John Hillcoat:
The Proposition (Australia/United Kingdom, 2005)
Production: Autonomous, Jackie O Productions, Pictures in Paradise Pty. Ltd., Surefire Film Productions LLP
104 min - 35 mm. English. Finnish subtitles.
Not for persons under 15 years of age.
The Proposition is the first film script written solely by the Australian musician Nick Cave, better known for his dark murder ballads and tender love songs. It is an attempt to bring back to the western film genre the raw physicality and poignance that made the films by Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah such unforgettable classics. Together with director John Hillcoat, Cave paints a harshly handsome picture of the badlands of 19th-century Australia, the land of blood and sweat as well as astonishingly beautiful sunsets.
The script, cynically emphasising the darkness of human life, is supported by long, slow, austerely magnificent shots. Music composed by Cave himself together with The Bad Seeds violinist Warren Ellis sets the pace to the story of the brutal Burns brothers and the hard-handed captain Stanley until the very desolate end. The Proposition is a must choice for anybody attracted to Nick Cave's music or Western films.
