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Newcastle
by WOLFE VIDEO
| List Price: |
$24.95 |
| Price: |
$22.49 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
| You Save: |
$2.46 (9%) |
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DVD
WOLFE VIDEO
Publisher: WOLFE VIDEO
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Actors: Lachlan Buchanan, Kirk Jenkins, Shane Jacobson), Reshad Strik, Israel Cannan
NEWCASTLE (DVD MOVIE)
You re Only Young Forever Once.
A week before the Junior Surf Pro final, Jesse (Lachlan Buchanan) is determined to snatch the title from his best mate, Andy (Kirk Jenkins). Victory would mean a one-way ticket out of Newcastle and a career beyond his predestined future working on the dry dock with his father Reggie (Shane Jacobson) and older half-brother, Victor (Reshad Strik), a surfing champion himself until hit with a serious injury and now the local bad boy.
Jesse resolves to succeed where Victor failed to become a world-class champion surfer. Yet before Jesse gets his chance, he is disqualified for reckless surfing in the lead-up trial.
As a diversion, Jesse s surfing mates Andy, Scotty (Israel Cannan) and Nathan (Ben Milliken) plan a momentous weekend of waves and hedonism with some local girls Debra (Debra Ades) and Leah (Rebecca Breeds). Much to Jesse s dismay, Fergus (Xavier Samuels), Jesse s geeky, fraternal twin brother who has never even set foot on a surfboard, gets to tag along. Upon reaching the sand dunes, the teenagers swim, surf, flirt and party long into the night. Fergus is entranced by Andy, who is not at all threatened and accepts Fergus for who he is.
First light and the posse hit the waves. Andy introduces the painfully, uncoordinated Fergus to surfing. Fergus manages to catch a wave after many attempts and is elated but not for too long. When Victor and his gang arrive at the isolated beach and decide to claim the surf break, an unofficial contest ensues. The angry waves close out on the inexperienced Fergus. Victor, Andy and Jesse struggle under a rogue wave. Boards fly in the white water.
Fergus desperately reaches the surface to discover a tragedy unfolding.
Throughout it all, Jesse struggles to find his own identity and a reason to surf.
| Customer Reviews: |
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| New Era for Australian Mainstream Cinema |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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This is beautifully filmed and realistically portrays a current-day young generation enjoying beachside life on Australia's southeast coast.
It is refreshing, as it portrays straight/gay and gay/straight relationships . . . and doesn't seek to be classified (stereotyped) into either.
This is a film for the young . . . and for the family for that matter. Visually stunning.
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| Gorgeous movie. LGBT? NO WAY! |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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Buy this film if you want entertainment in the form of a gorgeously photographed and staged Aussie surf movie. Full of very pretty people, lots of skin and sun and sand and deep blue water, it's reminiscent of "Endless Summer". The young, unknown Aussie actors are fun and since they were chosen for their surfing skills first, they're clearly comfortable on their boards.
However, why this film is touted / marketed as an LGBT friendly picture is beyond me. Jesse's brother Fergus (referred to by Jesse's friends as "Fagus") is an allegedly gay character, but beyond a little almost-snuggle with Andy and some innocent banter about them both liking stars and astronomy, you'll never know for sure. The "gay" subplot in this film is beyond vapor thin and Fergus is stereotypically played as a shy, embarrassed goth-ish kid with black fingernails and constantly living in the shadow of his two very straight brothers. The main themes and scenes in the story are all about the straight boys and girls and, of course, the surfing.
The movie's not all that bad. It's reasonably well written and fairly well acted. The cinematography is terrific - particularly the water and surf footage. All in all, it's a well crafted piece of cinema, but everyone's got to STOP referring to this thing as an LGBT movie just because it's released by Wolf.
Buy it as an entertaining surf movie. Don't buy it as an LGBT movie.
