Film: Lantana
Genre: Drama, Psychological Thriller
Year: 2001
Geoffrey makes a moving and gritty performance in the Australian movie Lantana which surprised me by turning out to be incredibly entertaining. It is an impressively put together movie and certainly fits its promise of being a "psychological thriller". The lives of several couples continue to cross paths throughout the course of the film, with one plot line leading into another until a tangled web of sex, lies and deceit is left open for us to bear witness to. The film truly does manipulate one into believing certain things about the characters -- mostly untrue -- and I thoroughly enjoyed being forced to question my judgement time and again as I watched this movie. The entire cast are marvellous and it is certainly a must-see film whether you are a Rush fan or not.
Geoffrey plays the character of John Knox, a man torn inside by the loss of his daughter, and further down-trodden by the fact that his marriage is all but crumbling around him. John has to try to keep his head above the water amidst much emotional turmoil, but this is proving difficult as his ever-more paranoid wife deteriorates before his eyes, suffering something of a mental breakdown as she questions her husbands fidelity and sexuality. Knox's life utlimately hits rock-bottom when his wife disappears altogether, and he is thereafter faced with a barrage of police questioning, and is left to wonder what horrific fate may have befallen his wife...
It is great to see Geoffrey play the part of a very real human being, for one is so used to seeing him in the part of the clown or the villain. He seems to be as utterly at home in this gritty thriller as he seems to be in any type of film, managing to successfully convey the wide range of emotions his character must be going through as Knox journeys to Hell and back again. Not once does he push the performance into melodrama, either. The role is very different from anything else Rush has ever done, but he pulls it off beautifully, proving once again that he is thoroughly flexible as an actor.
Screen Caps:
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