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''Blinder'' is a 2013 Australian
sports drama A sports film is a film genre in which any particular sport plays a prominent role in the film's plot or acts as its central theme (arts), theme. It is a production in which a sport or a sports-related topic is prominently featured or is a focus o ...
film directed by Richard Gray and starring Oliver Ackland, Rose McIver, Anna Hutchison and Jack Thompson. The film is an
Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
drama set predominantly in
Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...
, Victoria. The film is about Tom Dunn, an aspiring football star who flees Australia following a scandal. Dunn returns to Australia to restore his reputation.


Plot

The Torquay Tigers are a successful team playing in the Bellarine Football League. Their coach Charlie "Chang" Hyde has guided the team into their first Grand Final in seven years. There is talk that the team's best three players, Dunn, Mortimer and Regan, may get drafted by one or more AFL clubs. On the eve of the match the coach drops star player Tom Dunn for poor attitude. The club is successful and wins the flag. Dunn feels left out of the celebrations and strikes up a friendship with Rose Walton, whose younger sister Sammy, (McIver) is part of the team's support staff, carrying water for the players. The following year, Torquay again plays off for the Grand Final and manage a come-from-behind win. At the after-match celebration party, young Sammy has underage sex with Mortimer. Dunn, who had been told by Rose to look out for her sister, is drugged by a spiked drink and passes out. The local paper publishes photos of the night with the out-of-control party, and the team goes from heroes to zeros overnight. The scandal that follows rips the team apart, with Dunn leaving for America. Only Regan gets drafted; the other two don't because the major league clubs don't want to be caught up in the scandal. Ten years later Chang collapses and dies while addressing the players during a match on the eve of the finals; Dunn returns from America for the funeral and to face his demons, the girlfriend who scorns him and his best friend. Feeling uneasy about being in his hometown after many years, Dunn finds that the townfolk haven't forgotten him or the scandal. Rose has moved on and married but still is bitter towards him. Regan, whose football career was ruined by injury has returned to be Changs's assistant. Encouraged to take over the team, he asks Dunn and Mortimer to assist him as he coaches the team into the finals.


Cast

* Oliver Ackland as Tom Dunn * Anna Hutchison as Rose Walton * Angus Sampson as Franky Tanner * Jack Thompson as Coach Charlie 'Chang' Hyde * Josh Helman as James 'Mort' Mortimer * Rose McIver as Sammy Walton * Bobby Morley as Nick Regan *
Zoe Carides Zoe Carides (; born 19 February 1962) is an Australian actress of film and television, who is best known for her roles in '' Death in Brunswick'' as Sophie, '' G. P.'' as Dr. Sonia Kapek and '' Grass Roots'' as Liz Murray. Family Carides was ...
as Ally Dunn * Aaron Jakubenko as Dawson * Jeremy Stanford as President


Production and release

The film was scheduled to have a 10-week shoot beginning 20 February 2012 in
Torquay, Victoria Torquay ( ) is a town in Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia, which faces Bass Strait, 21 km south of Geelong and is the gateway to the Great Ocean Road. It is bordered on the west by Spring Creek and its coastal features include Point D ...
, Australia, before moving to
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, Massachusetts. Well Go USA released ''Blinder'' in US theaters and on digital HD simultaneously on 7 November 2014.


Reception

''Blinder'' was a box-office flop, taking $47,394 on its opening weekend. The film was shown on 99 screens, giving it an average of $478 per screen. The film was negatively reviewed by critics. SBS critic Don Groves gave the film 2 stars out of 5, saying it was "an uninspiring, B-grade effort". Film critic Luke Buckmaster, writing for ''
Crikey Crikey is an Australian online news outlet founded in 1999. It consists of a website and email newsletter available to subscribers. History Crikey was founded by the activist shareholder Stephen Mayne, a journalist and former staffer of the ...
'', said, "Without a trace of self-awareness, Blinder stakes its claim as one of the most perverse twists on sports movie conventions you will ever see, earnestly inviting the audience to join the on field 'excitement' and – wait for it – to egg on suspected sex offenders."


References


External links

* * * {{Richard Gray 2013 films 2010s sports drama films Australian sports drama films Australian rules football films Films directed by Richard Gray 2013 drama films 2010s English-language films English-language sports drama films