PLUNGE INTO DARKNESS

Australia, 1978, 75 minutes, Colour.
Olivia Hamnett, Bruce Barry, Ashley Grenville, John Jarrat, Tom Richards, Athol Compton.
Directed by Peter Maxwell.

Plunge Into Darkness is one of several telemovies produced by actor-producer Robert Bruning. It was directed by Peter Maxwell who directed such films as Is There Anyone There, Polly Me Love and the feature film Touch And Go. The screen play is by Bruce Wishart, author of a number of these telemovies. The screenplay is conventional material, the maniac boy and audiences knowing what was to happen while the protagonists did not. While the material is, to a certain extent, predictable, it provides suspense in the audience's waiting for the protagonists to find out the truth. The film has a very good cast who do their best with the material and the short time of the telemovie. The colour photography of northern New South Wales is outstanding and was done by noted cinematographer Russell Boyd. The telemovie is as competent as any similar production from overseas.

1. An entertaining thriller? Audience interest in crime, chases, madness and violence? The melodrama for television? Audience response to mystery and suspense?

2. The film as a telemovie, - the adaptation of thriller conventions to the home audience? The audience knowing that the boy was mad while the main characters did not? The build-up of suspense and the finale? How predictable was the action, the characterisation? Credible?

3. The quality of the colour photography, the use of the jail and the opening escape, the countryside of New South Wales and the bush, the establishment of the characters and the editing of the various sub-plots? The contribution of the score? Special effects?

4. How plausible was the plot? Pat and Gary as an ordinary couple, taking compassion and being involved in what became a nightmare? The tourists and the boy and the credibility of such a mad boy on the loose? The escaped prisoners and the search? The bringing of all these strands together? The contrived nature of the plot - sufficient for plausibility on a brief telemovie? The significance of the title?

5. The credits sequence and the establishment of the prison atmosphere, Joe and Toby and their breaking in to get food, the killing of the guard - and the suspense of his dying throughout the film and the action of the prison governor? The two breaking out again, their moving through the bush to elude capture, the resources used to capture them, the helicopters, the aboriginal bushman? The attitudes of the two towards escape, Joe and his hold over Toby, their adventures in the bush, Joe's injury, Toby's taking charge, the chance encounter with Gary and his telling them about the house? The irony of Joe's death - poetic justice? Toby and his being the saving figure? His burial of his brother? How well delineated as characters? Their place within the plot?

6. The establishing of Pat and Gary as a happy couple, their hunting, the travelling, the staying overnight at the motel, Pat's curiosity about the scarecrow, her concern and the involvement in the deaths? The meeting of the boy and audience knowledge about his and the couple? The ugliness of the deaths? Gary and his decision to run for the police - the plausibility, the inserted memories of his athletics career, middle age and his exertions, his running, encounter with the bushmen, with Joe and Toby? His final collapse? His return to find Pat? Her staying with the boy, her nerviness, drinking, playing cards? Her fright? The discovery of the truth? His hold over her and her manoeuvres to be free? The final confrontation and her imminent death? Being saved by Toby? The relief of rescue after being plunged into darkness?

7. The glimpse of the couple driving, their bickering, their stopping at the house? The presentation of the boy? Suggestions that he was psychotic? The intercutting of the convicts robbing the man in the poultry yard and the suggestion that they had committed the murders and set the father up as the scarecrow? When did it appear to the audience that the boy was the guilty one? The suspense of waiting for him to reveal himself to Pat? His story, his behaviour, the snake, his hostility towards Pat, her striking him, his threats? His fear when confronted? A convincing portrait of a psychotic boy? The implications concerning institutions?

8. The sketching in of the supporting characters - the governor, the prison assistants and the death of the injured man? The bushman and his contribution? The man with the poultry yard and his finally giving information?

9. How well did the film bring the strands together for suspense? Audience identification? Conventional material - but material audiences could identify with and imagine themselves in similar circumstances? Fear, courage, concern? Danger and rescue, relief?

THE PLACE AT THE COAST

Australia, 1983, 93 minutes, Colour.
John Hargreaves, Tushka Bergin, Aileen Britton, Willie Fennell, Michele Fawdon, Julie Hamilton, Heather Mitchell.
Directed by George Ogilvie.

The Place at the Coast is a very pleasing evocation of the early '60s in New South Wales. The setting is a summer holiday with Bateman's Bay, Moruya settings. The focus is on a widowed doctor, played by John Hargreaves, and his teenage daughter, an attractive performance by Tushka Bergin. There are many familiar things about the holidays as the young daughter goes visiting neighbours, studying nature, keeping her art scrapbook, becoming involved in conservation issues. Her father meets an attractive neighbour returning from England after. some years, Heather Mitchell. While much of the action is predictable, it is presented with charm and insight.

There is an excellent supporting cast with many names from Australian film and television filling supporting character roles including Willie Fennell and Garry McDonald?.

The film was directed by George Ogilvie.(Short Changed, Mad Max 3 Beyond Thunderdome)

1. The impact of the film? Its gentleness and humanity?

2. The photography of the coast, the beaches and the forest, beauty? The town, holiday homes? 1961 and its period and style? Authentic atmosphere?

3. 1961 and the still-vivid memories of World War 2, of Australian relationships with England, London? A child's perspective on 1961, the change from the '50s to the '60s? Yet nostalgia for those times?

4. The title of the film (and the original title - The Bee Eater) and its reference to Ellie?

5. Audiences identifying with the situation, the holiday, travel, beauty, the coast, the six weeks' holiday, father and daughter? The memory of the crash and Ellie's memory of the death of her mother? The effect? The arrival at the coast, joy, speed and verve of Ellie, yet the memory of her mother?

6. The bond between Neil and Ellie: parent and daughter, the age difference? Going to the house, alone, the memories? Ellie and her visit to Mrs. Burroughs, friendship, the bread? Her father and his fishing? In the boat? Going to the Montgomerys? Breakfast, Julie, Bob, the bike? The town with King (Kevin) and the ride? Going to Fred and May, happiness in their garden, eating with them? Establishing Ellie in an environment of nature and people?

7. The importance of the beauty of nature, the credits and Ellie's book of leaves and descriptions? The pelicans? Margot's gift of the book? Conservation, the plan for development? The meetings? Ellie's going, Neil and Margot not going? Her upset? Her nickname of Bee Eater and Margot's nickname of Lily?

8. The portrait of Ellie: teenage, her relationship with her father, boys - Julie and the kiss, cry? Meeting Margot and sharing with her, walking? The ordinariness of life on the holiday? The Christmas dinner and the enjoyment, the singing? Her calling out and concern about conservation? her seeing the change in her fattier with Margot? The meeting and their failing to come, her anger? The reconciliation, her love for Margot? Driving away -her future?

9. Neil and his work, the death of his wife? The holiday, fishing? Nan Montgomery and school? Yelling? His opting out of the invitation? Meeting Margot, the bond between them, at home, the beer, the swim? Christmas? Talk about travel? Failing to go to the meeting? Talking plainly to Ellie? Reconciliation? Marriage?

10. May and Fred and their talk, Britain? Fussiness? May in favour of progress? Christmas and the argument? Margot and her relationship with Fred and May?

11. Margot and the talk about her, her sudden appearance, the arrival, Margot's life, talking with Ellie, the birds, sharing, her friendship with Neil, the bond, swim, visits? Care for Ellie? Not going to the meeting? The apology? Marriage?

12. The Montgomerys and Julie, going out to the pictures with Ellie, meeting King in the town? Bob and his anxiety about Julie? The kiss? King and his friendship with Ellie, talking? Youth of the town? Echoes of the '50s with motor bikes and leather? The coming '60s?

13. The Burroughs and their friendship, Mrs. Burroughs and the bread, her outburst with Neil, the weeping, the cartons? Fishing with Mr Burroughs? Christmas and the singing? Fine short sketches of real people?

14. Christmas, the coming of the family, Gran and her memories, helping Ellie? Helen and her husband, the children? The rush, the presents, the beer, the talk, the singing?

15. A glimpse of an Australian family of the past? The atmosphere of the '50s and '60s? The end of the past and the changes of the '60s? Nostalgia from the '80s?

THE PIRATE MOVIE

Australia, 1982, 105 minutes, Colour.
Christopher Aitkens, Kristy Mc Nicoll, Ted Hamilton, Maggie Kirkpatrick, Gary Mc Donald.
Directed by Ken Annakin.

The Pirate Movie, at nine million dollars, was the most expensive movie made in Australia up to the end of 1981.The film, however, looks like an expensive scratch concert. There were a lot of production difficulties: director Richard Franklin withdrew some weeks before filming, there were many discussions about the script, writer Trevor Farrant disowned the film after its release.

The film is at pains to offer its gratitude to the Australian Government and Australia for co-operation - as a result of 1981 tax incentives. The film utilises Australian coastal scenery and the Loch Ard Gorge. Chirnside Park is used for the stately 19th century home. Kristy Mc Nicoll was a popular young actress from Family as well as films like Little Darlings, Only When I Laugh. Christopher Atkins was a popular teenage star with The Blue Lagoon. Executive producer and actor Ted Hamilton leads an Australian supporting cast. Bill Kerr overacts as the Major General. Garry Mc Donald is excellent, winning an A.F.I. nomination for the best supporting actor, for his imitation of Inspector Clouseau as well being leader of the Gilbert and Sullivan police.

The film is loosely based on Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance - and uses a number of the songs with updated lyrics. It was not a rival to the Linda Ronstadt film of The Pirates. The film takes the conventions of dream and fantasy with acknowledgements to many films which it imitates e.g. Picnic at Hanging Rock, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars. There is a blend of jolliness as well as amateurishness in the production and acting - and a great number of sex jokes which are presented and passed over rapidly. The film was aimed at a teenage audience - and as a piece of expensive frothy entertainment it might pass a rainy afternoon or other. Direction is by Ken Annakin who made such films as Those Magnificent Men, The Longest Day, The Battle of the Bulge and several Disney films.

1. Entertainment? For what audience? International, Australian? The production values? The Controversy about its status as an Australian film? The writer disowning it?

2. Australian production values: technical skills. coastal and Werribee locations? The musical score? The choreography (by David Atkins)? The American and Australian cast?

3. The success of the film as musical: the basic Gilbert and Sullivan songs, the added lyrics? The romantic songs? The happy ending finale? The pleasant romantic touch? The Gilbert and Sullivan plot and its use - for fantasy and dream?

4. The satire on film-making? The opening credits and the old-fashioned pirate movies? The demonstration to onlookers of how to make action films? The artificiality of the dream film and incorporating modern characters into the dream? The allusions to so many films and the visual satire on Picnic at Hanging Rock, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, the Inspector Clouseau films?

5. The introduction with the modern aspects of film-making and demonstrations? The characters to reappear in the dreams? The girls and the glamour? Mabel with her glasses? Becoming the victim of the other girls, falling overboard?

6. Mabel's dream: the change in her character and personality, strong-minded heroine, attractive, bossy, romantic? Her ability to change her dream at the end? Her father and his poverty, the lavish house, the many daughters and their wanting to be married? Her sighting Frederick and falling in love? The devices of the songs and falling in love? The clash with the pirates? Getting the map from the pirate king's back and the mock seduction scene? Diving for treasure? The siege of the house? The clash with the pirates, her riding for the police? The happy ending and the song-and-dance finale? Kristy Mc Nicoll's vitality carrying the role?

7. Frederick as orphan, the battle for his birthday present, his turning 21, his being set adrift, sighting Mabel and her sisters, falling in love, his romantic touch, his inexperience with girls? The getting of the map from the pirate king's back, diving for treasure? Rescuing the girls? His honesty in siding with the pirates? The final fight? The grand finale? Christopher Atkins in this role?

8. The pirate king - and the irony of his being the loud film promoter? His songs, Gilbert and Sullivan? Esteem for Frederick, his attraction towards Mabel and the humour of the seduction scene, Ruth's love for him? Greed, deals, fights? The happy ending with Ruth? The range of pirate characters?

9. The Major General and his cowardice, his Gilbert and Sullivan song? His involvement in the finale? The many daughters and their being sex-mad -wanting to get married? The finale for marriage?

10. The Gilbert and Sullivan police and their choreography? Garry Mc Donald's imitation of Inspector Clouseau?

11. The conventions and action of the pirate movie? Popular entertainment?.

12. The continued lacing of the screenplay with sex jokes - humour, presentation, not dwelling on them and passing to the next?

13. The atmosphere of expensive scratch concert? A successful entertainment movie?

A PERSONAL HISTORY OF THE AUSTRALIAN SURF

Australia, 1983, 52 minutes, Colour.
Michael Blakemore.
Directed by Michael Blakemore.

A Personal History of the Australian Surf is an award-winning documentary/feature film. It is the memoir of theatre director Michael Blakemore about growing up in Sydney in the '30s, '40s and early '50s. Blakemore introduces the film and discusses his memories. He also dramatises episodes of his life and he plays his father whom he found a very stern and difficult man to get on with. These scenes vividly re-create aspects of the pressures on an Australian boy growing up - the expectations of the masculine image and the ruggedness expected. Blakemore offers a critique of the attitudes of the times and illustrates how he broke through them. There is humour and warmth in the film even though Blakemore's memories of his father had not been healed. The film is an interesting example of a cinema form that should be used far more.

1. An enjoyable film? The nature of a memoir? The blend of documentary with drama? The possibility for the protagonist to speak to the audience, to reflect? Effective and enlightening entertainment?

2. The personality of Michael Blakemore: genial presence, invitation to the audience to participate in his film? His quality of insight, ability to speak? His visiting Sydney in 1980 and looking again at the houses, the coastline and the beaches? his remembering the past and re-enacting it? How well did he capture it? The use of photos, newsreels, short films from the early period? The blend of techniques? Style, pace, editing? The use of the Australian surf - realism, symbolism? His comment on the surf?

3. The title of the film? Its highlighting Blakemore's experience of the surf? Its highlighting Australian attitudes and values? The sub-title and the irony of the heterosexual poofter? Blakemore as a heterosexual young Australian interested in the arts - interests commonly associated with homosexuals? The pressures for a boy in growing up? The surf as the soothing element in his life? His ability to give it up when he went to England and begin his career?

4. The emphasis on the personal history of Blakemore? His being seen as a child, growing in the world of his father, the picture of his family, his father and his proposition to him, comparatively no mention of his mother? The revelation of the private and public worlds? The father taking his son for swims in the harbour and the expectations of diving and swimming in the pool? The contrast with the magic of the surf? Holidays and the surf? The young boy and his interest in theatre e.g. the magic show? Problems of puberty? The greater public schools with their tradition of sport and Cadets? The expectations for a medical student - and his breaking through them by socialising? Acting and the leading to a career in theatre? The point of view of a man who succeeded in his profession and succeeded outside Australia?

5. The film's insight into the pressures on the Australian boy: father's expectations, swimming, success in sport, 'macho image', boarding school discipline, his father not wanting his son to dance, amused at the magic show, not wanting him to see so many films, hoping the Cadets would toughen him? Pressures as regards career? Pressures as regards the advantages received and the ingratitude of waste? Blakemore's seeing the surf as a freeing element, a healing element? The critique of these pressure? His looking back with good humour? The point of view of a 'straight poofter?

6. The visualising of the sea, the Pacific, the Sydney beaches? The visuals of the surf, the waves, the boards, the lifesavers? The humour of these images? The contrast with the harbour? Water, sand, people, swimming? The purifying and tranquilising of the surf? Surf as a symbol of youth? A bond possible of affection with his father? (The irony of Blakemore acting the role of his father?)

7. The image of his father and Blakemore acting it out? An example of psychodrama? His stances, laughter, whistling, cross-legged? Fights and winning? His sardonic humour especially as regards his death? The brief allusion to his mother?

8. The background of Sydney society, wealth, fashionable suburbs, holiday homes. the best schools, university, golf club, money?

9. Themes of education - for what? Medicine and its uselessness for Blakemore? The background of the magic show, his knowledge of films and cinema? Acting? The advice and help of Robert Morley?

10. The insertion of the old films about surfing to highlight the Australian image of swimmer and lifesaver?

11. The value of the memoir: returning and reliving, seeing the past with fresh eyes, interpreting places and people? Joy? Healing? A re-assessment of one's life?

PEOPLE LIKE US

Australia, 1980, 90 minutes, Colour.
Lucky Grills, David Aitkins, Kit Taylor.
Directed by Ian Coughlan.

People Like Us is an Australian telemovie, a television pilot for the Channel 7 Network written and produced by Michael Lawrence. It did not eventuate as a series. Lawrence was the writer of the very successful mini-series of 1983, Return to Eden. It was directed by Ian Coughlin, writer-director of the feature thriller Alison's Birthday (1979).

The film capitalises on the popularity for Australian viewers of Sydney suburban situations - the successful Number 96 in the '70s and The Sullivans and Carson's Law in the '70s and '80s. As with this film, not every series was a success in fact. A project portraying a family in Sydney's western suburbs, Kings, failed in 1983.

The film is fairly contrived, seems to have too much melodrama for one Sydney street - at least for general exhibition. A competent cast does what it can with strange and sometimes exaggerated characters.

1. The film focuses on several groups in the street:

a. Fran - the model, out of work, her relationship with Mark, the encounter with the masked bandit. Her relationship with her sister Annabelle and her nephews. Friendship with Mark after the clash with him. His training the boys in boxing. Annabelle and her separation, Jim Brooks and the attraction. Her work in the hospital - and discussions with Dawn about her pregnancy. Involvement in the problems in the street.

b. Ivy Jones and her possessive, outspoken and prudish ways. The effect on Sharon. Sharon and her diets? Mrs. Jones for bidding her daughter to see Tony Stanley? The conversations with Mrs. Johnson, suspicions that Jim Brooks was the bandit, the attack on Sharon and going to the drive-in to drag her home, Sharon's running away and her being distraught. Reporting Brooks to the police and their reaction. Everybody trying to make her learn her lesson. Sharon and her feeling that she was overweight, unattractive. Her running away from home and being assaulted. The kindly but ineffectual father in the house.

c. The Stanleys: the father and his work in the shop, heart condition, his wanting the best for Tony, especially with his football. The supportive wife. Tina and her place in the house. Tony and his training, his wanting to write music and perform, lying to his parents, not wanting to be in the shop. Taking Sharon to the drive-in and the uproar. The going to the baths. His reconciliation with his father and with the family. Suspicion that he was the bandit. Grandmother and her obsession with sex.

d. Mrs Johnson and her kindliness, her boarders. Mark and Jim on the buses, Mark and his attraction towards Fran and clashes with her, athletic type, training the boys. Jim and his being enigmatic. Being taken by the police.
attraction towards Annabelle. The fact that he was a dropout millionaire in disguise!!

e. Dawn and Ted and their return from overseas, Ted losing his job, Dawn and her gambling, the phone cut off, borrowing money from Annabelle, her being pregnant, the build-up to the clashes, the happy ending.

2. And another day ...

The possibility of the pilot being accepted as the beginning of a series. The reasons for it not being accepted by the Seven Network? The popularity of this kind of serial for Australian viewers? The picturing of life in the city? Background of social questions of the '80s e.g. unemployment, violence? Audiences identifying with characters and situations?

PALM BEACH

Australia, 1979, 89 minutes, Colour.
Nat Young, Ken Brown, Bryan Brown, Julie Mc Gregor, John Flaus, Amanda Berry.
Directed by Albie Thoms.

Palm Beach is a feature by experimental writer-director Albie Thoms. Noted for shorts and a feature about the artist Marinetti as well as an experimental feature about Sydney beaches and the way of life there, Thoms has also worked in commercial television in Australia. Using professional actors but allowing them to improvise from the basic story, he has created an interesting experimental feature. With a great deal of thought and themes, the film portrays the way of life around Palm Beach and Sydney's North Shore - the surfers, the unemployed, the drug scene, the police, the runaways etc. Authentic location shooting adds to the effect of the film. It is not the kind of film that wide audiences enjoy, it is also quite experimental and with some of the improvising uneven and at times tedious. However, on reflection the film has a great deal to say about the way of life in Sydney in the '70s. It is an example of the potential of experimental film-making which can communicate with a wider audience than those involved in experiment.

1. For what audience was the film made? The response of the popular audience? Student audience? Film makers?

2. The backing of an experimental fund - the type of film that should be made by this fund? The attitudes of the maker towards his subject. style, actors? The importance of improvisation? The camera styles, the quality of the film stock, its graininess? The various shots and their impact?

3. Colour photography, Sydney locations and the atmosphere of the North Shore? The great prominence on sound: the radio stations and the variety of their programmes, the disc-jockeys and the playing of music, comments, current affairs, news. advertisements? How well placed were these radio sounds? Topical information? The styles of the music played? The use of television for illustrating urban life., information, atmosphere? Bill Collins and his questions about the film 'Deep In My Heart'? The effect of the immersion in the sounds of Sydney.

4. Palm Beach as an environment? Its being part of the city of Sydney, the environment of the water, the sun, the surf? The people living there and the time available for water sports especially the surfing? Surfing and its skills, pleasure, as a sport? The corresponding idleness of people who watch? This environment and affluence. a place for drugs., a haven for dropouts, casual relationships.. sexual encounters, drinking, crime? What was the film saying about the influence of environment on situations and characters?

5. The importance of structure within the plot: the introduction to Palm Beach as a place, an environment? The introduction of each of the main characters? The establishing of the various strands of the stories? The plot's skill in weaving their interplay? The ironic comment on the other? An establishing of a moral point of view, values point of view? The film's comment on each of the characters. their situations and choices, decisions?

6. The film's portrait of an aspect of Sydney: the North Shore, the beaches, the suburbs, the shopping centres, the various houses and their affluence? The people who live there and their occupations - shops, film projectionists etc.? The High School? The cars, the police? How well pictured was Sydney in the Nick and Joe strand of the plot with their going around to find sources of L.S.D.?

7. Nick and Wendy and their lifestyle? The contrast with the visit from Joe and his background of the southern beaches, the comments on Maroubra? Their swim, introduction to the house, the arrangement of Nick and Wendy. The importance of their tour and the continued talk, the sharing of experiences, the establishing of their values? Information about the way of life? The various types of people they met with their co-operation, fears, attacks? The party and the drug scene? The irony of Joe being in league with the police and his giving information? The visualising of his return to Maroubra and the pool scene?

8. Mrs. Adams and her emotional telling of the story of Leilani? How well did she represent the ordinary middle class middle aged woman concerned about her daughter, unable to cope? The hiring of Larry Kent? Kent and his interrogations, walking the beaches, the people that he asked and his manner? (The presentation of himself as the equivalent of the American private eye - seeing him at home, his hairpiece, his estimate of himself -a lonely American style detective in Australia?) The places that he searched - the High School and the information given, the background of the school as a scene for drugs, the art class, the beaches?

