Reel Review Roundup

The Imposter

Directed by: Bart Layton

Starring:Frederic Bourdin, Carey Gibson, Beverly, Dollarhide

Five stars

Review by: Julian Wright

The saying “truth is stranger than fiction” is an old one, and yet it could easily have been first used in the 1990s as a direct reference to the bizarre, jaw droppingly astonishing story of one family that is stricken with grief when a young member goes missing, only for him to resurface years later in another country. Or so they thought. Whoever coined that now famous phrase may have seen many things that defied logic and yet were still 100 per cent fact. They never got the chance to see this story.

Thirteen-year-old Nicholas Barclay, who lived in a small Texas town, disappeared without a trace in 1994 on his way home from playing after school sport. His mother Beverly and sister Carey went through the gamut of emotions – loss, anger, hope, determination to find him. His disappearance didn’t even make the news. It seemed no one was looking for him but his family.

Three years later they get a call from the authorities informing them that they may have found him. In Spain. Carey makes her first international flight to go pick him up. He is a little different to what she was expecting, but this young man says he is Nicholas and gives a harrowingly detailed account of years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of his military captors and attributes his changed physical appearance to his experiences. Nicholas was blue eyed, this young man has brown eyes, and speaks with a French accent. Nevertheless, Carey is convinced he is her brother and brings him home. The family are slightly suspicious but his stories are convincing. And who would lie about such horrific dealings?

Apparently, 23-year-old Frederic Bourdin would lie about it. Bourdin managed to assume Nicholas’ identity, someone that was younger and didn’t look, sound or act like him at all and pull the wool over the eyes of the authorities in Spain, a gullible Texas family and the American FBI to weasel his way into the USA. Marvel in disbelieve as he explains how he came to choose Nicholas in the first place.

This is clearly a case of hindsight being 20/20 as you scoff at the glaring incompetence of all authorities involved and yet we believe that these people were convinced that Bourdin was Nicholas despite the screaming inconsistencies. But this is what makes the story a compelling, riveting watch. Had any of this been the invention of a Hollywood screenwriter, it would have been booed out of studio executive’s offices.

The plot gets thicker and crazier when private investigator Charlie Parker compares Nicholas and Bourdin’s ears (?!)  to discover something is not quite right and thinks he has hit pay dirt with an outrageous murder cover up theory. But there is more here than just shocking developments – it is a heartbreaking exploration of a vulnerable family so blinded by its desperation to have a missing loved one returned.

The Imposter cleverly unfolds in noir-ish crime thriller fashion and continually surprises. You can never guess where it is all heading. Bringing the undocumented parts of the story to life with re-enactments to fill gaps – some actors even lip synch to recorded audio clips – make for an ingenious storytelling technique. Director Bart Layton admirably gives everyone interviewed a fair go when it would be so easy to paint this family as small town dummies, the FBI as bumbling idiots and Bourdin as a raving psychopath. Bourdin proves to be the most fascinating criminal subject of a documentary since Aileen Wuornos. You haven’t heard anything stranger in any fiction story, but this is fact.

The Imposter screens as part of the Revelation Perth Film Festival on July 12 and 14.

Undefeated

Directed by: Daniel Lindsay, T.J. Martin

Starring: Bill Courtney, Chavis Daniels, O.C. Brown, Montrail “Money” Brown

Four and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

It is a good thing that this Oscar-winning documentary about disadvantaged African-American high school football players doesn’t come with a disclaimer that it shares similarities with fellow Oscar winner and cookie cutter weepy The Blind Side (also based on true events) – no one would go see it. Thankfully, there is no Sandra Bullock trying to play it straight as a hoity toity upper class housewife here. What we do have, however, Hollywood could not have written any better.

