10 Moments of Destiny is an Australian film almanac released in 2013. It consists of ten separate novels based on a collection of stories by the Australian writer Tim Winton and, I must say, almost all the participants in the project are somehow related to the Green Continent. Among the directors, who took as many as eighteen people for ten novels, the names of Mia Wasikowska and David Wenham, who are better known as actors, draw attention. By the way, all those eighteen people were engaged in the fact that they adapted each of their novels based on the story of Winton to the film adaptation. Among the cast are Kate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh (both played in the segment “Reunion”), Rose Byrne, Miranda Otto (both actresses were noted in the segment “The Turning”, and exactly the same name in the original of this film almanac), and the famous agent Smith from the “Matrix”, that is, actor Hugo Weaving in the novel “Commission” appeared.
In general, the fashion for such film collections has existed for quite a long time, but the peak of popularity came at the time when the famous almanac “Paris, I Love You” was released in 2006 and many people believe, perhaps I will agree with this, that this is the best representative of the format. But there was no chance for 10 Moments of Destiny to repeat the successful move of its predecessor. First of all, under the banner of short films about Paris, the whole color of the cinematographic workshop was collected, but for "10 Moments of Destiny" this can not be said, with all due respect to Kate Blanchett and Miranda Otto. A large number of little-known actors involved turned the film into a somewhat alapa canvas, which frankly annoys with its despondency, because none of the directors managed to give any light cut to the film. Only one segment made us closely and with interest to follow what is happening, but more about that later. And so “10 Moments of Destiny” is a continuous monotonous stream of scenes that are hardly subject to careful analysis.
I can't understand why such a gray color scheme was chosen for this film. Add a little light on allowed electricity debts? We are somehow, judging by the stereotypes in the movies, used to the fact that Australia is a sunny area of land with its hot desert sands. But in "10 Moments of Fate" it turns out that there people do not know at all what the joy of sunlight is, and from this the aftertaste is kind of depressing. And if to put it not quite lexically correct, then “10 Moments of Destiny” is a kind of solid traction, where the creators of the novels tried to stand out, but, in my opinion, overestimated their abilities and eventually turned everything into one gray and homogeneous mess. And it is a sincere pity that such a format as a film almanac, which should be in its essence a colorful expression of the author’s approach of each of the project participants, turned out to be beyond the power of the filmmakers. In general, “10 Moments of Destiny” seemed depressing video of small caliber.
Now let me tell you what good I remember from this one-hour forty-five-minute movie. The only thing that can add points to the lowest rating of this work is the above-mentioned novel featuring Kate Blanchett and Richard Roxburgh. In fact, there is nothing like this in the plot, there is no thought there and absolutely nothing to analyze. But against the background of the rest of the grayness, it becomes clear due to what Kate Blanchett is considered a star of a planetary scale - even playing such nonsense, she lays out completely and seems to decorate the whole picture. Only in this segment did I want to say that at last the sun rose and illuminated us with light. But other famous actresses Rose Byrne and Miranda Otto allegedly left the room, considering their time too expensive, paid tribute to Australian cinema and went home. Honestly, there was such a suspicion that all the participants of the project were in a hurry somewhere on their business, wanting to hear the command “Stop!” Cut! Why did they even give their consent? I don't understand.
If you are a connoisseur of the film format, like to notice and remember the author’s and creative details that distinguish one filmmaker from another, then probably pass by “10 Moments of Fate”, because it will be lost time. All the directors and writers did not cope with their tasks completely! And in general, what can be said about a picture in which the most curious and sane moment when Kate Blanchett appears in it for ten minutes, and everything else is a total mess of dreary and incomprehensible stories? There is such an assumption that it would be possible to do without filming this film almanac.
“10 Moments of Destiny” (in the original “Turning Moments”) is a rare, for the film almanac, case of the unpretentiousness of absolutely all the novels performed, amazingly, by different directors, but, alas, too carefully combed under a single wave of narrative, which includes: a bluish filter, a feeling of sublimity reaching to pathos, ubiquitous blue shirts on secondary and main characters, and a pronounced instructiveness. The only novel that stands out from the general gray mass was the story of Mia Vasikowska about a red-haired teenager of puberty and his little joys and strangenesses in the spirit of "Amelie" - cheerful, cute, but too exhausting. The emotional apogees of this collection were Robert Connelly’s novel about purification from childish sin, however, some blurring of the logical part of this story greatly muffled the intensity of feelings.
