From Nitram to Penguin Bloom: Australian films to look out for in 2021
With the taste of Christmas lunch and festive beverages still lingering on our palettes, it’s time to embrace the possibilities of the new year and wash away memories of that rotten old 2020. In that spirit, here are 10 Australian films to look forward to that are slated for release in 2021.
Many more productions are in the works, of course, so this list is not exhaustive; think of it as a taste of what’s to come.
Gold
Dir. Anthony Hayes
Actor Anthony Hayes struck gold in the casting of his second feature film as director – which is called, in fact, Gold – with Hollywood heartthrob Zac Efron starring in this thriller about two men who discover the world’s biggest gold nugget.
Efron may be in the “I should be taken artistically serious” stage of his career, with a recent portrayal of Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, and appearances in The Disaster Artist and The Beach Bum. Let’s not talk about that upcoming Three Men and a Baby remake.
Run Rabbit Run
Dir. Daina Reid
Elisabeth Moss delivered a gooseflesh-raising performance as a victim of domestic violence in The Invisible Man and will star in another Australian thriller, Run Rabbit Run, reteaming with The Handmaid’s Tale director Daina Reid (whose oeuvre includes the excellent basketball-themed series Sunshine). Moss plays a fertility doctor whose life spirals into turmoil due to the increasingly strange behaviour of her young daughter.
High Ground
Dir. Stephen Maxwell Johnson
Some excellent Australian or “meat pie” westerns have landed in recent years, among them Sweet Country, The Nightingale and this year’s The Furnace. So the bar has been set high for director Stephen Maxwell Johnson’s film about a pair of men tracking down a dangerous Aboriginal warrior in the outback circa the 1930s.
The buzz around High Ground is very positive, with Variety calling the film “handsomely mounted and absorbing” and Guardian Australia’s Debbie Zhou describing it as “a rip-roaring western against the starkly remote Northern Territory outback”, following its Berlin film festival premiere..
In cinemas 28 January
Untitled Elvis Presley Project
Dir. Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann’s currently untitled Elvis Presley biopic (a US/Australia coproduction) has been given a tentative release of November 2021, but given the film comes from the extravagant Australian auteur, it may well be delayed as he awaits the world’s supply of glitter to be shipped to the set.
It will be lavish, that much is certain, though little else is known about it beyond casting details – with Austin Butler, a Nickelodeon and Disney Channel alumni, playing The King. What will it be called: Love Me Tender? All Shook Up? Given Luhrmann’s play-to-the-back rows style, maybe just Elvis.
The Power of the Dog
Dir. Jane Campion
Jane Campion’s erotic period drama The Piano was such a good film Australia kinda sorta pretty much claimed it as our own, bestowing it with a tonne of gongs (11 in total) at the 1993 AFI awards. Maybe we’ll do the same with Campion’s next film, The Power of the Dog, a New Zealand/Australia coproduction. The great director adapts author Don Winslow’s novel, which chronicles the drug war from the 1960s to the early 2000s.
The Fight Together
Dir. Larissa Behrendt
After the Apology and Maralinga Tjarutja director Larissa Behrendt’s upcoming documentary explores, in the words of Screen Australia’s synopsis, “how a group of NRL greats came together to invent a new pre-game ceremony in response to the Maori Haka” – in an effort to confront racism and celebrate Aboriginal culture.
It will premiere on NITV, which continues to build a repertoire of important and highly engaging non-fiction productions – highlights in recent times including the You Are Here series, Warwick Thornton’s eye-watering The Beach and the Fred Glynn portrait She Who Must Be Loved.
Nitram
Dir. Justin Kurzel
News of an upcoming Port Arthur massacre movie was always going to generate controversy, reigniting debate about where the line is on narratives about real-life atrocities. In my opinion, we must listen to and respect the opinions of survivors while acknowledging that many great films have been made about terrible things. Voices condemning the film sight unseen add little if anything to the conversation.
Nitram will be directed by Justin Kurzel, a tremendous Australian filmmaker whose work includes Snowtown and True History of the Kelly Gang.
That admittedly means little in this context, because even great directors can produce duds from time to time. The jury is out until the arrival of the film itself.
Wild Things
Dir. Sally Ingleton
I got tingles towards the end of the invigorating trailer for Sally Ingleton’s documentary about eco warriors – young, old and everywhere in between – fighting for the future on the frontline of environmental activism. Despite the spin and bluster from Scott Morrison’s government, it is clear to all and sundry that on the issue of climate action Australia is one of the bad guys, in the same category as Russia and Saudi Arabia. Instead of waiting for history to condemn us, these protesters are putting their arses on the line to say: no way; enough is enough.
In cinemas 4 February
Penguin Bloom
Dir. Glendyn Ivin
Naomi Watts leads this adaptation of a non-fiction book about a woman (Watts) who suffers a terrible fall that leaves her mostly paralysed, but whose spirits are lifted by an injured magpie her family names Penguin. The film will be helmed by Glendyn Ivin (who recently directed the excellent series The Cry and Safe Harbour), joining a pantheon of recent homegrown movies about the inspiring influence of animals – from dogs (Oddball, Koko: A Red Dog Story) to birds of prey (Healing) and a pelican (Storm Boy).
In cinemas 21 January
The Unknown Man
Dir. Thomas M Wright
It’s no surprise that Joel Edgerton signed on to star in this South Australia-shot thriller, given it’s the sophomore feature of director Thomas M Wright, who previously made the enthralling Adam Cullen biopic Acute Misfortune. The Unknown Man is about an undercover cop’s attempts to convict a man for an unsolved murder. The Screen Australia website likens it to Animal Kingdom and Insomnia.