33 Postcards (Pauline Chan, 2011) Guy Pearce, Zhu Lin, Lincoln Lewis; drama; Guy Pearce nom for Best Actor AACTAs 2013
Dean Randall has sponsored a young Chinese orphan Mei Mei for many years, when she arrives in Sydney out of the blue to thank him, their lives are changed forever.
... it's visually that 33 Postcards really left an impression on me. Chan has teamed up with Toby Oliver, a cinematographer who, since his feature film debut in the mid 90s with the low-budget prison drama Everynight... Everynight by Alkinos Tsilimidos, has been a talent to watch. He photographed The Combination a couple of years ago on a RED camera, depicting Western Sydney with surprising colours and shadows. This time in inner Sydney, he captures a dense urban collage of Victorian arches, federation terraces and 70s brick walls. The sky, if we see it, is just a strip, and the colour palette is dominated by crunched blacks, putrid greys and lurid daubs. He doesn't have the budget for crane shots or intricate tracks, but these textures and tones alone, on the big screen, do make for an impressive fresco. 33 Postcards is not without flaws, but emotionally, thematically and visually, there's a lot to like. Jason Di Rosso, Movie Time, ABC Radio National.
Garry Gillard | New: 10 December, 2012 | Now: 24 November, 2019