Proposition

Theatrical Release Date: 2006 05 05 (USA - Limited)

UPC: 687797112163

Studio: First Look Pictures

MPAA Rating: R   Contains:[Violence, Profanity]

Summary: An outlaw is goaded into taking on justice at its most brutal in this hard-edged Western set in rural Australia in the 1880s. Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) is a criminal living in the outback. He and his two brothers, Arthur (Danny Huston) and Mikey (Richard Wilson), are on the run from the law for rape and murder. Arthur is a violent and dangerous sociopath with a much longer rap sheet than his siblings and a reputation for hiding out in villages so lawless the police are afraid to visit them, while Mikey is a much younger and more impressionable chap. The authorities capture Charlie and Mikey after a bloody shootout, and the brothers are handed over to Capt. Stanley (Ray Winstone), a British lawman sent to Australia to help bring order to the colonies. Stanley proposes a deal to Charlie, explaining that it's Arthur he really wants, and that he's willing to spare the childlike and terrified Mikey if Charlie can find Arthur and murder him. Charlie, realizing that this is his only hope to save his simpleton younger brother (who is scheduled to be hanged on Christmas Day), agrees and sets out to find and execute his other brother, who he believes has gone too far into the world of crime. As Charlie scours the backwaters of Australia, he encounters Jellon Lamb (John Hurt), an educated yet thoroughly menacing bounty hunter. In time, Charlie finds his brother, but isn't certain if he can carry out his mission. Meanwhile, Stanley struggles to bring a European sense of civility to the rough and tumble land he now calls home, while his wife Martha (Emily Watson) becomes the focus of the lustful appetites of the men in town. The Proposition was written by rock star and novelist Nick Cave; he previously collaborated with director John Hillcoat on the film Ghosts... of the Civil Dead. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Category: Western

Awards: Film Presented – Newport Beach International Film Festival Film Presented – Sundance Film Festival Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – Toronto Film Critics Association Best Supporting British Actress – London Film Critics Association Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion – San Diego Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor – San Diego Film Critics Association Best Supporting Actor – Toronto Film Critics Association

Features: Director and writer commentary
10 behind the scenes featurettes
Photo gallery/previews
Theatrical trailer
Deleted scenes

Proposition

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 08/19/2008

Audio: DTS Digital Theater Systems

Runtime: 104 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Subtitles: Spanish

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Derek Armstrong

Much like another Western of singular vision, Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, The Proposition starts with a bloody gun battle that's more typically seen in a third-act showdown. From this smoky carnage comes a proposition -- that if Charlie Burns (Guy Pearce) can hunt down and kill his older brother Arthur (Danny Huston), a sadistic murderer, he'll save his younger brother from the gallows. The Proposition signals its dour intentions from the opening minutes, and never fails to live up to them. The film delves into the themes of screenwriter Nick Cave's harrowing body of song lyrics -- death, loneliness, and betrayal -- which play out brilliantly against this desolate Australian landscape. That he contributes a mournful yet insistent score isn't surprising, but Cave's ease with story structure, dialogue, and characterization is refreshing indeed for a rock musician. Director John Hillcoat makes terrific use of what Cave supplies. The film's violence is inescapable, but never let it be described as gratuitous. In fact, during the film's most brutal beating, Hillcoat uses minimalism as his guide, showing only the terrified reaction of a woman listening to the crashes and overturned furniture in the adjoining room. Craig Walmsley's sound design works in concert perfectly with Cave's score, and the performances drive home the sense of amoral hopelessness that permeated Australia at that time. Huston is a truly ferocious creature, a deceptively calm outlaw with a charming country lilt, who can explode into moments of nearly epileptic rage. Matching subtleties with Huston is Ray Winstone, as the lawman desperate to preserve a sense of normalcy in a lawless world in which power is a mirage. And returning to his Australian cinematic roots, Pearce is strong as a gaunt ghost of a man at the end of his tether, numb from resignation. The Proposition is one of the most exciting Australian exports in years, a dark and chilling poem that adds to the tradition of great deconstructionist Westerns. ~ Derek Armstrong, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Oliver Ackland  Actor 
Robert Morgan  Actor 
Chris Brown  Producer 
Nick Cave  Composer (Music Score) 
Nick Cave  Screenwriter 
John Hillcoat  Director 
Michael Hamlyn  Executive Producer 
Chiara Menage  Producer 
Chris Auty  Executive Producer 
Robert Jones  Executive Producer 
Cat Villiers  Producer 
Jackie O'Sullivan  Producer 
Sara Giles  Executive Producer 
Norman Humphrey  Executive Producer 
James Atherton  Executive Producer 
Michael Henry  Executive Producer 
Warren Ellis  Composer (Music Score) 
Guy Pearce  Actor 
Ray Winstone  Actor 
Emily Watson  Actor 
Danny Huston  Actor 
John Hurt  Actor 
David Wenham  Actor 
Noah Taylor  Actor 
David Gulpilil  Actor 
Leah Purcell  Actor 
Richard Wilson  Actor 
Tom E. Lewis  Actor 

Country: Australia,UK