Australian/New Zealand movies: 1991

Quite a drop-off of the number of movies in 1991 and a significant number of them are either co-productions or starring international actors. Not a whole lot to cap throughout the year's movies with only the erotic thriller Hunting having fairly extensive nudity.

1991

Aya

Drama set in post-World War II Australia where Japanese woman Aya (Eri Ishida) is living in Australia with her army husband Frank (Nicholas Eadie) and their son. Things seem to be going well, they still love one another and Aya seems to be fitting in to Australia plus they are helped by their Japanese-speaking friend Mac (Chris Haywood), who introduced them. Four years later, Frank has an accident and ends up losing his job and becomes depressed and helpless while Aya takes on two jobs, one at a Japanese restaurant and another as a secretary. As Frank starts to become more possessive of Aya, she catches the eye of a patron at the restaurant Inoue (Takahito Masuda) and they have a brief liaison that ends in her pregnancy and eventually miscarriage. Over time, things get worse between Aya and Frank and she starts to take comfort in Mac, who is interested in helping her. Interesting movie that doesn't delve too deeply into post-war issues and focuses more on Aya's relationships with Frank and Mac. It shows Aya picking up the slack from the incapacitated Frank and her independence from him. Not a bad little movie and Eri Ishida is very good.

Japanese actress Eri Ishida briefly shows her breasts as she gets out of bed and puts on a gown.

Eri Ishida in Aya

25716kb 3min 09sec 640x480 (brief breasts, bra, 'nude' under covers, extremely lengthy)

 

 

Bis ans Ende der Welt
aka Until the End of the World

German director Wim Wenders was basically given a blank cheque after the success of Wings of Desire and his next feature was a futuristic multi-national and multi-lingual wistful journey into what would hopefully be a better future. And it's completed length is 4 hours and 47 minutes long. In 1999, everything changes for Claire (German actress Solveig Dommartin) after a car accident where she comes across two bank robbers who offer her a cut of their proceeds if she delivers it to their source. On her way there, she meets 'Trevor McPhee' (William Hurt), a sketchy character and instantly falls for him and after he steals some of the money, she decides to chase after him through a number of countries and there's no end of people who want to 'help' including her on-off ex Eugene (Sam Neill), a dodgy but effective private detective Phillip (Rüdiger Vogler) and a mysterious Australian man Burt (Ernie Dingo) among others. Turns out that 'Trevor' is actually Sam, son of the inventor of the portable screen Henry (Max von Sydow) who is hiding from government forces in the Australian outback with his blind wife Edith (Jeanne Moreau) attempting to find a way to make her see. Extremely inclusive movie where everyone seems to be along for the journey and there's some interesting ideas and a lot of musing about how things could be both personally and for the whole world. There's a lot to like in the movie but at nearly 5 hours it's a trial to watch but one I found pretty watchable for the most part.

There's quite a number of nude scenes from Solveig Dommartin throughout the movie, most of them are brief so I put them together in one long video plus there's a quite long scene where Solveig sits on a bed talking to two men while somewhat naked. There's also a scene when some Indigenous women in Australia dance topless during a rather long musical interlude.

Solveig Dommartin in Bis ans Ende der Welt

Raw HD caps of Solveig from Bis ans Ende der Welt are available here.

113755kb 2min 07sec 1792x1088 (breasts, bum, lengthy)

131862kb 2min 27sec 1792x1088 (bush, breasts, lengthy)

 

Indigenous Women in Bis ans Ende der Welt

19189kb 20sec 1792x1088 (various women showing breasts)

 

 

Black Robe

Just off directing the Oscar winning Driving Miss Daisy, Bruce Beresford's next movie was this Canadian co-production about a Jesuit priest Laforque (Lothaire Bluteau) who with a wannabe Jesuit labourer Daniel (Aden Young) head off up the river to see what happened to a group of missionaries who went to convert the local tribes including the Algonquin to Christianity. Turns out Laforque is a hard man to like and the Algonquin do not warm to him and his strange way of doing things. Also Daniel falls for local tribeswoman Annuka (Sandrine Holt) which doesn't help in relations between the Jesuits and the tribes. Not a bad movie but feels like a historical lesson which will go a long way as to whether you'll enjoy the movie or not. Beresford was nothing if not a diverse director with his last movie Ladies in Black now a TV series.

