Weir. Peter Weir was certainly one of the greatest filmmakers in the world from 1975-2003 (with this best two films bookending that run). The Australian auteur made 10 archiveable films – an incredible feat and number for any director—especially outside of the studio era. He only made 14 fiction features so there weren’t a lot of misses there either. The strength of Weir’s case isn’t just about depth of the filmography (I mean Fearless is really an excellent film)—there’s a pretty clearly identifiable theme of an outsider in a stranger world running throughout his body of work and I’ll get to it more below in the overrated/underrated section- but don’t let the lone one film in the top 100 of their respective decade fool you- if I were to expand the decade list to top 150—I may have 5-7 films from Weir on there- many just missed. It’s tempting to look at his precision and lack of masterpieces and think of him only as a craftsman. Also, Weir’s lack of celebrity, renown, or eccentricity (he rather quietly worked with Hollywood’s biggest stars and was nominated for best director four times) may lead you to believe he’s not an artist- simply a director of great movies- and I don’t think that’s true. I think there’s real artistry here.
Best film: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. It’s very close with the haunting Picnic at Hanging Rock– the film that marked Weir’s arrival as an auteur. Both would be fine choices.
total archiveable films: 10
top 100 films: 0
top 500 films: 0
top 100 films of the decade: 1 (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World)
most overrated: Weir has just one film on the TSPDT consensus top 1000 and it’s Picnic at Hanging Rock at #587. However, He has a whopping seven films between 1001-2000. Wow! I didn’t realize that until just now and that makes sense with the lack of top 100 of their respective decade for me but the feeling that so many are so close. I don’t have any overrated films for Weir. Picnic is in a good spot on the TSPDT and the rest are fine or underrated—I’ll get to that below.
most underrated : My lone discrepancy with the TSPDT consensus is for Weir’s Master and Commander. It currently sits at #22 from just the year 2003 on the TSPDT 21st century list. That’s incorrect. How great are these JMW-Turner-like landscape images?
gem I want to spotlight : Gallipoli. You could go anywhere here – Witness is superb. Gallipoli may make a really good double-feature pairing with Sam Mendes 1917 from 2019. The freeze frame ending too is certainly one of the more noteworthy and praiseworthy use of freezes in cinema.
stylistic innovations/traits:
- almost always Weir’s lead is a fish out of water—in a dissimilar realm—often abrasive or harmful to Weir’s protagonist. Often freedom as a theme or free spirits held captive but rigid systems
- the use of the freeze frame in Gallipoli is noted above, more often there’s the use of the entire frame to paint or capture a landscape (and put that protagonist set in a strange world literally in a large canvas on the frame)
- nature and landscape photography- I think seven of the ten archiveable films are largely shot outdoors
- often period films, war
top 10
- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
- Picnic at Hanging Rock
- The Year of Living Dangerously
- Witness
- The Truman Show
- Gallipoli
- Dead Poets Society
- The Last Wave
- The Mosquito Coast
- Fearless
By year and grades
| 1975- Picnic at Hanging rock | |
| 1977- The Last Wave | R |
| 1981- Gallipoli | R |
| 1982- The Year of Living Dangerously | |
| 1985- Witness | HR |
| 1986- Mosquito Coast | R |
| 1989- Dead Poets Society | R |
| 1993- Fearless | R |
| 1998- The Truman Show | HR |
| 2003- Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World | MS |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
I guess I liked Picnic at Hanging Rock much more than you did. I know it can be a divisive movie because it is, in essence, a mystery that’s never solved.
@RW-Picnic at Hanging Rock got upgraded. Ranked #619 here
https://thecinemaarchives.com/2023/10/17/thebest1000filmsofalltime/
@RW – same, I think extremely highly of this film
This was actually one of the first foreign films I saw years ago before I got heavy into Cinema and definitely one of the first arthouse films I had seen. It was such a breath of fresh air as it was unlike any other film I had ever seen as it was light on plot and heavy on mood and atmosphere. It has a dream like vibe similar to Days of Heaven (1978). This is achieved both by the cinematography and score. Weir achieves this by using soft focus lens, blurred footage, and slow motion. Weir uses soft focus lens to make the girls white clothing more noticeable. The white being a sign of purity, sexual repression is one of the films themes. The location as character is similar to Antonioni’s Red Desert. An ominous score and low angle shots of the rock create a haunting atmosphere filled with constant dread.
