Friends are urging me to see the movie The Turning this October long weekend and, if my time-poor dips into popular Australian Tim Winton’s book (on which the film is based) are anything to go by, it should be both challenging and fun.
Even without the cinematic drawcards of Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh, Hugo Weaving and Rose Byrne, the film’s unique concept intrigues me enough to want to experience it.
Seventeen Australian directors have each created a chapter of The Turning. The common theme between the chapters (both in the novel and in the film) is that pivot point in ordinary people’s lives that changes them forever.
The Turning won the 2005 Christina Stead Prize for Fiction and the 2005 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards.
I laughed reading “Reunion” in which there’s a very funny encounter that helps ice thaw between a daughter- and mother-in-law.
When Vic’s mother tells him that relatives they haven’t seen for many years now all have kids, he mutters to her and his wife, “Lovely … More wobbegongs. My cousins all looked like carpet sharks.”
Here’s a clip from Reunion (starring Cate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh and directed by Simon Stone) … and four other clips (below) to entice you.
- Cockleshell (Brenna Harding, Toby Wallace, Director – Tony Ayres)
- Commission (Hugo Weaving, Josh McConville, Director – David Wenham)
- Long, Clear View (Director – Mia Wasikowska)
- Sand (Director – Stephen Page)
Before I head to the cinema, I’m going to carve out a few hours to start at page 1 of The Turning and then continue to turn pages one by one as is customary with a novel — even a novel made of interlinked short stories.
Isn’t leisurely reading and languorous movie watching what a cloudy long weekend is for?
Due to the three-hour runtime Palace Cinemas has a 10-minute intermission during the film.
A special limited edition 40-page official program is available with each ticket admission.
Tim Winton’s most recent novel is Eyrie.
Ok. I’m intrigued. I want to see this movie as well.