Mullet

Cor, wot a crap film! Like many others, no doubt, I went to "Mullet" expecting to see a rather humorous film. What I actually DID see was some mundane piece of rubbish that went nowhere and had me leaving the cinema scratching my head and thinking (in the words of the immortal D-Gen "Late Show" song), "What was that all about?" Basically, this movie revolves around some guy who goes back to the country town where he used to live after being away from the place for about three years. Once he gets there, what happens? Well not a lot really. He just goes around pi**ing everyone off (something that he apparently has quite a talent for), and catching mullet from one of the local rivers (an activity that proves the source of his nickname, incidentally; to my surprise, this movie had nothing whatsoever to do with mullet haircuts). Oh, and he also discovers that his old girlfriend has married his brother. Annoyingly, when he runs into this woman, the first thing she does is punch him: just another annoying example of the double standard which decrees that, when a guy so much as slaps a woman in a movie (even if she's behaving in a truly obnoxious fashion), he is evil incarnate, yet when a woman punches out a guy (usually for no other reason than because she's throwing a big childish temper tantrum), we're supposed to applaud her actions or worse, find them funny.

Anyway, without wanting to waste too much more time commenting on this film (cos it really doesn't warrant the effort; I'm only doing this because I'm bored), I'd just like to say that, while the main character is vaguely amusing at times (and has a few funny lines), this movie really isn't worth the effort. To paraphrase a quote I found scribbled on a desk in a lecture theatre back in my university days: "Mullet is about as interesting as the time Mr Boringworth won the World Water Drinking Championship in the City of Drying Paint." Go watch some long-lived radioisotopes decay instead.

The trouble with this film is that it is empty. Ben Medehlson is usually really good but in this little Aussie drama he really struggles to find his character. It's a pity because it had a few things going for it but didn't deliver.

In my family people who don't face up to their responsibilities, who leave suddenly when confronted, are known as bolters.

My Aunt Mary, an extreme eccentric, was a bolter. A heart breaker and also a sudden breaker of leases, she'd turn up 500 miles away in another job if some man was getting too keen. She developed doin' the bolt into an art form. She managed that for 70 years!

Eddie (Ben Mendelsohn) in Mullet is a bolter. He's about thirty and has unexpectedly turned up in his small town. We find that he'd broken at least two hearts by leaving three years before and it seems that he's not too interested in changing his ways.

Eddie, known as Mullet, is selfish and spoilt but sufficiently self reliant to eak a living catching mullet in the local creeks while living alone in a clapped out caravan. He used to be a local rugby league star, destined for the big time in Sydney. But again he bolted.

Mullet is set in a small coastal town south of Sydney. The locals aren't particularly happy even if the town looks very pretty. Mullet is scenic.

His parents (Kris McQuade and Tony Barry) are malcontents who have formed an alliance based on not talking directly to each other. His brother (Andrew S. Gilbert) is a local cop and other friends include Tully (Suzie Porter) and Kay (Belinda McClory). Mullet's sister is played very nicely by Peta Brady.

In fact all of the performances are very good, its just a shame that they weren't able to grace a more worthy script.

Mullet is the third film from director David Caesar after Greenkeeping and Idiot Box. It's only about 90 minutes long but still seems to be padded by a profusion of meaningless set up shots that lead nowhere and a plot with far too little happening.

It's all well and good to establish a scene or a mood with panning shots but lit buildings and front yards only retain a limited appeal. Mullet does have a terrifically moody sound track from Paul Healy.

But it's as if the scriptwriter for Mullet had done the bolt, which is a little strange because David Caesar also wrote this muddy little piece.

3 Underwritten Flys out of 5.

I went to this film with high expectations. While I'm not a fan of David Ceaser's work, I had heard positive reviews from both critics and friends whose opinions I usually agree with. Sadly, either they or I must have seen a different film.

I found the film slow, unrealistic and with continuity holes so large you could drive a truck through them. The characters' personalities were either rammed down your throat or not explained at all.

While I have not spent much time in rural Australia, the film did not strike me (nor any of my friends who have all lived in the country) as an accurate depiction of country town life. I also felt that the emphasis on the naivety of the people living in the area (such as Mullet's father being excited about having a flush toilet) was patronising. In addition, the town is only a couple of hours from Sydney - hardly the outback. I felt this was another example of Sydney-centric film making, showing anyone who lives outside of the inner city as a hick who is overwhelmed by the possibility of going to Sydney, let alone actually living there.

I could go on, but I can't be bothered. It disappoints me that this film has received such good reviews. I was hoping that these reviews were based on the film actually being a good production, rather than being from the 'Oh but it's Australian so we should give it a good review' camp. Sadly this does not seem to be the case.

I really love the fact that Australians really don't mind having a honest look at themselves.What I especially liked was how accurate these characters were portrayed, these people are real! Granted the movie was a little slow in places, but this is set in a small town so the pacing really puts the viewer inside the minds and hearts of the people and the general atmosphere of the township. Simple story telling at its best, well portrayed by an excellent cast, I think we have all met a "mullet" or Peter and of course their fabulous parents at sometime in our lives. This film was gritty, emotional, and always searching and trying to make sense from a personal perspective, especially from a family perspective. The questions this film asks, are how does this town work? where do I (mullet) fit in? do I fit in? why did I come back? and the search always made difficult with so much communication breakdown and self denial, ultimately people are pushed into corners where eventually you have to "stand back up when you have been knocked down". The story is about Eddie "mullet" coming home after 3yrs absence and completely upsetting this little community, which is tight knit, simple yet complicated. The girlfriend he left behind has married another, so mullet wants answers! leaving the girlfriend torn between her past and her present lovers. No pretense. No gloss, just honesty and simplicity. So I f you want to kick back, smile, empathise and enjoy some light drama (just to escape hollywood cliches, and not be bombarded by explosions/gunfire and cgi effects!) then this movie is just the ticket........well done 7/10