Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation

Turn up the bass and prepare to blast your speakers because this has got to be one of the best opening sequences I have seen in a movie for a long time.

The final chapter in my Cinema Studies major ends with Australian Cinema, an in-depth look at the history of our nation's most unique and exciting art form with an indigenous twist. Most of the films we have seen so far have had an indigenous focus which I have appreciated however, my intention for studying the course was to finally see some of Australia's greatest film works and learn about the creatives behind them such as Peter Weir and Picnic At Hanging Rock (admittedly we did study Peter Weir and The Last Wave).

The course has now moved into the beginning of the end of the Renaissance period, a time where government policy allowed for a direct injection private funding for Australian filmmakers which resulted in the "Ozploitation" era. Ozploitation was a term coined by the enigmatic Quentin Tarantino who was a massive fan of the films in the 1970s and credits them for his success to date. The "genre" (this term is contested by some) is defined by excess; in sex, drugs, violence, blood, anything you can think of. The result was hundreds of films made with very low budgets, low production values, which were considered by some, such as Philip Adams, to be considered "trash" and not worth the breath of a critic.

Not Quite Hollywood is a celebration of all of these films. Written and directed by Mark Hartley, the film clearly reflects the 10 years of research he undertook and is incredibly well conceived. It features numerous interviews with some of the era's best known personalities (Brian Trenchard-Smith, Antony I. Ginnane, Barry Humphries and Philippe Mora to name a few) as well as hundreds of outtakes from the films themselves. I am in no way a fan of this style of film at all. I much prefer pleasant photography, classy characters, and normal narrative (yes, I am a purist and a boring person). However, after watching Hartley's film, I have a renewed appreciation for the effort these guys put into essentially, saving the Australian film industry from extinction. My bra, in true Ozploitation style, goes off to you boys.