48 Shades (2006) User Reviews

I was catapulted back to my last year at school....

[Rastas · 7/10 · 27 August 2006]

During my last driving holiday, my wife and I listened to the Nick Earls book and thoroughly enjoyed it... I was expecting to be disappointed by the movie (having read the book) but walked out delighted. I caught one of the preview days and only a small audience was in the cinema, yet all of them (and I) reacted to the highs and lows of the protagonists' situation.

The awkward moments, the butterflies in the stomach, the near liaisons all resonated with me and propelled me back to my final year at school, and my experiences of share housing at university..

The casting was, in my opinion, true to my impressions of the characters in the book, and in this case I got the feeling that anyone else cast in the roles would have been "wrong", such was my comfort with the actors and characters portrayed.

The screenplay certainly did the book justice as I felt that all of the key points were hit. There is a certain bit of "wankery" (wankery = self gratifying actions) with some of the shots early on in the film and they seemed to be trying to make a point. What point, I am unsure of, but the constantly panning, zooming, piecemeal shots made caused some nauseousness. Happily, after about 15 minutes or so these ceased (or I got used to the style) and we got into the story.

Such a brilliant look into the back yard of Australian life and "almost got there" liaisons should not be missed, not because it is a "not to be missed movie", rather, it should not be missed to allow the viewer to get back in touch with those days of their youth.

Hip, sexy feel good comedy /drama

[leos_monkey · 7/10 · 26 August 2006]

I decided to go and catch one of the advanced screenings before it comes out on Thursday and i liked what i saw.

Daniel Lapaine did a brilliant job at writing the screenplay and directing, very faithful to the book and the way he put the fish tank scene when Dan and Naomi met just like Romeo and Juliet was great too.

(Possible spoiler, i know.) The casting Richard Wilson, Robin McLeavy, Emma Lung, Nick Donaldson and Victoria Thaine were great.

They each played their roles just perfectly the way i imagined in the book. I think they all have a good future in this business and i hope to see them all in many other great films. Local or overseas.

An enjoyable light comedy with a great soundtrack

[futari99 · 8/10 · 4 September 2006]

I'm sitting here listening to the soundtrack and it's reinforcing my first impression that this film was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

While it may not deal with typical issues in teenage angst like Donnie Darko/ Brick/ 2.37 or have the solid structure of an Alibrandi/ 10 things/Leo's Romeo, it does approach growing up differently-very gentle and yet it holds your interest and thankfully doesn't cop out in the end.

I have read the book and thought it was better, like most books, because it had the time to deal with Dan's innermost thoughts. There were things that I would have done differently but I imagine that they did not have a big budget on this

This film seems to have two distinct divided camps. I can understand why some may not like it but I don't think it deserves to be completely written off. I gave into its charm and was pleasantly surprised.

I would recommend those who have seen the film to get the soundtrack-it is really worth it. I think I'll go and see it again, seeing that it's "tight arse Tuesday" I'd be really interested in your responses to the music.

48 shades of Brisbane

[jvframe · 8/10 · 29 August 2006]

It's an amazing experience to see a very pretty film on the big cinema screen which not only shows your home town at its best, but also includes a friend or two as extras (Hi Quentin!).

Based on the novel "48 Shades of Brown" by locally and internationally celebrated Irish born Brisbane author Nick Earls, we're taken into inner city suburbia to view the interplay of several young people developing life skills in the process of falling in and out of love. The protagonist is handsome young student Dan who moves in with his (only slightly older) aunt Jacq to finish his college year while his parents are overseas on extended travels.

I've got to say that I much preferred the play, as adapted by long time Earls collaborator Philip Dean - in which not a word or gesture is wasted, and the audience really does get a very satisfying sense of discovery. The film makes some plot elements too obvious.

The cinematography and sound are first class throughout. The slight weakness in the film is in the script and direction (both by Daniel Lapaine). I believe that some more dialogue was necessary in order for us to be fully clued up about the characters and their expectations. There are a few too many meaningful facial expressions (from Dan) and longing glances (from Jacq).

All the actors do well - but especially Robin McLeavy as the life loving rebel aunt Jacq. Michael Booth takes on the task of geeky landlord with gusto, further reinforcing the likelihood of being permanently typecast (he features in a cinema chain advert for online pre-booking of tickets).

Brisbane viewers are kept on the hop trying to spot the various locations - and while they all look good on the screen, they'd beggar practical logic in real life. That's OK, it's all fun - and the film really does have a lot of genuine humour to offer - as well as scenes which make you squirm or cringe (but only because they're so very close to real life).

I like that all the local housing and household items are 100% authentic - including the iconic laminex table on the verandah and the Hills Hoist rotary clothes line in the back yard (though I've never witnessed one used in a drinking game before). In the current drought you can even see that the lawn is yet another shade of brown.

48 Shades has a heart of gold and has been made with utmost good will. I hope that viewers around the globe will get to enjoy the big screen beauty of it - and maybe even be inspired to get a local acting troupe to stage the play.

Thank god it wasn't relocated

[ear-vomit · 8/10 · 6 September 2006]

I think that I was a bit disappointed when I heard that 48 shades of brown was the first of Nick Earl's novels to be made into a film (I think that this was not one of his best works but it was still enjoyable). However when I heard that it was being shot in Brisbane and not in one of the other "more culturally significant places" I knew that I had to go and see it. The film was impressive and yes the opening shots of Brisbane became a little too much like a tourism commercial (but how many times have we seen the Sydney Harbour Bridge?) it was a well shot film. The actors were well cast and the story follows the book fairly closely. I think that the audience needed to know more about the internal monologue that is in the book. However the characters seem to fit into the inner city suburban rental property well and the party i thought captured the quintessential Brisbane house party. The best thing was to see local band Gazoonga Attack get their 15 minutes of fame and the Hills hoist being used in a game of "Goon of Fortune". This movie does deal with some of the important issues in what I think is a was that really can't been seen in other similar teen movies (looking for Alibrandi). It was also good to see a non jock male point of view of what it's like to grow up and get through that last year of High School. If looking for Alibrandi was the high school novel to study in the late 90's 48 Shades will definitely be the one for the 00's