There's even a fish species named after him you can find the 30-centimetre 'Hannia wintoni' (or Winton's Grunter) swimming in the freshwaters of the Kimberley. The writers of Blueback are Robert Connolly and Tim Winton. A powerful story for generations opens our 2023 season of films under the stars. (ABC Arts: Nina Otranto) Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article abc.net.au/news/tim-winton-blueback-ningaloo-and-40-years-of-writing/101297058 Copy link Share Why indeed? Blueback intertwines three decades in the lives of mother and daughter Abby and Dora. "And if we lose these places, we've lost everything.". in later but at the time it was very, very hard. I am delighted by the magic that those performers were able to give., Young actors Ilsa Fogg and Pedrea Jackson on set. Thanks for signing up to the InReview newsletter. And after others told him they were moved to tears by the tale, he thought The heart of the film, however, is about relationships of all kinds. So I think I think it is a good way forward. When she realizes that the fish is under threat, she takes inspiration from her activist mum, Dora (played by Mitchell), and vigilantly takes on poachers to save her friend. All of it sparks her life-long journey to save the world's coral reefs. Were thrilled with how the films looking, and looking forward to sharing that with Australian audiences and the rest of the world. It asks us, without ever lecturing, how it is we have designed a world so completely insane, that the concept of "money" is somehow worth more to us than the actual water, air and land that keeps us all alive. It won and Winton has never looked back, He's currently working on a three-part documentary about the reef, which will airon ABC TV next year. Overall, you get a sense of how real it all felt when you watch the film and particularly for the cast who had to interact with the fish. Donate to InReview today. Blueback releases in select theaters, as well as on digital and on-demand, this coming Friday March 3. Winton has proved a magnet for Australian film-makers. he helps his mother each day and loves to dive. And Dora is no more convincing. We get so much joy and connection, and from the ocean and from our environment. each of my first three books, and that was for years and years of my life, for 'idealist' is a perjorative term - a lifetime of journeying in a religious "And she came home at four o'clock and I was still there unwrapping it, wrapping it. Robert Connolly had been developing the film pretty much since the novella was published, but were you guys overly familiar with the source material prior to getting involved in the project? Using straightforward prose and stark, uncomplicated characters it carries a clear environmental and conservationist message. These three strands of story are woven against a backdrop of the fight to preserve the womens community and the surrounding ocean from the predations of over-fishing and a boo-hiss property developer. Blueback / Tim Winton Children's novel published 1995. It was just I loved the film. Please try again later. Crusty fisherman Macka (played by Bana) is part of Abbys memories as the film floats back and forth through time. Winton's novel was created for the young adult market, and is therefore a lot more positive and simply written than his novels for adults. The run of successes in Winton's career is the stuff of only the most fanciful of imaginations. "And I'm happy with that. And then they were about to start theirs. Tim Winton has published twenty-nine books for adults and children, and his work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. Thank you Tim Winton. Like the groper, which will spend its life in one place if it can, Dora is devoting her life to the welfare of her own home. I think its one that if you sit down as a family, youll really enjoy. On an idyllic stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish, he lives a simple, tough existence. "We were told by the culture that all the real Australia was elsewhere, it occurred on the east coast," Winton says. Blueback by Tim Winton. Mia Wasikowska: So I felt like there was a whole movie that I hadnt been a part of. 150 pages of deceptive subtlety, sentimental at times, sure, but never cataclysm to learn the value of sacrifice. Its clear that the impact on the environment is something you both feel strongly about, and even though its a uniquely Australian tale in terms of setting and story that speaks to the feelings a lot of people in the country have and have had for some time, the themes and messages are universal, so what do you hope audiences take away from the film by the time the credits come up? And we can see that Erik Thomson is up to mischief even before he turns up in a white suit. He is also a strong supporter of marine and environmental conservation. So getting in was a bit of an ordeal. Eric Bana: I sort of knew Robert was developing it, because we have an office together. Is that something you guys can relate to having witnessed first-hand the environmental impact on Australia and the world thats been ongoing throughout your lives? As VFX (visual effects) developed, Connolly who describes himself as more an analogue filmmaker was ready. Blueback, from Quiver Distribution and Roadshow Films, is a co-production of Screen Australia, Screenwest, West Australian Regional Film Fund, Film Victoria, HanWay Films, Pick Up Truck Pictures, Soundfirm, and Arenamedia, hits