Just (heart) beat it

If you thought the film was bad, wait to you watch my video review of A Hearbeat Away. I sound half asleep, which is actually pretty accurate.

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Australian arrhythmia

Let me preface this review by saying I really, really wanted to like A Heartbeat Away. Badly. After an advance screening on Sunday night, I hosted a Q & A session with the films producer Chris Fitchett, cinematographer Robert Humpreys and stars Tiffany Lamb and Chase Vollenweider, and they were all lovely people. So it pains me to write such a harsh review but stuff it, that's my job and I've got to be honest. There's no denying Australian musical comedy A Heartbeat Away wants to win audiences over with its heart. Instead, it's a cardiovascular catastrophe. The film follows 19-year-old Kevin (Sebastian Gregory), a kid whose only passion is playing guitar and flirting with neighbourhood hottie Mandy (Isabel Lucas). But when his father (William Zappa) is injured in an accident, the directionless teen is forced to take over his dad's marching band. It seems like the rag-tag group of music misfits have no hope of winning the upcoming championship. But with Kevin's new found passion, and help with a new routine from Mandy, the underdogs might come out on top.

Directed by acclaimed theatre director Gale Edwards, you want really badly to like A Heartbeat Away given the team of passionate people behind it and its promise of a `no strings attached' good time. The problem is, well, it's really bad. It sets out to be a modern Australian fairytale, but the plot is so contrived, nonsensical and full of Aussie cliches there's no happily ever after here. It could have got away with being just the usual underdog tale, but the `marching band must win to save the town from evil developers' sub-plot is overkill.
The acting is surprisingly terrible, given the cast is made up of a combination of rising stars and veteran Aussie actors.Former Neighbours star Gregory over-acts just about every scene he's in and Lucas lacks any sort of substance; wafting through the movie with forgettable lines and an if-only-you-could-forget-it dance scene. She's so bland in fact, most of her screen time leaves you wishing you could drag a brush through Hermione-meets-homeless-person hair do.

A Heartbeat Away wants to consider itself a new version of Baz Luhrmann's breakout hit Strictly Ballroom and besides the delightfully kitsch subjects - ballroom dancing and marching bands - that's where the similarities end. Sure, at their core both films are about love, dreams and overcoming your fears, but Heartbeat lacks the wit and style that made Ballroom a cult classic. Any sort of enjoyment you get out of the marching band's version of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit in the conclusion is too little too late in this misdirected and muddled Aussie dud.

A Heartbeat Away opens today.

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Isabel Lucas sings for her supper

An Australian musical-comedy began shooting in and around Brisbane today, starring uber hottie Isabel Lucas (above) in the lead role.

A Heartbeat Away is International Emmy award-winning and acclaimed theatre director Gale Edwards directorial debut and is being produced by Queenslander Chris Fitchett, of Pictures in Paradise.

After being delayed last year due to refinancing, the film has no doubt gained momentum given the success of fellow Australian musical-comedy, Bran Nue Day, at the box office. The film’s budget has been trimmed to just under $7 million, down from $8 million originally, due to the effects of the economic apocalypse etc.

Coming from a background in theatre direction, Edwards is the lady behind international stage hits The Boy From Oz and Jesus Christ Superstar, which won her an International Emmy award in 2001. A Heartbeat Away is her first foray into feature film directing and hopefully she has the cross-over talent off Richard Harris.

“It's a charming, funny and moving human story with some interesting deeper layers, and the cinematographic possibilities are exciting,” says Edwards.
“The chance to tell this story through the medium of film, with a terrific cast of actors, is an enticing challenge.
“Music is very close to my own heart. This is a genre I love.”

The film is about an aspiring rock guitarist who is forced to take over his father’s brass band four weeks before a major competition. As mentioned, Isabel Lucas is the big name leading the cast with Sebastian Gregory (below) in the major male role. Gregory is a bit of an Aussie rising star and if you pay attention to local films you would recognise him from Acolytes, Accidents Happen and Beautiful. And yes, it does look like he wants to front My Chemical Romance.
Veteran actor Williams Zappa is also thrown in there along with Tammy Macintosh and Colin Friels.

But the big question is, can Lucas sing? Ha, kidding, totally kidding. No one cares if she can sing. As long as she pouts at the right moment and looks suitably dainty, audiences will dig it.

A Heartbeat Away is being financed by Screen Australia, Screen Queensland, Cutting Edge Pty Ltd and Quickfire Films from the UK. Oh, and since Screen Queensland are involved, that’s the perfect opportunity for the premier’s office to pump out a press release with the following comments from Premier Anna Bligh.

"A Heartbeat Away, featuring Isabel Lucas and Colin Friels, has been supported by our government through Screen Queensland with over $3 million in funding," she says.
"To be shot solely in Queensland with filming beginning this week, this production will help generate over $10.4 million in economic activity for the state and create 215 jobs.
"This production is yet another example of the success of Queensland’s screen industry, with several Queensland projects either filming or recently completed.
"After the international success of Queensland film Daybreakers, which opened in Australia in early February, we are all looking forward to many more significant projects coming from Queensland."

She has a point, Daybreakers rocked and it’s always good to see more films being made here that are marketable overseas (hello there Sanctum).

Daybreakers producer Chris Brown is also on board, so I have faith. Filming will continue to the end of March mainly in Shorncliffe, but also keep an eye out for film crews in Brisbane sporting fields and schools.

A Heartbeat Away will be released in cinemas sometime in 2011.

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