Australian films can either be really really good, eg Muriels Wedding and The Castle, or they can be really really bad, eg Bran Nue Dae, there is really no in between, and The Sapphires falls into the good pile. Certainly not a perfect film by any means, but it is a generally entertaining film with lots of laughs, a great soundtrack and a excellent performance from the always awesome Deb Mailman.
The film tackles some serious issues in Australian history with the stolen generation, but I was happy to see that it wasn't to heavily touched on, some aboriginal themed movies really are heavy handed with it and it can sometimes be a little too much, but in The Sapphires it is just the right amount, Australians will understand it straight away and anyone elsewhere seeing it it will probably spark their interest in the subject, from then on we see 4 sassy gals from the outback entertain the socks off the audience. One great thing in the film is that it features four very different female characters, all very strong, and all of them have their own little story going on. The scenes shot outside Australia are very well done, and they don't look like they've been done on the cheap either which is good, that's another thing about Australian movies, most of them are very low budget, but with this movie you never get that impression.
The cast is pretty good, obviously most of the acting is done by Deb Mailman, who in my opinion is probably one of Australia's best actresses, and Chris O'Dowd who is perfectly hilarious in every scene, also worth mentioning is Shari Sebbens who I found to be a bit of a scene stealer, she had me near tears a few times, she has a very sweet face and I think and hope we see a lot more of her, and Miranda Tapsell is laugh out loud funny as the tart of the group. Jessica Mauboy is a great singer, in fact she's an exceptional singer and obviously she excels better at that than acting in this film but the others are so great that most people won't notice.
My favourite part of the film was the romance between Deb Mailman and Chris O'Dowd, at first I was like no no no, but through the film the chemistry between them grows and by the end I was yes yes yes, it's a really sweet romance between two opposites but somehow it works. The only criticism I have is that there are so many clichés, people overseas already think Aussies are jumping around on kangaroos, we don't need more Australian clichés in films but oh well, some of them are funny and non Aussies will probably get a good laugh from them.
At the end of the day The Sapphires does just what it sets out to do, entertain. Give this one a go, whether you're a long time Deb Mailman fan like me, a fan of Motown classics, or simply just like funny yet serious films, you're sure to enjoy it, it's kinda hard not too. :)
Hooray.
The film tackles some serious issues in Australian history with the stolen generation, but I was happy to see that it wasn't to heavily touched on, some aboriginal themed movies really are heavy handed with it and it can sometimes be a little too much, but in The Sapphires it is just the right amount, Australians will understand it straight away and anyone elsewhere seeing it it will probably spark their interest in the subject, from then on we see 4 sassy gals from the outback entertain the socks off the audience. One great thing in the film is that it features four very different female characters, all very strong, and all of them have their own little story going on. The scenes shot outside Australia are very well done, and they don't look like they've been done on the cheap either which is good, that's another thing about Australian movies, most of them are very low budget, but with this movie you never get that impression.
The cast is pretty good, obviously most of the acting is done by Deb Mailman, who in my opinion is probably one of Australia's best actresses, and Chris O'Dowd who is perfectly hilarious in every scene, also worth mentioning is Shari Sebbens who I found to be a bit of a scene stealer, she had me near tears a few times, she has a very sweet face and I think and hope we see a lot more of her, and Miranda Tapsell is laugh out loud funny as the tart of the group. Jessica Mauboy is a great singer, in fact she's an exceptional singer and obviously she excels better at that than acting in this film but the others are so great that most people won't notice.
My favourite part of the film was the romance between Deb Mailman and Chris O'Dowd, at first I was like no no no, but through the film the chemistry between them grows and by the end I was yes yes yes, it's a really sweet romance between two opposites but somehow it works. The only criticism I have is that there are so many clichés, people overseas already think Aussies are jumping around on kangaroos, we don't need more Australian clichés in films but oh well, some of them are funny and non Aussies will probably get a good laugh from them.
At the end of the day The Sapphires does just what it sets out to do, entertain. Give this one a go, whether you're a long time Deb Mailman fan like me, a fan of Motown classics, or simply just like funny yet serious films, you're sure to enjoy it, it's kinda hard not too. :)
Hooray.