theaters March 3. commercially feted, from the first, An Open Swimmer, which was joint a master of language who writes unadorned sentences that build in power and We again assembled an incredible cast and showing off another very, very interesting part of part of Australia, in another thriller. and in eighteen different languages.Some of his works have also been successfully adapted for stage, screen and radio. Blueback Tim Winton 3.93 3,094 ratings285 reviews From the author of the bestselling novel The Riders comes a bewitching fable sure to delight readers of all ages. Tim Winton reflects on how Albany shaped his life 27,470 views Jun 15, 2012 100 Dislike Share Save ABC News (Australia) 1.62M subscribers Writer Tim Winton visits Albany for the premiere of. winner of the 1981 The Australian/Vogel Award. Neither Mitchell and Wasikowska can do much to enliven dialogue that is more bound up with the life cycle of a groper than the shifting emotions involved in being human. This article was first published in The Weekend And it was so emotional. This film should certainly help in that ongoing fight. It's just him and his mother in the house at Longboat Bay, but Abel has friends . Since his first novel, An Open Swimmer, won the Australian Vogel Award in 1981, he has won the Miles Franklin Award four times (for Shallows, Cloudstreet, Dirt Music and Breath) and twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize (for The Riders and Dirt Music). children's literature is the little league, adults the big. "The Perth that my grandparents knew, and that my parents knew, was a foreign place to me, and my children never saw it. Winton has written about the way the book mirrored subsequent events. Winton is now a renowned author of adult and children's novels. Blueback is a 2022 Australian drama film directed by Robert Connolly, from a screenplay written by Connolly and Tim Winton, based on Winton's 1997 novel of the same name.The film centres on a young girl who befriends a wild blue groper while diving, and becomes a passionate activist for protecting the ecosystem of Australia's coral reefs from destruction. that writing is (a) "essentially a tedious occupation I spend scads of time So yeah, I hope people feel educated and inspired, and they want the natural world to be a bigger part of their life., Id love audiences to feel what I felt when I read the script, which was that sense of being really inspired and appreciating the connection we have to the environment, added Wasikowska. 4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining read with solid message. have an age, a heartbeat, you're just in this squeezed-down narrow focus which So it is universal, and then also quite focused locally. I feel like everything that is being explored here has been relevant for a really long time. They're really unflappable. If you could recommend just one film from your careers that you want people to see above any others, what would it be and why would it be that? paid $50,000 for second books ", That's the professional shaking his head in disbelief. The more we're aware and connected to our natural world, the more likely we are to want to partake in its protection. Ilsa Fogg plays the teenage Abby in Blueback. Only the fishs eyes were CGI. Robert said not too long ago that the environmental movement has really embraced the idea of activism through optimism, which is a fascinating way of looking at it, and something Blueback deals in from start to finish. Over time, he has mellowed a little - he's just returned from a three-month And it means that Blueback puts a very eloquent case for the care of this marine paradise. How can we help the environment? The directors other family film, 2015s Paper Planes, reflects a similar commercial mindset as Blueback, providing a broadly appealing if a little indistinct experience that doesnt speak down to younger audiences but certainly hands them unambiguous moral lessons. Connolly and Winton have just found a brilliantly pacy and involving way to make the years pass quickly. But both the filmmaker and author also wanted to keep the film optimistic to provoke thought and inspire change. We meet the pair when Abby is an eight-year-old, obsessed with diving, then again when she is a teen ditto, just deeper and then with Abby in her 30s or so, working as a marine biologist, when she learns Dora has fallen in ill. Blueback is now screening in cinemas nationwide. the mass audience I seem to have stumbled upon, the public exposure is very Its a family-friendly, broadly appealing film that expands the canon of coastal Aussie pictures involving interspecies mateship the original and remade Storm Boy, featuring Mr Percival the pelican, and Oddball, featuring a very photogenic Maremma sheepdog that saves a colony of penguins in Victoria. Blueback is a love letter to Western Australias Ningaloo Reef and the sea creatures that make their home there. Starring Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, Crimson Peak), Eric Bana (The Dry, Dirty John), Radha Mitchell (London Has Fallen, Pitch Black), Liz Alexander (The Secret She Keeps), and newcomers Ariel Donoghue, Ilsa Fogg, and Albert Mwangi, Blueback is a coming-of-age story, through and through. I never saw one before, but its incredible how old they can live, shared Bana. am who I am, and not an abstraction or a marketing tool. Were working to restore it. I think that they teach it in a lot of school curriculums at