Australia Day

The majority of us (Australians) live in cities and towns where these stories occur. We see the product of Australia Day simmering around us, in differing forms, every day. This movie takes us beneath the surface. We're allowed to follow those people we've taken for granted, dismissed, buffered ourselves against or plain ignored because we can. As sober entertainment and something worth watching, the results are a thing to be proud of.

Stephen M Irwin and Kriv Stenders get the basics right with the writing and direction, and it shows in this movie becoming greater than the sum of its parts. Story telling and performances are solid in that benefit.

Excellent casting, awesome technical and camera unit work pull us into the lives and drama of our everyday victims and protagonists. Uniformly good writing, direction and excellent performances allow us to genuinely care about the strangers lives we're watching, Brian Brown captures the quiet desperation of an older, Australian man caught between a rock and a hard place, trying to do the right thing. Plaudits to the cameraman on his closeups of Brown. The Australian landscape and Brown's face are now synonymous. The people and drama in Australia day will resonate strongly with many Australians. It entertains and confronts us with truths we're usually able to walk past. Foreign audience will enjoy it as something casting a believable, strong reflection on Australian people, and the Australian enigma.

Can't believe the majority of reviews here being so negative. 2 of the most positive ones live in Brisbane, well guess where I live. It's actually typical of any Australian capital cities I have spent time in. This movie is not and never was meant to be about patriotism. It's about the real life racism that comes with such a wide and diverse range of cultural backgrounds that Australia has. That has been impaled on Australia by every Government since the WWII. Their greed has allowed policies on immigration to be too lax allowing a more rapid population growth. In a poor attempt to imitate the USA, toward wealth and power. Australia Day (the movie) deserves much more credit than it is garnering here. No not the best movie you will ever see but worth the watch, unless you have your head in the sand like most of the reviewers here. 7.5/10

Australia day kicks off with several broken stories not making much sense, but carrying the most uncomfortable and unsettling vibe, so much so that I spent the better part of this movie prepared to turn it off. I don't need reminding of the regressive mindsets that are still so prevalent because having spent 10yrs of my early adulthood 16-27yrs of age in Brisbane, I know the story all too well..

The overall premise of the film is of overcoming adversity and this wasn't clear for the better part of the movie where you're left gritting your teeth to bare it. For this one however, it was worth waiting out till the end to see what the film makers where trying to do. The messages/lessons they aim to bestow hold a very relative nature, relative to the times we live, the issues we face as humans in our current condition and the relativity we hold to each other.

Don't expect to leave your viewing session with a smile on your face, but you will leave with a handful of seeds planted in your mind that should see grow, I call whatever movie or piece capable of doing this, one of great merit across the board.. and this film is no exception to that. You may not have a smile on your face, but at least in my case, you will have a few tears welled up in the corners of your eyes and a bit to ponder about.

We have a lot to address here in Australia and some of the most important topics of which start at home where this movie has based itself. Our issues aren't in the demise of agriculture, or what color skins are dating ones sister etc, but only how we relate each other.. seemingly the most overlooked of all issues until something grave impacts us such as the atrocities that are able to go on whilst we only care about ourselves.

I love Aussie movies, good or bad I'll see them all. (clear bias) I neither liked nor disliked this movie. Acting was patchy and editing failed it miserably. Brown was typically the lynch pin and perhaps without his presence the movie would have been completely lost. My gripe about this movie was the obvious mirroring of the movie Crash. Crash is an extraordinary movie, this movie is not.

A brilliantly executed movie set in my hometown, Brisbane, which captures many of the multicultural issues confronting modern Australia. The cast - relatively unknown apart from Bryan Brown - deliver a powerful, complex story which illustrates many of the cultural issues confronting modern societies. It was a real edge-of-the-seat production with completely unpredictable outcomes.