|
Movie Review with Andy Gough Hating Alison Ashley (PG) Directed by Geoff Bennett Forget Delta - the spirited performance of Saskia Burmeister and the supporting cast outshine Goodrem's role as the beatific 14-year old, Alison Ashley, in this movie adaptation of Robin Klein's popular novel. I tried every trick in the book to avoid having to see this film, but my karma is obviously well into overdraft. Terribly cynical of it being a bomb, based solely on all the gaudy pink promotional hype and tabloid focus around Delta Goodrem's role as the titular character, I took my friend's teenage daughter Ishtar along for a second opinion. She's just read the book by Robin Klein and thought it was all translated pretty faithfully to the screen and in the spirit of the author's work. She also confessed to watching Neighbours - something I can't stomach. I don't watch TV and had no idea who Goodrem is, but while her character was the fulcrum of the film, I was unimpressed - it was the fabulous support cast who made this film a pleasure and made Erica (Saskia Burmeister) Yurken's plight more real. Jean Kitson won my heart in her performance as the archetype of so many school teachers I can remember vividly from my childhood. While it all felt quite familiar and comfortable hearing the Aussie accent and slang, and they certainly did a good job of caricature, some of the stereotypes were a bit shallow and mostly played up for laughs. Saskia Burmeister I think we are bound to see again! She has real energy and talent and it is her character we readily identify with as she provides the voice over narration throughout the film, so we are interpreting her world through her eyes and her experiences. It's frustrating, however, when her self-absorbed perspective is wrong about many of her observations. But that's just where it worked, for me, as a subtle and humorous attempt to open our eyes to the way people can be judged wrongly or typecast unfairly because of the way we look, or because we have a funny name. How hating someone who should be your friend because of perceived rivalry or superficial judgments can be painful and lonely for both parties. So while you might initially get the impression it's just a teen film, at least it's an Aussie teen film, and there are thankfully a few adult themes and some of the subtext hit close to home with me. Themes poignant in contemporary society that kids (and many adults) can do well to learn about - judging others, superficiality, family relationships, conformity, isolation, hypochondria, why pathological liars have no friends... Of course there's a happy, uplifting ending and all is put right in the world, as seems to rarely happen in the 'real' world these days, at least in the space of 90 minutes. But it's a solid film for it's genre and so broadly watchable, having no guns, violence or sex - so kids probably won't want to watch it anyway. Surprisingly, I find myself recommending you check it out anyway. Look behind the TV Week tabloid hype about Delta - a mannequin could have played her role with as much animation. This is yet another solid offering of great Australian film making. Good clean fun. And hopefully karma is satisfied, for today at least. Andy 3 1/2 out of 5 Ishtar 4 out of 5 Go Back to Interviews & Reviews |