Movie review
MrPloppy and I went to the movies the other night, to see 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous, which was filmed in Omakau (where Dad lives) and the surrounding area. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great film – the acting was pretty ropey (understandably, considering most of the characters were children, but a lot of the time it felt like a school play), and the gorgeous Central Otago landscape didn’t get much of a chance to shine, because they’d filmed it to look like an old home movie, all yellow and grainy, presumably to up the nostalgia level (and there was plenty of that – that was the best thing I could find to say about the film, really – it felt totally authentic – it was set in the late 70s, which was when I was at primary school in nearby Alexandra, and all the clothes, houses, cars, hairstyles… everything really, were exactly how I remembered them). Aactually, thinking about it, maybe having the children act in stilted school-play fashion was deliberate, to add further to the nostalgic sense – unfortunately, for me it just detracted from the story (which was kind of sweet). MrPloppy said he enjoyed its weirdness, and when I commented on how authentic it all was, he said “that explains a lot about this country”!