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Not just a flower, but a very thick, tangled shrub. It's growing opposite the houses where Vince Colosimo etc live, and, obviously, represents the entanglements of the lives of the characters.
shareI think the Lantana also symolize marriage.
It has a sweet but bitter smell.
Its beautifull but has "stings".
Its complicated.
A woman is caught in the complexity of it.
etc.
Because it had to copy American films like Magnolia, right down to being named after a plant.
IT'S VERY MUCH LIKE MAKING LOVE TO A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN - SWISS TONI
...idiot.
Anyways, as previous stated. Lantana is a Australian plant with think undergrowth but green tops and fragrant flowers. It's a weed that has gotten out of control in the outer-suburbs.
It is seen at the very start of the movie as the camera pans over and then we go under to see the body.
... work out how the whole thread thing goes. I don't need to know why it was called Lantana, and you don't need to be a rude arse hole, just because you like this mainstream TV crap.
IT'S VERY MUCH LIKE MAKING LOVE TO A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN - SWISS TONI
"I don't need to know why it was called Lantana"
So don't post on a board for people that do, especially not with misplaced references to "Magnolia" - a film with almost no connection to "Lantana". I've never even heard anyone suggest before that Australian films copy American films.
And what does "mainstream TV" have to do with it? You're the one who needs lessons on the thread thing, and you're the r.a.h.
Well now, this is nothing to do with message boards, this is about understanding film language.
Magnolia, Short Cuts and Lantana are all multi-thread character films which feature a murder, a cop, infidelity and plots which are entrenched in the past, rather than the present. Just like many TV soaps these days. Unlike the other two, Lantana also features a cast heavy in TV stars.
Perhaps you should try reading some Adrian Martin, rather than getting your film education from Bridget Duclose.
IT'S VERY MUCH LIKE MAKING LOVE TO A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN - SWISS TONI
hey there max,
couldn't help but notice the 'discussion' you were having with some other users on the boards. Being very new to this gig, you'll excuse if i mess it up, but here goes.
I think the reason that both kamikaze camel and swothin? had issues with your statements wasn't that they (and myself here) disagree on the basis of films such as Magnolia and Lantana having OSTENSIVE similarities such as being multi-thread character films (I think ALOT of films could enter into this catagory - Australian, American, Iranian or whatever), but tended to think that the statement of the Australian Film Industry wishing to copy the American model so much is possibly off target.....
I will give you The Crocodile Hunterand Paperback Hero, but surely films such as Lantana have their roots in a Kieslowski-esque world? At the very least European inspired?? If we wanted to copy the Americans so much, nay "..had to copy", then how do you explain wonderful Australian gems like the bushranger genre of the 1900's/1910's?? or the very Australian New wave of the 1970's early 1980's?? or even modern Australian inspired masterpieces such as Dominik's Chopper?? et al.....
Mainstream TV crap huh, whoa. I reserve that type of classification to films such as Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story (if you ever get the chance, I highly recommend avoiding this film!!). Even films as appaling as Magnolia do not fit into this catagory, and I think that by placing a good film such as Lantana into that catagory, that you are deliberatly baiting.
...and by the way, who is Bridget Duclose?, obviously after giving the world a film-school lesson, you attend one of the film courses in this grand country - does she lecture you? - the closest I could find was a Bridget Duclos (Brad Johnson's girlfriend), and I think Adrian Martin would have had a much better argument for the Aus/Yank film industry comment than your baiting one-liner...just a thought...OH, and yes, I consider myself hooked, line and sinker!!
Other than it's not baiting. I DO think this film is a piece of crap. I don't attend film school. Get your head out of your arse for five minutes and think for yourself.
I'm glad you consider yourself hooked, line and sinker, because you bloody well are by this pile of steaming dog's turd which every pretentious arse hole in this country finds 'meaningful' despite the fact that it has no theme and wanders all over the place for no reason with no real meaning at all. Goeff Rush is ashamed of it. So should the rest of us be.
