The Last Wave (1977)

Well, another Aussie flick in honor of Exiled at 24fps, heh. I really like Weir's Hollywood films, Truman Show, Master and Commander, so I've wanted to check out his ol' Aussie films for a while. I decided to go with The Last Wave and was really impressed. In some ways, it's a standard supernatural/psychological thriller/mystery, you know, that genre. But, it really transcends it to become a nightmarish adventure of a film.

I like the way that you're not beaten over the head with the Burton/water connection early on. In fact, if you go into the film without much prior knowledge, it just might go unnoticed until late in. All of the rain, water, drizzle, hail, puddles, are all well-photographed, evoking not only horror in parts, but beauty as well. It must have been extremely hard to work with so much water, but the effect is stunning.

I loved the beginning of the film, the school that gets bombarded with rain, hail and wind. It really seems like complete chaos has been unleashed, and is a great note on which to start off such an unusual film .

The theme of the film seems to be nature meets civilization, the way the tribes operate in the city unnoticed, and the way the natural elements like wind and rain tear through the man-made city. Kind of reminded me of Reggio's brilliant Koyaanisqatsi. But, the message, if it has any, is kind of unclear. But, I don't think that Weir is really trying to say much with The Last Wave, just telling a very compelling story. And at that, he really succeeds here.