48 Shades

It's an amazing experience to see a very pretty film on the big cinema screen which not only shows your home town at its best, but also includes a friend or two as extras (Hi Quentin!).

Based on the novel "48 Shades of Brown" by locally and internationally celebrated Irish born Brisbane author Nick Earls, we're taken into inner city suburbia to view the interplay of several young people developing life skills in the process of falling in and out of love. The protagonist is handsome young student Dan who moves in with his (only slightly older) aunt Jacq to finish his college year while his parents are overseas on extended travels.

I've got to say that I much preferred the play, as adapted by long time Earls collaborator Philip Dean - in which not a word or gesture is wasted, and the audience really does get a very satisfying sense of discovery. The film makes some plot elements too obvious.

The cinematography and sound are first class throughout. The slight weakness in the film is in the script and direction (both by Daniel Lapaine). I believe that some more dialogue was necessary in order for us to be fully clued up about the characters and their expectations. There are a few too many meaningful facial expressions (from Dan) and longing glances (from Jacq).

All the actors do well - but especially Robin McLeavy as the life loving rebel aunt Jacq. Michael Booth takes on the task of geeky landlord with gusto, further reinforcing the likelihood of being permanently typecast (he features in a cinema chain advert for online pre-booking of tickets).

Brisbane viewers are kept on the hop trying to spot the various locations - and while they all look good on the screen, they'd beggar practical logic in real life. That's OK, it's all fun - and the film really does have a lot of genuine humour to offer - as well as scenes which make you squirm or cringe (but only because they're so very close to real life).

I like that all the local housing and household items are 100% authentic - including the iconic laminex table on the verandah and the Hills Hoist rotary clothes line in the back yard (though I've never witnessed one used in a drinking game before). In the current drought you can even see that the lawn is yet another shade of brown.

48 Shades has a heart of gold and has been made with utmost good will. I hope that viewers around the globe will get to enjoy the big screen beauty of it - and maybe even be inspired to get a local acting troupe to stage the play.

I'm sitting here listening to the soundtrack and it's reinforcing my first impression that this film was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

While it may not deal with typical issues in teenage angst like Donnie Darko/ Brick/ 2.37 or have the solid structure of an Alibrandi/ 10 things/Leo's Romeo, it does approach growing up differently-very gentle and yet it holds your interest and thankfully doesn't cop out in the end.

I have read the book and thought it was better, like most books, because it had the time to deal with Dan's innermost thoughts. There were things that I would have done differently but I imagine that they did not have a big budget on this

This film seems to have two distinct divided camps. I can understand why some may not like it but I don't think it deserves to be completely written off. I gave into its charm and was pleasantly surprised.

I would recommend those who have seen the film to get the soundtrack-it is really worth it. I think I'll go and see it again, seeing that it's "tight arse Tuesday" I'd be really interested in your responses to the music.

I decided to go and catch one of the advanced screenings before it comes out on Thursday and i liked what i saw.

Daniel Lapaine did a brilliant job at writing the screenplay and directing, very faithful to the book and the way he put the fish tank scene when Dan and Naomi met just like Romeo and Juliet was great too.

(Possible spoiler, i know.) The casting Richard Wilson, Robin McLeavy, Emma Lung, Nick Donaldson and Victoria Thaine were great.

They each played their roles just perfectly the way i imagined in the book. I think they all have a good future in this business and i hope to see them all in many other great films. Local or overseas.