Undefeated is the story of the Manassas Tigers football team in North Memphis which is on a 110 year play-off losing streak. Year after year, the team is pummeled and humiliated by the opposition. The main source of is limited funding comes from other teams in the district that pay the Tigers to compete then systematically beat them over and over. This documentary follows the 2009 season in which the dedication of volunteer coach Bill Courtney is at its peak, but also threatened by the team of underprivileged and unfocused young adults that make up the Tigers. Not only does he coach them on the field, but off as well, acting as a surrogate father/social worker to keep them on the straight and narrow and offering the only guidance they receive.

We are granted access to the stories of three players that stand out – Chavis, who can snap into explosive violence at the drop of a hat and constantly ends up in trouble with the police, O.C. Brown’s struggle to exceed academically as he does on the field (he even bunks with an upper crust white family for a while – oh, hi there again The Blind Side) and the nail-biting experience Money endures waiting for an injury to heal as he watches the end of the season rapidly approach. They all have different personalities but they all share similar backgrounds – no father,and precious few opportunities to achieve in life.

Bill spends every spare moment, including what should be quality time with his own family, trying to improve the team and lead them to victory. The most fascinating and complex person of the lot, Bill dedicates more time to this sport and his team than he does to his own children, even though he knows what it’s like to miss out on having a Dad around. Not only do his contradictory actions create some of the driving drama in the documentary, but it speaks volumes about the importance society places on competitive sports.

Structured like a drama film, Undefeated is a seriously slick production and at times resembles the kind of scripted inspirational sport film that falls off a Hollywood assembly line. Any cynic would think the involvement of The Weinstein Company would be to blame for this. But its gleaming presentation does not detract from the raw and genuinely moving emotion that is captured and the alternately heartbreaking and uplifting stories that we are privileged to witness unfold. Undefeated towers over any artificial concoction that dare attempt to cover similar territory. And any documentary that brings a tear or two to this hardened reviewer’s eyes is A-ok. Sorry Sandra, this outing was far more deserving of the coveted golden statue.

Undefeated screens as part of the Revelation International Film Festival on July 10.

Battle For Brooklyn

Directed by: Suki Hawley, Michael Galinsky

Starring: Daniel Goldstein, Shabnam Merchant, Letitia James, Bruce Ratner

Four stars

Review by: Julian Wright

What would you do if you discovered the land your house sat on was earmarked for a commercial development? Not only your house would be demolished to make way for it, but hundreds of other people’ s homes and businesses as well. Would you take the money offered to you by the developer and relocate? Or would you stay and fight? Daniel Goldstein stayed and fought a long, exhausting and drawn out fight in this familiar David versus Goliath story of a community that would not lay down to a conglomerate that wanted to bulldoze an old and established section of Brooklyn full of history for a sports arena and a few skyscrapers.

It took Daniel several years to find his dream apartment. Once he did and had settled with his fiance, it was a bit like a fairytale. Then he got news that real estate company Forest City Ratner had devised the Atlantic Yards Development project, which would include a new arena to house the New Jersey Nets basketball team and 16 high rises – all on the land his beloved apartment stands. And so began his eight year battle to save his castle, a battle that would put him through some tough times and would give him an emotional battering. Yet, he never gave up.

Daniel and several others against the development formed the activist group Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and tried desperately to convince anyone in authority that would listen that the plan was not a sound one. Forest City Ratner president Bruce Ratner claimed the development would greatly benefit Brooklyn and create thousands of jobs for struggling locals, but at what cost? Families and businesses had been established for decades in the handful of blocks he wanted leveled.

The company charges ahead while refusing to consult with residents, funds a community a support group for millions of dollars, the media did not fully understand the holes in the plan enough to expose them and New York council member’s hands were tied. Daniel declares the whole thing un-American, before promptly correcting himself in a revealing moment: “No, maybe this is the American way.”  The stress of this uphill battle puts Daniel through the ringer – his engagement breaks down and all the other people in his building pack up and move on, leaving him to be the only one living there. The stress of his cause is evident in his increasingly thinning and greying hair over the course of the documentary.

