Ambitious, Maddening, Confusing, Genius - Reappraising The Last Jedi.

So - you know a film has gotten under your skin when, after seeing it that first time, you can't stop thinking about it.

This is no less true for me with Star Wars The Last Jedi. It hasn't left my mind since I saw it on Saturday. I posted my initial thoughts about the film, at a time when I'd had such a visceral reaction to it. I wasn't sure how to feel about it. I knew that, in terms of Star Wars, it was unlike any Star Wars story I'd seen before - both on screen and in literature. You have to remember that, for die hard fans of the franchise, there has been a forty year catalog of Expanded Universe stories for us to digest. I initially called The Last Jedi ambitious, maddening and confusing.

Since Saturday, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has percolated in me. It has boiled and bubbled around in my gut. It has lead me through such a spectrum of emotions, I still can't even process them.

It was inevitable that I was going to see it again.

The bulk of this post was written in the first few hours after I left the cinema, having had that second viewing.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi was an infinitely better viewing experience the second time around. Free from the hype of expectation, I was able to settle in and appraise the story on its own terms. I'd already credited writer/director Rian Johnson's approach to some aspects of the film narrative in my previous post, but I'd found them difficult to take in. 

Kylo Ren's arc remains brilliant. It is probably the most compelling story arc of a dark side character in Star Wars history. He comes to us from The Force Awakens as a quintessentially character, having struck down his own father and accepted the Dark Side of the Force over the Light. All of that is turned on its head in The Last Jedi. Adam Driver's Ren - or Ben Solo - walks a tight rope, balancing over a chasm of the Force. One has to wonder whether there are moments where even he is not sure of his true destiny. 

The subsequent trajectory Ren takes, through his interaction with Rey through the Force, is an exercise in minimalist genius. It is ballet. I had problems with this new characteristic of the Force but I now question why I should have at all. The Force is as much a character in the Star Wars universe than any other character. It can evolve and change just as human, animal or alien. 

I think Kylo Ren's die was cast from the moment he shatters his mask in the elevator at the beginning of the film - following his confrontation with Snoke. Ren is on a search for ultimate power, ultimate control, in much the same way that Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader were. Ren sees Rey as a threat to that control. Thus he must control her too. The way Kylo Ren manipulates Rey and, by extension, us throughout the story is nothing short of exquisite. 

I still can't quite accept the murder of Snoke, so early in the piece. Part of that shock has been influenced by my buying into the fan speculation surrounding who Snoke may or may not be and part of it is my belief that Snoke is a compelling enough character that he should have remained in the saga until the third film. In light of the brilliance of Kylo Ren's trajectory I'm not as angered by it as I was after my first viewing.

Luke Skywalkers's arc is even more brilliant on second viewing. I knew there was something special in this narrative but I was able to take it in more thoroughly. It is superb. I experienced moments of real emotion throughout both viewings of the film. Mark Hamill's acting is superb. Johnson's writing, his flipping of the script in terms of who Luke Skywalker is, is superb.

Writer Joseph Campbell defined the hero's journey in his 1949 book "The Hero With A Thousand Faces" and it served as a template for popular story telling throughout the 20th century, influencing none other than George Lucas himself. Lucas resolved his particular Hero's Journey with Luke Skywalker at the end of Return of The Jedi and gave the character a happily ever after. Rian Johnson opens the window beyond that happily ever after and reveals the hero in a completely new light. Middle aged, scarred by the subsequent years, guilt ridden by subsequent failure and closed off from everything that defined his heroism. 

I still have problems with Luke Skywalker "dialing" into Crait through the Force at the emotion charged climax of the film. Again, this is coloured by my own perceptions of what the Force should be. But again, it is not for me to define what the Force is. The thing is, Skywalker was there. He was there when the, Resistance and Leia and Rey and the Galaxy needed him most. He'd opened himself back up to the Force. He accepted his failure with Kylo Ren and he accepted that the Jedi will not end. He became the hero he always was. It was perfect.

