DINGO (1991)
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: PG
Duration: 110 Minutes
Audio: English 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Rolf de Heer
Cast: Colin Friels, Miles Davis, Helen Buday, Joe Petruzzi, Brigitte Catillon
Dingo (1991) is not a film that I had ever heard of prior to this Blu-ray being announced by Umbrella. It's not a film that travelled well upon it's release, but it is truly a jazz cinema gem well-worth discovering, with a gorgeous jazz soundtrack that is so much a part of the film that it is inseparable. Sometimes the score of a film is such a perfect match, and this is one of those films, not unlike Halloween, Jaws, Suspiria or The Shining, it's infused into the very substance of the film. The films has a very romantic, perhaps even naïve, vision of music and it's effect, it's almost like a fairytale, while touching on themes of growing-up, unfulfillment, sacrifice, and following your dreams while going against the odds. The opening scene of you Dingo watching Billy Cross play feels almost mystical in the way it's shot, capturing that spellbinding feeling of a lifechanging event from your youth, it's quite wonderful scene, and quite a wonderful film as well.
Audio/Video: Dingo (1991) arrives on Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment as the second release in their ongoing Sunburnt Screens sub-label, presented in 1080p HD and framed in the original 2.35:1 widescreen. This is a new 4K restoration supervised by Rolf de Heer and it looks excellent. The image has a thick film-like appearance with a healthy layer of film grain and good depth and clarity. The colors are warm-toned and colorful, the scenes shot in the Australian outback have sunbaked a golden-hue to them, colors are robust with the red, blue and yellows looking quite nice in 1080p.
Rating: PG
Duration: 110 Minutes
Audio: English 2.0 and 5.1 DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p Widescreen (2.35:1)
Director: Rolf de Heer
Cast: Colin Friels, Miles Davis, Helen Buday, Joe Petruzzi, Brigitte Catillon
The second release from Umbrella Entertainment's Australian-cinema focused sub-label Sunburnt Screens is the jazz-drama Dingo (1991) directed by Rolf de Heer (Bad Boy Bubby). The film opens in the dusty outback town of Poona Flat in the year 1969. where the townsfolk are treated to an impromptu early-morning concert by world famous jazz trumpeter Billy Cross (the late jazz icon Miles Davis) and his band, who play a set of soulful jazz during a quick layover on a dusty tin-shed airport runway. In the audience that early morning is a young boy named John "Dingo" Anderson whose life is literally transformed during the performance, he is absolutely entranced by the foreign sounding music, and the trumpeting of Billy Cross in particular, his trumpeting sounding like a radio wave from some wonderful alien world being beamed directly into his brain. At the end of the set just before hopping back onto the jet the jazz legend tells John that he noticed his keen interest and that should take up an instrument, and invites the kid to comes visit him in Paris when he grows up.
Twenty-years later, John (Colin Friels, Darkman) is now a part-time musician (a trumpeter like his idol) and a full-time dingo trapper (which might be the most Australian sounding career ever), now married to his childhood sweetheart, Jane (Helen Buday, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome), and a father of two young children. While he struggles to make ends meet he daydreams of playing with his hero in the jazz clubs of Paris, but in reality is performing at dusty dance halls with his shabby band to the unenthused beer-swilling locals. The return of a childhood friend named Peter (Joe Petruzzi), who has done very well for himself, proves to be a strain on his relationship with Helen, and this new wrinkle fuels his goal of travelling to Paris to play with his idol Billy Cross.
As we see Dingo traveling the sunbaked outback setting traps for the wild dogs he often plays his trumpet to the empty expanses, while at home he plays along to the records of Billy Cross, while penning letters to the jazz-trumpeter, telling him stories of his life as a dingo-trapper, and of a particularly smart dingo that once caught in a trap chewed it's own leg off to escape, and is now too smart to be trapped again, no matter how cunning a trap he sets.
Fueled by unease at home and the musical hole in his soul Dingo eventually makes his way to Paris, hoping to track down his now semi-retired idol through an address on the back of a postcard that was sent by the trumpeter's publicist. At first he cannot seem to track Cross down, but after drunkenly punching a Parisian police officer he is bailed out of jail by Child's wife (Bernadette Lafont, The Thief of Paris) who invites him to stay at their home. Finally reunited with Cross after twenty-years Dingo sets out to prove to himself if he has the talent to match the passion burning inside him.
Dingo (1991) is not a film that I had ever heard of prior to this Blu-ray being announced by Umbrella. It's not a film that travelled well upon it's release, but it is truly a jazz cinema gem well-worth discovering, with a gorgeous jazz soundtrack that is so much a part of the film that it is inseparable. Sometimes the score of a film is such a perfect match, and this is one of those films, not unlike Halloween, Jaws, Suspiria or The Shining, it's infused into the very substance of the film. The films has a very romantic, perhaps even naïve, vision of music and it's effect, it's almost like a fairytale, while touching on themes of growing-up, unfulfillment, sacrifice, and following your dreams while going against the odds. The opening scene of you Dingo watching Billy Cross play feels almost mystical in the way it's shot, capturing that spellbinding feeling of a lifechanging event from your youth, it's quite wonderful scene, and quite a wonderful film as well.
Audio comes by way both uncompressed 24-bit English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and a new 5.1 surround presentation with optional English subtitles. Dialogue is crisp and nuanced, with the 5.1 surround giving the phenomenal jazz soundtrack by Michel Legrand and Miles Davis an impressive showing, this is a fantastic score, and one of Davis's last recorded works.
Extras come by way of new interviews with Director Rolf de Heer and lead actress Helen Buday (34 min), Helen Buday in Conversation with Paul Harris (15 min), and the Rushes Reel of The Desert Runway sequences with audio commentary by Rolf de Heer (18 min). Additionally we get 6-minutes of trailers for Dingo, The Tracker and Bad Boy Bubby. The interview extras were recorded over video chat technology due to COVID-19 restrictions, so not surprisingly the video quality suffers but the interviews are candid and interesting, and added to my enjoyment of the film.
The single-disc releases arrives in a clear, oversized keepcase with a sleeve of reversible artwork. The reverse side features the same keyart minus the ratings logo on the front artwork, and instead of the film info on the backside we get another artwork option, both sides feature a numbered spine. The Blu-ray disc itself features an excerpt of the same key artwork.
Special Features:
Special Features:
- Interview featurettes with: Director Rolf de Heer and lead actress Helen Buday (34 min)
- Helen Buday in Conversation with Paul Harris (15 min)
- Rushes Reel: The Desert Runway with audio commentary by Rolf de Heer (18 min)
- Theatrical Trailers: Dingo, The Tracker, Bad Boy Bubby (6 min)
Dingo (1991) was a very nice discovery for me, one that I hope others make as well. I am unsure if it was a lesser known entry just for myself or if this is the case with the masses, but I found it a truly captivating story with a wonderful story and score. Umbrella do excellent work bringing it to Blu-ray with a wonderful looking A/V presentation and some great extras, another solid showing from Sunburn Screens, who have also released director Rolf de Heer's cult-classic Bad Boy Bubby as part of their Worlds on Films Beyond Genres line-up.
Screenshots from the Blu-ray:
