Cloudstreet

This is my first review, and I'm not sure if this will count as review, or just long comment. I loved every minute. Definitely worth your time if you enjoy poetical story, ever present love - hate drama, touch of reality, music which syncs with the picture and of course Ozzie style directing, camera, characters and scene. Loved it! Loved it! Loved it! And once more, LOVED IT! Aussie scenery half a century ago was done perfectly. You could compare this movie to, from top of my head, BIG FISH or LEGENDS of the FALL from American cinematography mixed with Australian THORN BIRDS or MAN from SNOWY RIVER. You will all probably see something much different than I did, but you won't regret. This movie will lift your spirit little bit and give you something to think about for couple of hours.

The only miniseries that compares with this one in the sweep of its story and the quality of the acting and production is Brideshead Revisited. This is the story of two, dirt-poor, tragedy-scarred Australian families in the 40s and 50s - and of the large house near Perth that they share. For an American viewer, the effect is heightened by the unfamiliarity of the actors, who are instantly and credibly the characters they play. They are all decent if flawed people, and you find yourself pulling for them to succeed. At the heart of the story is a young Lamb boy, called Fish, who nearly drowns at the outset and as a result is retarded. The telling of the tale is poetic, with the large, ramshackle house (on Cloud Street) and the sea (Fish's "water") playing major roles. Not for all tastes, and there is enough explicit sex to keep it off Masterpiece Theater, but it is a production that will move a lot of viewers. It certainly moved this one.

A complex novel, Cloudstreet was always going to be difficult to film, not only because of the number of characters within this book, the time span of 2 decades but also for the spiritual/metaphysical nature within the characters/plot.

This series was a brave attempt to film this adaptation which was co-written by Tim Winton. The first night's episode was a slow exposition of the characters, glossing over, in parts, the events that would eventually lead to the 2 families meeting up at the house in Cloud Street. Those who hadn't read the novel may have struggled to understand some of the events or actions in this first night's episode because of the curtailment of description.

The series, like the novel, calls for a perhaps a "suspension of reality" or perhaps, more accurately, a "leap of faith" to believe in some of the events portrayed. If a viewer does this, then the excellent casting of the lead characters allows you to enter fully into the inner life of not only the actors but also the house, which becomes a central character within the story also.

Yes, there are quibbles - music that isn't appropriate to the time portrayed, modern street lights/blurred high rise apartment blocks in the background but then filming a period piece set in the 1940s/50s in and around Perth was also always going to be difficult. This is a city that has little of it's "older" character still present thanks to the "tear it down and rebuild" mentality of the 1960s and 1970s. Kudos to the production for not only filming here in Perth but for also managing to recreate the era successfully, for the most part. Winton's work is always firmly rooted here in this state, again the landscape/architecture being a character within his writing. To film it elsewhere would have been a compromise too far.

I have just finished watching the first series and it was fantastic.

The cinematography has a magical touch to it which captured me into wanting more and more.

Every cast member played their parts with finesse and perfection. The story is based in Australia in the 1940/50's and every detail of this production was displayed correctly to this era. Not only is this a classic story executed beautifully but gives an exciting insight into Australia's history and social background. The message of the book was definitively portrayed by each cast member and there was no sign of it quivering throughout the series.

I read the book a few years a go and was a little concerned about watching it as it could have ruined my original enjoyment of the book but in my opinion the production team carried it off with a well deserved 10/10!

Watch it if you get a chance as you won't be disappointed.

Never thought 'Lonesome Dove' (directed by an Aussie, btw) would ever be knocked from its top-spot on my list of favorite TV miniseries, but the transcendent and potentially life-changing Cloudstreet, I guess, has done it. Having now read (via audio-book) the novel two times, I think the Tim Winton co-written teleplay to be a superb rendition of the source material -- considered by some, I understand, to be the modern 'great Australian Novel.' Topnotch Australian acting all around. Especially appreciative of Geoff Morrell's intelligent and exquisite portrayal of Lester Lamb -- who, for me, at least, is the heart and soul of the story.