Rey. Dear sweet Rey. I said in my previous blog post that her arc reminded me of (Ryan Gosling) K's arc in Blade Runner 2049, in that - even when he realizes that he is not the missing child of Deckard and Rachel, that he is no-one, he still decides to do the right thing - *because it is the right thing to do*. Well, I am definitely more accepting of the truth of Rey. That she is no-one - and yet she chooses to do the right thing. She chooses the right path. She does so because she is inherently good and she is just as open to receiving and interacting with the Force as anyone. The Force is an energy field that moves through all living things - all living things. I like that a lot.

I think I can accept that Rey's parentage matters less now than it did. And maybe it never mattered. Again, fan speculation and a subtle manipulation by Lucasfilm - in that they deliberately conflated her parentage to wind us all up - contributed to so much of my initial shock at this reveal. Rey is now presented to us as a character who exists completely on her own terms, unburdened by a family legacy a'la a Skywalker or a Kenobi or even a Palpatine 

There remains problematic aspects to this film. Canto Bight still feels out of place and I don't think it should have been in the story. In fact, at times it doesn't feel like it exists in the same film. I think it contributed to Last Jedi's unacceptably long runtime and Rian could have gone with a more condensed thread that would have kept the action on the Raddus - ie. there's a compromised Droid on the ship that the Mega Star Destroyer is communicating with and thus able to track the ship the light speed. Our heroes have to find it. I dunno - it's just an idea.

Admiral Holdo seemed to make more sense to me but I'm not quite there with her yet. I think that, in the story arc dealing with Canto Bight and the Resistance Cruiser, her arc got confused. I'm still trying to work that whole thread out in my head.

I never had a problem with Leia surviving that first attack on her ship. In the 30 years since Return of the Jedi, I've come to accept and appreciate that Leia can wield the Force. She may not do so in the same way that Luke or Rey can but her pedigree cannot be denied. Again, it illustrates a new interpretation on the Force and who is able to use it. Princess Leia has to be in 9. She has to be! They didn't conclude Leia's story in any way like I thought they would, and to just not have her in there for the final film - if just to resolve her character with a fitting death - It would be wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong!

So - second time around - I'm emotionally exhausted. In a much better way than I was after my first viewing of the film. 

Rian Johnson has sold me. The Last Jedi is the most ambitious Star Wars storytelling - ever. It remains maddening and confusing but that is actually the genius of it. The Last Jedi is not a story for lazy consumers of story telling. I made that mistake in my initial reaction to it. It is a story to unpack and consider in different ways. Rian Johnson has challenged my perceptions of what a Star Wars narrative should be. 

I'm grateful for that. 

DFA.

P.S. - For a comprehensive, engaging and entertaining reaction to The Last Jedi, listen to the latest episode of the Richie & Ollie Show. Available where ever good podcasts are down-loadable (Click Image). 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Ambitious. Confusing. Maddening.

So, regular readers to this blog and those who know me well, know that my love of Star Wars runs deep - 40 years deep - ever since my Dad took me to see the original Star Wars back in 1977.

I went to see The Last Jedi yesterday with my family, replicating that first excursion to Star Wars all those years ago. For my 8 year old daughter, it was a special occasion as it was our first cinematic experience of Star Wars together.

It was always going to be special. 

I came away from The Last Jedi not really knowing what to think. To absorb something set in a fictional universe you've loved for 40 years is always a challenge, simply because you're emotionally invested in it. You have skin in this game. 

So, 24 hours later, what do I think about this film?

It's complicated.

I'm still trying to process exactly what I saw in The Last Jedi. Undoubtedly, it was the most complex Star Wars film of the saga to date but, I think they were too ambitious in some aspects of the film.

So here goes...

The Last Jedi was half an hour too long. It made several attempts at comedy, some of which was good, some was not so good and some ran dangerously close to breaching that fourth wall. It was cringe worthy. Characters - both new and established - did things in this film that seemed out of place for Star Wars and, at times, it jarred badly. That wasn't something I expected.

