Everyone’s been giving it rave reviews. You kind of have to, otherwise you’ll be branded uncool, or too right-wing, or racist.
But Lucky Miles is not that good.
It’s got its moments, and fair play to them because they’re truly memorable and outstanding, but this apparent comedy about boat people pulling together to make a go of it lags from beginning to end.
Made on a nothing budget over seven years by Michael James Rowland and all his ethnically varied friends, it tells the long and drawn-out tale of a bunch of boat people – Iraqis and Cambodians – the fishermen that drive the boat, and the army reservist unit tracking a mismatched group of them across the Western Australian desert.
It’s supposed to be a comedy, but it’s only occasionally funny. The actors are wonderful, wringing every shred of sentiment they can out of what is, essentially, an Aussie buddy movie with blokes that don’t happen to be ocker white boys for a change. Our two refugee blokes, Cambodian Arun (Kenneth Moraleda) and Yousif (Rodney Afif) bring real weight to their roles, and the exploits of reject fisherman Ramelan (Sri Sacdpraseuth) and our gang of Aussie misfits are entertaining while they’re onscreen.
But all the entertainment and emotion is squashed into about ten minutes of the movie. Tops.
The rest is just a bunch of blokes walking across a desert.
But Lucky Miles is not that good.
It’s got its moments, and fair play to them because they’re truly memorable and outstanding, but this apparent comedy about boat people pulling together to make a go of it lags from beginning to end.
Made on a nothing budget over seven years by Michael James Rowland and all his ethnically varied friends, it tells the long and drawn-out tale of a bunch of boat people – Iraqis and Cambodians – the fishermen that drive the boat, and the army reservist unit tracking a mismatched group of them across the Western Australian desert.
It’s supposed to be a comedy, but it’s only occasionally funny. The actors are wonderful, wringing every shred of sentiment they can out of what is, essentially, an Aussie buddy movie with blokes that don’t happen to be ocker white boys for a change. Our two refugee blokes, Cambodian Arun (Kenneth Moraleda) and Yousif (Rodney Afif) bring real weight to their roles, and the exploits of reject fisherman Ramelan (Sri Sacdpraseuth) and our gang of Aussie misfits are entertaining while they’re onscreen.
But all the entertainment and emotion is squashed into about ten minutes of the movie. Tops.
The rest is just a bunch of blokes walking across a desert.
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