April 2010 Archives
The new film 'Accidents Happen' caused waves before it opened for being an Australian funded film set in America with American characters. I knew this going in and decided to set those thoughts to one side and regard the movie as objectively as I could.
The first half hour was a trial in which the black comedy tone seemed uneven and the storytelling felt swamped by an overly deliberate voice over. I had difficulty positioning myself with the film's point of view. Was it saying - shit happens? Was it saying - we live in a universe that we can't control and is arbitrarily cruel?
These overt questions were begged by the blackness of the opening sequences. The tragic accidents portrayed threw theme and meaning right into the audience's lap. However, because the performances were strong, I found it possible to gradually immerse myself in the story.
The film concentrates on the tale of Billy, the youngest boy of the unfortunate Conway family. He witnesses one tragedy at the age of four and is in a car accident soon after. He becomes a teenager unable to feel pain. Neither physical nor emotional hurt penetrate his defences and in order to feel something, he embarks on a series of larcenous stunts with an older friend.
Meanwhile, his mother Gloria (Geena Davis) struggles through her days. Her response to the family's tragedy is to take pills and to insult those around her. Her sons are constantly at loggerheads and their father decides to move on. Basically, this family are in the process of falling apart. How they will survive is one of the film's central questions.
The director Andrew Lancaster and the writer Brian Carbee try on some quite unusual ideas with varying degrees of success. This isn't exactly an assured debut, but this first feature does have a strong voice and an unexpected world view.
Geena Davis has always had screen presence and has become an actor who keeps you guessing. That low thrilling voice says some ugly things in this film, but we eventually see beneath her character's tough exterior. Newcomer Harrison Gilbertson plays Billy and is particularly good. He pulls off the difficult task of making a numbed character readable.
The production design is self-consciously retro at times and this serves to make it seem not Australian, which is obviously part of the mission, but I wonder if American audiences will be able to identify the film as foreign. Because I was eventually won over by this movie, I wasn't too bothered by the funding question. I feel that after all the public complaint that has gone on about Australian features, seeing one that tells an interesting story in an unpredictable way, makes it worth funding.
At the conclusion of 'Accidents Happen', I felt it had been a strange, oddly-paced journey through a number of emotional states. I found it repellent, particularly at first, then moving and engaging. Persevere with it if you want to see something different.
Rating - 3/5
Phil Jeng Kane
Comedy is very subjective. What appeals to some may be most unpleasant to others.
'Accidents Happen' tells the story of a dysfunctional family. Geena Davis leads a cast of unlikeable characters who die in a series of random accidents.
We're told it's a black comedy but I couldn't find a trace of any kind of humour. The characters were so unpalatable, Davis in particular as a bitter mother. They're the type of people I go to great lengths to avoid and certainly don't want to pay to watch. Shot on video, the movie is as ugly as the characters themselves. There's no clear direction for the story - we simply observe the mundane, the unpleasant, the unfortunate, the tragic. And we're expected to laugh.
I'm not suggesting filmmakers shouldn't confront life's unfair realities. 'My One and Only', recently seen in Australian cinemas, achieved the perfect balance between comedy and drama. It was a delightful tale with flawed characters who endured depressing experiences. And it entertained. The 2008 Australian film 'The Black Balloon' also achieved such a balance.
I sincerely hope there's an audience out there for 'Accidents Happen' because it's been funded, in part, by the Australian taxpayer. Who that audience would be, I don't know.
Burleigh Smith
It is very easy to dismiss 'Accidents Happen' as a travesty against Australian film culture. Australian filmmakers making a typical Australian film masquerading as an American film? Come on!
However, at the heart of the film is emotional truth. This is the story of a family trying to overcome their tragic past, and you quickly overlook the absurdity of the Australian vs American debate and go on the journey.
The film centres on the youngest son, Billy Conroy (Harrison Gilbertson). Billy has witnessed a number of accidents over his life, one of which claimed the life of his sister and left his brother in a vegetative state. His father has long since left the family home, leaving Billy, his mother (played by Geena Davis) and brother to try and piece together whatever they have left of a family. Which is not much.
I went into the film sceptical and was surprised when I shed tears at a couple of points in the film.
The story could easily have fallen into melodrama - a hard done by mother left to pick up the pieces of her broken life. Yet Davis' ballbreaking character refuses to let anyone feel sorry for her. "I'm the strong one" she tells her son. It's true - at times you wonder whether she feels anything for her son in a coma. But people cope in different ways, and it's refreshing to see such a strong female character on screen.
I'm not a big fan of voiceover, and the opening scene is reminiscent of American Beauty, with a Kevin Spacey-esque drollness, and there are a few other choices in the first few scenes that jolt you out of the heavily designed world, but ultimately it is Gilbertson's performance that draws you in.
I'm sure there will be heated debate around 'Accidents Happen' for some time to come. There's only one way to be involved - see the film.
Liz Sideris
Phil Jeng Kane is a local writer who loves screen, loves prose and teaches storytelling because that's how he pays for his packets of mi goreng.
Burleigh Smith is a local screenwriter, film director and actor. His films centre on relationships between men and women and often emphasise dry wit and desperate characters. His strongest influence is Woody Allen.
Burleigh lectures in filmmaking at SAE Institute.
Liz Sideris was FTI's Screen Events Manager for the past two years, coordinating the WA Screen Awards, Bohemia Outdoor Cinema and FTI's regular schedule of events.
