Australian/New Zealand movies: 1995

A real drop off in movies released in 1995 coupled with a lot of them having nothing to cap. A fair number of movies released are holdovers from previous years which tells you how slow it was. But there were still a few stand-out movies for nudity including Angel Baby, Lilian's Story, Life and Love Until....

Big year for Dee Smart, who appeared in a number of movies despite her only role before this year was a popular turn in Home and Away back in 1991-1992. Apart from what is featured below, Dee was also in the short drama Audacious where she also has a nude scene in. Haven't been able to track it down though.

1995

All Men Are Liars

Cross-dressing comedy about a teenage boy Mick (David Price) whose mother leaves the family after his father, an Elvis-obsessed rocker Barry (John Jarratt) sells her piano. At the same time, an all-girl rock band from the city is in town for a few gigs and kicks out it's guitar player after she has an affair with the lead singer Angela's (Toni Pearen) boyfriend. The band advertise for a guitar player which Mick happens to be but there's just one issue: he's not a girl. Encouraged by his younger brother, Mick dresses up in his mother's clothes and auditions as 'Michelle' and gets the gig. Mick likes Angela but she kind of likes his dad until she gets closer to Mick dressed as a girl and she falls for Michelle. About as slight as a movie can be, a cute love story with a cross-dressing bent. Not much to it but it's hard to hate as it's very much a charmer.

There's no nudity in the movie but there's a scene where Toni Pearen is in a wet singlet and panties that's well worth a look.

You can find a synopsis with collages and videos from All Men Are Liars here. A preview is below.

Toni Pearen in All Men Are Liars

    
    

 

 

Angel Baby

Relationship drama with the twist being that it's between two people with schizophrenia. Harry (Irish actor John Lynch) attends a support group for schizophrenia where a new attendee arrives in Kate (Jacqueline McKenzie). He falls for her instantly and starts to follow her around. Over the night, they fall for each other and things develop quickly to the point that they decide to move in together and fend for themselves away from their family structures. Everything is going fine, Harry even gets a job then Kate gets pregnant and they both decide to go off their medication. Then things go haywire. Their behaviour begins to change radically that it concerns Harry's brother Morris (Colin Friels) and his wife Louise (Deborra-Lee Furness). Harry and Kate are then kicked out of their flat and they end up squatting at a construction site which puts their baby at risk. A surprisingly decent look at mentally ill people trying to live their lives that is boosted by two excellent performances by Lynch and McKenzie. But it's also not an easy watch, particularly when things go haywire in the second half.

Jacqueline McKenzie shows extensive nudity throughout the movie including full frontal and rear nudity.

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

Jacqueline McKenzie in Angel Baby

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
 

 

 

Back of Beyond

Ridiculous thriller about a motor mechanic Tom (Paul Mercurio) who works in a garage in a remote town in the desert. Tom seems to be in some sort of purgatory because he may have caused the death of his sister (Rebekah Elmaloglou) in a motorcycle accident and has hidden himself away from the world. Meanwhile, a car has broken down in the desert leaving its driver Nick (John Polson) and passengers Connor (Colin Friels) and Charlie (Dee Smart) stranded. After being told to see Tom about getting their car fixed, Charlie goes to find him but falls down dehydrated. Tom rescues her and they bond as she recovers. Tom tows the car with Connor and Nick back to his garage to fix it but seems to be taking his time which pisses off Connor who is late to an appointment with a fence to get money for the diamonds he has stolen. As Tom continues to stall, Connor becomes more heated and alienates everyone. Absolutely pointless movie where Tom is so mysterious that he's completely aloof and a complete drip. Of course Charlie falls for him in an instant. Also we find out that Mercurio is a terrible actor, unsurprising considering he was only a dancer before Strictly Ballroom boosted him to stardom. The movie dawdles along going nowhere until the need to finish the thing and then you find out that Tom is actually a ghost and just fuck off.

We briefly see Dee Smart's breasts in one scene.

You can find a synopsis with collages and VHS videos from Back of Beyond here. A preview is below.