Brief nudity from Sandrine Holt who was the go-to actress for sexy tribeswoman in the 90s (see also Rapa Nui) plus another unknown woman is also briefly nude.

You can find a synopsis with HD videos from Black Robe here. A preview is below.

Sandrine Holt in Black Robe

   
   

 

 

Unknown in Black Robe

   

 

 

Black Neon

From the makers of Day of the Panther/Strike of the Panther comes this Perth-based action drama where Tom (Edward John Stazak) is a struggling nightclub bouncer who has recurring dreams about the time he was stabbed in the chest by low rung criminal Pharaoh (Kristof Kaczmarek) three years earlier. Tom has had enough of being bouncer and decides to quit, a decision supported by his partner Celeste (Karen Richards) who has worried about him since he was stabbed. Tom's old friend Jack (James Richards) has come back to town after drifting around the north of the country and Tom is rapt to have his old buddy back but Jack has his own issues. Tom gets hurt breaking up a fight at the club but instead of confiding in Celeste he does everything but. Pharaoh is released from prison and he wants it all including Tom dead. Pharaoh decides to make Tom's last night at the club one he will remember but he'll have Jack standing side-by-side fighting Pharaoh and his goons. And there will be collateral damage from the fight that Tom can't avoid. An odd movie to get a handle on as it's a darker, more introspective movie than the Panther movies and it barely has an action at all. And thanks to some absolutely baffling editing, the final fight scene is an absolute bust, abandoned just as it gets started and we only know the result thanks to a bizarre set of memories we see as Tom plays some relaxing piano. Also both Stazak and James Richards are terrible actors and giving them more than the action scenes to do is a mistake. A bizarre mess of a movie.

Michelle Holmes shows her breasts and bottom during a sex scene.

You can find a synopsis with VHS quality videos from Black Neon here. A preview is below.

Michelle Holmes in Black Neon

   
   
   
   

 

 

Crimetime

Another unreleased Boulevard Films disaster so this is from an unfinished workprint. Basically a corrupt cop thriller where Marcus Graham and the film's writer Bruce Venables are the only non-corrupt cops in the force who come across a plot of something dastardly that seems to be run by their boss (Steven Grives) and also from high-ups in government. A determined young journalist (Lucy Bell) annoys the cops at first thinking they are corrupt then they enlighten her to something much bigger. Turns out that a secretive group is selling live babies on the black market or something, it's so baffling that the reveal is actually a pretty wild shot of a bunch of babies on a plane ready to be transported. Hard to judge how a movie is when it's unfinished although it does have a silly plot but Graham and Venables work well together and there's a fun vibe throughout.

There's brief nudity from Nicole Nabout.

You can find a synopsis with VHS quality videos from Crimetime here. A preview is below.

Nicole Nabout in Crimetime

   

 

 

Fatal Bond

Linda Blair returns to Australia (after the previous year's Dead Sleep) for another shitty genre movie this time from schlockmeister Phillip Avalon. 'Joe Martinez' (Jerome Ehlers), not his real name, who after escaping the clutches of the police, walks into a bar and sees a birthday party, buys the birthday girl a drink and then punches out her boyfriend when he objects. Leonie (Linda Blair), who is at the party, sees this an promptly leaves with Joe, has sex with him and before you know it, is joining him going up north for work. 'Joe' likes the ladies so when he spies a pretty young girl, he picks her up and then the next morning her body is found although he and Leonie are long gone. When the victim's hyper-religious father (Stephen Leeder) finds a photo of Joe, he's convinced he has his daughter's killer and promises an 'eye for an eye' as he goes off looking for him with his son Shane (Teo Gebert). 'Joe' takes a 'job' stealing cars for a friend's rebirthing garage while another body turns up and Leonie tries to cover it up. Then the real Joe, fake Joe's brother turns up dead and now everyone is closing in on 'Joe'. Absolute bonkers movie, typical of an Avalon production, where a character is the guiltiest person that has ever existed but everyone gives him the benefit of doubt particularly Leonie who may be the stupidest of the lot. The killer was clearly the result of being the name picked out of a hat because it doesn't make any sense otherwise. Having said that, Ehlers is very effective as the mysterious Joe and who doesn't like 'Aussie' Joe Bugner tearing up the place.

