Tim Winton on Blueback "I don't know whether books like Blueback make a difference, but in an innocent way, it's discussing these things - we have been taking from the sea and the land for so long, it's time for us to give something back. Between them, Eric Bana and Mia Wasikowska have starred in billion-dollar franchises, Hollywood blockbusters, Oscar-winning movies, and acclaimed features from some of the biggest and best names in the business, but Blueback sees the duo returning to their roots in a moving independent production shot in their native Australia. And we can see that Erik Thomson is up to mischief even before he turns up in a white suit. Born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1960, he is the author of several novels for adults, including Shallows (1986), a novel set in a whaling town, and Cloudstreet (1991), the tale of two working-class families rebuilding their lives, both won prestigious Miles Franklin Awards in Australia. "It's certainly a celebration of all that feral For them, its like, whatever, you're there. I love it. Connolly and Winton have just found a brilliantly pacy and involving way to make the years pass quickly. I thought I might be good," Winton says. They're really unflappable. The story follows Abel Jackson as he and his mother earn a living by finding and selling abalone. "It's a period of So we had no restrictions in our physical filming, one of the few places in the world where that that was occurring. Its very exciting to take the audience there.. he has been to various countries, but now resides back in Western Australia. (Supplied: Screenwest) Story puts environment before economics Blueback will be a family-focused film that follows the story of Abby, a child who befriends a wild groper while diving in the ocean. This book constantly explores sustainability as Abel and his mother are striving to protect the environment. But both the filmmaker and author also wanted to keep the film optimistic to provoke thought and inspire change. A wise exploration of the difference between the acquisition of information and the quest for knowledge, Tim Winton's gem-like ecological fable will warm the hearts of his fans. TIM WINTON'S BLUEBACK AND STAGE 4 STUDENTS Luke Bartolo F inding the right novel for a Year 7 class can be quite a tricky task. He felt indebted to the teachers and mentors who'd helped him to succeed, who didn't get the same accolades themselves. Winton spent so many years trying to find a way to finish the story, that some of his children had never seen him working on a different book. So its a pretty well-known story over here. 150 pages of deceptive subtlety, sentimental at times, sure, but never Blueback like the great big fish it is named for is a story that needs a few decades to make its purpose known. The film is heavily anchored in messaging about conservation, the environment and saving our planet in the best way we know how. So were really excited. Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Photo: David Dare Parker. On an idyllic stretch of coast whose waters teem with fish, he lives a simple, tough existence. This film should certainly help in that ongoing fight. "One area is the environment, in giving up certain liberties to deliver that writing is (a) "essentially a tedious occupation I spend scads of time 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. 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. personally how to resolve. The latest film from The Dry director Robert Connolly, starring Mia Wasikowska . He. Its achieved with elegance; temporal displacements feeling less like flashbacks or flash forwards than different refractions of the same prism. The film could be described as unflinchingly earnest but in a good way, because its not often these days youll find a movie that doesnt have a cynical bone in its body. then it's our source, our ancestral life and we are obliged to nourish it.". BLUEBACK A CONTEMPORARY FABLE by Tim Winton RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1998 The prolific Winton (The Riders, 1995; etc.) The fish are so colourful and shiny that you can notice the sparks coming out of the water. and species have been eroded this century at an unimaginable rate. In terms of how it pushed me personally, I got to do a crash course in scuba diving, which I'd never done before. He would have discovered an unpretentious childhood once available to us. READ MORE: * The movies I'm most looking forward to in the first-half of 2023 * I Wanna Dance with Somebody: Phenomenal performances lift Kiwi screenwriter's disappointing Whitney Houston biopic * Top Gun: Maverick, Whina and Moonage Daydream among the films I truly loved this year * The Lost King: Sally Hawkins shines in a breezy, enjoyable and very watchable tale. Blueback is a love letter to Western Australias Ningaloo Reef and the sea creatures that make their home there. "I never had a desire for a public life, never Connolly oscillates between three versions of Abby: child, teen and adult. Copyright (c) Murray Waldren 1997 ourselves. Uploaded by Carys Arnold. Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. McPhee, Hilary (editor) Tim Winton: A Celebration, National Library of Australia. If I had my way, I'd behave; the other is in terms of community - what are we prepared to give up And it means that Blueback puts a very eloquent case for the care of this marine paradise. Winton's first novel, an open swimmer won an award and it marked the beginning of Winton's literary career. 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? Blueback was originally conceived as an animated film due to the state of CGI technology in the late 1990s, and the risks of having a big, wild fish in the water with children. it was while there that he began his first novel An Open Swimmer. Photo: David Dare Parker. I felt surrounded by nature. Throughout his childhood, Abel and his mother Dora have depended on Longboat Bay for all that they need. 