求一篇《澳大利亚》的英文影评求一篇电影《澳大利亚》的英文影评,

求一篇《澳大利亚》的英文影评求一篇电影《澳大利亚》的英文影评,
求一篇《澳大利亚》的英文影评
求一篇电影《澳大利亚》的英文影评,

求一篇《澳大利亚》的英文影评求一篇电影《澳大利亚》的英文影评,
Oh Give Me a Home Where the Cowboys and Kangaroos Roam
By MANOHLA DARGIS
Baz Luhrmann鈥檚 continent-size epic,鈥淎ustralia,鈥 isn鈥檛 the greatest story ever 鈥 it鈥檚 several dozen of the greatest stories ever told,鈥淭he African Queen,鈥 鈥淕one With the Wind鈥 and 鈥淥nce Upon a Time in the West鈥 included.A pastiche of genres and references wrapped up 鈥 though,more often than not,whipped up 鈥 into one demented and generally diverting horse-galloping,cattle-stampeding,camera-swooping,music-swelling,mood-altering widescreen package,this creation story about modern Australia is a testament to movie love at its most devout,cinematic spectacle at its most extreme,and kitsch as an act of aesthetic communion.
Mr.Luhrmann鈥檚 use of culturally degraded forms both here and in earlier films like 鈥淢oulin Rouge鈥 doesn鈥檛 register as either a conceptual strategy or a cynical commercial ploy or some combination of the two,as it can with art world jesters like Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami,who have appropriated kitsch as a (more or less) legitimate postmodern strategy.Instead it feels 鈥 feeling being paramount in all of Mr.Luhrmann鈥檚 films 鈥 like a sincere cry from the swelling,throbbing heart,a true expression of self.And while that self and its gaudy work may be stitched together from the bits and pieces of pop culture 鈥 the son of a movie-theater owner,Mr.Luhrmann grew up worshiping at the altar of Hollywood 鈥 they are also wholly sincere.
Sincere,if also sometimes confused and confusing:though there is no denying the scope and towering ambition of 鈥淎ustralia,鈥 which was largely shot on location in the outback,it can be difficult to gauge Mr.Luhrmann鈥檚 intentions,or rather his level of self-awareness.The film begins with some text that scrolls importantly across the screen,immediately setting the uncertain tone with some (serious?) twaddle about Australia as a land of 鈥渁dventure and romance.鈥 Before you have a chance to harrumph indignantly about the oppression of the Aborigines (or sneer at the country鈥檚 early imported criminal population),the text has skipped to the topic of 鈥渢he stolen generations,鈥 the children of indigenous peoples who,from the 19th century well into the 20th,were forcibly separated from their cultures by white Australians in the name of God and civilization.
But no worries!Though 鈥淎ustralia鈥 is narrated by a young boy of mixed race,Nullah (the newcomer Brandon Walters),the illegitimate son of an Aboriginal mother and a white father,who is trying to escape the authorities,and while it opens in 1939,shortly before World War II blasted Australian shores,the film isn鈥檛 a bummer.Like every other weighty or would-be weighty moment that passes through Mr.Luhrmann鈥檚 soft-filtering lens 鈥 a man being trampled to death by rampaging cattle or a city being annihilated by bombing Japanese warplanes 鈥 the calamities of history are merely colorful grist for his main interest,the romance between a wilted English rose,Lady Sarah Ashley (Nicole Kidman),and an itinerant Australian cattleman,the Drover (Hugh Jackman).
The lady and the tramp meet soon after she lands in Australia to track down her cattleman husband,whose early murder sets all the narrative pieces in place.Initially intent on selling her property,including 1,500 head of cattle,Sarah soon transforms into a frontierswoman,seduced by Nullah鈥檚 smile and the majestic valleys and peaks of both the land and of the Drover鈥檚 musculature.Although Ms.Kidman and Mr.Jackman are initially riffing on Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart鈥檚 prickly courtship in 鈥淭he African Queen鈥 鈥 later,as they heat up,they slip into a sexier Scarlett-and-Rhett dynamic 鈥 only Ms.Kidman really embraces the more comic and potentially embarrassing aspects of her role,giving herself over to Mr.Luhrmann and his occasionally cruel camera with a pronounced lack of vanity.
Though looking bad (or at least less than perfect) on camera is a particular form of vanity for actors,Ms.Kidman has in recent years generally erred on the side of physical perfection,sometimes to the detriment of her performances.But she鈥檚 wonderfully and fully expressive here,from wince-worthy start to heartbreaking finish,whether she鈥檚 wrinkling her nose in mock disgust or rushing across a dusty field,her arms pumping so wildly that it鈥檚 a wonder well water doesn鈥檛 spring from her mouth.It鈥檚 a ludicrous role 鈥 not long after priming her pump,the barren widow turns into a veritable fertility goddess 鈥 but she rides Sarah鈥檚 and the story鈥檚 ups and downs with ease.Mr.Jackman gives the movie oomph; Ms.Kidman gives it a performance.
More than anything else in the film,Nullah included,Ms.Kidman tethers 鈥淎ustralia鈥 to the world of human feeling and brings Mr.Luhrmann鈥檚 outrageous flights of fancy down to earth.That may not be where he prefers to make movies,but it鈥檚 a necessary place for even a fantasist to visit.Although many of his Western contemporaries like to root around in down-and-dirty realism,Mr.Luhrmann maintains a full-throttle commitment to cinematic illusion and what he characterizes as the 鈥渉eightened artifice鈥 of his so-called Red Curtain trilogy,鈥淪trictly Ballroom,鈥 鈥淲illiam Shakespeare鈥檚 Romeo + Juliet鈥 and 鈥淢oulin Rouge.鈥 You may not always see the people for the production design in these,but when you do 鈥 as in 鈥淩omeo + Juliet鈥 and sometimes here 鈥 they spring forth from their fantastical milieus like fists.
A maximalist,Mr.Luhrmann doesn鈥檛 simply want to rouse your laughter and tears:he wants to rouse you out of a sensory-overloaded stupor with jolts of passion and fabulous visions.That may make him sound a wee bit Brechtian,but he鈥檚 really just an old-fashioned movie man,the kind who never lets good taste get in the way of rip-roaring entertainment.The usual line about kitsch is that it鈥檚 an affront,a cheapening of the culture,a danger.鈥淜itsch causes two tears to flow in quick succession,鈥 Milan Kundera wrote.鈥淭he first tear says:How nice to see children running on the grass!The second tear says:How nice to be moved,together with all mankind,by children running on the grass!It is the second tear that makes kitsch kitsch.鈥滭br/>True,but it doesn鈥檛 make the second tear any less wet.