Lately Australia has created various productions of ‘multicultural’ cinema: cinema that reflects Australia’s multicultural image by picking social groups and considering how they might mix and react. It seems that lately wogs have been given a hard time, using this film as an example as well as 1998’s uncomfortable drama Head On and, lately, “Wog boy! Wog boy! Wog boy!”

Romper Stomper seems a world away now, a product of an ever-changing social agenda. The Australian Film Finance Commission has chosen another film with social/racial themes (like Praise and Head On), this adaptation of a much liked novel detailing an intricate teenage life.

It’s not a bad effort, even if the first half of Looking for Alibrandi demonstrates a good crackling pace and the second, a rather flattened pace. But that is generalising - it’s quite a bumping ride, as we follow the domestic life of Italian born Josephine, who is undertaking her final level of high school. The guy she wants is just out of her reach, then lately, way out of her reach, and the guy who wants her is keen for the feelings to be reciprocated.

The mixture of two possible love interests gives Looking for Alibrandi a slight edge on other squishy little heartthrob dramas, and it gets a nod of appreciation from me for not flatlining its characters into their social stereotypes. They remain, as they should, like human beings. This is especially evident in Josephine’s two love interests, who have faults individual to them. They are first introduced as the glamour boy jock and the scruffy riff-raff, but the script, an adaptation of the popular novel of the same name, reaches further into their characters.

An odd twist around half way in the film topples its effective two-guys-one-girl balance, but that was unavoidable since one of the complexities Josephine deals with for much of the film occurs at this point. Shortly after that, the story seems to slow right down.

Some of the last few monologues lost my interest completely, but that’s a minor quibble in the scheme of things. A lot of the film is quite enjoyable. It just doesn’t quite handle the complexities of its self-narration in a method that can sustain itself as an engrossing picture. Instead, it’s a bumpy ride, which in a way reflects the life of its teenage protagonist.

Review by Luke Buckmaster

Cast: Pia Miranda, Elena Cotta, Great Sacchi, Anthony la Paglia, Kick Gurry
Director: Kate Woods
Producers: Robyn Kershaw and Tristram Miall
Screenplay: Melina Marchetta; adapted from her book of the same name
Australian theatrical release: May 4, 2000