Taking as a basis the literary source of Tim Winton, most directors, simply accompany the clip sequence with a voiceover (probably book) monologue. The remaining units, on the contrary, tried to appear as poetic, verbose and symbolic as possible. But in the end, each story lacked vitality and naturalness. The characters appear before the viewer already with a ready set of problems and the viewer can only guess where these problems came from and why the characters behave in this way, while the characters remain undisclosed. To save the situation could be the presence of a cross-cutting character (or at least the subject), thanks to which, all the stories would smoothly intertwine into one, which was in the original source of Winton.
Perhaps it is the visual monotonous, stylistically smooth part that is able to captivate the viewer. But not everyone will be able to admire the fashionable bluish grayness of indie frames, cigarette clouds, Australian roads and minimalism of everyday life, which are just an attempt to hide behind a stylish wrap a set of imperfect “student” works.
This movie has been on the “watch list” for a long time. For almost a year, I put it off for later. And now that moment has finally come! It is worth noting that the film was shot by different directors, based on the book of one author.
Let’s start with the good, the cast shines, each actor showed the top of skill. The characters are unfamiliar with each other and at first glance they have absolutely nothing in common, but this is not the case. Each character at the moment of the story experiences the apogee of emotions and feelings, indulging in the first youthful love, tragic memories, feelings of unity, betrayal, bitterness of loss, the meaning of Christmas, etc. The film adores the whole side of human feelings, showing their completeness, innocence and cruelty.
Of the bad, it is worth noting the general inorganicity of the picture. Due to the fact that different directors filmed different stories, there was a confusion and sometimes at the junction of two stories you do not have time to really switch and realize what is happening. Also, to some passages, I had feelings of inferior awareness of the inner secret meaning.
In general, the film is worthy of your attention, although it is very specific. The actors fully coped with their goal and the director’s work deserves respect. Even if you, like me, have not read the book, the film should please you and make you think about the human being.
The film consists of 10 novels shot by 18 directors, the absolute majority of them are debutants in the directorship, in particular famous actors, for example, Mia Wasikowska or David Wenham, and Honored Operator – Warwick Thornton, winner of the golden camera of the Cannes Film Festival (“Samson and Delilah”), but directors with experience of only two – Justin Kurzel (FIPRESCI Prize in Cannes for “Snow City”) and animator Anthony Lucas – repeatedly nominated for various awards.
The film is based on the book of stories by Australian writer Tim Winton, which means that all film novels are a priori united by a common idea, which lies in the original title of both the book and the film - The Turning (something like "turn", "fracture"). Each story tells about a turning point in the hero’s life, although perhaps this is not always obvious: what does the sunset mean for a teenager? What does it mean for an adult to meet his father? How do you remember tragic childhood memories? How will the meeting of former lovers end? Why is falling into the pool good? And finally, how do you start a new life? Is it easy? Will everyone succeed?
Perhaps this sounds quite attractive, in fact, only a few novels, in my opinion, are cinematically interesting, while the rest are drawn out and pretentious. Simple, albeit important thoughts are presented as revelations, which are characterized exclusively by “high style”. This kind of pseudo-deep thinking is inherent in student work, which, for the most part, are these Australian shorts.
Winton’s stories are united by common characters, but here in each novel they are played by different actors, so it is almost impossible to figure out who, a person who has not read the book, is who. This, of course, gives the narrative a parable character, but practically deprives it of dynamics, any connections.
Cinema does not fall apart just because (and this is certainly the merit of filmmakers) that all the novels have a common tone of the image, somewhere faster, somewhere slower, but they are all on the same wavelength, but the closer to the end, the weaker the current, the fewer circles in this murky water.
If you go straight, you lose your horse, you go left, you lose your life.
The past is in us, and not behind us. Things are never over.
Short films are a special form of cinematography that allows novice directors to declare themselves (because if you can not cope with a 15-minute story, then it is better to forget about directing), and at the same time is an independent genre that very briefly outlines what the author intends and clearly demonstrates the postulate that a film without a basic thought and value background is a bad film. Sometimes a short meter is complete, with a really good idea that can be developed to the scale of a full-length film, not only without losing anything at the same time, but also making a full-color oil picture out of the sketch.
“Turning Moments” is an ambitious venture in which stories from the collection of the same name by Australian writer Tim Winton are transferred to the screen. Winton is the property of modern Australian literature, he is a winner of major literary awards at home and with enviable regularity gets into the short list of foreign awards. In addition to writing, the Australian is also a prominent figure in environmental campaigns. In other words, he clearly deserves his stories to become films.
