A search for love, meaning and bathroom solitude. Danny goes through a series of shared housing experiences in a succession of cities on the east coast of Australia. Together these vignettes form a narrative that is surprisingly reflective.
23 Feb He Died with a Felafel in His Hand (2001)
Dead By Any Means
I am told that the three cities in this movie fit stereotypes that native Australians appreciate, so you might like that. Also, there are two good laughs in this.
In addition, there is a zany tone that might stick to young viewers. But otherwise this is a disaster. Most everyone seems to agree and cite the trivially episodic design, plus the fact that the moderately popular book on which it was based was not much followed. But I think the problem is more interesting. After all, some episodic comedies do work, and in particular those that define a peculiar, amusing world. This is common in TeeVee.
I think the difference here, the failure, is that the characters were not crisp. They never needed to be human, dimensional or sympathetic because we are playing with cartoons after all. But they need to be defined. They need to have enough causal coherence — what actors like to call motivation — for us to get what they are, what they stand for. I would suspect that I just missed the nuance because I am not Australian, but no. Australians have the same problem, even though they have the advantage of recognisable dress styles and phrases.
It is just bad writing. I suppose a case could be made for deep irony here, because the main character is a writer and the presumption is that we are reading what he has written. He is portrayed as an abysmally bad writer, and bad in just the way the movie is bad. But there is no sign that the film is that clever.
Posted in 2010
Ted’s Evaluation — 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
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