Hotel Sorrento

I bought this film solely because it stars Tara Morice, a fine and underutilized actress. Adapted from a stage production, it has that "play" feel -- leisurely and lovely. This complicated relationship of three sisters is not to be missed.

Ok, sorry to offend any women, but Sorrento Beach is a "chick flick." Still, it is not your garden variety "chick-flick." Sorrento Beach is a long build up that goes nowhere. The previews slated the film as a "secret" that comes out after years of being hidden away by family members. Knowing this, the story builds and builds and builds and finally goes nowhere! In fact, Sorrento Beach is more of a built down than a built up. Once you find out what the secret is, it is a major let down since not even the mystery revealed makes you want to find out how the film ends. Just like in the movie, most people look at a painting for the broad stokes and not these little conversations built on more tiny conversations. Sorrento Beach is just like that, an hour of little stories that questions the audience what is happening. Then, once we enter something of a conflict between the characters, we are lost since the climax of the film never arrives and we are left with a 90 minute resolution. Right when the movie begins, it is already over. All Sorrento Beach leaves its audience are 3 unhappy middle aged women trying to rebuild a family that was always broken.

I found it a real task to sit through this film. The sound track was not the best and some of the accents made it difficult to understand what was being said. There was little to move the plot along and often the action simply stopped and there was a prolonged period of conversations which seemed extraneous to the movie. These conversations switched between family groups and the observer was left to try and piece together what the common thread was that tied them together. It is rare that I rate a film this low and do so in this case as the entire viewing experience left me thinking "so what" and "why did I waste my time watching this."

Here was a film I really liked. The IMDb user rating here is criminal. It's a surprise this movie is actually directed by Richard Franklin. I'm not gonna go into the performances, cause they're all great. This is one of the things that makes it work, where the characters bounce off each other, sometimes in sudden conflict, the characters here, objective and not hiding behind their feelings. Writer (Goodall from Disclosure) is one of three sisters, the famous one, who's returned from London to her seaside home of Sorrento. She's a novelist who's written a book, non fiction, as I can recall, about the place she grew up in, Sorrento Beach. The very realistic movie, is like one of these drama's, from which I never got bored, where as I said earlier, it's the interaction by the characters. There's comedy, domestics, and sadly tragedy for one of the family. The sisters resent famous Sis novelist too who suddenly pops back into their life with her kind of stuck up, English hubby (Bell, who I really liked), a critique sort, after a long absence. As though never going to Sorrento, the scenic atmosphere was beautiful, where you really felt part of it. HS is solid dramatic viewing, and is worth much more than a 6.6. believe me.

This film reminded me of 'The Shell-Seekers' and 'Secrets and Lies' and ranks with them both in quality of performances and depth of themes. Those seeking a great plot or action movie will be disappointed, but those interested in a variety of characters in a sweet setting with more than enough to say for themselves - albeit in the Laconic fashion of the Australian idiom - should not be disappointed.

There is intelligent, if indirect, humour in the writing - poking fun at the bored colonial escapee daughters who end up finding themselves to be the cause of everyone's ennui back home. The grandfather's mundane home truths about why they left ('running away from something') are borne out by the eventually revealed family secret. Similarly, the authoress character's assessment of the dominance of the Capitalist ethos over Australian culture is borne out in the cringe-making scene at the closing credits - a slap in the face for the idealistic Press owner friend to Joan Plowright's character who has championed the idea of the great 'coming of age' of Australian culture.

The locations are truly charming with many shots worth framing and the very down-to-earth lifestyle of the inhabitants of the 'Hotel Sorrento' provides a sobering note for anyone taking too great a flight of fancy over it all.