26 of the Best Films from Australia
As an Australian and a big fan of film I'm rather proud of our still rather small countries track record.
A lot of you will already be familiar with some well received or well known Aussie films such as Babe, Mad Max, Wolf Creek, Rabbit-Proof Fence, (the utterly insulting) Australia, Shine, Moulin Rouge!, or even just Crocodile Dundee.
The following, however, I like a lot more.
If you are at all interested in good film I sincerely recommend checking out the titles on this list. I think Aussie film maintains a slightly unique flavour, much like our character, which I'm sure many people will love if they give it a chance.
There's a bit of everything in here, from comedy and drama, to action and horror. Let me know what you think, and please feel free to recommend me more!
Here's my top 26 Australian films (in alphabetical order). It certainly wasn't easy.
A lot of you will already be familiar with some well received or well known Aussie films such as Babe, Mad Max, Wolf Creek, Rabbit-Proof Fence, (the utterly insulting) Australia, Shine, Moulin Rouge!, or even just Crocodile Dundee.
The following, however, I like a lot more.
If you are at all interested in good film I sincerely recommend checking out the titles on this list. I think Aussie film maintains a slightly unique flavour, much like our character, which I'm sure many people will love if they give it a chance.
There's a bit of everything in here, from comedy and drama, to action and horror. Let me know what you think, and please feel free to recommend me more!
Here's my top 26 Australian films (in alphabetical order). It certainly wasn't easy.
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- 26 titles
- DirectorDavid MichôdStarsJames FrechevilleGuy PearceJoel EdgertonA seventeen-year-old navigates his survival amongst an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him.
- DirectorIvan SenStarsDannielle HallDamian PittJenna Lee ConnorsLena is the daughter of an Aboriginal mother and Irish father and Vaughn is a Murri boy doing time in a minimum security prison in North West NSW. Dramatic events throw them together on a journey with no money and no transport.
- DirectorRowan WoodsStarsDavid WenhamToni ColletteLynette CurranBrett Sprague is a violent and psychopathic man, who is released on parole after serving a sentence for assault. As he returns to his family house and we watch him and his brothers, Stevie and Glenn, for the next 24 hours, it becomes clear this day will not end well.
- DirectorRob SitchStarsMichael CatonAnne TenneyStephen CurryA working-class family from Melbourne, Australia fights city hall after being told they must vacate their beloved family home to allow for infrastructural expansion.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsEric BanaSimon LyndonVince ColosimoChopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller.
- DirectorTony AyresStarsJoan ChenYuwu QiJoel LokA man remembers his childhood and his mother, a Chinese night club singer who struggled to survive in Australia with her two children.
- DirectorKriv StendersStarsSamuel JohnsonColin FrielsJessica Napier"The Illustrated Family Doctor" is a dark comedy, that centres on the story of Gary Kelp, a young man who condenses reference books for a company called the Info Digest.
- DirectorClayton JacobsonStarsShane JacobsonTravis GollandChris DavisThis hilarious mockumentary film follows the numerous misadventures of a porta-john worker through both his personal and professional life, including an oddly glamorous excursion to the Pumper and Cleaner Expo in Nashville, TN.
- DirectorRay LawrenceStarsAnthony LaPagliaGeoffrey RushRachael BlakeThe relationships of four couples unravel after the discovery of a young woman's body in Lantana bush in suburban Sydney.
- DirectorRowan WoodsStarsCate BlanchettSam NeillHugo WeavingA woman trying to escape her past becomes embroiled in a drug deal.
- DirectorSarah WattStarsMary KostakidisJustine ClarkeDaniela FarinacciDuring one unusually hot and tragic weekend, four people struggle after hearing some life-changing news. This, in turn, brings them together.
- DirectorKate WoodsStarsGreta ScacchiAnthony LaPagliaElena CottaAt seventeen Josie Alibrandi is about to enter her final year as a scholarship student at an exclusive Catholic College. It's the year her life is turned upside down and changed forever.
- DirectorScott RyanStarsScott RyanBen WalkerMassimiliano AndrighettoA Melbourne hitman who is simultaneously ruthless and caring and volatile. 'Filmed' by his media student for a university assignment, Ray is under contract to kill a low life of the Melbourne underworld when a more tempting offer is made.
- DirectorMatthew SavilleStarsBrendan CowellMaia ThomasKatie WallThis is a story about the wrong person in the right place at the wrong time. Two heinous crimes have left a suburban town reeling.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRachel RobertsAnne-Louise LambertVivean GrayDuring a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.
- DirectorJohn CurranStarsPeter FentonSacha HorlerMarta DusseldorpAn unfocused twentysomething (Peter Fenton) moves in with a former co-worker (Sacha Holder), who is suffering from low self-esteem because of her weight, looks, and a case of eczema. Their relationship is based on unending drink, drugs, and sex. Curiously, though the two are presented in a tender and humorous light that lets the viewer get involved in concerned about their direction.
- DirectorJohn HillcoatStarsRay WinstoneGuy PearceEmily WatsonA lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him nine days to kill his older brother, or else they'll execute his younger brother.
- DirectorGeoffrey WrightStarsRussell CroweDaniel PollockJacqueline McKenzieA group of skinheads become alarmed at the way their neighbourhood is changing.
- DirectorRichard RoxburghStarsEric BanaFranka PotenteMarton CsokasIt tells the story of Romulus, his beautiful wife, Christina, and their struggle in the face of great adversity to bring up their son, Raimond. It is a story of impossible love that ultimately celebrates the unbreakable bond between father and son.
- DirectorWarwick ThorntonStarsRowan McNamaraMarissa GibsonMitjili Napanangka GibsonA glue-sniffing boy and his girlfriend escape the government-controlled no-hope Aboriginal community they live in and go to the city, Alice Springs, looking for a better life.
- DirectorJustin KurzelStarsLucas PittawayDaniel HenshallLouise HarrisBased on true events, 16-year-old Jamie falls in with his mother's new boyfriend and his crowd of self-appointed neighborhood watchmen, a relationship that leads to a spree of torture and murder.
- DirectorHenri SafranIan GoddardStarsGreg RowePeter CumminsDavid GulpililMike is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.
- DirectorRolf de HeerPeter DjigirrStarsCrusoe KurddalJamie GulpililRichard BirrinbirrinIn Australia's Northern Territory, a man tells us a story of his people and his land. It's about an older man, Minygululu, who has three wives and realizes that his younger brother Dayindi may try to steal away the youngest wife.
- DirectorRobert ConnollyStarsDavid WenhamFrances O'ConnorSarah WynterTHREE DOLLARS is the story of Eddie, an honest, compassionate man who finds himself with a wife, a child, and three dollars. Eddie's world revolves around the three women in his life: his brilliant wife Tanya, a passionate academic, their six year old daughter Abby, who heightens the stakes on every decision Eddie makes, and his childhood sweetheart, the beautiful, privileged Amanda, who re-appears in his life with mathematical certainty every nine and a half years. Surviving with a blend of self-depreciating wit, spirited sensitivity and a big heart, his life is rich with the pleasures and pains of love, family, friendship and marriage. But with only three dollars to his name Eddie will be faced with a choice that will change the direction of his life forever.
- DirectorRolf de HeerStarsDavid GulpililGary SweetDamon GameauFanatic is a government trooper who is heading an expedition to find an Aboriginal man accused of murdering a white woman. Others in the expedition are the Follower, a greenhorn trooper, the Veteran, and the Tracker.
