Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Somersault

Yesterday I went to see 'Somersault', the first full-length movie directed and written by Cate Sutherland. I wasn't as enthusiastic about it as many reviewers I have read. The direction was great; the acting by Abbie Cornish and Sam Worthington was excellent - very credible characterisations; the sensory detail was very physical, as it should be; but the storyline let it down. It started nowhere and returned there without really shaking me up at any point. I wasn't surprised once, and this from a man who reads a lot but doesn't go to movies all the time ... It is easy to surprise me in a movie, and this one didn't at all. Not once. (Have I made myself clear? :-)

But it did what filmic art should do on one basic level: it looked great. The dialogue was good, and the acting was good, so what am I griping about? I was disappointed in the plot. If I saw it as a script, I would have asked for a whole lot more 'story'.


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