The frustration’s are vividly captured, but there is some light along this dark tunnel when Daniel meets fellow activist Shabnam and the couple marry begin a family. But even that relationship was strained by his dedication to oppose the development from going ahead. Riding the highs and lows with Daniel in this compelling documentary is a challenging and emotional, but rewarding experience. While the second half is nowhere near as balanced a view on the story as the first half  (interviews with company representatives are non-existent from the midway mark) the personal journey angle of one man’s never say die attitude is the perfect, inspirational subject.

Battle for Brooklyn screens as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival Friday, July 13.

Now Suitable For Children (MA)

Directed by: Peter Templeman

Starring: Ryan Kwanten, Sarah Snook, Bojana Novakovic

Two stars

Review by: Julian Wright

Receiving jarring news that you have cancer, whether treatable or terminal, is enough to put anyone’s head in a spin. With your time potentially cut shorter than you might have thought, you may fret over the things you always wanted to do but never did. If ever there is a silver lining, according to the movies, it is that such news can give you that kick up the bum to start making your way down your bucket list a bit faster.

Such is Jonah’s plight in writer/director Peter Templeman’s feature film directorial debut Not Suitable For Children. Although, it is not death that Jonah faces, rather it is not being able to father children. Well, in three week’s time. Jonah (Ryan Kwanten) is a 20-something care free party animal that, along with his room mates in their West Sydney sharehouse, charge their mates to attend their elaborate house parties. During a fling with a one night stand , he discovers a lump on his testicle. A doctor visit later, he is told it is cancerous, the testicle must be removed and chemotherapy begun immediately. The side-effect is permanent infertility.

Jonah makes the appointment for the procedure to take place three weeks away to give him time to go back through his black book of relationships and hook ups to find the best candidate to father his child before his sperm is no good. What a catch! After not having any success (what a surprise), his friend Stevie (Sarah Snook) offers her oven to bake the bun in and the two go into an agreement that could change everything.

While this film has the best intentions at heart, it is hard to get on board when the main character actively and endlessly pursues something that he doesn’t even really want and has no business having. This irrational and irresponsible man is simply trying to beat a clock and is not suitable for children. It’s right there in the title!

It wouldn’t be too much of a leap to believe this man must come to terms with having a baby sooner than planned if he actually had planned to have any at all at some point, but he clearly didn’t. Jonah just wants what he can’t have. Even when he borrows his sister’s kids to try to lure a potential incubator for his child, there is no connection there. He doesn’t even know how to take care of children. No parental instincts kick in.

This unagreeable story is made watchable only by the miraculously appealing performances of the cast. Their characters make the dumbest decisions but, by golly, they are a watchable lot up there on the screen. Kwanten somehow oozes appeal despite his character’s misgivings. He shows a soft, vulnerable side and doesn’t come off as a complete write-off as a human being. Now if he can achieve that, then he is destined for great things. But Snook threatens to overshadow with her natural, Emma Stone-like charm.

Templeman hasn’t done anything wrong per se with his directorial choices (this  film is competently made) except failing to bridge that gap that makes us believe Jonah would go to such lengths to achieve what he sets out to do. Unfortunately, it is a fatal flaw. Fingers crossed Templeman’s next film is more suitable for audiences.

Snow White and the Huntsman (M)

Directed by: Rupert Sanders

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron

Two stars

Review by: Julian Wright

The tale of Snow White was ripe for a theatrical retelling. No, don’t laugh. Sure, in the 75 years since Disney’s unbeatable animated classic, the story has been told so many times (a dark Sigourney Weaver TV movie in 1997 and a dreadful modern teen version starring Amanda Bynes in 2007, to name just two) that we can recite it by heart, but throw in a visionary director, a generous budget, some meta conscious scribes and there is the opportunity for something special. Hey, there is nothing wrong with trying to stay positive.

Admittedly, two in one year (the cheery Mirror Mirror was released merely three months ago) is a bit of stretch but that was just an unfortunate coincidence. The zany former version was family friendly which left room for another interpretation of the story. Not so problematic, so long as it adds something new to the fold. Unfortunately, that opportunity was not seized here.

