CASTLE, THE

SYNOPSIS:
Contemporary comedy about the Kerrigans, an (almost) ordinary Australian family, living beside an airport, who go all the way to the High Court to defend their humble home, their ‘castle’, against compulsory acquisition.

Review by Andrew L. Urban:
Giggles and laughs are the aim and most of them work, at least for a warm and friendly home audience, while the low budget look matches the low budget ‘castle’ of the title, the Kerrigan’s humble home. The story concept has all the elements of a true blue comedy with the underlying emotional propellant mix of the ‘little battler agin the big business world’ and ‘our home is our castle’. What it lacks in production values it makes up in a committed cast who manage to make us care for them despite a bit of overacting - except for the terrific Tiriel Mora, who is star material. If this low budget experiment in home-made movies works (that is, it is popular enough to recoup the investment of under $1 million) the next two features from this team (creators of the excellent Frontline TV series) will be only the start. (Their efforts are reminiscent of Roger Corman, the king of low budget US independent films - but his were far more exploitative.) Credit, too, to Alan Finney at Roadshow for nursing the project into commercial existence.

Review by Louise Keller:
"What this low-budget Aussie film about the life of the Kerrigan family does well, is make you care about the characters. The film style is reminiscent of that seen on the Box in Australia in the 70s, but somehow there is some charm from the simplicity of the values, characters and performances. Pic may not translate very well in other territories as much of the humour is True Blue, but in Australia will no doubt please audiences by its lack of demands and with a few laughs. The Castle is a glimpse at a particular type of humorous approach to a stereotype of Australian. It doesn’t profess to be anything that it isn’t and so succeeds.