The film opens with a long slow panning shot over thick undergrowth, until
we discover the dead body of an unidentified woman. We're then introduced
to almost a dozen major characters dwelling and working in a suburb of
Sydney, and we gradually learn their stories piece by piece Leon, a
police detective, is unhappily married to Sonja, who secretly visits
psychiatrist Valerie. Valerie and her husband John are also having marriage
problems, ostensibly stemming from the murder of their young daughter two
years before. Leon is having an affair with Jane who is estranged from, but
still married to, Pete. Jane is a neighbour to Paula and Nik, whose
involvement grows as the film progresses. Another patient of Valerie is
Patrick, whom Valerie comes to suspect is having a homosexual affair with
her husband.
To reveal any more than that would be to detract from the many pleasures
this film has to offer, as layers are peeled away and chance encounters
take on greater significance. Occasionally, the number of coincidences
threatens to get slightly out of control and begin to border on the
statistically improbable, as you wonder how a small group of people in a
city the size of Sydney can have so many interactions. This isn't a major
problem though, and it allows little seeds to be planted in the mind of the
audience regarding the secrets some of the characters might possess.
The central theme throughout is trust, or more specifically, lack of trust.
Almost everyone it seems has something to hide, although not necessarily
for nefarious reasons. What drives everyone on is the need for love,
acceptance and companionship, but this is constantly jeopardised by
suspicion and distrust - between husbands and wives, fathers and sons,
doctors and patients, friends, colleagues, neighbours. One of the films
most telling scenes occurs in a police interview room, when Leon can't bare
to be in the same room with a couple whose marriage contains more love and
trust than his own, even though the man may be guilty of murder.
Lantana won every major honour at the Australian Film Institute Awards, and
it's not difficult to see why. The acting is simply exemplary throughout.
LaPaglia (who I thought was doing a very good Australian accent, until I
found out he actually is Australian) brings a great deal of humanity to a
brute of a man. Rush and Hershey, the most recognisable of the actors
involved, both bring a quite dignity to their roles as a couple being torn
apart by grief. The lesser known Australian actors all do excellent work as
well, with Armstrong, Blake and Colosimo all picking up fully deserved
awards. The script is intricate and intelligent without being convoluted or
pretentious and the direction is crisp and unobtrusive. This is a film that
treats its audience with respect and refuses to offer any easy solutions or
prepackaged happy endings. If you enjoy slow burning movies in the style of
Lone Star or The Pledge, then this comes highly recommended.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
