Critical Review and Bibliography

Idiot Box

Chris Yates

Film Information

Australian Release Date — February 20 1997

Genre — Black Comedy/action

Budget - $800,000

Finance — Australian Film Finance Corp Ltd.

Director — David Caesar

Producer — Glenys Rowe

Screenplay — David Caesar

Cinematography — Joe Pickering

Cast — Order in Credits

Mick - Jeremy Sims

Kev - Ben Mendelsohn

Mum — Amanda Muggleton

Scary tv crims - Stephen Caeser, Chris Noonan, Mark Perry, Lenny Rowe

Tv Gangster Moll — Emma Tomm

Laughing boy Andrew S Gilbert

Bank Clerk — Michelle St Anne

Bank Teller — Gino Balestra

Terry — Paul Gleeson

Accomplice — Paul Kennedy

Lani — Robyn Loau

Luce — Susan Prior

Man with dog — Silvio Ofria

Betty — Susie Porter

Barmaid — Ceila Ireland

Arri — Cramer Cain

Detective Eric - Graeme Blundell

Detective Leanne — Deborah Kennedy

Crime scene cop — Martin Blacker

Frightened bank tellers — Barbera Morton, Duncan Wass, Fiona Press

Koala — Paul Dolce

DSS Woman — Michelle Lee

Sergeant — Peter Browne

CES Man — Darren Gilshenan

Headlights man — Garry Rowe

Colin — Stephen Rae

Jonah - John Polson

Kylie — Tiffany Barton

Bank teller with a history — David Wenham

Workshop owner — Simon Mills

Colins mum — Kim Hillas

Big bloke — Richard Carter

Bank teller — Rita Coffo

Box Office Figures

Idiot Box opened at number 10 in Australian theatres taking $26,650. In the same week the American horror movie Scream took the number one position which did nearly $140,000. The figures are from Urban Cinefile.

1st week $26,650
2nd week $20,751
3rd week $10,620
4th week $5925
5th week $5018

After the fifth week Idiot Box fell from the chart having taken a total of $98,113. I could not locate the final box office figure for the movies Australian cinema release.

Interviews

I only found one interview, which was found on the internet. The interview is with the films director and producer. It can be found at - www.dcita.gov.au which is the Department of Communications, Info tech and Arts, under the article title - "Makin' movies". This interview is about the film and how hard it was for the film makers to get funding for the project. It is an interesting read.

Books, magazines, newspapers, and online presence

It was hard to find a wealth of information about this film, although it received great reviews at the time it was not a blockbuster success. I believe that this is part of the reason why there is not a great deal written about this film. Maybe if it was more of a ‘quality film’ it would have more written about it. Most of the material found was simply reviews of the film on film database sites. I could not find any fan sites specifically made to honour this particular film, such as the ones you would find for a movie such as James Cameron’s blockbuster Titanic (1996).

Critical review of the film in books is hard to find, the Murdoch Library has little to offer about either Idiot Box or it’s director David Caesar. Part of the reason for this is that David Caesar had only made one film prior to this, a comedy called Greenkeeping. Other than that he had only made documentary films informing us on such topics as the funeral industry, and car accidents, as well as some TV work. Reviews of the film can be found in Australian newspaper archives from the year of its release.

In searching for information on Idiot Box I used the Infoseek search engine, Dogpile search engine, the Australian Cultural Networks search engine, and the Australian Film Commission site search engine. The Murdoch culture and communication reading room site had no information about this film.

Here are some sites which contain reviews and information regarding Idiot Box

In Print -

Part 2 — "Maximum fear, minimum time

Review

Idiot Box is a movie that closely follows the lives of two unemployed youths — Mick and Kev, who in their boredom and quest for excitement decide to rob a bank. Their lifestyle revolves around the pub/bottleshop, drinking beer, usually of the ‘vitamin b’ variety (Victoria Bitter), going to the CES, collecting their dole cheques, and also watching and analysing crime shows on the TV. Kev, played by Ben Mendelsohn is a very angry young man, who vents his anger at almost any opportunity. During the course of the film after being told by Mick that he needs a hobby, Kev tells us that being angry is his hobby. Mick on the other hand, played by Jeremy Sims is quiet in comparison, and also somewhat more intelligent. Mick considers himself somewhat of a street poet, and also an expert on TV crime thrillers.

