The Book of Revelation (2006)

Boring

As Good As It Gets

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Sure, I like some indie films. A lot, actually. I don't always understand them, and that's okay. Not all of them were meant to be understood, especially by mainly main-stream people like me. I'm probably showing my ignorance, but I'm still puzzled why 'Book of Revelation' is called that. I love those end-of-world stories and the only thing I could see similar to the end of the world and this film was the torture it took to get through this. I'm not talking about the subject matter; perhaps I've been subdued from all the other torture/porn I've seen. It was just the incredibly slow story, one hour 15 minute material stretched for nearly two hours. (Major spoilers lie ahead) Hetero-man dancer gets abducted, seduced and raped six ways from Sunday, or in this case 12 days, by three hooded women. Upon his release, after his somewhat distraught dancer/girlfriend barely flinches (other than dropping a glass) after wondering which she missed more: him or the cigarettes she originally sent him for upon abduction. Still in a state of reasonable shock, he refuses to talk, and she goes on to work without so much a hug as if nothing happened and he takes a well needed shower. Problem. As much as he's tormented through the flashbacks to his, uh, "attacks," he's as equally aroused. Granted, I haven't been bound and used as a plaything, but I doubt I would really "be in the mood." Oh, I forgot, and how does he try and solve this crime? Sleep with as many women as he can to try and spot the birthmarks or tats the criminals had. I see where they're going with it – show a gang rape from the male POV. Fine, twist notwithstanding, you could never feel for this guy. Only saving grace was the good acting of the LifetimeTV Dancer/Cancer Instructor. But even she couldn't save the film.

This is not your typical Australian movie, despite its government funding. It could have come from a European art-house director and its location in Melbourne seems incidental (I think the original book by Rupert Thomson was set in Amsterdam). It is also not a movie for the nervous – at times it is very tense indeed and the cutting and soundtrack seem designed to keep the audience on edge. As Daniel the male dancer abducted and sexually abused by three hooded women, Tom Long gives an intense, if slightly monolithic, performance. Daniel's lines give him little scope for expressing his feelings, it is only in dance that he can do that, and the rest of the time he acts rather than thinks. On the other hand his physical appearance dominates the film – we are seeing essentially his view of things.The abuse scenes were not as bad as I had feared, and were relatively short. They were pornographic, I think, only to people like the hooded women. And here's the problem. A handsome heterosexual man captured by three young women and forced to have sex with them? No wonder the cops laugh when Daniel tries to tell them what happened. What is it about Daniel that moves them to do this? He was not chosen at random. He's a fit accomplished young male dancer, someone of physical beauty and grace. Why do these women need to humiliate and degrade him? No doubt the director Ana Kokkinos wants us to ask this question but we are not provided with many clues towards an answer. All we are told by the hooded ones is that "it is for our pleasure". Well, if they are sadists, I suppose it makes sense but I don't think it tells us anything about relationships between men and women generally.Even so, the whole thing is pretty well done, and we do get a very clear picture of the devastating impact abuse of this nature can have on a person. The revelation, I suppose, is Daniel's loss of both innocence and self-regard. Ana Kokkinos proved in "Head On" that she can mix atmosphere and action though this film is quieter overall. Tom Long gets good support from Greta Scacchi, never better, as his dancing mistress, and Colin Friels gives a quiet and convincing portrait of an understanding policeman ( a very rare beast). As Daniel's girlfriend, Anna Torv's performance is curiously flat – her character is underwritten and her impassive good looks convey little but emptiness. Deborah Mailman also puts in a good performance in a small role as the girl who helps Daniel recover from his ordeal. But the portentous (or is it pretentious) atmosphere dissolves to a banal ending, almost on the same level as a "Twisted Tale" (a Channel 9 TV series of mordant but slight stories) – the motivation for a routine assault is explained.The screening I saw was sparsely attended and I don't think this film will do well, which is a pity. Ana Kokkinos is a talented filmmaker and it would be interesting to see what she could do with more mainstream material. Art-house Street can be a bit of a cul-de-sac.

A highlight of the Melbourne International Film Festival this year was the local film "Book of Revelation". The author (Rupert Thomson) of the novel upon which this work is based, wondered how the book would ever be adapted for the screen, as Ana Kokkinos (Diector) explained during her introduction to the second screening of the film at the festival. The result, is yet another "head on" (pardon the pun!) assault of the senses by Kokkinos. "Book of Revelation" is an exploration of the personal demons emerging as a consequence of a most bizarre period of "captivity" for the lead character - Daniel - portrayed quite brilliantly by Tom Long (is this really "Angus" from "Sea Change"?). Tom gives a performance which many of his peers would be find too impossible to even contemplate. The relationships dissected throughout the film allow for an examination of many aspects the human psyche - many not so pleasant. Skillfully "shot" with, an engaging "rawness", Kokkinos creates for herself a challenging project, which she handles superbly, further consolidating her position as one of Australia's strongest contemporary directors.

Worth watching this film for performances, cinematography and design but not groundbreaking cinema. Great performance by Tom Long so emotional and fragile and it's so convincing the way he internalizes his pain and then self destructs.But I remember seeing some of the issues related to this topic treated on "Law and Order", the TV show, back in 2001, an episode called "Ridicule". A man is charged with murder of a woman and it comes out that he has been sexually assaulted by 3 women and the story revolves around whether it can be classified as rape, if he is sexually aroused. Something largely to that effect. It was nothing like the story of the Book of Revelation and it had a completely different emphasis but it meant that some of the issues on their own, were not new/shocking for me, as I had seen them raised on prime time TV 5 years ago. (Of course no explicit scenes were shown and the story started where TBOR left off and I could go on and on to list significant differences.) But, because I remembered this TV show, I was hoping TBOR would take me a lot further, I felt disappointed by how this particular film had been hyped. I just thought it would make me feel a lot more confronted and moved. Not groundbreaking cinema.I do feel however, that these types of issues obviously need to be continually raised, and debated from different viewpoints, to gradually have a lasting impact on society. It gets it out there, in front of more people who may not have seen the topic discussed at all yet.Great art direction/cinematography and loved Greta Scacchi's portrayal of the Dance instructor too. I thought it was one of her best performances.