Juicy Aussie Movie: Summer Coda
January 26th 2011 06:28
Well it’s Australia Day, so it’s about time for a review of Richard Gray’s fresh flick, Summer Coda. Set along the Murray River, in the orange groves of Mildura, we begin to unpeel the life of American girl Heidi (Rachel Taylor) who has returned to Australia for the funeral of her father. With just her violin and an air of spiky singularity, she sets off to hitch-hike her way to the Sunraysia region and soon catches a ride with Michael (Alex Dimitriades), a local fruit farmer. Michael is nursing his own secret sorrow, and a tacit bond soon grows as they make their way north.
After the funeral and a distressing confrontation with her father’s widow, Heidi flees to Michael’s farm and joins him and a band of drifters who come to pick the oranges each season. Tension begins to build between Heidi and Michael, as the secrets between them hold them apart even as they are drawn to each other, trying to heal the pain of the past.
The film is vivid and picturesque in its setting, with Heidi and her violin bringing a haunting quality to the sun-filled groves and the majesty of the river. Dimitriades lends more maturity to this role than seen most of his television acting, and his performance, while it can’t really be compared to that in Head On, is of that higher quality. It was good to see Cassandra Magrath take on a more solid film role, while Jacki Weaver provided some added strength to the cast. Angus Sampson offers a few laughs as a rough-edged though easy-going orange picker, but it’s hard to tell why on earth Daniel Frederiksen was cast to play an ugly-hat wearing labourer called Miklos with a high pitched and undefinable fake accent…
Nevertheless, the film was rather stunning, with a fairly fresh and flavoursome story that was languidly squeezed into the proffered cups of the audience, sure to satisfy most anyone’s craving for some Australian spirit today.
Michaelie Clark
Image courtesy of dailytelegraph.com.au
Image courtesy of broadsheet.com.au
Nevertheless, the film was rather stunning, with a fairly fresh and flavoursome story that was languidly squeezed into the proffered cups of the audience, sure to satisfy most anyone’s craving for some Australian spirit today.
Michaelie Clark
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