An Australian musical celebrating Aboriginal identity, Brand New Day (released theatrically as Bran Nue Dae) serves up a lackadaisical road movie punctuated by songs with bubble-gum melodies and nondescript lyrics. Set in 1969, the story centers on an Aboriginal youth named Willie (Rocky McKenzie), whose dreams of dating the lovely Rosie (Jessica Mauboy) are interrupted when his sanctimonious mother (Ningali Lawford-Wolf) abruptly sends him off to a Catholic boarding school headed by overbearing Father Benedictus (a mercilessly hamming Geoffrey Rush). Unable to stand the regimentation, the boy flees for home in Broome, along the way joining up with Uncle Tadpole (Ernie Dingo), an elderly scalawag; and Annie and Slippery (Missy Higgins, Tom Budge), a hippie couple with a van. The group repeatedly gets into trouble with the locals and the cops, and almost every slapstick sequence includes a song-and-dance number delivering an unsubtle message about the unjust treatment of indigenous peoples. While some of these sequences are fun, the poor acting from the largely nonprofessional cast ultimately submarines filmmaker Rachel Perkins's mediocre musical. Not recommended. (F. Swietek)
Brand New Day
Fox, 85 min., PG-13, DVD: $22.98, Blu-ray: $29.99, Sept. 13 Volume 26, Issue 6
Brand New Day
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