I think that I was a bit disappointed when I heard that 48 shades of brown was the first of Nick Earl's novels to be made into a film (I think that this was not one of his best works but it was still enjoyable). However when I heard that it was being shot in Brisbane and not in one of the other "more culturally significant places" I knew that I had to go and see it. The film was impressive and yes the opening shots of Brisbane became a little too much like a tourism commercial (but how many times have we seen the Sydney Harbour Bridge?) it was a well shot film. The actors were well cast and the story follows the book fairly closely. I think that the audience needed to know more about the internal monologue that is in the book. However the characters seem to fit into the inner city suburban rental property well and the party i thought captured the quintessential Brisbane house party. The best thing was to see local band Gazoonga Attack get their 15 minutes of fame and the Hills hoist being used in a game of "Goon of Fortune". This movie does deal with some of the important issues in what I think is a was that really can't been seen in other similar teen movies (looking for Alibrandi). It was also good to see a non jock male point of view of what it's like to grow up and get through that last year of High School. If looking for Alibrandi was the high school novel to study in the late 90's 48 Shades will definitely be the one for the 00's