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| A gorgeous, matter-of-fact coming of age film |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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What Newcastle is:
A movie about growing up
A movie about family and sibling rivalry
A movie about friendship
A movie about working-class Australian life
A movie about young men and their perspectives
A movie about ambition and desire
A movie about all aspects of the ocean, from the most joyous to the most dangerous
A movie with talented and natural young actors
A movie with fantastic music, especially the original songs by Israel Cannan, one of the actors
A movie with stunning cinematography, especially during the surfing scenes
A dvd with extras that struck me as quite fascinating, as they provide a really detailed look into all aspects of how an indie film gets made
What Newcastle is not:
A gay or straight film -- on one hand, the heterosexual relationships are much more explicitly shown, on the other, I found the relationship between Fergus and Andy to be much more engaging, functional, and complex
Hollywood in any way, shape, or form -- the storytelling is much more laconic, laid-back, and gritty, and the ocean and actors provide all the shine the movie needs
Perfect -- the storylines were a little uneven for me -- I was much more interested in a couple of the characters and their stories (Fergus!) than others (Jesse, unfortunately, given that if the movie can be said to have a protagonist, he's it); however, I noticed that other reviews highlight different characters as central, which leads me to believe that in a lot of ways, this is a true ensemble film, for better or for worse
Overall, I really enjoyed watching this beautiful, truthful film, and suspect I'll want to watch it again and again.
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| Spectacular Australian Surfing Setting for Family Dynamics |
| Customer Rating: 3 out of 5 |
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Newcastle's most immediate apparent strengths are its beautiful cinematography and the looks of its actors. The setting is around the busy titular port city about a hundred miles up the coast north of Sydney, Australia. Most of the characters compete and relate through surfing, but this is not at heart a surfing movie.
Despite appearances, the central character is the older brother, Victor Hoff (Reshad Strick), an embittered former surfing champion. When he injured his knee, he very assertively insisted his younger, twin step-brothers, Jesse (Lachlan Buchanan) and Fergus (Xavier Samuel), were not good enough to follow in his footsteps. Jesse was determined to show up Victor. Victor kept Fergus out of surfing altogether because Fergus needed glasses and was considered to be gay. Their longshoreman father, Reggie Hoff (Shane Jacobson) and the twins' mother, Flora Hoff (Joy Smithers), bought in on Victor's premise and were not demonstrably supportive of Jesse's competing or of Fergus' even learning about surfing. The father is shown counseling Victor or protecting the twins from Victor's physical intimidation but not trying to counsel the twins. Jesse buys into Victor's views of Fergus. Victor dominates.
Jesse's resentments cause him to compete too aggressively and unsafely. When things go wrong, he lashes out at his friends, Andy (Kirk Jenkins), Scotty (Israel Canaan), and Nathan (Ben Milliken). On a trip to the Stockton Dunes near Newcastle, Andy starts to teach Nathan how to surf, much to the disgust of Jesse. Just as Nathan starts having some success, Victor shows up with two tough surfer pals. As the going gets more competitive, the surf gets rougher too. When Victor takes the initiative to get Nathan out of harm's way, Jesse's hostile surfing and the rising waves make overwhelming trouble for Victor and Andy.
With Victor gone, the Hoff family has to recover from years of abuse. Bewildered Jesse has lost his reason for surfing. It takes a night conversation at the top of a sharktower with Fergus to get Jesse remotivated and a discrete nude romp in the surf with Fergus for the brothers to bond. The father does not give himself permission to watch Jesse compete until the father discovers that Victor kept newspaper clippings of Jesse's successes hidden away in Victor's trophies. With the removal of a powerful, controlling personality, each of the rest of the family could find a path to a fuller life and more supportive family relationships.
The extras are a commentary track by the director and crew, three trailers, a making-of, four Wolfe previews, and a contest entry. All the surfers show lots of skin, there is a night with sex with two girl friends and within a budding gay relationship. The soundtrack is very good, the acting is good enough, and most viewers should enjoy the film.
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| Made by straights for straights! Terrible... |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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This is not a gay film. The gay character is a fringe one and a shameful stereotype. There is plenty of heterosexual sex scenes but absolutely no man-on-man action. No touching, no kissing, no simulated sex between the boys.
Another interesting point about this film is the bonfire scene at the beach. This is an Australian film, filmed in Australia, with Australian actors, yet the characters are eating and mention "smores". This is not something most Australians would have any idea about and it is blatantly inserted into this scene to appeal to an American audience. I was watching with a group of other guys and all of them were like "smores?"
Don't waste your time or money. This film does not deserve your pink dollar/pound/yen/whatever!!
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