Occasional Coarse Language

"Occasional Coarse Language" is the type of film people go to see because the movie they wanted to see wasn't showing or was sold out. With mixed reports from the reviewers, I decided to check it out on a whim. What confronted me was a plotless meandering through the so-called life of Min Rogers and her friends due to the loss of boyfriend, job and flat. It's heavy on the sex and there is the occasional coarse language but its originality will charm and it is absolutely hilarious. Unforgettable scenes, unlikely situations... I won't spoil it.

OCL is one of those small independant films that I am constantly recommending to friends. Min (Sara Browne) has just been fired from her job at a Deli and has just found out her boyfriend is having an affair with her room-mate. So she finds herself without a boyfriend, without a place to live and no job. Her best friend Jaz (Astrid Grant) finds her a place to stay and a new job..."Now only if we can find you some regular sex you can walk down the street without a bag over your head". Min has also got a sick father to deal with and she is always on the phone to her mum about him..."You found his thermometer where ??? Bulls**t!!!". OCL is a film that deserves repeat viewings and the cast is excellent, especially Sara Browne, Nicholas Bishop (as Min's sexually adventrous new room-mate) and Lisa Denmeade (as Claire, her foul-mouthed friend). Highly recommended.

What an ordinary film! What starts off as an amusing and potentially interesting plotline fails to evolve at all, and the movie just trails off into nothingness. The problem is exacerbated by some wooden acting performances (particularly Astrid Grant - a shoe-in for the Best Supporting Tree-like Performance at next year's AFIs), and some less-than-snappy dialogue.

This was an interesting idea for a film, and there is a challenge to film-makers in viewing this, because one gets the feeling that a good film of this type is still waiting to be made.

If you've ever wished that you could eavesdrop on a group of girls at a pub, then Occasional Coarse Language is for you, especially if the conversation is this funny.

Penis size, blow jobs, life's ambitions and latest boyfriends are dominant, with a good smattering of bitchiness not far beneath the surface. But that's only one scene in an Australian film which is lively, quick and often very amusing.

Min (Sara Browne) has been dumped, kicked out of home and fired all in one week. Occasional Coarse Language is a film about Min's makeover.

She's plain, plump, addicted to nicotine, not too special and after being dumped by her girlfriend she then shares a house with David who's screwing about seven different girls a week. "What's eating you anyway" he says. "No one, that's the problem," she sulks.

Her best friend Jaz (Astrid Grant) is full of good advice but has her own dilemmas. Her boyfriend has his own version of that story!

The girls still hang out occasionally with other old girl friends, all in their early twenties, who at school used to hide in the toilets together smoking. In some ways that's about all they have in common, although they are all fans of Melrose and all that goes with their favourite women's mags.

Made on a wing and a prayer by 31 year old Brad Hayward and starring newcomers, this film is fresh, fast and not too rough at all. Hayward uses a stop start editing technique engagingly which must have saved a fair bit of editing time and which perfectly matches the pace of the film.

Hayward also wrote the film over a long weekend! I'd expect Brad Hayward to be considering plenty of further offers. The female leads Sara Browne and Astrid Grant are both very strong.

Cairns viewers may also remember Shannon Faith when she played the lead in Dags some years ago for the Cairns Little Theatre. She plays Monica in Occasional Coarse Language, the girl who steals Min's boyfriend! It's great to see talented Cairns people on the big screen!

"Occasional Coarse Language" is a pretty entertaining, though not particularly memorable, late-'90s flick from Australia.

For some reason I always remembered seeing the ads for this movie on TV back in 1998. The movie must have had a pretty forceful advertising campaign, but it apparently didn't work, because the movie is now completely forgotten.

The movie feels genuine and spontaneous and is mostly plotless. I wonder if much of the dialogue was adlibbed: it's natural enough that it may not have been scripted. It's also the kind of movie where the low budget is a help to it, not a hindrance. It just feels real.

It also has a soundtrack with songs that will be instantly recognisable for any Australian that was young in the '90s, with tracks by You Am I, Spiderbait, Jebediah. One of my favourite songs from that era of Australian music also features prominently on the soundtrack: "Even When I'm Sleeping" by Leonardo's Bride.

A movie like this wouldn't work at all without an engaging star performance and its lead actress provides that in spades. It sucks she was only in one other production before vanishing completely: one episode of the cult, early '00s comedy "Life Support".

I hope her scarce credits were not due to a lack of opportunity, because based off of her performance in this movie, she deserved plenty of job offers.

It's nice to think that instead she just changed her mind about becoming an actress.