FRESH AIR

Australia, 1999, 90 minutes, Colour.
Nadine Garner, Marin Mimica, Bridie Carter, Tony Barry, Julie Hamilton, Simon Linden.
Directed by Neil Mansfield.

Fresh Air is a small-budget, even experimental film about three young people living in Sydney. It focuses on each of their characters, their interactions, their sharing a flat together. It also explores their ambitions and hopes, their frustrations, their need for relationships and goals in life. They seem to be enjoying their lives - but, under the surface, there is a great deal of anxiety.

The film was written and directed by Neil Mansfield who had made a number of music videos as well as some private short films. He wrote this screenplay from his experience - and it is rather wordy as the characters not only explore their situations dramatically but spend a great deal of time talking about them.

1. Small-budget film? Limited audience? For young people in their twenties? For wider audience?

2. The Sydney settings, the flat, the exteriors, the circumstances of the three central characters? Musical score?

3. The title, living on fresh air, the need for fresh air in the lives of the central characters?

4. The credibility of the plot, the sketching of the three characters, their interactions, friendships and clashes? Hopes and feelings? Frustrated ambitions? The emphasis on words and communication in the film?

5. Jack, his age, twenty-nine? His wanting to make films, some of his successes? His dreams and ambitions ranging from fireman, soccer star, rock guitarist? The frustrations at nearing thirty? His relationship with Kit, the tensions? The decision to share the house with E? The consequences for himself, for Kit? Listening to E and her ambitions? The emotional conflict, the declaration that life was good - but, under the surface?

6. Kit, her age, playing the piano accordion, her social conscience, the environment? Her relationship with Jack? The tensions? Her own ambitions, frustrations? The possibilities of sharing the house with E? Her interactions with E, changes? Confrontation of her own hopes and ambitions?

7. E, at the university, part-time, her writing "Pretty Ugly", a story about herself, her activities, those with whom she is in relationship? Her spending all her time writing, not studying? Her coming into the house, the interactions with Jack and Kit? The changes for herself? Hopes for the future?

8. The supporting characters and their contribution to the plot, to understanding the central characters? Bob, Jean, Hunter? The older and the younger generation?

9. The film as a slice of contemporary life amongst twentysomethings in Sydney in the 1990s? Their hopes, fears, frustrations?