MY NAME IS GULPILIL
****
Director: Molly Reynolds
Principal cast:
David Gulpilil
Mary Hood
Mary Dhapalany
Evonne Munuyngu
Peter Djigirr
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 101 mins.
Australian release date: 27 May 2021.
In Molly Reynolds’ poignant documentary My Name Is Gulpilil, the film’s subject encapsulates his astonishing abilities in two statements: “I understand every little movement of the filming, and I’m not shy and I like to do the filming, because I like to show my face, to remember,” and “I am the greatest dancer in the world… for me.” These two declarations go a long way to explaining David Gulpilil’s extraordinary presence in front of the camera. The actor becomes the characters he is portraying without, paradoxically, ever losing that innate sense of who he is and where he comes from. It’s a gift not many can claim. And he moves like water, fluid, glistening, mercurial.
When Gulpilil was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017, he was not expected to live much longer. Defying the odds, he’s still alive, if not exactly kicking, but acknowledges that My Name Is Gulpilil will be his last project. Reynolds explains, “It was at this time [2017] that David, Rolf (de Heer) and I set upon the idea of making a documentary. For David it was to be his final work, the masterpiece, ending with his death ceremonies and his spirit returning to its waterhole.” Instead, although his health suffered many ups and downs, shooting the film energised the actor to a degree and by 2020 he and the crew had recorded 60 days’ worth of material by the time a halt was called. As a result, while there’s much planning about Gulpilil’s “cemetery box” and the ceremony that will ultimately see him laid to rest in his homelands, the actor was able to attend the premiere of his film at an event co-presented by the Adelaide Film Festival and Adelaide Festival in March this year. It was yet another remarkable notch on the belt of his life.
While My Name Is Gulpilil looks back at an acting career that began in 1971 with Nic Roeg’s Walkabout, and includes numerous short clips from Mad Dog Morgan and Storm Boy (the original 1976 version) through to more recent titles like Charlie’s Country and Goldstone, the documentary is much more than a chronological account of Gulpilil’s work. We are also privy to scenes from his current-day life in Murray Bridge as, with the gracious assistance of dedicated carer and friend Mary Hood, he battles the cancer invading his body and deals with its effects. As he regards his life through the lens of imminent death, the film takes on a dream-like quality, as though Gulpilil is already half-way to his final resting place and is comfortable with the journey; it becomes lyrical and poetic. The far-away look in his eyes as he gazes into the distance, recounting events from his past, tells you more about the man than the content of his words. Despite his fame, it has not been an easy life, being a tribal man in a white fella world, and he’s had a stint in gaol and spent time in ‘the long grass,’ battling addiction to alcohol. He’s also had various marriages and relationships over the years and fathered seven children. All of these experiences he relates without a hint of self-pity or repudiation.
Reynolds has done a terrific job of wrangling Gulpilil’s sometimes rambling approach to story-telling into a coherent whole, with a deal of assistance from editor Tania M. Nehme, one suspects. And, of course, from the man himself, who was always coming up with ideas for inclusion in the shoot (he’s also credited as one of the doco’s four producers). My Name Is Gulpilil is a moving work that should be seen as widely as possible but, regrettably, only seems to be having a limited release. That’s a terrible shame, considering that it covers the life and work of one of Australia’s greatest actors, whose career spans 50 years. Seek it out because, as the man himself says, “… this story, it’s about me. And no one else can do the life of me, it’s only me. I can do the life about me.”
Principal cast:
David Gulpilil
Mary Hood
Mary Dhapalany
Evonne Munuyngu
Peter Djigirr
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 101 mins.
Australian release date: 27 May 2021.
In Molly Reynolds’ poignant documentary My Name Is Gulpilil, the film’s subject encapsulates his astonishing abilities in two statements: “I understand every little movement of the filming, and I’m not shy and I like to do the filming, because I like to show my face, to remember,” and “I am the greatest dancer in the world… for me.” These two declarations go a long way to explaining David Gulpilil’s extraordinary presence in front of the camera. The actor becomes the characters he is portraying without, paradoxically, ever losing that innate sense of who he is and where he comes from. It’s a gift not many can claim. And he moves like water, fluid, glistening, mercurial.
When Gulpilil was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017, he was not expected to live much longer. Defying the odds, he’s still alive, if not exactly kicking, but acknowledges that My Name Is Gulpilil will be his last project. Reynolds explains, “It was at this time [2017] that David, Rolf (de Heer) and I set upon the idea of making a documentary. For David it was to be his final work, the masterpiece, ending with his death ceremonies and his spirit returning to its waterhole.” Instead, although his health suffered many ups and downs, shooting the film energised the actor to a degree and by 2020 he and the crew had recorded 60 days’ worth of material by the time a halt was called. As a result, while there’s much planning about Gulpilil’s “cemetery box” and the ceremony that will ultimately see him laid to rest in his homelands, the actor was able to attend the premiere of his film at an event co-presented by the Adelaide Film Festival and Adelaide Festival in March this year. It was yet another remarkable notch on the belt of his life.
While My Name Is Gulpilil looks back at an acting career that began in 1971 with Nic Roeg’s Walkabout, and includes numerous short clips from Mad Dog Morgan and Storm Boy (the original 1976 version) through to more recent titles like Charlie’s Country and Goldstone, the documentary is much more than a chronological account of Gulpilil’s work. We are also privy to scenes from his current-day life in Murray Bridge as, with the gracious assistance of dedicated carer and friend Mary Hood, he battles the cancer invading his body and deals with its effects. As he regards his life through the lens of imminent death, the film takes on a dream-like quality, as though Gulpilil is already half-way to his final resting place and is comfortable with the journey; it becomes lyrical and poetic. The far-away look in his eyes as he gazes into the distance, recounting events from his past, tells you more about the man than the content of his words. Despite his fame, it has not been an easy life, being a tribal man in a white fella world, and he’s had a stint in gaol and spent time in ‘the long grass,’ battling addiction to alcohol. He’s also had various marriages and relationships over the years and fathered seven children. All of these experiences he relates without a hint of self-pity or repudiation.
Reynolds has done a terrific job of wrangling Gulpilil’s sometimes rambling approach to story-telling into a coherent whole, with a deal of assistance from editor Tania M. Nehme, one suspects. And, of course, from the man himself, who was always coming up with ideas for inclusion in the shoot (he’s also credited as one of the doco’s four producers). My Name Is Gulpilil is a moving work that should be seen as widely as possible but, regrettably, only seems to be having a limited release. That’s a terrible shame, considering that it covers the life and work of one of Australia’s greatest actors, whose career spans 50 years. Seek it out because, as the man himself says, “… this story, it’s about me. And no one else can do the life of me, it’s only me. I can do the life about me.”