Maslin Beach

An Australian Film reviewed by John Cox

Maslin Beach is a real nudist/naturist beach south of Adelaide, on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Friends who have been there tell me it is rather remote, or isolated. It is also the name of an Australian film that used the beach as a location.

Details

Director: Wayne Groom

Producers: Andrew Steuart, Wayne Groom

Executive Producer: Oscar Scherl

Screenplay: Wayne Groom

Production Manager: Nicola Mill

Art Director: Jacqui Canty

Sound Recordist: Marco Arlotta

Script Editors: John Emery and Moira Fahy

Music: Robert Kral

Editor: Simon Whitington

Director of Photography: Rodney Bolton

Starring: Michael Allen, Bonnie-Jaye Lawrence (the front cover of the video incorrectly has

the name 'Bonnie Jaye-Lawrence', and this has been copied by others), Eliza Lovell, and

Gary Waddell as Ben.

Spandau Films and Australian International Pictures

Principle Cast

Ben - Gary Waddell (usually credited as 'Garry Waddell')

Simon - Michael Allen

Marcie - Eliza Lovell

Gail - Bonnie-Jaye Lawrence

Paula - Zara Collins

Jenny - Jennifer Ross

Further Information

Maslin Beach was released in 1997, with funding from the South Australian Film Commission. The film was actually made and completed in 1996. There are no box office figures available, and I have been unable to find any reference to interviews and reviews in any printed media. However, there are just two web sites that make reference to the film, both giving just the barest information that equates to that available on the video cover (including the typographical error with Bonnie-Jaye Lawrence's name). The first of these is The Australian Movie Guide at http://www.websterworld.com/film/inreview.shtml, which lists the film under '1998 In Review'. The second is Omnispin's 'Independent Film' web site at http://www.omnispin.com/maslin.htm, where not only are there no typographical errors, but there is, very surprisingly, a link to a page where the first eleven minutes of Maslin Beach are available for on-line viewing. This is even more surprising when the sponsors are found to be Nassau County Film Commission and Long Island Film and TV Foundation, in the USA. The All-Movie Guide has no information at all, and even the Internet Movie Database (Mirror Site) only lists Eliza Lovell, and Garry [sic.] Waddell as Ben (under 'Full Cast and Crew'!). I should add that this will hopefully change after I have submitted this assignment, as I will be sending the Internet Movie Database all the information that I have researched. They should then update the page, and this information here will become out-dated. A further comment is that all the usual search engines for the web came back with zero results for the keywords "Maslin Beach". Only Google and Fast Search found results. Interestingly, many of the results were either about mineralogy and palaeontology, nudism and/or naturism, or, strangely, from a site selling surveillance equipment (such as infrared lighting, image intensifiers and so on) near Maslin Beach!.

After searching the literature available in Journals and books and finding nothing, the only recourse available was to hunt down a copy of Maslin Beach on video. I tried all the local (Rockingham, Western Australia) video stores like; Blockbuster, Video Ezy, Video City and the small independents. None of them had a copy of the video, and they had never heard of the film either. I expanded the search further, still to no avail, until Hollywood Films on Canning Highway knew the title. They normally sell films, and told me that the film is now considered a collector's item, and is nearly impossible to obtain, despite being highly sought by collectors. In fact, if I wanted to place an order, they could find a copy eventually, but it would take "á months, many months." After much more research, I finally found that Planet Video in Mount Lawley, Perth, had a copy of Maslin Beach available for hire, at $4 per week. As Mount Lawley is a round trip of 120 km for me, they agreed to hold the video for me, although I was not a member at the time. I have nothing but praise for this store, and as they specialise in 'hard to find' videos, they must be a prime source for Students of Cinema. The copy of the film that was supplied was not the best quality, but was passable. This is not surprising, as it must be the only copy available in Western Australia. Maslin Beach is definitely an obscure Australian film.

