A remote Australian community, populated by quirky characters, plays a key role in the first Apollo moon landing.A remote Australian community, populated by quirky characters, plays a key role in the first Apollo moon landing.A remote Australian community, populated by quirky characters, plays a key role in the first Apollo moon landing.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 10 nominations
Beverley Dunn
- Secretary v
- (voice)
- …
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn real life Neil 'Fox' Mason - the character represented by Russ 'Mitch' Mitchell in the movie - never got to see the moonwalk pictures live. He was too busy keeping the windswept dish pointed at the moon.
- GoofsIn the scene were Billy is explaining the moon landing to his father, he anticipates Marie's line, "If you ask me it's the most chauvinistic exercise in the history of the world." (He turns to look at her before she starts speaking even though she is interrupting the conversation.)
- Quotes
Ross 'Mitch' Mitchell: That's bullshit. You just bullshitted NASA!
- Crazy creditsThe producers acknowledge the valuable assistance of the staff at the CSIRO Parkes Observatory and Visitors Centre, the Council and people of Parkes, New South Wales, and the Council and people of Forbes, New South Wales.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Clock (2010)
- SoundtracksThe Day the World Stood Still
(2000)
Written by Edmund Choi
Vocal performance by Tina Arena
Tina Arena appears courtesy Sony Music Entertainment (Australia) Ltd
Additional performance by the Australian Boys Choir
Featured review
At a time when the comedy genre is saturated with the crude, lewd and unsophisticated toilet humour of the U.S ('See Spot Run', 'The Animal', 'Say It Isn't So'), it's encouraging to watch a film that really makes you laugh out loud without wanting to cringe at the same time. Like it's antipodean predecessor 'Priscilla...', 'The Dish' takes the best aspects of Australian culture and the Aussie persona and uses them to create the finest comedy of the year so far. Much of the humour is brutally honest, delivered in the kind of relaxed, conversational style which has become an Aussie trademark. Paired with a homegrown cast (headed by a wonderfully understated Sam Neill) and filmed on location at the satellite receiver station in South Australia, the film feels refreshingly natural and unconstructed.
This sense of cultural identity gives 'The Dish' a surprising depth for such an uncomplicated film. Rather than resorting to the contrived, exaggerated Australian image of Paul Hogan, it revels in its roots without a hint of self-consciousness or compromise. Such an intense warmth towards its small-town location and everyman characters is shown that it is impossible not to share it, and from that grows a wonderful sense of intimacy. Despite the global importance of Apollo 11's mission, a real sense of the importance of it to the community and the individuals therein is present throughout. An American film may have made this subservient to the moon landings - here, the two are intertwined on an equal footing, and you care equally about each.
And in that lies the secret of why 'The Dish' is such a damn good film. It's not the well-paced, extremely funny and well-delivered script, nor the quality of the acting, nor the great location or period soundtrack. It's because the film has a real sense of soul. It makes you want to care about it and it's characters. In mainstream film, that's a rare achievement indeed. Let's hope the Farrelly brothers are watching...
8.5/10
This sense of cultural identity gives 'The Dish' a surprising depth for such an uncomplicated film. Rather than resorting to the contrived, exaggerated Australian image of Paul Hogan, it revels in its roots without a hint of self-consciousness or compromise. Such an intense warmth towards its small-town location and everyman characters is shown that it is impossible not to share it, and from that grows a wonderful sense of intimacy. Despite the global importance of Apollo 11's mission, a real sense of the importance of it to the community and the individuals therein is present throughout. An American film may have made this subservient to the moon landings - here, the two are intertwined on an equal footing, and you care equally about each.
And in that lies the secret of why 'The Dish' is such a damn good film. It's not the well-paced, extremely funny and well-delivered script, nor the quality of the acting, nor the great location or period soundtrack. It's because the film has a real sense of soul. It makes you want to care about it and it's characters. In mainstream film, that's a rare achievement indeed. Let's hope the Farrelly brothers are watching...
8.5/10
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Тарілка
- Filming locations
- Forbes, New South Wales, Australia(location)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $2,552,992
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $70,612
- Mar 18, 2001
- Gross worldwide
- $16,578,157
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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