FINDING IT IN SEARCHING AUSTRALIAN FILMSReviewer: Barbara Creed
It is always heartening to see smaller Melbourne cinemas showcasing seasons of Australian films. The George cinema is featuring three new works; Parklands, an award-winning short feature by Kathryn Millard and two fine shorts, No Way To Forget and Shooting The Breeze. With bigger cinemas swamped by products from overseas, local film makers rely on smaller art-house and alternative venues.
Parklands is an unconventional mystery. Rosie (Cate Blanchett), an intense young woman, returns to her home town in the suburbs of Adelaide when her father dies. Her childhood memories merge with very different images when she discovers his diaries.
Director Kathryn Millard (Light Years) imaginatively interweaves the tale of a daughter's disturbing search for the truth about her father, with a second stratum of storytelling - an investigation of place. By intercutting often hilarious TV ads of the 1950s about happy family life and civic virtues, Millard carefully constructs another image of the past that is clearly at odds with her personal memories. Is Adelaide a city of ordered gardens and neat parks, or a place where boundaries between light and shade, innocence and corruption are blurred? This personal, imaginative film relies on mood rather than strong narrative. Blanchett's performance is finely nuanced and the direction is strong.
The Age, Thursday, 13th March 1997.
Aussie Cate Online © 1999 Lin, Dean, Lance
800x600 screen size recommended.