9. Leilani and her running away from school, her setting up with the artist? The reasons for her dropping out, her search for kicks? The encounter with the American sailor and drug runner? As an adolescent, her age, her way of life? Her being at the party, her night with Joe and the giving of information? Her future - especially when information got round that she was the source for the police raid? A good sketch of the way of life of this kind of teenage drop-out in Sydney?

10. The contrast with the Kate and Paul story? Kate and her relationship with Paul, living on the North Shore, their domestic set-up? The significance of her going to Macquarie University, attending the course on women and the content of the lecture? Her personality, love for Paul, the details of home life? The preparation for the outing, her dance at the club, her presence at the party? Her reaction to Paul's shooting the policemen, supporting him?

11. How central was Paul to the film? As a character in himself, the importance of his being out of work, at the beach, his need for drugs, seeing him seeking work? His serious approach to life but inability to cope? Dependence on Julie? Getting ready for the party, his presence at the party, finding the gun and taking it? What motivated him to rob the supermarket? The reaction of the people there, his running, shooting the policeman? His reaction after the shooting, fear, disguising himself as a woman to leave? His hiding out on the rocks and being caught? A credible presentation of an unemployed middle-aged man trying to support himself but being weak and turning to crime?

12. The presentation of the officials, the ordinary police and their coping, the high officials especially those concerned with narcotics? The narcotics officer in his affluent office over the harbour and his link with Joe? The ordinary police and their interrogations and searches of houses in trying to find Paul?

13. How well did the film present the range of people who lived in the area, especially the shop assistants, projectionists, people at the supermarket?

14. The drug way of life and people's needs, the turnover of money, the links, the taken for granted attitudes about drugs?

15. How well did the film immerse the audience in the way of life of the area? How much knowledge at the end, how much sympathy? Sharing the point of view of the people, differing? The aerial entry to Palm Beach, the aerial exit? The value of this kind of film experience?

PASSING STONES

US, 2000, 91 minutes, Black and white.
Roger Majkowski, Orlagh Cassidy, Tom Ellis, Thomas Majkowski.
Directed by Roger Makowski.

Passing Stones is the work of the writer, director, editor, Roger Majkowski, who also plays the central role of Leon. His brother Thomas plays his brother in the film, crack addict, Anthony. There is very good support from Tom Ellis as their other brother.

The film is offbeat and bizarre. It has the spirit of US independent film-making, the particular vision of the film-maker, manifesting the limitations of experience as well as of budget. However, the film keeps audience attention, wondering what will happen next - even to the happy ending with the film moving into colour and the older brother, Gary, videotaping yet another disgusting practical joke. This means that the film veers between the serious and the comic, the romantic and the film noir.

The film focuses on a brother who questions the reality of God all the time, going to church (Presbyterian) and talking to the crucifix as well as to a portrait of Jesus. He remembers his experience of God as a child. As the film progresses, he encounters a strange man who kills himself, sends a letter in Polish which he gets his brother to translate, which leads them to a family where money is buried under a grave. All kinds of complications ensue, especially romantically with the woman of the family, her senile mother, her crack-addicted sister. The older brother, Gary, is in a relationship with his 'wife', played by a man.

1. The impact of the film? Entertainment? Serious and comic? Romantic and satiric? Black - even to practical jokes? The seriousness of the intention of the film-maker?

2. Black and white photography? The editing and pace? The final Technicolor practical joke?

3. The title, reference to mortality, illness?

4. The focus on Leon: seeing him in church, his dialogue with God, praying as a child, God not hearing the prayers of adults? The nature of his faith, prayer throughout the film, his wondering about the reality of God? His paper rounds, his collecting the money, the encounters with Helen and her complaints, with Henry and his eccentricities? Henry and his suicide? Leon's relationship with his mother and her haranguing him, his despair of her? His visit to his father's grave, blaming his brother Anthony for not going to the funeral? The absence of Gary? His relationship with Anthony, drugs, his being under the domination of his mother, wanting to go to Kmart to buy a gerbil? His finding Gary, getting him to translate the letter, scandalised by his 'wife'? Going to Sheila and Mary, the translation of the letter, the finding of the money? Sheila's resistance and antagonism, dependence on him? Happiness at finding the money? The sexual encounter after the visit to her father's house? Leon and his relationship with his brothers, Gary and the disappearance of the money? The search, the desperation? Letting the old lady loose and following her and recovering the money? Gary's attack, knocking him out, threatening to burn the money? Burying him in the trunk, Leon afraid that he was buried alive? Glad to be alive, with the burnt money? His future with Sheila?

5. Anthony, the younger brother, crack and his dependence? His being dominated by his mother? The antagonism with Leon? Going with the letter to Gary, his more tolerant attitude towards his wife? Following on, the encounter with Mary, sharing the drug addiction? The search for the money, his going off the drugs, wanting to be with Mary for the future? A happy ending? Gary's advice that drug addiction is a good choice if that's all you want in life?

6. Gary, the absent brother, living with his wife, the genuine relationship? His translating the letter, going with Leon? His dependence on his tablets for balance? His wife concerned? Finding the money, staying with Sheila and Mary? His own schemes, telling his wife, her turning up? In the house, the dancing? His antagonism towards Leon, knocking him out, taking the money, putting him in the box? His disgusting videos and paying people for excremental behaviour? The final joke? The character of his wife, as a transvestite, relationship with Gary, more commonsensed, the tenderness with Mary? Affirming her? The finale?

7. Sheila and Mary, antagonism towards Leon, the information about the letter, the true place for the money? Their mother and her senility? The recovery of the money, brighter prospects? Their mother wandering, her anxiety for her mother rather than the money? Leon trying to calm her down? The visit to her father's house, his memories, her resentment, the change? Sexual relationship with Leon? The return, the search for her mother, the happy ending?

8. Mary, the seeming Tourette's Syndrome along with the crack addiction? Her personality, dependence, relationship with Sheila? Friendship with Anthony, the potential for their being together?

