Walking on Water
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Judi Farr, Maria Theodorakis, Nathaniel Dean, Nicholas Bishop, Vince ColosimoDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-04-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Fox Lorber
Movie Reviews of Walking on Water
Movie Review: "You succeeded in taking everything from me!"
Summary: 4 Stars
Euthanasia is always a touchy subject, which is why Australian director Tony Ayres' film Walking on Water is such an important and significant film. Approaching the issue with finesse, delicacy, and unbridled honesty, Ayres' story is, at once, genuinely moving and also wisely unsentimental. Using a gay man's death by AIDS as the focal point, Walking on Water recounts the what happens in the lives of his friends and family after his death. This isn't an easy movie to watch - it's raw and edgy, and anyone who is familiar with Sydney's young, attractive party set will know that they don't handle grief and loss terribly well. Drowning their sorrows in copious amounts of booze and drugs is often seen as the only alternative to facing reality.
The movie begins with images of Gavin, a young, terminally ill man who is being nursed on his deathbed by his best friends and housemates Charlie (a terrific Vince Colosimo), Anna (Maria Theodorakis), and Frank; Charlie's live in lover. Anna is Gavin's business partner in a design firm. Gavin has left strict instructions that he'd rather die at home than in a hospice, so his friends and family have enlisted the help of a sympathetic doctor to assist with the suicide. But when the overdose morphine injections fail to kick in, Charlie suddenly finishes the job by putting a plastic bag over his head to suffocate him. This takes away the dignified death that Gavin had originally requested.
Margaret, (Judy Farr) Gavin's estranged mother, Gavin's hunky brother Simon, and his wife Kate arrive from the South Australia just as Gavin is about to die. Margaret is shattered at her son's illness, and while she's thankful that his friends have taken care of all the arrangements, she feels uneasy around them. In death as in life, she's viewed as an outsider. Margaret tries to keep her thoughts to herself, but she's bitter, upset, and also angry that she couldn't be there more for her son.
After the funeral, Margaret returns home, and Charlie and Anna are left cope with the emptiness and loss. They had years of good times with Gavin - the drugs, the drinking and the nightclubbing; he was almost like a brother to them. Charlie turns to hedonism to waylay his grief - he finishes off the morphine, does lines of cocaine, smokes lots of weed and drinks far too much. It doesn't help that Frank feels unsettled and wants to leave the relationship.
Anna, steely and resourceful, falls into bed with Simon who stays on after the funeral. She just can't resist the uncomplicated country lad and is soon taking him nightclubbing to her decadent gay druggie haunts. Simon wants to feel alive so takes ecstasy at the club, but soon passes out after sniffing amyl nitrate and heads back to his wife and the safe security of country life.
This is an introspective film that is filled with melancholy and loss. Everyone is hurting and uncommunicative and they just cannot face the realities of life. They have all been united in their love for Gavin, but now there's a chilling feeling of inevitability resting over their lives. Anna is angry at Charlie for taking away the dignity of Gavin's death and Charlie is furious at Anna for trying to break up Frank's marriage. The handling of grief and the testing of long-term loyalties and friendships are at the heart of this profound, subtle, and sensitively acted drama.
Vince Colosimo gives a staggeringly sexy and tender performance as Charlie, cementing his reputation as one of Australia's most dynamic and gifted actors. Maria Theodorakis is also exceptional as Anna: She's fragile yet resilient, and is determined to rise above Charlie's hedonistic grief. All the characters are in desperate situations as Gavin's death forces the group to rethink their priorities and their lives, while also encouraging them to finally grow up. Rich and multi-layered, with it's powerful and candid depictions of grief, heartache, and loss, Walking on Water is one of the best films to come out of Australia in recent years. Mike Leonard May 05.
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