Love Serenade

I've noticed that some people here are having a hard time finding this film, Love Serenade, on video or DVD. I was lucky enough to be able to catch this one on cable, either on Sundance channel or IFC, but this was a real fun movie to watch. The two sisters live together and eat lunch together every day, but along comes a new neighbor who moves in next door, and these two are at each other's throats to win the bloke over, before he even unpacks his suitcase! The new guy is a DJ named Ken Sherry, who just moved out to the sticks presumably after losing his job in the big city! And he's as smooth as Barry White on a Saturday night, this DJ, so both of them are captivated and try to do things for him to win him over, like catch him a big stinky fish or cook some crappy rubbish. The main gal, Vicki-Ann Hurley, is played by Rebecca Frith, whom I came to love after watching this, and who I just saw last night in another Aussie film also worth seeing, 'A Man's Gotta Do' (2004). Miranda Otto has top billing though, as the 'not-so'bright' younger sister, Dimity, and is enjoyable to watch as well. These two ladies play off each other well and there are some other nice characters in it that makes this a quirky comedy, fine Aussie entertainment! If you can find this at the video store, snatch it up! 7 out of 10 stars. *******

"Love Serenade" is a quirky and original film. I'm reminded of Pauline Kael's remark about "Passport to Pimlico" - "comedy with a fine flavour." I'd never heard of this and only rented it because of a recommendation by David Stratton on the cover. And I'm glad I got it out - it's been years since I liked a film this much. It's generally quiet, but its off-kilter humour is really very funny, and its observations about the sexes are poignant and even disturbing. The soundtrack is a key factor; it's a great collection of smooth seventies soul tracks, but they're used ironically, and you feel a little guilty for enjoying them so much. The performances are really fine, too. In all it's a wonderful film and it needs to be seen.

This movie comes in cute and goes out really weird. It is one of the best black comedies ever made and one of the finest films to come out of Australia.

Two dorky, love-starved sisters live together in a house in the Aussie backwater town of Sunray. Their lives are thrown into a dither when a hotshot radio DJ moves into the house next door. The DJ, named Ken Sherry, has the personality of a lugubrious bloodhound and is thrice divorced, but the sisters are smitten. He's a celebrity!

One of the sisters, Vicki, is a hairdresser with delusions of tabloid grandeur, and the other, Dimity, is a painfully shy waitress in a forlorn Chinese restaurant with the absurdly grand name Emperor's Palace. The restaurant owner is, on his off hours, a proud nudist (Did I mention this movie is weird?).

When you begin watching, you may think you know where this flick is headed. You don't. Things get stranger and stranger and casual American audiences, seeing familiar sitcom elements unfold, will likely be stunned by the bizarre directions the movie takes.

For those looking for "something else," I cannot recommend this highly enough. Oh, and a terrific Barry White soundtrack.

This terrific little movie has a simple but bizarre plot that gets completely weird along the way ...

It's very realistic for anyone who has lived in a REALLY small town before ...

The Aussie "Bush" never looked so good. My favourite shot - the wedding dress run across those wide, open grain fields.

Clever direction tells you things without the clumsiness of deliberate speech e.g. keep a look out for the wheelchair in the lounge of the sisters' house, it's one of the few clues you get to their former family life.

Wonderful performances, music etc etc. An Aussie Classic.

There are some films that seem to go so deep, they should just be allowed to go on and on. Their light is so bright they seem to compete with nature itself - they uplift and enlighten. Love Serenade, with it's repetitive Barry White underscore, its dead-on "this is not an act" performances and above all it's eccentric, unforeseen dialogue, plot and visuals has been added to my list of all-time bests. There's so much to learn here about art.