Payne of horse racing hard held in Griffiths' biopic

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"There’s nothing forensic about Rachel Griffiths’ biopic of Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup. It’s in the National Velvet tradition with a discernible trace of Cheaper by the Dozen, as well.

It’s a throwback to the kind of films Australia was making in the 1970s and '80s. Michelle and her brother, Stevie, who has Down Syndrome, are great fans of Simon Wincer’s1983 movie, Phar Lap, which Griffiths may well be taking as her model. Phar Lap re-cast the fable of the Ugly Duckling as a horse story while this one is a classic tale about a close relative – the underdog.

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Article written by: Sandra Hall, Jake Wilson and Paul Byrnes