Soft Fruit

"Soft Fruit" is a bittersweet Aussie flick about a terminally ill mother who summons her adult children to her bedside for her final days. Anything but a downer, this cross-genre flick shows us humor, poignancy, and quirkiness as we watch a barely functional and functional barely family deal with the passing of its matriarch. An enjoyable film, a critics darling, and a winner of some fringe awards, "Soft Fruit" is a worthwhile watch for those into flicks about working class Aussies.

I saw Soft Fruit today and am still thrilled. The performances from the cast are wonderful, Jeanie Drynan in particular. The casting is amazing - these people actually ARE a family. Its touchingly sad and yet very very funny. One of the best Aussie films, in years. These people don't parade their Australianness like so many other local films do. Great script, great cast! Beats the pants off any thing else around!

The performances are fabulous, but what really makes this movie special is the care which has been taken to build a symphony of metaphor in the relationships in this family. Clearly done from a woman's point of view (the men can't cope, and all that's needed is for the father to reunite with the son), this piece still goes beyond the usual chick-flick tear-jerker to keep you involved with fascinating metaphors and unlikely characters which nonetheless tell the truth. I am appalled that it has yet to receive distribution.

This movie was very moving and one of those movies that makes you think about life and the choices that you make. In my opinion Soft Fruit did not get as much attention as it deserved and was over looked. Jeanie Drynan is a great actress and has starred in such movies as Muriel's wedding. In Muriel's wedding Jeanie's character was such a sad character to follow but you could truly feel her pain and struggles. The line up in Soft Fruit is fantastic and the acting is also believable and enjoyable. I still can't find a copy of Soft Fruit and have not seen it since the year it was released. It speaks volumes when you see a movie and still think about it 12 years later. I can't even find it on Netflix but, if you are fortunate to run across this movie you should watch it.

This films captures the all-encompassing breadth of family life from love to brutality, and displays it in a no-punches way that touches the heart strings. As the four children return to share their dying mother's last weeks we see the old family conflicts, rivalries and tensions flare, as each struggles to gain a special relationship with their dying mother, played whimsically by Jeanie Drynan. The bad language may upset some prudes, but is all in the spirit of the movie. Russell Dykstra's winning perfomance as ex-con biker son Bo is one of the best I've seen for years. Sacher Horler is proving to be a major Australian talent. How nice to see a selection of females that aren't wafer thin!!