The tone of Snow White and the Huntsman is the polar opposite to Mirror Mirror – darker treatment, more evil Queen stuff and epic war battles. But this is almost a carbon copy of the Brothers Grimm story, offering no plot surprises and yet stretching it out to a painful two-hour running time. To retell such a common story without any attempt to mix it up even a little has proven to be a wasted opportunity.

You know the drill – an evil, youth obsessed witch (Charlize Theron) marries a king, bumps him off, becomes ruler and keeps his daughter, the embodiment of beauty, Snow White (Kristen Stewart) locked up out of jealousy. Snow White escapes her tower prison so the Queen hires loutish man (Chris Hemsworth) to kill her. There is even the poisoned apple. Oh and there are dwarfs. Eight of them (?!). The only things that the three script writers (count ’em, three!) could come up with to make this story their own was digging a bit deeper when it comes to the Queen’s motivations and upping the scale with a battle to take back the kingdom.

Director Rupert Sanders, a whiz at filming commercials, dishes up some splendid visuals but with so few distinctions from previous versions, this quickly becomes a bit of a yawner. Not only is the familiarity off-putting, but this all plays out at a snail’s pace for an almost unbearable two hours. It is here that Sanders, making his feature film debut, still has a bit to learn about pacing and momentum when it comes to telling stories.

Theron turns in an appropriately seething performance and her character’s compulsion to remain beautiful resonates with today’s appearance means everything attitude. Hemsworth and Stewart are a watchable couple on-screen, but Stewart’s screen presence takes a tumble in the later stages when the script calls on her to deliver an inspirational speech – which she is clearly incapable of doing. With so many strikes against this version, it is quite apparent which Snow White film this year was the fairest.

Margaret (MA)

Directed by: Kenneth Lonergan

Starring: Anna Paquin, J. Smith-Cameron, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Jeannie Berlin, Jean Reno

Four and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

Films that have a rough road to the screen are usually ones that the makers try to sweep under the carpet. Once reports get out of extended production time, editing woes, legal battles and a final product being confined to the shelf for years, it is not exactly positive PR. Instead of fighting the cynicism of potential audiences, those behind the project usually want to just move on to the next, hopefully less cursed, project.

Margaret could have been another in the list of troubled productions that fell into oblivion amongst scandalous stories of director vs studio battles and disagreements. The little movie that could was filmed in 2006 but mistreated and almost left to languish in development hell by the studio once writer/director Kenneth Lonergan failed to present was he was contractually obliged to. After a few editing passes later (one by Hollywood heavyweight Martin Scorsese) to get the running time down and once legal disputes died down, it has suffered a meagre cinematic run.

Sound familiar? Except, Margaret is possibly the only exception in which the passion behind the film, the script’s core themes, the careful direction and measured performances manage to shine despite the butcher knife-like editing. So let’s not let the archaic behind the scenes stories overshadow what is finally up on our screens. What has been delivered is a stunning and nuanced portrayal of a New York teenager whose life and relationships take a hard knock after she is witness to an accidental death.

When 17-year-old Lisa (Anna Paquin) spots a bus driver (Mark Ruffalo) wearing a cowboy hat she admires, she tries to get his attention which leads to a momentary lapse in the man’s concentration and he hits pedestrian Monica (Allison Janney). With the woman bleeding to death in the street, Lisa and some on-lookers try to help but cannot prevent the inevitable in the devastatingly, hauntingly realistic sequence. Lisa tells the police it was all an accident, but later must deal with the emotional conflict this causes within her.

Desperate attempts to connect with her stage actress mum (J. Smith-Cameron), interstate dad and teachers (Matthew Broderick and Matt Damon) for comfort and advice, she is not satisfied and makes calculated decisions to dabble in drugs and give up her virginity hastily to distract herself from the pangs of guilt. Unsatisfied by this course of action, she makes contact with the dead woman’s family. A rejection by Monica’s long-lost cousin (the only living relative it would seem) leads Lisa to her best friend Emily (Jeannie Berlin). The two come up with the idea of getting the bus driver fired despite the problematic legal situation of the accident. But is Lisa treating this whole situation like some sort of dramatic opera? Is she seeking legal action for true justice or just to alleviate her own guilt? Why should the bus driver, who has a family to support, be punished but not her?

