The Death and Life of Otto Bloom

A very moving film about time, life, love. Also very well directed and played. Poetic and very rare. Another Australian movie that I love, what's the matter with that island? Omnia aeterna.

I enjoyed this film, but am left with lots of thoughts; but few feelings! I wonder if the script by first time director Cris Jones is a little too smart for its own good. There's lots of exposition that is delivered from some luminary Australian actors such as John Gaden and Jacek Koman, and the film is very cleverly cast with Rachel Ward and her real life offspring Matilda Brown playing the same character at different life stages, but there is a coldness to this film that I can't get past. There's a disconnect; an aloofness that keeps the material esoteric and for this viewer a bit of a mind f#@K

Xavier Samuel (is he the only young Australian actor getting the good roles?), plays the ubiquitous title role and there is certainly a sense of mystery but also blankness from this good looking, but not especially dynamic actor. The narrative's reliance on so much explanation means that although the viewer is given opportunity to grapple with the film's construct, it spends too much of its already economic running time in the head, and not the heart. As a man who has a particularly odd and perplexing condition, Otto Bloom's life and death are pondered more than they are illustrated here.

There are some lovely sequences involving graphics and creative use of photographs and mock headlines and news bulletins, and the film does evoke an odd sense of reality and heightened reality, but at the end, I am still pondering if I have been overly conned or really challenged as a viewer. I can live with the latter but perhaps not the former. It is great to see Rachel Ward in such a substantial role on screen, and whilst it may seem as if all her scenes are just pieces to camera, her narrative link and physical presence are essential to the film's success in belief (the disbelief comes more from whether the basic conceit is as watertight as the writer/director would have us believe).

This is an original work in so many ways, but it falls short of greatness for me; in part as I was not overly moved by it; and also as I am left with those nagging quibbles about the story itself. But I applaud the clever use of the medium and the grand vision being explored.

Credit where credit is due, small-budget Australian backed and made faux-doc The Life and Death of Otto Bloom largely overcomes its minuscule finances to deliver a unique and ambitious local offering that doesn't make a whole lot of sense but offers up an engaging experience for its audience nonetheless.

With a high concept story at its core of Xavier Samuel's mysterious Otto Bloom, who seemingly experiences life in reverse (so his past is the future and future the past) told in a documentary talking heads like manner that allows director Cris Jones to overcome budget restraints in an efficient manner, Bloom's story shouldn't be delved into too deeply by anyone but it allows Jones a chance to tell a love story with a difference and showcase a talent that we will hopefully see grow in the local industry in future projects.

Fake documentaries aren't easy to pull off, especially in a day and age where so many quality documentaries are flooding the marketplace, so for Jones to succeed to the extent he does by making Bloom feel like a real event, is quite the feat that harbors some impressive DIY techniques and film trickery.

It's not to say Bloom isn't without its fair share of moments that don't work (in particular a segment where a sweaty Otto gives a special talk to a packed auditorium) but there's a lot of moments that do work and with committed turns from leading man Samuel and then Rachel Ward and Matilda Brown as Bloom's love interest Ada, Bloom's vision of its goal to craft an original and non-linear story is one to be admired, even if the films reach does escape Jones's grasp.

Final Say –

Head into The Life and Death of Otto Bloom with an open mind and a forgiving critical outlook and you'll be rewarded with a well-intentioned and highly ambitious local production that suggests Jones is a filmmaker to keep a very close eye on and while the story might not make a whole lot of sense at the end of the day, which is to be expected with any such narrative, The Life and Death of Otto Bloom is one of our countries most commendable productions in recent times.

3 Burt Reynolds photos out of 5

This was a fantastic and thought provoking film. I love the documentary style storytelling, I was completely hooked from the opening montage to the final scene. It's also a heartbreaking yet unique love story. There were many twists and turns I didn't see coming. Also, some very sharp and witty bits.

Xavier Samuel played Otto Bloom beautifully, there was something very majestic in the way he portrayed that character, almost angelic.

Definitely leaves you thinking.

Yes, there are some interesting ideas floated in TDALOOB about the nature of time, but boy oh boy, the execution! A bunch of pseudo - talking heads trying to breathe life into what is just a monumental mash-up of recreations and blending of various media forms. This "film" (and I use the term almost reluctantly) just reeks micro-budget. It never feels like cinema to me, just a fancy filmed project.

Rachel Ward as Ada, is certainly the most animated of the pointy heads trying to advocate convincingly for Otto Bloom. But Matilda Brown, her real life daughter playing her younger self is notably awkward in the role and lacks credibility. It doesn't help that she is given very little dialogue, with the older Ada pretty much doing all the talking for her. You end up with the feeling that some actor's body double has somehow accidentally ended up with serious screen time.

Xavier Samuel as Otto has an easier task, though the framing mechanism of recreated scenes, supposed home videos, photos. news clippings and the like, never allows the slightest degree of chemistry occurring between his character and the two depicted great loves of his life. Nor do we ever start to believe even ever so slightly, that Otto is a real person, no matter how many sham Time covers are flashed in front of us. Every thing just appears so fake and mocked up, as for instance when Otto is supposed to address a huge convention/assembly of people, which is just a very obvious, poorly disguised back projection.

I love a good time - travel film better than most, but it needs to stimulate me in a cinematic fashion. TDALOOB has all the excitement of the director telling you what he'd like to do when making the movie, rather than us sitting, watching and being inspired by a compelling, completed production.