He Died With a Felafel in His Hand

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Les N I never saw this when it came out...not sure why. There must be a deeper meaning to it, but it escapes me. For someone else. The soundtrack is good! Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 06/22/25 Full Review Daniel The movie tries to be funny but mostly fails because everything ends up being so absurdly over the top it really stretches the limits of credibility. The too-bad factor is that anyone who's actually lived the kind of share housing scene Birmingham describes in the book which the film adapts, knows that the reality was much weirder and crazier than Lowenstein ends up depicting. Lowenstein's efforts to recreate on film the share housing zaniness end up coming across as confected and contrived in comparison to Birmingham's anecdotes in the book which have much more the air of authenticity about them. Maybe it's the acting, the direction, the screenplay; but on film it just seems like caricature. I mean we all had run-ins with corrupt detectives, but they didn't just shoot your housemates dead and walk off like Schwarzenegger wannabes acting like nothing happened, right? It's all just too, well, "scripted" and exaggerated. On the other hand, the way Birmingham tells this story in the book (where it was set in Brisbane around the time of the Fitzgerald Inquiry), I could actually relate to, as anyone who lived the alternative scene in Brisbane in the late 80s could. Add to that the fact that, like Dogs in Space most of the film is just a bunch of loosely woven episodes held together by Taylor's central role, you end up with the distinct feeling that like most of Dogs in Space (its climax notwithstanding) this movie just doesn't seem to go anywhere. Which might have been the philosophical point in regards to shared housing, but it would've been nice to have had some kind of developing narrative in there, somewhere. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/24 Full Review harsh c Cringeworthy . Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a truly dreadful and boring movie. A triumph of style over substance. Lowenstein is feeble as a film maker and the cast is unloveable, contrived and unengaging. This isn't Arthouse or avant guarded is just a mindless pile of dog shit masquerading as cinema. Lowenstein is a wanker and if I met him I'd kick him in th e balls. I gave this half a star because Noah Taylor had some on screen presence but inhabited the screen like some brat version of Nick Cave. This film is for wankers who suck balls. Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member Newer cult classic from Australia. One of the funnier titles out there and quite a funny film too at times. Some shabby souls share a shabby shack and they drink, dream and think about life. They are out of money and some fellas are forcing them to pay up by repeated threats. Well, their lives goes on as we are stuck with their silly ideas, philosophies and weirdness. It's all right, it even has nice looking girls too, but it's never a good film for me. The flat sharing theme is big here, the girlfriend issue is a big thing here, but that's about it. A film I almost didn't watch, since I've had it laying around for many years. It was not a too rewarding experience when I decided to put it on, but it has some nice lines at least. 5 out of 10 fishfingers. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member My expectations were possibly a little higher, seeing as the book is one of my favourites and I saw the stage play three times. As it is, the movie is slow-to-dragging pace-wise, perhaps trying to capture the languorous nature of east-coast-Australian share-housing, but in combination with a throughline peppered with non sequitur dialogue, the whole thing could come off as a brilliant arthouse film if only it were in a foreign language. Noah Taylor is interesting to watch as he stumbles through his own numbness but the emotional outburst at top of his arc feels unsatisfying. Hamilton, Bohringer, and Menglet do better jobs individually. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Read all reviews

He Died With a Felafel in His Hand

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