astoks

"Topless Women talk About Their Lives" is a lively, quirky and unrelentingly honest film about a group of twenty-somethings living in Auckland, New Zealand. The Director, Harry Sinclair, has succeeded in portraying the problems faced during the ever-present 'Quarter-Life Crisis' in a way that is candid and original. The film follows the lives of a group of friends who face marriage, infidelity, careers, insecurities and pregnancy. The naturalistic and open script provides endless opportunity to bring the story to life through genuine performances from the cast. It was one of the low budget kiwi feature films that gained a national cult following as well as international critical acclaim as the New Zealand film industry boomed at the end of the 1990s. Bear in mind that the film was originally shot as a series of five minute episodes that were shown on television late on Friday nights in the late '90s. This results in the film having an obvious episodic structure made up of distinct scene by scene sequences. The story is told as a number of short episodes alternating between each character and their current crisis. However, the swift cuts are supported by a musical soundtrack that reflects the mood of the scene. The soundtrack is made up entirely of New Zealand music, mainly from the Flying Nun Label, which enriches the distinctly New Zealand nature of the film. The constant cuts and overlapping music resembles the structure of a music video and consistency is maintained by repeating snippets of certain tracks during recurring themes. In short, "Topless Women" is a great film, and you're guaranteed to take something good away from it.