has stooped to the mawkish in this tale about world ecology that as message is indisputable but that as fiction is inane. Report abuse. It's not like we've taken characters from the city and put them into this particular world, and it's how they respond to it. Blueback, from Quiver Distribution and Roadshow Films, is a co-production of Screen Australia, Screenwest, West Australian Regional Film Fund, Film Victoria, HanWay Films, Pick Up Truck Pictures, Soundfirm, and Arenamedia, hits theaters March 3. "And if we lose these places, we've lost everything.". It was really wonderful. Some Blueback fodder that should pique audience interest: Creating Blueback, the hero of the film, was an undertaking. Blueback was originally conceived as an animated film due to the state of CGI technology in the late 1990s, and the risks of having a big, wild fish in the water with children. His father was killed by a tiger shark when Abel was young. was younger and how badly I was paid for my labour - I got $1000 advance for We see that with the character of Abby and the amazing relationship she has with her mother and how she's bought up, continued Bana. Winton is clear-eyed when it comes to the urgency of environmental action, declaring that a "clock is ticking" on human existence. Mia Wasikowska: Thats true. Feature | 100mins | Completed. I wanted to make the film in an analogue way. His father was killed by a tiger shark when Abel was young. Australian author Tim Winton has published dozens of novels, short story collections, plays, children's books, and non-fiction works in a career that spans four decades. Forty years into his publishing career, Winton says these weird moments of his writing coming to life are becoming more common. I mean, its one of the great things about when you really come in and do a supporting role is you dont get to see the rest of the film. There's even a fish species named after him you can find the 30-centimetre 'Hannia wintoni' (or Winton's Grunter) swimming in the freshwaters of the Kimberley. Blueback is a story about a young boy called Abel who lives in a bay called Longboat. Bluebacks tone is warm and earnest, with a meditative vibe helped by Nigel Westlakes ruminative orchestral score and Andrew Commiss uncluttered cinematography. GREG ARCHER is a pop culture junkie. Mia Wasikowska: So I felt like there was a whole movie that I hadnt been a part of. McPhee, Hilary (editor) Tim Winton: A Celebration, National Library of Australia. . I loved its environmental messaging about saving the ocean, and that it took us to a world that is extraordinary Bremer Bay this little bay at the bottom of [Western] Australia, Connolly, who directed and wrote the screenplay, tells The New Daily. from the sea and the land for so long, it's time for us to give something I don't know whether books like Blueback make a difference, He helps his mother each day and loves to dive. where so much revolved around the sea - in a way, it was a gift and I owe it The journey allows her to recall her younger self (played by Donoghue) and the experiences she had befriending a blue groper. A hint that she may have a crush on Briggs (Clarence Ryan), the friend who has adored her since their childhood, goes nowhere. can". Winton: an affable, plain-speaking man of unaffected intelligence and deep At minute 25 [underwater], I had to go up because I realized Ive never been out of my element for so long. The heart of the film, however, is about relationships of all kinds. personally how to resolve. Winton has proved a magnet for Australian film-makers. And when it comes to the environment, it wears its environmental message on its on its heart and sleeve. Bana and Wasikowska hadnt seen a Blue Groper prior to filming, in fact. He had just completed his recently-published Lockie Leonard ms, and sat down to "scribble some notes on a yarn that had half-formed in my head". This was entered for The Australian/Vogel Awardin 1981. (Blueback, . Blueback stars an animatronic fish but its the humans who are floundering. This film is more single-minded. I felt surrounded by nature. And its just, I think its a real triumph, and I think the audience can tell when things are CGI, and theres something really special about about our fish, because its so physically real, and for the cast to be able to interact with it. When the film opens, the adult Abby (Mia Wasikowska), now a professor of marine biology, is at sea on a research boat when she receives word that her mother has suffered a stroke. Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2013. But as the story unfolds, a metaphor emerges. Mia Waskikowska: Yeah, this was my only pandemic film, actually. Thanks for signing up to the InReview newsletter. It's pretty special, and it was a great choice on Robs part., I just saw a blue groper 10 minutes down from where I live in the bay there, so they're around, Wasikowska pointed out. So why should I be anxious about categorisation?". sometimes sulkily terse communiques. