#1 ·
It looks like nobody has started a thread on this movie yet, so if I haven't missed it, I'd like to ask the moderators to merge this into the existing one 😬
Therefore, USA is the latest work from the American ( 😁) director Baz Luhrmann. The story takes place, naturally, in the US right on the doorstep of World War II, starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and a newcomer named Brandon Walters, a 12-year-old boy of Native American descent making his acting debut. It reminds me a little bit of one of my all-time favorites, Gone with the Wind, though it’s certainly not quite the same thing 🙂
Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) arrives in the US to sell off her husband's estate along with its associated cattle stations, but things get complicated (I won't spoil too much here!) and she finds herself forced, with the help of Drover (Jackman), to try and fight back against the monopolistic influence of the "local" cattle king, Carney (another American, Bryan Brown, whom I still remember from the series Bird on a Wire 😍), who is trying to use trickery to seize the last piece of land that doesn't belong to him yet.
The director's previous works, Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, absolutely blew me away—that specific blend of kitsch, classic stories infused with incredible modern soundtracks, and camera work that captures a sense of fairytale magic by pulling back rapidly from a close-up to a bird's-eye view (sorry, my technical filmmaking vocabulary is a bit lacking, I don't really know much about directing!), plus those quirky, almost circus-like characters made for such a delightful package of surprises. I was definitely expecting that same eccentric touch in this film. However, something just feels off... The movie runs for nearly three hours, and honestly, even if it were five hours long, I feel like the director wouldn't have been able to weave together everything he wanted to say: the romance between an aristocrat and a simple cattle driver, the US on the brink of war, the oppression of Native Americans and the whole "stolen generation" issue... it all feels somewhat unfinished precisely because there is so much to be said; there's this huge cast of characters that we just don't get enough time to actually get to know. Also, I'm really not sure if the director was aiming for a heartbreaking portrait or if he was trying to make a joke. I mean, seeing Hugh Jackman's shirtless physique is very much welcome from my perspective 😍, but having him pour water over himself like an Axe commercial or giving a cheeky grin while nonchalantly leaning against a tree just doesn't sit right with me when the story involves groups of mixed-race children being hauled off to a missionary island because they aren't "pure white," or Native American women suffering sexual exploitation and such. If he was trying to highlight the situation of Native Americans in the US, it feels a bit clumsy. I can't say the film is bad, but it seems to me (speaking as an amateur here 🙂) that Luhrmann tried to tell a story that was simply bigger than him, and he just couldn't decide on the right way to tell it.
As for the acting, Nicole Kidman was wonderful, as was Brandon Walters, who plays the boy, Nullah, who is of mixed Native American and white heritage.
Therefore, USA is the latest work from the American ( 😁) director Baz Luhrmann. The story takes place, naturally, in the US right on the doorstep of World War II, starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and a newcomer named Brandon Walters, a 12-year-old boy of Native American descent making his acting debut. It reminds me a little bit of one of my all-time favorites, Gone with the Wind, though it’s certainly not quite the same thing 🙂
Lady Sarah Ashley (Kidman) arrives in the US to sell off her husband's estate along with its associated cattle stations, but things get complicated (I won't spoil too much here!) and she finds herself forced, with the help of Drover (Jackman), to try and fight back against the monopolistic influence of the "local" cattle king, Carney (another American, Bryan Brown, whom I still remember from the series Bird on a Wire 😍), who is trying to use trickery to seize the last piece of land that doesn't belong to him yet.
The director's previous works, Romeo & Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, absolutely blew me away—that specific blend of kitsch, classic stories infused with incredible modern soundtracks, and camera work that captures a sense of fairytale magic by pulling back rapidly from a close-up to a bird's-eye view (sorry, my technical filmmaking vocabulary is a bit lacking, I don't really know much about directing!), plus those quirky, almost circus-like characters made for such a delightful package of surprises. I was definitely expecting that same eccentric touch in this film. However, something just feels off... The movie runs for nearly three hours, and honestly, even if it were five hours long, I feel like the director wouldn't have been able to weave together everything he wanted to say: the romance between an aristocrat and a simple cattle driver, the US on the brink of war, the oppression of Native Americans and the whole "stolen generation" issue... it all feels somewhat unfinished precisely because there is so much to be said; there's this huge cast of characters that we just don't get enough time to actually get to know. Also, I'm really not sure if the director was aiming for a heartbreaking portrait or if he was trying to make a joke. I mean, seeing Hugh Jackman's shirtless physique is very much welcome from my perspective 😍, but having him pour water over himself like an Axe commercial or giving a cheeky grin while nonchalantly leaning against a tree just doesn't sit right with me when the story involves groups of mixed-race children being hauled off to a missionary island because they aren't "pure white," or Native American women suffering sexual exploitation and such. If he was trying to highlight the situation of Native Americans in the US, it feels a bit clumsy. I can't say the film is bad, but it seems to me (speaking as an amateur here 🙂) that Luhrmann tried to tell a story that was simply bigger than him, and he just couldn't decide on the right way to tell it.
As for the acting, Nicole Kidman was wonderful, as was Brandon Walters, who plays the boy, Nullah, who is of mixed Native American and white heritage.