Dr. Plonk

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  July 8, 2009

  SadisticMinister

  See it. You won't regret it.

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  January 25, 2009

  jfvirey

  In a desperate quest for quality time travel films I haven't seen a dozen times already, I dredged up a mere handful of titles, among which was this recent but rather obscure Australian movie, which seems to be a sort of film student's pastiche of a silent burlesque film.
  
  Abou...( read more)t eleven minutes into the film, the title hero, bald madcap scientist Dr. Plonk, discovers that the world is going to end in 2008, exactly 101 years after his time. He tries to warn the Australian government, but as they won't listen, he sets out to substantiate his claims by building a hand-cranked time machine and bringing back proof from the future.
  
  About nineteen minutes into the film, there starts a series of forays into 2008 Australia, involving a lot of facade climbing, cops-and-robbers chases, butt-kicking, acrobatics, and the countless apparitions and disappearances of the time machine, invariably accompanied by a puff of smoke as in the classic Melies shorts.
  
  I found Dr. Plonk a bit frustrating for several reasons. First, I was disappointed that its purpose seemed only to be to bring old burlesque zaniness into the modern day, which meant only a change of costume and scenery for century-old routines that may have been performed better in their time. I expected the film to have some kind of message about time, or at least to elicit more than a few scattered laughs (for I did laugh two or three times.) But Jacques Tatis, of course, are few and far between. Second, I find the Jewish-sounding music a little tiresome, as about three or four pieces seem to have been looped to create a background for the whole movie. And third, I think the creator missed a brilliant idea: he should have shown 2008 the way he presented the aboriginals from 10,000 BC, i.e. through the prejudices and conventions of turn-of-the-century filmmakers, using technology available at the time, but revealing an uncanny level of prescience.
  
  This, I know, would have involved huge productions costs. But it would have made the film so much better that it might be worth it for Hollywood to produce a remake along these lines.
  
  "Dr. Plonk" is worth watching anyway, if you know exactly what to expect. Kids might love it. And fans of "Babe" will also enjoy Magda Szubanski as Mrs. Plonk.
  
  (For those who are curious about the other time travel films I have discovered, they include "Ditto", "An Angel for May", "A Portrait of Jennie" and "Primer", which I heard of about a year ago. I should also soon be reviewing "The Jacket" and "Youth Without Youth", which deal with similar themes.)
  
  NB: I was surprised that in a story whose main character was called "Plonk", the Australian Prime Minister should be given the unimaginative name of "Stalk". So I thought maybe this was the actual name of the man who was Prime Minister in 1907. But I checked on the Internet and it turns out that Alfred Deakin occupied the post from July 1905 to November 1908.

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• 
  
  June 1, 2008

  jenn1984106

  Good silent film. I enjoyed this flick.

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