He Died with a Felafel in His Hand

source: He Died with a Felafel in His Hand

It amazes me that Lowenstein chose not to sit down and develop a skerrick of script that would make this film watchable. A bunch of high school grommets working after school could have conceived a more creative and engaging adaptation, and even thrown in a half intelligent plot to hold the whole thing together. That he had such a rich topic to deal with, and delivered this adolescent acne infested f..k fest script, is a sad reflection on the Australian film industry, an industry that prides itself on having more in common with European Arthouse than US schmulz. In this case the investors have backed the wrong horse. It is just a pity the investors compulsorily included the Tax Payer.

this film stands out as one of the best films i have seen. i saw it recently on DVD at my brothers place when he demanded i watch it. i was very surprised at the film i was presented with. i had seen the reviews when it came out, and was not very drawn to it, but i borrowed the DVD and watched it again. i intend to watch it as it is being screened this Saturday, 18th of December, 2004, on channel nine. i was very impressed. the lack of physical expression from danny did not stop him from conveying all his thoughts, either in the dialog or his subtle actions. even if you are doubtful this film is an excellent example of the produce of Australian men and women. 8.5/10

This film really shows how good Australian cinema can be. He Died With A Felafel In His Hand shows something completely different to all the pointless Australian films that rely on tasteless and crass jokes. When you compare 'Felafel with American cinema it is clearly better than the Hollywood dreck that is distributed in Australia, very rarely is a movie of this quality released in Australia. Many people have criticized it's lack of story and plot but these elements are not necessary because the film relies on insights and ideas derived from the book. The cinematography is beautiful and there isn't a dull shot or sequence in the entire film, though it still manages to remain under stated. To put it simply this is one of the best Australian films I have seen.

I certainly enjoyed this inventive and unique piece of Australian moviemaking. I think that it was extremely well put together piece of film. I was always in pain from laughing so much. When the scene with the skinheads with the chainsaws happened I almost swallowed my Coke can !!! I must also compliment the casting director as the cast was certainly very well matched to their roles and made this film a pleasure to watch. I have been in the film industry ten years myself and would feel very proud to have been involved in such a production. My favorite character Was the African redneck, a brilliant and hilarious performance. Miss Hamilton is an outstanding actress with a huge future. Along side her alluring beauty is a marvelously dedicated and intelligent actress, I thought Miss Hamilton made the film so much the better. Congraduations to the crew and artists for producing one of the ten best films I have ever seen. And you go Miss Hamilton, you have everything it takes to go as far as it gets. Craig Wilson

I have to say I approached this movie with some dubiousness as I had read the book, which had no plot whatsoever, and was unsure how they were going to turn it into a film, but I found myself really enjoying this movie. Readers of the book will recognise many, many characters amalgamated into a few central ones. Basically this movie is about Danny, an aspiring writer who has lived in 49 different houses with an assortment of dead-beats, moontanners, lesbians, Satan-worshippers, neurotics, etc., etc., their antics and tangled relationships. As far as acting is concerned, Noah Taylor takes the bored, lifeless facial expression to new heights. Despite the lack of plot this was a very easy and enjoyable movie to watch, although it put me off share-housing for life. I would recommend this to any movie-goer looking for something different and original with personality.

I am told that the three cities in this movie fit stereotypes that native Australians appreciate, so you might like that. Also, there are two good laughs in this. In addition, there is a zany tone that might stick to young viewers. But otherwise this is a disaster. Most everyone seems to agree and cite the trivially episodic design, plus the fact that the moderately popular book on which it was based was not much followed. But I think the problem is more interesting. After all, some episodic comedies do work, and in particular those that define a peculiar, amusing world. This is common in TeeVee. I think the difference here, the failure, is that the characters were not crisp. They never needed to be human, dimensional or sympathetic because we are playing with cartoons after all. But they need to be defined. They need to have enough causal coherence — what actors like to call motivation — for us to get what they are, what they stand for. I would suspect that I just missed the nuance because I am not Australian, but no. Australians have the same problem, even though they have the advantage of recognizable dress styles and phrases. It is just bad writing. I suppose a case could be made for deep irony here, because the main character is a writer and the presumption is that we are reading what he has written. He is portrayed as an abysmally bad writer, and bad in just the way the movie is bad. But there is no sign that the film is that clever. Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

