| Product: |
Lantana (DVD) |
| Date: |
17/03/05 (219 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Highly artistic work, honest and believable characters , Marvelous Plot
Disadvantages: Some may feel there are too many endings
... when first we practiced to deceive". That's the quote that comes to mind when I think about this movie.
First of all, one should understand what Lantana is. Lantana is a leafy shrub with bunches of pink and yellow flowers, which was introduced to Australia as a ground cover, and soon became a "pest plant", with its rapid-spreading, thick, thorny and tangled growth. In the film, the metaphor of this plant is well used and we are brought back to it several times.
So, what does this plant represent? First of all, the tangle of the plant is mirrored in the complex tangle of the lives of the characters. The lives of the characters inter-twine, cross and become woven into each other with each twist of the plot. No less, the thorns of the shrub symbolize the thorns in complex human relationships - even in relationships that work well. And finally, the deceptively pretty flowers and decorative aspects of this plant that is a refuge for both the cicadas hissing warning of an impending raise in heat as well as the bearer of toxic fruits. These point out that what we see on the surface of these lives, can actually hide many types of dangers.
This movie is basically a psycho-drama/murder mystery movie. It opens with us being showed a patch of lantana which, as we get further into the thicket, hides a woman's dead body. But rather than being a classical "who-done-it" that looks for the murderer, weapon and motive, this movie delves more into the lives and people who interacted with the dead woman and who find themselves (both purposely and inadvertently) involved in the situation because of this woman and her death. In this, the film finds a more three-dimensional venue to play with.
To explain the characters and their relationships sounds - on paper - almost like a soap opera. A local Sydney detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) is unhappy with his life. He's over-abusive at work, having heart pains and mostly, having an affair with Jane O'May (Rachael Blake) who happens to be studying salsa dancing at the same dance studio that Zat and his wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) attend. Jane is also unhappy in her marriage, and has been seeing the therapist Dr. Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey). But all is not well with Somers and her marriage to John Knox (Geoffrey Rush), whom she has begun to believe is having a homosexual affair with her gay patient Patrick Phelan (Peter Phelps). Aside from that fear, Somers and Knox had a daughter who was abducted and murdered two years before, and this has also strained the couple's relationship. Jane and Leon's affair has become known to both Leon's partner Claudia (Leah Purcell) and Jane's neighbors Nik & Paula Daniels (Vince Colosimo and Daniella Farinacci). Jane's estranged husband Pete (Glenn Robbins) isn't ready to give his wife up yet, but his friend and ex-neighbor Nik - under orders from his wife - isn't telling Pete about Leon.
The characters keep bumping into each other during the film. For instance, at one point Leon is jogging and he turns the corner and runs right into a passer-by - breaking the man's nose in the process. Later, we find that this passer-by is Claudia's object of affection whom she has seen and exchanged smiles with, but not yet approached, at the restaurant they both frequent nightly.
In another coincidence, Pete is innocently walking down the street and in passing, brushes shoulders with Dr. Somers. She stops him and accuses him of saying something to her. Pete is stunned by the raw emotions she throws at him, and enters a bar to calm down. There at the bar is none other than Leon, who notices his disturbed state and quickly gets his story out of him.
While this may seem laughable (and yes, the audience did see the humor in some of these encounters), they are well directed and acted, and thereby remained totally believable. Truth - haven't you also had many coincidences and chains of events in your own lives that somehow link otherwise separate people and situations together?
Don't get me wrong. While the tangles continue in this film, never once get the viewer confused or disoriented. The script and direction see to it that we truly understand who everyone is, and where their places are in the story. Furthermore, we get to glimpse into their hearts and minds - getting a good idea of their pains and pleasures. This is truly a rare combination. Especially since we have become too used to Hollywood's flat male characters. Finally we have a film that shows us that men too are complex beings with conflicting characteristics and emotions, and that complexity really can be portrayed on screen. For this, I applaud this film.
One of the ads for this film uses the trailer line "sometimes, love isn't enough". This line is spoken by Knox about his marriage as he tries to avoid answering Leon's questions regarding his wife's state of mind prior to her disappearance. While this film proves this point several times over, it also proves the opposite - that sometimes, love is enough.
However, in order to fully understand what I mean, I think you should see the film. Beyond a doubt, you'll not be disappointed.
Thanks for Reading!
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Technical Stuff:
Available on DVD via Amazon for £4.97
Release Date: March 17, 2003
Classification: 15
Run Time: 115 minutes
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Summary:
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