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According to a work friend this movie did not dissapoint him like other australian movies. I am afraid I have to agree with his call on Aussie Cinema lacking creativity and vision at times, (Yes I said it! I will be awaiting Deportation when word gets out about this post)

But you do get some really good ones out off it all, when we as a country stop trying to be an artsy edgy group off "world movie" makers, trying to be "inspiring" instead off honest and not pretentious. And just have fun telling a good story, and maybe have a sci-fi TV series instead off Neighbors and home and away (The same fricken show just on seperate channels) or real life dribble like that... However the Sapphires was based on a true story about a group off aboriginal ladies who end up singing in vietnam as souls singers. (Because they are black sooo... Yeah I know Racist) But he said it acctually was pretty funny and entertaining and worth a watch. I myself have not really seen the film yet so I can not comment, I was wondering if any other Australians on here can give me a point off view before helping in my deportation to another country, Please don't make it a warmer country than australia as I can not cope here enough as it is!

I haven't seen The Sapphires, but it got a really big marketing push.  Colour ads in newspapers, lots of popups and banners on the internet, the marketing team is obviously trying to get the message out there.  I think Jessica Mauboy is a great singer and deserves more exposure, too.  By accident, I stumbled across the Australia Post anniversary concert on Darling Harbour in Sydney in 2009, where she and Jimmy Barnes' son were performing.  Both were excellent.  But I'm rambling, haha.

The trailer to The Sapphires looks like it is solidly shot and directed.  Probably about as well done as Red Dog, which was surprisingly good.  I think that the problem that plagues what is left of Australian cinema is the tendency to go with 'Australian themes' rather than try to do something more general.  The directors of the vampire scifi movie Daybreakers come to mind with this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daybreakers

Daybreakers is a decent vampire movie, certainly good enough on an international scale.  It has great actors and never mentions Australia.

A few months ago I had the opportunity to see the crime noir flick Swerve, which was not as well done, and suffered what I call 'Australian blandness'.  Heck, a movie in a bush town with dirt roads, crooked cops and the local pub is practically an Australian cliche.

http://www.badmovies.org/forum/index.php/topic,138130

I think that Australian film is caught between capitalizing on uniquely Australian elements for marketing, and making more generic movies.  Baz Luhrmann's Australia (2008) had the benefit of massive financial backing as well as Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, major international stars with big popularity.  But look at the very title!  How sucky can you get???

The industry has been flooded somewhat by filmakers who create suburban dramas, most of the time because they can make them on the cheap.  Often they are interesting films but certainly fit a niche market more so than something that will appeal to a bigger audience.

Movies like Sleeping Beauty, Red Dog and the like are at least interesting and different enough stories whilst still having an Australian feel and genre flicks like Wolf Creek etc are also on the rise, though more for the 'DVD rental' market more so than cinema releases.

I'd really like to see people experiment alot more with style: I look at the work of Hillcoat [The Proposition/The Road] and he's making some awesome stuff, but can switch between Australian and Hollywood very easily.  I'd like to see us develop our own identity film-wise; we shouldn't have to pretend to be American to give it validity, but we do need to make sure the industry has more rebels who buck convention [watch "Not Quite Hollywood" to see the crazy stuff Aussie directors were making in the 70s and 80s for example]

Glad to see people are branching out even if Bran Nue Dae and The Sapphires aren't my thing normally, especially if it appeals to a worldwide audience.