The answers might not always be clear when it comes to the complicated Lisa, but the heartfelt and nuanced journey to try to put the pieces together is one that must be taken. Lisa is written and portrayed as a typical teenager on the surface. Rebellious, cheeky, defensive, immature, mouthy. She is frustrating and fascinating at the same time. Paquin gives a layered performance of a difficult and complex character, one that comes across as pleasant enough but is at times fiercely unlikeable and whose motivations questionable.

But one of the strengths of the script is that not all the focus is on her – other characters are given meaty moments that allow the cast to dig a little deeper. Sub plots have clearly been cut right back, but even with what we have here is a rich experience. The editing is choppy and the script hammers the point across in more than one shoutty conversation, but these minor quibbles do not detract from the fact that there is nary a moment that does not ring true in all of the interactions, relationships and situations.

Lonergran intended for his story to be at least half an hour longer, but despite apparent post production hacking, this still feels like the version we are meant to see. Now that is talent. While this version is as near to perfection as you could get, Lonergran’s director’s cut will certainly one to look out for.

Beauty Is Embarrassing

Directed by: Neil Berkeley

Starring: Wayne White, Mark Mothersbaugh

Four stars

Review by: Julian Wright

How far does one go in their search for artistic fulfillment? Remember Natalie Portman’s nightmarish trip into Crazy Town in Darren Aronofsky’s fictional Black Swan? Yeesh. While Beauty Is Embarrassing looks at the lengths one goes to for their art and their undeniable need to create –  artist Wayne White’s journey is, thankfully, a much more pleasant one. There are no angsty sexual awakenings between female ballerinas here.

Wait come back, it’s still a fascinating documentary.

Wayne was a typical artist-to-be when as a child he was always found with a pencil in hand and a piece of paper covered in drawings. He moved from his small town in Tennessee to the Big Apple to pursue a career in the arts but was finding no luck – except in the romance department. He met his artist wife who was gainfully employed and earning all the dough. Wayne was not. That is, until he got a job creating the loopy characters for the first few DIY episodes of Pee Wee’s Playhouse.

The zero budget program filmed in a location that wasn’t suitable for a television show became a cult hit and the production moved to Los Angeles with a bigger budget. But when star Paul Reubens called it quits, White flitted from pay cheque job to pay cheque job, none of which shared the success nor the freedom to create. Pee Wee’s Playhouse got him a couple of Emmys but without artistic satisfaction, what was the point?

The way he has dealt with is artistic energy has morphed throughout the years, from parading an over-sized head around town to creating puppets that are more like sculptures. His strangest and latest achievement was borne out of a throw away idea – he was to smash out a K-Mart print to use the frame but decided to paint words onto the scenery. Prompting the question “what is art?” – his word paintings were at first ignored by art snobs, but later embraced.

But none of this journey would be half as interesting or entertaining without the fun and honest interviews with White, his family, colleagues and friends. White is a kooky, down to earth, gentle, funny fellow and he has surrounded himself with similar people his whole life. Asking “what is art?” has been done to death and even those who have never been in an art gallery know that it is in the eye of the beholder. But director Neil Berkley gives it fresh treatment by looking at it from White’s experiences. While Portman’s character Nina finally found her artistic fulfillment, then promptly dropped dead because of it (what a downer), White still searches  for his and inspires us to do the same.

Beauty Is Embarrassing is screening as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 6 and 14.

Die Hard 4.0 (M)

Directed by: Len Wiseman

Starring: Bruce Willis, Justin Long, Timothy Olyphant

Three stars

Review by: Julian Wright

The stars of 1980’s action movie heroes Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone appear to have faded but there seems to be no end in sight for Bruce Willis. Returning to the role that made him famous, Willis shows he can still hold his own against the new wave of action film characters such as pirates, transformers and comic book heroes.

