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Reviews
Don's Party (1976)
Pretty poor
After watching and enjoying "Travelling North', I decided to have a go at 'Don's Party'.
I moved to Canberra in 1970 and heard a lot about the play. My impression then was that it dealt with politics as it was set on the night of a Federal election.
I was rather surprised to find that the film was essentially to do with sexual relationships among the various characters.
I don't know if the film was just dated but the characters, except for the dentist, came across as totally unreal.
The arguments seemed totally fabricated. As did the sex. The humour might reflect what happens in a football dressing room but I've never seen anything like it in any party. In fact, it's hard to see why Don would have put together such a bitchy lot of people.
About 3/4 of the way through, I pulled out the DVD and went for a book instead.
Barry Qld
Letters to Juliet (2010)
Charming film
I found this a charming film even though I wasn't too keen on the actors. My wife tells me Amanda Seyfield is beautiful. I really don't like that sugar and cream look and I often felt that her acting stayed just on the correct side of twee. Her fiancé, Victor, is obsessed with cooking and ignores her. I couldn't help but wondering how they ever got together. I also thought that such a pasta-mad chef would be about twice the size. He was just a little unconvincing.
Charlie was okay, a bit bland. One could tell what was going to happen and ask why Sophie (Amanda) didn't interest herself in a more colourful person. But he was there and he was nice.
So what made the film? Vanessa Redgrave? Maybe. She's supposed to be 65 in the film. She looked closer to her real age. But she definitely conveys warmth, charm and real humane qualities. The scenery. That was stunning. The dialogue? I think that was the real saver. Sophie and Charlie had better dialogue than their bland characters would suggest.
The Secretaries to Juliet were terrific and one of them did fit my idea of beauty.
(Spelling is Australian!)