reinventingm It's been over a decade since I first caught this film and I've got to say that in spite of playing with stereotypes, it still has a rare quality; something quintessentially Australian entirely devoid of our renowned cringe factor. Linus Roache, Danielle Cormack and Ian Bliss bring each of their characters to life with great craft and humour. Two Hands is the Sydney experience, Animal Kingdom is the Melbourne experience but Siam Sunset is the completely Oz experience. John Polson and the writers Max Dann and Andrew Knight did a wonderful job in highlighting many of our quirks and mores (for better or for worse) in a thoughtful and funny as hell way as we follow Perry (Roache) - the hapless disaster magnet from England through the shockingly funny death of his wife, his suburban London life crippled by the memories, and on to the tourist trip from hell as he sets off from Adelaide into the red heart of Australia. Grace (Cormack) and Martin (Bliss) are two of the most original cinema characters I've seen in years. In fact, these two characters remind me of many people I've known over the years, so in spite of comments of this movie playing to populism or stereotypes, I can't help but watch it and see the opposite. Alan Borough shines as Stuart - the Stratocaster-mangling singer songwriter and Bill Leach (Roy Billing) who still sticks in my mind not so much as the bus driver from hell, but rather as a ubiquitous bureaucrat of the worst order. Overall a surrealist but highly accurate and well observed ninety minute odyssey that will keep you laughing years after you've experienced it.

Frederick Anyone who has seen John Polson acting - in Blood Oath, Idiot Box or Raw Nerve, to name a few - knows that he's every bit the equal of his more famous aussie acting pal Russell Crowe. This, Polson's first film, betrays some of the weaknesses of the first-timer but wins out thanks to a fast-moving plot, great scenery and good central performances from Linus Roache and Danielle McCormack. Roache plays Perry, a floppy-haired industrial chemist who designs paint colours. Still mourning the loss of his wife who was killed by a falling refrigerator a year earlier (a darkly surreal scene somewhat out of step with the rest of the film), industrial chemist Perry inadvertently wins a bus tour to outback Australia. Seeking to recover from his loss and discover an elusive colour he can imagine but not create - the Siam Sunset of the title - Perry takes off for Oz. There he encounters a variety of characters, among them the bewitching Grace, who is fleeing her psychotic Doctor boyfriend Martin. As a series of bizarre accidents occur around him, Perry realises that the malignant force which led to the death of his wife is still pursuing him. In the dazzling wasteland of central Australia he has to come to terms with his grief and fight to establish a new life (or something like that). As stated, Siam Sunset suffers from some typical first-timer faults: the plotting is uneven, there's some bizarre non-sequiturs and not all of the jokes hit the spot. The energy of the film, however, wins you over. Cleverly written by Max Dann and Andrew Knight, the plot hurtles along the highway, stopping only for character development or greasy breakfasts cooked by Roy Billing's over sensitive bus company operator. Cinematographer Brian Breheny - who proved his skill at capturing outback Australia when he shot Priscilla Queen of the Desert - does a great job of bringing the film's dark humour to life. There are some darkly beautiful images in this film, such as when the busload of adventurers discover a hanged man circled by a swarm of butterflies, or when Perry, lookin gloomily out the back window of the bus, sees a massive storm in the distance, pursuing him like the manifestation of his ill-fate. The supporting cast - particularly Deidre Rubinstein and Terry Kenwrick as a suburban couple whose marriage is on the skids - are also excellent. Overall this is a great first effort and anyone who gives it a hard time should try looking at the first films of some 'great' directors and see how they compare. This is heaps better than many of those. So see it, and stop wingeing! Now, would someone please get Roache a haircut.

Devil-3 This movie had me laughing from start to finish. I saw it at the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival, and I can't believe it wasn't their closing night feature. It was far more enjoyable than the other films I saw there. Great comedic performances and a very funny script make this a film not to be missed.

timelord-3 I was a bit perplexed by the first half of Siam Sunset. It was trying to be a comedy, tradgedy and a serious piece all at the same time.The poor wife gets flattened by a fridge, people fall down stairs for no apparent reason, and in the meantime our hero is moaning about loss and strange things that happen, quite straight faced...