Touches You

The Worst Film Ever

Good start, but then it gets ruined

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

What could have been a great film was let down entirely by an appalling script that makes Shortland Street look Oscar worthy.With a damn awful soundtrack (did they run out of money?), melodramatic silent screen era responses to unrealistic dialogue and a cast that looks the part but cant act to save themselves.....i struggled to make it to the end.The saving grace of the film was the stunning NZ scenery and realistic visual atmosphere.Unfortunately it just wasn't enough to save this incredibly disjointed film.

Not as true to the book as it could have been. Some of the more feminine moments in the book ended up on the cutting room floor. However congratulations to the young male actors for very brave performances. The golden colours appear too contrived at times and this was unnecessary because the landscape is awe inspiring anyway.At screenings in Wanaka this last week I am told the audience is clapping at the conclusion of each screening. Well done to all involved particularly given the budget the film enjoyed.This is another example of a New Zealand film that takes a universal theme (the complexities and confusions of adolescence and early sexual awareness)and puts it into a very traditional rural context and reminds us of the normality of it all.

Before expressing my opinion, I must say that (while I have no personal involvement in the film project) being a school teacher, who's gay, and who grew up and lives in the area in which this film is set - I strongly identify with it."50 Ways of Saying Fabulous" has a strong ring of authenticity to it. This may not translate well to the world outside Central Otago, New Zealand - but for a local there's a lot to recognise. A 'coming of age' film it is, but it is also a lot more. It's a brave telling of the true childhood stories that we tend not to allow to see the light of adulthood. The actors achieve the perfect balance between the paradoxical naivety and knowingness characteristic of the early teenage years. They inspired me with the bravery of their (sometimes misguided) idealism and the story leads them to expose, through their inevitable frustrations, a lot of the senselessness of the restrictions of our narrow society. I loved the relative absence of developed adult roles. The children were not only the main protagonists, but with the unwavering focus on their story: their view became ours - no translation required. Those who would criticise the 'cheesy low budget space-show' scenes woven throughout the film must surely have forgotten the fantasies of their own childhood, or perhaps they never needed to resort to fantasy to escape an all-too-restrictive daily reality. These sequences really were very funny in all of their overt symbolism.The bravery and incredible sincerity of the outcast character "Roy" (played with unwavering emotional and physical conviction by Jay Collins) struck a chord with me. The tragedy of his determination was almost too much to bear.I found the shifting of accent for the character "Jamie" (played by Michael Dorman) a little jarring. Somehow "South Auckland Polynesian, circa 2005" segued into "Aussie Battler" a few too many times for me to suspend disbelief.The filming, in the stunning wilds of Central Otago, captured the vast emptiness of the place beautifully. The characters owned the terrain, there was nothing else there. The intense colour saturation reinforced the historical nature of the film (It was set in the 70's). The drought, and the constant threat of fire, added beautifully to the undertone of tension. Something might go wrong.Stories like this need to be told over and over in all their variety and colour. I loved sitting in our local cinema surrounded by teenagers from the school at which I teach and seeing them enjoying and responding to the message to "be themselves". New Zealand is perhaps coming of age too, to see a feature film of this nature to fruition.Anyone with a curiosity for the culture of this isolated southern island would do well to catch this film. It adds a new chapter to the story of where we come from as told in the likes of "The Piano", "Heavenly Creatures" and "Once Were Warriors". Fabulous.

The BEST movie out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved it!!!!! I thought that the whole setting and story plot was beautifully set out and just overall you have to see it to get what I'm saying!!!!! I thought the character Billy, that Andrew Patterson played was just done perfectly and it just shows you that life has its surprises and it's ups and downs. Obviously everyone has their own characters and personalities and it's sad that not many people follow their heart, cuz that just shows our uniqueness and individuality. I would definitely give this movie 10/10 and I'm soooo buying the DVD when it comes out cuz its just one of the best movie's I've seen in a long time!