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. If three hours of the new Avatar is more than you can stand, you might find this fable of family and the ocean far more to your taste. "That book just slipped out," he says. An old-fashioned feelgood film that wears its heart on its sleeve, Blueback releases in select theaters, as well as on digital and on-demand, this coming Friday. If we change our ways, small or big, we can all collectively impact the environment. Despite being a fish, rather than a person, Blueback is very much a key character in the novel. Support independent a master of language who writes unadorned sentences that build in power and I mean, its a bigger topic that hopefully inspires people, especially the younger generations to sort of be a bit more conscious and use their energies in a positive way for the for the whole environment. How can we help the environment? Winton is now a renowned author of adult and children's novels. If there's something ahead that Later still, he mentions magic moments "when it's happening, when you I got a lot of grief from my daughters about the idea that I was making another film where the hero was a young boy after Id made Paper Planes. And I think it sort of sends a message that increasing your local biodiversity is almost one of the most powerful things you can do to contribute to the climate. I never saw one before, but its incredible how old they can live, shared Bana. With the always superb Radha Mitchell doing the heavy lifting as Dora and a deeply likeable Eric Bana, as local rogue and ally Macka, Blueback has talent to burn on screen. Much of the story is told in flashback. Eric Bana: We didnt even cross over because of isolation periods, we didnt get to meet on-set at all. He's currently working on a three-part documentary about the reef, which will airon ABC TV next year. On an idyllic stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish, he lives a simple, tough existence. If you weren't aware of the realities of what you held to, It's just him and his mother in the house at Longboat Bay, but Abel has friends . It's a scenario taken from Tim Winton's 2009 young adult novel, Blueback - with one or two changes. And we can see that Erik Thomson is up to mischief even before he turns up in a white suit. The big readers are the kids. "I am more he'd better have another look at it. you be a fool to discuss such ideas. It asks us, without ever lecturing, how it is we have designed a world so completely insane, that the concept of "money" is somehow worth more to us than the actual water, air and land that keeps us all alive. She said shed never spent time in Western Australia before and the experience, overall, was wonderful, if not incredibly rare. And I think its worth it. Listen back to his conversation with The Book Show's Claire Nichols. the mass audience I seem to have stumbled upon, the public exposure is very Thats incredible. secular cesspool, environmentalism. He is also a strong supporter of marine and environmental conservation. And now I see people being Winton's passion for Ningaloo has only grown in the years since the campaign. and in eighteen different languages.Some of his works have also been successfully adapted for stage, screen and radio. You expect a fish to sort of run away, but the groper is like a dog fish. And after others told him they were moved to tears by the tale, he thought As VFX (visual effects) developed, Connolly - who describes himself as more an "analogue" filmmaker - was ready. The most successful was Breath (2017), a coming-of-age story which united Wintons passion for the sea with a poignant examination of the emotional damage casually inflicted on two teenagers by a pair of charismatic but unthinking adults. I have some ideals, even if these days something to the future, to define limits on what we'll exploit and how we'll As Winton and his wife held his mother in the ocean, they were both very aware that this was a scene that Winton had imagined, and committed to paper, more than 20 years earlier. "You find yourself living out things that you've already written; you find yourself inhabiting scenes that you've already imagined and published.". READ MORE: * The movies I'm most looking forward to in the first-half of 2023 * I Wanna Dance with Somebody: Phenomenal performances lift Kiwi screenwriter's disappointing Whitney Houston biopic * Top Gun: Maverick, Whina and Moonage Daydream among the films I truly loved this year * The Lost King: Sally Hawkins shines in a breezy, enjoyable and very watchable tale. Cloudstreet the Miles Franklin-winning novel about two families sharing a house in Perth between the 40s and 60s was also a "pleasure" to write. waking up, but it's a question of whether it's fast enough to maintain the I want audiences to have immersive experience, noted Bana about what he hopes people walk away with. each of my first three books, and that was for years and years of my life, for Tim Winton reflects on how Albany shaped his life 27,470 views Jun 15, 2012 100 Dislike Share Save ABC News (Australia) 1.62M subscribers Writer Tim Winton visits Albany for the premiere of. The story of Abby, a young girl living with her environmentalist mother on Australia's pristine west coast. paid $50,000 for second books ", That's the professional shaking his head in disbelief. childhood once available to us. And I just thought the girls did an amazing job. The training of the cast was so critical. "I knew I was hard working. You know, this is an actual life-size mechanical, human-operated thing. Two jam-packed days of conversations with writers you love and others you're going to love, on August 6 and 7 on your radio, online and ABC listen. "I reckon it took me ten years to not feel bad about doing well.". Tim Winton was born in 1960 in Western Australia where he still lives. It's an unlikely story for any author, and would have been unimaginable for a young Tim, who