Death in Brunswick (1991)

Often films will switch stylistically part-way through, or try to create a film that is equal parts of two or three genres. It is a tough trick to pull off, as you already have to be invested in the characters for the sudden switch to work. When it does work beautifully you get films like "Blue Velvet", which is able to hold two genres in the balance with ease and improves the film by using the two genres to tell the story.

Death in Brunswick isn't exactly in the same league of film as "Blue Velvet" but it does use the stylistic switch effectively, moving between dark comedy and crime quite well.

This Australian film is about 34-year-old man Carl Fitzgerald (Sam Neill), a bit of a loser who is struggling to find jobs as a cook, as he gets another job at his old mothers insistence, and gets himself mixed up in something far worse. He accidentally murders kitchen hand Mustafa, and has to get his friend Dave (John Clarke) to help him cover it up.

It originally seems as though it is going to be a darkly comedic slice-of-life film, up until the murder. From there on the second half of the film has some darker crime elements, which are at the forefront up until the conclusion. The switch is a little sudden, but not jarring as the characters behave much the same just in a different situation.

The comedic elements often work very well, with the sort of fantastic interplay that you would expect from Neill and Clarke, two of New Zealand's best actors. Neill and Yvonne Lawley as Carl's mother also play off each other quite well. Not every joke lands though, which leads to some slightly uncomfortable scenes which come off a little forced.

As mentioned last paragraph, the acting of Neill and Clarke is top-notch as always and they liven up every scene that they are both in. Other actors such as Zoe Carides, who plays Carl's love interest, aren't quite as good and often feel dwarfed when in scenes with Neill and Clarke. In Carides case, that is quite often.

Director and Writer John Ruane clearly knew where he was going with this, and it shows through the slick pace at which the film moves most of the time, and the music by Phil Judd is good at setting the tone as well. There is a little in-joke relating to Phil Judd's involvement in Split Enz which is quite funny in addition to the music.

One aspect which was a little frustrating to me was the time-stuck setting. For older people it would probably have some nostalgic value, and would have seemed quite fresh at the time, but to someone not alive at this time the setting is so very '80s that it leads to some teeth grinding at points in the film.

I think that this is a quite well-made film, with very few major errors, which I enjoyed quite a lot of.

3.5/5