Crackers
1998
Country: Australia
Language: English
Runtime: Australia (92 min) /Germany (85 min)
Genre: Comedy
Category: Feature
Color: Color
Released by: Beyond Films, Sharmill
Certification: Australia (M) / Germany (A)
BY NURVIA OOI
FILM INFORMATION
CAST:
Warren Mitchell : Albert Hall
Daniel Kellie : Joey Dredge
Peter Rowsthorn : Bruno
Susan Lyons : Hilary Dredge
Terry Gill : Jack Hall
Maggie King : Violet (Vi) Hall
Valerie Bader : Aunt Dottie
Christopher Chapman : Angus
PRODUCTION CREW:
David Swann : Director
David Swann : Screenwriter
Chris Odgers : First Assistant Director
Chris Warner : Producer
Bernadette O'Mahony : Line Producer
Tracy Watt : Production Designer
Laszlo Baranyai : Cinematographer
Ken Sallows : Editor
Brian Alexander : Art Director
Clare Griffin : Costume Designer
Dina Mann : Casting
Ricky Edwards : Composer (Music Score)
John McKerrow : Sound/Sound Designer
PRINCIPAL CAST AND CREW HISTORY
Terry Gill's Filmography
1998 – Crackers
1990 – Breakaway
1969 – Mission: Impossible: The Greek
1987 – With Love To The Person Next To Me
1985 – Jenny Kissed Me
1983 – Phar Lap
1974 – Alpha Scorpio
Susan Lyons's Filmography
1999 – In A Savage Land
1999 – Dog's Head Bay (TV Series)
1998 – Crackers
1997 – Halifax F.P. (TV Series)
1995 – Napoleon
1994 – Ebbtide
1994 – The Roly Poly Man
1993 – No Worries
1990 – Come In Spinner
1987 – …Almost
1986 – The Good Wife
1983 – For The Term of His Natural Life
1983 – The Winds of Jarrah
Peter Rowsthorn's Filmography
Acting Filmography:
1998 – Crackers
Production Credits:
1989 – The Big Gig (Screenwriter)
Daniel Kellie's Filmography
1998 – Crackers
PRODUCTION COMPANIES:
~ Australian Film Finance Corporation
~ Trout Films Production
RELEASE DATE:
Australia: July 9th, 1998
REVIEWS:
The following are sections of reviews the film received:
1. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~artsaliv/film_review/crackers.htm
2. http://infilm.com.au/reviews/crackers.htm
3. http://www.sbs.com.au/movieshow/index.php3?action=review&id=122
4. http://www.toolooshs.qld.edu.au/tvc/english/yr11/FilmRev/review.html
5. http://www.markjuddery.com/html/pop_culture/crackers.html
6. http://www.vh1.com/movies/movie/119824/moviemain.jhtml
7. http://www.vh1.com/movies/movie/119824/plot.jhtml
INTERVIEWS:
1. Interview with Susan Lyons
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/10111/20010612/www.urbancinefile.com.au/scripts/cinefile/Interviews_Archives0490.html
2. Interview with David Swann
http://www.filmfestivals.com/cannes98/marcheus26.htm
3. Interview with Chris Warner
http://www.filmfestivals.com/cannes98/marcheus26.htm
ONLINE PRESENCE:
Placing the title Crackers in an Internet search engine gives some relevant web pages of reviews and bibliographies of David Swann's feature film. Reviews of the film, Crackers, were easily located through the database of imdb.com as well as through search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Lycos and Altavista. It is very difficult to find other information connecting to his feature film, like interviews, awards and budget of the film. Interviews were much more difficult to find, however there is one with lead actress, Susan Lyons through the Urbancinefile website. Information pertaining to the production of the film as well as the cast and crew was readily available from several Internet sites. His movie, Crackers is compared with The Castle, as it is of the same genre. Crackers was primarily aimed at the Australian audience so it is not that accessibly online.
CRITICAL REVIEW
PLOT / SYNOPSIS:
'Crackers' is a comedy film which explores the deeper relationships of the suburban family in a touching and whimsical manner. The film is about a 13 year old boy, Joey Dredge, who becomes distraught after the accidental death of his father. After being expelled from school for another attempt to fly off the roof, his despairing mum, Hilary Dredge, decides to take him to her parent's place to celebrate and spend their Christmas holiday with her new boyfriend, Bruno and his son, Angus. Joey dislikes both his mum's boyfriend and Angus.
