Reviews

Leaves you with an awful, dreary feeling. Almost feels like a homemade video of some murderous inbreds. Frightening but trashy. Cheesy but believable. Corny but scary. I don't know how to describe it, I do know that I never want to see it again because of the horrible drearyness it left me with.

Gee, for a tele-movie this really deserves a bit more credit. Linda was an incredible person and this movie represents her character quite well. Though, as some have pointed out, it's unfortunate that the actress playing Linda has the physical looks more of Heather Mills, she actually does a wonderful job of portraying Linda's gentle yet headstrong, resilient and mother-earth ways. Gary Bakewell makes a wonderful Paul in both this and Backbeat, very convincing.

Overall I was super enthralled by the way this flowed and was left in tears at the end.

I would say the casting for John Lennon was absolutely horrendous though. Almost every scene which features John and the other Beatles is actually laughable... John throwing a rock through the McCartney front door and yelling "McCartney! Who the hell do you think you are" is actually among my favourite comedic moments of all time. But it doesn't ruin it for me, because the portrayal is actually so bad that it's unoffensive and hilarious. (btw if you're after a much better portrayal of John check out Phillip McQuillan Phoenix in In His Life: The John Lennon Story).

Being a huge fan of the original Grease film I have pushed myself a few times now to try and like Grease 2. It's only the last time I watched it again that I came to see it's actually completely different in genre and atmosphere to original Grease. While the original is a fun, young adult's musical, providing some historically accurate moderate sexual undertones, fantastic songs, iconic one-liners delivered by charismatic actors and characters, Grease 2 I think is attempting more a comedic vibe - not that it's my particular type of humour. The songs are just not that well written, the actors for the most part are not at all charismatic and most are quite weak. Something is very lacking, I still can't figure out just what, it's just missing alot... it just doesn't hold my interest, like... at all. I don't feel at all invested in the storyline, the characters or the songs. As I say, I tried.

From a screen-shown pile of human faeces on the floor, to a homemade phallic sex toy, an almost comical long shot of a full frontal naked man collapsed to the floor, 'Scary Movie'-style jump scares galore - one involving an unexplained gutted animal, one involving a group of extras performing cringe-worthy synchronised choreography whilst a girl retells her survival tale... this series truly lacks subtlety and maturity and I am left bemused wondering, is this story suppose to be all that comedic? On top of all this, Hanging Rock and the picnic itself - HARDLY FEATURED. Most of the filming of the 'Picnic scenes' are filmed by a lake which I believe to be elsewhere in the Macedon Ranges, but it looks like it could be anywhere. I have finally reached Episode 5 now and I honestly feel I have given this series more than it's fair share of chances.

In keen, excited anticipation of this series, I watched the 'making of' documentary and was actually astounded at some rather snide remarks made by senior members of the crew of this 2018 production, both towards Peter Weir's film and even Joan Lindsay's novel. From comments such as 'No-one wants a stuffy old Victorian piece' to 'Miranda only had 2 lines in the original film', to the costume designer not even getting the series title correct... it did not leave me with a good impression of the team behind the 2018 production. That is where this series went wrong to start with. From watching the making of doco, I also noticed, as many others have, that there are many obvious and at times offensive historical inaccuracies (such as placing an Indigenous girl in the college... completely ignoring/writing out of history the factual truth of suffering and genocide of Australia's Indigenous peoples). Despite these factors, I pressed on determined to embrace this series, curious as to how they will venture to interpret this fascinating tale...

I watched the first 2 episodes 3 times each, both in order to give it a good chance to grow on me, also because the storylines are at times so all over the place and the dialogue quite weakly abstract, it is simply difficult to follow at times, but lacking true intrigue and any genuine mystery. At times, when attempting to be at it's most mysterious, the special effects featured are somewhat reminiscent of some kind of fantasy children's show such as Round The Twist. From gold dust randomly floating in the air, to an unexplained display of dancing spins by Miss Leopold, to an ultra blurry soft lens effect that looks like it was done on "Orton" effect on PicMonkey. For me the worst part of all... the um... soundtrack? Ambient, fast paced electronic music, sounds like something that would be playing in a trendy cafe in South Yarra, in the mid 2000s. There is not a hint of intrigue in the score and rather than adding to the series, it takes credibility away from it. One last thought on the score is... when St Valentines day roles around in episode 1 and we get some enthused random girl yelling out "HAPPY ST VALENTINES!", we are treated to hearing some electric guitar being played in the transition. Electric Guitar... in 1900? Really?

Pros: Effortful acting from Lily Sullivan, Samara Weaving, Madeleine Madden and Natalie Dormer. Alot of effort has obviously gone into set design for the interior shots. More focus on the Rothschild ancestory of Irma, Edith's escape from the rock is quite a gripping if not short lived moment, Miranda's portrayal is - although very different to the film, quite sweet and intriguing (yet she is not focused on much, after episode 2), my last pro is that hopefully this series will introduce a new generation to the 1975 film and the novel.

Cons: Hanging Rock itself is barely featured! Alot of this is not filmed on location at the rock apart from very few shots here and there (mostly just of the boys searching after the disappearance), most Picnic shots are filmed in lush greenery unlike the dryer, forboding landscapes of Hanging Rock reserve. The screenplay is in my opinion weak and un-atmospheric. There is overt and tasteless imagery at times with no regard for necessary creative subtleties, huge and unforgiveable historical inaccuracies, well made but over exaggerated costumery, biased political themes throughout, experimental, abstract cinematography.

Will perhaps appeal to anyone unfamiliar with the novel or the Edwardian era. A let down indeed.