Interesting historically because it was a rare feature film made in Brisbane about that city using Brisbane talent. It also features an exciting young cast, many of whom would go on to become relatively familiar on the small screen – Sullivan Stapleton, Jessica Napier (admittedly already a name due to Wildside), Brendan Cowell, Ryan Johnson, Megan Dorman, Sam Atwell.
The script has some bright moments of dialogue and characterisation and most of the acting is pretty good. It’s a non-linear story – but once you figure it out it’s like “so what”. It’s like doing a puzzle of just blue sky - it’s a puzzle, sure, but when you finish it it’s just blue sky. It also never manages to get the tone right – it has a slight expressionistic quality to it, which works on stage better than it does on film. Sometimes too the meaning is a bit too bald (especially in the exchange between Atwell and Dorman - “You’re so predictable”, and “Because I don’t want to”, etc.)
This feels as though it would have been a lot better had it been made with less money, or as a theatre piece, where Stephen Davis could have showed off his considerable skill with dialogue a bit more and let the actors cut loose. As it is it drags on too long and you are too often aware of the lack of story. You're glad towards the end when Dorman's character turns up because she's got all this energy - but she's allowed to go overboard. On the positive side I did enjoy the atmosphere of a film set at Brisbane at night - deserted streets, neon lights, empty parkland, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment