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Ten Canoes

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Ten Canoes (2007)

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Reviews Counted:57

Fresh:56

Rotten:1

Average Rating:7.7/10

Consensus: Ten Canoes combines adventure, comedy, and anthropology to explore an Aborigine folk tale both fallibly human and legendary. Helmer Rolf de Heer depicts a barely represented oral tradition with a clean style.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 90 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:May 25, 2007 Limited

Box Office: $141,279

Synopsis: A thousand years ago, tribal times in the north of Australia. Ten men, led by old Minygululu, head into the forest to harvest barks for canoe making. It is the season of goose egg... A thousand years ago, tribal times in the north of Australia. Ten men, led by old Minygululu, head into the forest to harvest barks for canoe making. It is the season of goose egg gathering. Minygululu learns that young Dayindi, on his first egg hunting expedition, has taken a fancy to Minygululu's third and youngest wife. Tribal law is in danger of being broken: Minygululu deals with the situation by telling Dayindi an ancestral story, a story that will take a very long time to tell, all through the next days of canoe making and swamp travelling and goose egg gathering. This is that story: Long ago, in mythical times, just after the great flood covered the whole land, Ridjimiraril lives with his three wives, wise Banalandju, jealous Nowalingu and beautiful young Munandjarra, in a camp with others, including Birrinbirrin, a fat man who loves honey. Some distance away, in the single men's camp, lives Yeeralparil, Ridjimiraril's younger brother. Yeeralparil has no wives yet, and none promised, but is keen on that beautiful Munandjarra, who he feels should be his. One day, a Stranger approaches, without warning. The men are alarmed, especially when the Stranger claims he is there to trade in magic objects. He is given food and sent on his way. The sorcerer comes to warn the men of the possible dangers, but declares the camp is safe. Life goes on as normal. After a fight with Banalandju, Nowalingu vanishes. Ridjimiraril is convinced his beloved second wife was taken by the Stranger, but the consensus is that being jealous, she simply ran away. Months later an old uncle reports having seen Nowalingu in a distant camp with the Stranger. The men are galvanised into action: a war party sets off, but without Yeeralparil. Both brothers cannot go... if the older one is killed, the younger one must take over his wives. Yeeralparil hangs around the main camp in the hope of seeing Munandjarra, but Banalandju ensures a safe distance between the two. The war party returns, without Nowalingu: the old uncle's eyes must have deceived him. Ridjimiraril, still convinced it was the Stranger who took Nowalingu, slides into depression, until Birrinbirrin runs into camp with the news that the Stranger has been seen nearby. Ridjimiraril tells Birrinbirrin he's going to talk to the Stranger but grabs his spears and takes off, Birrinbirrin puffing behind. Deep in the bush they see the Stranger, squatting for a shit. Ridjimiraril launches a spear. An inspection of the body, however, reveals that Ridjimiraril has killed the wrong stranger. There are sounds of approaching people. Ridjimiraril breaks the spear off and they quickly hide the body. But they do not hide it well enough. Days later Ridjimiraril and Birrinbirrin are accosted by a group of warriors including the Stranger. They have identified the spearhead in the Stranger's brother's body as having been made by Birrinbirrin, and they want payback. Ridjimiraril confesses, and the location and time for the payback ceremony is agreed to. A sad little procession of men leaves camp for the payback. This time Yeeralparil can go, as only one person is to be speared, either Ridjimiraril or his payback partner. Yeeralparil argues that it should be he, young and nimble, who ought partner his brother. Ridjimiraril agrees, and together the two brothers face the spears from the aggrieved Stranger's tribe. That is the law, and the law must be upheld. Ridjimiraril is speared. Justice done, he is helped back to camp. Banalandju tends his wound, but instead of getting better, as he should, Ridjimiraril declines: it is as if a bad spirit has invaded his body. Even the sorcerer can do nothing. In his last moments before dying, Ridjimiraril staggers to his feet and begins to dance his own death dance...then he collapses and dies. After all the correct ceremony has been performed, Yeeralparil finally moves into the main camp, to be with his Munandjarra. But he's inherited a great deal more than he expected... Minygululu's story is over, the goose egg hunters return home. Dayindi has learnt his lesson, and when opportunity presents, he declines...maybe some day he will have a wife, but it won't be someone else's. [More]

