When a teenagers, in the early 1980's, one friend spent a few weeks convincing the rest of us, that her mother's best friend made a movie for herself and her sisters, as surrogate daughters. Before she had me convinced, the film clip of one of the songs was on Countdown, the most watched Australian pop music show of those years. And it didn't sink in what a big thing this film is, until my friend said that Gillian Armstrong also directed "My Brilliant Career". I would have loved this film anyway, without knowing my friend and her sisters needed this much love in their world. "Starstruck" is like 'Rocky Horror Picture Show', meets 'The Princess Bride', and they hit the sack right away before a first date. It is testament to Gillian Armstrong's ability as a director, and producer, that such an ambitious script gets the treatment it deserved, despite the obviously low budget. Yet somehow, the low budget just served to make it feel all the more Australian, as though it all happened just over every Aussie's back fence. The light is unmistakably Australian, and contrasts are exaggerated somewhat by the red, blue, yellow color scheme on set. Definitely worthy of joining the lists of what student film makers need to see, for the value of how to treat the script with respect to the writer's concept.
Review of Starstruck