If I'm to compare The Last Jedi - the middle act of a three act play - with it's spiritual predecessor, the Empire Strikes Back, this film should have adhered to two or three key story threads and ran with them to a cliffhanger. The Last Jedi went with around six or seven and of those, none were satisfyingly resolved or parked for the third act. They were confusing and and they detracted from the strengths of the film.

And much of the story didn't need to be there. For example, the Canto Bight sequences. For all its Bond-esque bombast and chintz, this thread was brutally unsatisfying and it didn't need to be there.

See the thing is - they had a perfect plot device that would have explained the First Order being able to track the Resistance through hyperspace. They had a black BB unit on the bridge of the Raddus, *next to BB8* early in the film! 

That Droid *could* have been the node the First Order were using to track the Resistance ship through hyperspace!

Writer/Director Rian Johnson could have dropped clues to the presence of this droid throughout out the film and dispensed with Canto Bight altogether. In the process they would've saved potentially 20 minutes of run time and kept the story more contained. 

Finn and Rose could still have had their character moments in searching for the node and it would have been a lot more satisfying. 

The whole DJ subplot - that crafty code breaker played (poorly) by Benicio Del Toro - where he eventually sold Finn and Rose out on the deck of Snoke's Super Dooper Star Destroyer - it was a messy way to get where they needed to go.

The supporting players in this film - some of them established, some newcomers - fell surprisingly flat, despite their acting chops. Kelly Marie Tran's Rose Tico was a pleasant enough but she ended up being a nothing character who felt tacked on and too obvious at times. She was there to be a love interest for John Boyega's Finn but that trajectory was way too clunky and cringe worthy at the supposedly emotion charged climax.

I did like aspects of John Boyega's Finn's arc - ie. his finding courage within himself and not running away from the fight was good and satisfying. Especially at that moment during the Crait battle. But I felt it was less than it could have been - and yet I don't know how it could have been more.

Laura Dern's Admiral Holdo was another new addition who fell flat. Her presence in the film was way too convoluted to be convincing and it became painful to watch. And I read the Journey to the Last Jedi novel Leia: Princess of Alderaan which was a good primer for the relationship between Holdo and Leia. Their relationship here and the supposedly clandestine final solution they'd cooked up off screen was flat and confusing.

Chewbacca was relegated to a second string character and I thought they treated him badly. I wanted to see moments of Chewie dealing with his grief at losing Han Solo - his best friend - and perhaps coming full circle and committing a life debt to Rey. I wanted to see more gravitas in the reunion between Chewie and Luke. There was none of that. Chewie was almost non existent, forced to interact with the worst Star Wars creations since Jar Jar Binks  - the Porgs. 

Captain Phasma...

This character has become the most useless excuse for a Star Wars antagonist ever. I don't ever want to see her in Star Wars ever again. And yet, here's the thing - I actually feel for actress Gwendoline Christie and, even the character of Phasma.

I've seen Christie's work, most notably with Game Of Thrones, and I know she is capable of so much more than what they gave her across The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. I kept spotting places where they could've dropped Phasma into scenes but they didn't - and the character suffered that.most egregious of fates - she became irrelevant.

Now, is she dead? No. I don't think so. I think they'll bring her back because they revealed her eye in that last scene and her fall reeked of "Oh, you know we're gonna bring her back".

Now - Rey's parentage.

My wife Emily, who regards herself herself as a casual Star Wars viewer observed this in our post viewing dissection. Emily loved the The Force Awakens. She loved Rey and she was really invested in finding out who Rey's parents were. 

Lucasfilm teased us with Rey's parentage -  both in the run up to the film and within the film itself. They teased us with that whole Dark Side sink hole sequence on Ach-To - the one Rey fell into, then encountered the multiple versions of herself. 

They teased us right up to the point of threatening a reveal of her parents - only to reveal herself. It was a shallow imitation of the whole Luke confronting himself in the tree on Dagobah from The Empire Strikes Back! No! No, no, no! 

