The Second

You don't often see something of this quality, great scenery, acting and a twisty, almost implausible plot combined to perfection.

I had heard an interview with the director and the way she was going on, I was expecting this to be absolutely amazing. So I began watching and waited and waited and waited. Confusion begat boredom with it's unrealistic behavior and characters. Hard to believe this was funded at all with such awful writing. The locale is quite impressive but it requires more than that to tell a story.

Vince does a good job. That's about it.

The only Second of this film of note is the seconds of your life that tick by that are irreplaceable.

A well crafted and well scripted, character driven 3 piece, that does away with the well worn Aussie stereotypes, to create a drama/thriller with tension, intrigue and sexual tension, that keeps the audience guessing until it's final resolution, with great performances - including a standout from Rachael Blake. The film is also wonderful to look at, with location and landscape well supported by beautiful production and costume design and cinematography with a moody European sensibility. An impressive work from director Mairi Cameron.

Rachael Blake plays a novelist who's extremely pleased with herself and makes a point of being either sour or enigmatic or both simultaneously. She and her publisher (Vince Colossimo) visit her country mansion so she can write her second novel without distractions. He seems extremely dim - for a publisher. But that's handy because all she seems to want from him is sex, or to be able to humiliate him. Nothing much happens for the first half hour. Except we meet the standard menacing local bloke in a flannelette shirt, and there are flashes of past somethings - very brief, too brief to stimulate much anticipation. Then the novelist's fun-loving besty (Susie Porter) turns up, and larger hints are made about the dark secret of their past, but not much happens that you don't expect will happen. A triangle develops, the dark secret is gradually revealed, but are the "shocking" scenes we see part of the novel being written, or are they really happening? I didn't care. This is one of those 20 minute stories that are chopped up into 90 minute jigsaw puzzles in the hope that you won't notice that not much is going on. As far as interesting characters or story are concerned, "The Second" woefully neglects its audience.

Not much positive to say, except that the landscapes were often stunning.