David O'ConnellThe View From Greenhaven
October 24th 2008 03:01
On Wednesday night I was fortunate enough to attend the Melbourne premiere of a new Australian film, The View from Greenhaven, winner of last year’s Project Greenlight on the Movie Network. It marks the writing/directing debut of brothers Kenn and Simon MacRae, who were in attendance with star Wendy Hughes for a brief Q and A afterwards.
It’s a delightful comedy tinged with pathos and such a hearty fondness for its colourful characters that it truly deserves to be a smash hit with local audiences.
Securing the services of industry stalwarts Chris Haywood and Wendy Hughes was a real coup for the duo and despite being slightly past their prime, both still more than capably provide screen presence, imbuing their characters with the tender and prickly edges needed to ensure a sustainable sense of believability.
Comfortably ensconced on the scenic south coast of NSW, in picturesque Greenhaven, Dash (Haywood) has nevertheless maintained a dreary level of monotony in his life by adhering to his well-worn routine, generally to the exclusion of his silently suffering wife of 40 years, Dorothy (Hughes) - either making a nuisance of himself in town or hanging out in his dilapidated shed to listen to the races.
A sense of love or tenderness seems to have long departed this domestic scene, though their daughter Kate (Susan Prior) and son-in-law Tim (Russell Dykstra), on the occasion of their anniversary, try valiantly to inject a renewed vigor into their lives with a surprising gift for them all – a mystery train tour!
Dash’s initial indifference is predictable enough, though left to his destructive devices alone at home, an uneasy sense of guilt takes hold, and with a view to appeasing Dorothy, he joins the rest of the tour group at their big city luxury hotel.
In a blackly ironic twist however, the tour’s destination the following morning turns out to be none other than Greenhaven – no mystery at all! Dorothy is determined to carry on regardless, allowing the chance for a fresh perspective on their town and a validation of the beauty they take for granted each day.
It’s yet another bitter pill for Dash to swallow but he reluctantly ploughs on, through gritted teeth, with the rest of the group which includes an irritating married couple – the wife, Sylvia (Rhonda Doyle), a bubbly, vociferous flirt – and a debonair, worldly single man, Theodore (Geoff Morrell), who keeps an attentive eye tuned to the dispirited Dorothy, whose waning marriage is an obvious source of distress for her.
The film takes familiar scenarios, with a measure of contrivance admittedly, but inspires them with a superb choice of cast; Hayward being the standout as the grumpy, perennially gloomy Dash who naturally has a long-harbored secret reason for his anti-social demeanor, an outer shell he’s worn as a defense mechanism for years.
Hughes’s character isn’t as well-defined, playing second-string to Dash’s antics with a brave face, hoping against all the evidence to ignite a spark of remembrance in her suffering husband, and to assuage his systematic blindness to the many blessings of their life and her burden of holding up one half of their marriage so persistently without acknowledgement or reciprocation for so long – before it’s too late for them both.
Perhaps a jarring transition between the final two scenes, and an otherwise excellent score by Rajan Kamahl that leans a little too heavily on Thomas Newman, cast a slightly doubtful note on our final impression, but overall this is a triumphant, winning effort for the MacRae’s.
Without grand intentions they’ve made a highly polished debut, a wryly charming adventurous comedy, playing to their obvious strengths of characterisation, providing genuine laughs and a fondness for their identifiably human creations that’s infectious.
The Trip to Greenhaven turns out to be one of the funniest Australian films I’ve seen in years.
It’s a delightful comedy tinged with pathos and such a hearty fondness for its colourful characters that it truly deserves to be a smash hit with local audiences.
Wendy Hughes and Chris Haywood
Securing the services of industry stalwarts Chris Haywood and Wendy Hughes was a real coup for the duo and despite being slightly past their prime, both still more than capably provide screen presence, imbuing their characters with the tender and prickly edges needed to ensure a sustainable sense of believability.
Comfortably ensconced on the scenic south coast of NSW, in picturesque Greenhaven, Dash (Haywood) has nevertheless maintained a dreary level of monotony in his life by adhering to his well-worn routine, generally to the exclusion of his silently suffering wife of 40 years, Dorothy (Hughes) - either making a nuisance of himself in town or hanging out in his dilapidated shed to listen to the races.
A sense of love or tenderness seems to have long departed this domestic scene, though their daughter Kate (Susan Prior) and son-in-law Tim (Russell Dykstra), on the occasion of their anniversary, try valiantly to inject a renewed vigor into their lives with a surprising gift for them all – a mystery train tour!
Dash’s initial indifference is predictable enough, though left to his destructive devices alone at home, an uneasy sense of guilt takes hold, and with a view to appeasing Dorothy, he joins the rest of the tour group at their big city luxury hotel.
In a blackly ironic twist however, the tour’s destination the following morning turns out to be none other than Greenhaven – no mystery at all! Dorothy is determined to carry on regardless, allowing the chance for a fresh perspective on their town and a validation of the beauty they take for granted each day.
It’s yet another bitter pill for Dash to swallow but he reluctantly ploughs on, through gritted teeth, with the rest of the group which includes an irritating married couple – the wife, Sylvia (Rhonda Doyle), a bubbly, vociferous flirt – and a debonair, worldly single man, Theodore (Geoff Morrell), who keeps an attentive eye tuned to the dispirited Dorothy, whose waning marriage is an obvious source of distress for her.
The film takes familiar scenarios, with a measure of contrivance admittedly, but inspires them with a superb choice of cast; Hayward being the standout as the grumpy, perennially gloomy Dash who naturally has a long-harbored secret reason for his anti-social demeanor, an outer shell he’s worn as a defense mechanism for years.
Hughes’s character isn’t as well-defined, playing second-string to Dash’s antics with a brave face, hoping against all the evidence to ignite a spark of remembrance in her suffering husband, and to assuage his systematic blindness to the many blessings of their life and her burden of holding up one half of their marriage so persistently without acknowledgement or reciprocation for so long – before it’s too late for them both.
Perhaps a jarring transition between the final two scenes, and an otherwise excellent score by Rajan Kamahl that leans a little too heavily on Thomas Newman, cast a slightly doubtful note on our final impression, but overall this is a triumphant, winning effort for the MacRae’s.
Without grand intentions they’ve made a highly polished debut, a wryly charming adventurous comedy, playing to their obvious strengths of characterisation, providing genuine laughs and a fondness for their identifiably human creations that’s infectious.
The Trip to Greenhaven turns out to be one of the funniest Australian films I’ve seen in years.
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