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Russell Crowe brings out the Beast · The Front

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: From the Australian. This is the weekend edition of The Front.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: I'm Claire Harvey. Formulas. It's easy to write something off
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  Speaker 1: as being formulaic, though playing around with a formula and
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  Speaker 1: creating something engaging is no small feat. In Beast, a
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  Speaker 1: new MMA sports melodrama, director Tyler Atkins runs through the
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  Speaker 1: genre's cliches and predictable narrative arcs by combining believable performances,
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  Speaker 1: a relentless score, and fight sequences choreographed by nine time
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  Speaker 1: World Martial Arts champion Brent Foster to deliver a gripping
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  Speaker 1: ride for even those normally repelled by MMA. You'd think
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  Speaker 1: a film critic that through Wuthering Heights five stars might
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  Speaker 1: avoid a movie like Beast, but our in house critic
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  Speaker 1: and guest on today's show, Nicki Gammel, gave Beast four stars.
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  Speaker 1: She sees the movie as part of a promising next
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  Speaker 1: chapter in Australian film.
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  Speaker 2: Why do we train so hard.
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  Speaker 3: So I can breathe?
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  Speaker 2: Why do you need to breathe so I can think?
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  Speaker 3: Why if I can breathe, I can think, If I
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  Speaker 3: can think, I can win.
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  Speaker 2: That's not my boy. Now, let's get in all the respect.
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  Speaker 1: Nikki Gamil is the Australians film critic and we're here
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  Speaker 1: today to talk about Beast, a movie starring Russell Crowe
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  Speaker 1: Daniel Wicpherson. Nikki, I love your reviews because they're very visceral.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: You inhaled Wuthering Heights with your groin. Nobody can forget
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  Speaker 1: you wrote a wonderful piece about a motherhood exhibition in
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  Speaker 1: Melbourne that you said made you want to lactate, and.
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  Speaker 3: This one is all about the balls. Tell me, yeah, yeah, okay,
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  Speaker 3: so Beasts just grabbed me by the balls. Excuse me.
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  Speaker 3: And if I may be so bold, I loved this film.
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  Speaker 3: It's about mma, something that I can barely watch, you know,
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  Speaker 3: because I find that a really visceral sport combines everything
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  Speaker 3: from jiu jitsu, wrestling, boxing, kickboxing, grappling, occasional biting which
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  Speaker 3: is really dirty jabbing. It's got the lot and you
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  Speaker 3: get it up close, but it's like come for the
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  Speaker 3: fight scenes, yes, which are amazingly choreographed, but stay for
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  Speaker 3: the really nuanced drama around it. An incredibly moving story
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  Speaker 3: thanks to co writers Russell Crowe and also David Tragerio geez,
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  Speaker 3: I've done a good job. The fighters really fight too.
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  Speaker 1: Daniel went for and was left with a limp and
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  Speaker 1: a torn groin. Even now, a year after the filming stopped,
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  Speaker 1: Amy Shark is in it too. And one of the
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  Speaker 1: things that I think people let me find a bit
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  Speaker 1: confronting about MMA, apart from men kicking each other in
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  Speaker 1: the face, is women getting teeth knocked out and being
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  Speaker 1: covered in blood. How did Amy Shark carry that off?
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  Speaker 3: She's really convincing. She was a really delightful surprise. She
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  Speaker 3: plays an ex MMA fighter, so we don't actually see
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  Speaker 3: her fighting in it. She's Russell Crowe's daughter. She's a
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  Speaker 3: really really convincing actress, so I feel like for her
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  Speaker 3: this is a path she should be pursuing more. But
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  Speaker 3: in terms of Daniel McPherson, this is an award winning performance.
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  Speaker 3: He plays an older, grisly fighter who's had a great
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  Speaker 3: time in the ring in the past, but he's washed
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  Speaker 3: up now. He is an ex con. He works on
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  Speaker 3: a fishing trawler that catches an old fish. Money's tight,
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  Speaker 3: but then he gets the chance to go back into
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  Speaker 3: the ring and try and beat the dude who he
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  Speaker 3: did beat once in six seconds flat. And the story
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  Speaker 3: that's wrapped around that in terms of the repercussions for
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  Speaker 3: his wife, she doesn't want him to do it. His
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  Speaker 3: brother who's a fighter with an injury and really wants
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  Speaker 3: to get back into the ring. There's a really moving
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  Speaker 3: story wrapped around MMA fighting. And I will say the dialogue, Wow.
