Description:
R
R
As bleak but just as often as exquisitely beautiful as the Australian landscape where it takes place, Romulus, My Father is a film that reminds us that there's no explaining the mystery of family ties--not the ones that bend or even break, and especially not the ones that suffer the most unspeakable hardships. Directed by Richard Roxburgh (the first behind-the-camera effort for an actor whose resume includes roles in Moulin Rouge, Van Helsing, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), based on a memoir by Raimond Gaita (played by young Kodi Smit-McPhee), and set in 1960-61, it stars Eric Bana as Rai's father, Romulus, a
R
R
As bleak but just as often as exquisitely beautiful as the Australian landscape where it takes place, Romulus, My Father is a film that reminds us that there's no explaining the mystery of family ties--not the ones that bend or even break, and especially not the ones that suffer the most unspeakable hardships. Directed by Richard Roxburgh (the first behind-the-camera effort for an actor whose resume includes roles in Moulin Rouge, Van Helsing, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), based on a memoir by Raimond Gaita (played by young Kodi Smit-McPhee), and set in 1960-61, it stars Eric Bana as Rai's father, Romulus, a Romanian-speaking Yugoslav who toils as a blacksmith in the remote Aussie town of Maryborough, where the locals call him Jack. Life is simple but hardly easy, especially when Rai's wayward mother, Christina (Franka Potente) visits from nearby Melbourne. Christina, to put it mildly, is strange; promiscuous, irresponsible, and depressed, sometimes suicidally so, she has only the most tenuous grasp on what it takes to be a mother and wife, and her rare and unannounced visits don't do either father or son much good (especially after she moves in with one of her husband's friends and has another child, whom she cares about even less than she cares about Rai). The cinematography is lovely, and the performances are first-rate (Bana, who no doubt welcomed the opportunity to be in a small, character-driven film after big budget Hollywood epics like Hulk, Munich, and Troy, is excellent). And while there is neither a lot of dialogue nor much in the way of plot (the story consists largely of a series of tragic episodes, most of them with Raimond as the innocent victim), Romulus, My Father still manages to convey some profound, ineffably human feelings. --Sam Graham
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Manufacturer: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Release date: 22 April 2008
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0876964001298 UPC: 876964001298
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