The main drawback of the film and opens it is a kind of animated preface, conceived as a unifying introduction. It is executed simply terribly ugly and excessively careless, and does not correspond to the general more or less smooth style of short films included in the “Turning moments”, which seem to beckon the viewer to familiarize himself with the literary source.
"Big World" - not very lucky graduates decided to take fate into their own hands and go literally where their eyes look. The first-person story, without a single dialogue, will show how friendship is born out of small things and how transient what seems to last forever.
“Abbreviation” is a powerful work with its metaphors, in which the first erotic experience is described without vulgarity and generally without any candor. It's a metaphor-rich movie that has no words but very powerful metaphors.
Aquifer: A music teacher remembers something from his past while watching crime news, which leads him to realize that the standards of good and evil are subject to radical change over time.
"Damaged Goods" is one of the strongest parts of "Turning Moments." The screen is divided into two halves, one showing the past and the other showing the present. The photos used in the film are worthy of exhibition, and the film itself is a full meter, here Tim Winston comes close to the inaccessible area in which Salinger worked.
"Small Mercies" - a man with his son returned to the parental home after the death of his wife, finds not only pleasant memories. Questions of retaliation are not raised explicitly and categorically, but at the same time make you think that some things can never be corrected.
"On Her Knees" - taking her arrogant son as assistant, a houseworker, walking by her example rather than deliberately showing him that honest work is more righteous than deception.
"Cockleshell" - a prosperous teenager, falls in love with a girl from a dysfunctional family living next door, and does not even represent the misfortune of her situation. This film spoils a very unpleasant scene of masturbation, without which it would be possible to do.
The Turning, the central novel that gave the series its name, tells the story of two women (Rose Byrne and Miranda Otto) who became friends despite completely opposite lifestyles and thoughts. Here you will see arguments on the subject of coming to God, coupled with very harsh scenes of violence. And you can also enjoy the game of cute Miles Pollard.
"Sand" - in some ways the story is consonant with "Aquifer", tells about children's carelessness and its possible consequences. Visually, everything is done very weakly: a random set of scenes to monotonous music, without the idea clearly highlighted by the director. In other words, the screen incarnation fully corresponds to how incompetent pretentious directors see cinema.
“Family” is a music video-like short film that aims to show that wildly hyped sports are not really a meaningful thing, and the only worth winning is defeating your own fear.
“Long, Clear View” – the second of the novels, worthy of a full meter, to the music of Dmitry Shostakovich shows a bizarre look at the life of a red-haired boy who seems to see the infinity of the world and all things in the true light (which proves a rather cynical ending), and God for him is the presenter who tells the news against the background of the starry sky.
"Reunion" - the main star of the film Cate Blanchett paired with Richard Roxburgh play spouses who seem to have forgotten what Christmas is in the family circle. Here, the director in a lively comedy style convincingly proves that family is more than standards and traditions.
"Commission" is the brilliant Hugo Weaving as a repentant sinner living in extreme poverty. In his shack one day comes a son, whom our hero has not seen for many years, between them will be extremely frank conversation, allowing each side to understand a lot. This short film could well have been turned into a feature-length by Gordon-Green, as the story is definitely in his style - seemingly simple, but internally complex. And in “Turning Moments” it was put by David Wenham, known to the audience for the role of Faramir in “The Lord of the Rings”.
“Fog” is a story about a kind of police lawlessness, in which the initial data do not matter, but only the consequences and awareness of what happened to the participants. This story has the potential to become a full-length detective.
"Boner McPharlin's Moll" is a very unpleasant story both in its incarnation and in its content. A story about a strange old man, in which you may find something worthwhile, or perhaps not. His exclusion from the cycle would not be a great loss.
"Immunity" - beautiful shots and beautiful music, used to reveal the theme of love and loneliness. Without words and direct appeals to the viewer, the director makes a film intended for everyone and for each individual. Almost exemplary work in the indie genre, which could become a theatrical production in a fashion gallery of art.
"Defender" - if the ending was supposed to sound like a strong chord, then with this short film, this is not achieved. Difficult relationships between spouses and their relatives are not that it looks quite a failure, but clearly not winning, but meets the idea of the presence of turning points.
The main technique that is worked out by the directors of a short meter to shine is the ability to dramatically change the direction of the narrative and show everything not as it seemed at first glance. In a slightly different form, this can be expressed in the use of allegory, without which in the time interval up to 20 minutes can not do. And how well these two forms of artistic expression are applied in a particular case depends on whether the short movie will win the heart of the viewer.