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Reviews
Mental (2012)
I like The Sound of Music but....
When a lot of Aussie films come out, that purport to be comedies, or are marketed that way, I shiver. I mean, Muriel's Wedding wasn't bad, I just found it hard to assign it a genre. Same with Mental. I look at the characters in both of these films and think, Who ARE these people? I live in suburbia in Australia and I have never come across these sorts of characters. The only REAL characterisation in Mental for me was created by the actor who plays Trevor Blundell. I kept looking at him on the screen and wondering where this really very good Australian actor had sprung from; how come I'd never come across him before. Then, at the end, I realised that the answer was that he is American, doing a fine Aussie accent. I smiled at the Sound of Music references in Mental (must have cost a pretty penny) and I liked the real bits in the film. The rest of it - I could have taken, or left.
Absolute Power (1997)
Loved it!
Well I certainly wish I could have written something like this! I love the economy of the writing above all - the performances are the cherry on top.Clint Eastwood is himself and yet not himself.Sitting on a mountain of subtext, he's got the stillest face in celluloid history, I'd bet. Ed Harris I always love and the scene in which he keeps reminding Laura Linney that he lives alone is utterly gorgeous. I tell you, this film held me from beginning to end.And the music - Kate's Theme at the end - one of the most poignant melodies i've ever heard, was written by none other than Clint Eastwood!! LOVED IT>