Return Home

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Return Home
Return Home 1990 poster.jpg
Directed by Ray Argall
Written byRay Argall
Produced byCristina Pozzan
Starring Dennis Coard
Frankie J. Holden
Ben Mendelsohn
CinematographyMandy Walker
Edited byKen Sallows
Release dates
  • 2 August 1990 (1990-08-02)(Australia)
  • 3 August 1990 (1990-08-03)(United States)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$350,000 [1]
Box officeA$236,252 [1]

Return Home is a 1990 Australian drama film directed by Ray Argall. Argall won the AFI Award for Best Director in 1990 and Frankie J. Holden was nominated for Best Actor in a Lead Role. [2]

Contents

Plot

Noel McKenzie is a successful but divorced insurance broker in Melbourne. He returns briefly to hometown Adelaide where his brother Steve operates a traditional service station and workshop. Steve has a happy family life but is struggling to compete with more modern gas stations with convenience stores and self-service bowsers. Over time the brothers reconcile to each other’s life choices and recognise value in the family life they had in the suburb they grew up in.

Cast

Joe Camilleri appears as a busking friend of Noel.

Production

The film was funded by the Australian Film Commission and Film Victoria with no private investment. It was shot in Adelaide over six weeks in FebruaryMarch 1989 on 16mm but the AFC agreed to blow it up to 35mm. [1]

Argall and the cast rehearsed for four weeks prior to filming. [3] He said he worked on the script for seven years prior to the shoot. [4]

Box office

Return Home grossed $236,252 at the box office in Australia. [5]

See also

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Raymond Charles Argall is best known as a cinematographer and director for both film and television. He has also worked as an editor. His multi-award-winning feature film Return Home (1990) is regarded by many critics as an Australian cinema classic. Argall served on the board of the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) for sixteen years, holding the position of president from 2006 to 2015 and secretary from 2015 to 2017. In 2016, Argall launched a business restoring archival films through his production company Piccolo Films. In 2018 the ADG presented him with its prestigious Cecil Holmes Award.

References

  1. 1 2 3 David Stratton, The Avocado Plantation: Boom and Bust in the Australian Film Industry, Pan MacMillan, 1990 p121
  2. IMDb awards
  3. Scott Murray, "Ray Argall: Return Home", Cinema Papers, March 1990 p26-32
  4. "Interview with Ray Argall", Signet, 13 March 1998 Archived 22 February 2013 at archive.today Retrieved 17 November 2012
  5. Film Victoria - Australian Films at the Australian Box Office

Further reading