Love Serenade
In Sunray, a backwater town on Australia's Murray River, there's little to do but fish or listen to the local radio station. D.J. Ken Sherry arrives from the hustle of Brisbane to run the station; he's mid-40s, detached, thrice divorced, hatchet faced. But both sisters next door find him attractive: awkward Dimity, only 20, who works in a Chinese restaurant with few patrons, and perky Vicki-Ann, a hairdresser with a hope chest who invents a happy future with Sherry based on little but his arrival. First Dimity then Vicki-Ann spend the night with Ken, one concluding he's her boy friend, the other her fiance. Then Dimity begins to smell something fishy.
sykobanana@sykobanana
So I wanted to watch an early film of Miranda Otto's and came across this one from 1996. It had a really good pedigree, winning the Caméra d'Or at Cannes that year, so I settled down.
It follows (at a slow pace), a three-times divorced radio DJ ("Ken Sherry", unabashed Barry White fan) who moves to a small rural town in Australia. He moves in next door to sisters who vie for his affections - the elder is quite desperate (protesting frequently that she is not) after her fiance was killed by a chainsaw accident; and the younger (Otto) is ... strange ... and eventually thinks that Sherry might be part fish.
At the end of the movie, I just dont know what to make of it.
It is bizarre, but beautifully shot (the cinematography is perfect);
Slow paced, but enticing (the direction is outstanding);
Off-putting and downright creepy at times (Im looking at you first seduction scene), but you feel for both women;
And Otto is perfect (adding small quirks and mannerisms to every second her character is on screen that another actor would not have put in).
Add an ending that is both strange and satisfying and you have this weird conglomeration of a movie.
I dont know whether to love or loathe this film (so Ive split it down the middle - 3 stars).