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The Duffies 2023

 

 

It’s been a fruitful season on Down Under Flix after some fallow years. In 2016, the first year of the site, 30 articles were published, followed by 32 articles in 2017. That decreased to 13 articles in 2018, two in 2019, one in 2020, eight in 2021, and three in 2022. With this, the 27th article of 2023, I’ve now matched the total number of articles from 2018–2022. In the spirit of celebration—and as a documented armchair Oscar commentator and loyal This Had Oscar Buzz listener—let’s hand out some awards. 

While I’ve published year-end best-of lists previously—see here and here—the Duffies will award films and creators across seven categories. All 42 films reviewed on Down Under Flix since May were considered. Winners are listed in bold, and nominees/runner-ups are listed alphabetically below.

Best Picture:

  • Dark City
  • Elvis
  • Flirting
  • Looking for Alibrandi
  • Malcolm
  • Puberty Blues

Three vital coming-of-age films, two big and bold directorial visions, and an evergreen oddball comedy. Elvis has stuck with me hard, warts and all, more than most films I’ve watched in 2023, and recency bias disposes me towards the poignant Flirting, but ultimately I’ll crown Dark City, a film criminally ignored by awards bodies in its year of release. 

Best Director:

  • Alex Proyas (Dark City)
  • Brian Trenchard-Smith (Deathcheaters)
  • John Duigan (Flirting)
  • Kate Woods (Looking for Alibrandi)
  • Nadia Tass (Malcolm)
  • Russell Mulcahy (Razorback)

Dark City again, in part to continue the reclamation project, but also because of the artfulness, scale, and complexity of the film and simultaneous economy of storytelling director Alex Proyas accomplishes. Having said that, all the filmmakers listed above pulled off something special in disparate ways. Even Razorback and Deathcheaters, admittedly imperfect films, showcase their directors’ thrifty ingenuity (the same could be said of the absent Baz Luhrmann on the similarly imperfect Elvis, though replace 'thrifty' with 'costly'), while John Duigan’s oft-invisible, intangible imprint on the perfect Flirting cannot really be quantified.

Best Actor:

  • Heath Ledger (Candy)
  • Austin Butler (Elvis)
  • John Hargreaves (Deathcheaters)
  • Noah Taylor (Flirting)
  • Patrick Brammall (Ruben Guthrie)
  • Rufus Sewell (Dark City)

I don’t think Rufus Sewell has ever matched his exceptional work in Dark City, and Austin Butler’s work in Elvis will be similarly tough for the rising star to surpass, but the late Heath Ledger’s raw work in Candy is unimpeachable. Hargreaves gives the least of the shortlisted performances here, but is effortlessly charismatic.

Best Actress:

  • Abbie Cornish (Candy)
  • Jad Capelja (Puberty Blues)
  • Joan Chen (The Home Song Stories)
  • Nell Schofield (Puberty Blues)
  • Pia Miranda (Looking for Alibrandi)
  • Thandie Newton (Flirting)

There’s a tendency to award 'Most Acting' in these categories, and a case can certainly be made that Abbie Cornish does the most acting in Candy, a sharp contrast to Thandie Newton’s quietly riveting performance in Flirting. But like co-star Ledger, it’s incredible and unimpeachable work. 

Best Supporting Actor:

  • Jack Thompson (Ruben Guthrie)
  • Charles Dance (Black and White)
  • David Gulpilil (The Last Wave)
  • John Hargreaves (Malcolm)
  • Kiefer Sutherland (Dark City)
  • Tony Martin (Candy)

Like Sewell, I don’t think Kiefer Sutherland’s ever been as good as he is in Dark City. I also enjoy few things more than Charles Dance glowering with contempt, and Tony Martin has several devastating moments in Candy. But Thompson’s turn in Ruben Guthrie is magic: at once benevolent and sinisterly seductive, and a companion/bookend of sorts to his small role in Wake in Fright decades earlier.

Best Supporting Actress:

  • Miranda Richardson (Rams)
  • Greta Scacchi (Looking for Alibrandi)
  • Harriet Dyer (Ruben Guthrie)
  • Nicole Kidman (Emerald City)
  • Nicole Kidman (Flirting)
  • Odessa Young (Looking for Grace)

A close race and a great mix of ingénue performances (including Nicole Kidman x 2) and screen veterans (Greta Scacchi, Miranda Richardson). The always reliable, perennially underrated import Richardson takes the gong.

Best Screenplay:

  • Melina Marchetta (Looking for Alibrandi)
  • Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs and David Goyer (Dark City)
  • David Williamson (Emerald City)
  • John Duigan (Flirting)
  • Margaret Kelly (Puberty Blues)
  • Richard Lowenstein (He Died with a Felafel in His Hand)

Four adaptations, one high-concept original, and one somewhat autobiographical screenplay. While much of Dark City’s abovementioned economy of storytelling derives from its honed script, my victor here is Melina Marchetta’s adaptation of her own novel. I’ve read that book, along with John Birmingham’s original He Died With a Felafel in His Hand, and both adaptations are strong, but Looking for Alibrandi’s screenplay is particularly savvy in its choices in translating the source to screen.

Til next year,

Ben 

 

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