Along the way we are taken for an outrageous and humorous ride as we watch Kev and Mick finding ways to kill the boredom of life on the dole. They manage to find strife at almost every turn. They get on the bad side of dog owners, security guards, charity collectors, a drug and gun dealer, a private car owner, amongst others. They really do not get on with anyone in a really positive way. I think this helps to highlight the way that youths at this period of time are perceived to get along with other members of society.

Being a so called ‘expert’ crime thrillers, Mick comments that TV bank robbers always do five things wrong, Kev says to Mick that knowing this, robbing a bank should be easy. Kev comes up with the creed — ‘maximum fear, minimum time’. Their lives seem to be going no where, and no where fast. They eventually decide to go through and plan a robbery of their local bank — a quiet suburban branch. Unbeknownst to them, two city detectives have narrowed down the same local branch to be the next branch hit by a prominent bank robber who has almost robbed every other bank of this kind.

This successful bank robber is supporting his wife’s heroin habit, which is shown in a very bad light, bringing a human element into the story. It makes the viewer feel sympathy not for the addict, but the actual bank robber, who is in a way forced to commit these crimes out of pure love for his wife. It also is making the statement that heroin not only targets the poor and down trodden, but also affects professional people. The first time we see her being injected with heroin she is still in her nurses uniform, in their nice apartment, which is a far cry from the dirty alleyways and houses that are normally associated with the drug.

You can see it coming a mile off that the paths of the three parties are bound to cross at some point during the film. In a way this is Tarantino-esque, as this type of occurrence seems to be the norm in his films. The parties all come together on the day that Mick and Kev decide to rob the branch, oddly enough they try to rob the bank at the same time and end up arguing over who is actually robbing the bank. Their problems really begin after Kev arranges to buy some guns from a local criminal named Colin. Colin is brought in by the detectives on a drugs charge, with the hope that he will ‘dog’ for them and give them any information he may come across regarding a bank robbery. He declines their offer, until Kev rips off the guns by beating up the gun runner at the deal. Colin then informs the police that this pair of losers have guns, and the police then sit and wait for Mick and Kev to spring into action.

I find the way that Kev is portrayed in this film to be particularly interesting. He is as mentioned before, an extremely angry young man. He is very full on and confronting in this film. I believe that he thinks the way that he is behaving is the way that an Aussie male should act. He has numerous violent outbursts against others, for example a car driving behind them flashes its high beams. Kev stops the car, gets out and abuses the driver and then proceeds to smash his car’s headlights with a tyre lever. He says to the driver that his actions were "very rude, very f*cking rude!". This is only one example of Kev venting his frustrations against society.

David Caesar defends his characters energy and aggression by saying

"The thing which sets this film apart is that I try to capture the essence of young male energy, which very few films do. I'm always amazed that people make all these films about boys in their late teens or early 20s and they don't have that level of energy I remember having and I remember my friends having when I was that age." (www.dcita.gov.au)

The film is set entirely in Sydney's western suburbs which is captured beautifully by Joe Pickering's photography. The emptiness of these suburbs is shown and helps us to identify part of why Kev and Mick are who they are. Out of boredom and lack of money they wander the streets searching for some form of excitement, that is when they are not watching the idiot box — hence the title. They get chased by security guards, a koala suit wearing man (a hilarious sequence), do donuts on an oval in a stolen car, and argue with a dog owner just to list a few. Having grown up in the suburbs myself, I can identify with some of the things they did during the film. I think it accurately captures what a fair amount of young males feel and get up to in their youth. (most don’t plan armed robbery though!)

This movie is completely Australian. The way that they dress in full ‘bogan’ style clothes, which consists of an array of flannel often wrapped around the waist, tight black jeans and boots. They both even have the ‘mullet’ haircut — long at the back and short on the sides! The language used could be described as none other than completely Australian. It is very colourful and parts would be hard for international audiences to understand without an interpreter. One of the more notable topics up for discussion in this film was oral sex, which was not a very ‘tasteful’ discussion, as those who have seen the film would know!

