Love Serenade

Love Serenade_360P

source: Love Serenade

Miranda Otto is, as always, superb as a socially deficient young woman living in a backwater town on the Murray which becomes home to the closest thing she's seen to a real-life celebrity: a disgraced, thrice-divorced former Brisbane DJ - and a sleaze to boot - becomes the town's new radio announcer. Otto and her older sister wage an hilarious war for the affections of the skinny, unnattractive man in his mid-40s, who has more than just a passing resemblance to a fish... Good Aussie film, Stratton gave it 4 stars (he must have seen something in it that I didn't), I'll give it 3 due to the slight lull in the middle. Rating: 7/10.

Very odd story of 2 sisters in a small Australian town who both become infatuated with a laconic disc jockey, who beds them both. The younger sister (Otto) is obsessed with fish and begins to believe that the jockey is part carp. Both sisters and very neurotic and become annoying before the film's end, but the film's emotional core seems true, and there are many scenes here worth looking at.

Just because Dimity sees gills doesn't mean they're really gills. She is, after all, pretty weird. The ending shows Dimity's "I Wuv You" balloon tied to Sherry's body definitely moving away, but Sherry's not visible under water, and the film has set up the river as a place where dogs can be taken away, either by big black holes or large fish. This movie is better if you don't assume you know what's going on under water or what those strange marks on Sherry's neck truly mean. Is he a fish? Really?! Does he truly die at the end? The sisters' reaction to Sherry's "death" is what's really interesting here, whether he's a fish or not.

Strange movie with a really weird ending. Not exactly a romantic comedy, but not exactly anything else either. The acting was very good, the characters looked like real people, not beautiful movie star types...but beyond that, I don't have much good to say. Rent it only you don't have anything better to do.

I've noticed that some people here are having a hard time finding this film, Love Serenade, on video or DVD. I was lucky enough to be able to catch this one on cable, either on Sundance channel or IFC, but this was a real fun movie to watch. The two sisters live together and eat lunch together every day, but along comes a new neighbor who moves in next door, and these two are at each other's throats to win the bloke over, before he even unpacks his suitcase! The new guy is a DJ named Ken Sherry, who just moved out to the sticks presumably after losing his job in the big city! And he's as smooth as Barry White on a Saturday night, this DJ, so both of them are captivated and try to do things for him to win him over, like catch him a big stinky fish or cook some crappy rubbish. The main gal, Vicki-Ann Hurley, is played by Rebecca Frith, whom I came to love after watching this, and who I just saw last night in another Aussie film also worth seeing, 'A Man's Gotta Do' (2004). Miranda Otto has top billing though, as the 'not-so'bright' younger sister, Dimity, and is enjoyable to watch as well. These two ladies play off each other well and there are some other nice characters in it that makes this a quirky comedy, fine Aussie entertainment! If you can find this at the video store, snatch it up! 7 out of 10 stars. *******

Brilliant!!!!! Well deserving of it's Cannes award. Superior acting (by all), directing, set (excellent), costuming, editing, photography (magnificent--transforms what the eye sees into another actor), sound (wonderful--transforms what the ear hears into another actor). The people who did this movie are an extremely talented bunch! First, what this movie is NOT about: 1) it is not about "how to catch men" 2) it is not a fishing movie. OK, enough of that. This review explores what I learned from the movie and what I perceive to be its message--so be warned. I just saw this movie on video last night. The title makes it sound like a so-called "chick-flick." True enough, the movie is not for the "emotionally challenged." Most of the action is subtle in the sense that if you don't understand the "language of emotions" you may think it the most boring--and confusing--movie ever made. There is very little conventional movie action. There are very few people in the cast. There is almost nothing happening in the town where it is set. The action is almost all in the world of ideas, feelings, and perceptions. However, the movie is not a soppy, exploitive "feeling fest." From my (male) point of view, it is a targeted message: "there is a line." In discussing the movie with women, I am finding, they all agree: "there is a line." What am I talking about? This movie convinces you "there is a line" beyond which freedom becomes chaos. Most people suspect this in their gut. This movie lays it out for all to see.

This movie comes in cute and goes out really weird. It is one of the best black comedies ever made and one of the finest films to come out of Australia. Two dorky, love-starved sisters live together in a house in the Aussie backwater town of Sunray. Their lives are thrown into a dither when a hotshot radio DJ moves into the house next door. The DJ, named Ken Sherry, has the personality of a lugubrious bloodhound and is thrice divorced, but the sisters are smitten. He's a celebrity! One of the sisters, Vicki, is a hairdresser with delusions of tabloid grandeur, and the other, Dimity, is a painfully shy waitress in a forlorn Chinese restaurant with the absurdly grand name Emperor's Palace. The restaurant owner is, on his off hours, a proud nudist (Did I mention this movie is weird?). When you begin watching, you may think you know where this flick is headed. You don't. Things get stranger and stranger and casual American audiences, seeing familiar sitcom elements unfold, will likely be stunned by the bizarre directions the movie takes. For those looking for "something else," I cannot recommend this highly enough. Oh, and a terrific Barry White soundtrack.

I needed to use my free rental in June, so picked "Love Serenade" (from the Barry White song) because the cover had "Two Thumbs Up" from Ebert and company. It is an Australian film, and like most foreign films does not use very many modern filming techniques. Conventional camera angles, no selective focus to isolate the subject, mimimal use of 'foley' sounds. However, a "plus" was a selection of songs that had very specific meanings within the scenes they support. SPOILER ... Vicky-Ann and Dimity (was that for 'a little dim-witted'?) are sisters in a small town of rather low economic means. Ken Sherry, a radio DJ they are familiar with, moves to their small town, living next door. Vicky-Ann tells Dimity she will target him as a boyfriend, but Dimity stumbles into it first. Sherry is a sleazy person who appears to have no emotions - cold as a fish. Turns out he only eats 'beef with black bean sauce' at the local Chinese restaurant where Dimity works, and she later discovers, watching him gargle one morning, that he has tiny gills under each ear! And he is a strange-looking person anyway - very slender, long black hair, long nose, weak chin, and a severely back-sloping forehead. Perfect casting! Poor Vicky-Ann is so optimistic, she gets dressed up in the wedding gown she had been hoarding, walks over next door, and Sherry in a very droll manner dismisses her. In an apparent attempt to kill herself, she climbs to the top of the local high spot, a grain silo. Dimity gets Sherry to come and help talk her down, and in a big surprise, Dimity pushes Sherry off to his death (stuntman reportedly died in this stunt), in what seemed like a sisterly thing to do, what with the dastardly treatment that Sherry was guilty of. Then, after they try to sink him in the river, he swims away, as shown by the path of the ballon Dimity had tied to him "I WUV YOU". I like to watch all kinds of films, as part of my study and enjoyment of movies in general. A few of my favorite comedies - "Secrets and Lies" and "Trainspotting" come to mind - are foreign. But "Love Serenade", though interesting, does not come up to the overall quality of the better ones. Still, it is an interesting movie and I rate it "7" of 10, but not a very high "7".