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aka - Spider & Rose
Australia 1994
Directed by
Bill Bennett
93 minutes
Rated M

Reviewed by
Bernard Hemingway
1.5 stars

Spider And Rose

As much as one wants to commend any Australian film that takes on "different" subject matter, and many critics at the time did, Bill Bennett's Harold and Maude-ish story about the blossoming relationship between Spider, a 22 year old male (Simon Bossell) and a 70 year old widower (Ruth Cracknell) doesn't come off for two main reasons.

Firstly Bennett's uneven script is simply not credible. The breaking-down-of-barriers premise of the film is, of course, evident from the outset but nothing that we see or hear of this process of conversion is particularly believable outside the requirements of the script. Secondly, Bossell's Johnny Deppish character makes for a most unlikely ambulance driver and Ruth Cracknell, despite a 'brave' performance seems uncomfortably out of her usual suburban territory, neither sweet not sour enough to take on a post-adolescent with attitude. The supposed dynamic between the pair also lacks emotional crediblity.

Max Cullen picked up an AFI award for his role as the bee-keeper and he does introduce a note of warmth into what is otherwise a dramatically tepid and often wincingly twee effort. At AUD$3.4 million it was a relatively expensive film to make, but, not surprisingly, not commercially successful one. DOP Andrew Lesnie, teamed up again with Bennett for Two If By Sea, 1996, a project that better suited the director's road movie proclivities. BH

 

 

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