Kodak/Atlab Cinema Collection

Steve (Frankie J Holden) and Gary (Ben Mendelsohn) at the garage

Return Home (1990)

A new 35mm print of this feature is now available. Courtesy of Ray Argall and Kodak (Australasia) and Atlab Australia

National Film and Sound Archive National Collection
Title Number 291001.

Classification: M rating

Synopsis

Ray Argall's first feature tells a simple tale about a man coming to terms with his past on his return home one summer to the Adelaide suburb of his youth. Two brothers have drifted apart and live in separate cities and after ten years are reunited. Noel (Dennis Coard), a successful insurance broker in Melbourne, returns home to stay with his brother Steve (Frankie J Holden), a mechanic who still runs the family owned garage that has fallen on hard times. A beautifully observed film of these people and the environment in which they live.

Steve (Frankie J Holden) and Noel (Dennis Caord)

Background

Argall made this feature on a budget of $350,000 which was shot in six weeks by Mandy Walker on standard 16mm. Ray Argall won the Best Director Award at the Australian Film Institute Awards in 1990. The film was invited to the Panorama section of the 1990 Berlin Film Festival.

Director
Ray Argall

Year of Production 1989
Duration 87 minutes
Format 35mm blow-up, Colour
Optical Soundtrack Mono, remastered to Dolby® Digital

Production Company
Musical Films

Producer
Cristina Pozzan

Screenplay
Ray Argall

Director of Photography
Mandy Walker

Production Design
Kerith Holmes

Editor
Ken Sallows

Sound Recordist
Bronwyn Murphy

Cast
Dennis Coard (Noel)
Frankie J. Holden (Steve)
Ben Mendelsohn (Gary)
Micki Camilleri (Judy)
Rachel Rains (Wendy)

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Director's Comment

'It's over ten years since we released Return Home, and in that time the most rewarding aspect of the film has been the feedback I continue to get. When you're making a film you don't think much about its after-life (beyond a couple of years) and I guess the thing about Return Home is that people tell me it somehow captured something that resonated for them, maybe it's the struggle of normal working people trying to fit the pieces of their lives together, maybe it's a sense of nostalgia for a lost past, a sense of a place where you grew up that's changed forever. Whatever it is, it touched on a special place for them and made a lasting impression, and I guess that's the magic about making a film - somehow after all the blood, sweat and tears it becomes its own entity, almost in spite of your efforts.'

'Naturally, the film still feels a part of me (I wrote the first draft in 1982) and yet at the same time I feel it has become something else to so many people, I feel it belongs to them, I guess in the true meaning of the word it's come into the public domain. Which is what the archives (ScreenSound Australia) is all about isn't it? It's certainly a real thrill (and honour) to have a piece of my work presented by them in this initiative.'

'On a broader note, I've also been reminiscing about a whole range of Australian films that were made during the 1980s. I worked on about ten features in that time, mostly low budget, fully financed in Australia, rarely with pre-sales or market attachments and released through independent cinemas. A film like this, i.e. Return Home, could not be made in the current film industry - it was hard enough back then! To fully finance a film in Australia this way is no longer an option and I wonder whether an opportunity to create film(s) like this will exist again. As a footnote, I feel its worth reflecting not only on what stories we have been telling in our screen culture, but how we're going to find ways to continue telling and recording them. This initiative by ScreenSound Australia gives us an opportunity to consider.'

Ray Argall, Director - December 2000

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