Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Gorgeously filmed and aided by some excellent performances Peter Weir has made a great film in The Year of Living Dangerously. Mel Gibson plays a young Australian reporter stationed in Jakarta, Indonesia under the Sukarno regime. He befriends a dwarf Chinese- Australian named Billy Kwan and romances a Brit journalist Jill Bryant. The look of the film is good- It makes it seem almost akin to a documentary and there is a beautiful glow to each scene. All the actors are in top form- Gibson, Sigourney Weaver and especially Linda Hunt who plays the dwarf. This is a sweeping tale of morality, romance and political unrest. Another highlight is the score by the ever-reliable Vangelis.

Continuing my plan to watch every Mel Gibson movie in order, I come toThe Year Of Living Dangerously (1982)Plot In A Paragraph: Guy Hamilton (Gibson) an Australian reporter, tries to navigate the political minefield of mid 1960's Indonesia during the reign of Presidant Surkarno. He is aided by photographer Billy Kwan, who introduces him to Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver) and the pair start an affair.After working with George Miller for a second time on Mad Max 2, Gibson re-teamed with Peter Weir, in this very under rated movie. It's a complex movie that sucks you in, and you really feel like you know the time and place, in fact you feel like you could be there. It's actually a lot more about people than anything that's politically happening, but that's what makes it so intriguing. The movie (and certainly the promotional work) plays to Gibsons looks and my DVD cover looks like the cover of a romance novel. But it also shows he can do dangerous and reckless (outside of Mad Max) very well too. I'm sure a lot of women lusted after Gibson after watching this. Gibson is well cast as the journalist addicted to risk taking, but Weavers character is pretty uninteresting as far as her usual roles go, but she is as solid as ever. Has she ever gave a bad performance?? But the movie belongs to the person playing Billy Kwan. The man Billy Kwan, is played by a woman! A New York stage actress called Linda Hunt, who is so brilliant, so that character, that it never occurs to us that she is not a man. This is what great acting is folks. The Year Of Living Dangerously grossed $10 million dollars at the domestic box office to finish they year 71st highest grossing movie of 1983.

The chance to watch two future stars lock lips at their physical prime against the backdrop of an imploding Asian nation seems a great cinematic opportunity, but it's that emphasis that ultimately bogs down "The Year Of Living Dangerously."June, 1965: Guy Hamilton (Mel Gibson) is an Australian reporter sent on his first overseas assignment, covering Indonesia as communists and right-wing generals vie for control. He makes two important friends. Billy Kwan (Linda Hunt) is a crafty photographer whose amiable exterior hides a soul in torment. Jill Bryant (Sigourney Weaver) is a British embassy secretary who struggles to reconcile her sense of duty with her romantic feelings for Guy.Gibson and Weaver got star billing, but Hunt got the Oscar. That was fair. For much of the film, it's Hunt's performance that gives us a handle on what is going on. Kwan helps Guy land a scoop interview with head Communist D. N. Aidit, all the while pushing Guy not to lose sight of the human dimension involved, the suffering of the people and the unfulfilled desire for freedom."Add your light to the sum of light," says Kwan.That Hunt was a woman in a man's role gets a lot of attention, as does the fact the American plays a part-Chinese character. It's kind of pointless getting hung up on that. She's about the only thing in "Year Of Living Dangerously" that makes you care.It's not a bad movie, just a confused one, with long slow passages where Guy and Jill make small talk amid the bamboo. In one inane sequence, they run a roadblock and are met with a barrage of automatic-weapon fire, something they treat as a lark.I was more interested in Guy's teamwork with Billy, who uses his short stature to negotiate dangerous crowds and gives Guy the leads on important stories. "That little twerp knows everything," sneers a Washington Post reporter (Michael Murphy) who does everything but wear an ugly-American T-shirt for easy identification. Gibson and Hunt are an easy pair to like; Gibson with his put-upon mien, Hunt with her enigmatic serenity."Don't take it personally," Kwan tells Guy as he is menaced by an angry crowd. "You're just a symbol of the West.""Feel more like a spittoon," Guy answers.Eventually they fall out, over a story that Billy claims jeopardizes Jill. That Billy is angry I get, though we don't actually see Jill menaced for the information she gave and Guy seems to have no choice but to use the information. A labored connection is made between Guy's "betrayal" and a similar disillusionment Billy feels for Indonesia's embattled leader, Sukarno. Even when Billy is visited with personal tragedy, his over-the-top reaction is something even Hunt can't sell.The music is first-rate; so is the camera-work. You know you can count on those things in a Peter Weir movie, and the celebrated director indeed delivers. There are also several small moments, like one where a corporal of the guard at a scene already awash in blood briefly menaces a pair of helpless travelers before apparently taking mercy and sending them on their way with a smile.Too often, though, the film reaches for more than it delivers. The second half of the movie, when the romance between Guy and Jill is thickest, slows to a crawl. Putting the political intrigue in the background creates needless plot confusion just as things are reaching a boil. We don't even get to see the major crisis point in the movie, Guy getting his biggest (and last) story.The frustration with "The Year Of Living Dangerously" is ultimately more than it can manage. While noble in its refusal to traffic easy answers (despite what others say, this is not a "good-communist" movie), there is a failure to present the questions in a clear or compelling way. Instead, it is content to reference the Indonesian art of "wajang" and employ shadow puppets in place of clearer characters or setting, a poor brush-off of the need to tell a good story.

A young Australian reporter (Mel Gibson) tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer (Linda Hunt).Of course, a film about Indonesia needed to be made. And the right people to do it (besides the Indonesians) are the Australians. And the greatest Australian director is Peter Weir. The biggest Australian star (despite being born an American) is Mel Gibson... so this all shapes up to be the right sort of ingredients for this.And yet, it never seems to reach the levels that Weir is capable of. Some say this film has great atmosphere, and that much is true. But something is off. And it is also very uncomfortable watching Linda Hunt... not quite clear what they were going for with that.