Tom White

'Tom White' is another example of an Aussie movie trying hard with a serious human story, but applying the worst of Television techniques. The reliably good principal actors did their best against a patchy script that intended to express a tragic human story but fell into the usual pitfalls of uncinematic scriptwriters and directors. There was little subtext. The characters tended to state the obvious. There was no convincing back-story to propel the central character onto his tragic path. The depth of field was generally bland, with considerable dead areas (common in TV studio shoots), and the framing was mainly executed in wide shots and mid shots. In Cinema, the choice of camera angles, and camera movements is a subtle and effective language in itself. Cinematography is intended to be a wonderful ally to both the screenplay and the emotional presence of the actors. Cinematography isn't simply a matter of recording what happens in front of the lens. Colin Friels was prepasred to give his all. He deserved to have been in a better film. Or was it the typical case in Australia of lack of funds, creating an impossibly stringent shooting schedule, depriving the director of the time to shoot it the way the director really wanted?

There is a small percentage of homeless people who drop out of society completely by choice. This fact never seems real to those of us who have stable families, jobs and routines. Most often these people have an abiding antipathy for the values which society proclaims as worthwhile. Tom White is one of these people. This film is perhaps a little overly optimistic in its depiction of White's fate. I expect that bean counters would have had some role here. The plot is bleak enough without being too realistic. What the film does do is remind us of what a treasure we have in Colin Friels. I can't imagine too many actors who could have played such an anti-social part, but still made us care about what happens to him. Homelessness is an issue most Australians never have to face, and do not understand. I laud the producers of this film for this attempt to remove the lid on such an important issue.

In Tom White, the title character (played by Colin Friels) "drops out" of society after a work crisis and becomes homeless. He drifts through Melbourne meeting a rent boy (Dan Spielman), an ex-junkie (Loene Carmen), a tramp (Bill Hunter) and a young graffiti artist (Jarryd Jinks).

Scripted by Australian playwright Daniel Keane, Tom White continues to explore the societal dissociation that Keane covers in his stage works. Like them, too, it suffers from heavy-handedness, resulting in impassioned performances from hollow characters.

Additionally, Keane's interest in medieval miracle plays – where every character is symbolic – clashes with director Alkinos Tsilimidos and cinematographer Toby Oliver's naturalistic film-making. Tom White is harshly lit and like Praise (1998), confronts the ugliness in Australian society. At the same time we don't know what motivates these people, and the dialogue is unrealistic. It's an uneasy mix.

Colin Friels turns in a strong performance, as does Rachel Blake as his wife. But many of the other characters are overly stagey. Tom White is at its most interesting towards the end, when Tom is interacting with the young graffiti artist, but is overall an interesting failure. **/***** stars.

This is a thought-provoking Australian film about the subject of untreated mental illness and the total isolation from family and friends which can follow. It shows how those who suffer from mental health problems may try to cope with the situation themselves rather than seek medical attention. It's a dark and brooding film, which explores the twists and turns of life on the street, and shows us how difficult such a life can be. The movie avoids sentimentality and leaves the viewer to ponder where untreated depression and related mental health issues may ultimately lead.

Colin Freils provides a wonderful character study in his role as Tom. Unfortunately, though, some of the support acting is decidedly lacklustre. Nice camera work throughout.

'Tom White' contrasts strongly with several other well-known films dealing with mental illness: 'A Beautiful mind' was a glossy big-budget production with a positive message, and 'One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest' focused on an institutional setting.

As an Australian currently living in Sweden, I enjoy the rare chance of getting to watch something Australian. Even if the movie itself turns out to be awful, seeing Australian brand food in the meal eating scenes and hearing real Australian accents and slang words is a novelty. But more importantly, with movies like Tom White, having lived in Australia makes me appreciate the dark humour and sarcasm that a lot of people miss. A perfect example of this is the scene with Tom and a homeless man (The homeless man's name has slipped my mind).

Homeless man: What's a man when he's dead? Tom: He's ****ing dead.

These sort of comments delivered in a deadpan way are typical of Australian humour, and also of Australian straight forward, honest attitudes. Unfortunately a lot of viewers from 'overseas' won't realize these sorts of one liners and overly negative comments are meant to be funny.

All this aside, Tom White is a great movie. It's essentially divided into parts. Each part of the movie focuses on the friendship between Tom and whoever he's currently living with. The friendships last about 20 minutes of screen time each, once the friendships end for various reasons, the film becomes about the next person Tom befriends. Because of this, watching Tom White is a bit like watching 4-5 different short films, with each friendship being its own film. All of the characters are interesting, including the minor characters, like the homeless aboriginal guy with a long grey beard and carrot top shaped hair.

If you have any romantic fantasies about living in Australia, let me tell you that this movie is a fairly accurate portrayal of Australian life and Australian people. You don't spend all day at the beach, seeing kangaroos is a novelty that gets old fast. The Australia in Tom White is the real Australia. The characters in the movie is what real Australians are like. Australians are like the people in this movie, not Steve Irwin. Living in Australia is like they live in the beginning of the film, it's not spending all day surfing.