One Perfect Day

Review by Clint Morris

Tommy [Dan Spielman] is mad about his music. Unfortunately, he's not getting to express himself through it the way he hoped.

He's stuck in London, at the Royal Academy of Music, where he's supposed to be simply playing classical and listening to anything other than Josh Abrahams.

His expulsion couldn't have come sooner.

When his sister Emma [Abbie Cornish] dies from an overdose - given to her by a wannabe-video maker [Nathan Phillips] at a rave party - he returns home to Australia to face, literally, the music.

Now he's on a mission to find some answers about his sister's death and with his troubled girlfriend Alysse [Leeanna Walsman], also a talented musician, and various other players on the scene - one particularly squalid and disparaging - gets an idea of the lifestyle her sister lived and why she did it, as well as discovering something about himself.

One Perfect Day is a peculiar beast. Quarter way through I was ready to write the film off as a horrifying misfire, with its only means of pushing the tale forward by means of high-pitched sounds - it just didn't seem to be going anywhere.

Then, like a DJ suddenly getting use to a mixmaster panel for the first time, the film starts to come together. Suddenly, the film's heart is exposed and the ride becomes a lot more endurable.

Not to say most of the movie isn't all about music. It is. As the film's major grab-factor to the story stencil, the element near makes up all of One Perfect Day. There's barely a moment when a floor-shaking techno track isn't playing or a scene set in the confines of a disco or record store.

And rarely do the characters sway too far from talking about the dance scene. But once you get use to the bunch of folks on screen, and the blaring backdrop of the film - it starts to work.

Underneath the sensational blend of tunes - the "Lamb" track is fantastically used, playing at a funeral - there's a pretty solid story, and it's not the one the advertising or first impressions might have you perceive.

It's not all about dance being one big party. In fact, there's a nice balance of good and bad points painted in regards to the dance scene. Instead of solely stating how fun it is at these places and how much of a blast it is to mix 12 inches, director Paul Currie also lets it be known that such a lifestyle ain't exactly hale and hearty - they're fluent with drugs and predominantly, seamy types.

And though you come away from the film a little confused as to whether we should be opening up more raves or petitioning to close the ones we have, your feet want to do nothing more but drag you to the nearest disco… and dance.

Though - needless to say, feet still tapping and all - the soundtrack's the main star of the show, there's some good Aussie talent backing it up. Dan Spielman and Leeanna Walsman are superb as the headline acts, with Australian Rules star Nathan Phillips offering worthy support, giving a multi-faceted turn as a character that might've otherwise looked modestly one dimensional on paper.

Granted, near everyone in the film has there share of a few dud lines and chunks of woeful dialogue - but that's more to do with minor flaws in the script, not the talent on show.

One Perfect Day isn't the magical pill the Australian Film Industry is waiting for to pull it out of the doldrums, but it's quite a good cut. Best of all, it grooves to a dynamic, passionate and electric beat, whilst never speaking down to the niche youth-audience it's targeted at.

Worth a listen…I mean, watch.

3 out of 5

One Perfect Day
Australian release: Thursday February 19th
Cast: Dan Spielman, Leeanna Walsman, Abbie Cornish, Nathan Phillips, Andrew Howard, Kerry Armstrong.
Director: Paul Currie.
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