I like “Chopper”.
I tried to watch Chopper but couldn’t get through it. I dug Somersault a lot, though. I became such an Abbie Cornish fan that I was thrilled when Candy showed up on cable. Another solid Australian flick, IMO. I will now watch anything with Abbie Cornish.
There are a couple more Australian films I liked, but I can’t remember the title, the actors, or any specific enough scene to google.
EDIT: I have a hard time classifying movies like Dark City as Australian. Those feel like Hollywood movies that may be shot in a different country, or have directors or stars from another country, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the movie is of the country, y’know? Otherwise much of Hollywood drivel could be blamed on Canada for how much Hollywood films in Toronto.
By contrast, Somersault and Candy feel Australian through and through.
Dark City was directed by an Australian, filmed in Sydney, and Terence Stamp is in it. It’s an Australian film, but not an “Australian” film, if that makes sense.
Well, Australia does come before USA in the “country” section of its imdb listing, so it’s more Australian than, say, Training Day or Saw.
In Argentina, at least, we like our foreigner movies or tv series with in the original language and with subtitles.
Usually american movies are the most seen. Lately, though, there are lots of national movies: “El Secreto de sus ojos” and “Las viudas de los jueves” are currently on top.
The last time I was in Paris, it was wallpapered in posters for Fortress II - Reentry. I’m not sure, but I think that movie was straight to video in the US.
In other words, the French might be snobs when it comes to our dirty American culture, but they aren’t too good for it after all.
As for subtitles, my mom and I saw Erin Brockovich in Brussels and it was in English with Flemish and I think French? The audience obviously all understood English, though, as they laughed when things were funny in the dialogue, not before or after as you do when you’re reading subtitles.
Got caught trying to smuggle heroin, didja? 
Terence Stamp wasn’t in Dark City. And lots of movies are filmed in Sydney. The guy to figuring out a film’s “location” is who funded it (in this case, New Line Cinema, a US company) and who are the principal creators. In Dark City’s case, director Alex Proyas is Australian, but none of the leads are (three are American, one is British) and the three screenswriters come from all over (Proyas himself, an American and a Brit). Proyas also began working in Hollywood in 93 and never looked back, so while he’s Australian, he works in the Hollywood system.
Dark City was Alex Proyas’ follow up to The Crow, which is about as American as you can get.
From what I gather, you do not consider a movie to be American if it is filmed outside the USA with some non-American actors and crew. If this is the case, then America has been taking alot of blame for shitty TV shows that are filmed in Canada with Canadian actors, directors, writers and crew. Seriously, that’s about 80% of American shows. Currently, I think Supernatural is the only show with an all-American cast, but it’s filmed completely in Canada.
It just raises another one: Why would a cruise line that hates gays so much sponsor a gay cruise?
Sorry, you’re right, it’s Bruce Spence- the Gyro Captain in the Mad Max films. Still an Australian actor, though.
That’s not entirely accurate- if the show or movie purports to be set in the US (or about American people), then it’s likely to be considered an “American” film anyway, IMHO. Take something like The Frighteners- directed by a New Zealander, filmed in New Zealand, but starring Americans and very clearly supposed to be set in America. I’m not entirely sure I’d call it a “New Zealand” film, but on the other hand I’m not going to argue with anyone who would.
It’s a hybrid, Moulin Rouge! is another – Australian director, international cast (including several Aussies), but perhaps not quintessentially Australian. Unlike Baz Luhrmann’s earlier film Strictly Ballroom which is truly Australian.
By the same token, The Frighteners, not really Kiwi, unlike Jackson’s earlier Heavenly Creatures or Bad Taste.
I agree with everything you say except one thing. I believe The Frighteners is a Hollywood movie completely. It was suppose to be a Tales from the Crypt movie, but Robert Zemeckis thought the movie was strong enough not to need the franchise behind it.
Star Wars is an American movie. However, it was filmed in England with a British crew and had some key characters played by British actors. It’s still an American film. Why? It was produced for an American company.
Let’s look at three David Lean movies: The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago. I think everyone is agreement that Lawrence of Arabia is a British film. Doctor Zhivago is a Hollywood movie, therefore it’s American. That leaves The Bridge on the River Kwai… The Bridge on the River Kwai is kind of tricky. It could agruably be considered a “hybrid” coproduction film, but I think there are few people that would argue if you insist it’s a British film and not American.
Somewhere above, someone stated that an American cast with an American setting aimed at an American market makes it an American film. Not true at all. I can pull a million examples out to disprove this, but I’ll narrow it down to two words: spagetti westerns. Every movie that Sergio Leone made since A Fistful of Dollars has been set in the USA starring American actors, except for My Name Is Nobody, and A Genius, Two Friends and an Idiot where Terence Hill is the lead. All of his movies are Italian with various coproductions.
The question of how to classify the “country” of a movie is a fascinating one that had never before occured to me. Before coming back to the thread, I was trying to figure out exactly why the two Abbie Cornish movies struck me as so clearly Australian compared to some of the others mentioned. I concluded that it was because everyone in the movie speaks with an Australian accent. heh.
I guess at the end of the day, a movie is of whatever country its production company is from. Any other definition makes most Hollywood films Canadian.
I remember the Red (1994) portion of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colors trilogy missed out on being nominated for the Best Foreign-Languge Oscar because they could not pin down which country could rightfully claim it. The producers were Swiss, French and maybe one other nationality. Kieslowski was Polish. Filming or other production aspects were done in multiple countries. It was nominated for three Oscars (cinematography, director and screenplay) but missed out on a Best Foreign-Language nod because they like to assign a specific country to it.