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  Speaker 2: What's the fight plane?
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  Speaker 3: Fuch that punk in the face. It's a good plan.
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  Speaker 3: I'm a gone girl. Wollongong. So I grew up with
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  Speaker 3: the Port Kendler Steelworks, those mighty smokestacks. That was the
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  Speaker 3: peripheral vision of my childhood. Wollongong Industrial Woollongong gives good backdrop.
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  Speaker 3: It looks amazing. But also what the two co writers
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  Speaker 3: have done is they've really kind of immersed themselve els
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  Speaker 3: in the dialogue of the street, of the underworld, of
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  Speaker 3: like gritty working class Woollongong. And it's got like the
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  Speaker 3: snap and the punch of Mannet. It's glorious to hear
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  Speaker 3: our working class Ossie vernacular authentically on the screen.
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  Speaker 1: Australian audiences will get all those references and will get
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  Speaker 1: the language. International audiences might struggle, or they might find
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  Speaker 1: this wonderful kind of dive into a place like Rocky wars,
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  Speaker 1: you know, into exactly what do you think are its
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  Speaker 1: prospects internationally?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think it's got a really good chance because
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  Speaker 3: it is Mma, and there's a lot of it if
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  Speaker 3: you like that stuff. But also in terms of the dialogue,
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  Speaker 3: it is just so vivid, so colorful, you can't help
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  Speaker 3: but fall in love with it. It's really funny. It
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  Speaker 3: had me laughing, and I can imagine that international audiences
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  Speaker 3: will respond to that too. There's real honesty to the film.
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  Speaker 1: Mma has stivated young men in a time when I
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  Speaker 1: think there's a lot of angst about young men. You know,
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  Speaker 1: are they lost? You know, do they understand their purpose
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  Speaker 1: in the world? Are they getting eclipsed by girls in education?
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  Speaker 1: And are we looking after them?
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  Speaker 3: Well? Enough, did the movie?
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  Speaker 1: Watching the movie and kind of immersing yourself in this
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  Speaker 1: world of Mma kind of make you understand why it's
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  Speaker 1: so appealing for young men.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, I can. But it's also a really really nuanced
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  Speaker 3: portrayal of MMA in terms of the repercussions not only
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  Speaker 3: for everyone around you if you're a fighter, but for
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  Speaker 3: the fighter itself, in terms of what happens to you
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  Speaker 3: physically but also emotionally. So as soon as I saw this,
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  Speaker 3: I came home. I've got three sons. They're all into Mma,
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  Speaker 3: you know. I came home and I basically said to them,
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  Speaker 3: you have got to see this film, you know, for
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  Speaker 3: the crunch on, the creak of bone, and the blood
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  Speaker 3: and the spit and all of that, but go and
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  Speaker 3: see it for so much more in terms of a
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  Speaker 3: betrayal of masculinity, tender masculinity. I'd argue that Daniel McPherson,
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  Speaker 3: he's the grizzledog warrior, but he's an incredibly tender, thoughtful
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  Speaker 3: man as well. It's beautifully written.
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  Speaker 2: In this entire building. There's only two people that know
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  Speaker 2: you are going to win this fight tonight. There's you
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  Speaker 2: and there's me. Everybody else is on the other bloke.
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  Speaker 2: He's bigger, he's faster, he stronger. That's what they think,
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  Speaker 2: and that's what he thinks. And he's gonna think that
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  Speaker 2: until you punch him in the face. Then he's going
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  Speaker 2: to realize he is the obstacle that stands between you
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  Speaker 2: and what you deserve.
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  Speaker 1: I Redden into You with the director Tyler Atkins, where
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  Speaker 1: he was saying, Russell Crowe just kind of shows up
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  Speaker 1: and you might give him the occasional note, but he
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  Speaker 1: doesn't really need any direction. He seems from the trailers
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  Speaker 1: and teases and excerpts that I've seen to really kind
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  Speaker 1: of inhabit this part of the mentor doesn't he the guru?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? Look, everything he does he brings such a grounded,
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  Speaker 3: thoughtful gravity. It feels so authentic and real. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: but this is also a really brave, unadorned performance. He's
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  Speaker 3: carrying weight, his face looks puffy and unwell. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: this is the part that he's playing is an ex coach,
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  Speaker 3: doesn't want to have a bar of it anymore. But
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  Speaker 3: he just does it so well. And when you hear
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  Speaker 3: that voice, that bewutiful gravelly baritone voice, and it's so
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  Speaker 3: lovely to see him on screen, but also to see
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  Speaker 3: him playing a really working class Australian man with that
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  Speaker 3: deep sense of authority to him. I think on many
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  Speaker 3: levels this is a great film for young Australian men
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  Speaker 3: and older Australian men to see.