Then, to have Kylo Ren deliver that limp wristed revelation about her parentage, later, on Snoke's Star Destroyer? 

Seriously???

Lucasfilm have had two years to offer something of significance with Rey, that would truly elevate her and they allow Rian Johnson to go with something so weak???

Rian Johnson has essentially written Rey off as a nobody - a worthy nobody - but a nobody nonetheless. Despite this revelation, Rey chooses the path of the Light. It is an admirable choice on her part and it defines her character as inherently good. This actually reminded me of a similar thread from Denis Villeneuve's outstanding Blade Runner 2049. 

In that film, the protagonist K discovers that he is not the secret child of Deckard and Rachel. He is, essentially, a nobody - a no-one of significance. Yet he, chooses to do the right thing in reuniting Deckard with his long lost child - because it is the right thing to do. Star Wars does not have the luxury of doing that. No one who is Force sensitive should be an insignificant player on the Star Wars chessboard. The lore that George Lucas established throughout the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy, with respect to Force sensitive individuals does not allow for that. 

I actually suspect that the reveal of Rey's parentage by Ben?Kylo was a misdirection. If that is the case, it was a monumentally clumsy one.

Now, there were strengths in The Last Jedi - narrative arcs that ran close to being brilliant - until they weren't.

Kylo Ren's arc was among the strongest in the film. Ben Solo/Kylo Ren is pretty much irretrievable by the end of the film and his killing of Snoke illustrates just how dark he has become. Supreme Leader Snoke is partly responsible for who Solo/Ren is. So is Luke Skywalker. I found this was a compelling exploration of the Balance of The Force and how precarious that balance is.

And Ben/Kylo's twisted psyche totally feeds into the legacy of Anakin/Darth in that he craves power so that he can control events and shape the galaxy. He will do anything to achieve ultimate power to protect himself. He will manipulate Rey, destroy Snoke, confront his shame ridden Uncle.

Mark Hamill was brilliant - flawed brilliance - but brilliance none-the-less. His performance is potentially Oscar worthy. Hamill brought moments of real emotion to his role and I felt those. Any actor who can cry on screen is a genius!

I can fully accept Luke Skywalker's act in wanting to put down Ben Solo in the flash back scenes in the film. His fear of Ben's darkness and what it could mean for the galaxy was a brilliant exploration of the character and added much to the lore of Luke Skywalker. 

To apply a real world analogy to this - I consider my own experience. Sitting here, in my 40's as I am, I can buy into that sense of middle aged doubt Luke Skywalker experiences. I have doubts about the world around me, the people in it, the consequences for the future. While not wanting to actually kill anyone per-se, I felt empathy with Luke wrestling with his existence as portrayed in the film.  

What I could not accept was that Luke Skywalker remained on Ach-To safe from the events of the Crait climax. This was the Jedi equivalent of phoning it in.

Initially, I couldn't even determine whether his entrance into the Resistance hide out was  physical or not. But when that fact was revealed, it was a disappointment. 

Luke Skywalker should have made that final decision to protect the Spark *in person* - to reunite with Leia just one last time and confront Kylo/Ben on the salt flats of Crait. The resulting duel between Uncle and Nephew fell flat. It had no emotional punch - because Luke wasn't actually there. It was disrespectful to the character and his legacy.

That Luke Skywalker died alone, away from the fight, was another example of Lucasfilm copping out with an attempt at gravitas that was an utter failure. Luke Skywalker should not have died on Ach-To. He shouldn't have died in this film. 

And nor should have Snoke.

Here's where I have to talk about Snoke. 

Fuck Snoke!! 

Supreme Leader Snoke is the most egregious mishandling of a character in Star Wars - ever. Again, for Lucasfilm to manipulate us, for two years, with tantalizing ideas about the origins of Snoke -  only to *not* give us any idea of who Snoke is. Then to kill him off like that?

