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
| 62 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
Comment by Chris Champion
Vyoos
Zoomies
Bloggercises
The Blog of Lists
Newly Old
Money Whither
Comment by The Rusty Can
Everything
Speaking of fake accents, I get annoyed when some Aussies try to sound really ocker (especially in US films) when it's not necessary. Tsk tsk.
Comment by Michaelie Clark
Flick Wit
It's kind of odd that she seems to be launched into that category all of a sudden, or maybe since Animal Kingdom...
Thanks for the comment!
Rusty,
Bad fake accents are terrible enough, without people making their actual accent sound like a bad fake accent! There is a guy that did an ep of SATC and one of Flight of the Conchords that was like that. So aggravating...
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
I hadn't heard of this one. Sounds like ít's worth a whirl. Great stuff.
Tracy
Comment by Michaelie Clark
Flick Wit
Yeah I saw it was playing at my local, The Astor, so went on impulse - was a nice end to an afternoon!
Comment by Lara M
Love Speaks
Food Slate