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promised

Promised

Promised (Nick Conidi, Tony Ferrieri, Nathan Primmer, 2019) wr. Nick Conidi; Paul Mercurio, Antoniette Iesue, Mirko Grillini, Tina Arena

In 1953, two young Italian children are promised in marriage by their fathers. Twenty one years on - despite changing times, fading traditions and 1970s liberation - the pair are expected to marry, or face the consequences.

To its credit, the film resists any temptation to do a Fat Pizza and make a cartoon out of Italo-Australian customs and attitudes. Cast as Angela’s father, Paul Mercurio pulls back before his performance can tip over into caricature and Tina Arena, as her mother, works hard to maintain her role as the voice of reason.
It’s not a particularly stylish film. The lighting is flat and the script struggles towards the end in coming up with stratagems to delay the inevitably happy ending but there’s a simmering good humour to it and a sense of reality that turns its ordinariness into a virtue. Sandra Hall, SMH.


Garry Gillard | New: 21 November, 2019 | Now: 27 June, 2020