We have no context with which to remain invested in Snoke. Who was he? How was it that he was able to wield absolute chaos over the Skywalker family? We got none of that. The Last Jedi should have explored that. Instead, he became a throw away character - disposable and irrelevant.

I now couldn't give a shit who Snoke is in the wider arc of this story. I don't need to know his history. I don't care! Again, we have another character who should have been someone of significance in the Star Wars universe. Lucasfilm baulked! As though it was too hard. 

As the middle act of a three act play, The Last Jedi should have followed the trajectory of The Empire Strikes Back. It should have deepened the characters established in The Force Awakens and their relationships with one another. It should not have dispensed with characters so easily as it did. And it should have ended in a cliff hanger - unresolved, with us fearing for the future of our beloved heroes. It misfired on most of these, if not all of them.

Look, I did not hate The Last Jedi. The more time I spend thinking about it, the more I like what they tried to do with the story, particularly Like Skywalker and Kylo Ren's respective arcs, the nature of the Force and the precarious balance it constantly challenges those in the universe with. 

But, I have a lot of difficulty with what Rian Johnson did give us. The Snoke arc. The Canto Bight and the DJ sequence. Rey's arc and parentage. These showed a surprising level of incompetence and cowardice in the story telling and I think Johnson has damaged the trajectory of the sequel saga. It remains to be seen whether J.J. Abrams - who is returning to direct the final film in this current trilogy - can pull something together out of this spaghetti bolognaise.

The Last Jedi - Ambitious. Confusing. Maddening. 

DFA.

(disclaimer - all images are copyright of Lucasfilm/Disney).

The Wars That Saves Lives - A Look At My Saga.

By now, I'm sure most of you would be aware that it is shaping up to be huge year for Star Wars fandom. We've just seen the conclusion to season 1 of the animated series Star Wars: Rebels and we're about to embark on season 2 in the American fall. We've seen the hugely successful 4 day convention extravaganza Star Wars Celebration in California and a big Star Wars presence at the recent San Diego Comic Con. And, unless you've been living under a rock, you will know that come December, Star Wars will return to the big screen in the highly anticipated first entry in the sequel trilogy The Force Awakens. For a franchise that was considered to be done and dusted just 10 years ago after the final film in the prequel series, it is quite a momentous change in fortunes for George Lucas' genre defining franchise. 

Now, those of you who know me really well, know that I'm a massive Star Wars fan and, for me, it feels like there has been no better time to be a Star Wars fan. In the past year alone, I've been able connect with a number of like fans around the world and I've loved being able to rap over something that is so mutually loved. Central among these new connections, has been an Australian documentary film maker named Adam Harris.

(image credit: My Saga.)

Adam came onto my radar last year when he launched a Kickstarter campaign titled "My Saga" in which he sought backing for a documentary film project. The project description immediately caught my eye.

"My Saga - A Star Wars Documentary is a story that will show for one person that Star Wars not only changed their life...it saved it."

(image credit: My Saga.)

The initial campaign was wildly successful and the production has since gone from strength to strength as Adam as his small team of film makers work tirelessly to bring the documentary to fruition. 

And indeed we will see it with the announcement, earlier this year, that Adam Harris' film will be released internationally in 2016.

"My Saga follows the journey of Adam Harris, a husband, father and Star Wars fan. Four years ago, the discovery of a brain tumour and a serious health scare caused Adam to re-evaluate his priorities and follow his dreams.

Star Wars has always been a constant source of joy, comfort and even safety in Adam’s life. When it became apparent his children shared the same deep love and affection for Star Wars, Adam felt compelled to discover just what it is about Star Wars that creates such devoted fans that span across multiple generations, all around the world.

With his son Jack by his side, Adam has spoken with fans, enthusiasts, die-hards as well as cast and crew members from the films. All the while discovering what Star Wars means to him, and the impact it’s had on making him the husband and father he is today.


Every fan has their own saga. This is one."

