Category Archives: Australian Aborigine

2013, Acorn TV, Australian, Australian Aborigine, Corruption, Detective, DNA, Drug Dealers, Failing Marriage, Father-daughter relations, Illegitimate Child, Lawyers, Missing Person, Mother-daughter relations, Murder, Murder Investigation, Racial Prejudice, Rape, Small Town Atmosphere, Suspense, Unmarried mother

Mystery Road (2013)

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From Acorn TV:

Two-time Oscar nominee Judy Davis (Feud, Life with Judy Garland) and award-winning actor Aaron Pedersen (Jack Irish) star in this Acorn TV Original drama set in the Australian outback. When two boys go missing from a cattle station, Detective Jay Swan (Pedersen) teams up with local cop Emma James (Davis) to investigate. But solving the mystery could expose other crimes that haunt the remote town.

From Acorn TV (all British empire) you can download this Australian series of 6 episodes (each roughly 50 minutes).

In 2013 Judy Davis was 58 and her character Emma James looks really weather beaten, which is probably appropriate for the Australian outback. After 6 episodes I finally accepted that Ms. Davis was right for the part: terse, tough, and determinedly honest.

In 2013 Aaron Pedersen (born in Alice Springs, Australia) was 43. He played Cam Delray in the 2018 Jack Irish series. His role shares many characteristics with the role of Emma James, especially his manner of talking as little as possible.

Injustice and its hopeful righting are often enough to keep me interested. Besides a wrongful conviction and jail sentence, the theme of racial prejudice against the indigenous aborigines is part of the injustice. Stay tuned to see if the bad guys get their comeuppance.

While enjoying this series very much, I also came to appreciate that I would NEVER live in such a remote area.

2008, Acceptable Trash, Acorn TV, Amusing banter, Australian, Australian Aborigine, B-movie, Brother-Brother relations, Corny at times, Divorce, Dysfunctional Lives, Explicit sex, Family Conflict, Father-son relations, Greed, Horses, Nothing special, Nudity, Police Culture, Prison, Sex Scenes, Soap Opera, Suicide, Surfing, Teenagers, Trailer Life

East of Everything (2008)

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From AcornTV :

In this addictive Australian drama, travel writer Art Watkins (Richard Roxburgh, Rake, Moulin Rouge!) is forced to return home to Broken Bay when his mother dies and dictates in her will that he reopen the family resort along with his estranged brother, Vance (Tom Long, SeaChange).

From IMDB:

2 brothers who are always at odds are forced by their just-deceased mothers’ strange will to work together and rescue her deteriorating backpack hostel called ‘far out east’. A small town, Broken Bay, is home to most, but not all, of the characters where they work, play and generally get into trouble. A funny, sometimes sad look into the lives of people who are just trying to be themselves.

From AcornTV (all things British) you can stream 2 seasons of this Australian soap opera.  Season 1 has 6 episodes. Season 2 has 7 episodes. Each episode is about an hour.

Even if it is only a B-grade soap opera, still it is relaxing to watch a show without violence, serial killers, and other grim features. Season one is self-contained but leads naturally into season 2.  Many of the characters are somewhat eccentric or hippie or dopey or all of the above.  Other adjectives such as corny or maudlin or predictable come to mind.

Not exactly an enthusiastic recommendation.

2015, Australian, Australian Aborigine, Barely Acceptable Trash, Bloody scenes, Cancer theme, Car Chase, Corny at times, Ends in Cliff Hanger, Fantasy, Gay theme, Love Story, Made For TV, Medical Theme, Mediocre, Motorcycles, Murder, Netflix Streaming, Police Culture, Revenge, Sci-Fi, Sex Scenes, Small Town, Sometimes seems silly, Violent, War, War Veterans, WWI

Glitch (2015)

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From Netflix:

James and Elishia keep the Risen under wraps while they try to make sense of what’s happening, and James makes a second shocking discovery.

From Netflix you can stream the 6 episodes of season 1 of this Netflix original.

At least 6 people climb out of their graves and interact with the living for 6 episodes. Mostly this is a mystery story which tries to solve not only how this resurrection is possible but also how each person died. It takes a character as many as 6 episodes to make that self-discovery, often to their great unhappiness. Curiosity kept me watching this mediocre, maudlin, barely acceptable piece of trash.

Surprisingly, this new production offers the audio and subtitles in many languages. Because the dialog is simple and basic, this is a good opportunity to use languages other than English. HOWEVER, the written scripts do not match the spoken scripts, which has been a flaw prevalent in many films for many years.

WARNING: Episode 6 ends with a huge cliff hanger. Just when you think you will learn the answers, the season ends.  Wait, I suppose, for a second season.

Abduction, Acceptable Science, Acorn TV, Asperger's Syndrome, Australian, Australian Aborigine, Brother-Brother relations, Clever Plot, Computer geeks, Conspiracy, Corruption, Drama, International thriler, Iran, Journalist, Kidnapping, Love Story, Medical Theme, Mental Illness, North Korea, Nuclear weapons, Politicians, Spy Theme, Suspense, Terminal Disease, Thriller, Torture, TV news industry, Violent, Wonderful acting

The Code (2014)

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From IMDB:

Two Canberra based brothers become entangled in a cover up that involves a remote outback community and key members of the Australian Government.

Acorn TV offers this Season One 6-episode conspiracy thriller.

How am I ever going to find another governmental intrigue series as exciting, well-crafted, dramatic, and spellbinding as “The Code”?

Give a rousing cheer to the Australian actor Dan Spielman who plays Ned Banks  and to the California-born actor Ashley Zukerman who plays Ned’s brother Jesse. They are the center of attention around whom the plot revolves. Ned’s constant caring for his severely Asberger’s disabled but computer gifted bother Jesse supplies most of the drama.  In addition Adele Perovic’s role as Hani Parande, who brings love into Jesse’s life, is stunning. For me the only recognizable actor was the New Zealand icon Lucy Lawless who plays Alex Wisham.

Another twenty well-cast characters provide complexity and quite of bit of drama on their own.

Needless to say, there is an enormous amount of digital displays, computer shenanigans, and other hocus-pocus.  Just believe that the geeks know what they are doing.

Once again it was the evil in the “bad guys” that kept me on edge waiting to see if they received their just deserts.  Not all “good versus evil” plots end with justice prevailing. But then a little ambiguity spices any plot.

Recently I read a comparison of American versus British thriller series. One point made was that the Americans drag their stories on for too long. This Australian series backs up that idea. There was not a wasted piece of writing in all six episodes.

DO NOT MISS!!!!!!!