I'm not really sure what you'd classify this as - it's not quite feature length, but then far too epic and involved for a short. This debut work (I can't seem to find out much about the filmmaker) has been screened at festivals in Melbourne and Sydney, (I saw a mate's preview copy left over from a festival last year), and it is kind of easy to see why....
The plot is a fairly familiar detective film noir type investigation, but with (a lot of) lesbian subtext. The traditionally male private detective is played by a woman who goes around flirting with a bevy of femme fatales (in manner of Bogart) and sparking a lot of sexual tension with her blonde assistant. Haven't seen these two actors in anything else (Sarah Bollenberg and Elizabeth Sandy), but they are very good. They both have "old film" look and mannerisms. There are also a few cameo appearances. Natalie Bassingthwaighte from 'Neighbours' does a very legitimate take on 1940s burlesque girl. Katy Manning is very over the top but quite funny, and also looks like she's stepped out of a real 1940s film.
With virtually no budget, this independent work manages to evoke a bygone era of film-making, and it looks like there was a lot of special effects and / or clever location scouting to make it look like a real 1940s film. For the most part it succeeds quite well - the sound is a little dodgy in places, which is a shame because it detracts from the musical score (which is sort of Hitchcock). The script is quite funny, certainly offbeat, but most importantly moves along at a fast pace... This is a 1940s film but without the padding!
I really enjoyed this - if it's playing somewhere near you, check it out. It's definitely different.