Linda Blair is nude in the couple of scenes including behind a shower screen.

You can find a synopsis with collages and VHS quality videos from Fatal Bond here. A preview is below.

Linda Blair in Fatal Bond

   
   
   
   

 

 

Flirting

A sort-of sequel to The Year My Voice Broke with Danny (Noah Taylor) returning and now attending a boarding school. Bullied by his classmates and given the cane by his superiors, Danny just gets by until one day at a school rugby game where he meets 3 girls from the girl's school across the lake including Thandiwe (Thandiwe Newton on debut), who is from Uganda and is boarding for the year. Both are intrigued by one another and attempt to go to the dance together, only for that to be thwarted by the headmaster. But Thandiwe is persistent and Danny is carefree and they find a way to meet again. They become the talk of their classes thanks to 'steamy' letters and various incidents including Danny stupidly fighting the school boxing champ for her honour. All this comes to a head when Thandiwe is to leave the school, but not before one last fling without the knowledge of their superiors. Pretty good follow-up to one of my favourite Australian movies and Noah Taylor is great once again and Newton is a good match for him while a straight-haired blonde Nicole Kidman is also pretty good in a supporting role. Strangely still not released on DVD/Bluray/streaming in Australia.

Thandiwe Newton briefly shows her breasts as she gets dressed.

You can find a synopsis with collages and videos from Flirting here. A preview is below.

Thandiwe Newton in Flirting

   
   

 

 

Hunting

Frank Howson/Boulevard Films strikes again. At least this movie got a release. An erotic thriller where a secretary Michelle (Kerry Armstrong) meets one of her boss' clients, a popular entrepreneur Michael Bergman (American actor and Howson favourite John Savage) and both fall for one another hard. Michelle is stuck in a lousy marriage with husband Larry (Jeffrey Thomas) who is having a run of bad luck. Michelle accepts an invitation to one of Michael's parties and the affair begins. Larry cottons on and tries to get at Michael but his goons (including another Howson favourite Guy Pearce) fake his suicide leaving Michelle all for Michael. Then it turns out that underneath all that philanthropy, Michael is just an egotistical arsehole who wants everything and begins to treat Michelle like his plaything. Typically silly stuff from Howson who's ambition was always bigger than his talent. An erotic thriller that gets out-of-hand plot wise and feels mostly low key but it does has quite a bit of sex along the way.

Quite a bit of nudity from Kerry Armstrong throughout the movie although it does look like some shots are from a double which suggests Kerry was fine with the nudity but not as much as was wanted. Strange.

You can find a synopsis with collages and videos from Hunting here. A preview is below.

Kerry Armstrong in Hunting

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

 

 

Moonrise (NZ)
aka Grampire / My Grandpa Is A Vampire

Family movie where a couple of kids are forced to visit their grandpa (Al Lewis, like he needed an excuse to get back in the vampire gear) in New Zealand who turns out the be a 'good' vampire. They have a bunch of wacky adventures while trying to keep grandpa out of the sun. I never watched The Munsters but I get the feeling this movie wouldn't be too far removed from those antics.

No nudity in Moonrise but you can find a HD video from the movie here.

 

 

On My Own

Another Canadian co-production this time about a teen boy Simon (Matthew Ferguson from the La Femme Nikita TV series) who is shipped off to a boarding school in Canada while his father works in Hong Kong and his mother (Judy Davis) is living with her new beau in England when she is not in a mental hospital. At school, he makes friends through playing football and has a crush on a girl (Rachel Blanchard) but doesn't know how to talk to her. When his mother visits him at the school, he finds out the reason why she's in and out of hospital. Fairly forgettable drama, nothing all that remarkable about it, a muted coming-of-age story.

Some brief full frontal nudity from Judy Davis a couple of times in one long scene.

You can find a synopsis with VHS quality videos from On My Own here. A preview is below.

