Love In Limbo

Devotees of 50s design will enjoy this unapologetically light comedy set in Perth that deals with the coming-of-age of a teenage boy (Craig Adams).

Although not in itself sufficient to sustain attention, the careful art direction by David McKay is a treat if perhaps a little too insistent in its Home Beautiful-style perfection. Style can go only so far however and the film loses its hold when it detours on a trip to the whorehouses of Kalgoorlie for no better reason than to work in some picturesque Australian landscape (surely a local knocking shop could have served as a plot device?). Russell Crowe plays a dweeby storeman, recalling his very different role in Mark Joffe's more satisfying Spotswood (1991) which had a comparable narrative setting.

FYI: Phil Judd who was responsible for mixing the 50s pop soundtrack is not to be confused with Phil Judd the co-founder of Split Enz.

 

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