Bad Boy Bubby (1993)

reviewed by
Katie Badham


BAD BOY BUBBY. 1993, Australia. Writer/Director: Rolf de Heer. Cinematography: Ian Jones Music: Graham Tardiff Actors: Nicholas Hope, Claire Benito, Carmel Johnson, Ralph Cotterill. Running time: 114 mins.

If your sense of humour runs to blow-up dolls with huge breasts and nipples that flash on and off like Christmas tree lights, then this movie is for you. Every sequence of this amazing film pushes the boundaries of bad taste in just about every direction. You will be flinching in your seats, as I did, while laughing out loud at the extraordinary adventures of Bubby as he undergoes redemption.

Set in Port Adelaide, South Australia this black comedy is certainly worth seeing. Nicholas Hope portrays the emotionally deprived Bubby, a 35 year old man who has been kept incarcerated all his life by his slatternly mother. She uses him for sex and keeps him locked inside with only a cat and cockroaches for company. Having been convinced that the air outside is poisonous, he never tries to explore outside their ghastly two-roomed slum. His father Pop returns, not knowing that Bubby existed, and soon thereafter Bubby discovers new uses for clingwrap. Emerging into the outside world, this man-child sets about finding a life.

The filmmaker Rolf de Heer uses the style of film noir beautifully expanding it to include disillusionment with society, manipulation of time and an emphasis on corruption and despair. It is an honest, raw view of the world through Bubby's innocent eyes.

9 a.m. Monday morning could never be said to be the best time for a viewing at a film festival but that's just what happened at the Venice Film Festival in August 1993. The applause in the barn-like "Palagalileo" was resounding at the end of the credits and "Bad Boy Bubby" won the hearts of the audience and votes of the judges.

Pitted against "Three Colours: Blue" and "Short Cuts", "Bad Boy Bubby" made its mark. It won the Festival's Jury Prize, the Jury Prize for the Italian Cinemagoers' Association (CIAK), shared the International Film Critics' Award (FIPRESCI) with "Short Cuts", won a Bronze Plaque from the International Catholic Organisation for Cinema and Audio-Visuals (OCIC) and last but not least won a prize from a group of Italian high school students who were guests at the screenings of the Festival.

Initially the OCIC jury was divided with one member declaring that the film was bestial and unethical and had complained to Festival management. Some judges were fascinated by its off-beat arresting themes but found it too ugly according to Peter Malone, Australia's OCIC representative on the panel. Fortunately there were some judges who argued that the breaking of new ground in theme and cinematic style and the fact that we live in a world of evil needs to be seen in films that mirror this world, won through.

The jury panel theologians referred to Psalm 130, the De Profundis psalm, "Out of the depths, I cry to you" in their description of "Bad Boy Bubby". This was indeed apt. It is a film that takes its audience into the depths of brutality and the ugliness of human experience yet it reaches out in hope of finding meaning for the experience.

Australian film makers have never been backward in coming forward, as we have seen and read and Bad Boy Bubby is not a film about froth and bubbles. This creative child of writer/director Rolf De Heer. Previous works of this graduate from the Australian Film and Television School are "Tail of a Tiger", a children's film, "Incident at Raven's Gate", a science-fiction film, and "Dingo", a young man's dreams of emulating his idol Miles Davis. De Heer has continued to stretch his creative ideas and explore the emotions of childhood, this time in the emotionally immature, adult body of Bubby.

Initially we are led to believe that Bubby is an idiot so that the film can use the fool to bring both comedy and tragedy to its audience but it is the character Angel who changes our perceptions when she is asked by one of the handicap carers, "do you think he [Bubby] might be schizo?"

Angel's reply is "I don't think he's anything…he's just a…kid." Bubby's chips in. "Bubby be a big weird kid. Christ kid, you're a weirdo," he says.

This major turning point in the film reinforces the theme of childhood emotions which De Heer returns to in his films, both those made before and since "Bad Boy Bubby". The fact that "Bad Boy Bubby" was on the cards throughout De Heer's career until 1993 when the film came to fruition makes the theme understandable but continued exploitation wears very thin very quickly. It is hoped that De Heer can go beyond this theme in future films.

When asked, De Heer revealed that the film came from a ‘drifting collation of ideas' collected over a number of years of observation of people. The hard part he said was the ‘organisation into a coherent whole'. After viewing the film one could agree. Some parts are rather fractured and with a limited knowledge of film-making on board a bold statement that some scenes could be construed as fillers, bubbles to the surface. Whether this is poor editing or structural storyline weakness requires a more knowledgeable critic. De Heer did admit that the film was made from the first draft with the only changes being made as a result of casting and logistical reasons. He claimed that this led to the experience being very fulfilling for him as a writer. This remains open to opinion. Perhaps this student critic has learnt more than she gives herself credit.

With the music of Salvation Army choralists, a blues band, of bagpipes, violins and church organs throughout the film we finally hear (but don't see) the entire piece, Handel's "Largo" from "Xerxes" performed by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Jose Serebrier during the last three scenes of the film completing at the end of the credit roll.

It is the music that carries the viewer out of the theatre but the story lingers on in this student's memory to no doubt be recalled time and time again down the road of life.

Submitted by Babs Londie

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