This touching Australian film tugs at the heartstrings.
The acting in this film is outstanding both leading men, Craig Stott and Ryan Corr bring the right amount of comedy and drama into their performances. The one thing I would criticise is the fact that they played their younger selves (as in 16 years old). Those scenes were hardly believable – a haircut does not take 15 years off a person! However aside from that their performances were faultless.
Guy Pearce and Anthony LaPaglia both play supporting roles, LaPaglia gets a lot more to work with, meaning he shines a lot stronger. Pearce comes across a little bit shallow, like he is just reciting lines.
The script is fantastic and being based of a true story makes this film even sadder. The Romeo and Juliet parallels throughout are very clever and having the school production be Romeo and Juliet serves to put the thought of the parallels at the back of your mind.
The two things that bugged me the most were, firstly the voice over – it felt amateurish and it’s done too often. The second thing was the opening cinematography – it felt like I was watching a student film – lots of clichéd shots and not actually pulling into focus on the main characters.
This film is a very strong Australian drama and it has a superb script and a wonderful cast of actors. I strongly recommend you see this film and support Australian cinema!
4 Stars
Written by Benjamin Maio Mackay
Screening courtesy of Show Film First