From The Archives

Dirty Three
Filmography


Filmography: a chronological overview of all films/movies/documentaries and promo clips
with music by the Australian band Dirty Three.
Date format is DD-MMM-YY.
-Information in grey italics is uncertain-


Films/Movies

Billy -front BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN KISS, by Tommy O'Haver (1998)

Plot summary: Billy, a struggling young gay photographer falls in love with Gabriel, a waiter and aspiring musician who is probably straight but possibly gay or at least curious. Billy tries to get Gabriel to model for his latest project, a series of remakes of famous Hollywood screen kisses, featuring male couples, while also trying to win his affections.

Info: Also stars Holly Woodlawn (known from Andy Warhol/Paul Morrissey's "Trash").

Notes: 92 mins colour. Commercially available.

Contribution: "Jim's Dog" used on the soundtrack.

Photo: Poster for movie.


Praise -front PRAISE, by John Curran (1998)

Plot summary: Gordon (Peter Fenton) is a listless, chain-smoking asthmatic with a rather insipid libido. Cynthia (Sacha Horler) is a slightly pudgy nymphomaniac with a bad case of eczema. After quitting his job at a Brisbane liquor store, Gordon makes a decision that will mark his life forever: becoming involved in Cynthia's manic parlor games of chemical and sexual excess. As the pair combust in warmth and madness, Gordon willingly enters Cynthia's web of indulgence, progressively losing himself in a woman who's ironically lost to herself. Fueled by their rabid diet of sex, stimulants, and Scrabble, the lovers shore themselves away in Gordon's flea-bitten boarding house, temporarily staving off loneliness and imminent self-destruction. But as the months pass, Gordon's deficiencies and Cynthia's intensity begin to wear on the relationship.

Info: Based on a novel by Andrew McGahan. Peter Fenton (Gordon) was the singer, guitarist and songwriter for Australian band Crow. Embarked on acting career after their split in 1998. Loene Carmen (Cathy) is a singer, songwriter, musician and actress. As musician she has worked with all of the Dirty Three (live), Mick Harvey (live and studio) and Tex Perkins (live and studio). Tex Perkins (Raymond) is singer, songwriter and musician [Beasts Of Bourbon, Cruel Sea]. The soundtrack has "Mia Fora Thimame" by Greek singer Arleta covered by Dirty Three as "I Remember A Time When You Used To Love Me".

Notes: 98 mins colour. Commercially available.

Contribution: Soundtrack by Dirty Three (released on CD in 2000).

Photo: Poster for movie.


Sue's Last Ride -front SUE'S LAST RIDE, by Nicholas Elliot (2001)

Plot summary: A car in the nocturnal streets of Ljubljana. A young woman obsessively describes the shaky relationship with her father to the man at the wheel taking her to a concert by The Dirty Three. As the music gets louder, so do the words.

Info: Short film. Filmed at the Ottobar in Ljubljana (Slovenia) on November 16, 2000. The film premiered at the Amiens Film Festival in France in 2001 and went on to screen at Rotterdam International Film Festival and Chicago .

Notes: 16 mins colour. Not commercially available. Streaming online @ YouTube.

Contribution: Music and live performance by Dirty Three.


Happy Endings -front HAPPING ENDINGS, by Don Roos (2005)

Plot summary: The film follows a diverse group of mostly middle-class Los Angelenos through the emotional ups and downs in their flawed yet very human lives, each loosely connected to each other through a restaurant.

Info: Starring Lisa Kudrow ("Friends").

Notes: 128 mins colour. Commercially available.

Contribution: "Indian Love Song", "Rude (And Then Some Slight Return)", "No Stranger Than That" used on the soundtrack. Other songs by Calexico, Billy Joel,..

Photo: Poster for movie.


LONELINESS (GIRL), by Allison Koehler (2008)

Plot summary: A dreamy excercise in stark photography and lilting musical score that features a lonely girl (Ellie Kriseman), small and distant, against several backgrounds (theater, aquarium, beach, city museum, rural dwellngs). More existential than narrative, no dialogue.

Info: Short film.

Notes: Not commercially available.

Contribution: Music by Dirty Three and John Sutherland.


Mud -front MUD, by Jeff Nichols (2013)

Plot summary: Fourteen year-old Ellis (Tye Sheridan) lives on a makeshift houseboat on the banks of a river in Arkansas with his parents. He sneaks out early one morning to meet his best friend, Neckbone (Jacob Lofland). The two boys set out to an island on the Mississippi River, where they meet Mud (Matthew McConaughey). Ellis learns that Mud has killed a man in Texas, and police and bounty hunters are looking for him, but Mud is more concerned about reuniting with his longtime love, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). The boys risk everything to reunite these seeming mythical lovers.

Notes: 130 mins colour. Commercially available.

Contribution: "Alice Wading", "This Night" and "In Fall" used on the soundtrack.

Photo: Poster for movie.






Documentaries

The Rough South Of Larry Brown -front THE ROUGH SOUTH OF LARRY BROWN, by Gary Hawkins (2002)

Plot summary: The documentary weaves interviews of Larry Brown and his wife, Mary Annie, with narrative adaptations of three of his short stories, “Boy & Dog,” “Wild Thing,” and “Samaritans,” brought vividly to the screen with performances by Will Patton, Paul Schneider, and Natalie Canerday. A unique examination of the life and works of the late Oxford (Mississippi) fireman-turned-writer. Larry Brown (1951-2004) was an American novelist, often compared to other Southern writers, including Cormac McCarthy, William Faulkner and Harry Crews.

