One Night Stand

I saw this movie when I was a teenager and could never remember the title. The story line stuck with me though. Recently stumbled across it on Amazon Prime when they licensed a heap of eighties, nineties and naughties content. YaY I now know the name of it. It is a great movie for the time period in which it was produced.

This film has all the hallmarks of an early nineties indie movie. Small cast (four people). Single locale (the Sydney Opera house). Single plot thrust (the end of the world). But look at the date. 1984. So when John Hughes was messing about with teen - movies and the USA thought Tootsie was one of the greatest films of all time, Oz had greater concerns. Almost creating its own genre - the pre-apocalyptic movie - this film deftly shows what would actually happen in case of such an emergency. Nothing much. People would still go on dates. They'd probably hang out. Some sex might go on. Then everyone might die. What's so lovely about this film, is that they are real people. You can't really tell them apart. They don't have stereotypes. In fact only the navy officer really stands out. We like them because they are like us. If I was in that situation, I'd probably go a bit stir crazy. If you happen to see this film around, do go see - if nothing else you get to see what the Sydney Opera House looks like at night when everyone's gone home . . .

Well, what can one write about this movie? Certainly an interesting 'end of the world' 80's movie.

We are introduced to 4 young 20something year olds in the down yonder just before the end of the world becomes their only reality. Held up in the Sidney Opera House for what is likely their last night on Earth. We follow these young people (2 men and 2 women) through their agonizing transition from lives full of promise to where their lives are ever so quickly coming to an abrupt end.

Extremely melodramatic! The acting is simply splendid!!! Those young actors really became entrenched in their characters. Throughout the movie the young adults tune into a radio station about reports of World War III breaking out all across Europe and America and of their own impending doom after a Nuclear Bomb is detonated just south of Sydney. Throughout the movie a white rabbit appears - for what reasons, I have yet to figure out - was the director trying to send a message to the viewer? The most impacting scene is the video camera footage broadcast on local TV of distressed and burned survivors somewhere 'north of New York'. This scene really packs a punch! Especially since the movie just kind of tugs along and then WHAM you get hit with this very graphic and disturbing scene! Burned victims, men and women crying out in agony, Soldiers in radiation suits guiding blind and burned victims to a make shift shelter where the news camera keys in on people with skin hanging from their bodies, charred remains of humans and animals and the piercing cry of women and children! I don't think there is one scene from 'The Day After' or 'Threads' that packed a shocking punch as this one brief scene in the movie (One Night Stand). Oh and Midnight Oil is in this movie! Am I the only yank that likes this band?????

Extremely rare video to purchase. It is not available on DVD. I was lucky to purchase a copy on Ebay recently in VHS format! The back of the VHS box states:

"How would you spend your last night on Earth? Four young people find themselves deciding just that, as they end up thrown together on what may be their last night to live.

When Sharon, Eva, Brendan, and Sam hear on the radio that World War III was begun, they decide that the best way to deal with the situation is to try and have a good time. They play strip poker, mix drinks, flirt, and joke around. But between the banter they draw close together as they realize that these may be the last friends they'll ever have.' Featuring the music of Midnight Oil."

In closing, I would love to see a DVD version of this film with a Director/Actor(s) narrative! One other tid bit, this movie was filmed entirely on location: New York, Sydny and Paris.

I only came across this after hearing of the passing of Saskia Post. It's a nice snapshot of how Sydney used to look in the 1980s, with footage of the Opera House & Sydney Harbour & nearby streets as well as Martin Place train station, and a full performance by Midnight Oil of their famous song Short Memory is nice to see. It may be a bit factually inaccurate with the nuclear fallout, and the acting is a bit basic, but it's an interesting enough story of how a small group of people would react in an unexpected situation, starting off in optimistic denial until the reality of the situation sets in. Watch out around the 5-minute mark for a cameo from former Crowded House drummer Paul Hester as a naval officer.

In the eighties, John Duigan was one of Australia's most innovative and charming film-makers. Although he hasn't done much of note in recent years, "Flirting" (1991) and "Lawn Dogs" (1997) are 90s examples of his brilliance, and his forthcoming film, "Head in the Clouds", sounds promising. "Lawn Dogs", with its magnificent acting, screenplay (sadly not by Duigan) and stunning cinematography, is probably his masterpiece, but for sheer experimentalism and surprising pathos, "One Night Stand" is hard to ignore, especially considering it was made in 1984.

The story is very simple - actually, there isn't much of one. A group of four people sit around in an abandoned Sydney Opera House, worrying about the end of the world. But Duigan uses this merely as a point of departure. With some of the most interesting, and subtle, uses of flashback that I've seen in a while, nice acting, and clever uses of "Short Memory" by Midnight Oil and Fritz Lang's "Metropolis", Duigan has come up with quite a gem. It doesn't have any of the usual trappings of Australian film - excessive "larikanism", lack of subtlety and depth, cinematic blandness or an irritating effort to be noticeably "Australian" (despite the potentially cumbersome use of Sydney landmarks) - and has so many things that many American and world movies lack. "One Night Stand" is a film with the potential to surprise in an age when we so often think we've seen it all. It's dated a little bit - quite a bit, actually - but, well, it was 1984, so you can't exactly expect it to look like it was made yesterday. But in terms of what it achieves - emotionally, politically, cinematically - it is avant-garde in the truest sense. Not unwatchable, not difficult, just truly ahead of the game. And so few films have really caught up in the 20 years since.

I just hope that "Head in the Clouds" can show that Duigan still is, rather than just was, an amazing film-maker. More people need to see "Lawn Dogs". More people need to see the Danny Emberling films. And, judging by the seriously low user-rating, and startling absence of user comments on IMDb, it seems very clear that more people need to see "One Night Stand".