The Sound of One Hand Clapping
INFORMATION RESEARCH
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The Sound of One Hand Clapping |
INFORMATION RESEARCH |
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In an attempt to find review and information about the film, the cast and credits I went to the Murdoch library databases. I found that the only reference to The Sound of One Hand Clapping on the Proquest Database was for book reviews from the New York Times and Publishers Weekly. My next database selection was the Expanded Academic Index and this found me a review from David Stratton in Variety. I further found another article from Variety on the Melbourne-based production company, Artist Services, who produced The Sound of One Hand Clapping. This Article specifically focused on one of the companies founders, Steve Vizard. A third article was on the subject of tyro directors and outlined the Australian film releases for 1998. Other databases selected were Swetwise, Communication Abstracts and Factiva, which had limited results and nothing that was useful. The Film Index International database did not make mention of The Sound of One Hand Clapping and it was not even listed as a film title. There was a list of films by Rolf De Heer as a director and there was no listing for Richard Flanagan. My next choice was to search the World Wide Web using the Google search engine. This proved most effective. Although I had to sift through the many philosophical sites and book review sites that comes from Flanagan chosen title and the adaptation from his novel of the same name, I did find more relevant information when I refined my search to include the word Ôfilm'. There was a synopsis available on The New York Times Film review section. http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=160631 . There was a review available on the SBS site for the Movie Show. http://www.sbs.com.au/movieshow/reviews.php3?id=506 . A site called Urban Cinefile contained an interviews with Kerry Fox and Richard Flanagan about the movie, but this was only accessible to ÔGold Card' members http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=1016&s=Interviews . I then went to the Australian Film Commission site and found some statistics about the film and a short synopsis. The running time was incorrect but the other information proved useful. There were other links provided to access the credits for Kerry Fox, Rolf De Heer and Richard Flanagan. There were numerous reviews available and these were added to the review section. Searches of the International Movie Database offered a lot of statistics. Hollywood.com provided a biography of Kerry Fox www.hollywood.com/celebs/bio/celeb/1672568 but not the other cast and credits in the film. A search for Kristof Kaczmarek proved useless. He has only one English language acting credit in The Sound of One Hand Clapping. The International Movie Database had only his date of birth and country of birth and the title of the film A search for ÔRolf De Heer Ð biography' found the site for Inside Film Magazine that provided a thorough biography. Vertigo productions is the official website for Rolf De Heer and made no mention of The Sound of One Hand Clapping. It did provide an accurate biography. http://www.vertigoproductions.com.au
In an attempt to find more information that may not be available on the Murdoch database, I went to Curtin University Library where there was a section dedicated to film magazines. There were no relevant articles. I then visited the sites recommended by the MED231 links . There was a little information on the AFC site. Other recommended sites were found through the RML Movie Page http://netspace.net.au/~haze/mag Such as Sight & Sound, Empire Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, Premier Magazine and Variety.
NOVEL TO SCREENPLAY
Novelist Richard Flanagan rewrote his second novel The Sound of One Hand Clapping, published in 1998 as a screenplay. He also made his directorial debut for the film.
The Sound of One Hand Clapping was the winner of the 1998 Victorian Premier's Prize for Best Novel, and the 1999 ABA Australian Book of the Year Prize. It was also shortlisted for the 1998 Miles Franklin Award . AUSTRALIAN FILM IN THE 1990'S
During the 1990's there were many film's that showed Australia's eccentric humour and quirkiness of characters. These films include Strictly Ballroom, Muriel's Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Films in this genre deal with social issues such as ethnicity and identity by with optimism and humour. There were also the rite of passage films where the protagonist goes through a traumatic experience with a positive result. Films in this genre include Shine, Looking for Alibrandi and The Sound of One Hand Clapping .
Overall, critically and commercially successful films in the 1990's were ones that merged recognised popular Hollywood genres with Australian genres such as the Ôquirky' film and the Ôrite of passage' film while still choosing Australia specific issues such as immigration, ethnicity and identity. The merging of Hollywood and Australian genres was important due to the Hollywood domination of the film industry. To be successful O'Regan (1996) suggests to Ôbe similar and yet different from theÉHollywood product'.
At the time that ÔThe Sound of One Hand Clapping was released, there was a few films that had a darker edge to them. These films include Two Hands where the protagonist is on the run from the mob after a drug deal goes wrong; Head On about a young Greek man who turns his back on his heritage and goes on a sexual trip through gay clubs; The Interview a dark psychological drama involving a murder suspect and Praise about a man Ôwith a little penis who meets a girl with a big libido'. Looking at these releases, it seems that Australian audiences were ready for anything. REFERENCE: J Rayner (2000) Contemporary Australian Cinema: An Introduction, Manchester University Press, London pp 129-166.
T O'Regan (1996) Australian National Cinema, Routledge, London pp 96-97
S Neale (2000) Melodrama and the woman's film, Genre and Hollywood, Routledge, London pp 179-204
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Last Updated April 2004 Copyright Rachel Powell 2004 |
The Sound of One Hand Clapping, by Rachel Powell Email: rachel.powell@bigpond.com |