Heartbreak Tour

"The Heartbreak Tour" is Ben Chessell's first departure from the short film format, although it is neither a Made for Television Movie nor a Feature Film. The one hour format, for which SBS Independent has fervently supported, is a great opportunity for emerging and innovative film-makers to broaden their film techniques and skills without the fear and financial responsibility of a full theatrical/commercial release. Other notable films to be made under this premise are "Marta's New Coat" and "Jewboy".

"The Heartbrteak Tour" centers around a group of twenty-somethings re-visiting their "emotional sacred sites". It is a film which relies heavily on flash-backs, but they are incorporated in a clever way in which the complex nature of truth, memory and story-telling is exposed as completely subjective. This is overtly explained when one of the female characters says that "we are always the heroes of our own stories".

At times the dialog my seem stagy, but this is compensated by the fact that these characters are familiar and are brought to life brilliantly and honestly by the six leads (All of whom have been working in the Australian film and television industry for quite some time but are still tagged up-and-comers.). Particular kudos must be given to Toby Schmitz who has never been better. His sensitive portrayal of Ryan is subtle and full of fragility and regret.

It is handled with particular visual flair, while the score perfectly compliments the tone. My only reservation is that at times it did feel like a pilot episode for an unmade television series, although it would be a series which I would have tuned into every week.

A perfect example of the talent to be found in Australia.

It's not surprising that a number of Australia's top actors wanted to be a part of this film project, "The Heartbreak Tour" made me laugh and cry, with great performances all round bringing new dimensions to a good script. Toby Schmitz and Anthony Hayes are especially convincing in their antagonism towards each other, which provides a lot of the comedy, and Caroline Craig gives a lovely performance, dealing with more heart-wrenching material. The film also looks great. Shot on HD at night it looks like 35mm. I especially like the slow- moving shot from above looking down on the car and its occupants, and the various tracking/ crane shots that take us to a new location or time (like when Jack moves into her pretend solar system). The camera is used really well to tell the story. 50 minutes is an odd length for a film, this will probably be quite hard to market as it doesn't fit into any particular categories. But, nonetheless, it's highly recommended. I hope to see more Aussie films like this one!