Underplayed Gems

The FJ Holden (1977)

The FJ Holden poster
Directed by
Michael Thornhill
Genre
drama film
Country
Australia
Runtime
1h 51m
Rated
NR
Rating
5.2 of 10 from 12 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

The film follows a group of young men in 1970s suburban Sydney as they hang out, drink, and struggle to balance friendship with romantic relationships. It shows their aimless lives in a place that offers little hope or direction.

bleakrawslow-pacedmelancholicgrittyunsettlingrealisticdourmundane

What happens

The FJ Holden is a 1977 Australian film directed by Michael Thornhill. The FJ Holden is a snapshot of the life of young teenage men in Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia in the 1970s and deals with the characters' difficulty in reconciling mateship with respect for a girlfriend. Debi Enker in Australian Cinema comments: "The FJ Holden presents the suburbs as a cultural and spiritual desert. It is a place where regular bouts with the bottle are the only antidote for lives without hope or direction." The film initially received a R classification from the Australian Film Board of Review, but after an appeal to the censors it was revised to a M classification for moderate sex scenes and moderate coarse language. However, all states except Victoria and New South Wales exercised their right to override the Commonwealth decision and retained the R classification. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

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