West of Sunshine

In the tradition of Aussie larrikin yarns, with a soft touch for a bit of a loser in this life. Boisterously active yet on-the-button for locales and character. Often it is a mistake for a new director to use 2.35 widest screen, but this time it works. Oh those gliding shots of veteran cars. Good to see Kaarin Fairfax on big screen. If you liked The Dish or The Castle or the young Bryan Brown, this is a delight for you, and Not Too Long in run time. Good entry on a career, it seems to me.

I can't say that West Of Sunshine will be a movie that I will remember in the future. It's just an average movie, much too slow, lacking of interesting action. The acting isn't bad but with just good acting you're not guaranteed to have a good movie. For that the story is just not captivating enough. It's just about a gambler with a debt trying to earn the money he owes, whilst driving his kid around for one day. Not much thrilling going on, just bad decisions throughout the whole movie. Maybe with a bit more action the movie could have been something but here it's just a movie out of a dozen, a movie I will not remember anything of tomorrow.

If there was meant to be a redeeming quality in our "protagonist" it was lost on me. So you cut your sons hair. The man has the opportunity at all times through the film to set things right. Is this a movie about child abuse? Imagine going through everything they went through that day then coming home with a smile on your face for mummy. I am missing something. It doesn't have to be a happy ending but surely you want this to end better off than how it started.

Well it has it all,shooting killing and action from beginning till end.....jaaast kiddin' though you could wish for it in this gloomy australian production, with camera angles so close up to a face as you can get, ,sound and music are not moodlifting at all. i guess its played out in melbourne or maybe adelaide. its a man hi on dept and the way he struggles and looses and boozes around til he's beaten to glorynights,and like a twist of destiny makes his dept disappear, and all this in one day in his car with his child which he has custody for once in a while,because he is divorced and his ex is a muggle whitch that can kill with her eyes.

alternative title could have been, ''one day daddy day care'' or ''a day at work with my daddy'' or '' doing a line with my daddy'' or '' the day daddy almost died'' or ''my daddy doing drugs driving dining on a dime'' or '' how we made the deal with them dudes''.

must have been my worst comment on a movie, its passable,but boring nitwit that anybody with a car+cam could have done. its not a review for me unless somebody could give me a better reason to.

I've never been a huge fan of Australian cinema, with one or two exceptions. I didn't find this movie too bad though. It's an interesting enough story, even if it's one we've seen before - 'deadbeat' dad has his son for the day and makes it really obvious why his ex-wife told him to pack his bags. He also has some nasty types after him for an unpaid debt. I suspect that some of the scenarios played out here may, sadly, be real life situations for some kids, which is tragic.

Fortunately, this movie is just short of 80 minutes long - any longer and it probably would have overstayed its welcome. As it is, it's an interesting enough diversion for an hour or so.