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Lake Mungo
Australia 2008
produced by
George Nevile, David Rapsey, William Coleman (executive), Gilbert George (executive), Robert George (executive) for Mungo Productions, Screen Australia, SBS Independent
directed by Joel Anderson
starring Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger, Martin Sharpe, Steve Jodrell, Tamara Donnellan, Scott Terrill, Chloe Armstrong, Charles Armytage, Helen Bath, Phillip Boltyn, Kimberly Bumpstead, Stephanie Capiron, Marcus Costello, Robin Cuming, Natasha Herbert, Richard Kelly, James Lawson, Tania Lentini, Glenn Luck, Tammy McCarthy, Kirsty McDonald, Sara Moroney, Carole Patullo, Judith Roberts, Michael Robinson, Anika Steel, Cameron Strachan, Courtney Te'ray, Simon Wilton
written by Joel Anderson
review by
Mike Haberfelner
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Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker) has drowned, and for her family - mom June
(Rosie Traynor), dad Russell (David Pledger) and brother Mathew (Martin
Sharpe) - it's hard to come to terms with her death, and it seems she is
somehow still present in the house - a fact that seems to be corroborated
by the fact that her image regularly shows up on photos and in videos
shot around the house. A psychic, Ray (Steve Jodrell) is called in to
investigate, but he can do very little other than to offer comfort ... but
then it's found out that all the photos and videos were only fabricated by
Mathew for whatever reason. Even after that, the family doesn't stop to
feel Alice's presence, and going through
Mathew's forged videos once more, they actually find another figure in one
of them, who turns out to be not Alice either but their neighbour (Scott
Terrill), whose place Alice has babysitted at. But what's he doing in
Alice's room? Eventually, Alice's family goes through her things, and
they find an incriminating video of Alice having threeway sex with the
neighbour and his wife (Tamara Donnellan) - a criminal offence since Alice
was still underage at the time. This matter is of course brought to the
police, but the neighbour has long moved to another part of the country. Going
through Alice's diary, mom June finds a mention of Lake Mungo,
where Alice was on a school trip, and by looking at cellphone videos made
by her classmates at that trip, Alice's family comes to the conclusion she
must have buried something while on the trip, go to Lake Mungo, find the
spot and dig up Alice's cellphone - on which they find a video in which
Alice seems to meet her own (dead) future self - the Alice who has drowned
- which understandably got her off the rails ... Having found the video,
Alice's family is finally able to move on - but somehow her spirit stays
in the family home ... In writing, this
may sound mighty interesting, even if more than a little derivative of Twin
Peaks - yet on screen, we are presented with something completely
else, no weirdness at all, no suspense, no tension, no nothing, just
talking heads. No really, this film is conceived as a mock documentary,
with mainly all of those invovled being interviewed, telling the story we
actually expected to see - and above everything else, this is just mighty boring,
but it's also inexplicable why the filmmakers chose this way to tell their
story (apart from budgetary reasons), it really derives the plot of all
its wonderful possibilities and makes the film as a whole seem like an
unkept promise. Totally not worth your while.
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amazon.co.uk
amazon.de
eThaiCD.com
find Lake Mungo at adultvideouniverse.com
