Three Blind Mice (Director: Matthew Newton): Three naval officers go on a 24-hour shore-leave in Sydney. Before they ship out for Iraq they plan to have a night on the town. There’s an uneasy tension in each of the officers that grows as the night wears on and the film peels back the layers of their characters. By the end of the night we have a much different understanding of these men and their friendship.
In addition to writing and directing, Matthew Newton plays Harry, one of the three sailors. He’s a chatty, charming version of Vince Vaughn and a lot of fun to watch. The writing is snappy and all of the performances are quite believable.
The film is low-budget and reminded me a lot of Swingers. Forget the fancy crane shots, special effects and sweeping score, this film is all dialogue. So if you enjoy films such as Smoke that rely heavily on writing then you’ll appreciate what Three Blind Mice has to offer from Down Under.
Three Blind Mice screened at TIFF’08 but I was unable to see it then. At the time of this review it still hasn’t found a distributor so I feel lucky to have seen it at OzFlix. If you’re in Scotland you can screen Three Blind Mice on February 16 at the Glasgow Film Festival.
(6/10)
It’s also screening in Austin as part of the South by Southwest Film festival. The schedule isn’t posted yet, but the fest runs from March 13-22.
I’m happy to report that not only does the film have a distributor (Kinosmith), but that it opens in Toronto tonight, at Canada Square. How come I’m so smart? Because I’ve started working for Kinosmith recently. More on that in another blog post. In the meantime, catch this smart independent Australian film.