernon Presley's second wife was played by Izzy from Neighbours.

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  10. Izzy Hoyland in a Hollywood blockbuster? That's amazing.

    Hmm that reboot looks corny. Fuck a zoomer high school.

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  11. Other than about four tiny scenes Izzy hardly is in it, though.

    Did you know Heartbreak High was a spin-off from the film The Heartbreak Kid (1993)? Can't even find a trailer of it.

    Only zoomer high school series I'm watching is Cobra Kai and possibly Wednesday as that looks way better than Rob Zombie's awful looking The Munsters reboot, and because Pachanga from Carlito's Way is a way more authentic looking Gomez Addams than previous actors.

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  12. Didn't know it was a spin-off. An Aussie movie lost in time like sand in the outback. Or sumfink.

    I watched and enjoyed series 1 and 2 Cobra Kai but gave up on it when it switched from YouTube to Netflix. I will only ever get Netflix if they bring Neighbours back.

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  13. Whenever a popular intellectual property is resurrected as a Netflix exclusive, it tends to be a horrificly bad experience. Only exception to the rule seems to be Cobra Kai since it still has the same writers from the first two seasons when it was on YouTube Red working on it.

    Managed to get my hands on John Carpenter's >Elvis (1979) TV movie biopic, starring Kurt Russell and working through that. Nearly three hours long!!!!

    Cool easter egg: Did you know that Russell appeared in Elvis' It Happened at the World's Fair (1963) when he was a kid, and kicked him in the shin? Coincidentally, Russell is dressed as Elvis in 3000 Miles to Graceland (2001) and gets kicked in the shin, too.

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  14. Now THAT was a kick! Luckily it sounds like he was wearing a shinpad 😄

    3 hours (uh) huh? Any good?

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  15. Russell is cool in it, and there's more backstory; particularly when Presley was drafted into the army, but the film feels flat for much of its running time. Col. Tom Parker is hardly in this version. Also, it still looks very seventies despite being set mostly in the fifties, like Happy Days. Took two sittings to get through it, which pains me since I'm a big fan of John Carpenter.

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  16. As Jay-Z nearly said, Spart watched that so hopefully you wouldn't have to sit through that.

    I never even knew it existed.

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  17. Ought to add I half expected to see a snake tattoo in the one scene Kurt Russell wasn't wearing a shirt.

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