THE LAST WAVE (1977)
Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: PG
Duration: 105 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Peter Weir
Cast: David Gulpilil, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, Nandjiwarra Amagula
In Peter Weir's The Last Wave (1977) tax lawyer David Burton (Richard Chamberlain, King Solomon's Mines) has been assigned to defend a group of indigenous Aboriginals accused of ritually murdering one of their own. Burton is a tax lawyer who does not have much criminal lawyer experience but has previously worked with aboriginals, which is why he has been tasked with the assignment. The case presents some peculiarities which soon consumes Burton, with his clients being less than forthcoming, he begins to experience strange watery-apocalyptic visions, and is drawn to one of the accused named Chris Lee (David Gulpilil, Storm Boy), who appears to him in his nightmares holding a sacred stone with intricate carvings.
The genre-bending flick opens with a series of strange weather and atmospheric conditions occurring around Australia, including a school that is drenched in a torrential downpour before being pummeled by a hailstorm that drops baseball sized ice-stones. These weather anomalies seem tied to the visions that Burton is experiencing, and somehow to the strange death of the aboriginal man. As Burton begins to fall deeper into the mystery his family life starts to erode, single-mindedly perusing the facts of the case, but not all the facts add up, even less so when he finds himself caught up in the aboriginal concept of Dreamtime.
A lot of this film was lost on me as a kid, I just new I liked the vibe of it though, the way it made me feel was unlike anything else I had seen at that point. It was hypnotic and foreign feeling, this is probably the film that I can put my finger on as the movie that made me a fan of the abstract and of the unknowable cinema, which served me well years later when I came to Weir's Picnic At Hanging Rock (1974), and well before I was watching the films of David Lynch (Blue Velvet).
The Last Wave (1977) continues to mesmerize all these years later, Burton and Gulpilil are fantastic, and Nandjiwarra Amagula as an Aboriginal shaman is mesmerizing during his limited screen time. Visually the film is stylish and cool-looking, the later scene in an underground cave full of ancient cave paintings is brilliantly atmospheric, the film still has that unknowable quality Weir was aiming for.
Audio/Video: Weir's apocalyptic dream The Last Wave (1977) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment via their new imprint Sunburnt Screens, celebrating culturally significant Australian cinema. This is advertised as a newly restored 4K scan and it looks quite good, the image is more than a tad brighter than the Criterion with more vivid colors throughout, the skin tones looking cooler by comparison. The source elements are in fine shape and the grain is better resolved, but it still has a thickness and some compression to it that looks iffy, but overall this is the best I have seen the film look.
Audio on the disc comes by way of an uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 2.0 track with optional English subtitles. A solid presentation with out any noticeable distortion, dialogue is crisp and pronounced if a bit quiet during the hushed conversation. The droning electronic score from Charles Wain which helps convey the underlying menace and mystery of the film sounds terrific as well.
Onto the extras Umbrella come through with some excellent goodies beginning with a brand new 22-minute interview with actor Richard Chamberlain (The Swarm) in conversation with Paul Harris of the Film Buffs Forecast. This is conducted over Zoom because of the on-going pandemic. It's a great interview with Chamberlain recalling working on the film, we get a bunch of great anecdotes about the making of the film, including how Weir played Pink Floyd on-set to get the cast and crew into the proper mood!
We also get a 38-minute interview with Producer Jim McElroy who gets into his career in film, why he chose to produce this flick, what it was like working with Weir and the challenges of the production.
Up next is a 25-minutes interview with Director of Photography Russell Boyd, who also shot Picnic At Hanging Rock and won the Oscar for Master and Commander:
The Far Side of the World, both also directed by Weir. He gets into his style of lensing using naturalistic lighting, and how some of the underwater shots were a bit tricky to achieve.
There's also a four-minute archival piece from 2010 with film critic David Stratton who talks about directing the Sydney Films Festival during the particularly florid seventies period of Australian cinema, and befriending Weir. Additionally we get a four-minute Trailers From Hell commentary with Brian Trenchard-Smith (Turkey Shoot), plus a seven-minute edit from the 1980 documentary David Gulpilil: Walkabout to Hollywood, which will be released in it's entirety by Umbrella in 2021.
The disc is buttoned-up with a mesmerizing three-minute trailer for the film and a three minute gallery of key artwork, film posters, novelizations, press kits and more. This is a solid set of extras that easily bests the now-dated Criterion DVD in terms of A/V and extras. I can now trade in my Criterion release with confidence knowing I have the superior HD release from the Sunburnt Screens imprint.
The single-disc release comes housed in a clear keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork featuring the original movie poster artwork, the reverse side features the same artwork minus the ratings logo, plus a second movie poster instead of release info on the backside. This being the first release from the Sunburnt Screens imprint the cover and spine are both numbered, the disc itself features an image of David Gulpilil. This being the first release from Sunburnt Screens I am quite please right out of the gate, ab out the only thing I could recommend for future releases would be a coveted slipcover and booklet to accompany the film, but we all know that sort of thing adds dollars to the retail price, so I am more that happy to forgo those accoutrements in favor of a lower price and a solid A/V presentation and awesome extras, which is what we have here.
Special Features:
- Interview with Lead Actor Richard Chamberlain in conversation with Paul Harris (22 min)
- Interview with Lead Actor Richard Chamberlain in conversation with Paul Harris (22 min)
- Riding the Wave - Interview with Producer Jim McElroy (38 min)
- Lighting the Cave - Interview with Director of Photography Russell Boyd (25 min)
- David Stratton on The Last Wave (4 min)
- Trailers From Hell: Trailer Commentary on The Last Wave with Brian Trenchard-Smith (4 min)
- Trailers From Hell: Trailer Commentary on The Last Wave with Brian Trenchard-Smith (4 min)
- Edit from the 1980 documentary David Gulpilil: Walkabout to Hollywood (7 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
- Gallery (3 min)
The Last Wave (1977) is an unsettling slice of eco-horror with some terrific aboriginal mysticism sewn right into the fabric, it's a terrific flick, and it's great to see it get a proper definitive release with extras that encompass the key players. This is the inaugural release from newcomer Sunburnt Screens, a sub-label of Umbrella Entertainment specializing in culturally significant Australian cinema, I think it's a knock-out release and I am looking forward to what they bring out into the sun next.
Screenshots from the Blu-ray:
