Lantana

Lantana has got everything that a good film should have: a striking visual sense, richly involving characters, fine performances, a strong narrative drive and a sturdy thematic core. Intelligent and consistently moving, Lantana is a great Australian film.

The film casts its net wide, and covers the movements of a large, interlinked group of characters: detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia), his mistress (a saucy, lightning-in-a-bottle turn from Rachael Blake) and her neighbours (Vince Colosimo and Daniela Farinacci at their best), his troubled wife (the sultry and sympathetic Kerry Armstrong), her psychiatrist (a brittle, fraying Barbara Hershey), the shrink’s reserved, emotionally shut down husband (Geoffrey Rush, slicing the ham very thin for a change) and one of her patients (a slightly menacing Peter Phelps). They constantly cut across each other in a darkly consuming web of romance, love, betrayal, infidelity, suspicion and ultimately death.

Director Ray Lawrence hadn’t made a film since his 1986 classic Bliss, but he hasn’t lost his touch. Filling the screen with elegant, dark hued imagery, Lawrence keeps a tight rein on his large cast of characters, never letting the film get too confusing or out of hand. Andrew Bovell’s script is a compelling and literate jigsaw of complex emotion, taking the audience through some of the most honest and recognisable aspects of human nature. It’s a strong, powerful tour, and the fine cast all rise to the challenge, forgoing star trips in favour of fitting tightly into a well-oiled ensemble. The performances, right down to the smallest roles (Leah Purcell, Russell Dykstra and Glenn Robbins are all excellent in supporting roles), are richly nuanced and hit all the high notes in the script.

Lantana is a great film: complex, sophisticated, entertaining and always accessible. The fact that it ruminates so powerfully on emotions familiar to all of us makes it an across-the-board winner.

Filmink 4.5/5