Top End Wedding ★★★
AUSTRALIA doesn’t do rom-coms very well.
Even though they’re a staple of international cinema, I struggle to think of several good local examples.
Perhaps the dry Australian humour doesn’t lend instead to the generally formulaic world of romantic comedy.
Top End Wedding proves we can do average rom-coms as well as any other country.
It’s completely predictable but still leaves you with a warm feeling at the end.
The acting improves as the film progresses and there are a few laughs, but the film is actually at its best when the comedy is dialled back.
There is genuine emotion in the final reel when our heroine, Lauren, finally catches up with her mother and three generations of family come together in an under-stated and heart-felt manner.
Miranda Tapsell, who first came to the attention in the 2012 musical comedy The Sapphires, is the lead actor and driving force behind this film which is equally a love story to her Northern Territory home.
Apart from being the charismatic on-screen focus of the film, Tapsell co-wrote the screenplay with Joshua Tyler and enlisted her Sapphires’ director Wayne Blair to lens it.
Lauren and partner Ned, played by Gwilym Lee, are city-based professionals but plan to be married in the remote Territory where Lauren grew up.
Due to work they only have a small time window for the wedding, but on arrival in Darwin they find Lauren’s mother has split with her long-time partner and has gone off to find her purpose in life.
Lauren refuses to be married without her mother being there so the pair leave friendsand Lauren’s formidable boss in charge of the wedding planning and head off to find her.
This search eventually takes them to the beautifully remote Tiwi Islands, the site of an incident many years ago that has impacted relations with the traditional family.
Do things all get sorted out in the end? What do you reckon?
Apart from being sweetly predictable, the film features the stunning backdrops of the Territory that should achieve the required side benefit of more tourism.