Beneath Clouds (2003)

Purely Joyful Movie!

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Why all the great reviews baffles me. The acting is awful but i agree the story line is OK.This film would have so much more justice if the actors had shown more emotion and non robotic movements. It was like watching slow robots. The story line is reasonable and would have worked better if there was more action in the film - i'm not saying fights but more emphasis to have some exciting scenes in the middle. The film drags on a bit so expect a slow, slow, slow movie. The scenery is great but that does not put you off from wondering how any of these actors got a job. If only the acting was great I would love this film but it is terrible. If anyone has watched good actors they would realise that they were terrible, non emotional robots. Another promising OZ film, another flop in acting! Don't waste your time cringing on the acting by watching this movie. Watch something else instead.Worst acting i have ever seen.

Ultimately the fact that Vaughn doesn't recognise Lena as a fellow Aboriginal underlies the whole youthful crisis of identity that is so poignantly illustrated in this film. It's simple to gloss over the whole black vs. white thing, but these two kids are on the same journey, have the same problems and don't know what they're going to find when they get where they're going. That could be anyone, and Vaughn doesn't realise this at first.Having said that you can take just as much from the film in terms of what it is to be young, aboriginal and male in Australia, as opposed to young, white (which everyone in this film seems to simply assume of Lena due to her freckles) and female. Both are judged and abused as a consequence of their identity... I must say I do get a bit sick of the constant portrayals of an unavoidable culture of racism in Australia, and there's the one guy who gives them a lift in the film (without really saying anything) who is obviously designed to counter-balance this. I guess I'm just hanging out with the wrong people! I initially saw the first 60 minutes of this film on television but had to tear myself away to show up to some social engagement that I was consequently late for. I hired it on DVD to see the last 30 minutes, but watched it again from the beginning thinking I could skip some scenes - I didn't. It was well worth watching again from the beginning.It's an utterly pointless plot (it's a road trip) which becomes a beautiful story about the relationship between the two main characters and their personal aspirations of family. And it's amazingly illustrated. Highly recommended, and I'm off to look for the NZ version that another commentator here claims it was based on... but then again they do say something along the lines of "there are only 13 scripts in Hollywood".Compulsory viewing for all schools in Sutherland Shire and Lakemba. Anyway I'm blabbering now. I just wanted to give it a nine.

No doubt about it, Ivan Sen is the most talented film-maker working today in Australia. Others gain passing publicity, but Sen already has a notable body of work . Everybody, demand to see Sen's short film WIND in 35mm. This man has pure cinema senses -- pictorial, musical, content-wise and with actors. There is hardly a word spoken that matters, it is all in the aching faces, the hesitant gestures and the bleak settings of the country road. In politics and personnel administration, BENEATH CLOUDS would speak with humanity that cannot be denied, far more powerfully than any speeches, procedures or texts. Evidently not released to video overseas, no picture in IMDb's box - pity that basic business follow-up has not occurred for this fine film.

I thoroughly enjoyed Beneath Clouds, and thought it was a fantastic film all round...especially since it is part of the rise of Aussie films dealing with Aborigines (both historical and contemporary). The main thing that struck me with the film, however, was the similarities it had with Tom Tykwer's work (specifically The Princess And The Warrior, and to a lesser extent Heaven). I thought the mood, depth of emotion and the manner in which the story was told was almost identical to Tykwer's work. I mainly am writing this to see if anyone else shared my thoughts on this. Considering that Tykwer is one of my favourite directors I guess this was the only aspect of the film that disappointed me (there's nothing wrong with either mimicking or coincidentally sharing stylistic aspects, it's just that I couldn't stop thinking 'this is a Tykwer film' when watching it).