decided at 10 years old that he was going to be a writer. It reaches a length of up to 1.7 meters and can weigh 40 kilograms. moved by how moved they were by it.." Moved too by the money they offered, I mean, I feel like this book was written 30 years ago, I might be wrong with that, but I think it was written 30 years ago. Moving between and integrating these timelines becomes a core structural challenge. Remove Ads Cast Crew Details Genres Cast promote-and-negotiate overseas tour - but he remains at best a diffident "I feel very specifically that I benefited from growing up where I did, where so much revolved around the sea - in a way, it was a gift and I owe it something. If you live your life with your gaze vigorously averted, We shot in the middle of the pandemic when it felt like any sort of travel was not really allowed, explained Wasikowska. that writing is (a) "essentially a tedious occupation I spend scads of time I think I think Rob has done a beautiful job of capturing a natural environment and emotional environment where you realize that yeah, we do as humans get more out of nature than nature gets out of us, when it is a wonderful place to be. The plot is driven by just one desire an overwhelming urge to save the wonders of the marine world from climate change and over-fishing. Its a scenario taken from Tim Wintons 2009 young adult novel, Blueback with one or two changes. winner of the 1981 The Australian/Vogel Award. "And I don't think it's worth going mad over, or tormenting your family.". Winton spent so many years trying to find a way to finish the story, that some of his children had never seen him working on a different book. requires sacrifice to save it, we'll do it. She meets ol mate Blueback as a youngster (played as a child by Ariel Donoghue and as a teenager by Ilsa Fogg) and, as an adult (Mia Wasikowska), becomes a marine biologist caring deeply about the state of the reef. Mia Wasikowska plays a marine biologist in the latest Australian film about interspecies mateship, which is broadly appealing if a little on the nose. Over time, he has mellowed a little - he's just returned from a three-month Mia Wasikowska: Yeah, it was so crazy. So getting in was a bit of an ordeal. The fish has a profound impact on Abel and Nora's lives. (Supplied: Screenwest) Story puts environment before economics Blueback will be a family-focused film that follows the story of Abby, a child who befriends a wild groper while diving in the ocean. slight. The family film will be produced by Arenamedia and directed by Robert Connolly as the follow up to his award-winning box office hit . Only the fishs eyes were CGI. The blue groper at the heart of Blueback was created by Melbournes Creature Technology Company.Credit:Roadshow. Actually, I experienced a bit of anxiety, a bit of a panic attack. Get InReview in your inbox - free . and species have been eroded this century at an unimaginable rate. Helpful. A powerful story for generations opens our 2023 season of films under the stars. historic contract we have between ourselves and the future. His religious - and social - faith sustains him, he admits, "although at Thank you Tim Winton. Winton's novel was created for the young adult market, and is therefore a lot more positive and simply written than his novels for adults. It's a quite a stressful environmental world at the moment, and I think anything that reconnects us to the natural environment is really important, said Wasikowska about the perfect moment in time when this film is being released. The film could be described as unflinchingly earnest but in a good way, because its not often these days youll find a movie that doesnt have a cynical bone in its body. Once Bremer Bay was decided on as a film location, the magic started to unfold. A feature film adaptation of Tim Winton's 1997 novella Blueback (Penguin) has received production funding from Screen Australia in its latest funding round.. Writer/director Robert Connolly of Arenamedia will work with producers Liz Kearney and James Grandison on the adaptation, which follows a young girl (changed from a young boy in the novel) who befriends a wild groper while diving, and . "My wife left for work at eight o'clock in the morning, and I was wrapping it up to send it to my publisher," Winton says. The puppet they made for this was just amazing.. So its a pretty well-known story over here. At 21 he won the Vogel's Literary Award for his first book, An Open Swimmer. a pragmatist than anything, but I believe these things in the face of pretty cloying. I hope Blueback inspires people to contribute positively to our world. These three strands of story are woven against a backdrop of the fight to preserve the womens community and the surrounding ocean from the predations of over-fishing and a boo-hiss property developer. The film is heavily anchored in messaging about conservation, the environment and saving our planet in the best way we know how. Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. There, protagonist Bruce "Pikelet" Pike comes of age; especially important to this process is his complicated friendship with "Loonie," and later an older couple that he meets through his adventures with Loonie. Rossiter, Richard and Jacobs, Lyn (editors) (1993) Reading Tim Winton, responsive. Publisher's Summary. And it means that Blueback puts a very eloquent case for the care of this marine paradise. 162 Pages. 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