“33 Postcards” that should have been returned to sender

33 Postcards  

Director: Pauline Chan

Cast: Guy Pearce, Claudia Karvan, Lincoln Lewis and Zhu Lin.

Release Date: TBA

The Australian film industry was given a major ego boost in 2010, with the incredible international and local success of films including David Michôd’s Academy Award nominated Animal Kingdom. They’re ability to capture an aspect of Australian life that felt truthful and insightful, both here and around the world, illustrated the power and potential of our ever increasing film market. In 2011, Pauline Chan’s 33 Postcards, the first co-production between China and New South Wales, was set to illustrate, once more, how original and creative the Australian film industry can be. However, this film failed to reach anything close to what should be expected from an Australian drama, by creating a film that was not only tiresome to watch but seemed tiresome to make.

33 Postcards follows the story of 16 year old orphan Mei Mei (Chinese newcomer Zhu Lin), who dreams of leaving her Chinese orphanage in order to meet her Australian sponsor, Dean Randall (Guy Pearce), a typical Sydney-sider living the perfect life. When her Orphanage’s Choir is invited to sing in Sydney, Mei Mei takes the opportunity to seek Dean out and explore the idyllic life he has depicted in postcards for over 10 years. However, what she finds is tragically a lot different to anything she could have possibly imagined.

In many ways this film was a contextually original idea. The concept of exploring the relationships that develop between orphans and their international sponsors is very timely, particularly with the increasing local interest in international humanitarian support and social justice. However, Pauline Chan directs this film with the same level of enthusiasm as an episode of Home And Away or Neighbours. What the audience is presented with is a serious of uninteresting and cliched events, sluggishly propelling forward without any consideration for originality or accuracy. Too much emphasis is placed on the stereotypical, with every character and setting evoking a sense of déjà vu that leaves audience yarning for the predictable ending ahead.

The acting does nothing to alleviate the technical failures of this film. Guy Pearce and Zhu Lin are disappointingly unwatchable as Dean and Mei Mei. Their pseudo father/daughter relationship is completely lost and never able to connect with the audience because neither character feels realistic. Claudia Karvan is the film’s only saving grace, playing a very believable attorney struggling with her own personal and professional demons. However, this would not be hard to achieve as every other character is played like a two dimensional cut from a tourism Australia commercial.

While it is good to see Australian filmmakers attempting more creative and international projects, 33 Postcards fails to do so in a realistic and engaging manner. This was a film that could have provided a lot of insight into an area of great local and international interest but fails to provide the audience with anything original to be interested in. At the end of this film the audience is left feeling like they have watched a rather long soap opera, whose clichéd characters and events were sent directly from Summer Bay.

Well the Sydney Film Festival has officially begun for 2011 and has provided a rather mixed bag of films from all around the world, some of which I have had the pleasure (and displeasure) of seeing over the past five days. However, it all started under rather cold circumstances last Wednesday night at the State Theatre, in the heart of Sydney’s CBD.

Below I have attached the YouTube video that I made for the UTS Vertigo website from footage that Carla Efstratiou (Vertigo editor) and myself filmed from the red carpet. Australia’s finest talents from both the screen and (mainly) television made there way into the State Theatre, on this exceptionally cold evening, for the Australian premiere of Joe Wright’s new film Hanna (2011), staring Eric Bane, Saoirse Ronan and Cate Blanchett. We were lucky enough to catch some of the night’s big stars including Miss Blanchett (from a great distance), Academy Award Winner Jane Campion, Sigrid Thornton and the cast of Showcase’s hit Australian miniseries Cloud Street. While the carpet was an interesting experience, we were unfortunately not able to see the film (which from early and international reviews is said to be a well construct film from a rather period-piece conservative director). However, I have made my way to a number of recent media screenings since the festivals commencement and have found myself walking away, both times, feeling very different emotions.

On Thursday (9/6/2011) I was lucky enough to be at the world premiere of the first Chinese/NSW feature film collaboration 33 Postcards (2011), starring Guy Pearce, Claudia Karvan, Lincoln Lewis and Chinese newcomer Zhu Lin. For a film I was very excited about, I walked away feeling incredibly embarrassed and angry at the type/quality of films Australia is distributing around the world. As you will read in my upcoming review, this is not a film I would recommend to anyone and I am deeply disappointed that such a creative and original premise could be so poorly handled and acted by over using cliche characters and soap opera-esque events. This was not the good start I wanted for my festival viewing season.

However, last night’s screening of Jodi Foster’s new movie The Beaver (2011), starring Mel Gibson (in a return to form performance), Jennifer Lawrence and Foster herself, has restored my faith in this year’s offerings. This was a film I loved! While not perfect it left me profoundly emotional and it was a journey that I was really glad to have taken. The cast were superb, especially Gibson who gave so much depth and credibility to a very troubled character. A top notch film and a definite must see for 2011 (Review to come as well).

But there is still so much more to see over the next week, starting with tomorrow’s documentary screening of Project Nim (2011), from the Academy Award winning team behind Man On Wire (2008), and Terrence Mallick’s Palm d’Or winner Tree of Life (2011) on Tuesday night. So stay tuned as I bring the latest news, reviews and footage from all (that I can get) of this year’s Sydney Film Festival.