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Movies / On DVD / The Proposition
The Proposition

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The Proposition (2006)

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Reviews Counted:121

Fresh:105

Rotten:16

Average Rating:7.3/10

Consensus: Brutal, unflinching, and violent, but thought-provoking and with excellent performances, this Australian western is the best of the genre to come along in recent times.

Rated: 18 [See Full Rating] for strong grisly violence, and for language.

Runtime: 1 hr 44 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:10-03-2006

Synopsis: Australian director John Hillcoat first teamed up with singer Nick Cave on 1988's disturbing GHOSTS...OF THE CIVIL DEAD, for which Cave co-authored the screenplay and took a memorably brief acting... Australian director John Hillcoat first teamed up with singer Nick Cave on 1988's disturbing GHOSTS...OF THE CIVIL DEAD, for which Cave co-authored the screenplay and took a memorably brief acting role. The two reconvene for 2006's THE PROPOSITION, with Cave penning the screenplay and providing a soundtrack written with Dirty Three member Warren Ellis. Cave's 19th-century tale begins with the proposition of the title, as Captain Stanley (Ray Winstone) captures fugitive brothers Charley (Guy Pearce) and Mikey Burns (Richard Wilson) at a scene of bloody rape and murder. Informing Charley that he must kill his older brother, Arthur (Danny Huston), in order to be set free, Stanley drags Mikey to a decrepit jailhouse while he waits for Charley to carry out the deed. Hillcoat's Western reeks of the dry desert heat, with flies buzzing, temperatures soaring, and emotions spiraling out of control. As Charley reluctantly sets about his task, Hillcoat and cinematographer Benoît Delhomme create a mesmerizing vision of the Australian outback. The slow, meandering pace of the film is peppered with brutal jolts of unremitting violence, and there are fine performances from the entire cast, who are supported in small but significant roles from Emily Watson (BREAKING THE WAVES) and John Hurt (THE ELEPHANT MAN). Cave's screenplay is tight and focused, leaving little room for sentiment--or anyone for the audience to root for--by giving all his principal characters plenty of grimly undesirable personality traits. But it works perfectly, and in Winstone and Pearce, Hillcoat got his casting exactly right. Both actors give dizzying performances as two men unable to escape their personal demons, finding a tragic outlet only in ceaseless acts of aggression. A memorable feature that lingers long after the last frame of celluloid has flickered onto the screen, THE PROPOSITION establishes Hillcoat as a director of major gravitas. [More]

Starring: Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Richard Wilson, Danny Huston

Starring: Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Richard Wilson, Danny Huston, Emily Watson, John Hurt, David Wenham, Tom Budge

Director: John Hillcoat

Director: John Hillcoat
Screenwriter: Nick Cave
Producer: Chris Brown, Jackie O'Sullivan, Chiara Menage
Composer: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
Studio: First Look

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Reviews for The Proposition

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
06/19/07
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

A beautifully shot tracker’s western that brings the Fordian poles of garden and desert to bear on the bushrangers’ Outback, this is also a revenge drama of substantial horror.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Ben Walters
Ben Walters
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Brutal, bloody and brilliant, this is superior filmmaking, and more evidence of the renaissance of the Australian film industry.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Beautifully told and wonderfully performed.

Full Review Source: FilmFocus | comment Comment
03/18/06
Joe Utichi
Joe Utichi
FilmFocus

The spirits of Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone are invoked in this horribly brutal outback western, directed by John Hillcoat and scripted by Nick Cave.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
03/11/06
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a savagely entertaining look at the nature of man.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
03/11/06
Nev Pierce
Nev Pierce
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A strong story that's rather flattened by pretentious, over-serious filmmaking

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
09/30/05
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Ferocious yet free of shallow misanthropy

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/30/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

What the characters have in common--the only thing they have in common, really--is the desire for community amid the well-founded expectation of imminent, violent death.

Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul | comment Comment
08/21/09
Rob Nelson
Rob Nelson
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

ustralian-born singer/songwriter Nick Cave pens his second film (after "Ghosts ... Of The Civil Dead") and generates a prescient allegory about imperialism.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
04/19/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jonathan Kiefer
Jonathan Kiefer
Sacramento News & Review

Guy Pearce seems to have boiled himself down into some kind of Guy Pearce Concentrate. Winstone looks like he's been sculpted from the Australian wilderness around him.

Full Review Source: Looking Closer | comment 1 Comment
08/22/07
Jeffrey Overstreet
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

a mythic exploration of the ever shifting frontier between savagery and civilisation in an unforgiving landscape.

Full Review Source: Eye for Film | comment Comment
08/03/07
Anton Bitel
Anton Bitel
Eye for Film

Any movie that can cling to your memory with as much brutal power as this fantastic film is unquestionably a proposition worth taking.

Full Review Source: UGO | comment Comment
03/24/07
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
UGO

The finest, strangest and most uncompromising western to hit screens since Unforgiven.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/01/07
Chris Barsanti
Chris Barsanti
Film Journal International

Cave's screenplay is masterful in taking the trappings of the western genre and transposing them to the Australian Outback. There's an ebb and flow to his writing and there's also the sense that tragedy is inevitable. He also manages to work in the dep

Full Review Source: Murphy's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/12/07
Ted Murphy
Ted Murphy
Murphy's Movie Reviews

An Australian western without genre traditions in mind -- instead, their movie explores the complexities of moral relativity.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
12/30/06
Jeffrey Chen
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies

This Aussie horse opera doesn't so much present an exotic, bizarro version of the Wild West as the apotheosis of it.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
08/07/06
Leo Goldsmith
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

It's as strong a Western as you're likely to see, at least since Clint Eastwood gave us Unforgiven 14 years ago.

Full Review Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle | comment Comment
08/04/06
Jack Garner
Jack Garner
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

... a movie full of startling and sometimes beautiful moments

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
07/04/06
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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all

Latest News for The Proposition

May 08, 2006: Trailer Bulletin: The Proposition
If you like your action westerns extra gritty and a little on the Australian side, you'll want to be sure to check out John Hillcoat's excellent "The Proposition." But... More...

May 05, 2006: Guy Pearce and John Hillcoat Discuss "The Proposition"
Director John Hillcoat had a big ambition when he undertook "The Proposition": a Western with a truly Aussie sensibility. "It's the Australian West,"... More...

April 25, 2006: Photo Gallery Update: "Stick It," "Wassup Rockers," and "The Proposition"
They're not exactly blockbusters but we couldn't resist sharing the new photo galleries for "Stick It," "Wassup Rockers" and "The Proposition." More...

March 15, 2006: Anna Faris To Freak Out, Seek Munchies In Araki Flick
Indie youth-culture director Gregg Araki has cast Anna Faris in his upcoming stoner comedy, "Smiley Face," says the Hollywood Reporter. More...

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