Since we last saw NYPD detective John McClane 12 years ago, he has divorced his wife Holly and has a rocky relationship with his daughter Lucy (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). But he is soon forced to dodge bullets again when another seemingly ordinary job puts him in the middle of a cyber terrorist plot. He is ordered to pick up Matt Farrell (Justin Long), who is suspected of breaching a FBI computer system.

But Matt is one of several hackers that have been targeted by Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) who is systematically shutting down the United States computer infrastructure. Gabriel and his crew begin causing havoc by manipulating traffic lights, then they crash the stock market, turning the country into hysterics. But things get personal when Gabriel kidnaps Lucy and hold her hostage. McClane has to keep the kid alive, save his daughter and stop the terrorists before they cripple the entire country.

This watered down fourth installment in the popular series has taken a slightly different approach and tone and does not always benefit from it. It fails to capture the playful yet edgy spirit of the other films and of the character of John McClane. When once he was an everyday cop with a vulnerable side, here he is a one-dimensional, indestructible superhero. Unfortunately, this keeps the audience at arm’s length and drains some of the fun from the proceedings.

Since we haven’t seen McClane for over a decade and technology has progressed so enormously since, the filmmakers could have had much fun playing on the concept that he is getting too old and all this is way over his head. Alas, they don’t. Instead they have him driving a truck through a collapsing bridge, hanging from a car suspended in an elevator shaft and coming away with only a few cuts.

Don’t get me wrong, the action sequences and stunts are jaw-droppingly awesome and no one had been looking forward to this film more than me, but credibility is strained considerably, leaving not a single believable moment. There is some humour with a great cameo by Kevin Smith, director of Clerks. Your enjoyment of this film also depends on how much computer mumbo jumbo you can handle, and be warned, there is a lot.

As appeared in Examiner Newspapers, 2007.

Prometheus (MA)

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Starring: Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron

Four stars

Review by: Julian Wright

Prometheus has turned out to be a curious creation. Hyped as a sort-of prequel to the seminal space creature feature Alien, existing in the same universe as the double jawed xenomorph, yet so far removed that those without a good eye for detail may miss the vague links. The result is a distant cousin of sorts that could play as a stand alone film. It is a risky move on the part of director Ridley Scott and scribes John Spaihts and Damon Lindelof: not enough face hugger action and hard-core Alien fans may be, erm, alienated. Stick too closely to what has been done before and endure the wrath of those who are tired of another installment of unimaginative rehashes.

In another risky move, Prometheus answers a few of those burning questions Alien fans have been asking for more than 30 years, and then asks a slew of new, philosophical ones. While some preview audiences have derided Prometheus on a number of script and storytelling flaws, and whether or not the ties to Alien are strong enough to warrant the prequel label, a so far uncommon point of view is that these were risks worth taking with those behind the scenes using the opportunity to take its audience into the unknown and to another level.

When archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) find ancient markings in a cave that they believe are directions to our makers, or as they refer to them as: our “Engineers”, head of uber corporation Weyland Yutani, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce), funds the trillion-dollar expedition to another planet to see if they can make contact. On board the ship Prometheus is the steely Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron) as the bureaucratic presence, laid back captain Janek (Idris Elba), humanistic robot David (Michael Fassbender) and a handful of scientists and crew. Despite what each individual’s motivation for landing on that planet is, what they discover is more than they bargained for.

Capturing both the awe and dread of the expedition, Scott creates one of the most remarkable build ups in recent cinema. But this was only possible because Scott has immersed us in the world and politics of these characters, much like he did with Alien all those years ago with his keen eye for realism. Mirroring the storytelling beats is a subtle, yet delicious nod to the plight of the crew of the Nostromo in Alien. Scott isn’t just relying on design-based references here.

