SOMERSAULT
Australia has a patch of country that gets cold
and snowy and beautiful in a way that is different
to the vast remainder. Jindabyne is the
town you pass through from Canberra on the
way up to the resorts. It is here that teenage
runaway Heidi (Abbie Cornish, Life Support)
finds refuge from a life of promiscuity fuelled
by a loveless home.
Amongst the frost and snowflakes she meets
Joe (Sam Worthington), a young farmer toughened
by his environment. The two forge a relationship
with more twists and turns than the
road up Kosciusko. Heidi finds work at the local
BP, where she is greatly contrasted with Bianca
(Adelaidean by heart Hollie Andrew), a nice girl
whose parents keep her away from Heidi's bad
influence.
The story of catharsis, where two characters
help each other out, not necessarily through
love, isn't new. What Somersault does offer are
snippets of beauty, whether in some of the performances
or the stunning cinematography of
Robert Humphreys, which makes full use of the
ragged and rough landscape. The mountains are
an unlikely but excellent place for the darker
smoulderings of the human heart. And like most
Australian films which aren't stupid bumpkin
comedies, sex isn't off the menu. It is there,
but thoughtfully there. It is heartbreaking when
Heidi flirts through the windshield with a pensioner,
merely out of desperation: she needs
love and siphons it from wherever she can. Even
the threesome scene, which might ring the bells
of exploitation, is tactfully executed.
But I'll go short of proclaiming this "the next
Shine". I felt it was rather long and tedious in
parts. The scene types overlap and repeat. The
dialogue rings disappointingly hollow in quite a
few areas, embarrassing the enthusiastic viewer.
A female friend who used to be a counsellor to
kids just like Heidi said the film really touched
her. That it should be (potentially) difficult to
empathise with the characters sours this film.
It's also hugely ironic, given the fact that
Bianca's brother suffers from Asperger's syndrome.
All up this is a beautiful looking Aussie film
with a classic, universal story. Fans of alpine
locations will enjoy what they see. Just make
sure you're not too sleepy when you go to see
it.
Andrew Staker
========== X-RAMR-ID: 38604 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1318266 X-RT-TitleID: 10004473 X-RT-AuthorID: 8666
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews