I saw The Bet in Sydney last night. Wow! It is a brave film from a first time film maker. Brave for several reasons. The writer/producer Caroline Gerard raised the funds entirely from the private sector and then set about assembling a top rate team of cast and crew who have delivered a remarkable ensemble effort.
The story appears at the outset to be fairly a standard Sydney Harbour based yuppie drama but by the closing moments you realise that the story is anything but pedestrian. I wont give the game away but suffice to say it is quite a powerful and unique result. The casting is wonderful and Matt Newton manages to pull off a character that is believable, likable, trapped, in love and great looking all in the space of 90 minutes. Aden Young almost scene steals with his Machiavellian portrayal as Newton's friend/foe.
Mark Lee directs his first feature here and has a great command of the medium. I guess when you have 40 plus film credits under your belt and have worked under Peter Weir, Russell Burton, Chris Noonan and John Duigan among others you tend to pick up a thing or two!
The music is another triumph here. The original music is symphonic and deftly enhances the emotion of each moment in a way that is sometimes lacking in modern Australian cinema. The use of Bach in the apartment scenes and the doof doof tracks in the night club are very well placed. I heard some critic banging on about how the music score was overly romantic and inappropriate but don't these folks remember Chinatown or Lolita or After the Deluge?
Go and see the film before it closes and if you miss it at the cinemas get the DVD!
