The 10 Australian films to look out for in 2023 – The Guardian
What do Eric Bana, the Wiggles and a child-stealing spirit have in common? They’re all teaming up to star in a new musical comedy from the director of The Dry! Just kidding. But they are all in Australian films set to come out later this year, both in cinemas and on streaming platforms. Here are 10 to look out for.
Transfusion
The trailer for Transfusion
Where and when: cinemas now; on Stan from 20 January
Aussie star Sam Worthington will ditch the motion-capture suits he wore in Avatar: Way of the Water and appear as his plain old self in writer/director Matt Nable’s crime thriller, starring as a PTSD-afflicted former special forces operative who is “thrust into the criminal underworld to keep his only son from being taken from him”. The premise seems very … Liam Neeson, with an ultra stock-standard title to boot. Let’s hope Nable can turn it into something memorable.
Force of Nature
Where and when: TBC
The Eric Bana-led adaptation of Jane Harper’s novel The Dry made big business at the Australian box office, taking more than $20m. Bana reunites with director Robert Connolly to adapt Harper’s follow-up, Force of Nature, which inserts federal police agent Aaron Falk into another mystery, this time involving a woman who disappears during an expedition into the wilderness. The novel was described by Guardian critic Amanda Coe as “Deliverance with oestrogen, or a menopausal Picnic at Hanging Rock”.
Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles
The original Wiggles cast: (from left) Murray Cook, Jeff Fatt, Greg Page and Anthony Field, pictured in 2022. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian
Where and when: Amazon Prime Video, date TBC
Hot potato hot potato! Cold spaghetti cold spaghetti! Mashed banana mashed … I forgot the next bit. But I do know the Wiggles are, as they say, bigger than Jesus, and also far more colourfully clothed. Director Sally Aitken is guaranteed a large built-in audience for her feature-length Amazon Prime …….