Dead Letter Office

This movie had a IMDB rating of 8.1 so I expected much more from it. It starts out funny and endearing with an energy that feels spontaneous. But before the movie is half-way through, it begins to drag and everything becomes sickingly predictable. The characters in the office were delightful in the first third of the movie, but we get to know them a little too well; they become caricatures, not real people at all. This is the same story I've seen hundreds of times, only told here with slightly different circumstances. The thing is, I could stomach another predictable love story if only the dialog weren't so stale!

The only thing that could be worse is if the characters had inconsistent and unbelievable motivations, and unfortunately that was also the case with Dead Letter Office. Hopefully this movie will end up in the Dead Movie Office soon.

Dead Letter Office is the kind of film you discover, late one night, on TV, and happily get drawn into it. Some other reviewer described it as warm and fuzzy. Come on! It's unique, it's temperate, not really warm, and so much concerned with loss and the need for compassion that fuzzy doesn't apply either.

The excellent Miranda Otto, best know internationally for Peter Jackson's LotR, plays Alice, a directionless twentysomething in Melbourne. She takes a job at the Dead Letter Office, hoping to use her new skills to track down her long lost father. The team is small, two women, three men, all rather distinct, maybe a bit lost themselves. Oh, and one homing pigeon. Alice slowly develops a rapport with an immigrant from Chile, Frank (George. DelHoyo), the department's boss. As her efforts to find her father lose their impetus her connection to Frank continues to grow, but are they simply too different, worlds apart, to really fall for each other?

A beautifully understated film of deep poignancy, and one that shows a different image of Australia from the clichés we all know. One of those small gems that one comes back to, from time to time, with undiminished satisfaction. As Hollywood wastes hundreds of millions of dollars per film, making worthless superhero codswallop that even the youngest generation is sick of, maybe the Yanks ought to study the smaller productions if only to rediscover everyday humanity, human stories, ones that invite understanding rather than fuelling righteous indignation and division?

Strongly recommended.

This little gem of a film tells a heart warming, bitter-sweet tale with classy acting and low-key direction. Lonely Alice takes a job at the dead letter office in order to track down the father with whom she lost contact in childhood. There she meets the apparently cold but super efficient manager, Franc, a refugee with a past which torments him. The basic story then progresses along lines you would expect with some nice twists and turns along the way. Alice and Franc grow to understand each other, while facing up to the realities of their previous experiences, and the realization that the past is impossible to recapture. Miranda Otto as Alice lifts this film out of the ordinary with a charming, sincere performance, a very pretty face and a dab of genuine star quality . George Del Hoyo as the tortured soul, Franc, is an effective polar opposite to Alice. He's cold and apparently cynical, Alice is wide-eyed and enthusiastic but both share a loss in their past. The supporting characters at the dead letter office itself , in which undeliverable and wrongly addressed mail is processed, are a curious bunch of misfits who add some comic touches and depth. The straight forward and un-flashy direction is effective in making the whole movie seem down to earth and realistic. A case of less being more. There are some fine memorable scenes ; Alice posting a letter to her missing father while striking a graceful balletic pose ; Frank practicing dance steps after hours in the office. Not high art, but quality no nonsense film making in which the story and characters lead the way and the director supports, rather than usurps them. A nice film and please can someone in Hollywood sign Miranda Otto as I could watch her all day!

'Dead Letter Office' is a low-budget film about a couple of employees of the Australian postal service, struggling to rebuild their damaged lives. Unfortunately, the acting is poor and the links between the characters' past misfortunes and present mindsets are clumsily and over-schematically represented. What's most disappointing of all, however, is the portrayal is life in the office of the film's title: there's no mechanisation whatsoever, and it's quite impossible to ascertain what any of the staff really do for a living. Granted, part of the plot is that the office is threatened with closure, but this sort of office surely closed in the 1930s, if it ever truly existed. It's a shame, as the film's overall tone is poignant and wry, and there's some promise in the scenario: but few of the details convince. Overall, it feels the work of someone who hasn't actually experienced much of real life; a student film, with a concept and an outline, but sadly little else.

If the Australian Post Office ever needed a promotional film for recruitment then this is it.This is one of those movies who's heart is in the right place and you can watch again and again. Miranda's performance is touching as it shows an aspect of Australia unimagined by many Europeans, in that it can be cold, wet and bleak, just like anywhere else and just like anywhere else what is important is the people that surrounds you. The characters in the movie are warm and welcoming and make the prospect of a career move into a 'dead letter office' a thought to be considered. Miranda has gone on to do bigger movies, but I hope she always keeps a thought inside for this one?.