8/10
Excellent Australian dialogue-driven film
23 February 2009
Saw this at the Dublin film festival. The set-up is basically this: 3 navy guys are given shore-leave and what we are presented with is a drama through one night where we see their (mis)adventures as they wander the streets and bars in search of a good time. Except there's a bit more to it than that....details of an incident aboard their ship is slowly revealed throughout the film and is weaved beautifully into this premise. Its the sort of thing which would also work as a play, but I've always liked filmed plays like Glengarry Glen Ross anyway. Thats not to say that this isn't an original work (I'm pretty sure this is an original screenplay and all the more impressive for it). There is also the (in)famous Australian sense of humour at play in this film. For me this is an unquestionably positive ingredient in this work but I found that at my screening of the film most people weren't laughing at the same time as me. Either... 1: I was out of touch with the film's sensibility completely or....2: It was one these audiences which failed to click with the whole thrust of the movie. I am convinced it was the latter.
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