citrin%UCBERNIE@ucbvax.UUCP (06/30/83)
Date: 29 Jun 83 11:12:22 PDT (Wed) From: citrin@UCBERNIE (Wayne Citrin) Subject: Heatwave (non-spoiler) Message-Id: <8306291812.AA15479@UCBERNIE.ARPA> Received: by UCBERNIE.ARPA (3.336/3.7) id AA15479; 29 Jun 83 11:12:22 PDT (Wed) To: ucbvax!net-movies (I don't know if this got out on the net, so I'm sending it again.) Just saw "Heatwave" yesterday. I'd have to say that it's the best film that I've seen in some time. It's an Australian suspense film with that atmosphere of surreal dread that the Australians seem to put into so many of their films. The plot is relatively complex. Suffice to say that it involves a group of tenants fighting to keep their homes from being demolished and replaced by an apartment project; a young architect whose design for the project has been hailed as one of the greatest designs of the century; and the developer who wants to get the building built, even if it means compromising the architect's vision. Things get moving when one of the tenant leaders disappears without a trace. The central plot concerns the efforts of the tenant's friend (Judy Davis) and the architect (Richard Moir) to discover what happenned to her. Of course, there is a love interest, and the level of suspense is kept up throughout the picture. The atmosphere of unease in the film is supported by the exxcellent cinemato- graphy (although sometimes it seems to get in the way of the story), and the fact that the film is set in a heatwave during the Christmas season (the hottest time of year Down Under), although that wouldn't be so strange to an Australian audience. The acting is good, and there is a powerful ending that lives up to everything that has come before. Highly recommended (***1/2*) Wayne Citrin