STRANGE COLOURS

Australia, 2017, 86 minutes, Colour.
Kate Cheel, Justin Courtin, Daniel P.Jones.
Directed by Alena Lodkina.

When considering Strange Colours, it is best to check one’s mood, to check one’s admiration for cinematic colour photography, to check one’s interest in small-budget Australian dramas. If the answer comes up that these are important, then this film, supported by the Venice Biennale as well as Australian government film offices, goes on to the list. On the other hand, if the answer comes up that sometimes these are not so important, then best to check on reviews of the film.

For many, this is an admirable film from a young director, Alena Lodkina, Russian background, her first film, her writing and directing. For others, it is a very slow-burner, probably too slow for those who prefer pace rather than feeling like they are watching paint drying. Certainly diverse opinions.

The strange colours of the title actually refer to opals, very strikingly presented as background to the final credits. The location for this film is lightning Ridge, north-western New South Wales, a mixture of outback, desert, bush, mines. And, of course, the title could refer to the strange colours of the different characters.

There is some initial focus on mining and drilling but also highlighting the consequences for health, a young woman giving up her studies to come to visit her mining father from whom she has become alienated. He is impatiently in hospital, ready to get out.

The camera follows the young woman and the range of townspeople she meets, setting up in the house, getting some help from the locals, invited into their way of life, satisfying for those who are mining and looking for the opals, but also satisfying for those who are happy to move out of the big cities, preferring the isolation of the bush.

There are some emotional issues which come to the fore, a young woman coming to terms with her father, a rough diamond (opal) if ever there was. There is also an agreeable man to whom she forms an attachment, swimming, the sexual advance which he rejects – and her having to discover his traumatic story. There are some genial old blokes around Lightning Ridge, the pub where some of the young and old blokes go, pool tables, the young woman beginning to feel at home.

Whatever the response to the film, admiration or feelings of tedium, the audience can appreciate that this is a visit to a town that that very few are likely to visit and an opportunity to see and reflect on the characters and their way of life.

1. The title, opals and the variety of colours? The close-up in the final credits? And the strange colours of different people?

2. The work of the writer-director, her background from Europe, her first feature film?

3. North-western New South Wales, the town of Lightning Ridge, the importance of the opal mines, the diggings, the tunnels, the soil hills? The bush, the dirt roads, the lake? Homes, novels, huts, exteriors and interiors? The musical score?

4. The young woman, arriving by bus from the south, an alien world from what she was used to? The help, going to the hospital? Her father, miner, his health? Rugged, not wanting to be in hospital? The emerging story of the family background, his wife, his going to the mines, his tough life, separation from his daughter? His getting out of hospital, going home, the discussions with his daughter, his disappointment, her reactions, wanting to go? The empty house, her search for him, going down the mine, discovering him? His death? The funeral? The effect on her life in this experience of her father?

5. The old miner, tough, underground, the opals, his ambitions, leaving his family, ill, hospital, getting out, his later collapse down the mine, the rescue, his death? The importance
of his dialogue, expressing himself to his daughter, her response?

6. Frank, helpful, the drive, borrowing his car? His help with the house, setting her up? Going for the swim, the talk? Her sexual advance, his rejection, leaving? The later revelation about his story and the tragedy of the death of the child in the accident?

7. The range of old miners, their befriending the girl, their houses, the conversation, their philosophy of life, living away from the towns, happy in their own company? The socialising, friendship, golf…?

8. The pub, pool, the drinking, the comradeship in the pub?

9. The pathos of the story, quest, relationships, love? The opportunity for an outside audience to see something of the life in a place like Lightning Ridge?