Stone Bros.

Last updated

Stone Bros.
Stone Bros.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Richard Frankland
Written byRichard Frankland
William Bainbridge
Produced byRoss Hutchens
Colin South
John Foss
Starring Luke Carroll
Leon Burchill
Valentino del Toro
Peter Phelps
CinematographyJoseph Pickering
Edited byMeredith Watson Jeffery
Music by Shane O'Mara
Release date
  • 24 September 2009 (2009-09-24)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Budget$3,400,000
Box office$99,032

Stone Bros. (alternatively titled Stoned Bros) is a 2009 Aboriginal Australian stoner comedy film directed by Richard Frankland. [1] It was theatrically released in Australia on 24 September 2009.

Contents

Plot

Eddie (Carroll) is working as a cleaner in a museum in Perth, Western Australia, but loses his job because of an accident that sees a series of cardboard cutout images of Australia's Prime Ministers fall down in a domino effect, resulting in an image of John Howard landing on and killing his boss's cat.

When his cousin Charlie (Burchill) trades away Eddie's favourite jacket, he unwittingly loses a sacred stone, entrusted to Eddie by his uncle, which he promised to one day return to its home in Kalgoorlie. This is the final straw, as far as Eddie is concerned, and he sets off to recover the stone and reconnect with his aboriginal roots. Charlie, escaping the wrath of his vengeful girlfriend, forces himself along for the ride, and Eddie's spiritual journey takes a very sharp turn off-track.

Along the way, they pick up what Charlie mistakes for a "hot chick" only to find they are landed with Vinnie (del Torro), a self-described Italian rock star. Soon after they are joined by Eddie and Charlie's transgender cousin Regina (Page), who dreams of making it big on the Koori edition of Australian Idol , [2] and a confused European Australian cop (Phelps) who dreams of going walkabout. [3] [4]

Cast

Production

The film is widely regarded as the first feature length Aboriginal Australian comedy film. When asked why there were so few Aboriginal comedies, director Richard Frankland stated that:

Essentially we’ve been in a situation where in the early 1990s there were some 10,000 hours of film footage with Aboriginal content or subject matter, and over 90 per cent of that was written, directed and produced by non-indigenous people. So Wal Saunders began the Australian Film Commission's Indigenous Branch in 1993, with the support of Cathy Robinson who was the then CEO. And it went through the roof. That was the renaissance in my opinion of indigenous filmmaking. There have been individuals before who’ve stepped out, but all of a sudden both Warwick Thornton and I did that first [mentored] program, Sand to Celluloid, and now here we are doing feature films. So I think both Cathy and Wal deserve to be commended for what they did. It was absolutely courageous and so needed. It essentially changed the cultural landscape of Australia.

— Richard Frankland [5]

Box office

The film was released in Australian cinemas on 24 September 2009 and grossed $24,992 on its opening week in the Australia cinemas. The film ultimately grossed $99,032, making it the 235th highest-grossing film in Australia for 2009. [6]

Director Richard Frankland had originally hoped that teenagers would form a large part of the viewing audience for Stone Bros., however the film received an MA15+ rating, preventing this age group from seeing it at the cinema. This rating was supposedly given due to a deleted scene that involved marijuana buds being cut from a plant. [7]

Stone Bros is certainly not about cultivating drugs or enticing people to use drugs. The drugs in it are a comedic device for the most part but they're also a teaching tool. This film is coming from a marginalised group in society, where there's a high suicide rate that can be attributed directly to drug use, low self-esteem and alcohol abuse. We know that this film if utilised properly can assist a lot of people in stepping out of those areas.

— Richard Frankland, Sydney Morning Herald . [7]

Soundtrack

  1. "The Opening" – Shane O'Mara
  2. "Used to Get High" – John Butler Trio
  3. "Warriors for Life" – Tjimba and the Yung Warriors
  4. "Foxtrot" – Shane O'Mara
  5. "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" – Kay Starr
  6. "Pardon My Passion" – Mary G
  7. "Triumph" – Shane O'Mara
  8. "Dark Wind" – Richard Frankland
  9. "Look for Me" – The Charcoal Club
  10. "Moonstruck" – Sara Storer
  11. "Lonely Guy" – Shane O'Mara
  12. "Lets Pretend" – Jack Blanchard & Misty Morgan
  13. "Thou Shalt Not Steal" – John Butler Trio
  14. "Banjo Boogie" – Shane O'Mara
  15. "Asunder" – The Charcoal Club
  16. "Last Tear" – The Charcoal Club

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cathy Freeman</span> Aboriginal Australian athlete and Olympic gold medallist (born 1973)

Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman is an Aboriginal Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set while finishing second to Marie-José Pérec's number-four time at the 1996 Olympics. She became the Olympic champion for the women's 400 metres at the 2000 Summer Olympics, at which she lit the Olympic Flame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cinema of Australia</span>

The cinema of Australia began with the 1906 production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received international recognition. Many actors and filmmakers with international reputations started their careers in Australian films, and many of these have established lucrative careers in larger film-producing centres such as the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archie Roach</span> Aboriginal Australian musician and elder (1956–2022)

Archibald William Roach was an Australian singer-songwriter and Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Bundjalung elder who campaigned for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. His wife and musical partner was the singer Ruby Hunter (1955–2010).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby Hunter</span> Australian Aboriginal singer-songwriter

Ruby Charlotte Margaret Hunter, also known as Aunty Ruby, was an Aboriginal Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist, and the life and musical partner of Archie Roach.