9. The mother, senility, searching for the father? Wandering off with the money, taking it back to the cemetery? On the roof? Leading Leon to the money? Her calming down again? The contrast with the boys' mother and her dominance?

10. Dysfunctional people, their search, the possibilities for happiness, ordinary lives, sufferings, addictions, sexual orientations, family relationships? A black humorous comment on all of these themes?

THE PROPOSITION

US, 1997, 109 minutes, Colour.
Kenneth Branagh, Madeleine Stowe, William Hurt, Blythe Danner, Neil Patrick Harris, Robert Loggia, Josef Sommer.
Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.

The Proposition is a film about priesthood, surrogacy. It is set in 1935, in affluent Boston (the period of the Kennedys).

The screenplay might have seemed improbable at the time, but in view of crises in Catholic priesthood over the last thirty years, it does not seem so improbable. The focus is on a wealthy family, an adviser to President Roosevelt, played by William Hurt. He is unable to give his wife a child. They plan surrogacy with an eminent young lawyer, played by Neil Patrick Harris. When he becomes infatuated with the wife, he is killed. Audiences and most of the characters presume that the wealthy financier was behind the death. It is only at the end that it is revealed that he is not. (Though, if people listened to the dialogue, especially that spoken by Robert Loggia at the beginning, they will be aware of this plot twist.)

The film was also complex in focusing on the central character, an English priest, sent to work in Boston by his influential financier father (who turns out to be the older brother of William Hurt). By this stage, audiences will realise, of course, that he is the surrogate father of William Hurt's sons.

However, while the film has a great deal of melodrama, it ultimately focuses on human relationships, sin and repentance, faith, discovering God. There is a quotation that "sinners know God, while priests are in search of Him. This is very much the territory explored by such Catholic writers as Graham Greene.

The film focuses on a consensual relationship, issues of conscience and repentance, a change of heart on the part of the priest and his negotiation with the financier as to the future of the children as well as his own future in the priesthood.

The film is somewhat in the tradition of The Thorn Birds, but has a stronger underlying moral inquiry.

1. The impact of this kind of religious drama? Melodrama? On Catholic audiences - traditional? Liberal? Questioning? The impact on non-Catholic audiences who do not realise the implications of the issues?

2. The Boston setting, affluent mansions, business centres, the church (catering for the rich as well as the poor)? The re-creation of the period, 1935, the cars, décor and costumes? The romantic musical score?

3. The title, its focus on the surrogacy issue, the stances of Arthur, of Eleanor? Of Roger Martin? Of Cyril? Audience response to the surrogacy issue, the rights of the parents, the repercussions on the mother, on the young man who stands in as surrogate, his emotional involvement, sense of paternity? The repercussions for the priest as father of the surrogate children, assisting in the birth?

4. The focus on men's and women's issues, the tradition in the church, the dominance of men, moral decision-making by men, Eleanor and her image of God as female, feminist issues, the discussions about Shakespeare's sister as an image for equality between men and women, the attitude of Arthur, of Cyril, of Michael?

5. The opening and Michael telling the story, his voice-over - its serious and literary tone, a dash of the pretentious and the portentous?

6. Hannibal and Arthur's will, asking for explanations from Michael, his blessing? Listening to the story? Michael telling the story sixteen years after the events?

7. Arthur, his dominance, Michael not wanting to meet him, the audience not knowing why? The introduction after Mass, the eventual visit after putting off the appointment? The argument at the table about Nazi finances, the revelation that Samuel Barrett was his father? The repercussions on Arthur? The later revelation that Arthur was in love with Michael's mother, that she left with his brother, that his brother abandoned Cyril? The animosity within the family? The repercussions with Father Dryer and his kowtowing to the rich family, wanting Michael to keep the appointment, the discovery of the truth about the relationship, the discovery of the truth about the children?

8. Eleanor, successful writer, in love with Arthur, wanting children, the plan for the surrogacy? The meeting with Roger, his timidness, her being prepared to let him go, his shyness in the bathroom, the encounter? His return? His growing infatuation, phone calls, coming to the house, his death, her seeing him at the pauper's grave? Her collapse and the miscarriage? Her blaming Arthur, confiding in Michael? Their meeting together, sharing? Arthur and his concern, Cyril and her spying? Their not becoming lovers, the kiss, Cyril and her manipulation of the situation, coming to the confessional, giving Michael the information, his coming to the house, the encounter? Eleanor and her becoming pregnant, letting Father Dryer know, telling Michael, wanting to leave? The separation between the two? Her haemorrhaging, the doctor calling for Father Dryer, Michael going, assisting at the birth, Arthur's anguish in making the decision about the children? Her death? Her funeral, the irony of her being buried in the pauper's tomb, close to Michael, the visit of Arthur?

9. Michael and his service of the church, joining the church because it was a company his father could not buy, going to Boston? His dedication to his work, fighting against his father, serving the poor? The antagonism towards Arthur and revelation of the truth? The friendship with Eleanor, going riding with her? The meetings, the phone calls? His falling in love, the kiss? Cyril manipulating him? His going on the night, the sexual encounter, the paternity of the children? His final deal, overhearing Arthur questioning Cyril, learning the truth, giving him the children? His future as a priest - and his comments on what he had learnt?

10. Cyril, her poor background, being welcomed into the house, being made a lady, adviser, in love with Samuel, his jilting her and going with Arthur's fiancee? Helping bring up Arthur, her surrogate son, her guidance, being against the surrogacy, changing her mind? Advice and care for Eleanor? The revelation that she had killed Roger? Her protectiveness, the second young man, her going to the confessional, telling Michael about the situation, sitting vigil all night? The birth? Sitting at the coffin, Arthur asking her the truth, her admitting it?