Judy Davis in On My Own

   
   
   

 

 

Proof

Excellent comedy/drama about Martin (Hugo Weaving), a grumpy blind man who has an antagonistic relationship with his only human connection, housemaid Celia (Genevieve Picot). One day Martin accidentally injures a cat at the back of a Chinese shop which is seen by Andy (Russell Crowe) and they bond while waiting at the vet. Martin asks Andy if he can describe the photographs that he takes as 'proof' of how the world is. Martin thinks he has a friend who he feels he can trust but Celia is not happy about this and she attempts to seduce Martin after bribing him to go with her to a concert. When that fails, she sets her sights on Andy and they begin an affair which will change their dynamic with Martin forever. Great debut from director Jocelyn Moorhouse who after a couple of Hollywood movies never really kicked on sadly. All three leads are great, hell I think this is more of a break out role for Russell Crowe than Romper Stomper was. A compelling story with some great moments of humour.

You can find a synopsis with collages and HD videos from Proof here. A preview is below.

Genevieve Picot in Proof

   
   
   

 

 

A Soldier's Tale (NZ)

New Zealand movie made in France and set during World War II where British soldier Saul (Gabriel Byrne) and his buddy Charlie (Paul Wyett) come across Frenchwoman Belle (Marianne Basler) in her backyard and they arrive just in time as she is about to be taken away by the Resistance for colluding with the Nazis which she denies. Saul decides he's going to stay and protect her while things get cleared up. Saul and Belle get to know each other over the next few days and they eventually fall for one another. The members of the Resistance dig in while an American soldier (Judge Reinhold in an odd cameo) comes by and makes himself known. But time is running out and Saul must decide what he is to do with Belle. A slow burn that doesn't amount to much but does have a fairly shocking ending. Mostly a two-hander between Byrne and Basler that has an inevitable and mostly unearned romantic plot. Only real New Zealand influence is behind the camera plus it's hard to put a date on the movie as it was made in 1988 and slowly released afterwards. No idea how I can upon 1991 as it's release year.

A few nude scenes from French actress Marianne Basler, all fairly brief.

Marianne Basler in A Soldier's Tale

41464kb 2min 07sec 788x576 (breasts, panties, 'nude' under covers, lengthy)

30652kb 1min 34sec 788x576 (plenty of cleavage in nightie, lengthy)

4264kb 12sec 788x576 (brief full frontal and rear nudity)

 

 

Stan and George's New Life

Very light comedy about a bored 40 year-old hairdresser Stanley (Paul Chubb) who still lives with his parents and thanks to his weather conspiracist father Stan Snr (John Bluthal) gets an entry level position at the Weather Bureau. Stan strangely makes an impact in a bottom of the rung job including a regular radio spot and falls for fellow worker and similarly inclined George (Julie Forsyth). From there, Stanley causes minor then major chaos by getting the weather forecast from his father and George who also happens to be a weather conpiracist. This comes to a head after Stan and George get married and the Weather Bureau begins to lose the plot. One of the oddest, modest movies I've seen in a while, best described as a very Australian gentle comedy that does have a few laughs and at times is completely batty. The ending is completely nuts, in a good way. Much better than I was expecting, not far removed from the Tass/Parker movies.

No nudity in Stan and George's New Life but there's a scene where helium-voiced Julie Forsyth is in a bath.

Julie Forsyth in Stan and George's New Life

8775kb 51sec 960x528 ('nude' in bath)

 

 

Strangers

Craig Lahiff showed promise early as a genre director but then he went through a disastrous patch beginning with this dud. A noir thriller that follows Gary (James Healey), a hotshot stockbroker who meets Anna (Anne Looby) on a plane flight and they hit it off so well that they go back to his place and have sex. Gary tells Anna that it's a one off thing as he has a wife in Rebecca (Melissa Docker) and it seems like that's that. Well before you can say Fatal Attraction, Anna decides she loves Gary and wants him all to herself so she starts killing people who get in her way like his ex (Mary Regan) and her father before setting her sights on poor innocent Rebecca. A total Fatal Attraction rip-off, not even subtle about it but it does have a wonderfully batty performance from Anne Looby who proves to be a whiz with the gardening shears.

Anne Looby shows her breasts during a fairly lengthy sex scene.

