SOLO
SUNDAY, 11TH MAY, 10.00 A.M.
TUESDAY, 13TH MAY, 8.30 P.M.
RUNNING TIME 98 MINUTES
RATED MA
SYNOPSIS:
After thirty years of working for an underworld consortium
Jack Barrett (Colin Friels) has had enough of killing for a living.
Now at 53, Barrett is tired of the sordid life and tired of jumping
to attention every time his boss Reno (Linal Haft) gives him
yet another commission. He regularly visits the prostitute, Kate
(Angie Milliken), who seems to have a soft spot for him, while
he dreams of a simple life in a small fishing village, but in
order to get out of the business, there is one final job to do.
Sounds simple, but then Billie Finn (Bojana Novakovic) comes
along, a 19 year old university student doing her thesis on the
fallout from the Commission on Organised crime… and Barrett is
a key source.
Review by Louise Keller:
An assured genre film from an exciting new filmmaker, Solo looks
at life from the point of view of a hit man whose conscience
has caught up with him. The first winner of the Project Greenlight
Australia scriptwriting initiative, writer/director Morgan O'Neill
was given a production budget of a million dollars to make his
film. The result is impressive from all angles. Good storytelling,
well constructed characters and an outstanding performance by
Colin Friels take us into the complex world of Jack Barrett.
Mood takes priority over action, and the jazzy score that conveys
Barrett's internal world is a tangible and alluring character.
It's not a mid-life crisis, is it? asks the seedy gun shop owner,
when Colin Friel's Jack Barrett dumps guns of-all-sorts on his
counter to sell. But Barrett's repulsion for the life he is leading
as a hit man is a crisis of larger proportions. The daily grind
of discarding bloodied body parts into the harbour has now become
unbearable and he takes solace by gazing at the photo of the
idyllic fishing spot of Bateman's Bay on the back of his car's
sun visor. And then he meets idealistic and persistent Billie
Finn (Bojana Novakovic). Novakovic (winner, 2004 AFI Best Actress
Award for Marking Time), is fresh and delightful. The relationship
between Barrett and Billie is a compelling contrast of cynical
and fresh. British actor Linal Haft delivers a fine turn as smarmy
thug Reno and Angie Milliken injects a world-weary acceptance
of her lot as the prostitute, Kate. Bruce Spence as gunshop owner,
Vince Colosimo as corrupt cop and Chris Haywood as underworld
king pin Arkan hit the mark in smaller roles.
O'Neill takes us skilfully into Barrett's psyche. His reality
is matter of fact; his dreams describe the man and reveal his
heart and soul. There is no sentimentality in the way O'Neill
has created the characters, yet Friels makes us like Jack. Better
still, he allows us to understand him. Excellent production design
and cinematography complement the haunting music score. The ending
comes abruptly and may fall short of some expectations, despite
the immensely satisfying journey. It's an involving and complex
film that leaves an indelible mark.
Review by Andrew L. Urban:
You don't have to be a student of film to recognise the classic
ingredients of Morgan O'Neill's debut feature: the anti-hero
seeking redemption, the whore with a heart of gold who loves
him, and the evil bastards he works for. And the innocent who
wanders into his orbit ....
The reason these are classic ingredients, of course, is that
we always love them. We love stories in which the central character
is no angel but has recognised the evil of his ways and wants
to go fishing in peace and harmony with the world. We especially
love it (us music lovers) if he's really into some serious music,
whether the great classics, even opera - or, of course, the diet
of noir: modern jazz. Either that, or into good wine.
Colin Friels, who looks suitably frayed at the edges (meant in
the kindest possible way), is also a suitably fine actor who
can breathe three dimensional life into almost any scripted character,
even one as self-contradictory as Jack Barrett. Barrett might
well have started out his fantasy life in O'Neill's brain as
a private eye; there are even hints of this is the dialogue,
with a couple of smart-aleck remarks from Billie Finn (a fine
debut by Bojana Novakovic), who is surprisingly well read on
last century's hard boiled private eyes.
The fact that most of the gangsters are drawn more or less from
movie and tv precedents doesn't matter: these are stereotypes
coming from a varied line-up. What matters is the story, and
O'Neill won his $1 million production budget in Project Greenlight
Australia because of just that.
O'Neill, a pro jazz muso himself, loves music enough to have
made sure the film has a great score, and Hugh Miller has distinguished
himself with the cinematography. Overall, the film looks a million
dollars! And in this context that means it looks many millions
more than it cost.
Source: www.urbancinefile.com.au
to top
|
