Budding young filmmakers used to at least have the decency to wait until they were in their late 20s before coming up with impressive debuts, but Emma-Kate Croghan, the latest in an ever-growing pool of talented young female Australian directors, is a mere 23. Her "Love and Other Catastrophes", which is opening commercially after screening at the New Directors/New Films festival, is a precociously accomplished effort that bodes well for a Hollywood career. Although minor by any definition and unlikely to break out beyond the art house market, the film is loose, engaging and entertaining.
A casually plotted account of the personal travails of a bunch of attractive college students during the course of a day, the film lurches from one episode to another. Key plot points involve the search for a roommate, a large unpaid library fine, the death of a professor just before he's had the chance to sign crucial class transfer papers, and, of course, relationship problems.
Mia and Alice are film students who room together; Mia's girlfriend wants to move in with her, but Mia fears commitment. Alice is still searching for the perfect man -- and has definite criteria: He must be honest, left-handed and like the same movies as her. Alice becomes infatuated with Ari, a classics student and the campus Lothario. She wants him to move into the apartment, but he recommends his friend Michael, a shy medical student who, as she discovers by the end of the film, turns out to be Alice's soulmate.
Although obviously low-budget, this is an accomplished and stylish effort that boasts clever dialogue and charming performances by its cast of unknowns. Refreshingly low-key and unpretentious, there are only a few bits that constitute overreaching, such as a whimsical fantasy segment in which the film-class students dress in the styles of their favorite directors (dark glasses for Tarantino, baseball caps for Spike, etc.). As is typical for many young filmmakers, Croghan is a little too preoccupied with pop culture (Alice's thesis topic is "Doris Day as Feminist Warrior"), and her style becomes at times overly precious, but overall this is evidence of a talent to watch.
LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES
Fox Searchlight
Director Emma-Kate Croghan
Screenplay Yael Bergman and
Emma-Kate Croghan with Helen Bandis
Based on story by Stavros Andonis Efthymiou
Producer Stavros Andonis Efthymiou
Co-producers Helen Bandis, Yael Bergman
Photography Justin Brickle
Editor Ken Sallows
Music Oleh Witer
Color/stereo
Cast:
Alice Alice Garner
Mia Frances O'Conner
Ari Matthew Dyktynski
Danni Radha Mitchell
Savita Suzi Dougherty
Running time -- 80 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A casually plotted account of the personal travails of a bunch of attractive college students during the course of a day, the film lurches from one episode to another. Key plot points involve the search for a roommate, a large unpaid library fine, the death of a professor just before he's had the chance to sign crucial class transfer papers, and, of course, relationship problems.
Mia and Alice are film students who room together; Mia's girlfriend wants to move in with her, but Mia fears commitment. Alice is still searching for the perfect man -- and has definite criteria: He must be honest, left-handed and like the same movies as her. Alice becomes infatuated with Ari, a classics student and the campus Lothario. She wants him to move into the apartment, but he recommends his friend Michael, a shy medical student who, as she discovers by the end of the film, turns out to be Alice's soulmate.
Although obviously low-budget, this is an accomplished and stylish effort that boasts clever dialogue and charming performances by its cast of unknowns. Refreshingly low-key and unpretentious, there are only a few bits that constitute overreaching, such as a whimsical fantasy segment in which the film-class students dress in the styles of their favorite directors (dark glasses for Tarantino, baseball caps for Spike, etc.). As is typical for many young filmmakers, Croghan is a little too preoccupied with pop culture (Alice's thesis topic is "Doris Day as Feminist Warrior"), and her style becomes at times overly precious, but overall this is evidence of a talent to watch.
LOVE AND OTHER CATASTROPHES
Fox Searchlight
Director Emma-Kate Croghan
Screenplay Yael Bergman and
Emma-Kate Croghan with Helen Bandis
Based on story by Stavros Andonis Efthymiou
Producer Stavros Andonis Efthymiou
Co-producers Helen Bandis, Yael Bergman
Photography Justin Brickle
Editor Ken Sallows
Music Oleh Witer
Color/stereo
Cast:
Alice Alice Garner
Mia Frances O'Conner
Ari Matthew Dyktynski
Danni Radha Mitchell
Savita Suzi Dougherty
Running time -- 80 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 3/26/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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