11. Hannibal, the business associate, his explaining everything to Roger? His being in favour of the surrogacy? Arthur ringing him and the audience assuming that he was ordering Roger killed? The truth, Hannibal's visit to Michael after sixteen years?

12. Roger, the awkward young man, intelligent, applying for the job, reacting against the proposition, the rivalry, the money, his taking the job? His travelling to the house, wanting to leave, the nervousness, the flat tyre, the rain, his staying? His returning, falling in love, the child his? The scenes he caused, his death, buried in the pauper's grave? The police investigation, Michael fostering it, Father Dryer's antagonism, the case being closed?

13. A picture of the church in the US in the 1930s? Observance, church attendance, moral stances? Sexual morality, the decisions for surrogacy, the role of confession in reconciliation? The privileges of the rich within the church? The issues perceived from the perspective of the 1990s?

PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE

US, 2002, 91 minutes, Colour.
Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Luis Guzman, Philip Seymour Hoffmann.
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.

'UnAmerican' used to be a hostile word in the 40s and 50s to describe attitudes and actions which were thought to undermine society. It is now a good word to describe Paul Thomas Anderson's films (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia) because they are not in the Hollywood style (even with a happy Hollywood ending) and could undermine what Hollywood expects of a romantic comedy. This is 90 minutes of how Barry fell in love with Lena. It is also the story of awkward, socially inept, put-upon Barry whose low self-image leads him to ring a sex phone service where he gets more than he bargained for from a pack of violent cons. Anderson wrote the screenplay for Adam Sandler, usually a vacant and inept comic character, who shows that he could do a transition from dumb and dumber comedies to serious roles like Jim Carrey. Definitely idiosyncratic.

1. An American comedy - in a not-American style? More European? Offbeat and idiosyncratic? The effect on the popular audience?

2. Adam Sandler and his career, expectations of him in a comedy? Deadpan style, nerdish? Meeting Paul Thomas Anderson with his curriculum of films? A satisfactory combination with Anderson using Sandler's talents for more serious and effective purposes?

3. The Los Angeles settings: the warehouse and the streets? The supermarkets and the apartments? The contrast with Hawaii and its landscapes, the streets and the hotels? Utah?

4. The importance of the sound design of the film: the cars and the sudden crashes, the incessant talk, the music and its pounding style? An atmosphere of cacophony in Los Angeles? In the streets of Hawaii? Part of Barry feeling punch-drunk by the environment in which he lived?

5. The visual style of the film, camera angles and perspectives? Editing? The colour palettes to mark the transitions in the plot?

6. Adam Sandler as Barry Egan? His appearance, screen presence, facial expressions - and lack of them? Manner of speaking? Awkward, shy, introverted? Put down by people? The phone calls that he made, especially about the Frequent Flyer points? His desk, his busier office? Arriving early at work? The sudden crash in the street? The piano left at the side of the road and his later taking it an putting it in his office, getting it to work, playing it? Lena arriving and her wanting to leave her car? Lance and his coming to work, his friendship with Barry, the other members of the firm coming to work? The film situating Barry in his environment?

7. At work, the deals on the phone, the broken implement? Going to the supermarket and buying the puddings? Searching for the health foods and the points for Frequent Flyers? Phones and sales, his sisters incessantly ringing him and checking whether he was going to the party? Their reactions on the phone? His wearing a suit, going to the party? The sisters all talking about him, the jokes about Gay Boy? His incessantly being picked on, his sudden fury and breaking the glass panels? Asking his brother-in-law, the dentist, about a psychiatrist, his tears? Secrecy - and the dentist telling his wife and she confronting Barry?

8. This is the context for his call to the sex line? The comedy about wanting all he personal details, credit card numbers, social security etc? Georgia and the parody of the sex line operator, the sexual talk, the contrast with Barry's responses? Her ringing the next morning, the incessant calls, putting pressure on Barry, his anger, stopping his credit card, her demanding money?

9. The contrast with Utah, the girl and her discussions with Dean, hooking Barry and wanting to get the money from him? The brothers, their driving to Los Angeles, forcing Barry to get the $500 out of his bank account? His explaining that he wasn't rich?

10. Lena and her friendship with Barry's sister, nice, leaving the car, wanting to go out with him, telling the truth about her organising to meet him? His reaction in the restaurant, suddenly going and smashing the toilet? Being ousted from the restaurant? Going to Lena's apartment, his anger in leaving, her phone call and his return, the kiss? His decision to go to Hawaii - and trying to redeem his Frequent Flyer points but having to wait six or eight weeks? Nervousness on the plane? In Hawaii, the noise in the street, the phone calls, suspicions about Lena, meeting her, the dinner, sharing stories, going to her room, falling in love?

11. The brothers pursuing Barry in their car in Los Angeles, the crash? Lena going to hospital, the tests, Barry disappearing? Going to Utah, confronting Dean and the girl, Dean having a haircut, the potentially violent confrontation but solely a war of words and satisfaction?

12. Barry's return to Los Angeles, apologising to Lena - and the satisfactory Hollywood happy ending?

13. The picture of the American male, put down and having to cope, the possibilities for success, gauche in his manner, victim of the sex operators and the conmen? Finding redemption through love?

PANIC ROOM

US, 2002, 124 minutes, Colour.
Jodie Foster, Forrest Whitaker, Jared Leto, Dwight Yoakim, Kirsten Stewart, Anne Magnussen, Patrick Bachau.
Directed by David Fincher.

The first thing I noticed amid the critics' chatter after watching Jodie Foster being hounded and terrified in the press preview of Panic Room was that they were declaring, some of them unduly loudly, that they couldn't really believe the plot because Jodie Foster was so cold - there was no warmth in her screen presence. And this from reviewers whose sensitivity generally blocks out a tear as soon as it insinuates itself on to the screen. Since Nicole Kidman was to have appeared in the role but backed out at the time of her marriage crisis, they all agreed that she would have been far better, far warmer. And then they all might have liked the film. The conversation then turned to their disappointment at David Fincher who had impressed them with Seven and Fight Club. They complained that he was showing off, too stuck on technique with his prowling camera, especially focussing on the two second tour-de-force where his camera went between the handle and the wall of a coffee jug. That seemed to me to be pretty good for two seconds of film time. But, critics when they get together and try to impress one another and prove that they're no suckers...