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  Speaker 1: I'm really hoping people do go and see it. We
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  Speaker 1: were talking a little before about the difficulty that Australian
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  Speaker 1: films face in getting Green Litten and getting audiences to
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  Speaker 1: go and watch them. Why don't we want to go
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  Speaker 1: and see Australian films in the cinema.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's a tragedy Australian cinema. I feel like
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  Speaker 3: there are problems with marketing and distribution. At the same
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  Speaker 3: time as this wonderful beast is out, we have a
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  Speaker 3: film You, Me and Tuscany, which I gave two stars.
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  Speaker 3: It's crap, you know. Basically it feels like it's Ai slop.
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  Speaker 3: Was there even a human hand behind the script? I
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  Speaker 3: mean that's me Anti Ai saying that it's marketed as
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  Speaker 3: a rom com. It's barely funny, you know. I saw
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  Speaker 3: it with a packed audience and there was one laugh
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  Speaker 3: out loud moment. It's dross and films like that they
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  Speaker 3: get the marketing budgets, they get all the attention when
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  Speaker 3: we have these little gems of Australian films that no
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  Speaker 3: one's seeing. There's a moment of me with your host
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  Speaker 3: Nave Bucker. Our story starts in Dunburn, also known as
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: the asshole of Australia. I'm sorry, you're taking away valuable
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  Speaker 3: oxygen from my cigarette.
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  Speaker 1: Oh sorry.
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  Speaker 3: Like at the moment, I feel like Australian film is
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  Speaker 3: having a moment. We've just had the deb which was
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  Speaker 3: such a cracker of a comedy, beautifully written, you know,
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  Speaker 3: HARKing back to those films of the nineties like Priscilla
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: and the Castle and Muriel's Wedding. Come and have a
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: drink with us? Really, do you want to have a
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: drink with me? Well, we can't make you spend the
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: entire holiday alone. Stick your drink up your ass, Tanny.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: I would rather swallow raise your blades than drink with you.
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  Speaker 3: Now we've got Beast, which I really really hope does
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  Speaker 3: find an audience, and then in a couple of weeks
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  Speaker 3: coming up, we've got Wolfram, which interrogates indigenous history colonialism.
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  Speaker 3: Oh so good. These are our stories. These are us.
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  Speaker 3: I feel like, why aren't we thirsty for our stories?
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  Speaker 3: They're being written in such an interesting, provocative way, But
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  Speaker 3: we're just not getting the distribution umph and the marketing umph.
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  Speaker 3: They're not getting the attention that the dross from overseas
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  Speaker 3: is getting. And for me, I just find that a
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  Speaker 3: tragedy for our industry.
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  Speaker 1: Those young men who hopefully would go and see this
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  Speaker 1: have grown up on the marvel kind of massive franchise movies.
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  Speaker 1: They have huge, very high expectations of what cinema is
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  Speaker 1: going to be in terms of the budget. Will be
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  Speaker 1: stand up to their expectations.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. Beast is gripping. You know for me when I thought,
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  Speaker 3: oh great, I'm being sent off to review, you know,
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  Speaker 3: an MMA film and I saw it and it's so entertaining.
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  Speaker 3: You know. The script holds up in every way and
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  Speaker 3: competes and I'd say surpasses all that kind of marvel
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  Speaker 3: stuff that we get. We just don't have muscle memory
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  Speaker 3: as Australians of going to see our local product. There's
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  Speaker 3: always been a tall poppy thing in Australia. It's like, oh,
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  Speaker 3: it's low, it must be crap, you know. Can we
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  Speaker 3: just grow up as a nation and support our local product?
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  Speaker 3: What we are producing is so good.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you've inspired me. I can't wait to see Nicki Gamil,
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  Speaker 1: thank you very much, Thank you so much. Niki Gemil
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  Speaker 1: is The Australian's chief film critic. You can read her reviews,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: including her take on Beast, at the Australian dot com
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: dot au slash culture. This episode of the Front was
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: hosted by me Claire Harvey and co produced with Jasper Leek.
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  Speaker 1: Our team also includes Kristin Amiot, Lead Semaglue, Tiffanidimac, and
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Joshua Burton.