Dee Smart in Back of Beyond

    
    

 

 

Blackwater Trail

Serial killer mystery telemovie made by Channel 10 starring American actor Judd Nelson who plays Matt, who comes back to the small town he grew up in Australia after 10 years (ah, what? Not with that American accent he didn't) to attend the funeral of his former best mate who killed himself. Except the dead man's sister and Matt's former lover Cathy (Dee Smart) is certain he was murdered and tells him so. Matt was planning on leaving town immediately considering pretty much everyone else in town hates him including the town's wife-beating cop Chris (Mark Lee). But Cathy's declaration gets Matt thinking and he investigates and immediately finds a new victim and the possibility of a serial killer much to the chagrin of Chris who wants Matt gone and spends more time trying to get rid of Chris than investigating the increasing number of murders. So Matt and Cathy join forces to play a cat-and-mouse game with the killer which pisses off her drippy doctor husband Frank (Peter Phelps). Silly movie that's very much in tune with the 90s obsession with serial killer thrillers (this killer is obsessed with religious verses). The mystery is ridiculous so the plot turns into silly game of cat-and-mouse which ends in a warehouse confrontation and the cop getting his brains blown out fairly graphically. Not great but could've been worse.

No real nudity but the busy Dee Smart has a shower scene.

Dee Smart in Blackwater Trail

10880kb 40sec 744x552 (in towel, 'nude' in shower)

 

 

Bonjour Timothy (NZ)

Teen comedy about Timothy (Dean O'Gorman) who is caught 'peeping' on the girls so the principal offers his parents an ultimatum: either Timothy is suspended from school or they have to take the foreign exchange student they haven't been able to fob off. So they take the French Canadian boy named 'Michel' who turns out to be a girl named Michelle (Sabine Karsenti) in what must be one of the dumber plot twists ever. To begin with, Timothy and Michelle don't get along although he does have a thing for her which is exacerbated when she starts going out with Timothy's bully Derek (Richard Vette). Of course Derek treats her like crap so Timothy now has the chance to impress himself to her. By-the-numbers teen comedy that's probably more for younger teens as it's light on the sex and mostly fairly harmless. I still can't get over that rubbish Michel/Michelle mix-up, just a terrible plot twist.

There's some very brief anonymous nudity in a locker room scene and Sabine Karsenti is briefly seen in her underpants.

Sabine Karsenti in Bonjour Timothy

3046kb 33sec 628x480 (panties, short skirt)

 

Various Unknowns in Bonjour Timothy

6015kb 24sec 628x480 (one girl shows breasts briefly, others in bras)

 

 

Lilian's Story

Drama about an eccentric old lady, Lilian (Ruth Cracknell) who is let out of a mental institution after 40 years and tries to find her way back in society. She is way out of her depth, but is also haunted by the demons of her past (younger Lilian played by Toni Collette) mostly caused by her domineering father (Barry Otto). Wandering around Sydney, Lilian meets a long lost love Frank (John Flaus) who is living in squalor by the sea and she then shacks up with for a while. When Frank dies, she goes back to the city and starts making money by reciting Shakespearean sonnets in the park. And finds her own form of contentment by finally being allowed to live. Based on a true story, the film is a well made tale about starting from nothing and learning to enjoy life after it has been taken away from you. While Ruth Cracknell is great as the older Lilian, Toni Collette as the younger Lilian has to do more of the heavy lifting with the more harrowing stuff.

Debut nudity from Toni Collette who now has a long history of stripping off for movies/TV. Quite extensive full frontal nudity from Toni plus some brief looks at her bottom.

You can find a synopsis with collages and videos from Lilians's Story here. A preview is below.

Toni Collette in Lilian's Story

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

 

 

Life

Another heavy prison drama, this time about prisoners who are HIV+ and mainly focuses on Des (John Brumpton, who also co-wrote the movie) who has just discovered he is HIV+. At first Des feels out of place in this division but he strike up a friendship with his cellmate Ralph (David Tredinnick), who is dying. Des also remembers his life on the outside including a relationship he has with a stripper Sharon (Belinda McClory). Based on a play so it feels very stagey but it's not a bad movie if you don't mind how depressing it gets.

Extensive nudity from Belinda McClory in an early movie role for her plus Libby Tanner shows her breasts.

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

Belinda McClory in Life

    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

 

Libby Tanner in Life

    
    
    

 

 

Loaded (NZ)

Technically a New Zealand movie as it's made by Jane Campion's sister but the movie is purely British. A group of teenagers go for a weekend away to the country to make a low budget movie about a Celtic legend. The group slowly devolves into argument as tensions flare up. I don't remember much more than that.

Brief nudity from Catherine McCormack and Biddy Hodson.

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

Catherine McCormack in Loaded

    
    
    

 

Biddy Hodson in Loaded

    
    

 

 

Love Until...