IT'S VERY MUCH LIKE MAKING LOVE TO A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN - SWISS TONI
Max, you have issues. The film is both enjoyable and intelligent. Get over yourself. And if you hate it with such passion, why do you insist on visiting its message board so much?
By the way, Geoffrey Rush is a tool. This is common knowledge in Australia.
I visit it because my e-mail tells me when phuckwits have replied to my post - invariably singing the praises of this pile of crap. That's how message boards work.
Geoffrey is a tool, whereas Peter Phelps is what?????
We blow up space shuttles for breakfast - George Kaplan
You can tell by Max-78's other posts on other films' boards that he is a flamer; the very nature of his first post on this board is an attempt to incite a reaction. Don't let him pull you into that game.
He enjoys the attenion, so do exactly what he doesn't want you to do "ignore user" this pretentious film connoisseur.
I wondered myself the origins of this film's title; it really sheds some light on the film knowing the behaviours of this plant.
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4 years and 3 months later.
I bet you're a wiz on trivia night, just slamming those answers down in a flash, huh?
Global warming is an indisputable fact ... and we did it. - rjfme
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Sorry, it was hard to calculate though my tears of laughter!
And in fact, if you look at what you were responding to, you might find I was right the first time.
Global warming is an indisputable fact ... and we did it. - rjfme
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Have you seen it? It starts (and ends more or less) in the Lantana-Bushes. They are (metaphorically) the underwood of the thinking and feeling of the protagonists.
share[deleted]
There's a lot of lantana in Southern California. The blooms are like tiny bouquets. Wonderful, somewhat wild smell. One of my favourite flowers from childhood...ahhhhhhhh....
LG
Because the film was held up as some art-house masterpiece in Australia and in fact it played out like any b-grade TV cop show.
It also played in every multi-plex as well as every art-house cinema.
I wasn't talking about box-office, I was talking about style and sensibility.
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Lantana is a shrub with small bright flowers on top and a prickly, dense undergrowth. The characters all seem fine on the outside, yet their deceptive and frequently intertwined relationships are well hidden underneath the surface, similar to the shrub.
shareThe film is called Lantana because it is a metaphor for the tangled thorny vine we call 'life'. Lantana is a noxious weed in Australia. It has a dense thorny undergrowth and is very hard to get rid of.
shareHas anyone verified why the title with the author or whoever chose it? If not, everything here is speculative. Not to rock the boat too awfully much, but this about as base as it might be...and I hope less than relevant to everyone's lives, though the bickering is often comical here.
Want to see a real laugh riot? Take a look at the craziness on the boards for Mel Gibson's "The Passion," not even to be released until next Ash Wednesday...2004 that is for those who don't know....
By the way, the flowers can smell good or bad depending on variety and one's tastes and in the US they are typically grown in the south year 'round and annually in the north. Interesting that they are a weed down under.
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Its pretty obvious that Lantana is a metaphor used through the entire film.
Duh-
Lantana, a weed that looks very pretty on the outside but is really tangled and inter wound to the point of confusion underneath, this is emblematic to the relationships portrayed.
Obviously, the extended metaphor is used to highlight Lawrence's stance on contemporary relationships.
Not only are pretty much all the themes explored in Lantana (Honesty, love, happiness ect) all linkable to the Lantana plant, it plays a role in the film itself being the catalyst for a number of events.
Its called Lantana for a lot of good reasons.
But all this 'depth' still makes for a boring piece of Australian *beep*
And I am Australian.
Lantana is GOOD!
Watch it dont just look at it.
Thats the problem with Northamericanized film viewers,they just see
whats on the screen at the reptilion brain level.
There is a whole subtext that must be postulated in order to VIEW
the story as intended.
Too many filmgoers watch too many films that give them everthing
up front, then when a movie comes along that requires thought they
dismiss it as purile (crap).
So WATCH Lantana once more - there is more going on than meets the eye!
"Trust me I know what I'm doing!"
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Lantana is a very deep film with the metaphor of the nature of the Lantana plant. All pretty on the outside but with a deadly undergrowth. Some of the relationships are like that..... Some of the others got it.
"But I don't like German.I know perfectly well that I look quite plain after my German lesson."