Critical Reveiw

48 Shades is the story of a journey of a 16 year old boy Dan as played by Richard Wilson, and his struggle to bridge the gap between adolescence and adult hood. The film starts off as Dan arrives back in Brisbane after a family holiday with his family in Geneva. His family has stayed on the continent leaving him with the choice of boarding at his school or moving in with his uni student, punk Auntie Jacq (Robin McLeavy) and her flatmate Naomi (Emma Lung). Our introduction to Jacq is that she's young and carefree; she’s in a band and is living life to the full. Dan however, immediately falls in love with Naomi. Soon Dan is back to school and trying to juggle his new lifestyle, studying for his exams and trying to impress Naomi.

Things don’t really start to happen until the party, the pivot point of the film. Jacq throws a party for all her university and band friends and Dan inadvertently invites the landlord. Things start to happen as characters collide and events start to happen. Dan manages to win a dance with Naomi even as her now ex-boyfriend enters the story again. Chris's Dan's best mate has talked him into pretending they are Law students at UQ to try and score more chicks and disappears into the throng of drunken students. Jacq’s party has turned into a typical student party rave and Dan, try as he might, just can’t fit in. He's awkwardly out of place and clinging to the chance that there is some hope for him and Naomi. It’s obvious to the audience that Dan doesn't fit in despite his efforts and the situation escalates as Imogen, another high school student who has snuck into the party and is pretending to be someone else, tries to seduce him. There is a touching scene as he cleans the vomit off her face after she threw up on him, that he realises that he can't go on pretending to be someone he's not.

The party ends and things are left topsy-turvy. Dan tries one last time to approach Naomi this time by being himself, rather than who he thinks she wants and doesn't really come to a conclusion. In the end it’s his decision to be himself that is more important than his failure to win Naomi.

If there is one outstanding feature of this film it is the soundtrack. Each and every song chosen and created for the film fits perfectly with the scene and carries the audience along. At points through the film its’ almost as if the lyrics and the script fit seamlessly and the music sums up the character thoughts. Adam Lung and Justin Hunter both received an AFI nomination for Best Sound for their work on 48 Shades and it shows.

At times through the film the characters are a little wooden and stereotypical. Chris Burns, Dan’s best friend, is the embodiment of every nosey, annoying, rude, and egotistical young teenage male and leaves a bit to be believed at times, yet stands as an example of another way of trying to bridge to gap. Naomi, while the main love interest of the film doesn't really get to flesh out her character besides occasional monologues about pesto and birds. Yet despite these, 48 Shades conceals several really great performances. Especially Robin McLeavy as Jacq and Richard Wilson as Dan and I found myself involved with the characters and their stories. Especially the scene between McLeavy's character and Michael Booths at the party where he declares his love for her; her response of "what would you have wanted me to say?" to Dan after she shuts Phil down.

It’s not a bad little film, just a little average. You're drawn along for a while but I constantly found myself questioning the characters actions and responses. For me, the most entertaining aspect I found was the cinematography of Queensland itself. The combination of the production design and the perfect serenity depicted was quite a nice change. This lighting was beautiful and the choice of locations, while sometimes not geographically correct, yet stunning.

It’s a nice quiet coming of age films with no great conflict of issues besides the problems of growing up. It holds as a nice stereotypical Australian coming of age film, and is a success for books that bridge the gap between text and screen.

Meet the Filmakers

Daniel Lapaine- Director

Daniel Lapaine was born in Sydney, and graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Arts in 1992. He started off in theatre, associated with the Sydney Theatre Company where he participated in plays such as ' Indiscretions', 'King Leur' as well as ' Romeo and Juliet', 'Richard III' and 'Hamlet' performed by the Bell Shakespeare Company. Be broke into acting in 'Muriels Wedding' in 1994 in which he played David Van Arckle. Since then he hadn't stopped, scoring small parts in many Australian productions. He's now based in the UK with his family, and is involved in upcoming films such as ' Last Chance Harvey' (2008) and "Love Live Long" (2008).

Primarily an Actor, 48 Shades was Lapaine's debut into the film world.  While there is nothing wrong with the film, it was suggested at the time that a Director with more experience may have brought something more to the text. Lapaine was defended at the time by fans of the movie who argued that it was remarkable well preserved story for a film that has bridged the gap between book and film. His adaption of the script was carried out well, but really didn’t have the ‘magic’ of the book. There is still debate on this argument and while Lapaine has not produced any more feature films, he has directed two shorts; The Guide featuring Matt Day and Nocturnes starring Fay Ripley.

Rob Marsala - Producer

Rob Marsala is reported to be the motivation behind the film of ’48 Shades’.  Marsala is a Perth-born Los Angeles based manager and producer. He has his own agency , Marsala Management and represents actors, writers and directors including Aussie actors; Frances O'Connor, Kylie Minogue and Magda Szubanski; and Aussie directors, Rowan Woods (The Boys; Little Fish) and Rob Connolly (The Bank; Three Dollars).

Marsala’s desire to make the book into a film started when he read the book and fell in love with its simplicity and the characters. He then passed the idea along to Daniel Lapaine who had been trying to start a film project with him for quite a while. Marsala and Lapaine worked together on the project, deciding to be faithful to the original storyline compelled to bring Earls vision of teenage life to the screen.  ‘48 Shades’ was also Marsala’s debut in the shoes of a producer and he hasn’t done anything since.

Richard Wilson - Actor

Richard Wilson made his feature film debut in the Australian film ‘Deck Dogz’ from Oscar-nominated writer/director Steve Pasvolsky. In 2004 Richard was nominated for the 2004 AFI Award for Best Young Actor for his role in the ABC TV kids series ‘Out There’.  He didn’t stop there, becoming a regular on the screen in many Australian films.  In 2005 Wilson starred in a pivotal role in ‘The Proposition’, a brutally compelling Australian feature directed by John Hillcoat.

Result:

’48 Shades’ while a nice and pleasant film doesn’t strive to escape its sterotype as a typical coming of age film. It is a beautiful translation of the book onto the screen, as was it intended to be by its director and screen writer; Daniel Lapaine and the producer ; Rob Marsala. It wasn’t intended to rival cinematic blockbusters, or creates a statement but instead to preserve and display the gentle innocence of one teenager and the troubles he goes through. The simplicity of the film has been commented on as a failure on behalf of the Lapaine, but really in essence, ’48 Shades’ is exactly what he wanted to make and therefore can’t disappoint. It is really a beautiful small film, breathtaking scenes of Brisbane architecture and the surrounding country side as well as the serenity that is oozed out of Jacqi’s house. Production designer Michelle southern was nominated for an AFI award after this film and it’s no small wonder why. Another crew member that received an AFI nomination for 48 Shades was Adam Lung for his work on the soundtrack. Between the beautiful design and the perfectly scored and selected music the viewer is distracted by the sometimes too stereotypical characters and the few geographical errors through the film. Either way the entirely Australian crew worked wonderfully to bring the book to life on film