About 25 minutes into the film, my wife leaned over to me and whispered, "Are we in the right cinema?".
I was wondering the same thing myself. What we were seeing was not what we were expecting, based on the publicity materials. Was this trying to be an art-house film? Is this the depths to which Australian cinema has descended?
The pace of the movie was slow, with quite unimaginative direction. The idea of slicing a story so that it is seen from various perspectives is not new, and has been executed far better in other movies. But if you are going to do that you need to make sure that the sequences are directed in a snappy fashion.
The script was also weak. There were some areas that were clearly under-developed; some areas that went on far too long and were in need of some decent script editing; some parts that were really not required at all (what did Bruce's story add?); and other ideas (such as the "Rosemary's driving" running gag) that simply fell flat. A couple of the scenes with Norris and Roxburgh had spark, but we are talking two experienced actors here.
I assume that some pruning had already taken place, as there were some threads mentioned earlier in the film that were not followed through at all.
In summary, this came across as a good idea for a short film (for a final year student). How on earth anyone was convinced to green light this as a fully fledged feature speaks well of the persuasive powers of those involved.
I was wondering the same thing myself. What we were seeing was not what we were expecting, based on the publicity materials. Was this trying to be an art-house film? Is this the depths to which Australian cinema has descended?
The pace of the movie was slow, with quite unimaginative direction. The idea of slicing a story so that it is seen from various perspectives is not new, and has been executed far better in other movies. But if you are going to do that you need to make sure that the sequences are directed in a snappy fashion.
The script was also weak. There were some areas that were clearly under-developed; some areas that went on far too long and were in need of some decent script editing; some parts that were really not required at all (what did Bruce's story add?); and other ideas (such as the "Rosemary's driving" running gag) that simply fell flat. A couple of the scenes with Norris and Roxburgh had spark, but we are talking two experienced actors here.
I assume that some pruning had already taken place, as there were some threads mentioned earlier in the film that were not followed through at all.
In summary, this came across as a good idea for a short film (for a final year student). How on earth anyone was convinced to green light this as a fully fledged feature speaks well of the persuasive powers of those involved.