Crime

Drama

Mystery

Lantana

Jan Chapman Productions

Australian Film Finance Corporation

New South Wales Film & Television Office

Germany

Australia

English

Anthony LaPaglia

Geoffrey Rush

Barbara Hershey

Kerry Armstrong

Rachael Blake

Vince Colosimo

Russell Dykstra

Daniela Farinacci

Peter Phelps

Leah Purcell

Glenn Robbins

Manu Bennett

Melissa Martínez

Owen McKenna

Nicholas Cooper

Marc Dwyer

Puven Pather

Lionel Tozer

Glenn Suter

Natasha Guthrie

James Cullington

Ashley Fitzgerald

Keira Wingate

Angus Cripps

William Cripps

Kay Armstrong

Jacomb Borra

Ben Mortley

Gabriella Maselli

Richard Morecroft

Lani John Tupu

Lesley Hancock

Angus McGuigan

Michael Di Nuzzo

Greg Eccleston

Ray Lawrence

Andrew Bovell

Mikael Borglund

Jan Chapman

Rainer Mockert

Steve Hadley

Bruce Haymes

Paul Kelly

Peter Luscombe

Shane O'Mara

Mandy Walker

Karl Sodersten

Victoria Mielewska

Domonic Mahoney

Lawrence Woodward

Damian Bradford

Zelie Bullen

Lazaro Cifuentes

Paul Doyle

Sam Elia

Ashley Fairfield

Scotty Gregory

Tony Lynch

Linda Megier

Andrew Owen

Tove Petterson

Brad Praed

Elise Lockwood

David Elmes

Matt Windon

David Williamson

David Nichols

Catherine Jarman

Susie Maizels

Kim Buddee

Tony Campbell

Margot Wilson

Robern Pickering

Jan Zeigenbein

Martin Oswin

Roger Savage

Robert Sullivan

Andrew Plain

Mauricio Alpizar

Klan Samadi

Dan Lee

***Exceptional drama about a detective in Sydney… and so much more***

"Lantana" is an Australian drama from 2001 about four couples in the Sydney area (where the film was shot). There are some important peripheral characters as well. The husband of the main couple is a detective going through a mid-life crisis (Anthony LaPaglia). His wife (Kerry Armstrong) knows something's wrong and is getting counseling. The marriage of her counselor (Barbara Hershey) is also troubled due to the death of their young daughter 18 months earlier. The woman the detective is having a fling with (Rachael Blake) lives next door to a couple whose marriage is the only solid relationship in the story (Vince Colosimo & Daniela Farinacci). Or is it? When one of these women turns up missing the counselor's husband becomes a suspect (Geoffrey Rush).

The reason the film's called "Lantana" is because lantana is a tangled shrub common in Australia, which represents the entanglements of the lives of the characters. It also symbolizes marriage since lantana has a sweet but bitter smell: it's beautiful with its flowers, but has "stings"; its branches weave together in a complicated way and in the story a woman is caught in the complexity of it.

"Lantana" is the antithesis of big, dumb, effects-laden "blockbusters," which oddly enough often become boring with their overload of "exciting" things going on. "Lantana" effectively shows that ordinary life is more interesting and compelling, if done right. Human nature is explored through a blend of passionate emotions, misconceptions, betrayals, anger, premature conclusions, vanity, duty, ethics, lies, honesty, loyalty, repentance and restoration.

Three of my all-time favorite dramas are "Grand Canyon” (1991), "Snow Angels" (2007) and “Pulp Fiction” (1994). I place "Lantana" in their company. That's how exceptional it is.

The film runs 2 hours, 1 minute.

GRADE: A

Official Australian Trailer

US Trailer

UK Trailer

Best Movies

Lantana

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Anthony LaPaglia

Geoffrey Rush

Barbara Hershey

Kerry Armstrong

Rachael Blake

Vince Colosimo

Russell Dykstra

Daniela Farinacci

Peter Phelps

Leah Purcell

Box office

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