| |
Dingo
|
|
| Year: |
1991
|
|
Director: |
Rolf de Heer
|
| Stars: |
Colin Friels, Miles Davis, Helen Buday, Joe Petruzzi, Brigitte Catillon, Bernard Fresson, Bernadette Lafont, Steven Shaw, Helen Doig, Daniel Scott, Chelsea Gibson, Ben Mortley, Elissa McAuliffe, Fiona Bradshaw
|
| Genre: |
Drama, Music |
| Rating: |
  6 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
When John Anderson (Colin Friels) was a boy in the Outback village of Poona Flats, there was an unexpected visitor to his hometown. He was spending time with his two friends when he heard something in the distance that to him sounded like music: it was actually a cargo aeroplane, roaring in from Japan to land briefly here. In an incredible turn of events, who should step out of the plane but jazz trumpeter Billy Cross (Miles Davis) and his band, and for the assembled locals they performed an impromptu concert. John was entranced and made up his mind then and there: he would take up jazz trumpet.
In 2015, movie star Don Cheadle directed a story that placed Miles Davis in the early nineteen-seventies where he was basically a gangsta, getting into gunfights and car chases and other blaxploitation reminiscent shenanigans. But Davis really did star in his own movie, and it was nothing like that, more a contemplative drama that linked the wilds of Australia to urban Paris through the power of his music. In truth, he did not appear in front of the camera that much, but it was enough to get him second billed behind Friels, who to be fair did have the lion's share of the emotional heavy lifting to do.
John is otherwise known as Dingo, and the extent of his ambitions have led him nowhere but playing in a dancehall jazz band for which he has great dreams, none of which have been realised. He is married to Jane (Helen Buday) who has given him two daughters but also the nagging feeling she married the wrong guy, as the third friend we saw the child versions of in the opening sequence is Peter (Joe Petruzzi), and he has left the town far behind to become a millionaire businessman. But now he's back to visit his old stomping ground, and John worries that Jane's love for Peter may be rekindled and when he goes, she'll go with him.
In truth, this stuff did come across as somewhat soap opera style, and may have provided something for Friels to do, but he was hard to like here and did not advance the part of the plot we were really interested in, whether he should get back in contact with Billy Cross, who now lives in Paris. When John met him as a young boy, Cross told him to get back to him in a few years: call his agent in France, and they can meet again. Now John is a more accomplished trumpeter, he believes he would not embarrass himself in Cross's presence, but the locals are forever making fun of him for having ideas above his station and convince him that a genuine telegram from the jazz man was a hoax by them. But he decides to go anyway.
Now in Paris, John gets to the final act that we're most interested in, where he meets his hero once more. Resplendent in bouffant mullet, gold-rimmed, large dark glasses and a banana yellow jacket, Davis speaks in a low, throaty whisper, but the novelty of seeing him act was undeniable. He composed the film's score with Michel Legrand, so we're not talking slouches here, and it's the best aspect of the production, not only recognisably Davis but one of the last things he ever completed as he passed away the same year Dingo began to be released. This should have given the movie a boost at the box office, but though it gained attention at Australia's official film awards, it was not a hit at all, leaving it a minor cult film that only the most dedicated jazz or Australian cinema buffs knew about. Although a work of auteur director Rolf de Heer, it is not among his best-known efforts, and in truth he has done better, but that novelty value, and the music, are certainly worthwhile.
[Released in US: March 25 (theatrical), April 12 2022 (DVD/Digital).]
|
| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
|
| |
|
|
