It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

A Brilliant Conflict

The first must-see film of the year.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

An Australian b-movie! This low budget feature concerns the shy and socially awkward Warren that runs an ice cream truck. Being the product of heavy bullying and social isolation (seen through his own in-camera confessions), he is obsessed with a television actress of a local TV-show and gets completely euphoric when she shows up at his van to buy some ice cream. In the meanwhile he encounters several people who mock him or are themselves quite weird. After numerous setbacks, Warren gets Travis Bickle-like crazy. Luckily, the pretty predictable plot and rather conventional cinematography are outweighed by the authentic DIY feeling and an awesome over-the-top performance by Glenn Maynard (Warren), but it's too close to make a real impression. It seems like Maynard and Addison Heath (the writer of Chocolate Strawberry Vanilla) are on an underground crusade though. After their collaboration on this movie, two others will follow: Under a Kaleidoscope and Bubblegum: A Detective Story. I wonder how those will turn out to be!

If this is comedy, it is of a very dark sort: it does cover territory that Bad Boy Bubby did with more verve but, to it's credit, it has a unique take that is less surreal and is more a vignette than a tale. This movie is a huge easter egg hunt for fans of Australian (and NZ) cinema. For example; it is very much a twisted homage to the "man alone" genre, so the decor of the main character's house references the 70s/80s, when that genre ruled antipodean cinema. Don't let this put you off if this is terra incognita, the characters are very universal and the strokes very broad.Definitely worth seeing, ignore the negative reviews, you can see that they are from writers who expect a healthy measure of saccharine in the recipe. If you don't have a sweet tooth, this movie is a rewarding dish; the flavours are simple and bitter. This is its greatest achievement; proving that a film doesn't have to be a melange of complex themes and complex characters to be a tasty dish.

A great thrill ride of a film, telling the mental disintegration of an ice cream salesman who has developed an unhealthy obsession for the central female character of a Home and Away style TV soap story. Depicts very effectively the sordid and lonely lifestyle of the main character but with touches of warmth and perverse humour throughout.Not easily classified into any genre but a mix of dark comedy, psychological thriller, human drama, revenge horror and even spaghetti style western. It is not always clear where the lines, if any between reality and delusion are drawn in the increasingly fractured world of Warren (played with absolute conviction by Glenn Maynard) but it all builds to a cathartic and brutal finale.One not to be missed in a world of formulaic, middle of the road and average cinema.

I was lucky enough to see a (sold out) screening of this at last year's Monster Fest. I went in not really expecting much. The trailer on the Monster Fest site had intrigued me but I still wasn't 100% sold. I couldn't quite put my finger on what genre the film was and whether I would like it.That all changed as soon as it started playing. From the start, I empathised with the main character, Warren (played by Glenn Maynard), whose life revolved around his ice-cream business and Katey George (played by Kyrie Capri), an actress from a Neighbours-esque soap drama. The film blurred the lines between reality and fiction as Warren daydreamed of what his life would be like with Katey George. There were dark elements that were startlingly juxtaposed with comedic ones. One second I was relaxed and jovial and the next I was clutching the arm rest. Usually I'm pretty good at predicting story lines but not this one! I would recommend this to anyone who is sick of mainstream films and the same plots over and over. This is one twisted and funny little film that kept the surprises coming. I hope to see more from the writers and the director of this film soon.