The first teaser trailer for the film took the internet by storm when it was released onto YouTube and Adam has increasingly captured the attention of media outlets both here in Australia and overseas. Adam was featured in a number of interviews by official media covering the recent Star Wars: Celebration in California and he has received support from major Star Wars identities.

(image credit: Adam Harris.)

In the whirlwind procession of Star Wars and Star Wars related media that will be coming our way over the next 12 months, My Saga promises to be a lovingly constructed journey of one man's Star Wars fandom and will be on my own personal list of must see films in 2016. 

Connect with Adam Harris here.

Connect with My Saga here.

Tweet with My Saga here.

Visit the official site here.

DFA.

Star Wars: Heir To The Jedi - The View From My Room.

Heir to the Jedi by Kevin Hearne

The Galactic Civil War rages on after the destruction of the Death Star and Luke Skywalker struggles to learn more about the Force without the aid of Obi-Wan Kenobi – or indeed without any aid at all. 

But the few memories he has of Obi-Wan’s instruction point the way to a stronger control of the Force, and he is encouraged to pursue it by a new friend in the Alliance. 

When Luke, R2-D2 and his new ally are tasked with liberating a valuable asset from the Empire and delivering her to a safe planet where she can aid the Alliance, their journey across the galaxy is fraught with peril – and opportunities for Luke to discover the mysteries of the Force.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

With the transition of the Star Wars franchise from Lucasfilm to Disney and the announcement of what it, essentially, a reboot of the entire expanded universe, I was cautiously excited. My view of the Star Wars Expanded Universe was that it had grown to unwieldy over the years and many of the stories in it were patchy at best. The new Star Wars Story Group promised a much more disciplined approach to story telling and I was hopeful that the story output would improve accordingly.

Having recently signed on to Amazons Audible, in the hope of taking my first steps into the world of audio books, Heir to the Jedi was my first audio book title. It stood out to me as a formidable title that offered the reader a first person narrative from none other than Luke Skywalker himself - a first for a major Star Wars character in Star Wars literature.

Sadly, I didn't enjoy the story at all. 

I felt that it failed to capture the cinematic spirit of Star Wars - as with the case with so many of the previous EU novels. I understand Kevin Hearne is an accomplished sci-fi author and he has a proven track record in the genre, but his story feels out of its depth for the Star Wars universe. Throughout my 'read', I found that there was a lot of annoying exposition which added little to the plot and distracted me and I felt that the character interaction that felt awkward and unintentionally comical. Luke Skywalker, in particular, was poorly handled in such a way that I felt that he seemed even less mature than he was in "A New Hope". The character Nakari had potential, but I think Hearne struggled with her identity and he certainly struggled with crafting a convincing dynamic between her and Luke.

The audio book experience is a new one for me so I came to it a little green. However, I found the listening experience to be jarring. 

I think the greatest problem with this unabridged version was the voice talent. Again, I note that Marc Thompson has read a number of Star Wars titles so, apparently he has a track record with the franchise. Thompson's narration of the story was okay but his character voices were terrible to the point of embarrassing.

Would it have been so hard to cast a female voice talent into the female characters? This would have been far more convincing and would have allowed Thompson to hone his male character voices far more effectively.

Listening to his take on the female protagonist Nakari was like listening to a transvestite. His interpretation of Luke Skywalker was marginally better but I found it wanting.

Having looked forward to this title for a long time, Star Wars: Heir To the Jedi turned out to be a big disappointment.

DFA.

View all my reviews

Come On Bro - It's The Wars!!

Nestled in the rolling green hills of the Latrobe Valley in Victoria, Australia lies a great big hole in the ground.

It's an open cut mine that, for the better part of a century, has been the source of Australia's largest deposits of brown coal.

This brown coal has been dug up by massive dredges and fed into boilers at the nearby Yallourn Power Station. The electricity from this particular station powers a lot of homes in Victoria and eastern Australia.

It's a dirty job but somebody's gotta do it.