The opening starts with flute music, specifically two traditional Romanian panpipe pieces: “Doina: Sus Pe Culmea Dealului” and “Doina Lui Petru Unc” that gives the film a dream like atmosphere, the mysterious flute music is later replaced by more ominous rumblings
There are some gorgeous compositions at the picnic followed by free moving camera capturing the picnic and shots of the hanging rock which is a geological marvel
There is a shot I especially love at 54:45 which is a beautiful low angle shot of rocks with clouds moving accompanied by an increasingly ominious score
There is a sequence around the 90 min mark with the girls screaming at the missing girl who returned “tell us!” One critic, I forget who, speculated that this may be the director’s way addressing critics who will want a concrete answer to this mystery
Similar to films like L’Avventura, Rashomon, Zodiac there is no closure and the film is stronger for it
Verdict: MP
Back during the pandemic the Criterion Channel ran an Australian New Wave retrospective that really introduced me to some great films. I had seen Picnic at Hanging Rock before but I really came to appreciate it on a rewatch.
Some very worthwhile 70s-80s Australian films that you don’t hear discussed much nowadays: Walkabout, Breaker Morant, Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith…
I think Peter Weir is probably underrated on this list. If it makes any difference, he finished 34th overall on Erik Beck’s list.
@RW – yeah I remember the Austrilian Collection on Criterion. Walkabout (1971) is mesmerizing, not familiar with the other two
For a more recent Australian film, I’d recommend Sweet Country (2017). Like a classic western.
The Royal Hotel(2023) is set in Australia too I believe. From the direcor-actress duo of The Assistant
@RW@Malith – thank you the suggestions, I’ll add to my list. Both look interesting.
you’re very welcome. I’m thinking about posting on here about Cinema Archives rankings compared to Erik Beck/Nighthawk News’ rankings. Does that interest you?
And do you think that Peter Weir is underrated at 177th?
@RW – I am not familiar with Erik Beck/Nighthawk News’ rankings, just looked it up and looked at the top 2000 list on the site. Interesting, very different but go for it
Regarding Peter Weir, the only other films I have seen of his are The Truman Show and Dead Poet Society. I saw Witness but it was so long ago that it is basically like I have not seen it so hard to give an assessment on Weir for now. From what I have seen I would say:
Picnic at Hanging Rock – MP
Truman Show – MS/HR
Dead Poet – R
The Last Wave is very good (and underrated, in my opinion).
@RW – I’ll check it out. Just curious as to what are some of your favorite films? favorite Directors?
Posted it on the top 250 page if you’d like to take a look.
@ James Trapp.
Let me give that some thought.
This is something I wrote about the films that really shaped my moviegoing life, if that interests you: https://walrod.substack.com/p/kino-und-sensucht
Posting something re: top directors list in on the top 250 directors page this afternoon.
@RW – great essay, funny enough Fantasia is the first film I can remember watching and it haunted me too! I loved this scene especially (with link below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VErKCq1IGIU
Thanks so much. I hope I did the film justice.
Please consider subscribing — it’s free. I publish something new every 2 weeks.
My ranking of Weir`s films that I`ve seen:
1. Master and Commander MS
2. Picnic at Hanging Rock HR/MS
3. Gallipoli HR
4. The Truman Show HR
5. Witness HR
6. The Year of Living Dangerously R/HR
7. Dead Poets Society R
8. Fearless R
10 Best Performances
1. Crowe- Master and Commander 5
2. Carrey- The Truman Show 5
3. Gibson- Gallipoli 5
4. Williams- Dead Poets Society 4.5
5. Bettany- Master and Commander 4.5
6. Ford- Witness 4
7. Hunt- The Year of Living Dangerously 4
8. Linney- The Truman Show 4
9. Harris- The Truman Show 4
10. Gibson- The Year of Living Dangerously 4