Which brings me back to Jodie Foster as Meg, trapped with her teenage daughter, besieged by three burglars in the early hours of the morning on their first night in their new house. They had taken refuge in an impregnable panic room and spend most of the film using their ingenuity to ward off attack, to survive and then turn the tables on their intruders. The more I see Jodie Foster in films, the more she seems to me to be and to portray strong women. She is usually very objective in her dealings with situations and with people. She doesn't waste words and delivers them in a forceful, sometimes clipped, frequently measured style. Whether she is Clarice Starling psychologically fencing with Hannibal Lecter or Anna Leonowens confronting the King of Siam about the house outside the palace that he promised her, she is clear, logical and strong. And she has been admired by critics and audiences alike for these qualities.

In taking on the role in Panic Room, she has to play terrified, anxious about her daughter's health, and prone to a touch of claustrophobia. It is not surprising that, as the film progresses, she tends to take charge, fends off enquiring police at the front door and finally takes on the homicidal maniac played by Dwight Yoakim.

But what of her feelings? what of her emotions? She doesn't go raving through the house screaming her lungs out. She doesn't withdraw, lips quivering. She does not gush with anguish and, then, relief. Rather, she tries to convey by her concern, by acknowledging her fears, by her bravery, that this is a most frightening experience for her. Jodie Foster acts with her facial expressions, especially her eyes, with her pauses, her tones of voice, her body language which, when directed to her daughter, combines tenderness and strength. She communicates her profound emotions rather than her deep feelings. The critics missed this subtlety by which she conveys intense warmth. They mistook her reticence in overt expression for coldness and lack of emotion.

A suspenseful thriller.

1. This film within David Fincher's films? Dark? Mysterious? Sense of menace? The dark side of human nature? Confined inner dark spaces?

2. The New York settings, the exteriors, the season, the beauty of the streets, the interiors, the camera ranging around the house? The weather, the rain, the film taking place mainly during one night?

3. The camera techniques, prowling around the floors, going up the stairwells, the stairs themselves, going through the handles of pots etc? The use of the security screens?

4. The title, the explanation of the room, its reasons for security, its security itself, the various techniques used to make the inhabitants safe?

5. The plausibility of the plot, the sense of realism, the contrived situation? Audiences identifying with Meg and her daughter? Women identifying with the mother and daughter?

6. Meg and Jodie Foster's screen personality, strength, intensity, interiority, lack of expressive emotionality? Yet her sense of claustrophobia, panic, care and love for her daughter, resentment of her husband and the new woman in his life? Her presence of mind, her ways of combating the burglars, dealing with the police? Her daughter, age, experience? Caught in this situation? Seeing them on the street, with the estate agents, going into the building, touring it, the daughter skating? The introduction to the panic room? Setting up the situation for the film?

7. The night of settling in, Meg, tired, hurt by her experience with her husband, the prospect of the new house? Her daughter, her health concerns? Meg alone, the manual and fixing the security? The celebration, the pizza? Mother and daughter arguments? Settling down for the night?

8. The three burglars and their approach, outside the house, torches, windows, talking, plans? Each of their backgrounds: Burnham, designing the panic room, security and technological skills? His need for money and agreement to be in on the robbery plan? Junior, a member of the squabbling family, due to inherit, but wanting it all, deceiving the others about the extent of the wealth buried in the safe in the panic room? Raoul, bus driver, wearing a mask, employed by Junior, sullen, coming along for the robbery? His own plans? Their arrival, the time in the early morning, getting in, the basic plan, yet Junior with his lack of decisiveness and planning? Each of the three characters, their involvement, their interactions with each other? The potential for violence?

9. Meg restless, getting up, going to the toilet, seeing the burglars, hurrying her daughter into the panic room, being secure? The setting up of the predicament?

10. The use of the panic room: the security screens, the PA system, the ventilation, the burglars bashing the floor, using the gas? Meg and her ingenuity, turning the gas and the fire back on themselves? The torch and signalling to the man in the opposite apartment? His being irritated, closing his curtains? The phones, the lines, getting the mobile, getting out of the panic room just in time to get back? Linking up, Meg ringing her husband? Being cut off?

11. The tensions within the group, who was the leader, knowledge of the various skills needed, Burnham and his expertise, ignoring the other two, Junior and his becoming more jittery, less prepared, Raoul and his mask, deadly? The attempts to get into the panic room, holding up the cards to the video cameras? The threats? Burnham and the use of the gas? The final deals about the money, Raoul and his callous killing of Junior?

12. The daughter and her tension, her needing a needle, getting sick, the treatment? Meg going out, getting the medicine kit? The men getting in, Burnham giving the daughter the needle and helping her survive?

13. Stephen, his arrival, responding to his wife's call, his being brutally bashed and tied? The lure for Meg to come out? Her eventually coming out, his being set up, yet his bashing the burglars?

14. The arrival of the police, the interrogation, Meg going to the door, Burnham and Raoul watching it through the security cameras, her stalling the police, their offering her the opportunity to tell the truth, her rejecting it?

15. Meg out of the panic room, the use of the PA, bashing the screens and breaking them (and their wondering why they didn't do that originally)? In the dark, wounding Raoul, the confrontation with the guns, the shooting? The finale, Burnham going, coming back, shooting Raoul and saving mother and daughter? His attempt to escape, on the wall, losing all the money?

16. The postscript: mother and daughter in the park, on the bench, looking for their new home?

17. How effective an exercise in getting an audience to share in terror and panic?