What the characters say in Beneath Clouds isn’t nearly as important as whether they choose to speak and why.Two indigenous teenagers leave outback Moree for different reasons. The light-skinned Lena (Danielle Hall) seeks her Irish father in Sydney and sees no hope or purpose in her present environment. Vaughan (Damian Pitt) has just escaped from a detention centre.
During their road trip to Sydney, Lena and Vaughan are subtly transformed by their exposure to each other. Mostly, it’s their contrasting perceptions of indigenous and white society that are challenged.
In their first film roles, Pitt and Hall contribute remarkably assured, naturalistic performances. The meditative direction of Ivan Sen, in combination with Allan Collins’ striking outdoors photography, emphasises the beauty of the landscape. Sen counterpoints the natural grandeur of terrain and sky with the occasional human ugliness encountered on the journey, much as Terrence Malick and cinematographer John Toll highlighted war’s horrors in The Thin Red Line.Beneath Clouds marks a transition from shorts to feature-length film for writer-director-composer Ivan Sen. On the strength of his debut, calling Sen a filmmaker to watch seems the understatement of the year.
For more in the Australian series, click here.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 2005 Brisbane Film Festival. For more in the 2005 Brisbane Film Festival series, click here.
User Comments
8/30/10
coon
dumb niggers
4/08/10
james
terrible movie, dialogue almost put me to sleep and had boring roles and vague ending
11/16/07
janelle pitt
thats my big brother and i think it is a great film and interesting to watch
4/14/07
aglak 22
brilliant film,brilliants actors,beautiful.
1/31/07
David
fantastic scenes and good actors but could have had a better ending
5/30/06
casey
boring and sleepworthy but good images and actors
5/10/06
jessica
great film with powerful messages about trust and identity
12/14/05
Noemi Cortejosa
Beneath Clouds is a film on Aboriginal identity: Vaughn accepts it, Lena does not
11/29/05
Thomas
Well done. Really reaches out
10/04/05
mark sorensen
reality hits home hard
9/19/05
Kelly
Really, Really bad
8/14/05
kailey james
it great but the ending isn't
1/23/05
Elizabeth Fale
Excellent Movie I Love It
12/20/04
Ian Henderson
One of the best films to come out of Australia recently.
7/18/04
cherie hargrave
this is very good and its a movie i will never forget
4/29/04
-
i love it, and its real life not some pitty story.
4/20/04
jess booby
its fantastic
4/14/04
Dylan Williams
Excellent Film
3/11/04
Raman Arora
The movie is very good and emotional, has lot of humour and facts
2/04/04
Mandamullin
a moving film that juxtaposed country drama and deep realism
11/12/03
seb narwal
A great movie
9/12/03
Liz
Innovatively disturbing
8/14/03
Cherie Gardiner
it was a very good movie cause the car was my sisters boyfriends
5/28/03
daniel kane
OWEN WAS GREAT
5/25/03
Jimi
A subtle beauty
5/04/03
sami
unreal fav movie gotta see it!
12/22/02
Lucinda
Brilliant! Sven is a genius!
11/04/02
robi
awesome, touching, objective, deep
9/29/02
Peter Sherlock
Very very good. An Oz classic. Authentic. Thought-provoking long after.
9/26/02
kahlia blair
this at the moment is my fave film
8/28/02
viking
The best Aussie movie of 2002
8/23/02
Kjaramindi Dennison
It was good
8/19/02
vivien xeros
the best film i have seen this century
8/19/02
Andrew Trigger
Fantastic!
8/08/02
Michelle Crowther
Leaves you feeling like you've been through an industrial wringer. Stunning, fantastic
8/06/02
janelle pitt
damian is my oldest brother and i'm proud of him
6/27/02
Edmond Nixon
I intend to follow Sen's upcoming work
5/30/02
^Elendil^
A perceptive and beautiful film. A lot to think about.
5/28/02
Ant
A film that is both hypnotic and authentic, this is a great and important film.
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