herb_at_qedi
Joined Oct 2004
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herb_at_qedi's rating
From the other comments I just read, I found out that this was about trance music and the rave scene. Or is that rave music and the trance scene. Being 52 and American, I didn't know about any of this. I did catch that it was about drugs and young people's susceptibility to drugs and the tragedies that can cause, but even that was obtuse and inaccessible to someone like me.
Someone mentioned Pieces of A Dream, and I did think of that one as I watched this. I did not care for that experience as I felt that an artistic and misanthropic director threw all nasty imagery he could think of at his audience and regarded his audience as mere guinea pigs on which to vent his venom. But, at least I understood what was going on. The director, like many reviewers, clearly subscribe to the new mantra of film-making that mandates that the best directors maximize obtuse imagery and minimize words. A lot of guesswork was required.
I guess I'm old-fashioned but I still find plot essential and wish to follow one when I see a movie. I needed a prerequisite course in trance and the rave scene in order to understand this one.
A friend asked me if I liked Australian movies, and I've loved many of them, about 20 of the 23 I've seen. He lent me this one. Make that, 20 out of 24.
Someone mentioned Pieces of A Dream, and I did think of that one as I watched this. I did not care for that experience as I felt that an artistic and misanthropic director threw all nasty imagery he could think of at his audience and regarded his audience as mere guinea pigs on which to vent his venom. But, at least I understood what was going on. The director, like many reviewers, clearly subscribe to the new mantra of film-making that mandates that the best directors maximize obtuse imagery and minimize words. A lot of guesswork was required.
I guess I'm old-fashioned but I still find plot essential and wish to follow one when I see a movie. I needed a prerequisite course in trance and the rave scene in order to understand this one.
A friend asked me if I liked Australian movies, and I've loved many of them, about 20 of the 23 I've seen. He lent me this one. Make that, 20 out of 24.
Todd says that halfway through the movie. By the end of the movie, I believed it too.
Ayesha Dharker gives a charismatic and spellbinding performer as Asha who believes inside that she is special but needs just a jolt of external validation to really take things to the next level.
One reviewer called this a ripoff of local hero. Ripoff is the wrong word. It does bring the Ugly American fish-out-of-water aspect to the table and also revels in the manner in which the locals are able to accept what is useful about the foreigner and let the rest slide. Many stories are variation on a prior story's theme. As has been said, there are no more original stories, just original variations. This is certainly one of the latter. But, only because it is Ayesha Darkher who transforms things. Just when the Ugly American thing is getting tired and the Colors sequence fails to imbue Josh Hamilton with the transforming chemistry that his character is supposed to feel, Asha steps to the fore and the entire movie turns magical.
Ayesha Dharker gives a charismatic and spellbinding performer as Asha who believes inside that she is special but needs just a jolt of external validation to really take things to the next level.
One reviewer called this a ripoff of local hero. Ripoff is the wrong word. It does bring the Ugly American fish-out-of-water aspect to the table and also revels in the manner in which the locals are able to accept what is useful about the foreigner and let the rest slide. Many stories are variation on a prior story's theme. As has been said, there are no more original stories, just original variations. This is certainly one of the latter. But, only because it is Ayesha Darkher who transforms things. Just when the Ugly American thing is getting tired and the Colors sequence fails to imbue Josh Hamilton with the transforming chemistry that his character is supposed to feel, Asha steps to the fore and the entire movie turns magical.