When it comes to films about children bonding with animals, fish don’t generally get much of a look-in. There’s an assumption that they’re too limited in intelligence for any real connection to form, but that notion is quickly dismissed in this conservation-focused tale from Robert Connolly. As its heroine Abby (Ariel Donaghue/Ilsa Fogg) learns, the blue grouper who lives near her childhood home can live to around the same age as a human, and its territoriality means that they have a mutual relationship to the reef upon which to build the rest.
The reef, however, is under threat – like many of those still surviving around Australia’s coast. We learn all this in retrospect from the adult Abby (Mia Wasikowska), an ecologist who is working in different waters when she gets a call informing her that her mother Dora (Elizabeth Alexander) has had a stroke. When she returns to her home.
The reef, however, is under threat – like many of those still surviving around Australia’s coast. We learn all this in retrospect from the adult Abby (Mia Wasikowska), an ecologist who is working in different waters when she gets a call informing her that her mother Dora (Elizabeth Alexander) has had a stroke. When she returns to her home.
- 3/3/2023
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
"The only way to make sure he's safe, is to keep him secret." Quiver Distribution has revealed an official US trailer for the Australian eco drama Blueback, now set to open in theaters (nationwide!!) in March in the US. The film originally premiered at TIFF 2022 last fall, and already opened in Australia earlier in the year. Most recently it just played at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival last monh. An inspiring story for the whole family, Tim Winton's best-selling novel comes to life on the big screen. The latest film from The Dry director Robert Connolly, starring Mia Wasikowska. The story follows Abby, a young girl who initially befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When she's older, Abby realizes that the fish is under threat, and she takes inspiration from her activist Mum, Dora, taking on the poachers to save her friend. The film also stars Radha Mitchell,...
- 2/6/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Following on the heels of international hit “The Dry,” veteran Australian director Robert Connelly has tackled another local literary adaptation in “Blueback,” based on his celebrated compatriot Tim Winton’s 1997 novella. That slender tome (subtitled “A Contemporary Fable”) was aimed primarily at younger readers. The film adopts a somewhat more grownup, realistic, less parabolic tenor, though its ecology-minded narrative remains a bit sketchy for feature treatment — resulting in a pleasant, very handsome-looking movie rather short on dramatic impact.
Nonetheless, it’s got more than enough significant plusses to offer, from an appealing cast led by Mia Wasikowska and Radha Mitchell to much spectacularly inviting underwater photography. Having already played a few other fests in advance of its Sundance showcase (and opened commercially in a few territories), it is slated for U.S. theatrical release by Quiver Distribution on Feb. 24, with VOD following April 21.
Abby Jackson (Wasikowska) is a marine biologist working on a seafaring lab,...
Nonetheless, it’s got more than enough significant plusses to offer, from an appealing cast led by Mia Wasikowska and Radha Mitchell to much spectacularly inviting underwater photography. Having already played a few other fests in advance of its Sundance showcase (and opened commercially in a few territories), it is slated for U.S. theatrical release by Quiver Distribution on Feb. 24, with VOD following April 21.
Abby Jackson (Wasikowska) is a marine biologist working on a seafaring lab,...
- 1/21/2023
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
After exploring the devastations of drought in his 2020 acclaimed thriller The Dry, Australian director Robert Connolly takes a deep dive into the majestic world beneath the ocean’s surface in Blueback, his forthcoming environmentalist family film starring Mia Wasikowska and Eric Bana.
Blueback is loosely based on Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton’s critically acclaimed novella of the same name. Connolly spent over 20 years developing the project, which he also co-wrote. He describes it as “a family-friendly celebration of the natural world.”
Taking place in multiple time periods across a young woman’s life, the film tells the story of a girl who befriends a wild blue groper while scuba diving. When she discovers the fish and its kind are under threat, she takes inspiration from her environmental activist mother to face down poachers to protect the creature. The episode marks the beginning...
After exploring the devastations of drought in his 2020 acclaimed thriller The Dry, Australian director Robert Connolly takes a deep dive into the majestic world beneath the ocean’s surface in Blueback, his forthcoming environmentalist family film starring Mia Wasikowska and Eric Bana.
