Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger

Esther Blueburger's (Danielle Catanzariti) quest begins when she escapes from her Bar Mitzvah party and is befriended by Sunni (Keisha Castle-Hughes), the effortlessly cool girl who is everything Esther thinks she wants to be. With the help of Sunni, Esther goes AWOL from her ordinary life and leaves behind her malfunctioning Jewish family to hang out with Sunni's far breezier and super-hip single mum Mary (Toni Collette) and attend Sunni's forbidden public school as a Swedish exchange student.

Finally, here is an intelligent film for teenage girls! This film manages to be funny and uplifting while exploring some more serious themes, of family and peer relationships. The scriptwriter and director, Cathy Randall, and the star, Danielle Catanzariti are new talents and people to watch in the next generation of Australian film. Congratulations to all involved!

Not a newer movie, I found this on the Kanopy streaming site via my public library's subscription.

The featured character is Danielle Catanzariti as 13-yr-old Jewish girl Esther Blueburger. She has a twin brother but his story doesn't come into play much. Both teens are going through typical changes that accompany hormone changes.

Esther is pretty much an outcast at her private school and after a chance encounter with a girl attending the local public school Esther decides she will go there too. No transfer, no registration, just borrow school clothes and start attending.

The movie is very entertaining, young Danielle Catanzariti is really very good in her role. (As an aside she is also a talented singer, doing "Sometimes" as one of the songs on the soundtrack.) Her decisions make for some interesting and mostly unexpected turns of events, and kept my attention for the entire running time.

Good movie!

This was an excellent film, it was funny, sad, and at times dramatic, i loved this movie and Ester's little duck, i have the soundtrack and there isn't one song i don't like in it a truly great Australian film.

I could relate to Esther as i am a social outcast (however i have never wanted to fit in) like Esther wants to. The storyline was a little predictable but i didn't really care as i just love the feel good ending.

I enjoyed this movie and urge you to see it all the acting performances were excellent especially the first time actress Danielle Catanzariti who played Esther.

Loved it all the way if you are wondering if you should see it or not. See it!

Esther Blueburger (Danielle Catanzariti) is thirteen. She's from a Jewish family and attends a private school where she's an outsider. Her classmates cartwheel, dance and eat with geometric precision, while the victimised Esther spends her lunchtimes watching them from the confines of an upper-storey classroom.

Esther crosses paths with Sonni (Keisha Castle-Hughes), an offbeat teen who attends a neighbouring State school. A friendship develops and it's not long before Esther decides to enrol at Sonni's school, without her parents knowing. There she enjoys a newfound popularity and very quickly uses it to victimise other outsiders. This doesn't impress Sonni one bit.

The awkwardly-titled HEY HEY IT'S ESTHER BLUEBURGER sits uncomfortably between a Saturday morning children's television show and a more intense, coming-of-age drama. The supporting characters, like Esther's gullible parents, teachers and peers are caricatures, which is quite alright as they represent real people with which we're familiar. Esther's change of schools is far too easy for her. While many obvious questions about this are left unaddressed, we're willing to accept it because we understand this approach to story telling.

But when Esther tries to prove her worth by fellating a boy in a dark alley one night, it just doesn't gel with what's gone before. It feels as though the screenplay needed some toughening up and the writer responded by throwing in this seriously out-of-place scene. And surely someone must have pointed out at the script stage that this would severely restrict the film's target audience, the tweens. (Footnote: Does anyone remember an equally unnecessary fellatio scene in Michael Thornhill's BETWEEN WARS (1974)?)

Esther loses her appeal as the film progresses and we really don't care for her at all by the end. Yes, teenage years are confusing times but her use of her new popularity to belittle others makes her unlikeable. The rift between Esther and Sonni is of Esther's making. And the friendship between the two isn't explored anywhere near as well as it could have been. Neither is the difference between private and State schools. Neither is Esther's religion. The sad tale of Esther's duck, however, is most effective.

Toni Collette appears briefly as Sonni's "cool" biker Mum. But the situation involving her character at the film's end is also gravely misplaced. So too is the final school assembly scene but by this stage, anything goes.

HEY HEY IT'S ESTHER BLUEBURGER is the work of first-time writer/director Cathy Randall and first-time producer Miriam Stein. It shows. Comparisons to THE BLACK BALLOON, another recently released, coming-of-age Australian film are to be expected. THE BLACK BALLOON is vastly superior because its screenwriters have a much keener sense of character construction and plot development.

HEY HEY IT'S ESTHER BLUEBURGER has some interesting things to say but it's unsure just how to say them. And I'm tired of films where the story continues as the credits roll. It's a sign of indecisiveness. Do we really need to hear about Esther's braces being removed? Maybe it makes a difference to the next boy she blows in a back alley.

Hey Hey it's Esther Blueburger is a cool flick telling the story of a young teenage girl's attempts to fit in. Esther, played wonderfully by the pixie like Danielle Cantanzariti, is trapped in a life of non-recognition by an idiosyncratic family and the lonely side of classic school yard tribal exclusion that everyone has experienced.

After befriending local girl Sunni, (Keisha Castle Hughes of Whale Rider fame), Blueburger begins a double life that is both laugh out loud funny and touching as she looks for her place in the world.

I saw Danielle & Keisha at the Sydney premiere and they are even cuter in person than on film. Danielle, although diminutive in size, projects large on screen & Keisha has a certain star power, especially on camera, which is undeniable. It's amazing that both Keisha (in Whale Rider) and Danielle in 'Esther' have been plucked from obscurity to give such fantastic debut performances especially seeing as both were in their early teens at the time. They are supported ably by their on screen parents (Essie Davis & Russell Dykstra) and Sunni's mum, Toni Colette who plays a character which is the anti-thesis of Esther's 'normal' parents, a source of fascination & enchantment for Esther.

There's something about wanting to be in with the cool kids and the lengths we go to to do that that we all recognise. It's part of growing up and becoming the person you are. That's what makes this film funny, beautiful, and sad at the same time.

This is an excellent film by first time writer & director Cathy Randall & I loved it. It's great to see talented writers and film-makers in Australia being given a chance & supported in an industry where much talent goes unnoticed and is usually substituted for 'celebrity'. It's definitely one of the better films to come out of Australia in recent years. Do yourself a favour and see this film. It's definitely not 'normal'!