LOUISE ALSTON

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BB. 

Australia, 2010.  KCDC, Bunker Productions International Pty..  Story by Louise Alston, Screenplay by Stephen Vagg, based on characters created by Francesca Gasteen, Cindy Nelson.  Cinematography by Jan Reichle.  Produced by Kelly Chapman.  Music by Caitlin Yeo.  Production Design by Nicholas McCallum.  Costume Design by Madeleine Overett.  Film Editing by Andrew Soo.  

Jackie and Lucy are such best friends that they can be called by the singular appellation of the title. Lucy abandons the upwardly mobile dreams of her absent mother and tight-laced sister in pursuit of her goal of acting, but really spends most of her time watching out for Jackie, who has decided to go off her meds and is in danger of becoming emotionally unstable again. When they both audition for a production of Jane Eyre being done by the local theatre group that they belong to, rivalry is stirred up when Lucy lands the lead role but becomes gradually distracted by her need to sell the play in order to impress her sister, while Jackie, who is playing Mrs. Rochester, has a crush on the male lead but becomes involved with her assistant director. The girls are awkward, one of them chubby, the other one funky, but this is no Muriel’s Wedding; director Louise Alston captures the pleasures and pains of being best friends, but she also directs a comedy with bright colours and wacky situations that is never quite funny or colourful enough. The girls could afford to be a hell of lot quirkier, and the themes of opposing ideas of womanhood being presented by the Jane Eyre/Bertha Mason intertextuality are only barely explored; a conclusion in which the girls finally stand up for each other isn’t really earned by anything that comes before it. It’s a shame it isn’t better, because the film’s obvious low budget and no frills style are what should be its major charms.

Toronto International Film Festival:  2010