Clubland
Clubland
R | 04 July 2007 (USA)
Clubland Trailers

The shy son of an aging comedienne tries to find a balance between his demanding home life, his new girlfriend, and his mother's second chance at fame.

Reviews
SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction
Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Leoni Haney Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.
Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.
Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) I've seen quite a few indie films in my times. This one, "Introducing the Dwights" is a remarkable piece of work. Here you have a woman who's divorced, raising two sons: One is painfully shy around girls, the other who has special needs. The shy one named Tim, drives a moving van in Austrailia meets two lovely ladies: Kelly and Jill. Jill(Emma Booth) takes notice of Tim(Khan Chittenden) who clumsily approaches her. The sexual advances are making him awkward, and he later realizes he needs to put his past experience behind him. His mother works for a canteen during the day, but at night, she's a big hit at a local comedy club. She happens to be in a slump, because she's stuck in the day, and in serious need of reinventing herself. Both of her son have a certain someone. Tim's brother knows about Jill, and he's happy for him. Jill and Tim intimacy grows deeper and deeper by the minute. Looks like he's got him a soul-mate he can feel good about. A very good movie, great cast, and a great assortment of soundtracks to make it worthwhile. Don't care what the title is, I just love it!4 out of 5 stars!
rayclister I have to say that I have not been entertained as much by an Australian movie since the early 1990's when Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla, Queen of the desert hit our screens. A very human drama of a working class family in Sydney's western suburbs that strikes the right note between comedy and drama which is often difficult to pull off. Brenda Blethlyn, playing the domineering Mother does so very well with the result that perhaps her character tends to grate a little by the end of the film but that was only after approximately two hours spending with her and not a life time that the characters around her have had to endure. She is perfectly cast in this role but for me the real stars were Emma Booth who plays the love interest of her son and Khan Chittenden her boyfriend and young man experiencing his sexual awakening. Also worthy of mention is Frankie J Holden as the father and ex-partner of the Blethlyn character. An entirely believable human drama that will have you totally engrossed in the characters until the final reel. How good it is to see that the Australian film industry can still put out such quality cinema with a universal appeal. Go see it you won't be disappointed!
ozladbulgakov Well, Blethyn delivers an reliably entertaining performance, if a little derivative of both her "Secrets and Lies" and "Little Voice" characters. Khan Chittenden's boy is endearing with his very real, but barely articulate tenderness for both family and new girlfriend - very Australian male. I thought Emma Booth's character quite unsympathetically written, and some gratuitously drooling shots of her arse in panties added to the general feel of soap-teen-bitch for her. For me, she exhibited very little natural charm with which to overcome these disadvantages.But for me the most enjoyable aspect of this film was watching Rebecca Gibney, the real "lady" of Australian television, playing a sozzled best-friend tramp... She did it REALLY well, deglamourising herself in the way the Liz Taylor and Bette Davis did mid-way through their careers, and I wish someone would give her a juicy film role...Overall, this was more a character study than a narrative film, but the characterisations and interactions were not always plausible. See it for Gibney's slumming and Blethyn's rendition of Nutbush City Limits at the end...
jonathanbray-1 ...with a great Sundance festival story. While attending the 2007 Sundance Film Festival (living in Utah means easy access to the Festival) I had the opportunity to meet the Australian agent for Emma Booth. Random seating at the restaurant for lunch placed my brother and myself next to a charming woman and as we began to converse she spoke of her work at the festival (at Sundance everyone is promoting something). Of course, this person was representing "the next big star" and encouraged us to check out the movie Clubland. When you hear that kind of thing one must always take it with a grain of salt and just smile and nod... Well, this woman was so utterly charming and genuinely friendly that we decided to make the effort and spend our Sunday afternoon committed to the "wait list" for this film. Clubland delivered... great performances, a great story and a wonderful cast of future stars. I actually felt invested in the characters within the first 5-10 minutes. It is rare that a chance recommendation turns out to be true but this is one of those moments when our time spent to see this film was worth every minute. Thanks for recommending such a wonderful film and watch for Emma Booth, after viewing this performance she really is "the next big star".