Chaos and friction start to happen when the whole family meets. Hilary's parents are a typical dysfunctional and conservative nuclear family. Her father, Jack Hall, is a beer drinking, barbequing, Elvis lover, while her mother, Violet (Vi) Hall is the repressed house wife, who always answer to everything is a bit of food. Also present at the gathering is Vi's sister, a vulgar chain-smoking Aunt Dottie, who has a gusty laugh, with lots of lipstick on and bottles of liquor always near. She is always up for the party and to have fun. Adding to the chaos is the surprise appearance of Jack's elderly and long-estranged father, Albert Hall, the delightful ex-con.
With limited sleeping accommodation available, Joey is dismayed to learn he must share the tool shed with his great grandfather Albert, in which he farts, jokes and sings. However, the pair develops a strong bond and love that eventually proves a healing force for the family, in which allows Joey to stand up for himself and accept his father's death.
Although Joey had a lot of arguments and disagreements with Bruno, Angus and his mum, in the end he realizes that he need to put situations right back again by liking and accepting Bruno and Angus as part of his family and making his mum happy. Albert tries to patch up his relationship with his son by building a boat as a Christmas gift with the help of Bruno and Joey. In the end, after Albert pass away peacefully in Joey's arms, only then Jack realized that he loved his father and regretted for not being with him. The Dredge and the Hall family learn what it means to be a family as a series of mishaps and crisis brings them closer together. In the end, relationships were patched up and situations become normal for the suburban family.
REVIEW:
"Crackers" is hilarious and very entertaining. It shows about a family getting together for a Christmas gathering, in which the situation turns out to be out of control with loud and noisy arguments, conflicts, confusions and misunderstandings. The main part is played by Daniel Kellie, which is really a great actor, even at a young age. In his major role as Joey Dredge in "Crackers", young Kellie delivers a solid and outstanding performance. This film has a slight similarity with the Hollywood film, "Home Alone", performed by McCaulay Culkin, where the film shows a similar situation whereby a loud and noisy extended family is gathered and getting ready to celebrate their Christmas holiday together.
The writing is crisp and the dialogue is delivered with verve by a strong cast that includes veterans of Australian stage and screen like Terry Gill and Maggie King, who plays as Hillary's parents. As for Warren Mitchell, performed as Albert Hall, plays his curmudgeonly role with vitality and energy that seems to enervate the rest of the cast.
Although this film is a comedy, but there are some elements of dramas as well. The film shows a dysfunctional family. For example, the shaky relationship between Joey and his mum, Joey and Bruno, Jack and Bruno, Jack and Albert and Joey and Angus. Although it shows more on adult situations and adult humors, but the humor is infectious and laughable. David Swann is able to incorporate elements such as humor, love, passion, culture and conflict into one film to make an enjoyable viewing experience for all. It is an uplifting story which shows that by accepting and forgiving each others' happiness, mistakes and faults are the best way to put miseries away. Take for example, Joey then realized that his mum really loves Bruno and he accepts Bruno and Angus as part of the family, as to make his mum happy. "Crackers" is a real winner, a crowd pleasing comedy that actually delivers genuine laughs. It is a must see for an enjoyable and a great entertainment.
THE PRODUCTION NOTES
Crackers is urban warfare at the Christmas dinner table. It's the story of survivors of a suburban, family gathering and is dedicated to those who endure this yearly ritual.
David Swann
THE PRODUCTION:
David Swann is one of two comedians to make their first feature film. With Crackers, Swann sought to inject freshness and spontaneity into his scripts: "The essence of good film writing," he says, "is brevity, condensing things to essence. Whereas theater is 90 percent dialogue, cinema is more visual. So I redrafted a lot to write out the clichˇs, searching for how I could find the freshness in the clichés, the uniqueness of the characters, especially in the dialogue (Swann, 1998).
Making his featuring debut, 13 year old Daniel Kellie plays great grandson to Warren Mitchell's character, trouble-making Albert, who is Scottish.
Shot in Melbourne, the comedy is produced by Chris Warner and photographed by Laszlo Baranyai, with Peter Rowsthorn, Susan Lyons, Maggie King, Terry Gill, Valerie Bader and Chris Chapman in supporting roles.