Critical Review of Maslin Beach

Maslin Beach is labelled a romantic comedy. This could be slightly misleading, as it is not a 'hilarious' film, nor is it really romantic in the traditional sense, but it does have light-hearted moments. Much as life itself, there are also moments of pathos as well as joy. It is also entirely shot at a nudist beach, and nudity runs through the length of film. The viewer quickly learns to accept this as normal, and concentrate on the plot, not the copious amount of flesh.

Simon and Marcie (Michael Allen and Eliza Lovell) arrive by car at a car park. They both disembark and walk to the rear of the car, and the boot is opened. As they both bend down at the same time, their heads clash, while collecting their belongings. Apart from a gentle 'ouch', the clash produces no conversation. They obviously know each other well, and know there was no deliberate intention to harm. They take their belongings to the beach, and while they are walking, a voice-over from Simon talks about his confusion about what real love is. The rest of the film is an exploration of this, framed by one complete day at the beach. The basic story is of what happens to Simon's love life, but there are several other characters highlighted in several vignettes.

When they arrive at the beach, both Simon and Marcie appear bored with each other. Marcie sees them as a 'Romeo and Juliet' romantic couple. Simon is just bored with it all. Next, we are introduced to Gail (Bonnie-Jaye Lawrence), Paula (Zara Collins) and Jenny (Jennifer Ross). They are walking down the beach together discussing Gail's chances of finding the 'perfect' man, because of the powers attached to a necklace that brought good luck to her Grandmother. Already the audience can guess that there is going to be some link between Gail and Simon. However, there are many more interesting people on the beach, not all of them 'attractive' and young (part of the realism of this film). There are a couple of jilted, bitter and overweight women, and a nymphomaniac, aristocratic English woman who manages to have about five lovers hanging around in various places nearby (including her psychiatrist and an artist). There is also a rather good scene where a married couple who run their own business go to the beach to "get away from the office". Of course, they bring their mobile phones with them (more than one each), and their day is taken over by constantly ringing telephones. This is a nice commentary on current social life, and the viewer can question modern 'leisure'. To service the beach's patrons there is a flatulent, short-sighted ice-cream salesperson with a van. This is Ben (Gary Waddell), who is a friend of Simon, and is his unofficial counsellor. I would think that this character is the main comic element. It is hard to say though, as there is nothing about Ben that would make you laugh aloud, unless you were intoxicated, male and very young. Maslin Beach does have a major redeeming feature, and that is that it does not dwell too long on any one subject. As the quality of acting is variable, the script is suspect and everything about Maslin Beach is cheap, the lack of continuity is a positive boon. In fact, there is something about this film (not the nudity) that I find appealing. It is hard to define what it is, but it could be something to do with its bluntness, and downright 'Aussie' attitude.

At the beginning of the film, as the car is driving towards the beach, the music that is used on the soundtrack sounds like music from a 1960s surfing film. Add to that the grainy film stock, and it is easy to find yourself, as a viewer, transported to the wrong decade. Perhaps this is a deliberate ploy by the director, Wayne Groom (also screenplay and producer), as a way of implying the old ideals portrayed by the characters. There is a misogynistic undercurrent in the film, in that the gender roles all seem to be stereotypical. With the exception of Ben, every major character has a heterosexual pairing quest - the implication being that, if done well, this will bring about a nirvana for the people involved. There is no mention of homosexuality, or chastity, as an alternative perspective, but Ben does not have any line that gives anything away about his preferences. This scenario is quite unusual for a film made in 1996. This is not, and never was, a mainstream blockbuster film, and as such, would normally be confronting current issues, or pushing the boundaries of social acceptance. It would do this as an 'art' film. Unlike the producer, Andrew Steuart (Sanctuary (1995, Robin De Crespigny) Violet's Visit (1995, Richard Turner)), Wayne Groom does not appear to have worked on any other film. I find this hard to believe, but it could explain the rather strange screenplay - although I did like it.

