Customer Reviews:
Your place or mine?.......2007-11-22
If you're reading this review, you probably see a lot more movies than I do. Today I chose PERFECT STRANGERS because of my sentimental attachment to all things New Zealand, and it didn't disappoint me.
The movie starts with a routine plot -- Melanie, a working-class New Zealand girl, goes home from the pub with a sexy stranger. "Home" turns out to be a remote island and the sexy stranger turns out to be mad, bad and dangerous to know. While trying to escape, Melanie wounds him fatally.
From there the plot goes bizarro -- or perhaps, just deeply disturbed. Although it's twisted, this movie is not heavily plotted or deeply suspenseful, nor is there intense dialogue to occupy the viewer's attention. That feels like a good thing in this movie because there are other elements to absorb you.
The first attention-grabber is New Zealand native son Sam Neill. He frightens and reassures with mesmerizing tone and expression. His best line, the one in which his obsession is revealed, is his sine qua non for sex: "You have to love me! Do you love me?" The rest of the cast (Australian Rachael Blake, New Zealander Joel Tobeck) give reasonably convincing performances though without the depth of character seen in a more elaborately written movie like WHALE RIDER.
The second delight is the sound track. The New Zealand film industry is a wonderful showcase for local musical talent, and I was pleased to hear tracks by Neil Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz), Don McGlashan (Front Lawn, The Muttonbirds), Barry Saunders (The Warratahs), Janet Roddick (Six Volts) and R & B guitarist Hammond Gamble. There is even a Puccini aria by Dame Malvina Major performing with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra. The music is well integrated to the rest of the movie, and I'd watch the movie again just to listen more closely to the track.
It's easy to film a visually satisfying movie in New Zealand (THE PIANO, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, HEAVENLY CREATURES) and this movie is certainly moody and beautiful. The cinematographer, Alun Bollinger, worked on those projects and knows how to get the most from the sometimes daunting land- and seascapes. You'll need to actually watch this movie, as much of it happens visually and not with dialogue.
Writer/Producer/Director Gaylene Preston put together a package that was just ambitious enough for her resources, and for me it all worked beautifully. I've admitted my biases so while I recommend this movie, please decide for yourself whether it might work for you. If you DO choose it, be sure to stay for the unexpected ending: it's done in that campy Down Under style (STRICTLY BALLROOM; THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT).
Altogether a rewarding little movie from an ambitious little country.
Customer Reviews:
Haunting, weird and surreal psychodrama........2006-07-06
This is a very strange film, one night at the local pub Melanie (Rachael Blake) is strangely drawn to a man (Sam Neill) she has never seen before and whose name we never learn.
"Your place or mine" she asks and he answers "mine" then leads her to a small fishing boat and she finds herself kidnapped by the intriguing stranger ending up on an uninhabited island.
As the film progresses it moves further and further away from reality as we enter the fantasy world that Melanie creates for herself.
It is a film I cannot believe in, yet at the same time it was absorbing, very well acted and directed.
But above all seriously weird.
very very unusual.......2006-02-01
Both rich and strange, this brilliantly written and directed film explores a similar theme to Charlotte Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights'. It also keeps you on your toes. The two lead actors both give very absorbing performances and as good as Rachael Blake is in this film, it is Sam Neill (surprisingly) who makes you want to watch it again the next day.
And I am still laughing..........2005-11-20
Okay, this was supposed to be a serious film but the total lack of storyline and sense made it more hilarious than a man with a bucket of kippers on his head. I am not joking. Just watch the corpse in the freezer and you will know what I mean. Gosh, it made me want to grab a chicken and dance with it! It was so funny that I ended up crying with laughter!
what a load of tosh........2005-05-16
I watched this film, i warn you who may be tempted !, i had to skip half the film cos i was falling asleep. Its is so so bad, characters are nothing like real people, non of it makes sence, a very backwards film, no real story line at all . I wish i get something else to watch after the first 5 mins, its not entertament at all. you have been warn lol.
"Your place or mine?".......2004-08-20
Perfect Strangers blends suspense and fantasy to form a haunting thriller. Rachael Blake plays Melanie, a working class woman in rural New Zealand who has a night at the pub and then goes home with the wrong (!) man. Sam Neill plays the unnamed stranger who kidnaps Melanie and takes her to his remote island, where she must deal with the man's frightening dream world. The story changes direction midway when Melanie takes matters into her own hands and begins to have oddly passionate feelings for the man.
Written and directed by New Zealander Gaylene Preston, this film is bizarre and surreal, and yet surprisingly likeable. Blake is the star, giving a dynamite performance as a hard-bitten good-time girl who survives disaster to live in her own make-believe world. Neill's role is smaller, but he is, as always, completely mesmerizing in a kind of dual role of tormentor/lover. You'll find lots of surprises in this curious little psychological thriller.
UK DVD:
- Querelle [1982]
- Rainmaker - Dvd The [1998]
- Robert De Niro 5 DVD Box Set
- Running On Empty
- Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe [1985] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
- Soldier Soldier - The Complete Series 1 [1991]
- Soldier Soldier - The Complete Series 3
- South Riding [1974]
- Stickmen
- Strangers - The Complete Series 1
UK DVD List
UK DVD
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