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REVIEWS

Screen Daily
Howard Feinstein, New York, 30th April 2008 (.pdf)
"...it's a miracle when an untracked English-language film arrives on the scene - and a special joy when said movie is smashing."

Variety
Alissa Simon, New York, 28th April 2008 (.pdf)
"...idiosyncratic color choices, brilliant production design and quirkily fatalistic framing of shots recall Jane Campion's debut..."

The Australian
David Stratton, 4th October 2008 (.pdf)
"...But when a film is as good as this, it deserves to be supported and to be counted among the most positive achievements of Australian cinema. Certainly, it's one of the best locally made films released this year."

EINSIDERS.COM
Brian Hughes, New York, 30th April 2008 (.pdf)
"...every once in a while a film comes along that not only far surpasses the limitations in budget and scheduling with pure moxy and passion, but crystallizes the fears, longing and listlessness of the human condition with a stellar script and outstanding performances. Bitter & Twisted is such a film...."

Indiewire
New York, 30th April 2008 (.pdf)
"...this is a masterpiece, a project largely homemade in the tacky suburbs south of Sydney by Christopher Weekes, a young director with enormous talent..."

At the Movies ABC
Margaret and David, 20th September 2008 (.pdf)
"There's real talent in this film, it's been impressively directed by Weekes, and the performances make you realise the depth of acting talent in this country...NONI HAZLEHURST is just astounding as this woman who can't bear the thought of not being loved; not being wanted... four stars ****."

Cinephilia
Bernard Hemingway, 14th September 2008 (.pdf)
"...it is a real contender for the best Australian film of the year."

Urban Cinefile
Andrew L. Urban, Australia, 15th September 2008 (.pdf)
"Exceptional performances from the entire cast - and a giant one from Noni Hazlehurst... Bitter & Twisted is one of the year's best little gems - a work of lasting value in which all the cinematic elements fuse into a fully satisfying experience."

2UE Movie Review
Simon Foster, Australia, 21st September 2008 (.pdf)
"Weekes, along with his editor Simon Wright and cinematographer Sam Collins, have crafted a heartbreaking, intensely-intimate and beautifully cinematic film that can be spoken of in the same breath as Bliss, Lantana and The Final Winter for its unsentimental and bitingly original take on the tortured souls that inhabit our suburbs. 10/10 "

Empire Magazine
Michael Adams, Australia, 18th September 2008 (.pdf)
"Carefully framed and edited, this is confident cinema, downbeat yet hopeful, whose cast (which also includes absurdly talented writer-director 28-year-old Weekes) are note perfect."

Mediasearch
Matthew Pejkovic, Australia, 20th September 2008 (.pdf)
"A sombre film, Bitter & Twisted is not Friday night entertainment, but rather a poignant look at grief and its ramifications. Lookout for a number of AFI nominations in the year to come."

The Daily Telegraph
Vicky Roach, Australia, 18th September 2008 (.pdf)
"This low-budget drama about a family quietly imploding under the weight of their grief marks writer/director/actor Christopher Weekes as a talent to watch out for....A grimly compelling and briskly human look at love and loss."

Bigpond Movies
Australia, 18th September 2008 (.pdf)
"Emotionally honest, inventively written and brilliantly performed by a stellar cast, Bitter & Twisted is a low budget local triumph."

Filmink Magazine
Erin Free, Australia, 15th September 2008 (.pdf)
"Bitter & Twisted is a winning combination of glowing hope and battering despair. When those moods meet, the results aren't always pretty, but they're never less than absolutely absorbing."

Sydney Morning Herald
Sandra Hall, Australia, 19th September 2008 (.pdf)
"... the little film that could...Written and directed by Christopher Weekes, who plays the role of Ben, it's a dreamy piece, part-suburban soap opera, part-fairytale."

Screen Grab
Phil Nugent, New York, 2nd May 2008 (.pdf)
"...the performances are superb, and the movie has a fresh, distinctive way of looking at its characters..."

Time Out New York
New York, 27th April 2008 (.pdf)
"...the Australian cast (all largely unknown, at least in the U.S.) delivers brave and precise performances..."

Film-Maker Magazine
Brandon Harris, New York, 5th May 2008 (.pdf)
"...Bitter and Twisted, much buzzed about by certain critics...has shades of The Sweet Hereafter or Snow Angels in it..."

Film-Festival Today
Sandy Mandelberger, New York, 18th May 2008 (.pdf)
"...a quirky narrative style is also at play in the film BITTER & TWISTED by debut director Christopher Weekes..."

The Columbus Dispatch
Melissa Starker, New York, 28th April 2008 (.pdf)
"...it offers honestly moving performances...and though it sounds dour, it doesn't leave the viewer feeling down...."

Tribeca Film Festival
David Kwok, New York, 5th April 2008 (.pdf)
"...this elegy to unrealized dreams contemplates the dark currents flowing beneath suburban placidity...."

Mirka23.blogspot
New York, 26th April 2008 (.pdf)
"...for a debut film I'd say it was excellent..."

Hobokenvie.blogspot
New York, 24th April 2008 (.pdf)
"...I appreciated the director not "dumbing" down some of the elements and letting conclusions be drawn by the viewer. I really enjoyed this film..."