Critical Uptake

When Idiot Box was released it was well received by critics. I have not yet found a bad review of this film. It is hard to see why this film did not do better at the box office. It was not a hit internationally either. I do not think it was made to appeal to international audiences, due to the slang language used. Australian Playboy in its review said

"With Idiot Box David Caesar finally says something worth saying — and says it with a very personal style." (April 1997 : 17)

Variety International film Guide described the film as "one of the highlights of the year" (1998 : 97).

In a media release from the Melbourne Catholic Church, Father Peter Malone stated that -

"David Caesar's skill is in making Idiot Box a raw, keenly observed, challenging story which runs for under 90 minutes. He is contributing to the crusade against violence in our world by showing a rough and ready picture of its futility." (www.melb.catholic.aust.com/topics/film7.html) I found his comments on the film quite interesting.

Idiot Box did receive 6 AFI awards nominations, but failed to win any, including


Production and Release

I could not find any information regarding the production of the film other than it was shot in Australia in Sydneys Western Suburbs. It was made on a small budget of $800,000 and was financed by the Australian Film Finance Corp Ltd. I could not find details of the promotion that the movie received, but from memory I do not remember it to be a huge advertising campaign. The soundtrack that was released after the movie was successful, featuring Australian artists such as Magic Dirt, You Am I, and The Mark of Cain.

Prior Work

David Caesar did not have much of a feature film history before this movie. He was more recognised for his documentary films which addressed topics such as the funeral industry and car accidents. His only other movie also a comedy, was titled Greenkeeping (1991). Here is a complete list of the other work that he has done both before and after, taken from the Production Book website.

1999 Stingers (TV)
1998-99 Water Rats (TV)
1998 Wildside (TV)
1997 Halifax f.p. (TV)
1996 Idiot Box (Film)
1995 Bananas In Pyjamas (TV)
1995 Carcrash (Doco)
1994 Convictions (Doco)
1993 The Feds (TV)
1992 GP (TV)
1992 The Flying Doctors (TV)
1991 Greenkeeping (Film)
1990 Bodyworks (Doco)

Because he has not had a very prolific feature film career it is hard to really hard to compare this film to any of his other work. His documentary films are slightly offbeat and apart from Bananas in Pyjamas and Greenkeeping, all of his other work has been television drama. This does not keep with his confronting comedic style that he shows in Idiot Box. Caesar also wrote the script for this movie and has also written for the TV show Big Sky (1997) and his film Greenkeeping.

This film does not really contain any box office megastars such as Mel Gibson or Nicole Kidman. This makes it hard to find information on many of the lead actors. Jeremy Sims is most famous for appearing in a raunchy television series titled Chances and Ben Mendelsohn has appeared in numerous films such as The Year My Voice Broke, Cosi, and Amy. He seems to be attracted to smaller budget films with interesting characters. Robyn Loau has not had any previous TV work, maybe except for Hey Hey its Saturday, where she performed with her pre Spice Girls pop group Girlfriend.

Relation to Australia as a Medium Size National Cinema

It is important for Australia to continue producing films like this. Idiot Box tells an Australian story in a way that only Australian film makers could. Send this idea to America and you would probably end up with a beautiful young cast, that would tell a completely different story. At the time that this film was made, there were other films around such as Geoffrey Wright’s Romper Stomper (1992), and Metal Skin that also show a confronting view of Australian youth. I think Idiot Box differs from these in the way that it shows a more real to life setting and situation, that probably more people can identify with.

I think that this film fits in with the discussion that the Australian national cinema is a medium sized English language cinema. It does nothing to change this description. If Idiot Box had have had a massive budget and international stars then it may not fit quite into this category. Because it is only a medium sized cinema, films like this do not get large budgets, such as those in the United States. I am sure some of the large Hollywood blockbuster movies have a catering budget larger than the one that David Caesar and his crew had to work with for this film.

Bibliography