Love story made in the Czech Republic with Australian actors in the lead roles. In a small town, Jan (Dino Marnika) runs a small restaurant/B&B in a village with his put upon wife Karla (Maureen O'Shaughnessy) and his brother and sister-in law. One day, three Australian women, Madeleine (Rachel Blakely), Suzie (Dee Smart) and Joanne (Collette of 'Ring My Bell' fame) come to town and eat and drink at the restaurant then stay a while. Jan falls for Madeleine but she has to go back to Prague where she is managing a struggling hotel and close to losing her job. Jan follows her to Prague where she gives him a job as a cook at the hotel and they fall for one another. He then helps Madeleine save her job after getting a makeover and then gets to the bottom of why the hotel is not performing. But there's always that lingering thought of what he left behind. Fairly enjoyable light movie with a plot that never really stretches itself and has a tidy if hasty ending which it probably doesn't deserve. The whole relationship between Jan and Karla is weird as he just up and leaves her for another woman then quietly comes back as if he didn't go off with Madeleine. But no more weird than an Australian movie made in a post-Cold War Czech Republic.

Rachel Blakely has a number of nude scenes showing her breasts and bottom. Maureen O'Shaughnessy shows her breasts and so does the busy Dee Smart in a brief scene.

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

Rachel Blakely in Love Until...

    
    
    
    
    
    
    

 

Maureen O'Shaughnessy in Love Until...

    
    
    
    

 

Dee Smart in Love Until...

    
    

 

 

Overnight (NZ)

Short drama set over one night in the life of Sina (Sarah Smuts-Kennedy) who is waiting for her long term rock star boyfriend Jim (Cliff Curtis) to come home but comes across a robber who she manages to overpower and tie up but he gets away when Jim comes home briefly. After his bandmate Kelly (Danielle Cormack) makes herself at home, she goes out looking for Jim. She discusses life with a taxi driver before finding Jim passed out a friend house. They then argue about Jim wanting to go to Australia which puts their relationship in jeopardy. A movie that feels short at 45 minutes as it ends very abruptly but at the same time doesn't really feel fleshed out. Probably would've worked better as feature length.

No nudity in Overnight but Sarah Smuts-Kennedy spends a fair amount of time in her underwear.

Sarah Smuts-Kennedy in Overnight

40122kb 2min 48sec 640x480 (plenty of cleavage in singlet top, panties, very lengthy)

 

 

Sex Is a Four Letter Word

Low budget comedy about a group of friends who are invited to a beach house for a dinner party by Sylvie (Joy Smithers), a sex advice columnist who wants her friends to talk about their relationships and various things they have gotten up to so she can use them for fodder in her column. Unsurprisingly, things start to overheat as old tensions are brought up. Pretty typical dinner party movie.

Miranda Otto briefly shows her breasts and bottom while Joy Smithers shows her bottom as they both go skinnydipping.

You can find a synopsis with collages and VHS videos from Sex is a Four Letter Word here. A preview is below.

Miranda Otto in Sex is a Four Letter Word

    

 

Joy Smithers in Sex is a Four Letter Word

 

 

Talk

Drama about two women, Stephanie (Angie Milliken) and Julia (Victoria Longley), who work together writing graphic novels. Stephanie is just back from a holiday and she is desperate for a man as she tells Julia in quite graphic detail. On the other hand, Julia suspects her husband Mac (John Jarratt, you don't even have to blink to miss him, suggesting his role was on cut out) is having an affair, possibly with an unknown girl (Jacqueline McKenzie) Julia has imagined. Meanwhile, Stephanie gets someone to fix her television, Jack (Richard Roxburgh) and he listens to their non-stop talk while taking forever to fix the television. Well, the title is entirely accurate because that's pretty much all there is and a fair bit of it is quite graphic talk about sex and sexual needs, hence the R rating it received. Not all boring, but tough to recommend a talkfest at any stage, even one with acted out inserts from the graphic novel which are related to the woman's lives.

Brief nudity from Angie Milliken during a fairly lengthy love scene.

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

Angie Milliken in Talk

    
    

 

 

That Eye, the Sky

Drama based on a Tim Winton novel about a family who are learning to cope after their patriarch is left in a vegetative state after being involved in a car accident. Ort (Jamie Croft) is a young boy who is coming to terms with his father's disposition and firmly believes that his father will be back to his normal self. His mother Alice (Lisa Harrow) is struggling with everything and his sister Tegwyn (Amanda Douge) is looking to leave home and move to the city for a better life. Then a drifter, Henry (Peter Coyote), arrives and offers to help out with the upkeep of the father free-of-charge. There's something magical about him and he will change all of their lives. A bit of a mess of a movie that is hard to pin down who it's really for because it feels like a family movie but has some heavy adult themes mostly around the character of Tegwyn. Otherwise, it's fairly typical of Tim Winton with families attempting to overcome the odds.