The environment the characters inhabit here is astonishingly three-dimensional. The costume and set designs are impressive and breathtakingly detailed. Our 2012 technology has allowed Scott to come up with sensational imagery that in some ways surpasses some of the extraordinarily detailed sets achieved in 1979. While there is some whiz-bangery on display, it’s not so much about futuristic laser guns and gadgets as it is about the practicality of the machines and hardware the characters use.

But Prometheus is not solely about spectacle and therein lies the reason it may eventually be held up as another cult classic alongside Scott’s other heavily debated sci-fi classic Blade Runner. Scott and his script writers pull out the big guns here, so to speak, with existential themes that explore faith versus science and the creation of life in a much grander scale than others film have attempted. There is plenty to ponder once the credits begin to roll.

Admittedly, the final third doesn’t live up to the build up of the first two-thirds, with new plot points not developing as organically as those that have preceded them and a seemingly endless anti-climactic sequence. But as curious a creation as Prometheus may be, the end result is one worth visiting. Could Prometheus be the new template for remakes and prequels? In an age where audiences can barely differentiate between them and their original source material, let’s hope so.

Careless Love (MA)

Directed by: John Duigan

Starring: Nammi Le, Peter O’Brien, Andrew Hazzard

Three stars

Review by: Julian Wright

The plight of a prostitute can be haunting and soul-destroying. And yet at the same time, the psychology behind it can be fascinating. What makes certain women put themselves in a line of work where their body is used for the sexual gratification of men? Surely, it’s not simply the handful of cash they receive for an hour’s work. But if the pay is the appeal, how do they deal with the shame associated with it? And how do they try to live a “normal” life during the daylight hours?

The topic has been explored from almost every possible angle from the ludicrously fairytale-like Pretty Woman,  to the devastating in Requiem for a Dream. John Duigan’s version of a Sydney call girl’s experiences will suffer from comparisons with last year’s fascinatingly enigmatic Sleeping Beauty in which, similarly, a university student turns to selling her body for money. But for all it shares with that ambiguous but intriguing film, it makes up for with a fresh point of view.

Linh (Nammi Le) is a Vietnamese Australian studying at the University of Sydney, who is forced to work as a call-girl for Orient Express to help pay her parents mortgage. She keeps it secret from her room mates, telling them she spends long hours at the library studying, and for a while she is able to keep her two lives separate. The two worlds come dangerously close to colliding when she begins a relationship with charming actor Jack (Andrew Hazzard).

Like Sleeping Beauty, we see this call girl with a collection of her clients and the different fantasies they play out with her or on her. There is the group of bratty uni students that hire her as a birthday present for a mate, the lonely middle-aged guy, the one that buys her expensive gifts. There is also Luke (Peter O’Brien), the shady American arts dealer who becomes fond of her. Unlike Sleeping Beauty, the encounters are mostly void of explicit content.

Writer/director/executive producer/co-star John Duigan doesn’t make any groundbreaking discoveries about the world of prostitution and much of what we see is familiar territory, but exploring it from the point of view of a Vietnamese Australian gives it a cultural twist. Watch the attitude of a group of arrogant rugby players change toward Linh when they discover she is an Aussie and not fresh off the boat like they first thought. The cultural element also lends itself to some nice scenes between Linh and her tough as nails colleague Mint (Ivy Mak) who is trying to improve on her broken English.

Le is a pleasant enough screen presence and brings warmth to her often times deliberately aloof character but she is unable to convey the incredible weight on her character’s shoulders. This poor girl is a full-time student, away from her family, has taken financial responsibility for her struggling parents, selling her body to men by the hour and trying to hide it from her boyfriend. But when she discovers a client knows her boyfriend and her cover is threatened, Le barely flinches.

Despite Le’s performance not giving us the full emotional complexity of the situation, her character’s journey is nevertheless one worth experiencing. Careless Love doesn’t trivialise prostitution like Julia Roberts’ light-weight version nor does it startle us with confronting imagery like Requiem for a Dream or Sleeping Beauty, but it does offer us some insight into the burden suffered by those who take up the profession while still trying to lead a ‘normal’ life during the day.