Cunnamulla

2000 AU Dennis O'Rourke
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Troubling Aussie documentary about an "end of the world" outback town filled with junkies, whores, deadbeats, and other forgotten people that the filmmaker exploits into a cinematic freak show. Humanity crops up, but credit the humans, not the camera. Film isn't well-made, dirty form matching what it believes are dirty subjects—silently priding itself on being rough, not "romanticizing". Talking heads are mixed with other shots (a dogcatcher at work, a DJ with ambitions) and narrative gained because the filmmaker spent a year. But, wait: there's value crammed between the cuts and fades, as this place is real. A portrait of a town living contentedly without hope, filled with residents who don't seem to mind.