Partially funded by Screen Australia, Joe Cinque's Consolation has no special effects and no epic sweeping soundtrack, at least not that I can remember, but what it does have is an amazing script and wonderful cast. The camera work is quite raw and unpolished, which adds to the feel of the film.
While the audience walks in with full knowledge of what is going to happen, what happens along the way still comes as a shock. A crescendo of mistakes, inaction, and enabling lead to Joe Cinque's demise. This leads to questions of morality and duty of care: why exactly did no one stop this from happening when so many people understood what Singh wanted to do? For me, what was horribly startling was the afterthoughts, the postscripts peppered before the closing credits; what happened, and to whom. If my eyes weren't leaking before that, they were by then.
The writing in the script is brilliant, it's the perfect mix of storytelling and foreshadowing. It's possible I picked up on this a bit more than I would have, having known a little about the case before hand. It's not a court room drama by any stretch. In fact, the only time we glimpse a court house is in the closing five minutes of the film. What we have is a desperate unraveling of a human being, and the pieces that toppled around her as she fell.
While the audience walks in with full knowledge of what is going to happen, what happens along the way still comes as a shock. A crescendo of mistakes, inaction, and enabling lead to Joe Cinque's demise. This leads to questions of morality and duty of care: why exactly did no one stop this from happening when so many people understood what Singh wanted to do? For me, what was horribly startling was the afterthoughts, the postscripts peppered before the closing credits; what happened, and to whom. If my eyes weren't leaking before that, they were by then.
The writing in the script is brilliant, it's the perfect mix of storytelling and foreshadowing. It's possible I picked up on this a bit more than I would have, having known a little about the case before hand. It's not a court room drama by any stretch. In fact, the only time we glimpse a court house is in the closing five minutes of the film. What we have is a desperate unraveling of a human being, and the pieces that toppled around her as she fell.