The camera work in Maslin Beach deserves a mention. Sometimes it is very good, with some stunning static shots and 'pans' of the beach, cliffs and a sunset. The composition of two shots in particular is worthy of a mention. One is a daylight shot of a lone pebble on the beach, at the edge of the water. The other is a shot of Simon sitting in a similar position at sunset. The link between the two is obvious, but it only works because of the impact made by the composition. In that way, the scenes are memorable to the viewer, and the link can be made whilst watching the film. If the shots had not been so good, the audience would have forgotten them, and missed the link. As nudity is major factor in this film, framing is an important aspect of the camera work. There is no sense of gratuity in the framing, meaning that the framing is done so that the camera does not dwell on private body parts. This helps to ease any sense of discomfort from being within the subject's 'personal space', and makes the film more tasteful. Not an easy task, given the location for filming.

Until I had seen this film, I had thought that anyone (apart from Frankie J. Holden) that had acted in The F. J. Holden (1979, Michael Thornhill) had never worked again. Garry Waddell, Ben in Maslin Beach, played 'Deadlegs' in The F. J. Holden, as well as many other roles in such films as Monkey Grip (1982, Ken Cameron) and Prey of the Chameleon (1992, Fleming B. Fuller). Eliza Lovell has also acted in Kiss or Kill (1997, Bill Bennett) and the better known Siam Sunset (1999, John Polson). Apart from these credits, there is no mention of any other actor, from Maslin Beach, in another film (there is a credit for a Jennifer Ross in the US film UFOria (1980, John Binder), but it is very unlikely to be the same person).

For a film released in 1997, Maslin Beach is out of step with just about every expectation the viewer could have. According to Tom O'Regan, each of the last three decades in Australian Cinema (not including the 'Noughties') can be clearly identified as conforming to particular paradigms pertaining to each decade. The seventies produced films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975, Weir) and could be classified as the decade of "The Ocker and the Quality film". The eighties "consolidated the National Cinema", and produced films such as Crocodile Dundee (1986, Peter Faiman), and 'Blockbusters' were first produced in Australian Cinema. It was also an era of the '10BA' tax concessions, which meant a lot of second rate films were also made, as money was made freely available. The nineties internationalised Australian Cinema, and Muriel's Wedding (1994, P.J. Hogan) was an example. The quality was higher, but fewer films were made. Herein lies the dichotomy with Maslin Beach. It looks like an 'Ocker' film from the 1970s, rather than the quality film of the 1990s. It is neither a 'skin flick' for post-pubescent testosterone charged males, nor a 'Mills and Boon' romance for under-appreciated women. Marcie 'dumps' Simon at the end of Maslin Beach, but this is not a statement of female strength, but more a submission to Simon's philandering.

Maslin Beach does not seem to fit anywhere. The actors are not 'attractive' in the Baywatch sense, and are just 'normal' people that you would see on the beach anywhere. It does not have a message to put across and it would not even act as a tourism advertisement, other than perhaps to Naturists. It is therefore hard to see where it fits in the role of a medium sized English Language Cinema. Apart from the Australian accent, the filming could have been in any sunny country. The topic tackled by the film could also have applied anywhere. What makes this film distinctly Australian is the fact that it is pointless, and only Australian Cinema, and other medium sized National Cinemas, could consider such a rash option. At the same time, these medium sized cinemas have room for experimentation in the quest for identity, and a 'flop' is not going to damage their reputation too much. It is always possible, given that Maslin Beach is now a collector's item, that the film might become internationally popular, but it is very unlikely.

During this critique, I have been sounding highly negative, at times, about Maslin Beach. This is not the real position, as I found the film very easy to watch. I enjoyed it as a reflection of near reality and real people. The problems confronted in the film are those of the everyday, and a little low on spectacle. This does it no harm in my view, and I wish that more films dealt with the everyday. There is a connection here with the cinemas of Europe, and with French film in particular. They rarely deal with major disasters or catastrophes, but with the everyday. Hollywood is in direct opposition to this, and rides the crest of the action/drama wave. The pace too, is much faster, but it is not reality. Maslin Beach is not exactly 'Jacques Tati', but it is on the right track, even if it does ignore multiculturalism.

Created on 2000-05-18

Last updated 2001-06-01