SYDNEY -- Rolf de Heer, the Australian director of last year's award-winning aboriginal tragicomedy Ten Canoes, takes a random detour into banana-peel humor with the black-and-white silent comedy Dr. Plonk.
It's a minor curiosity about a time-traveling scientist that found life thanks to de Heer's discovery of a couple thousand feet of leftover film stock in his office refrigerator. He imagined that, run through a camera, the film would look as bad as an old silent movie and -- presto! -- a stylized bit of slapstick silliness that only just outstays its welcome at 85 minutes.
At its most frenzied, this compendium of sight gags starts to achieve lift-off, and there's some impressively acrobatic clowning from the small cast. It's too rarely laugh-out-loud funny, though, and it misses the opportunity to mine the genre's potential. The more pointy-headed film buffs will enjoy the marriage of old technology -- a hand-cranked camera -- with new, such as the computerized transfer of edited digital film onto film negative. But the commercial potential of Plonk, due for a Toronto International Film Festival screening, seems limited.
Adelaide street performer Nigel Lunghi plays the title character as a terribly clever inventor in top hat and tails, his bald pate balanced by creatively manicured facial hair. In 1907, Dr. Plonk deduces that the world will end 101 years hence and, in a bid to silence the naysayers, builds a time machine to bring back proof from the future.
After a couple of false starts and a close shave with some aboriginal cannibals thanks to the meddling of his (rimshot, please) deaf-mute assistant, Paulus (Paul Blackwell), Plonk succeeds in transporting himself to 2007.
He finds the future less than appealing, landing in the middle of an unsightly subdivision and noting, via an inter-title, "the rise of a new civilization already under decay."
The lion's share of the film consists of Dr. Plonk and Paulus popping back and forth between centuries in the amusingly makeshift time machine, getting stranded, landing in hot water (literally) and having run-ins with the law.
All the silent-movie tropes get a look-in: There's peril on the train tracks, Keystone Cop chases, slippery banana skins and everyone -- including a maid played by the director's daughter, Phoebe Paterson de Heer -- suffers a kick in the rear at least once.
It all gets a bit repetitive after a while, though there's a terrific bit of business involving a policewoman and an oversized industrial spool, and the presence of the delightful comedian Magda Szubanski (as Mrs. Plonk) gives proceedings a fillip.
Composer Graham Tardif does a commendable job evoking the pre-talkies era with a playful score of old-timey music, performed by the Melbourne gypsy band the Stiletto Sisters.
DR. PLONK
Vertigo Prods. and Australian Film Finance Corporation
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Rolf de Heer
Producers: Julie Ryan, Rolf de Heer
Executive producers: Bryce Menzies, Sue Murray, Domenico Procacci
Director of photography: Judd Overton
Production designer: Beverley Freeman
Music: Graham Tardif
Costume designer: Beverley Freeman
Editor: Tania Nehme
Cast:
Dr. Plonk: Nigel Lunghi
Paulus: Paul Blackwell
Mrs. Plonk: Magda Szubanski
Running time -- 85 minutes
No MPAA rating...
It's a minor curiosity about a time-traveling scientist that found life thanks to de Heer's discovery of a couple thousand feet of leftover film stock in his office refrigerator. He imagined that, run through a camera, the film would look as bad as an old silent movie and -- presto! -- a stylized bit of slapstick silliness that only just outstays its welcome at 85 minutes.
At its most frenzied, this compendium of sight gags starts to achieve lift-off, and there's some impressively acrobatic clowning from the small cast. It's too rarely laugh-out-loud funny, though, and it misses the opportunity to mine the genre's potential. The more pointy-headed film buffs will enjoy the marriage of old technology -- a hand-cranked camera -- with new, such as the computerized transfer of edited digital film onto film negative. But the commercial potential of Plonk, due for a Toronto International Film Festival screening, seems limited.
Adelaide street performer Nigel Lunghi plays the title character as a terribly clever inventor in top hat and tails, his bald pate balanced by creatively manicured facial hair. In 1907, Dr. Plonk deduces that the world will end 101 years hence and, in a bid to silence the naysayers, builds a time machine to bring back proof from the future.
After a couple of false starts and a close shave with some aboriginal cannibals thanks to the meddling of his (rimshot, please) deaf-mute assistant, Paulus (Paul Blackwell), Plonk succeeds in transporting himself to 2007.
He finds the future less than appealing, landing in the middle of an unsightly subdivision and noting, via an inter-title, "the rise of a new civilization already under decay."
The lion's share of the film consists of Dr. Plonk and Paulus popping back and forth between centuries in the amusingly makeshift time machine, getting stranded, landing in hot water (literally) and having run-ins with the law.
All the silent-movie tropes get a look-in: There's peril on the train tracks, Keystone Cop chases, slippery banana skins and everyone -- including a maid played by the director's daughter, Phoebe Paterson de Heer -- suffers a kick in the rear at least once.
It all gets a bit repetitive after a while, though there's a terrific bit of business involving a policewoman and an oversized industrial spool, and the presence of the delightful comedian Magda Szubanski (as Mrs. Plonk) gives proceedings a fillip.
Composer Graham Tardif does a commendable job evoking the pre-talkies era with a playful score of old-timey music, performed by the Melbourne gypsy band the Stiletto Sisters.
DR. PLONK
Vertigo Prods. and Australian Film Finance Corporation
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Rolf de Heer
Producers: Julie Ryan, Rolf de Heer
Executive producers: Bryce Menzies, Sue Murray, Domenico Procacci
Director of photography: Judd Overton
Production designer: Beverley Freeman
Music: Graham Tardif
Costume designer: Beverley Freeman
Editor: Tania Nehme
Cast:
Dr. Plonk: Nigel Lunghi
Paulus: Paul Blackwell
Mrs. Plonk: Magda Szubanski
Running time -- 85 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 9/14/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- The final tally and full list of films presented at this year's Tiff have been announced today and hardcore cinephiles will have many options available to them out of the 261 film selected. With a massive slate comes massive headache. What to choose? Where to begin? I’ll be examining the selections – and hopeful offer you readers some cool coverage on films that won't be popping into theaters weeks and/or months from now. Our provisional coverage begins with preview pages listed below - simply click on the links for more info (we'll be updating the list daily) - and hopefully will have every angle covered. Galas: "Across the Universe," Julie Taymor, U.S."The Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres)," Denys Arcand, Canada"Blood Brothers," Alexi Tan, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong"Caramel," Nadine Labaki, Lebanon/France"Cassandra's Dream," Woody Allen, Britain"Cleaner," Renny Harlin, U.S."Closing the Ring,
- 9/6/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
SYDNEY -- Australia's Film Finance Corp. has greenlighted three feature films, bringing the number of features it's backing this financial year to 16 -- its biggest slate ever. FFC chief executive Brian Rosen said Thursday that the booming slate is the result of additional funding the government agency received in last year's budget. An additional AUS$10 million ($7.4 million) was added to the agency's base funding of AUS$50 million ($37.5 million) during the next three years. The diverse new slate includes The Tender Hook, a 1920s film noir feature set in Jazz Age Sydney; Lucky Miles, a comedy set in the Australian desert about a Cambodian, an Indonesian and an Iraqi who become hopelessly lost; and Dr. Plonk, a black-and-white silent comedy from producer-writer-director Rolf de Heer.
- 2/12/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.