REVIEW of film: “RED HILL” [ = Report # 04 on 46th CIFF ]

2010, 09-23 =

REVIEW of film:  “RED HILL”   [ = Report # 04 on 46^th CIFF ]

                    Re:  2010  CHICAGO INT’L FILM FESTIVAL  =      

             You may not quickly recall his name, but you might well recognize the face of Australian-born RYAN KWANTEN because he’s been seen in a number of acting productions:  In 26 episodes of the TV series “Summerland” as Jay Robertson (2004-05), the 2006 feature film “Flicka”, the 2007 film “Dead Silence”, & as sexy heartthrob Jason Stackhouse in the TV series “True Blood” since 2008…

…  In 2010, he was seen as Jackson White in “Don’t Fade Away”, & heard as Kludd in the new “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole”…

…  The Chicago Film Festival featured him in an unusual new Australian feature called “RED HILL”, & I am now reporting on that film from having seen an advance screening of it:

…  In this movie, he plays Shane Cooper, a Constable (cop) who grew up in the city but chose to leave the violence there for what he expected would be a quieter, SAFER home in a small country town in the middle of the “nowhere” area of Australia...

...  He hoped that village (called Red Hill) would allow his pregnant wife to feel comfortable enough to be able to successfully give birth to their child (which had proved to be a problem in the past, partly because of difficulties he’d had with things such as shooting anyone in the city they’d left)…

…  His new boss, Old Bill (played by STEVE BISLEY), & deputy Manning (RICHARD SUTHERLAND) & assistant Barlow (KEVIN HARRINGTON) are not particularly “eager” to have him on the force, feeling he doesn’t understand the nature of their country area and can’t be relied upon very much… 

...  They tend to make his life difficult, insisting he ride a HORSE rather than use a car on certain assignments, & he’s discomforted by things such as what appears to be a violent animal (panther-like) attack on a farm…

 …  Things grow increasingly tense and upsetting for Ryan when news arrives during his first day on the job that a murderer named Jimmy Conway (TOM E. LEWIS) had escaped from prison & was likely on his way back to Red Hill to wreak VENGEANCE on the townspeople who’d caused him to be jailed…

…  Ryan is surprised that Old Bill starts to recruit what appears to be a VIGILANTE-type group to hunt for Jimmy, and feels something isn’t “right” when Bill & the others refuse his suggestion that they call for BACK-UP help… 

...  It seems like the law-enforcement group there wants to handle things in a “HUSH-HUSH” manner, and he wonders WHY their attitude is that way--  especially when Jimmy soon arrives and starts KILLING-OFF a number of people in the area…

…  It turns out that there are numerous “SECRETS” being kept in the town--  about Jimmy, what happened to him & his wife, and why a “cover-up” is being attempted… 

...  There’s an unusually-effective bizarre “MOODINESS” to the whole affair, accented by a vibrant soundtrack and an almost ritualized violence that periodically arises…

…  It’s sort of like a “SPAGHETTI” Western meets the “OUTBACK”--  akin to “The Good, The Bad and the Murderous SHRIMP on the Barbie”!... 

...  You’ll wonder WHY is it that the police force is so AFRAID of the scar-faced Jimmy, & what it is they’re “HIDING”… 

...  You’ll be intrigued at the way Jimmy keeps CAPTURING Ryan--  & then letting him GO rather than killing him as he does to so many others…

…  The “MOOD” of the film is fascinating, with its meandering facts & unusual elements such as the book of Baby Names, the panther, etc… 

...  But, it’s also overlaid with a bunch of jaw-droppingly HARD-TO-BELIEVE plot elements (such as the way Ryan keeps “plugging along” with his rescue & attack efforts despite being horribly HURT thru most of the last half of the film)…   It’s like, Sergio Leone LIVES--  & has moved to “Down Under”…

…  Because the film has such “divergent” fundamentals, I’m sort of “forced” to match its “tone” by giving it the unusual rating of 7.75 stars out of 10… 

[  NOTE:  You can easily  SHARE  this Posting with your friends or family by sending them an automatic e-Mail LINK via clicking on the “M” button in the lower left-hand corner under “VOICE OF SILENCE” below...  ]

 

  (o_
   /\ 

= = =         …  ( <>  ^  <> )  ...