Hartley spent several years writing a detailed research document, which served to some degree as a script for the film, about the New Wave era of Australian cinema. It focused on the commonly overlooked "Ozploitation" films—mainly filled with sex, horror and violence—which critics and film historians considered vulgar and offensive, often excluded from Australia's "official film history". Hartley approached Quentin Tarantino, a longtime "Ozploitation" fan who had dedicated his 2003 filmKill Bill to the exploitation genre, and Tarantino agreed to help get the project off the ground. Hartley then spent an additional five years interviewing subjects and editing the combined 250 hours of interviews and original stock footage into a 100-minute film.
Not Quite Hollywood, which premiered at the 2008 Melbourne International Film Festival, did not perform well at the box office upon its Australia-wide release, but garnered universally positive reviews from critics and a nomination for "Best Documentary" at the 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards.
"As a kid my parents and teachers insisted I see quality films like Picnic at Hanging Rock. Then I saw this movie Patrick, about a telekinetic coma victim, on commercial TV late one night and it thrilled, excited and downright scared me, just like the horror films made in the U.S. but with our voices, faces and places. I didn't know we could do that."
As a child, Mark Hartley discovered many of the "Ozploitation" B-movies from the 1970s and '80s while watching late-night television, but was disappointed when they were completely overlooked in books he read detailing Australian cinema.[4] After becoming an accomplished music video director, his interest in this era of Australian filmmaking grew and he spent years researching a potential documentary film.[4] He was close to giving up on the project when he sent a 100-page draft[5] of the script to American film director Quentin Tarantino, not expecting to receive a reply.[4] Tarantino was a longtime fan of "Ozploitation" films and had even dedicated his film Kill Bill to Brian Trenchard-Smith's work.[2] He replied the day after, telling Hartley that he would do whatever he could to get the film made.[4] Hartley traveled to Los Angeles, California to meet with Tarantino, who agreed to sit for hours of interviews as one of the film's most prominent interviewees.[1][6] Hartley spent the following five years interviewing other actors, directors, screenwriters and producers, collecting original stock footage,[7] and then cutting the 100 hours of interviews and 150 hours of film footage down into a 100-minute film.[1]
The film did not perform well at the box office upon its Australian release, taking in a gross of A$108,330 on its first weekend but only $31,995 on its second weekend at a screen average of $681 on 47 screens.[9]
Reception
Overall, Not Quite Hollywood received positive reviews from critics. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 65 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's consensus reads: "A raucous, fast-paced celebration of the Ozploitation films that came out of Australia in the 1970s and 1980s."[10]Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton of
At the Movies gave the film four and three and a half out of five stars respectively; Pomeranz commended Hartley for "the depth of his research and for creating a wildly entertaining film experience", and claimed that "for those of us who remember the films, Not Quite Hollywood is a blast".[11]Sandra Hall, writing for The Sydney Morning Herald, gave the film three and a half out of five stars, believing that "Hartley's own film is much livelier than most of those he is out to celebrate".[12] Jake Wilson of The Age similarly gave the film three and a half stars, but called the film "basically a feature-length advertisement for its subject", saying that it "moves far too rapidly to permit sustained analysis".[13]The Courier-Mail's Des Partidge, who gave the film four and a half out of five stars, disagreed, saying that "Brisk editing means the history is lively and fun", and claimed in homage to The Castle, "Copies of Hartley's film should go straight to pool rooms all over Australia when it becomes available on DVD."[7] while Leigh Paatsch wrote for the Herald Sun that "there is not a single instant where boredom can possibly intrude", dubbing the film "an incredibly energetic and merrily messed-up celebration of Australian B-movies".[14]
English director Edgar Wright named Not Quite Hollywood his fourth favourite film of 2008,[15] and called it "the best documentary ever."[16]
