Fracture
Just finished watching Fracture, the 2004 adaptation of Maurice Gee's novel Crime Story (2004 was a good year for Maurice Gee adaptations, with In My Father's Den produced the same year).Very good. Great camera work, characterisation and plot. It was a fairly murky plot, but one that I could follow pretty easily. And when the characters hurt, I could understand what they were going through, which I guess means the film worked.
Interesting how the character of Brent starts out as someone we pretty much hate - a burglar, mercilessly kicking his victim down the stairs - but as we get a glimpse into his life we feel for him. It's clever how we see both families' side of the story.
Negatives - sometimes the acting came across a little contrived. If New Zealand drama suffers from anything it's from being too intense - or trying to be. It's good to ease the tension a little bit sometimes, whether it's with humour or just banality.
Also, what's with all the dark stories coming out of New Zealand? The real classics of the past two decades:
- The Quiet Earth
- The Piano
- Once Were Warriors
- In My Father's Den
- Heavenly Creatures
- Fracture
- Crooked Earth
Maybe it's just that I don't know of any examples, but I'm struggling to remember a good feature film comedy, or at the very least family drama - meaning something you can show the whole family rather than a drama about dysfunctional families.
Would New Zealand be able to produce a "Cheaper by the Dozen" style movie? How 'bout "Finding Nemo"? "Hitch" even?
Or is life really so desolate here? If that's the case, I wanna move - get me to Australia or America now!
Of course, there's "The World's Fastest Indian", which I understand is a very positive story, and based on a true story to boot. Looking forward to seeing that 'un.
posted by Simon @ 12:23 pm
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