Touches You

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

I watched this on Netflix streaming movies, mainly because I am a Ricci fan, I like her roles in all her movies. I found it a bit better than the low IMDb rating might suggest. Filmed in New South Wales, Australia.Christina Ricci, early 30s, is American Dino Chalmers. She traveled to Australia for a guy and she is working as a drama teacher at the local school mostly populated with students with indigenous parents. A yearly celebration is coming up and the school usually puts on an event, and it seems to always have been a Rugby match. Instead Chalmers proposes that the students put on a play instead. Against the odds that idea is accepted. So she decides they will put on a performance of Hamlet. The key student is teenage actor Hunter Page-Lochard as Liam. He is a good kid but his father is in prison and his older brother seems intent on following their dad into a life of violence. But Liam does not want to follow his dad's footsteps. He gets the title role as Hamlet.I really like this small movie, much of it seems realistic although being an American I don't really know. At one point near the end the teacher says "None of us choose to be born but we can choose to live." And that is really what the story is about, and mainly Liam deciding to make something of himself.SPOILERS: The dad in prison tells the older son who he found to be responsible for his incarceration. The older son decides to ambush him and kill him, but the 6-yr-old daughter witnesses it. Liam had gone along reluctantly as the getaway driver. Soon the cops were after all of them. The older brother decides to flee, their car wrecks, the brother tries to run through a field, when he turns to shoot the cops shoot and kill him. Hamlet is successfully performed and at the end the cops escort Liam away, but we have to believe that he will only suffer some sort of probation and be allowed to get back to developing a life with good choices.

The film depicts life down under in Spillane's birth city of Sydney. She focuses on a white American teacher, played by Christina Ricci whose character of Dino Chalmers is trying to make a difference in the inner-city suburb of Redfern. She gets a class of Aboriginal teenagers to perform Shakespeare's Hamlet with her lead being Liam Wood, a 16-year-old Aborigine who has a talent for dancing and acting. Unfortunately, his future is threatened when he gets in trouble with the law and police.Spillane was herself a teacher in Redfern from 2001 to 2005 at an Aboriginal arts college where she instructed students of all ages, including teenagers. She wrote the screenplay in 2004 after learning about a real-life Aboriginal teen who also got into trouble with the law and police.Spillane's film has this racial tension rippling in the background, or on the side. Her aim is more to take a step back and not focus on the specific incident, but rather examine the neighborhood and show the situation, which led to the racial tensions, or the needless death, much in the same way Spike Lee did in 'Do the Right Thing' (1989).

I don't recall seeing Christina Ricci's face since when she was on The Good Wife and Pan Am back in 2012, so it's nice to see, two years later, she is still working. Though with this being your usual white Savior type film, it does make you wonder if this was really that good of a choice for her. Well, read below to find out.Characters & StoryDino (Christina Ricci) has just recently returned to Austrailia, after going to college there, due to her boyfriend Simon (Daniel Henshall). But, just because she may have moved to a different country for a man, don't think she doesn't have aspirations. Dino seems very into videography, and has a background just right for a local school, which mostly caters to indigenous kids, that is on its last leg.Enter Liam (Hunter Page-Lochard) who plays the poor, unfortunate student of which Dino focuses on. Liam lives with his mother and brother Steve (Mark Coles Smith), and his father is in jail. Though with how Steve is steering his life, and tries to steer Liam's, it seems eventually his mother maybe living in their home alone. But Dino tries to prevent this by getting Liam involved in her Hamlet production. However, with Steve wanting to pursue revenge for his uncle's death, and wanting Liam to help, will Dino get to save this one kid or will he fall through the cracks?PraiseHonestly, when I was writing this I placed what is in the criticism as praise. But, thinking about it, honestly with every bit of praise I can fathom comes some form of disappointment. So while it is nice that Liam and Dino got some slightly developed stories, at the end of the day the film sort of ignores what would make two great movies on their own and sadly combines them.CriticismFor those of you who watch Orange is the New Black, like that show this movie has characters which are, for a lack of a better term, people of color who are far more interesting than the white lead. Liam, for example, has quite a rich story that I wish was more focused on. For between the relationship he has with his family; his friendships, which are sadly unexplored; and this romance he has with Williemai (Madeline Madden), you can see a lot of what could have made the story a bit more compelling was traded in so that Ricci's character maintained dominance.And while it may sound like I'm implying Dino wasn't interesting, the truth of the matter is that I just felt that with the potential Dino and Liam's story had, mixing the two was just a waste for both of them. For Dino has had quite a life herself. Between her dad's suicide, lesbian affairs, and her being closeted, I feel like neither Liam nor Dino got justice for their stories for it was watered down into a white savior film.Overall: TV ViewingThis is the type of film which simply has wasted potential. It has two perfectly good stories, both which warrant their own film, but in order to fit the mold of a white savior film both stories get diluted and end up ultimately disappointing. But, even with that said, the pieces we are given are interesting enough to warranting seeing this. So, this is being labeled as TV Viewing.

I looked forward to watching an Australian film, about Australian problems, in our most-known Australian city.What a let down.I should have been warned by the inclusion of Cristina Ricci as a token American, who supposedly knows how to fix urban Aboriginal "at risk" (from what ?) kids' problems, laughably by teaching Hamlet.Written and directed by Sarah Spillane, who allegedly lived for years in Redfern & is now Los Angeles based, the film meanders around very clichéd subjects such as disaffected youth, a family member in prison, racial problems, and stereotypical police and teacher roles.No depth, no great character development or logical behaviour sequencing & progression, technically lukewarm to pass-mark for lighting & sound, weak dialogue and almost no use of real-life dilemmas.Even the title has a twee, American "did you see what we did with that double meaning in the title ?" about it. Very un-Australian, and very off-putting.Anyone brought up on a diet of American rebellious youth movies and TV could have written this tripe, which bears little to the reality of the subject matter. Gangsta rap and hand gestures have absolutely nothing to teach Aboriginal kids, other than "violence is the answer" and separatism cures race rifts.To round out how far the movie misses it's own point, a ridiculous lesbian scene with Australia's most useless, no-talent, celebrity lesbian, Ruby Rose, is tossed in for no apparent reason (and no sub-plot storyline introduction) and should have been left on the cutting room floor.It has no utility and is not germane to the poorly expressed storyline.There are enough real and important issues arising from Redfern to make several concise and insightful full-length features, and this is not one of them. It unfolds as a "US garbage morals and message" movie, superimposed on an Australian scene and for the most part ignoring Aboriginal reality.Australia has entirely different problems between indigenous and white settlement, than American "White" and "Negro" race problems. Using a US cookie-cutter outline on an Australian problem smacks of opportunism and only serves to further differences between Aboriginal and non Aboriginal people - useless at best and dangerous at worst, creating an American style sub-culture and ghetto mindset which will only repeat, not break, the cycle of loss and alienation.The standout acting in this film is from Mark Coles Smith, who has screen presence and a cheeky, engaging and charming smile, who could sell ice to Eskimos, and if utilised correctly will see great things for him in years to come.Stay in Los Angeles Sarah, and write American crap over there. Don't try to parasite from the back of troubled people to a comfortable life as a movie "director".Two stars for providing local employment. Try a LOT harder next time.