DEATH IN BRUNSWICK

Australia, 1991, 100 minutes, Colour.
Sam Neil, Zoe Carides, John Clarke, Yvonne Lawley, Nico Lathouris.
Directed by John Ruane

Death in Brunswick was written by its director John Ruane, director of some excellent short Australian features, Queensland, Feathers, the adaptation of Tim Winton's That Eye, the Sky and Dead Letter Office. The screenplay was a collaboration with novelist Boyd Oxlade about his inner Melbourne experiences. The result is an oddball black comedy that will not appeal to every taste, but seems to appeal to the Australian sense of humour, especially the famous cemetery scene.

Sam Neill is Carl, dominated by his mother (an excellent performance by New Zealander Yvonne Lawley), who gets a job in a dirty club kitchen, falls in love with a young Greek waitress (Zoe Carides) and clashes with Brunswick Greeks and Turks, finally having a spot of `dispose of the corpse' trouble (like The Trouble With Harry and Weekend at Bernie's).

The film captures a lot of the flavour of inner-city Melbourne and Brunswick. It is marked by a larrikin style and humour that has its crass touches. Comic writer and performer John Clarke is very good as Dave, Carl's friend. It is quirky local black humour.

1. Acclaim and awards? The Australian and Melbourne flavour? Touching the Australian nerve - and sense of humour? The characters, situations? Spoof and irony?

2. The Melbourne settings, the inner-city suburbs, the streets and houses, the Bombay Club, the church? Authentic atmosphere - yet heightened? The mood, the score, especially with its Greek musical overtones?

3. The title and the echoes of Death in Venice, Mum and her love for Mahler's music? The tragedy and irony in the title?

4. The drawing of the characters as caricatures - and audience response to the heightened characters?

5. Carl as the focus, Sam Neill's screen presence and performance? His living in squalor, getting up, his daily routines? Responsibility and irresponsibility? Middle age, his life so far? Looking for work? His friendship with Dave and June and their support? Dependent on them? Dependent on his mother, her domination, arrival, tidying his house? Getting the job, going to work? The types at the club? The filthy kitchen, not being allowed to drink - and his sneaking drinks? The friendship with Sophie, the bonds with her, bringing the drinks? The contrast with life at home? The dates with Sophie, going out, sharing and talking, going to the pictures? With the kids? The brief affair at home? Antagonising Laurie and his brutality in the club? Working with Mustafa and his stolen goods and drugs?

6. The portrait of Mum, the background of her life, her snobbery, her records, her hold over her son, tidying his house, demands and expectations? Her religious background, prayers, exasperation at Carl?

7. Sophie and her verve, the Greek background, at work, helping Carl, going out, the pictures, the sexual encounter?

8. Yanni and the owners of the club, the rules, the patrons, the strictness, severe on Carl?

9. Mustafa and his goods, the clash with the Greeks, the fight? Laurie and his brutality? Mustafa attacking Carl and the sudden brutality and shock of the death? Carl and his inability to cope, getting help from Dave, the comedy with the corpse, the cemetery sequence? His revenge on Laurie and the others by putting the cockroaches in the pizza?

10. Dave and June and the kids, suburban home, June and her dominating Dave? Manner, dress, way of speaking, the beer? Deadpan humour? The observation of the Australian house? Helping Carl, the body, the cemetery sequence and its laughs? The return home? Dave and June and their trying to help Carl to take on responsibilities?

11. Carl and his job, Sophie breaking the friendship, the pressure from her family? Carl watching and the Turks fire-bombing the club? Laurie and his anger?

12. Carl and Sophie, the Turks? Mustafa's wife and her child, Carl giving the money? The revenge, Carl leading the attackers into the club, the confrontation with Laurie, the brutality of the fight and of his beheading?

13. Carl and his continued reliance on Dave, introducing Sophie to them, the revelation that he was still married? His dilemmas? Wanting to kill his mother? Going to mass, the unfamiliarity of the mass, the church and the vision, Mustafa sitting in the church, the handshake of peace, and forgiving him? Going to see Sophie's father, the house, the physical attack? His mother, making demands on her, discovering about the inheritance? Her collapse, his monologue in the hospital, her being confined to the chair?

14. The wedding - and the happy ending - and a future or not?

15. Greeks and Turks in inner Melbourne, Anglo-Saxons?, customs in Brunswick? The Aussie family with Dave and June?

16. A British reviewer commented that the film imagines a class of Australian males as fortyish adolescents, bullied either by their mothers or their wives, content to wallow in filth, and consistently engaging, despite their burnt-out lifestyles. Correct or not?