During the halcyon days of the Victorian power industry, a town was conceived and built near the Power Station. The Yallourn township was provided to the workers that toiled in the massive open cut mine and station. It was a fully realized town even before it was built and boasted facilities that were the envy of the district. Beautiful tree lined streets, comfortable housing, a fully functioning shopping precinct, a hospital, school, police station, pub. Yallourn had it all. And for decades it was a bustling hamlet. It truly was a beautiful town. However there was always this catch...

The town was built on the proviso that one day, the State Electricity Commission (SEC), might need to access the rich coal seam that lay underneath it. And that day did come. In the mid 1960's there was a revolt by the towns folk against the SEC and for years they protested against their town being dismantled at the whim of some faceless bureaucrats. Money was raised, campaigns were hatched, people joined in to fight for their township.

"Come on bro - It's the Wars!"

When I was born into this battle in the mid 1970's, it was already a given that the man had won against the workers. There was a hell of a lot of life in the old girl even though she was a dame in decline.  

 Yallourn township circa 1970's. My first home.

Yallourn's facilities were the gold standard. In particular, the cinema - or 'theater' as it was lovingly referred to - remains in my mind the grandest of Yallourn's architecture.

Built in the 1930's and overlooking the township's central gardens, the Theater was a vibrant social center. Featuring two screens, red leather seating, a plush foyer and concession stand, the theater put on some of the greatest movies of the 20th century beginning with "Gone With The Wind" in 1939 (and, as a nice bookend to it's life, it screened the same film in 1979).

I've shared memories with ex-Yallourn residents as to what films they saw over the years and they are recalled with affection.

The swords and sandals epics of the 1950's - "Ben Hur", "Spartacus". Classics from the 1960's such as "Dr. Zhivago" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".

I remember my Dad and his next door neighbor Rob Martin recalling how they ran home in the night after seeing the 1973 stunner "The Exorcist" - so shit scared were they.

Yallourn's cinema, 1975.

For me, I had the pleasure and privilege of seeing one movie there. It was only one but it was to have a profound effect on me.

I can still remember the very first time I saw Star Wars.

There are certain events in a father's life that fall into the category of things you must do. Taking your son to his first movie experience is one. Towards the end of 1977, my Dad took me to the Yallourn Theater to see the George Lucas blockbuster.

By the end of 1977, Star Wars had become a world wide phenomenon and on a balmy November evening Dad and I went along to see what all the fuss was about.

I'm sure I didn't actually grasp what a movie actually was. The whole thing was just one big WOW! moment - as in 'I don't know what I'm actually doing right now - but WOW! Just WOW!

The cinema, circa 1941.

Dad's cinematic tastes are quite varied, although in the years since Star Wars he hasn't totally connected with the space fantasy/sci-fi genre in the way that I have. Dad was schooled in the classic political thrillers like "Three Days of The Condor", "The Marathon Man", "The Conversation" - all films that I like very much. But Star Wars was different for him in that, even he could appreciate it was an 'event film'. Everyone was talking about it - even the rough and tough coal miners and power station workers. There was something about Star Wars that crossed boundaries. It was accessible to everyone.

My memories of that first viewing are clear but fractured, fleeting vignettes of movement, color and place, though there are three distinct memories that stand out. First and foremost was the foyer of the cinema. It's lighting was soft but I can remember the old school flashing Hollywood styled lights in the concession area. The carpet in that foyer was deep red, very plush, the kind you could sink up to your knees in. I'm going to take a punt here and say that I had my first taste of popcorn. And I think Dad was a choc top fan - spearmint - but I'll have to confirm that.

The cinema itself. Well - that was simply the most amazingly awesome room I had ever been in. Vast and cavernous and the screen - oh my god - that screen!! I was gobsmacked by it. The seats were dark red - very plush material, the kind that were really low set and you kinda disappeared into them.

Cinema interior.

 
A celluloid love affair begins, November 1977.

And then there was the film. What can a 35 year old man channeling a (nearly) 4 year old say 32 years after the fact?

Oh my freaking god!!!???

