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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Opposing Viewpoint...In Favor of This Film, December 16, 2007
This review is from: Peaches (DVD)
No one should take either of the other two reviews presetly posted for this DVD seriously. Both betray a certain level of political correctness run amuck and failure to understand what this film is trying to achieve. Peaches is a beautifully realised character drama filled with deeply affecting performances. I'm a fairly cynical person, and fairly intolerant of film cliches...though the film vaguely covers territory a few other films touching on some of Peaches' themes cover, I didn't find it cliched or overstated, and I know many people agree with me...they just don't feel a particular need to validate their opinions through blowzy Amazon reviews.
Both other reviewers' snarky descriptions (one filled with laughable pseudoacademic jargon) of the romantic subplot in the film betray their real issue with the film, namely that they disapprove of the onscreen sexuality and of the age disparity of the characters involved. (Perhaps if George Clooney had played Alan there wouldn't have been so much whining on this general subject.) Plenty of viewers I've talked to have had no problem finding Steph's desires, or her frustration at growing up in a town with no perceived future, plausible. It's refreshing that any film these days can address this sort of sexuality without judgment or a presumption of female victimhood. Yes, the affair is doomed to fail, but one understands why these characters were drawn to one another, and what they gained from the experience. (Also, no matter how much you hate any film, posting major plot spoilers is tasteless and crass.)
Nor are are the script or performances melodramatic--in fact they're admirably restrained, and Weaving and MacKenzie do a great job of playing characters across two decades. Compared to much of what passes for character study in mainstream American films, Peaches is a revelation in its depth and lack of hand-wringing over its characters. It's not quite as astonishing as Craig Monahan's first film, The Interview, and not for all tastes, but deserves to be seen more widely than it has been, and deserves a break from the snide mischaracterizations of some reviewers who prefer opacity or imposed moral platitudes.
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0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Peaches and Corn, October 24, 2007
This review is from: Peaches (DVD)
Ignoring (if possible) the tediously gratuitous marijuana smoking (which seems mandatory in Australian government-funded films) the cast of this movie gives a reasonably credible performance.
That's a far as it goes. The rest is simply awful. The plot's overburdened with "wow" symbolisms which are meant to look good on film but go nowhere. A gross example is the giant peach float, obviously left over from a town parade and donated by the local canning factory - too good to waste a free prop like that! The peach is given a cursory, unexplained wash-down at one stage but that's where it ends.
Similarly, the contrived "black spot" road sign where Steph's parents were killed, is intended to symbolize the eventual escape from her past, but her escape to what? She's had a pretty good deal where she was, especially considering her visual disability and the unending, loving patience and care of her understanding young female guardian.
The Guinness' prize for corny melodrama, however, goes to the characterisation of Alan. Alan successfully aspires to the noble role of trade union shop steward but rats on his fellow workers by becoming a supervisor for the wicked multi-national - hiss! hiss!
As a supervisor, Alan performs the boss' villainous dirty work, implementing redundancies until, surprise, surprise, the whole plant is closed and Alan's left as a pathetic, unemployed failure. No cliché-free zones here, mate! Not only this, but he also loses the seductive Steph from the most unlikely relationship you'd ever encounter.
If you think the plot is melodramatic and didactic, don't ask about detail.
What's the significance of the shaving cream on Steph's seductive leg? Why doesn't the hotel, where the couple makes love, eventually twig that someone's gaining illegal entry to one of its grandest bedrooms and, among other pandemonium, the sheets are regularly being soiled - quite spectacularly on one occasion.
Summing this movie up in one word: Avoid, Avoid, Avoid.
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1 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
hegemonic and transgressive, July 24, 2006
This review is from: Peaches (DVD)
An orphaned, Eurasian young woman learns about her parents and tries to keep her peach factory job.
The DVD's back cover said it takes from "Stealing Beauty." However, I'd add that it has elements of the film "Imitations of Life" and the marital facts of Woody Allen.
This film shows Australia as a biracial and multicultural country, unlike its defunct White-Only immigration policy would suggest. Still, there is a way in which this film retreads tired tropes of the masculine West conquering or having its way with the feminine East. Here, the man who didn't want to adopt the main character is now involved with her in the boudoir: possibly problematic.
Additionally, one usually hears of Australia have more jobs than people and facing a population crisis. This film shows working-class, blue-collar Aussies with little education who need their factory jobs. The film also discusses union crises in the 21st Century. This was fresh and thoughtful.
The main character supposedly can't read due to dyslexia. Dyslexics can learn to read. Is the Australian educational system failing its students of color? I found the illiteracy of the main character very disturbing because it seemed like a problem that should not exist in a developed country.
Too, I enjoyed seeing a biracial person getting to be a main character in a film. Still, this was not a strong role and does buy into tropes of the so-called "tragic mulata."
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