Love the Beast

Eric Bana grew up near the airport in Melbourne. He and his mates were nowhere near the beach and grew up with a love of the muscle car. They decide to build their car and enter The Targa Tasmania Rally.

This also has Jay Leno and Dr. Phil put in their two cents worth. I don't mind Jay because he has a connection with cars. I can do without Dr. Phil and his psycho babble. Bana may think that it is significant but it is not dramatic. The movie isn't particularly dramatic. There's no suspense in the racing or the need to race. Bana doesn't do it for the money or even the prize. So the result is unimportant and I don't really care about any psychological needs. Being a hobby also diminishes the tension. This is a professionally made home movie.

Love the Beast attempts to capture and represent the intense enthusiasm that Bana feels for the challenges and collective memory inculcated in his 1974 XB Ford Falcon coupe. One of the central metaphors is that of a campfire. The car functions as a 'campfire' around which Bana and his lifelong schoolyard mates congregate.

The film explores the complexities of the relationship between Bana and his car through the various forms of action punctuating their dual biography. To provide an insight into these complexities Bana attempts to stitch together the multi-dimensional relationships that have formed over the years. I can picture it in my head a little like a schematic for a fun park ride, an influence from here, a tension over there, and the ways the social and socio-technical challenges posed by the car mobilise the enthusiasm of Bana and his mates in differentially repeated ways.

Bana faces the challenges inculcated in the car differently as a young bloke growing up (modifying the car, attending car shows, hanging out with his mates, etc) compared to the challenges manifest when a movie star/adult (going racing, getting the car built, etc). I would've liked to have seen more of this, more of a focus on his younger days. He rebuilt the car three times, I think the second one was just before the car appeared in a magazine and Bana raced at Targa Tasmania for the first time. More about this era would've been fantastic.

The film is not a cynical attempt to capture the enthusiasm of car enthusiasts by interpolating it into box office takings ala the Fast and the Furious franchise. The only other film I am aware that comes close to what Bana is attempting here is The World's Fastest Indian. TWFI also attempts to directly represent an intense enthusiasm, but does so in more of a narrative-based way. Indeed, TWFI is a fictional account of an actual set of events. Bana's film is 'real life'; although framed in certain ways.

Bana lays out the multi-dimensional character of his enthusiasm by using traditional documentary techniques and almost unbelievably blessed with old video (and maybe even super-8) footage of when he was a kid, teenager and young man with his car. Although the film does follow a rough dramatic arc leading up to his race at the Targa Tasmania, this is used more as a kind of dramatic infrastructure around which to organise the micro-narratives provide by his somewhat charismatic ('knockabout') mates, his mother and father, other racers, and the celebrity interventions of the other above-title luminaries.

I was not really convinced how much the 'celebrities' add to the film, but I guess I would have seen this film without them; therefore, they are not for me. I attended a media screening of the film in Sydney and from what I could deduce I was the only gearhead there (I am a writer for Street Fords magazine in Australia). The bourgeois cinephile beside me snorted a suppressed giggle at whatever came out of Jeremy Clarkson's mouth; Clarkson is entertaining in a boorish sort of way. Dr Phil surprised me a little bit. I always dismissed him out of hand for being a popularist TV equivalent of a parlour trick. However, here Bana brings out his best, and Dr Phil almost (but not quite) comes across as compelling.

Similarly, Bana designed the film to be watched by an international audience and the opening scenes about "what most people around the world think of Australia" were interesting for locating Bana in the context of his background. The international audience will get such references as Mad Max, the celebrity talking heads, and so on.

The editing is mostly superb with a fine use of montage to play on the rhythm of expectation (everyone knows what is going to happen to Bana's car at the end), building up the tension and then relieving it. The camera work here is a cross between race car event coverage with documentary footage, with a few long, gliding shots of cars moving during the race; a bit like surfing cinematography or skateboarding in the way the camera attempts to implicate itself in the action.

Overall, the film is entertaining, intriguing and funny, and definitely a credit to Bana. Go see it.

You Don't often see the word LOVE in the TITLE of a DOCUMENTARY! Well... The EXCEPTION PROVES THE RULE!!!

BUT FIRST... Let us FOCUS on the Title´s Content and Context:

My wife and I caught this at the 2008 Orlando Film Festival. Overall, I'm glad we did. GENRES Listed here for LOVE The BEAST are: Documentary; Sports Documentaries; Car Culture; Motorsports...among others! They should have added: Eric Bana!

The three major draws here are....

A) CAR Culture-If you're REALLY into cars, you'll probably LOVE it!

