Eight Australian Films That Prove We Can Do Pretty Great Sci-Fi
'The Infinite Man' is just the latest of a pretty stellar run of Australian sci-fi movies.
Eight Australian Films That Prove We Can Do Pretty Great Sci-Fi
In the latest Australian film to hit cinemas, The Infinite Man (2014), a couple visits a remote hotel by the coast to celebrate their anniversary. When the plans don’t work out the way Dean (John McConville in a really special performance of unhinged goofiness) intends, his girlfriend Lana (Hannah Marshall) speeds off in a sports car owned by ex-boyfriend Terry (Alex Dimitriadis).
Where another movie might have Dean give chase and declare his love for Hannah, or have Dean find the real woman of his dreams in a dramatic or quirky fashion, Hugh Sullivan’s funny jigsaw of a film instead has its somewhat awkward, dorky protagonist fashion a time machine out of metal and wires and send himself back in time to fix what went wrong. As is common in movies, something goes wrong and he’s soon juggling multiple versions of himself plus multiple versions of Hannah and Terry. Science!
It’s not too often that audiences get an Australian film that genuinely feels one-of-a-kind, but this is one. Although there are plenty of creative voices working within the science fiction genre in other mediums, predominantly books and short stories, local filmmakers rarely try it, perhaps scared off by lower budgets that cannot afford the world-class visual effects and designs of Hollywood.
Television series, predominantly those aimed at younger audiences, have attempted the genre as early as the 1970s with series like Phoenix Five (“Star Trek without the budget or effects”), Alpha Scorpio (check out the lone episode known to exist on YouTube), and Timelapse from the early ‘80s on the ABC on through to more modern examples. Shows like Farscape (1999-2004), Spellbinder (1995-1997), Cybergirl (2000), Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left (1991-1992), Crash Zone (1991-2001), The Miraculous Mellops (1991-1992), Damon Dark (1996-1998), and The Extraordinary (1993-1996) all turned the far-fetched and fantastical into entertaining, even award-winning work.
If The Infinite Man gets you interested in local sci-fi films then hope is not all lost. Here are some examples that show local filmmakers can haven’t ignored the oldest film genre of all.
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Words by Glenn Dunks.