Lantana | | Cast : | Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush | | Director : | Ray Lawrence (II) | | Studio : | Lions Gate Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 01, 2001 | | DVD Released Date : | May 21, 2002 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | May 03, 2005 | | Summary | A film on the quiet sins of omission and happenstance | Content
 | "Lantana" begins with the camera revealing a dead body in a wooded thicket. The obvious questions are whose body is it, how did it get there, and who did it? After all a dead body pretty much signifies a murder mystery, but this 2001 film from director Ray Lawrence, adapted by Andrew Bovell from his play "Speaking in Tongues," does not fit the conventions of that genre. The is a cop, Detective Leon Zat (Anthony LaPaglia), but what is important is not that he is on the case of the woman who shows up missing but that his life is already connected to her.
Who is the woman whose body is waiting in the thicket to be discovered is not really a secret in the film, but there is a moment or two when you suspect it might not be who you think it is going to be and I think you should let this film reveal itself to you the same way it revealed itself to me. That is because the chance meetings of strangers and acquaintances end up with some unexpected resonances as the story proceeds. The only mistake is to expect there to be any big moments in this film, because it is about how small ones add up. This is a story where finding your house has been cleaned is adding insult to injury.
Detective Zat is the central character, not because he becomes the investigating officer for the case of the missing woman, but because he is the most obvious surrogate for the viewer. Zat is waiting for something big to happen. He is cheating on his wife and believes two one night stands do not constitute an affair. He has chest pains but does not think that is a warning of a heart attack. He resorts to violence with a suspect or a man on the street without much provocation. We wait for his life to explode, but instead it implodes.
His wife, Sonja (Kerry Armstrong) is seeing a psychiatrist, Valerie Somers (Barbara Hershey), to whom she confides that it would not be the physical betrayal that would hurt if Leon is having an affair, but the fact he would not tell her. Valerie is married to John Knox (Geoffrey Rush) and eighteen months ago their daughter was killed. She wrote a book and however he is dealing with the loss is buried beneath a facade his wife cannot penetrate. One of Valerie's clients Patrick Phelan (Peter Phelps) is a gay man who keeps talking about his married lover to the point that Valerie suspects the lover is her own husband. Jane O'May (Rachael Blake), the woman that Leon has been cheating with, is separated from her husband Pete (Glenn Robbins) and lives next door to Nik (Vince Colosimo) and Paula Daniels (Daniella Farinacci), a happily married couple.
The key to the film is how the characters who do not have obvious connections meet each other. Valerie and Pete meet on the street, which leads to Pete and Leon talking to each other in a bar. The film serves as a reminder that sins of omission can have consequences as serious as more overt acts. More importantly, as sins they are such small things, which serves to make there significance all the more surprising. When that one character disappears it affects the rest in subtle ways and with unexpected repercussions. The result is that "Lantana" is a quiet film, but one that runs much deeper than you would suspect. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 01, 2005 | | Summary | The Perfect Movie | Content
| Lantana unravels on screen much as a great novel unfolds on the page. Short scenes tied together by superior acting, tremendous writing and the perfect score make for an edge-of-your-seat, adult thriller that confounds and amazes.
This movie takes nothing for granted. There are no wasted characters, scenes, lines or afterthoughts. It is precise, economical and complimentary to those who enjoy not having their intelligence insulted by their movies.
Lantana introduces us to a finite universe where each character is either directly or indirectly related to each other, to tragedy, heartache and hope renewed. It is a shared secret amongst a community of shrouded truths.
I encourage you to not only watch this movie; but to study it as well. It is what all movies should be - masterful storytelling. I've given away nothing of the plot to ruin the experience for you. However, if you chose to devote two hours of your life, do so expecting amazement. But be sure to keep your five senses alert. This movie leaves no part of you untouched.
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| Rating | | | Date | September 17, 2004 | | Summary | Satisfying and Somber | Content
| I'm not sure how much play this Australian movie received in the U.S., but whatever it was it deserved more. In a great opening shot, it starts with the implication that there has been a murder, but it moves steadily into a study of people, basically four couples, and how they come together in ways that are deeply emotional and questioning. Anthony LaPaglia plays Leon Zat, a Sydney detective who is trying to find out who the body is and what happened. He's married, burned out, unhappy, with a lot of stuff ready to explode. He's having a joyless affair with a woman, but he loves his wife and kids. His wife sees the marriage falling apart and doesn't know what to do about it. She's been seeing a psychiatrist, but this woman has problems of her own...a daughter who was murdered and a husband who has become frozen emotionally.
I know, it sounds like some weekday soap. Believe me, it isn't. The actors are uniformily superb. Besides LaPaglia, there's Geoffrey Rush, Barbara Hersey, and a number of Australian actors who should be better known in the U.S. If you only know LaPaglia from cop and gangster roles, TV crime shows and as the thick-headed hood/nephew in The Client, you're in for a revelation. As good as LaPaglia is, Rush matches him in a performance that is subtle, ambiguous and sad.
It's a somber movie. I recommend it highly. The DVD transfer is very good |
| Rating | | | Date | July 06, 2004 | | Summary | Good movie! | Content
| Four couples are intertwined in this slow paced thriller. Eight persons are involved in different emotional levels, where the lpneliness and the hopeless are the common denominator from this very interesting human puzzle. La Paglia makes a sensnitive role ; obviously Hershey and Rish makes the conflictive couple in which the script will focuse. Rachel Blake as the lover of La Paglia is surprisingly good , she looks freh and very natural.
An australian film that will reward you. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 11, 2004 | | Summary | Great Australian Film | Content
| Clearly one of the finest Australian works of late. 'Lantana' draws upon some of Australia's finest acting talent and creative prowess. A film which singles Australia out as the leading source of high quality actors for the American film industry. A hugely sucsessful film in Australia, 'Lantana' is actually the script for a play by Andrew Bovell - "Speaking in Tongues" which was revived by Playbox (a leading Australian theatre company) in 2003 at the C.U.B Malthouse in Melbourne. |
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