Clubland (2007) - User Reviews

It is difficult to think of any recent American film that is so seamlessly rendered or that envelopes an audience so completely like the outstanding comedy/drama Clubland.Jeannie Dwight (Brenda Blethyn) is a cook,a loving mother, divorcee and on the road to a comeback career on the stand-up comedy circuit.She is also a mother who believes her two sons are her everything and ,therefore, owe her everything in return.Her ex, John (Frankie J. Holden)is planning his own comeback and is hoping to relive the good old days when he was a big country music star and had a number one hit in the '70's.
I really wanted to like this movie before seeing it.The Casting is excellent,especially Khan Chittenden who plays shy 21 year old (Tim)- his debut performance in the outstanding "The Caterpilar Wish" - (see my review) and his performances since then in some truly impressive TV roles,insures that he will have a very long career and be guarnteed to become a well known face the world over.Newcomers Emma Booth (Jill) and Richard Wilson (Mark)both deliver performances that make you believe they are really living the teenage angst they portray.Brenda Blethyn gives an almost perfect performance as an aging stand-up comedienne.Frankie J.Holden delivers yet another first class performance as does Rebecca Gibney as Jeannie's slightly trashy best friend.Both Holden and Gibney have to be two of the hardest working actors in the Australian TV and film industry if not the most underated.
The movie is funny, sad, at at times touching, without ever going over the top,it was as if Director, Cherie Nowland, held everything back just enough, avoiding an overdose of sickly sweet drama that so many of this genre often deliver. I related to this movie on so many levels as it reminded me of my own famiy's experiences as I watched a mother trying to let go and allow her son to go into adulthood.I must admit,it hit a nerve and made me fidget in my seat.Clubland has already been a hit a this years(2007) Robert Redford Sundance Film Festival which is a good indicator that this brilliant Australian film deserves to do well, as it will leave you laughing, crying and maybe a closer to your family then you were before you saw it. I can only hope it receives all the Awards it deserves, and trust me, it deserves alot.

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