shaun-wilson374-95572

I really enjoyed this movie. Apart from the fact it was a low budget debut film from an unknown Australian director - these factors alone already have my attention - I thought it was a tremendous effort to produce what they did on the limitations of budget and resources. It's a great story and the performances held together nicely. Would love to see more films from the director. Australia is producing a wealth of emerging indie directors lately and I'm very proud to be a part of this new wave of creatives. Congratulations to all on the production.

It's true. Strange Colours, after watching it, gosh, maybe ten or so times, is now my second most favourite film of this century. Why? Because it's slowness is also it's strength. In a world of over saturated, fast cut and paced narratives, the mediative qualities which are so profound in this film traverse into a singularity which propels the film's story into an immersive experience brought about by a combination of the vacantness of the character's interaction with each other, moving performances, outstanding cinematography and of course, that music. By the halfway point, I regularly drift off where I don't need a story or a reason to keep watching because higher measures are in order, that is to say, the immersiveness of the bleak yet seductive landscape overcome my cinema senses until, by the end of the film, I don't care what was happening in the film because the film itself carried me away to a place of fulfilment, afforded by the ability that I just snuck out of reality of an hour and a half and on return, it had a meaningful impact on my sense of the world around me. Very few film makers can do this to me except, say, for Tarr and Tarkovsky. But now there are three directors in my quadrant and Lodkina is one of them. If this is what female directors produce in the fight for gender equality in the industry, I never want to see a male director again. They just can't keep up. Lodkina wipes the floor, and so she should.

Heartbreak Motel is a classic example of quintessential Australian satire which for this film, although not for everyone, is perhaps one of the best examples of larrikin absurdity I've watched in a long time. The actors play out their characters flawlessly and the dialogue is a clever and well paced but the best part about this short film is that framed dog in the background. As Jim Carey's character in Man on the Moon is told 'The best party of comedy is silence', the beach ball sequence had me rolling on the floor with laughter. Aaron McLoughlin is a new breed of talented and extremely funny Australian script writers who is proving to be a master of low brow comedy, and its harder to do than you might think. While other countries outside Australia may not get the humour, I do hope you spend time in watching this film, bravo. (no I don't have bad spelling, turn on 'Australian dictionary' spellcheck in Word ).