Lantana (2002)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Lantana is less about solving a mystery and more about the ensuing revelation in the light of that recent mystery, however a clever marketing campaign would have you thinking otherwise. Granted, it is easy to bill this 2002 Australian drama as a thriller, but those who expect such a film may be disappointed by a relatively slow-burning plot and moderately paced character study. The beginning of Lantana is not entirely original. A woman's body is revealed among a shrub, and the metaphor for the menace lurking beneath a relatively unassuming and benign surface is neatly established. We saw this years before with David Lynch's Blue Velvet and so it doesn't feel completely revelatory or engrossing. From this moment, you'd be forgiven for thinking this film will turn into an intricate, tense and gripping edge of your seat thriller. It is still those things, but in a different way. Sydney cop, played brilliantly by Aussie export Anthony LaPaglia, is having an affair with Jane, and deceiving his wife Sonja, whose intuition can sense something is not right with her husband. Jane has left her husband, Pete, and lives with her friend Paula, who has a humble yet satisfying marriage to Nik. Sonja is seeing psychiatrist Valerie Somers, whose marriage is also showing cracks. One of Sonja's other clients is Patrick, who is engaging in his own form of deceit, by sleeping with a married man. Valerie's insecurity with her marriage leads her to believe that the very man Patrick is sleeping with is her own husband. So begins a web of interconnections, masterfully established by Australian director Ray Lawrence. A story with this many closely linked characters could begin to feel chaotic and even messy, but Lawrence has a way of handling these relationships that feels organic and natural. We never lose our focus on who is related to who either, which can be very with ensemble stories of interlocking lives. The success in creating a series of connections brings to mind Robert Altman's Short Cuts and Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia. Perhaps one of the biggest attributions to Lantana's success is the performances. Everyone here is at their best, particularly LaPaglia, whose extramarital affair cannot combat or even alleviate his own personal dissatisfaction and existential crisis. Even in the throes of passion with his lover, he loses his temper after a bout of chest pain. Nothing is enjoyable for this man anymore. Kerry Armstrong, who plays his wife, is equally impressive. She suspects something is wrong, and we see that doubt linger in her eyes every time she's on screen. Even when she comes into contact with her husband's mistress, seemingly oblivious, at a dance club, we get the sense she knows more than she conveys. That's the beauty of acting... a feeling is communicated, without every really being scripted. Armstrong has the ability to read in between the lines and does her character a wonderful justice. The supporting cast, with a surprise appearance from American actress Barbara Hershey, and Australian luminary Geoffrey Rush, do not miss a beat. Hershey's frantic, barely there sanity is almost palpable, and Rush's aloofness is unnerving, suggesting something ulterior. Lantana reminds me of a great time in Australian cinema, when risks were still being taken and interest in thoughtful indigenous film was still appealing to the Australian film-goer. An emphasis on box office numbers and commerce has diluted the craft of Australian film in recent times, and we get a lot of by-the-numbers "feel good" flicks about animals. This is not a problem, but when it's the only thing that is heavily marketed, people lose sight of real art. Lantana is just that, a complicated and nuanced piece of cinema. This one comes highly recommended.

2001's Lantana is adapted for the screen by Andrew Bovell from his AWGIE award-winning 1996 play Speaking in Tongues and is critically acclaimed director Ray Lawrence's second film.The film opens to an almost perverse pan over a woman's lifeless body, face down, encircled by the films uninviting namesake. Who is she? How did she come to be there? I don't need those questions to hold my interest as the film explores the, possible/probable, infidelities of four couples whose lives cross paths in increasingly uncomfortable circumstances. Is the famous writer's psychologist husband having an affair? Why is the policeman having an affair? Will one of the loving suburban couple have an affair? We can't be sure until the end because these characters are not stereotypes. Ray Lawrence gradually fleshes the characters out in his realistic, intense, and often confronting style; Raw performances are captured in one take under natural light.Ostensibly a murder mystery, Lantana develops and is wrapped up in a surprising way through a final comment on trust that may not satisfy those looking for a traditional whodunit. However, the mysteries surrounding the motivations of Lanta's true-to-life characters in their non-murderous pursuits, as we explore the scarcity of trust in loving relationships, are what really sell me on this film.

This Australian drama looks at the intertwined lives of a group of people. The first third of the film is spent introducing the various characters, but their relationships are not convincing because of bad dialog and uneven acting. Hershey (what's she doing in this Aussie film?) is terrible as a psychiatrist experiencing marital problems. After the lethargic start, the film gets better once Hershey goes missing, but never rises above mediocrity. The script is based on a series of wild coincidences, which would be fine if this were a comedy, but becomes ridiculous for a serious film. The ending is quite corny, as all the plot threads are neatly tied up.

"Lantana" refers to a tropical shrub, and lantana grows along the waysides in Australia. The 2001 film "Lantana" goes underneath the shrubs and takes a look at the lives of several couples whose lives are intertwined by the disappearance of a psychiatrist, Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey). There's a police officer Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia) who is taking dance lessons with his wife Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) and has an affair with another student, Jane (Rachel Blake); Jane's neighbors, with a husband (Manu Bennett) out of work; and the psychiatrist's own dysfunctional marriage to John Knox (Geoffrey Rush) after their daughter is murdered. When Valerie goes missing, Zat investigates, suspecting her husband. He then learns that his own wife was Valerie's client. Then Jane reports seeing her neighbor throw a woman's shoe into the underbrush.These lives intertwined stories are the fashion nowadays. There was a complaint that this film is "slow." This is because filmgoers today are not used to the art of the buildup. My two favorite opposing examples of this are the classic film "San Francisco," where the earthquake happens in the last half hour of the movie, and "Poseidon" where stock characters have a line each before the ship sinks in the first five minutes of the movie."Lantana" is an intriguing film that will keep the audience wondering and guessing - does Valerie suspect her client of an involvement with her husband? How did the neighbor get the woman's shoe? Can the Zats find one another again? The three "names" in "Lantana" - LaPaglia, Hershey, and Rush - give excellent performances. It's unknown to me why LaPaglia isn't right up there with Robert de Niro. Perhaps it's his willingness or need to do television - at any rate, the dark, sad character of Zat can't possibly be being played by the same man who was Daphne's drunken Cockney cousin on "Frasier"! He is a magnificent actor and creates here a tortured man who loves his wife and family but has lost the ability to feel anything. His scene in the car at the end of the film is gut-wrenching. Hershey is effective as a psychiatrist forced to listen to people's problems while disturbed about her own dead marriage, and Rush's frozen face displays no emotion, yet we know he's dying inside.A really fine movie, well worth seeing. A note to you young folks - try being patient with a story that builds.