As it is an adult situation and adult humor with drug references, some strong language and sex scenes, therefore it is targeted to family audiences, especially kids. "But the truth is, kids will go," says Warner which is perhaps why "the hardest thing was to lock in the Australian distribution," says Warner. "It's not a kids' film, as there are some serious emotions dealt with. It's a comedy with heart, about Joey, this 13 year old, who saw dad die in a plane crash. His mum wants to remarry but Joey attempts to sabotage the new family. It's about how he ultimately comes to term with it through friendship with his great grandfather, all during one crazy Christmas. Underneath, it's quite a serious story, with large-scale comic mayhem – that's David Swann's form of comedy. The characters are real and they go through real experiences".
Natalie Miller of Sharmill says "people obviously want entertainment and that's what it is". In early screenings in Melbourne, test audiences howled with laughter, especially at the blackest bits. Miller has pledged the biggest national release she has ever undertaken on a film, with 58 prints, which is scheduled for 18 June 1998. Undeterred, Swann and producer Chris Warner assembled a top notch crew and on April 29 embarked upon an eight week shoot involving children, stunts, explosions, near drowning and a quarter of star-struck roosters.
Crackers is a mid-budget film with the appearance of a family movie. There are several sources were involved in bringing Crackers to the big screen, starting with Film Victoria and the Australian Film Commission who supported to the project during script development. Funding was provided by the Australian Film Finance Corporation, Film Victoria, the Movie Network and Beyond Films. Beyond Films came on board as the overseas distributor for all territories, with the exceptions of Australia and New Zealand, where they will co-distribute with Sharmill Films. Sharmill will handle the theatrical distribution and Beyond the video, television and pay television. Shot entirely in and around Melbourne, filming concluded on June 25, 1997.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT:
"Crackers is a pot pourri of my experiences, imagining and those at other people. As a child, everything is slightly exaggerated. My memories of Christmas recall friends of my parents inebriated and larger than life; teeth with massive nicotine stains and sloppy, wet kisses, a haze of celebration, mixed with hypocrisy. I was just a kid, but the falsehoods spinning through the air did not escape me.
A friend told me to always approach comedy as a drama. Write a good, dramatic story, extract the absurd elements, enlarge them until they become ridiculous, and then funny. As an artist, my sense of humor is my greatest strength, so comedy is the genre I choose to work within. I enjoy telling a story and examining the chaos, of determining the extent an emotional relationship can be physically explored. Physical comedy transcends language and is also innately connected to the child aspect of people too".
David Swann, 1998
THE FILMMAKERS:
David Swann (Director/Screenwriter)
Director, writer, actor, comedian and teacher, Swann has a Diploma of Dramatic Arts from the Victorian College of Arts, a Post Graduate Diploma in Film and Television from Swinburne Institute of Technology and a pervasive sense of humor from the school of life.
His short film, Bonza, was voted Most Popular Short Film Festival, received two AFI Awards for Best Short Film and Best Screenplay, was a hit on the international Festival circuit and sold throughout the world. His directorial credits range from dramatic to comedic. They include Remember Me, the award-winning documentary on acquired brain injury, Moving In which dealt with Chinese immigration to Australia, the comic video for the "Quit" (smoking) campaign Cross My Heart and several revues.
Swann has lectured at Swinburne Film and Television School, also serving as Head of their Post Graduate Television Department and lectured at the Victorian College of the Arts on a part-time basis. He is currently developing several feature film projects.
Chris Warner (Producer)
Warner became involved in Crackers when Swann's partner, Deborah, suggested they contact him. An independent filmmaker for over twenty years, Warner directed (in some instances serving as producer and script editor) the self-written short feature Skipping Class, the award-winning documentary Working Up and Eating Your Heart Out and for SBS Television Doherty, A Hard Bargain and In Between.
Major writing credits include the six part ABC drama, The Magistrate which won AFI and Penguin awards for Best Television Screenplay, Trojan Horses, My Father Taught Me How To Die, and the features Cross My Heart and The Brolga Man.
Warner is a regular lecturer in the Open Programme of the Australian Film Television and Radio School as well as The Australian Writers' Guild and has been a member of the board of both Film Victoria and Open Channel.
Warren Mitchell (Actor)
For the past 3 decades, Mitchell has been a household name, largely due to his irascible alter-ego Alf Garnett, whom he portrayed in the long-running BBC Series, 'Till Death Do us Part'. Born in England, Mitchell trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and has starred in numerous films from Stand Up Virgin Soldiers and Assassination Bureau to The Chain.
Television appearances include the classic Hancock's Half Hour, The acclaimed BBC production of The Merchant of Venice and several fine Australian mini-series, The Durera Boys, Waterfront, The Last Bastion and Jackaroo.