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Author
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Topic: Not Quite Hollywood (2008)
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Stu Jamieson
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 524
From: Buccan, Qld, Australia
Registered: Jan 2008
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posted 08-28-2008 08:56 AM
It's not just the Italians that did it. It's not just black American film makers who did it. And it's not just the Japanese and Koreans who do it. Us Aussies used to have an exploitation "genre" film industry as well. Due to the pioneering efforts of the late Don Chipp in the 1970's (and some political lobbying from a young David Stratton who was the director of the Sydney Film Festival at the time), censorship restrictions were relaxed on films and a new "R" certificate was introduced. This new found artistic freedom was exploited by the Australian film industry resulting in a slew of movies flaunting softcore sex, nudity and violence. Retrospectively coined "Ozploitation" by the director of this documentary, Mark Hartley, and subsequently adopted by Quentin Tarantino (who contributes heavily to this film), the genre thrived until the mid 1980's when pompous film financing bureaucrats decided that it was more appropriate for Aussie film makers to make "important" films. It's not all doom and gloom, however, the "genre" film is currently undergoing a minor renaissance thanks to the success of the likes of SAW (albeit funded on American dollars) and Wolf Creek.
For fans of the genre, Not Quite Hollywood is a wet dream come true as it features just about every tit, arse and severed limb featured in the films it reveres. It opens with a great credit sequence consisting of a montage of iconic Ozploitation images set to a driving Oz Rock soundtrack (Rose Tattoo's We Can't be Beaten, if I remember correctly). It features just about every important player this side of the grave - sadly some of the pivotal personalities have since passed away, most notably Tim Burstall and Richard Franklin (to whom this film is dedicated) - the list of contributors includes Quentin Tarantino, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dennis Hopper, George Miller, Lynda Stoner, Barry Humphreys, George Lazenby, Greg McLean, Brian Trenchard-Smith, Antony Ginnane, Fred Schepisi, Roger Ward and the list goes on and on and on. Covering every avenue of the genre from sex comedys to horror to action flicks, the film chronicles the forgotten guilty pleasures of Australia's golden age of cinema.
Admittedly this documentary is much better than most of the films it idolises, but it's a monumental achievement nonetheless and an important Australian historical document.
8.5 out of 10.
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