Felix T
I don't know what everyone else was watching, but this was very boring. Choosing to do a character study of an irredeemable human is a strange choice; he is totally unlikable and nobody that was around that type of individual would be surprised that he shoots up a place.
Rated 1/5 Stars •
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
06/30/24
Full Review
Alec B
A subtle and disturbing character examination. Kurzel is not engaging in cheap sensationalism (evidenced by the fact that the Port Arthur massacre, while acknowledged by the movie, is not openly portrayed beyond its beginning) and while the movie's entire focus is on the perpetrator rather than the victims I think that is a legitimate choice as one can plainly see the repeated patterns in these cases that are too often ignored by authorities.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/21/24
Full Review
Laura B
There is nothing new in Kurzam's film, which attempts to approach the figure of the monster with a certain empathy. A monster lacking in love, with a castrating mother and condemned to ostracism by a society that rejects what is different. The underlying discussion is the same as always: whether or not to limit access to weapons, and how to guarantee a balance between individual and collective freedom.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/04/24
Full Review
R B
After a slow start, Nitram begins to find its feet when the lead (played by Caleb Landry-Jones) actor meets reclusive and eccentric heiress Helen (Essie Davis) in her grand house squalor. It's then we see more of the disturbed personality of the main character, played well, but not brilliantly. After Helen's death, an opportunity (though a fiction element) to target the car dealer is not realised. The sound on the movie should be improved, there is a lot of mumbling with poor miking, and too much background noise at times. The reason the character targets Port Arthur is also not revealed. Thankfully, Nitram's descent that culminates in the most heinous of acts in modern Australia stops short of the final nightmare scenes, The credits audio is unremarkable. Better audio and a better soundtrack would have helped the film. The film makes a good case to restore the death penalty in Australia. The real Nitram deserves nothing less.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
12/01/23
Full Review
Jason R
I've heard of this because I saw various reviews that said it did a good job in telling a horrific story without glorifying the perpetrator - even so, I have to admit the phrase "too soon?" did cross my mind (although Wikipedia surprised me by telling me the "incident" happened in '96).
And, woah - The Guardian isn't wrong when it says it's deeply disturbing. Nitram (Caleb Landry Jones) is in his early twenties and he really isn't a happy boy - he obviously has learning and anger issues and his anti-social behaviour is a major source of stress for his parents (Anthony LaPaglia and Judy Davis).
But - a ray of hope appears in the very peculiar shape of Helen (Essie Davis) a rich heiress in her fifties who strikes up an unconventional friendship with Nitram, accepting him for who he is (which is good) whilst also pandering to his whims (maybe not so good). And I think that's probably enough to tell you, but it's fair to say that things don't end well - the sense of dread ratchets up "nicely" as the film approaches the end.
Caleb Landry Jones portrays Nitram and his troubles well - he has a very unsettling manner whilst still managing to generate some sympathy for the character. Judy Davis is also excellent as his mother - she's an extremely buttoned-up character who does love her son, but she doesn't like him and worries about what he might do. Anthony LaPaglia (I was trying to remember what I'd seen him in and had to check - he's very good in Murder One and Lantana, but sadly the role I remember him for most was Daphne's super annoying brother in Frasier with his TERRIBLE accent) has less to do as his father but manages to portray a slightly different style of parental concern (more hope than anything else). The only other person who has a meaningful role in the film is Essie Davis and in a lot of ways she has an even more tenuous connection to reality than Nitram, so she's quite an odd character but it's an effective portrayal.
The films users several interesting style of filming - it uses light, colour and sound very well to portray Nitram's confusion in particular. It also does something very weird with the general style inside Helen's house - it's very fuzzy and almost like infra-red film at times. There is also, of course, some absolutely gorgeous scenery involved - they have a lot of it down there.
It's an interesting tale although the film does suffers from the fact that you know things aren't going to end well - with quite a few of the scenes obviously signposting future trouble. It does also somewhat descend into horrific madness, but I guess that comes with the territory and it's hard to know what else they could have done.
A lot of it is actually pretty unbelievable, but if you look up the actual story it's considerably weirder - for example, when Martin Bryant first met Helen Harvey she was living with 40 cats, 16 dogs and her mother, who stayed in bed for two years with a fractured hip, whereas in the film it's just the one cat, about seven dogs and no mother. I'd say the adaptation is well done but I can completely understand those who argued that it was totally unnecessary - it doesn't add anything to the story but, to their credit, neither does it sensationalise it.
Hmmm - it's hard to know quite how to sum up my feelings on the film. It made me feel very uncomfortable at times but, taken at face value, I'd say it's a "good" film and it tells an interesting story. However, whilst I don't side with those who think it's totally unnecessary - I'd struggle to say it's really necessary either. Yes, the story is handled sensitively enough but given that it specifically makes the point that Martin Bryant was interested in coverage of Dunblane, it's hard to see what justification they can make for this film. All in all, an interesting one - which is available to stream on BFIPlayer and rent in all the usual locations.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
09/25/23
Full Review
Nat
You call him a killer and a monster. However, the real monstrosity is the system that keeps failing people again and again. Loneliness and alienation till breaking point. A person, with hopes and desires to belong, a person who could not find an understanding with his own parents, a person trapped forever in his head, knowing that he's different and he is not connected to anything or anyone. It is enormously heart breaking and although the tragedy of the victims is unspeakable, it is the system and the society that failed. You produced a world full of not very smart people, where freedom allows you to have lot of babies, to buy a gun, or buy a kidney if you have enough of money. You have a world full of conditioned products, who works 9-18 and only sometimes dream of something better. When they realised that they have been chasing carrots all along, they break. It's a sad, sad world, where the victim, failed by absolutely everyone and everything is called a murderer. The real killer remains somehow still hidden.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
08/11/23
Full Review
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