The 10 best Australian films of 2021
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Loading... - Georgina Kane
- 30 Dec 2021
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This year, we saw the pandemic’s unexpected impact on the Australian film industry: Aussiewood. As a slew of major Hollywood productions fled California for the Queensland coast, the local industry’s coffers swelled by well over a billion dollars.
The bounty had a downside, though: our trademark low-budget yet critically-acclaimed pictures found themselves shunted back – only to be trampled to death by the likes of King Kong, Venom and James Bond when they finally did secure release dates.
But the absence of bums on seats belied the number of genuinely impressive movies coming out of Australia this year. If you didn’t catch any of these on the big screen (which, let’s face it, you didn’t), then you really should check them out on a streaming service near you.
10. June Again
Director: JJ Winlove
Streaming on: Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play
The feature debut from Kiwi director JJ Winlove is a poignant essay on dementia that isn’t as showy as The Father, but still packs an emotional punch.
Noni Hazlehurst puts in a career-best performance as the titular mum who’s been confined to a care home for five years with vascular dementia, a particularly cruel variant where sufferers have extended periods of lucidity.
When she has just such an episode, June absconds – only to find her children (Stephen Curry and Claudia Karvan) feuding. So begins her race to reconcile them before her condition takes another turn.
An upbeat parable, delivered with laughter amid the tears.
For fans of: The Father, Awakenings
9. Occupation: Rainfall
Director: Luke Sparke
Streaming on: Foxtel, Apple TV and Amazon Prime
This fun but silly alien invasion flick is a sequel to a movie that hardly anyone went to see. Occupation was released in 2018 and died at the box office before becoming a surprise (but deserved) hit on Netflix.
So now the same plucky band of outback resistance fighters are back in a sequel that’s more fun, more silly, and more special effects-laden. Ken Jeong is on board, too, to snare some US viewers.
The rubber-suited extra-terrestrials are straight out of central casting, but the CGI sequences are surprisingly awesome. It’s not Dune, but it’s good to see a full-blooded Aussie blockbuster amid the year’s mostly sombre fare.
For fans of: Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Cowboys vs Aliens
8. Penguin Bloom
Director: Glendyn Ivin
Streaming on: Amazon Prime, Apple TV
A magpie called Penguin helps wheelchair-confined mum Sam (Naomi Watts) adjust to her new life in an affecting family drama based on a true story.
After falling from a faulty hotel balcony in Thailand, Sam withdraws into a cocoon of helplessness and resentment. But when her son brings home the injured bird, they form an unlikely bond and nursing it back to health renews her strength.
Watts is, as always, pitch perfect, but the credited ‘magpie trainer’ Paul Mander is clearly a master of his art, too. Let’s hope he has other skills, as it might be a long wait for the next magpie-based melodrama.
For fans of: Million Dollar Baby, Storm Boy
7. Disclosure
Director: Michael Bentham
Streaming on: Fetch, Amazon Prime, Apple TV
A taut, unsettling potboiler set in a seemingly serene middle class idyll, Michael Bentham’s first feature was made for less than $1million and garnered critical acclaim at the 2020 Palm Springs Festival.
When the nine-year-old son of a local pollie is accused of sexually abusing a family friend’s four-year-old daughter, the pretence of suburban bliss is shattered and deep-seated recriminations surface.
The claustrophobic narrative keeps the audience on edge, a series of revelations undermining assumptions and keeping a clear-cut resolution at bay. No one could watch Disclosure and not wonder what they’d do in the same circumstance.
For fans of: Mystic River, Little Children