If you have ever lived in a share house then I reckon you'll immediately appreciate this movie. I think Noah Taylor did a brilliant job in this movie, we need more like it. The director (Richard Lowenstein) did a great job of not making Noah look like Nick Cave, too much! I also loved the sound track to this movie..who would think of using Dr Who sound track in their movie...very funny. Overall this movie from start to finish was very entertaining, almost a laugh a minute. All up a fantastic movie.

This film is a perfect example of the old saying not to judge a book by its cover. Here in NZ the DVD cover is a shot of him underwater with cigarette smoke hazing it over a little which looks uncannily like his head is in a toilet bowl. Out of pure curiosity I finally ventured up enough courage to take the 'plunge' and rented it out. What I found pleasantly surprised me. The dialogue is actually quite witty and sharp at times. What really makes this film tick however is the characters. They are from all walks of life covering a multitude of nationalities, much like a real flatting / boarding situation is. Noah Taylor plays his part as a washed out and uninspired writer named Danny down to pat even though I think he must have the least amount of dialogue in the film. Emily Hamilton plays Sam, a young and somewhat naive girl who, like most young people, hasn't totally decided what to do with her life. I found her performance to be quite convincing and not contrived or overacted like some performances can be in these types of low budget art films. Romane Bohringer plays a spooky role as a pagan who takes her religion very seriously at times (The scene where she convinces one of her brainless flatmates to be a 'sacrificial lamb' upon a burning stake is hilarious) Her performances are also above average and generally tend to give the viewer the impression she is a witch bent on injecting chaos into any given domestic situation. Alex Minglet is perfectly casted as Taylor, a serious drinker who enjoys dressing up in commando gear and playing golf with frogs. His antics had me in stitches whenever he appeared on screen. There are other brilliant little support performances by Haskel Daniel as 'Jabber the Hut' who controls (and worships) the television set and Francis McMahon who plays Dirk who is having troubles coming out of the 'closet'. Also look out for some weird European dude who only says two lines during the film, "They are very, very fit." - Oddball stuff but makes for good humour, especially if you are a person who has been flatting at one time or another. This film isn't just about laughs however. Ideas and themes of friendship and new beginnings are put across quite seamlessly into the plot as Danny experiences a rite of passage which takes him from being stuck in the past to looking forward to the future and leaving the mess (which follows him from flat to flat during the film) well behind. Brett Stewart plays a heroin junkie named Flip who is trying to get ahead in life but finds himself caught in a ever increasing downward spiral of drug intake. I feel this film touches upon the issue of hard drug addiction quite well as you can visibly see what it is slowly doing to Flip. The film is set in Australia and is in my personal opinion one of the best films to emerge from there in a while. The soundtrack is complimentary and the ending will leave you with a smile on your face. I recommend this film to anyone who has a taste for small budget arty type films and can enjoy a little bit of black humour with their vegemite on toast in the morning. 7/10

Myself and my partner made it through about 3/4 of an hour of this drizzle. We decided life was too short to be bothered seeing the rest of this awful, awful film. Nice camera, some nice location shots (about 20 seconds outside in the first few minutes) and the rest of the time was pretty much spent listening to utterly mind numbing dialogue. There have been a few Aussie and New Zealand films like this recently and I can only assume it is the influence of British and American low budget 'indie' film makers. Unfortunately this one didn't gel in our opinion. But it did have some nice looking camera work, sif that saves it. Waste of $2NZ rental (about $1.50US).