You can find a synopsis with collages and VHS quality videos from Strangers here. A preview is below.

Anne Looby in Strangers

   
   
   
   
   

 

 

Till There Was You

One of the those movies that make you wonder how on Earth did it get made. Frank (Mark Harmon) decides to quit the New York jazz scene and finds out that his brother is living in Vanuatu so he decides to go for a visit. Turns out you can't just walk into Vanuatu and that it's under strict curfew and he manages to piss off local authorities but manages to leave the airport thanks to Anna (Deborah Kara Unger). He then discovers that his brother has just been found dead. It turns out that his brother knew Anna and her violent husband Rex (Shane Briant) as they were after some hidden treasure on one of the islands so Frank manages to convince Anna to take a plane to get it without her husband which goes badly and they crash the plane and are rescued by a local tribe. They take a liking to Frank because he reminds them of his brother who just happened to marry and have kids with a local tribeswoman unbeknown to Frank. Then Rex and his goons track Frank and Anna down and things get ridiculously violent from there. Just an absolute headscratcher of a movie. Mark Harmon at least seems to be enjoying himself but the plot is remarkably stupid and the violence is so unnecessary and extreme. I think the makers just found a big gun and thought it was cool to shoot so let's shoot up the place for no particular reason. An appropriately forgotten movie.

There's a strange beginning to Canadian actress Deborah Kara Unger's career where all her early credits are Australian movies/TV. That is because she went to actor's college NIDA and was in demand after she graduated. She was also in the mini-series Bangkok Hilton and movies Blood Oath and the completely forgotten Breakaway (also another of the how on Earth did it get made movies).

The only nudity in Til There Was You is from an unnamed local tribeswoman.

Unknown in Till There Was You

1590kb 9sec 640x480 (breasts, skirt)

 

 

A Woman's Tale

A rare charming movie from Paul Cox as he heads deeply into death and old age in this movie about Martha (Sheila Florance), an independent 78 year-old woman who is rapt just being alive while others her age are struggling. She's struck up a friendship with her part-time care nurse Anna (Gosia Dobrowolska), so much so that she allows her to conduct her affair with a married man at her house. Martha keeps an eye out for her incapacitated neighbour Billy (Norman Kaye) while her landlords are eying her flat looking for something more even after her put-upon son Jonathon (Chris Haywood) pays the increase in rent. Then Martha has a spell and has to face death but she's going her way. Excellent movie bolstered by a great final performance from Florance (best known for her role as Lizzie Birdsworth on Prisoner) who died just after the movie was released. She just lights up the screen like nothing else and makes this probably Cox's best movie.

Brief nudity from Sheila Florence and Gosia Dobrowolska.

You can find a synopsis with VHS quality videos from A Woman's Tale here. A preview is below.

Sheila Florance in A Woman's Tale

   

 

Gosia Dobrowolska in A Woman's Tale

   

 

Here's the usual list of movies that had nothing to cap including the light comedy starring Anthony Hopkins Spotswood aka The Efficiently Expert, a jazz epic Dingo directed by Rolf de Heer's and starring Colin Friels and Miles Davis (although there's a background extra that is naked), bio-pic Isabelle Eberhardt, drama Breathing Under Water starring a very young Maeve Dermody (directed by her mother), oddball teen drama Holidays on the River Yarra, teen drama telemovie Street Angels, Indigenous drama Deadly, issue based drama Act of Necessity, concert film Castanet Club and the animated movie The Magic Riddle.

There is nudity from Japanese actress Eri Ishida in the interracial relationship drama Aya but I haven't found a copy of the movie.

There's also a whole bunch of New Zealand movies with nothing to cap including ANZAC drama Chunuk Bair, oddball family drama The End Of The Golden Weather, rugby movie Old Scores, harness racing family movie Star Runner and cop thriller telemovie Undercover.

It is unknown whether there's anything to cap in Rose Against the Odds or the New Zealand movies Te Rua and Anagram.

1992 looks like having a similar output to 1991. It's crazy how much of drop-off there is in the early 90s post 10BA plus how many Australian movies either are co-productions or star international actors.

 

Tags: Solveig Dommartin, Marianne Basler, Julie Forsyth