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Luhrmann's Australia longs to soar, only hovers
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Baz Luhrmann’s latest film Australia bares many of the director’s signature marks in the opening minutes. The director’s first new film in seven years clicks away, quick edits, simple gags and odd camera maneuvers. However, Luhrmann ditches many of his tricks soon after, aiming more for the epics of David Lean. Neither mood ever sets in properly, leaving Australia as an at times enjoyable but overall lackluster motion picture.
Set in the northern outback terrain of the titular continent, Australia takes place in the days leading up to the country’s involvement in World War II. A vast, largely barren land is the backdrop as Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman) seeks her husband, owner of a plot of land home to thousands of cattle called Faraway Downs. Lady Ashley is led their by Drover (Hugh Jackman), an independent, no man is my boss type. Upon Lady Sarah’s arrival to the Downs, she discovers quite a few problems, financial and emotional.
All of the set up is window dressing for what Luhrmann and three accompanying screenwriters hope to be a sprawling, sweeping romance. The sprawling may be there, with vibrant if too often cgi infused cinematography by Mandy Walker but the sweeping most certainly is lacking. The exposition heavy first act drops like dead weight, with Kidman, a fine actress with the right material, left flittering around with little to do, coming off like a stiff English caricature. The strokes Luhrmann paints with are too broad. For example, he wants to discuss the infamous lost generation of Aboriginal children, born to mixed heritage and sent away to missions by force. Luhrmann touches on the event with a wagging finger, the emotions are told and never quite felt.
Where Australia does manage to work is in the casting of Hugh Jackman, finally allowed to speak in his natural accent after so many years on the silver screen. Frankly, Jackman is magnetic. You can not take your eyes off him. When he is front and center, the film picks up. His character is a simple archetype but Jackman makes it believable, sympathetic and engaging. The more the latter half of Australia focuses its sights on that scruffy beard, the better the movie becomes. One scene in particular, where Jackman and a small crew of men seek to save a crew of children in the middle of the night is breathtaking, gorgeously shot and tear worthy.
The romance at Australia’s core is middling. Its heart tugs are never consistent. Kidman’s best work has almost always come when she is either miserable (Margot at the Wedding, The Hours) or manipulative (Eyes Wide Shut, To Die For, Dead Calm). It is a shame since Kidman’s last outing with Luhrmann, 2001’s glorious Moulin Rouge!, showed a mix of the two, with a dash of singing. One of the big disappointments of 2008.
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