Jordan at Grave

ARTICLES

Hardly Bitter & Twisted
Bigpond.com.au, 27th March 2008 (.pdf)

Tribeca Title Wave
New York Post, March 2008 (.pdf)

Directors In Their Own Words
Time Out New York, 9th April 2008 (.pdf)

Tribeca Film Festival Gets More Selective
Backstage Magazine, 18th April 2008 (.pdf)

Tribeca Film Festival
amctv.com, 23rd April 2008 (.pdf)

Bitter & Twisted : Potential Festival Sleeper?
Tribeca Film, 25th April 2008 (.pdf)

Who Needs Cachet if You Have New York?
New York Times, 30th April 2008 (.pdf)

Short Takes : The Michael Moore Pick
New York Daily News, 2nd May 2008 (.pdf)

Aussie Assault at De Niro Filmfest
The Australian, 2nd May 2008 (.pdf)

Dungog Film Festival 2008 - Preview
Urban CineFile, 15th May 2008 (.pdf)

Movie Industry Descends on Dungog
Sydney Morning Herald, 16th May 2008 (.pdf)

Trans-Tasman Collaboration Produces Success
Scoop New Zealand, 18th May 2008 (.pdf)

Future Greats at Dungog
Syms Covington, 30th May 2008 (.pdf)

Aussie Film Industry's New Mecca
The Daily Telegraph, 2nd June 2008 (.pdf)

Art Under-rated Says Actor
Maitland Mercury, 2nd June 2008 (.pdf)

Films Twisted Path to Success
The Australian, 2nd June 2008 (.pdf)

Big and Small to Face Off at AFIs
The Australian, 25th July 2008 (.pdf)

Bitter & Twisted to Screen at Sarajevo Fest
If Magazine, 7th August 2008 (.pdf)

It is a long way from playschool
Syms Covington, 1st September 2008 (.pdf)

Dungog Success Launches New Distribution Company
IF Magazine, 2nd September 2008 (.pdf)

Bitter & Twisted First in Slate for AFS
Urban Cinefile, 4th September 2008 (.pdf)

Clouds Hang Over Local Silver Screen
The Australian, 10th September 2008 (.pdf)

Distribution Company to Sweeten Sour Taste at Box Office
The Age, 11th September 2008 (.pdf)

Not Bitter & Twisted
Empire Magazine, 16th September 2008 (.pdf)

Family Ties
Filmink Magazine, 17th September 2008 (.pdf)

Aussie Filmmaker Finds Success
Citysearch Magazine, 18th September 2008 (.pdf)

Banking on Roles
Daily Telegraph, 20th September 2008 (.pdf)

The Hell's Half Mile festival awaits
The Bay City Times, 25th September 2008 (.pdf)

Christopher Weekes' Amazing Odyssey of Loss & Discovery in Australia
Review Magazine, 25th September 2008 (.pdf)

Inside Film Awards 2008 Nominations
IF Magazine, 2nd October 2008 (.pdf)

AFI Awards 2008 Nominations
AFI Website, 29th October 2008 (.pdf)

Jordan at Grave

SCREEN INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

Bitter & Twisted

Howard Feinstein in New York

30 Apr 2008 16:26

Dir. Christopher Weekes. 2008. Australia . 88 mins.

It's a miracle when an untracked English-language film arrives on the scene - and a special joy when said movie is smashing. The 28-year-old Weekes and some of his friends made Bitter & Twisted themselves for around $200,000. With no institutional support, they planned lighting and editing on a computer at home. The result is an ensemble piece about a family's reaction to son Liam's untimely death three years prior to events onscreen.

With none of the sentiment of The Son's Room or others of the grief film genre, Bitter & Twisted is both astutely observed and beautifully shot. It hones in on the ongoing effects of such a trauma – the ones that seem forgotten or completely repressed – and masterfully shows how they continue to haunt survivors with nearly the same intensity as the memory of the loved one. Cheap sentiment is entirely absent; coping day to day is the struggle. Word should spread, festivals should take notice, and distributors who enjoy a challenge could do themselves proud with a film like this - which seems to mark a positive shift in Aussie exports.

The cast is superb. Icon Noni Hazelhurst, the Australian Judi Dench, plays Penelope, the bereaved mother, who, at 53, has deluded herself into thinking she might be pregnant. She just does not know what to do with herself. Perhaps this might have happened anyway, given that the film is set in the far southern reaches of Sydney, neighbourhoods so sterile and homogeneous that there are perhaps three styles of home to choose from; ugly facades with atrocious interiors.

Steve Rogers is sympathetic as Penelope's husband Jordan, who eats, binges in fact, to compensate for the loss, hangs out near his son's grave, and embarks upon a losing streak at the pathetic car dealership where he is supposed to put on a smile, lie, and sell. Weekes himself portrays surviving brother Ben, a lost, persistent soul who transfers his affection for his brother onto the boy's last girlfriend, Indigo (Walsman). Oedipal is the operative term here for most of Liam's intimates: Penelope picks up a young man who looks strikingly like her deceased son, as if lovemaking could bring him back to life. Indigo embarks on an affair with an older married man, a guarantee that this one will also not work out. A few minor subplots are extraneous - is Ben gay?- but they do not take anything away from the larger narrative.

In the opening shot, as Liam lies dying, colors spill all over his face. One might suspect that the Strictly Ballroom formula will be at play, but in fact it's just the opposite. Weekes is a master of color and f/x (he designs f/x to pay the rent), but he refuses to go for the obvious or the predictable. He does not present his characters as "other" - different from non-Australians - but similar to suburbanites anywhere who become locked in a prison of ennui. Yet he never loses sight of those cultural tics that do connote Australia. It's a delicate balance, but Weekes never crosses the line.

Throughout the film we see photos of Liam, and occasionally, quick shots of the boy through the mind's eye of one of the characters. Yes, he is still present in their lives. At a certain point, though, each of the survivors undergoes a delayed catharsis: he or she moves on, and a photograph of the family without Liam marks the passage to a new, more productive phase. Fittingly, Marianne Faithful sings In My Time of Sorrow at this point: "The time has come for me to say farewell." And they do. Life goes on.