City Loop

Here in Belgium, City Loop was shown on the International Film Festival of Flanders, Ghent, but only a few people watched it. I was one of them, and I must say, I really enjoyed it. It was refreshing, original, especially in the way the story was told. It also had quite some funny bits, and the actors all succeeded in portraying real young people. I also liked the atmosphere that was created through the combination of night and the city, it was recognizable on one hand, and then again, so weird, so special. I would in fact like to know what city it was. I can't make any comparisons, because in fact, I have never seen a movie like this, and believe me, I have seen a lot of movies!

A group of teenage workers in Speedy's Anytime pizza delivery parlor have different evenings that intertwine with each other round work. However each are bored and a little disillusioned with their lives. The evening sees some dramatic events in their young lives.

I didn't have high hopes for this film – I assumed it was going to be the usual teen angst stuff set in Australia featuring a bunch of characters I could care less about. And in a way I was right, the basic plot(s) are the usual run of mill things. However the stories are quite cool and are aided by a clever quirk. Each characters story is told fully and separately (not original I know- but still effective), and they intertwine. This means we see events that happen later in other stories but they aren't explained till then.

The downside is that this is a gimmick and gets old before the film ends. The other downside is that the plots are sometimes too daft and other times too ponderous and navel-contemplating. This isn't helped by the characters being mostly selfish teenagers who think their lives are the be all and end all of everything. The actors don't help this much – they're OK, but they allow their roles to become stereotypes too easily. It has some comedy but mostly this is a teen drama that deals with things like `being a virgin', `cuming too early', `breaking up with girlfriend' etc etc.

Overall it passed the time. The story telling gimmick helped for the most part, but it started to drag before the end and wasn't much fun to watch. Teen angst dramas have been done much better than this.

Youth culture has never been so honestly represented. A world class film, with a delightful structural sensibility. Bravo to all involved, most especially the father/son team in the beat sequence, and congratulations to the writer for altering my life in a way that I know I shall never be able to fully explain.

I saw "city loop" at Toronto a couple of years ago and more recently on Cable here in Australia. The script is generally too smart by half and tries to be very sassy but the director just didn't pull it off.

It probably needed some flesh to be exposed for it to have any credibility as a teen flick of any worth. Nice try folks and it's a valiant effort for a low budget film but in the end you have to ask - WHY BOTHER?

When I watch a film for the first time I tend to go in with an open mind, block all pre-conceptions. Teen movies are often sneered at by critics as simply being boring, cliched tales of adolescent love and insecurity - indeed some teen films fit this description, but City Loop (or Bored Olives as I prefer) does not. I caught Bored Olives at 1.50 AM on Channel 4 a while back and was thoroughly entertained. Despite its low-budget the direction and acting are excellent. Set against the amazingly atmospheric and tranquil backdrop of late-night, inner-city Brisbane the film focusses on the lives of a group of young takeaway workers who are, as-per-usual in teen films, bored with their lives and apprehensive regarding their futures. Filmed as a set of intertwining short stories (each character is given their own story), the films main and most endearing characters are Ryan Stapleton who stars as Dom, and Stacey, played by the stunning Megan Dorman in grunge mode. The worst thing about some film critics are their pre-conceptions regarding certain genres, and reviews of Bored Olives have, in my humble opinion, suffered from this. Very similar to the American flick, 'Empire Records', Bored Olives is good entertainment with no pretensions - i.e. it does not pretend to be what it isn't. The characters might be slightly shallow and skin-deep, but thats not what we want in a film like this. Go into Bored Olives with an open mind and you will enjoy.