Secrets

No mate you are not alone in having seen and enjoyed this likeable little film. Danni Minogue particularly impressed and i'm surprised a: that she didn't go on to do other work b: that this isn't available to buy.. well worth watching :)

1st watched 6/10/2001 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Michael Pattinson): Ok drama/comedy about a group of Beatles' maniacs who get stuck in the basement below where the Beatles are playing live and share their Beatles-focused lives together. One of the people is a closet Beatles fan and doesn't reveal that he really likes them til the end of the movie(Do we care?-- No). This movie goes a lot of different directions(Aka. Sex talk, more sex talk, talk about their lives, talk about the Beatles, music of the Beatles[best part of the movie], talk and more talk). This Australian production seems like it's trying to be like the brat-pack comedy by John Hughes(The Breakfast Club) only their stuck somewhere rather than spending detention together and what they have in common is not each other but their obsession towards the Beatles. Although it follows this formula, the actors are not near as compelling and their life stories are not as interesting. The makers of this movie should have went one direction rather than many and it would have been a much more successful venture in my opinion.

A definite, almost embarrisingly obvious, rip-off of Breakfast Club, all the way down to the misunderstood rebel and the innocent beauty (who, of course, fall in love). It has some nice twists, however, and is a decent period piece backed up by plenty of the Beatles. The movie is a.k.a. One Crazy Night (1993).

A few people on this page have compared SECRETS to a sort of Aussie 60s version of THE BREAKFAST CLUB but I have to steadfastly disagree . THE BREAKFAST CLUB was one of those productions that Hollywood used to churn out in the mid 1980s in order to sell a few records . SECRETS has an entirely different feel to it , in many ways it feels neither like a cynical marketing excersise nor a feature film but more like a theater play , and even though I haven`t bothered to check I`m probably right in saying SECRETS started life off as a play . Check out the character of Randolf who starts off by speaking in a scouse accent then when he gets found out reverts to an Australian accent . This type of deliberate internal logic gaffe is not uncommon in stage plays since it gives actors the chance to show off a bit and of course the story is entirely low concept just like you`d expect from a stage play .

This is a very uncinematic movie and the director seems to be lost in what to do with the characters . Check out the early scenes where Didi sits alone drawing . She`s been down the basement with Danny but neither of them have said two words to one another . Very difficult to believe . But I guess the selling point to this movie is more to do with the music of The Beatles rather than character interaction but the music featured here is of the band`s early stuff and I much prefer their later material

As a strange footnote last year Paul McCartney`s daughter Stella was married on the island of Bute where I live . We had some really big name celebs like Madonna and Gyneth Paltrow over for the wedding and the local population were totally star struck just like the characters in this film . Quite pathetic really

Malcolm Kennard plays the antagonistic Danny, a tough-talking, tightrope-walking greaser with a black leather jacket, stovepipe jeans, pointy boots, an impressive pompadour and a sneer on his face that made me melt. The other dags are there to swoon over the Beatles, but Danny came for Rock and Roll. His and Emily's characters are the most interesting. The others are superfluous, even a little annoying. It's a pity to see Noah Taylor's acting talents wasted on a silly role like Randolph.