As one would tend to gather from the title, The BEAST is an extremely intense labor of love. When you come right down to it, this film is more love story than it is Documentary!.

B) RACING- Over half this "DOC" is full-bore, super-charged racing in the 5-day, grueling annual race in Tasmania!.

There are some excellent CRASH sequences, taken with on-board cameras; and, of course....

C) ERIC BANA--I think he is the primary reason my wife seemed to enjoy this a tad more than I did!

Despite the fact that neither of us have more than a tepid interest in any of the A) B) or C) options, we were surprised at how much we BOTH enjoyed The BEAST. Watching someone on-screen share a single-mindedness of purpose that is the result of a lifelong passion/obsession, is virally infectious! It is certainly something you almost never encounter in the workaday world!

So overwhelming and intimidating are Bana's energy, focus and "try, try, try again" determination, that it gives me pause to re-evaluate his movie acting career and queue more of the films in which he appears! Please note that Eric Bana also Directs and is listed as one of the Producers.

So, LOVE the BEAST is a classic example of putting your money where your MUFFLER is! Ooops! Wait a minute...600+ Horsepower Muscle Car Race Cars don't have mufflers, now do they?!?!

ENJOY! / DISFRUTELA!

My Rating: 6.5* My Wife's: 7*******

Any Comments, Questions or Observations... In ENGLISH... o en ESPAÑOL... are Most Welcome!!!

I just watched this movie last night (DVD) and really enjoyed it. I don't think I'd agree that this film is for car buff's only - granted, a lot of the movie is based around cars, but I reckon the movie is more about the connection between men and machines more than just car's themselves.

The conversations with Jeremy Clarkson, Dr. Phill and Jay Leno were totally interesting too watch. Dr Phill provided a view point outside cars (loved his view points on hobbies and work), Jay Leno had some interesting points on why he crashed (ie. the latest iteration wasn't Eric's own hand work) and Jeremy Clarkson had some real insightful stuff on comparing machines to computers and how machines (ie. cars) exhibit more human traits than computers - hence why there is a bond there.

An interesting part of it is how a material object (The Beast) acts as a conduit for men to come around, work on the car and friendships/bonds are formed. I reckon it's the memories created by this is what makes people treasure their cars (and not always limited to cars).

I do have to admit that when about 30 minutes into it, I did look at the clock - not in a boring way and not in a way thinking when is this going to end. Probably because it is more of a documentary it didn't have my total interest in it.

The sorta sub story about the other bloke and his Ford was awesome as well - the personality of the dude (sorry, forgot his name - one of Eric's mates) doing the interviewing was great - his personality really comes across. Same deal with Eric's navigator.

The cinematography is awesome - very well done.

The build up to the crash was just simply great - I liked how Eric did this and built up to the event (and the spacemen conversation was funny as!).

How there is so much old footage is just unbelievable - it's like this movie was planned from a very long time ago! The insight into Eric Bana was also another interesting point in the movie - how he comes across is just a normal Aussie bloke. Top bloke! I've never had the privilege of staying in one country long enough to have friends for that long, but it's awesome how he's stayed real and kept his mates.

There's a lot more to this movie than just the car, but you do have to look past that to see it. Recommend watching the special features on the DVD (interview especially) cause it gives you a little more insight into the actions behind the movie.

At the end of the movie, I was inspired, still am - I've never bothered to write a review on IMDb before, but I liked this movie so much I thought I'd put one on here! It's not a movie like Braveheart or Contact (my favorites anyways) but it's also a lot more real than those movies.

If I had to pin-point my favorite aspect of the movie, it's how Eric Bana has portrayed his car, his family and his mates in the movie. You can actually get a feel of what the individuals are like, based on what has been filmed and what background dialog has been said about them. You can get a rough idea of what each person is like, solely based on watching this movie - and I think that's a pretty good accomplishment.

And I totally hope he rebuilds The Beast!

This is what a camera is for, it is for capturing a story of love, spirit, tension, Passion and all the beautiful things that make us unique as Humans.

I think everyone will get something positive from this film even if they are not lovers of cars, because it is about connection with yourself and your world.

It evokes all kinds of feelings and therein lies it's magic.

It reminds us that we are not alone in this world. That our close friends are important for life. That our silly love for the smallest material object is not silly,it is important, and a dear part of us.

I can't say enough My heart and spirit are uplifted.

The Imperfection is the Real Beauty we possess as Humans, the very thing that our new Digital World is robbing us of.

The Human Spirit

Eric Bana Peace to your soul man

You are living The Dream, and thanks for sharing it with us.