<i>The Last Wave</i> 1977 Australian film

The Last Wave is a 1977 Australian mystery drama film directed by Peter Weir. It is about a white solicitor in Sydney whose seemingly normal life is disrupted after he takes on a murder case and discovers that he shares a strange, mystical connection with the small group of local Aboriginal people accused of the crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Frankland</span> Indigenous Australian playwright and musician

Richard Joseph Frankland is an Australian playwright, scriptwriter and musician. He is an Aboriginal Australian of Gunditjmara origin from Victoria. He has worked significantly for Aboriginal Australian causes.

Luke Carroll is an Australian stage, television, and film actor. He is known for his role in the television drama The Alice (2005), and as a host of the children's program Play School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Perkins</span> Australian filmmaker

Rachel Perkins is an Indigenous Australian film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. She founded and was co-director of the independent film production company Blackfella Films from 1992 until 2022. Perkins and the company were responsible for producing First Australians (2008), an award-winning documentary series that remains the highest-selling educational title in Australia, and which Perkins regards as her most important work. She directed the films Radiance (1998), One Night the Moon (2001), Bran Nue Dae (2009), the courtroom drama telemovie Mabo (2012), and Jasper Jones (2017). The acclaimed television drama series Redfern Now was made by Blackfella Films, and Perkins directed two episodes as well as the feature-length conclusion to the series, Promise Me (2015).

No Way to Forget is an Australian short film. It is written and directed by Richard Frankland, produced by John Foss and stars David Ngoombujarra in the lead role as SHANE FRANCIS. It is the first film by an indigenous director to win an AFI Award. It was broadcast nationally on SBS TV. It screened at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival in the category of Un Certain Regard.

<i>Bitter Springs</i> (film) 1950 film by Ralph Smart

Bitter Springs is a 1950 Australian–British film directed by Ralph Smart. An Australian pioneer family leases a piece of land from the government in the Australian outback in 1900 and hires two inexperienced British men as drovers. Problems with local Aboriginal people arise over the possession of a waterhole. Much of the film was shot on location in the Flinders Ranges in South Australia

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leah Flanagan</span> Musical artist

Leah Flanagan is an Australian singer-songwriter and arts administrator from Darwin, Northern Territory. based in Sydney. She has released several albums and has toured Australia with her music and as a part of festival ensembles.

The 2010 Deadly Awards were hosted by Luke Carroll and Naomi Wenitong at the Sydney Opera House on 27 September 2010. Performers included Archie Roach, Dan Sultan, Christine Anu, Frank Yamma, Ali Mills and the Bangarra Dance Theatre. The Awards program will be broadcast on SBS and SBS Two on 3 and 6 October respectively. The awards event was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community.

<i>Gangster Squad</i> (film) 2013 film by Ruben Fleischer

Gangster Squad is a 2013 American action thriller film directed by Ruben Fleischer and written by Will Beall, based on a non-fiction book by Paul Lieberman. The film stars Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Nick Nolte, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Robert Patrick, Michael Peña and Sean Penn. Set in 1949, a group of real-life LAPD officers and detectives called the Gangster Squad are assigned to bring down crime kingpin Mickey Cohen.

<i>Redfern Now</i> 2012 Australian TV series or program

Redfern Now is an Australian drama television series featuring the lives of Aboriginal Australian families living in Redfern, Sydney, that first aired on ABC1 in 2012. A second season followed in 2013, and the series concluded with a feature-length telemovie, Redfern Now: Promise Me, in April 2015. The series' release contributed to widespread public debate surrounding Indigenous representation in the Australian media, and both series as well as the film were nominated for and won many awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Lawrence (actress)</span> Australian model, comedian and TV personality

Sarah Rachael Olivia Lawrence is an Australian model, comedian and TV personality. She is best known for her role in the Australian feature film Stone Bros.

<i>The Nightingale</i> (2018 film) 2018 Australian drama film directed by Jennifer Kent

The Nightingale is a 2018 Australian historical psychological thriller film written and directed by Jennifer Kent. The film stars Aisling Franciosi, Sam Claflin, Baykali Ganambarr, Damon Herriman, Harry Greenwood, Ewen Leslie, Charlie Shotwell, Michael Sheasby, and Magnolia Maymuru. Set in 1825 in Van Diemen's Land, it follows a young Irish convict (Franciosi) seeking vengeance against members of the Colonial forces of Tasmania who gang-raped her and killed both her husband and infant daughter. She is aided by an Aboriginal Tasmanian tracker (Ganambarr), who seeks vengeance for the British occupiers' Black War against his people.

Leon Burchill is an Australian actor. He played Charlie in Stone Bros., Frankie in Redfern Now and Benny in Wyrmwood. On stage he played Jim Krakouer in Krakouer! which toured in 2011.

Shane O'Mara is an Australian musician and record producer.

Steven McGregor is an Australian filmmaker, known for his work on Redfern Now, Black Comedy, Sweet Country, and numerous documentaries, including My Brother Vinnie.

References

  1. ↑ Schembri, Jim (24 September 2009). "Stone Bros". The Age . Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  2. ↑ Hall, Sandra (24 September 2009). "Stone Bros". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  3. ↑ Wotzke, Anders (20 September 2009). "Stone Bros. (review)". Cut Print Review. Archived from the original on 21 November 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  4. ↑ Mathieson, Craig (23 September 2009). "Stone Bros". SBS . Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  5. ↑ Obenson, Tambay (15 April 2013). "Australia's 1st Aboriginal Comedy Feature Film - 'Stone Bros' - Now on iTunes For US Audiences". Indiewire. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Australian Box Office – 2009 Totals". Movie Marshall. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  7. 1 2 Maddox, Gary (17 August 2009). "A pro-drugs movie? Get off the grass, says director". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 20 December 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.