“...a little transition shot that’s all about Melbourne” Sam Neil
Sam Neil says this quoted above at the beginning of the audio commentary
for the film THE BRUSH OFF (2004) he is referring to the shot, of the rowers on
the Yarra, looking towards the rowing huts from Princess Bridge. This image
also appears is some of the historic Melbourne films within the ACMI collection
at their Mediatheque, such as OLYMIC
GAMES, MELBOURNE, AUSTRAILA 1956 (1956/1999) by the Straford Brothers (but as
someone pointed out it doesn’t often appear in images advertising Melbourne to
others). Sam Neil directed THE BRUSH OFF, the production design was done by
Chris Kennedy he has also worked on THE PROPOSITION (2005), DEATH IN BRUNSWICK
(1991), SPOTSWOOD (1992), COSI (1996) amongst other films. In an interview with Chris Kennedy by John
Flaus in 2007, Chris stated that in order to create the various houses for
DEATH IN BRUSNWICK he visited 100s and 100s of houses in BRUNSWICK, while this may
be not be scientifically ethnographic, it never the less distills for us
something about how we live in Brunswick, and Melbourne and to some extent
Australia, otherwise the images wouldn’t resonate with us. For the film
SPOTSWOOD Kenney visited an old disused factory in Sunshine and it was here he
tells us in the above interview that he found many of the things we see in shoe
factory in the film - by capturing real historical elements of Melbourne it in
some ways interconnects us with the film.
In the work of
Chris Kennedy, and other filmmakers, through elements such as the objects,
landscapes, and cityscapes used in film, we are it seems able to make connections
to our stories - telling us something about who we are, and connecting us to
the films, and the film to us, reminding us of common experiences, or uncommon
experiences, reminding us what it is that we are apart of, what it is we have
now, both culturally and individually. Chris
Kennedy appears to be interested in spaces that are old, full of signs of
living; where we can see signs of the past. This reminds us of other times and
places, we ourselves have been in, and we can also imagine other people’s
lives, patterns of living, what other people have been left there, their
impressions. In the film COSI there’s a record player that reminds me of my
grandfather, not because he had one like it (he didn’t), but because I know it
is old, and he liked to listen to records, and he grew up in Sydney, so at some
time in some one’s lounge room, long before television, he sat and listened, to
records played on a record player something like this one.
The
representations of place connect us to the film. We see this happening in the
cityscapes, such as the images of Melbourne in THE BRUSH OFF, and Sydney in
COSI. The images, of the landscapes, in THE PROPOSITION, ask more of us, they
address a collective history, the history of white people coming to Australia,
(and all the damage that was done to the country and the people of the country
who were here already). This film does not address these questions directly,
but does point to questions about place and belonging.
Taking into account the tenuous nature of
representation, it being fleeting, standing on the Princess Bridge with a
camera, and filming for one minute, can only happen once, in that minute, on that
day, in that year etc, it keeps changing (and we have different perspectives),
but we find common points and perhaps glimpse ourselves in the image.
Louise Mackenzie_copyright_August 2011
