Monkey Grip

The main character is a single mum who is only interested in anyone even less ready to commit than she is. She finds her match in a junkie and the inevitable come down is like watching paint dry. But one is more interested in the background details of Melbourne in the early 80s, the supporting actors, the great rock band for which the film is virtually a showcase, and the heroine's daughter played by Alice Garner, who looks wiser than her years - certainly wiser than her mum - and steals any scenes she's in.

Seems that Monkey Grip was seen to be quite a contentious film back in its day, its natural and often very revealing attitude to sex probably drawing in the wrong crowd, or at least for the wrong reason and the substantial junkie elements giving it an alienating edge.

Ken Cameron's 1981 film, that stars a very good and suitably natural Noni Hazlehurst and Colin Friels, is based on Helen Garner's semi- autobiographical novel and was highly praised by local critics, scooping an AFI (Aussie 'Oscar') best actress for Hazlehurst and nominations for cinematography, editing, supporting actress and Best Film.

Thirty odd years later and on another Continent, to a wider audience, how does it fare? The story isn't exactly a gripping one but a well-told one, that unfolds simply and for the most part remains interesting. Nora, a - early 30's ? - divorced mother of two pretty quickly falls for a ruggedly handsome bit actor, who is, unknown to her a heroin addict.

There follows a real, quite sensual sexual awakening for her but as his habit is quietly exposed (this is no Trainspotting!) she naturally finds this hard to take and as her dreams become ever more shattered, Javo's life becomes more chaotic and is arrested in Bangkok for theft.

Her personal quest to make it in the music business in her own right is an interesting sideline, but not the reason for watching the film. Those expecting sex, drugs and rock'n'roll actually do get all three, probably in that order but this is no typical rock lifestyle movie - it has depth, emotion and is essentially a decent drama that covers a number of people of varying interest and one that's decently involving.

As I said, it covers no new ground and should be targeted at those who want such and not an erotic junkie rock flick - those expecting the latter will be disappointed.

I watched the DVD as part of the 12 disc 'Australian Cinema Collection'.

This is a very interesting film. It is taken from a novel that won a prestigious prize. Can I admit that I really enjoyed this film, while admitting that nothing _really_ happens? There are no car chases, or gun-fights. I don't even think I remember any fist-fights. Nora and her daughter meet and interact with interesting, intelligent, troubled people in Australia in the seventies.

Nora is under-employed in the alternative music business. Her main squeeze (Colin Friels) is under-employed as a sometime actor in small theatre. She shares a number of households with other single parents. She tries to raise her kid, and still have some self-fulfilment.

Let me warn you, don't make the mistake of inviting people over to watch this film with you, without warning them to ignore the blurb on the video-box. The last time I rented this film I invited a bunch of people over to watch a double bill: the Merchant-Ivory film "Slaves of New York" and "Monkey Grip". Everyone enjoyed SONY. But everyone left without watching MG. After they left I took a look at the box. It made MG sound like a porno movie. It described Colin Friels character, the heroine's main squeeze, as "sexually volcanic" whatever that means. BS of course. And the blurb writer omits the much more interesting item that he is a junkie. Very embarrassing. In truth MG wasn't any more erotic than Slaves of New York.

What a dog of a movie. Noni Hazelhurst's performance is quite good, but it sits amidst a jungle of abhorrent scriptwriting, mediocre direction and wooden acting from the bulk of the cast. Many of the characters are woefully miscast, particularly the ever overrated Colin Friels.

Very little works in this pretentious garbage. Much of the "character development" is done through a silly, angst-ridden voice over and frequently completely contradicts the behaviour of characters on-screen. In fact, it's hard to even figure out who the voice overs are talking about because they describe such different characters to who we see on screen! How are we meant to know Colin Friels (Javo) is meant to be an erratic, violent and unreliable junkie? One of these silly voice overs tells us. For crying out loud, the nature of his character is half the point of the movie and the only thing that lets us know is a flippin' voice over! The real killer is the characters. Everything about them. Their clothes are perfectly maintained and look fresh from the rack, despite the fact we are constantly reminded they are meant to be artsy paupers. They are all absurdly well-spoken for "junkies". None seem to have any real comprehension of life on the skids or on smack and yet this is meant to be the case with most of them.

Monkey Grip deserves no more attention than a weekday TV movie matinée. Crud like this, perfectly well shot and technically presented, but a cliché-driven angsty drama that shoots so wide of being plausible and meanders about for hours without really going anywhere. At least Noni gets down to her birthday suit at every given opportunity. There's no other sane reason to endure this junk.

Noni Hazlehurst's tour-de-force performance (which won her an AFI award) is at least on par with her effort in FRAN three years later. Colin Friels is also good, and, for those who are interested, Alice Garner appears as Noni's child, and Michael Caton (best known for THE CASTLE) is a bearded painter. (Also interestingly, Hazlehurst is currently the host of lifestyle program BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS, and Caton is the host of property-type programs including HOT PROPERTY, HOT AUCTION, etc...) This film reaffirms the popularly-held belief that Noni was arguably Australia's top female actor during the early-to-mid 1980s. Rating: 79/100.