The ubiquitous Star Wars logo erupting onto the screen against the twinkling star field. That opening crawl - though I couldn't read it then. And of course, there is that Star Destroyer passing overhead. I can clearly remember that. I was jumping up and down in my seat - blown away at this brilliant piece of celluloid - one of the most kick arse cinema moments of all time!

Things that  make you go - WHOOOOOO!!!

The first appearance of Darth Vader when he boards the crippled blockade runner. The odd-bod Jawas and their towering Sandcrawler, the planet sized Death Star. All of these moments passed into my consciousness and have never left.

There are other significant memories. Scenes that I swear I saw in that original release that I haven't seen in any other since. One example is a scene just after Ben Kenobi appears, having scared the Sand People away from a subdued Luke Skywalker. Kenobi and Skywalker have a conversation about Artoo then Luke is reminded that C-3PO still lies at the bottom of the ravine - the "Where am I? I must have taken a bad step" scene.

Obi Wan and Luke are then seen helping 3PO to his feet. Now, I always remember seeing Obi Wan, Luke and 3PO standing and stepping down from where he has fallen in the film. However I have only ever seen that moment as a still since. I stand to be corrected but, I definitely remember a much longer scene of 3PO, Ben and Luke standing together just after they help the stricken droid to his feet.

In all versions I have seen since, there is a wipe transition that crawls up the screen as they lift 3PO to his feet - a transition used to hide the fact the the film makers were using just a torso of 3PO at that point - before the scene shifts to Ben Kenobi's dwelling.

The last scene that I can recall with clarity was the Millennium Falcon knifing through space, just after they escape from the Death Star. It was brief moment of visual pleasure just watching that beautiful "piece of junk" in full flight before the four TIE fighters rocket in after them while Luke and Han blast their pursuers away with the Falcon's quad canons.

For me, there was only one 'Falcon'.

Dad tells me often that I wouldn't shut up through large chunks of the movie. I was babbling away excitedly. I guess it was the excitement of my first movie experience. I went on to live and breathe Star Wars throughout most of my youth and adolescence - taking a break from it during those dark years between '86 and '95 - and now as a supposedly responsible adult, I can happily declare that I'm still the biggest kid on the block - with the coolest Star Wars collection going around.

Come on Bro - It's The Wars!

Yallourn's destruction was inevitable. By the early 1970's the SEC had begun the process of dismantling the town, moving houses out on trucks in pieces so that they could be rebuilt elsewhere. The lure of the rich brown coal seam underneath the town ship was just too overpowering. The irony of that is that today the State Electricity Commission itself is now extinct - having passed into private/foreign hands in the mid 90's by a government hell bent on privatizing anything it could get it's hands on.

You can still find many examples of Yallourn's architecture in existence today around the Latrobe Valley. By the mid 1970's Yallourn early spirit had been routed. Though many held out, continuing to live and work there, the writing was on the wall. My family had moved by late '77 to the nearby township of Yallourn North.

Today, though the vista of the township is gone, I have discovered that the land upon which my first house was situated is actually still there - it hasn't been swallowed by the Cut. In places evidence of the town's streets still exist, complete with lines of trees.

The screen that opened the door onto that galaxy far, far away is bulldozed.

Following the final film presentation  - Gone With The Wind - the cinema was demolished in 1979. A 40 year old cinematic era was ground to dust. The Yallourn Theater lives on in a comprehensive collection of stories, photographs and images that are shared by former residents of Yallourn among whom I count myself. I cherish that first movie experience with my father. Because in a small way it influenced the person who I am today. I love story telling, I love the escapism of cinema and I love the toys! I can't allow myself to give up on them, as much as my serioso would like me to I am sure. Fortunately, my love of all things Star Wars lives on...and my son is now getting in the action too.

My serioso doesn't really approve but - to quote the character of Chaz Bottler in Kyle Newman's 2008 love letter to Star Wars fans (aka Fanboys)...

Come On Bro - It's The Wars!

DFA.