33 Postcards

This is a quirky and touching movie about a sixteen year-old orphan from China, Mei-Mei, (played with pluck and naïveté by then newcomer Zhu Lin), who travels to Sydney, Australia with a children's choir and slips away to meet and thank the man whose financial donations sponsored her education; as important to her, her sponsor's steady stream of postcards about his perfect life provided her love, support and hope.

Her journey to find Dean Randall, (played by one of my screen favorites, Guy Pearce), is a surprising one. She learns that he is a convicted killer serving time in prison where he is up for parole, and the stories he wrote in his postcards were of a fantasy life. Dean is portrayed as being a sort of killer with a heart of gold, which was hard to swallow except for the fact that Guy Pearce is so likable.

The film passed quickly and gently. Mei-Mei and Dean form a bond, which he resists at first out of shame. It's a touching idea, however the screenplay was full of holes and the direction lacked finesse. The actors did the best they could in this production.

I hadn't heard of 33 Postcards and stumbled upon it online, there was no good reason to watch it, but I did and I'm so glad I did. It isn't the usual blockbuster drama, but weaves emotion like no other.

I'm (for lack of a better word) gob smacked! The film's and the performances' simplicity and earnestness blew me away. It created the magic of an international film with the determined oriental passion. I owe thanks to Pauline Chan, Philip Dalkin and Martin Edmond for wiping the blues away from my evening. And very specially to Guy Pearce, who acted with so much care for the story!

You take away a lot of food for thought, in terms of changing priorities, innocence and holding your ground. I've just watched an amazing movie and that it moved me so much that I cared to register on IMDb to write a review for it, says a lot to the movie's credit.

Do watch it, you will not regret it.

This film was beautifully conceived, and started well. The characters are deft, subtle, and well-played by the excellent cast.

Leading into the last act, though, the characters start behaving erratically, with no discernible motivation. Sadly, the movie overall fails to recover, and it ends up being a frustrating experience. A great deal of potential, squandered in an apparent attempt to generate conflict, which in the end feels unbelievable.

Worth a watch, if you like any of the actors in particular, as their performances are still quite good, even from newcomer Zhu Lin as the delightfully naive-yet-savvy Mei Mei ("Little Sister").

I don't come on here and say much... only when I feel like it is needed. When I read the previous reviews and saw the low IMDb score, I figured something was wrong somewhere? I am so glad, I trusted the previous viewers and went with my gut on this one. What a fabulous movie. It was nicely written, engaging and you really care for the characters and what happens to them. It was a very heart-felt story. This is really what love is all about. The acting was great... guy Pearce was awesome as always and Zhu Lin was also exceptional. All in all a great watch and I am truly glad that I was a part of the experience. Hats off to the actors, writers and directors well done!

I can't comprehend how this movie has such a poor rating.. I checked it before I watched the film so I was not expecting much but giving it a crack; mainly because I love Claudia Karven.. Now I'm one to check my phone throughout a film, especially for the first 30 or so minutes but this film had me 100% focused from start to finish; a long with lump in my throat and a hand on my heart. I had to review it just so I could talk about it, because I'm sitting here absolutely touched by this film. I hope the actors are proud of it despite the reviews.. You can tell they put their everything in it and it showed by how quick I connected with each character.

I love Australian film and 33 Postcards reminds me why I have such a place for it in my heart.