Notes: 85 mins colour. Commercially available.

Contribution: "I Knew It Would Come To This" used on the soundtrack. Other tracks by Vic Chesnutt, The Gourds, Alejandro Escovedo,..

Photo: Poster for movie.


Real Dirt On Farmer John -front THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN, by Taggart Siegel (2005)

Plot summary: The moving story of an eccentric farmer in the Midwestern United States, based on interviews and old family films director Taggart Siegel paints a portrait of a man who knows how to unite his artistry and love for the country with the legacy of his family. When his father dies in the sixties, the young John Peterson takes over the family business. He transforms the traditional farm into a haven for hippies and artists, but that the company nearly collapsed into bankruptcy. By necessity he sells almost all of the country, where his father worked hard for his whole life. His extravagant personality, he is the focus of gossip and slander in the farming community and his career as a farmer seems in order. The tide is turning as he makes a new start as an organic farmer and a number of families from Chicago become co-shareholder of his company.

Info: A great uplifting documentary, filmed from 1996 to 2004.

Notes: 82 mins colour. Commercially available.

Contribution: Ten tracks by Dirty Three, taken from their studio albums.

Still: Screen capture.


Deliver Us From Evil -front DELIVER US FROM EVIL, by Amy Berg (2006)

Plot summary: Dutch documentary about Father Oliver O'Grady, an Irish catholic priest who was relocated to various parishes around the California between 1971 and 1993 in an attempt by the catholic church to cover up his abuse of dozens of children.

Info: O'Grady served seven years in prison and was deported to his native Ireland in 2000. He later moved to the Netherlands for several years. In 2012 he was sentenced to three years in prison in Ireland.

Notes: 101 mins colour. Commercially available.

Contribution: "Time Jesum Transeuntum et Non Revertentum" used on the soundtrack. Other tracks by Leonard Cohen.

Photo: Poster for movie.


Dust Never Settles -front THE DUST NEVER SETTLES, by Jess Dickenson (2009)

Info: A film composed of footage recorded in 2005/2006 during a fourteen-month, 50,000 kilometer road tour of Australia. In 2004 Jess and her boyfriend Spenny left the UK for Australia with the simple intention of seeing as much of it as they could. Beginning in Sydney, they worked for a year to save up enough money to buy a 4WD and a video camera. They took the seats out of the back, replacing them with a bed and some camping gear. While parts of the film are funny there is also this pervasive sense of nostalgia for time passing, eventually to be lost forever, which is enhanced by the beautiful soundtrack from Australia’s The Dirty Three. The little wild horse who pauses to look back while crossing a lonely desert road is very moving. A rare document of the endlessly diverse landscape and culture of a continent, and a unique vision of contemporary Australia.

Contribution: Music by Dirty Three, taken from their studio albums.

Note: 59 mins colour. Online streaming from Snagfilms or via YouTube. Premiered in London (UK) on 20-Feb-2010. Shown @ the Southern Appalachian International Film Festival, Kingsport, TN (US) on 30-Oct-10.

Still: Screen capture.






Promo music video clips

Everyhting is fucked clip EVERYTHING'S FUCKED

Recording info: (5:25 mins). Directed in 1995.

Note: Track from the "Dirty Three" album. Available on the Hong Kong Tour 2006 EPK VCD. With Nick Cave and other Bad Seeds in the background.


I Remember A Time clip I REMEMBER A TIME WHEN ONCE YOU USED TO LOVE ME

Recording info: (6:09 mins). Directed in 1995, by Sarah King.

Note: Track from the "Horse Stories" album. Cover of a Greek song performed by Arleta and composed by Giannis Spanos back in 60's.


Hope clip HOPE

Recording info: (4:55 mins). Directed in 1996, by Sarah King.

Note: Track from the "Horse Stories" album.


Backwards Voyager clip BACKWARDS VOYAGER

Recording info: (4:26 mins). Directed in 1998, by Sarah King.

Note: Track from the "Ocean Songs" album. Available on the VCD with the Taiwanese release of "Ocean Songs" (Gamma Music 2004).


Restless Waves clip THE RESTLESS WAVES

Recording info: (5:09 mins). Directed in 1998, by Braden King. Footage assembled from "Dutch Harbor: Where The Sea Breaks It's Back", a film by Braden King and Laura Moya. Cinematography by Mark Hopkins. Made by Truckstop Media.

Note: Track from the "Ocean Songs" album. Available as extra on the "Dutch Harbor" VHS video (Atavistic). Also available on the VCD with the Taiwanese release of "Ocean Songs" (Gamma Music 2004).


Great Waves clip GREAT WAVES

Recording info: (3:35 mins). Directed on September 1, 2005 by Braden King. Cinematography by Sam Levy. Additional Camera: Matt Boyd, Jem Cohen, Braden King. Edit: Braden King, Ian Williams. Art Director: Tim Grimes. Made by Truckstop Media.

Note: Track from the "Cinder" album.


Sad Jexy clip SAD JEXY

Recording info: (3:25 mins) Directed in 2005, by Sarah King.

Note: Track from the "Cinder" album. Jim White filmed in the transit zone of an airport.


Rising Below clip RISING BELOW

Recording info: (6:25 mins) Directed and edited by Emma Watts, Melbourne 2012.

Note: Track from the "Towards The Low Sun" album. Choreography and creative direction by Gabi Barton of performance group Town bikes. Film direction and editing by Emma Watts of ABC TV arts show. The clip features dancers wearing costumes drawn from the characters inhabiting the cover of Dirty Three's last album "Toward The Low Sun".



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