Jack Brown Genius (1994)

Director:

Tony Hiles

Writers:

Tony Hiles (writer)
Peter Jackson (writer)

Release Date:

11 July 1996 (Germany)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Plot:

A thousand years ago, in England, the crazy monk Elmer wears a pair of wings and tries to fly from a high tower...

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Timothy Balme	...	Jack Brown
Nicola Murphy	...	Eileen
Marton Csokas	...	Dennis
Stuart Devenie	...	Elmer
Edward Campbell	...	Boss
Lisa Chappell	...	Sylvia

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for language, sexual content, partial nudity and some violence.

Runtime:

Germany:85 min

Country:

New Zealand

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Spain:7

Company:

WingNut Films

Interesting

This movie reunites Peter Jackson (not as director, but as co scriptwriter, and also credited as 2nd unit director) with Lionel from `Braindead' (Timothy Balme in the title role here), and has Jackson's special effects company Weta providing the effects here. Can't be bad, huh?

Well, not so fast..

One critic actually suggested that this might be the worst New Zealand movie ever made. In doing so, he exposed his lack of familiarity with many early '80s NZ movies, in the era when if a NZ movie was too good, it risked making a profit, thus destroying the tax losses its investors hoped to gain. But this is not a movie for film critics. In fact, critical faculties of any kind are best checked at the door when approaching it.

The story involves the spirit of a 10th century monk named Elmer who died in a failed attempt to fly, and who now stands to be damned eternally for suicide unless he can prove within 1000 years that unpowered manned flight is possible (his is a God who believes in results rather than intentions). He inhabits the `brain-pan' of the title character, who has invented a `power amplifier' that amplifies any force input to it. They realise that this might allow a man to fly.

But can Jack accomplish this and save Elmer's soul before his invention is taken from him by his employer who sees only the financial gain of a quick sale of the device, or by the campy villainess, who also quite likes finance?

It is certainly possible to enjoy this movie. But you do have to be in the right mood, and to work with it, rather than sitting back and waiting for it to entertain you.

I'm not sure of the nature of Peter Jackson's involvement with this movie. I don't know whether Jackson and partner Frances Walsh essentially wrote it intending Jackson to direct it, but passed it on to friend Tony Hiles to direct when Jackson became too involved in other projects. Or whether Jackson just lent his friend a helping hand on a film that was always largely Hiles's own. The film does have something of the humour and amateur enthusiasm of the early Peter Jackson movies (but -one scene excepted - without the gore). It would have been interesting to see what Jackson might have made of it if he had directed.