the moment, actually. So, to be in this beautiful natural environment felt soothing. On an idyllic stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish, he lives a simple, tough existence. That night, he got up, and started the book again, from scratch. In one scene, adult Abby, during a moment of melancholic reflection, casts her gaze towards sand dunes, before Connolly cuts to teenage Abby walking across them. "far more than for other fatter books". I mean, its a bigger topic that hopefully inspires people, especially the younger generations to sort of be a bit more conscious and use their energies in a positive way for the for the whole environment. It's a scenario taken from Tim Winton's 2009 young adult novel, Blueback - with one or two changes. Eric Bana: Yeah, similar experience. Macka is a small but pivotal role, and one that ends up having a massive influence on Abby throughout the story, but what was it like as performers and audience members to see that dynamic unfold onscreen given that you dont you dont directly cross paths? Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. https://www.penguin.com.au/products/9. persuasive effect. Bluebacks tone is warm and earnest, with a meditative vibe helped by Nigel Westlakes ruminative orchestral score and Andrew Commiss uncluttered cinematography. where so much revolved around the sea - in a way, it was a gift and I owe it There is no discernible "Connolly style" in any of his films, just extreme competence, humility and a love of storytelling. I hope Blueback inspires people to contribute positively to our world. At eight, shes already mastered the art of free diving. And its just, I think its a real triumph, and I think the audience can tell when things are CGI, and theres something really special about about our fish, because its so physically real, and for the cast to be able to interact with it. The film drifts around a bit, neither plot-driven nor super stylish, but its a nice, gentle kind of drift. Mia Wasikowska: I did manage to crossover with the girls in Western Australia by maybe only two days when I was at the end of my filming period. Shooting of the 2021 movie adaptation of Tim Winton's novel Blueback is underway in Bremer Bay. Throwing plastics or other rubbish on the ground leaving them to make their way to the ocean, Using water to clean the drive way and other paths around the house, Throwing things that could be recycled into the dump, Pouring chemicals or paints down the drain. And I knew I knew I was determined. He's written bestselling novels for adults and children, short stories, plays, essays and memoirs. It tells the story of a young boy named Abel Jackson, who grows up in a small coastal town in Western Australia. From the hard-to-find Metal Skin, through Somersault, The Black Balloon and the quietly incredible 2016 Is This The Real World, the Aussies routinely knock absolute gems out of the park. The book was inspired by stories Winton's grandparents used to tell about life in Perth a place that Winton could see was disappearing. childhood once available to us. Mia Wasikowska: Yeah, absolutely. "I reckon it took me ten years to not feel bad about doing well.". He felt indebted to the teachers and mentors who'd helped him to succeed, who didn't get the same accolades themselves. And then I suddenly put two and two together and realized that it was this is Tim Winton project. The Riders, which itself disconcerted many, it looks somewhat The family film will be produced by Arenamedia and directed by Robert Connolly as the follow up to his award-winning box office hit . In terms of how it pushed me personally, I got to do a crash course in scuba diving, which I'd never done before. Few writers have been as welcomed or as sought after. And I was like, Whats with the polystyrene fish? And, and somebody in my office said, Ah, thats Robs next project.. Oh, this one! then it's our source, our ancestral life and we are obliged to nourish it.". A Western Blue Groper christened Blueback is star of the film based on Tim Wintons book.Credit:SMH. 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Cameras have started rolling on Robert Connolly's new film Blueback, starring Mia Wasikowska, Radha Mitchell, Eric Bana and Clarence Ryan.. Based on the best-selling novel by Tim Winton, Blueback is a timely tale about the ocean, a beautiful marine creature, and a young girl's power to change the world. 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Talk of sacrifice and faith seem curiously old-fashioned, an idealist's Blueback is a novel written by Australian author Tim Winton. BLUEBACK Review January 5, 2023 Written by Dave Griffiths My love affair with the work of Australian author Tim Winton began way back in my first year in High School. Get InReview in your inbox - free . He had just completed his recently-published Lockie Leonard ms, and sat down to "scribble some notes on a yarn that had half-formed in my head". lead a Pynchon or a Salinger existence and become completely anonymous. can". Winton: an affable, plain-speaking man of unaffected intelligence and deep His love for the natural world is echoed in his conservation work. I just love the film. Like the excellent, more adult-oriented Breath also based on a Winton novel this wholesome and modestly affecting coming-of-age story is set on the west coast of Australia, in a fictitious community called Longboat Bay. 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