Blueback is loosely based on Booker Prize nominee Tim Winton’s critically acclaimed novella of the same name. Connolly spent over 20 years developing the project, which he also co-wrote. He describes it as “a family-friendly celebration of the natural world.”
Taking place in multiple time periods across a young woman’s life, the film tells the story of a girl who befriends a wild blue groper while scuba diving. When she discovers the fish and its kind are under threat, she takes inspiration from her environmental activist mother to face down poachers to protect the creature. The episode marks the beginning...
- 10/4/2022
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Blueback TIFF Special Presentations Section Reviewed for Shockya.com by Abe Friedtanzer Director: Robert Connolly Writer: Robert Connolly Cast: Ilsa Fogg, Radha Mitchell, Mia Wasikowska, Eric Bana Screened at: TIFF Bell Lightbox, Ontario, 9/17/22 Opens: September 16th, 2022 (Toronto International Film Festival) Nature provides tremendous bounties that are appreciated by many, but their existence and preservation […]
The post TIFF 2022: Blueback Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post TIFF 2022: Blueback Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 9/19/2022
- by Abe Friedtanzer
- ShockYa
Australia’s answer to the 2022 Oscar Best Picture winner Coda is here. I’m only half-joking. Blueback is a bit better than the movie that most recently won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, but it employs a similar sort of lightweight treatment of banner issues. Blueback has two major characteristics in its favor: the aquatic cinematography by Andrew Commis and Rick Rifici and that it’s satisfied with being a message movie for kids. It would be perfect to show in a middle school or elementary school classroom during substitute teacher day, like Free Willy, a choice selection when I was a kid. It’s completely inoffensive but also lacking emotional heft, a result of sloppy story structure and flashback-heavy plotting that may have worked well in the source novel by Tim Winton (who also wrote the screenplay), but drains the tension in this adaptation.
Abby and Dora (Radha Mitchell...
Abby and Dora (Radha Mitchell...
- 9/18/2022
- by Soham Gadre
- The Film Stage
“Take a good close look at what we’re fighting for,” says Mia Wasikowska’s oceanographer in “Blueback,” as she scans the Australian bay where she grew up. She’s talking to a colleague, even as writer-director Robert Connolly (“Paper Planes”) is really saying the same thing to us.
Connolly has turned Tim Winton’s 1997 novella into his own environmental cri de coeur — premiering at the Toronto Film Festival — and while the specifics can get a bit clunky, his passion drives our interest all the way to the end.
The end is where we begin, actually, with Wasikowska’s Abby getting a call while she’s working. Her aging mother, Dora (Liz Alexander), has had a stroke, and Abby has to rush back to remote Longboat Bay (Western Australia’s Bremer Bay stands in for the fictional coast) to care for her.
Also Read:
‘Judy & Punch’ Film Review: Provocative...
Connolly has turned Tim Winton’s 1997 novella into his own environmental cri de coeur — premiering at the Toronto Film Festival — and while the specifics can get a bit clunky, his passion drives our interest all the way to the end.
The end is where we begin, actually, with Wasikowska’s Abby getting a call while she’s working. Her aging mother, Dora (Liz Alexander), has had a stroke, and Abby has to rush back to remote Longboat Bay (Western Australia’s Bremer Bay stands in for the fictional coast) to care for her.
Also Read:
‘Judy & Punch’ Film Review: Provocative...
- 9/16/2022
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
"The only way to make sure that he's safe - is to keep him a secret." And to save the reef!! Roadshow Films in Australia has revealed the first official Australian trailer for the film Blueback, a nature drama opening Down Under this summer. The film is premiering at the 2022 Toronto Film Festival this month, hence the new trailer out for its upcoming premiere. An inspiring story for the whole family, Tim Winton's best-selling novel comes to life on the big screen. The latest film from The Dry director Robert Connolly, starring Mia Wasikowska as Abby. The story follows Abby, a young girl who initially befriends a magnificent wild blue groper while diving. When she's older, Abby realizes that the fish is under threat, she takes inspiration from her activist Mum, Dora, and takes on poachers to save her friend. The film also stars Radha Mitchell, Ilsa Fogg (as the younger Abby), Liz Alexander,...
- 9/7/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
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