Amanda Douge shows her breasts in a couple of scenes.

You can find a synopsis with collages and videos from That Eye, the Sky here. A preview is below.

Amanda Douge in That Eye, the Sky

    
    
    
    
    

 

 

Tunnel Vision

Phillip Avalon strikes again with this not-quite serial killer thriller. Maverick cop Frank (Robert Reynolds) and his loyal partner Kelly (Patsy Kensit) are looking into a killer who is painting his victims on canvas before murdering them. Meanwhile, Frank is having issues with his advertising project manager wife Helena (Rebecca Rigg), who he is convinced is having an affair with her co-worker David (David Woodley). Frank gets himself into trouble and is taken off the case, replaced by Steve (Gary Day, does this guy ever not play a cop?). This sets off Frank and he goes off at Helena who tells him she's not having an affair. By-the-way there's a killer to catch and the police think it's an art dealer named Breslin (Justin Monjo) but there's one last twist that will make finding a serial killer irrelevant. Baffling movie where the main serial killer plot is a total red herring to the real plot of who really wants to fuck Helena, which turns out to be pretty much anyone and who wouldn't when it's the gorgeous Rebecca Rigg we are talking about. The movie practically abandons the serial killer plot as Frank loses his shit over the smallest things without doing the slightest investigating. While there's a neat twist at the end involving who she is fucking, it actually co-opts the serial killer who's lying in wait. Never seen a movie abandon a procedural like this, it's truly bizarre.

Brief nudity from Vanessa Steele as a murder victim while another actress is seen naked in a number of scenes but is uncredited. There's also a sexy scene featuring Rebecca Rigg.

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

Vanessa Steele in Tunnel Vision

 

Unknown in Tunnel Vision

   
   
   

 

 

Vacant Possession

Oddball drama about Tessa (Pamela Rabe) who comes home for her mother's funeral only to be burdened with dealing with her parent's apparently empty house with her sister Kate (Linden Wilkinson). Things become frayed between the two when Tessa is told she's not getting any money for the house despite saying her mother told her she would. Tessa decides to stay at the old family home and discovers that her mother let pretty much anyone stay at the house as people keep arriving and making themselves at home which eventually includes her long lost father Frank (John Stanton) who was abusive toward Tessa and her mother. Staying in the house also brings back memories of growing up including when as a teenage girl she fell in love with an Indigenous boy which both her mother Joyce (Toni Scanlan) and father forbade her to do. This is coupled with the strange friendship her mother seem to have with the Indigenous family she let stay at the house after she moved out. A very odd look at the cultural mix between white people and Indigenous as exemplified by this derelict house. Strange things keep happening and so many people arrive and play a part in the story of the house. A very interesting look at flashpoint in the lives of a family and Australian history.

Some brief nudity from Pamela Rabe as her breasts are exposed accidentally in a swimming sequence.

Pamela Rabe in Vacant Possession

8131kb 12sec 1920x1038 (side-boob in nightie)

10978kb 13sec 1920x1038 (plenty of cleavage in nice dress with down blouse showing breasts)

 

 

There's a bunch of movies that don't have anything to cap including Babe, the remake of an Australian classic Dad and Dave: On Our Selection, woman's drama Hotel Sorrento, black comedy Mushrooms, Milo and Otis derivative Napoleon, rodeo drama Rough Diamonds, Billy's Holiday which is an oddball comedy about a man who sings like Billie Holliday, fairly decent Richard Norton actioner Under the Gun, thriller To the Point of Death, Brian Trenchard-Smith directed World War II remake Sahara, another World War II action movie The Last Bullet and docudrama Frailejón. Also with nothing to cap is the New Zealand movie Jack Brown, Genius and short drama Swimming Lessons.

There's also a few Australian movies I wasn't able to find including The Last Game, The Life of Harry Dare, Ninja II and On the Dead Side.

Things pick up again for Australian movie in 1996, so much so that I'm considering 2 updates for the year.

 

Tags: Dee Smart, Sabine Karsenti, Sarah Smuts-Kennedy, Pamela Rabe