Strange Planet (1999)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Written and Directed by Emma-Kate Croghan
Starring Claudia Karvan, Naomi Watts, Alice Garner, Tom Long, Aaron Jeffery, Felix Williamson, and Hugo Weaving

Features:

• Running audio commentary with writer/director Croghan
  
• Trailers
  
• Filmographies
  
• Web links
  

Released by: Wellspring
Region: 1
Rating: NR; suitable for audiences 16+
Anamorphic: No

My Advice: Rent it.

Strange Planet relates a year in the life of a half-dozen Gen X Australians struggling to find their soulmates, purposes, and directions in life. The women (Judy, Alice, and Sally) are roommates and close friends, while the men (Ewan, Joel, and Neil) are law partners. The year is filled with all the clich´ twists, turns, and bumps in the road of life that populate nearly every angst-ridden tale of any generation, but despite being in many ways predictable, the film manages to have some resonant and genuine emotional complexities that many such tales lack.

Joel's (Jeffery) marriage collapses, Alice (Watts) is dealing with a devastating break-up, Ewan (Long) hates his job, Judy (Karvan) dates an older man (Weaving) in a cynical career move, and everybody generally flails about in existential malaise. What saves this from being another generic angstfest are the comedic touches, delivered with a light hand throughout to prevent the whole affair from becoming too slapstick. Likewise, these moments serve to break up the otherwise maudlin tale, which is a nice departure from the other films that it resembles.

Despite the nice emotional balance struck between angst and comedy, the whole thing still just seems like an arthouse interpretation of the Friends formula. At the end of the day, the movie would've been fortunate indeed to see DVD release were it not for the presence of rising star Naomi Watts and imported household name Hugo Weaving. There have already been too many attempts to tell this story or one very much like it. It lacks the sharp dialogue and sharper wit of films like Kicking & Screaming, which has the added benefit of following recent college graduates, rather than people who should ostensibly have their shit a little more together. When your main characters are TV executives and lawyers in private practice, it's pretty difficult to attain the sort of pathos that keeps an audience interested.

Even with a mediocre story, however, the film has some excellent performances to hold it up. The half-dozen "leads" handle their parts exceptionally well, though Watts is easily the stand-out female. Tom Long's Ewan is the chief source of comedic value, particularly after he is inspired by DeNiro's Taxi Driver to leave practicing law and become a full-time hack driver. Weaving's part is relatively small, but he carries it with skill.

The DVD presentation is solid, putting writer/director Croghan on the hot seat to provide commentary. Beyond that, there's some basic filmographies on the stars, as well as some trailers and weblinks for further investigation. Nothing too flashy, but a decent treatment for imported independent film. The video looks good, though isn't anamorphic, and the audio is 5.1 surround, which is nice.

If you can't get enough "slice of life" movies about the children of the 80s all grown up, then you might want to pick this one up. A rental should suffice for most, and if you've already seen the aforementioned Kicking & Screaming, there's just not much here to recommend it beyond that.