Starring: Crusoe Kurddal, Jamie Gulpilil, David Gulpilil, Richard Birrinbirrin

Starring: Crusoe Kurddal, Jamie Gulpilil, David Gulpilil, Richard Birrinbirrin, Peter Minygululu, Frances Djulibing, Philip Gudthaykudthay

Director: Rolf De Heer, Peter Djigirr

Director: Rolf De Heer, Peter Djigirr
Screenwriter: Rolf De Heer
Producer: Rolf De Heer, Julie Ryan
Studio: Palm Pictures

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Release:

Sep 25, 2007

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Reviews for Ten Canoes

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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A unique and entertaining blend of anthropology and cinema.

Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | comment Comment
07/24/09
Mike Scott
Mike Scott
Times-Picayune

The fable is a fascinating ethnographic document that satisfies just like any well told story.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
06/22/09
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Really a fairly amazing achievement: an engrossing, witty cultural document that doesn't feel staid in the least. All this, plus spear fights.

Full Review Source: The Stranger (Seattle, WA) | comment Comment
10/31/07
Andrew Wright
Andrew Wright
The Stranger (Seattle, WA)

Sometimes all it takes to bridge the chasm of eons is a little humor.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
10/27/07
Desson Thomson
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A study of community and ritual, Ten Canoes celebrates as it contemplates, emphasizing the fact that this collection of stories, Gulpilil's story in its many layers, is seen.

Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
09/15/07
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Nitrate Online

As much an anthropology exercise as a cinematic experience, the Australian Ten Canoes goes back nearly a millennium to immerse us in the lives of the Aborigines who survived on the land centuries before the arrival of Europeans.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
09/07/07
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

A new and different kind of cinematic mythmaking.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
08/04/07
Josh Rosenblatt
Josh Rosenblatt
Austin Chronicle

Gulpilil is the canny, subtle and funny narrator of 10 Canoes, a film of unutterable beauty, hypnotic fascination and universal humanity.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
08/02/07
Richard Nilsen
Richard Nilsen
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Parts of that narrative are surprisingly frank and irreverent.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
07/27/07
John Hartl
John Hartl
Seattle Times

... a top-flight example of cinematic storytelling ...

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
07/26/07
Bill White
Bill White
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

It's worth putting up with the meandering story to see the aboriginal world shown from a fresh perspective.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
07/26/07
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Audacious and impressive, but challenging work, requiring steadfast concentration.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
07/19/07
Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ten Canoes is a celebration of the art of storytelling, and of the power of stories to transcend all barriers of space, time and language. This is a movie with sheer magic in it.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
07/19/07
Scott Foundas
Scott Foundas
L.A. Weekly

Australian writer-director Rolf de Heer is an extremely visual filmmaker, and his images stay with you. Ten Canoes' authenticity is guaranteed by a close collaboration with the Aboriginal community.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
07/13/07
Ruthe Stein
Ruthe Stein
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It is rare that film can transport its audience to a strange, unfamiliar, yet entrancing world. Ten Canoes, an Australian movie that tells an ancient Yolngu tale, presents such an extraordinary experience.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
07/10/07
Emily S. Mendel
Emily S. Mendel
culturevulture.net
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
07/07/07
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

A wonderful celebration of storytelling that should translate to any audience in any world.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
07/06/07
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

...takes us deep into another world while telling a story of the human condition with wisdom, heart and humor.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
06/24/07
Laura Clifford
Laura Clifford
rec.arts.movies.reviews

One of the best films of the year and what will become an ageless standard in preserving and depicting aborigine culture and the tragicomedy of the human race.

Full Review Source: Monsters and Critics | comment Comment
06/24/07
Ron Wilkinson
Ron Wilkinson
Monsters and Critics

Australian director Rolf de Heer deftly mingles two styles of storytelling: cinema and aboriginal oral customs.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
06/22/07
Bill Stamets
Bill Stamets
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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September 25, 2007: RT on DVD: Knocked Up Arrives, Delivers Healthy Bonus Menu
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September 23, 2007: Provided you're not Puritanical about frontal nudity, this powerful picture based on a myth is otherwise a delight, and a cinematic preservation of a so-called primitive people's oral tradition. Opens in new window
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