Strange Planet

This is the second of Emma-Kate Croghan's two likeable films and has a great trio of energetic women, Claudia Karvin, Naomi Watts and Alice Garner, who drive the film forward.

While it seems fairly obvious that they will end up with the trio of male lawyers, the film manages to duck and weave and move quickly enough to keep you wondering until the end.

Unfortunately after these two films, Croghan did not make another film, which took a lot of fun away from us all.

If, like me, you liked _Love and other catatastrophes_, then you'll probably like this too. It's not quite a sequel, but it does follow young Aussies thru the period just after college. It concerns three fairly likeable guys and three not-unattractive girls in this in the awkward but enjoyable phase of life, and views their often quirky attitudes to relationships with a non-judgemental eye. It's full of humour, and it's only major faults are that some of the characters and plotlines are a bit cliched and you can see the ending coming from a long way back.

Fans of Australian film cannot possibly ignore Emma-Kate Croghan's triumphant second feature. I have not personally seen the apparently superior "Love and Other Catastrophes", but must say that it would have to be an absolute masterpiece to beat "Strange Planet".

Effortlessly sophisticated humour from writer/producer Stavros Kazantzidis (also of "Love and Other Catastrophes"), classy direction from Croghan and magnificent performances from all involved make this film one to be remembered for a long time. It undoubtedly rates alongside the best Australian comedies of the last decade, such as "Two Hands" and "Kiss or Kill". Claudia Karvan and Naomi Watts (recently discovered for her magnificent performance in David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive") give spectacular performances, as does the ever-reliable Hugo Weaving.

The disarming charm and style of "Strange Planet" leaves many overseas romantic comedies seem like insignificant gurgles in the background. No-one who enjoys the sophistication and class of Australian cinema can avoid this wonder-work. Four bright, sparkling stars for "Strange Planet".

Rating - 4 stars (out of 5)

Too many reviewers have tried to compare Emma-Kate Croghan's second feature with her first, Love and Other Catastrophes. Well you'd expect that, since they are relatively the same subject matter. I'm not though, because I have not seen it. But I will most definitely see it soon, because I was very impressed with "Strange Planet".

It's not often that directors play it straight off the bat. Most try to pull off something amazing and fail miserably, others go for the 'play it dumb' method to make it accessible for everyone, as Steven (Hugo Weaving) so rightly puts it in the film. Croghan as a director oozes class; she knows what she is doing. In other hands it could have been very messy.

The tagline is perhaps the best summary of the film one could put it. Three girls, three guys, 365 days to get it together. We follow the trials and tribulations of the two separate groups, who encounter the usual mid-twenties "What am I going to do with life?" crisis, fall in and out of love, rave parties etc etc. All told with amusing results. Though the material is far from original, I never felt as if I needed to scream out "I've seen it ALL before!!!". Croghan adds in her own dose of tricks along the way to make sure it definitely sets it apart from other films, for example watch out for the ongoing discussion of a lady's handbag!

Claudia Karvan wonderfully plays Judy who begins the film with so much assurance but begins to lose herself as her world starts falling apart. Naomi Watts (Alice) is great too and easy to watch. In fact all the actors gave first class performances. There is so much to like about the film, that the ending comes as a bit of a let down. It's the ending you want for the characters, but not exactly the right ending for you. A little too sentimental and over-done and way too predictable.

Australian films have come a long way since Gallipoli, Strictly Ballroom and even the recent Shine. No longer are we compelled to just one or two great films a year. We are producing them like never before. Strange Planet sits with the best of them this year - Two Hands and Siam Sunset. With Croghan, Karvan and Watts we have many good things to look forward to.

In Australia, New Year finds two different groups of friends, 3 men and 3 women, begin their years in a variety of different ways, however each has ambitions and resolutions relating to their love lives. However, during the course of the following year things don't go quite as they would have foreseen or hoped in most cases.

This film relates to the topic that is hardly new ground - that of love and relationships in our modern age. In the same way, the manner in which the film tells it's story will also seem like it's not doing anything new in a new way, for it isn't. The film homage's (or rips off) several recent (at the time) films such as Shallow Grave and Trainspotting for it's visual style as well as other `youf' romantic comedies for it's content (as well as a seemingly pointless venture off into Taxi Driver territory that does nothing but prove the writers once watched Taxi Driver!).

However, having said that, it still does manage to be quite entertaining and have it's own rough bit of charm to it. It isn't really very funny at any point but it does manage to be quite realistically downbeat without being totally depressing. If anything this rather bleak view of relationships is quite realistic and refreshingly honest - a shame then that it goes and plumps for a happy ending of sorts which relies on coincidence and the usual unlikely devices of romantic comedies. The characters are not that well drawn but they have enough realism to them to make them recognisable and their problems and experiences also relatable. Having 2 groups of 3 character does overstretch the film somewhat though, and some issues are not really dealt with in any meaningful way (an attempted rape just seems to happen without any follow up for instance), but on the whole it works reasonably well.

I'm not sure if the cast are well known in Australia, but I had never seen any of them before (with the exception of Watts and Weaving of course). This helped the characters a bit, as I only knew them as who they were playing. Some of the male actors struggled a bit and it is the three female leads that have the best parts - Watts and Karvan having the meatier characters but Garner being cute, sexy and fun!

Overall this film is not original or different from many other films you could see, but it's bleak view of modern relationships is interesting and involving (until it blows it) and the characters were recognisable enough to involve me in the film for the duration.