Damien Parer story sounds interesting - young good looking photographer who shot some of the most famous images of the war, killed by the Japanese in 1944. But is it dramatic...? Do films about photographers work? If they have sex with models and take a photo of a murderer, yes (Blow Up)... but if they are nice people who take photos... I'm not so sure. They've tried to make the Robert Capa story for ages but never been able to do it.
That's what this is. Parer films things. Some recreation is cut in with his amazing photography. Parer dies.
The film is full of female characters commenting on how good looking Parer is, and one woman asks Parer to photograph her nude. There's actually a few one-off scenes with Parer and female characters - a nurse whose brother has died, a woman in Europe. Look, maybe that happened, and it's good to have female representation I just can't wonder if Duigan did it in part to gives roles to actresses who he tried to seduce. The screen time would've been better spent on Parer's relationships with more important people in his life, not random women - his mates, his family, his wife. Anne Tenney seems too old as the wife, btw - she's a good actor, she just seems wrong. Nicholas Eadie is good.
Film buffs will enjoy the appearance of Maslyn Williams (Huw Williams), Chester Wilmott (Steve Jodrell), Osmar White (Jeff Truman), and Ken G Hall (Bob Haines). Maybe there's a more interesting version of this story to be told. Or maybe there isn't.
No comments:
Post a Comment