Four of a Kind

The story may be interesting but the dramatization is lacking.

Never quite knew where this film would go. It is part police procedural, psychological thriller, revenge movie, kitchen sink confessional, and anthology series (three mostly self-contained, but linked stories). Murder, blackmail, moral ambiguity, betrayal, Autumn/Spring romance, and con artistry are all there. But who is good, who is bad? All the characters seem to be on a wide spectrum here.

Excellent ensemble cast, especially Louise Silverson, who plays a senior detective in the Melbourne police force.

This is an excellent film about betrayal. It is about four women, each of whom experiences a different type of betrayal. Each of their betrayal stories is told separately. In the end, the betrayal stories come together in what to me was a very satisfying ending.

The script moves at a good pace, and all the performances are great.

The four of a kind are: Anne, the wife of a prominent surgeon; Gina, a police detective leading the investigation on the murder of the young mistress of Anne's husband; Glenda, Gina's psychiatrist, and Susan, Glenda's friend. During almost all the movie we are witnesses to lengthy conversations among some of the four. Male characters are subsidiary and barely sketched, which suits the tale.

The movie has a feeling of filmed theater; in fact Four of a Kind started as a play. At the end, the viewer only knows what has been said or implied in the conversations, which (as in real life) leaves a few plot points unexplained.

A movie like this can only succeed with a first rate script and first rate acting and all involved rise to the occasion. This seems to be the only feature movie in director Fiona Cochrane's filmography (her other works are documentaries or shorts). She does an excellent job. Music consists of soulful, jazzy interludes by Maltese-Australian singer Joe Camilleri and The Black Sorrows.

A quality movie. It grabs the viewer's attention in the first scene and doesn't let go.

Every line and expression in this movie will draw you in while a strange tickling sensation in the back of your head will be your intelligence being woken by its subtle, brilliant plot and sub-plots. The music fading in at the end of each episode beautifully carries the dire story higher, translating it into pure emotion, as if the gods had been so brought to tears that only blues music could convey their utter dismay.

Why the music. Why instead of an abrupt transition to the next story, a quintet of dedicated, non-showy virtuousos plying their art. Couldn't the movie's story speak for itself instead of these fine musicians saying no, it couldn't, it needed us to explain?