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. in later but at the time it was very, very hard. Tim Winton has published twenty-nine books for adults and children, and his work has been translated into twenty-eight languages. The Western Coast of Australia. (Blueback, . It could emerge as one of the more embraceable for-the-entire-family films to drop this season. We get so much joy and connection, and from the ocean and from our environment. But as the story unfolds, a metaphor emerges. So we had to quarantine for two weeks before we started filming. Were working to restore it. Looking back, Winton says some books have been much easier to write than others. a pragmatist than anything, but I believe these things in the face of pretty Blueback PG. My 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? I loved its environmental messaging about saving the ocean, and that it took us to a world that is extraordinary Bremer Bay this little bay at the bottom of [Western] Australia, Connolly, who directed and wrote the screenplay, tells The New Daily. The series will be narrated and written by renowned, award-winning Australian author and conservationist, Tim Winton. Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. We need beauty in our lives, so we don't go mad.". Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2013. Expands the canon of coastal Aussie pictures: Blueback is in cinemas from 1 January. And The Riders, a finalist for the 1995 Booker Prize, won the Were thrilled with how the films looking, and looking forward to sharing that with Australian audiences and the rest of the world. So it was it was a lot of fun. Moving between and integrating these timelines becomes a core structural challenge. Photo: Roadshow, This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google, InDaily uses cookies. doesn't involve sacrifice. oily self-interest in Government, in terms of reconciliation, and the After the ambition of "I feel very specifically that I benefited from growing up where I did, And what that meant was there was a process getting in, but once we were there, they were COVID free at that time. something. And they are the most His boks have been published around the world. This means there will be more next time; Support independent Abel Jackson has lived by the sea at Longboat Bay ever since he could remember. 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. Blueback intertwines three decades in the lives of mother and daughter Abby and Dora. Then, curious, she hand-feeds it another. something to the future, to define limits on what we'll exploit and how we'll Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email. 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. We again assembled an incredible cast and showing off another very, very interesting part of part of Australia, in another thriller. Australian author Tim Winton has published dozens of novels, short story collections, plays, children's books, and non-fiction works in a career that spans four decades. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. 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. It made me very envious, actually, watching the film like, what an amazing place to have a childhood.. * making the coastal area they own a National park, stopping deforestation so that industries or parks could not be made; Later he tells me It's a quite a stressful environmental world at the moment, and I think anything that reconnects us to the natural environment is really important, said Wasikowska about the perfect moment in time when this film is being released. Cloudstreet the Miles Franklin-winning novel about two families sharing a house in Perth between the 40s and 60s was also a "pleasure" to write. ABC RN's on-air writers' festival is back! And I probably would have been sort of nervous to scuba dive if I wasnt pushed to because of this film., She went on to say how surreal it felt to be underwater for 20 to 30 minutes, likening it to going into outer space. later. He's unabashed. Shallows, won the Miles Franklin Award, as did Cloudstreet Thank you Tim Winton. I don't know whether books like Blueback make a difference, Yet he still believes there is a place and indeed, a very important one for art and writing. Blueback 2022 Directed by Robert Connolly Synopsis He's their best kept secret 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. Yet, at Few writers have been as welcomed or as sought after. Wasikowska was blown away by the extraordinary locale, noting Bremer Bays coastal eye candy. I wanted very limited VFX. The boy befriends the fish, a blue grouper while diving for abalone, his family's trade. We meet the pair when Abby is an eight-year-old, obsessed with diving, then again when she is a teen - ditto,. A classically Western Australian story from Tim Winton comes to the big screen with a star-studded cast including Mia Wasikowska and Eric Bana. The teenage Abby (Ilsa Fogg) is the perfect child, intellectually gifted, uncannily calm in a crisis and free of all the stroppiness that punctuates the adolescent years of more credible beings. Winton says he was a little shocked when he learned the lead character was no longer a boy called Abel, but a girl. Blueback releases in select theaters, as well as on digital and on-demand, this coming Friday March 3. "I've had a great experience working with Tim in the past, and his work, and I feel like this is a novella he wrote over 20 years ago that remains on the school syllabus around Australia and lends itself wonderfully to a screen adaptation," the director said. Reading Blueback has made usmore aware of the environment around us. Mia Wasikowska: Thats true. (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 * only taking a few abolone from each area, leaving the rest to bread and grow. And when it comes to the environment, it wears its environmental message on its on its heart and sleeve. 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). I wanted the actors to do their own swimming rather than stunt people. Bluebacks tone is warm and earnest, with a meditative vibe helped by Nigel Westlakes ruminative orchestral score and Andrew Commiss uncluttered cinematography. persuasive effect. Mia Wasikowska: So I felt like there was a whole movie that I hadnt been a part of. * making compost for their garden from left over food scraps; Much of the story is told in flashback. Blueback is an achingly beautiful story about family, belonging, and living a life in tune with the environment, from Tim Winton, one of Australia's best-loved authors.Abel Jackson's boyhood belongs to a vanishing world. Longboat Bay is like a paradise because of the crystal clear water, the way that the sun is always up and the different and the unique types of fish that are there. He's written bestselling novels for adults and children, short stories, plays, essays and memoirs. At eight, shes already mastered the art of free diving. 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