Liz comes from a production background having coordinated, cast and produced several productions for light entertainment and factual powerhouses such as Beyond Entertainment, Freehand Television and iTV.
The first half hour was a trial in which the black comedy tone seemed uneven and the storytelling felt swamped by an overly deliberate voice over. I had difficulty positioning myself with the film's point of view. Was it saying - shit happens? Was it saying - we live in a universe that we can't control and is arbitrarily cruel?These overt questions were begged by the blackness of the opening sequences. The tragic accidents portrayed threw theme and meaning right into the audience's lap. However, because the performances were strong, I found it possible to gradually immerse myself in the story.
The film concentrates on the tale of Billy, the youngest boy of the unfortunate Conway family. He witnesses one tragedy at the age of four and is in a car accident soon after. He becomes a teenager unable to feel pain. Neither physical nor emotional hurt penetrate his defences and in order to feel something, he embarks on a series of larcenous stunts with an older friend.
Meanwhile, his mother Gloria (Geena Davis) struggles through her days. Her response to the family's tragedy is to take pills and to insult those around her. Her sons are constantly at loggerheads and their father decides to move on. Basically, this family are in the process of falling apart. How they will survive is one of the film's central questions.
The director Andrew Lancaster and the writer Brian Carbee try on some quite unusual ideas with varying degrees of success. This isn't exactly an assured debut, but this first feature does have a strong voice and an unexpected world view.
Geena Davis has always had screen presence and has become an actor who keeps you guessing. That low thrilling voice says some ugly things in this film, but we eventually see beneath her character's tough exterior. Newcomer Harrison Gilbertson plays Billy and is particularly good. He pulls off the difficult task of making a numbed character readable.
The production design is self-consciously retro at times and this serves to make it seem not Australian, which is obviously part of the mission, but I wonder if American audiences will be able to identify the film as foreign. Because I was eventually won over by this movie, I wasn't too bothered by the funding question. I feel that after all the public complaint that has gone on about Australian features, seeing one that tells an interesting story in an unpredictable way, makes it worth funding.
At the conclusion of 'Accidents Happen', I felt it had been a strange, oddly-paced journey through a number of emotional states. I found it repellent, particularly at first, then moving and engaging. Persevere with it if you want to see something different.
Rating - 3/5
Phil Jeng Kane
Comedy is very subjective. What appeals to some may be most unpleasant to others.
'Accidents Happen' tells the story of a dysfunctional family. Geena Davis leads a cast of unlikeable characters who die in a series of random accidents.
We're told it's a black comedy but I couldn't find a trace of any kind of humour. The characters were so unpalatable, Davis in particular as a bitter mother. They're the type of people I go to great lengths to avoid and certainly don't want to pay to watch. Shot on video, the movie is as ugly as the characters themselves. There's no clear direction for the story - we simply observe the mundane, the unpleasant, the unfortunate, the tragic. And we're expected to laugh.
I'm not suggesting filmmakers shouldn't confront life's unfair realities. 'My One and Only', recently seen in Australian cinemas, achieved the perfect balance between comedy and drama. It was a delightful tale with flawed characters who endured depressing experiences. And it entertained. The 2008 Australian film 'The Black Balloon' also achieved such a balance.
I sincerely hope there's an audience out there for 'Accidents Happen' because it's been funded, in part, by the Australian taxpayer. Who that audience would be, I don't know.
Burleigh Smith
It is very easy to dismiss 'Accidents Happen' as a travesty against Australian film culture. Australian filmmakers making a typical Australian film masquerading as an American film? Come on!
However, at the heart of the film is emotional truth. This is the story of a family trying to overcome their tragic past, and you quickly overlook the absurdity of the Australian vs American debate and go on the journey.
The film centres on the youngest son, Billy Conroy (Harrison Gilbertson). Billy has witnessed a number of accidents over his life, one of which claimed the life of his sister and left his brother in a vegetative state. His father has long since left the family home, leaving Billy, his mother (played by Geena Davis) and brother to try and piece together whatever they have left of a family. Which is not much.
I went into the film sceptical and was surprised when I shed tears at a couple of points in the film.
The story could easily have fallen into melodrama - a hard done by mother left to pick up the pieces of her broken life. Yet Davis' ballbreaking character refuses to let anyone feel sorry for her. "I'm the strong one" she tells her son. It's true - at times you wonder whether she feels anything for her son in a coma. But people cope in different ways, and it's refreshing to see such a strong female character on screen.
I'm not a big fan of voiceover, and the opening scene is reminiscent of American Beauty, with a Kevin Spacey-esque drollness, and there are a few other choices in the first few scenes that jolt you out of the heavily designed world, but ultimately it is Gilbertson's performance that draws you in.
I'm sure there will be heated debate around 'Accidents Happen' for some time to come. There's only one way to be involved - see the film.
Liz Sideris
Phil Jeng Kane is a local writer who loves screen, loves prose and teaches storytelling because that's how he pays for his packets of mi goreng. Burleigh Smith is a local screenwriter, film director and actor. His films centre on relationships between men and women and often emphasise dry wit and desperate characters. His strongest influence is Woody Allen.
Burleigh lectures in filmmaking at SAE Institute.
Liz Sideris was FTI's Screen Events Manager for the past two years, coordinating the WA Screen Awards, Bohemia Outdoor Cinema and FTI's regular schedule of events.
Liz comes from a production background having coordinated, cast and produced several productions for light entertainment and factual powerhouses such as Beyond Entertainment, Freehand Television and iTV.
