the proposition

recently, at the venerable balwyn palace cinema i chose to endure the gut-wrenching, gruelling and torturous ordeal that emerged from the mind of one nick cave (he of the boys next door, birthday party and bad seeds). his script for the proposition, helmed by john hillcoat as director (long-time music video collaborator who also directed cave in an acting role some 20 years ago in prison drama ghosts of the civil dead), was typically lyric and poetic. nonetheless, throughout one could not help shake the feeling that the film was not going to end well. and in my opinion, it only truly reached the status of an australian western in its final spoken words when the helplessness and despair of the outlaw's plight is laid bare. it is an unrelentingly taught film, featuring not just punctuated by graphic violence, and i hope to shortly use this space to further elaborate on my reaction to a disturbing, provocative piece of undeniable art. WORK IN PROGRESS