A
Cold Summer
(2003)
It's
been a while since I've
cracked open the vault
and dusted off some old
VHS of an Australian
film and reappraised it.
Or whatever happens
below.
A Cold Summer is a 2003
improvised drama
focusing on three
damaged individuals in
Sydney over a period of
time (hmm... a summer
perhaps?). Tia (Olivia
Pigeot), a jazz singer,
is followed home one
afternoon by a
disheveled and drunken
Bobby (Teo Gebert).
After a brief argument,
they have sex, then
begin an affair, even
though Tia has a
boyfriend. Tia soon
bumps into Phaedra
(Susan Prior, quite good
in the recent TV series
Puberty Blues), an old
friends who is still
mourning the death of
the love of her life 3
years after he died. Tia
convinces the now
socially inept Phaedra
to pursue a fruit shop
worker, but fails
miserably. As Tia and
Bobby continue their
ruinous relationship,
Phaedra finds out that
Tia had sex with her ex
and decides to get
revenge by seducing
Bobby. It turns out
Bobby is living in his
car after being kicked
out by his wife. Also,
it turns out Tia's life
is a complete lie.
There
are no winners here,
including anyone who
watches this
impoverished piece of
shit film. Oh dear...
Pretty much improvised
by the three cast
member, it's all
over-the-top melodrama
at its worst and not
really interesting at
all. None of the
characters are worth
visiting and boy do they
bang on about it, their
behaviour barely
rational and not
deserving of any
sympathy. This is
definitely in the list
of worst Australian
films of all time, hell,
when you watch it (I
found it impossible to
find, I don't even know
how I come about it...),
you'll find it tough to
find an argument to say
it doesn't belong on the
worst list.
I'll tell you how hard
it was to finally see A
Cold Summer. In 2003, I
tried to see this film
in the only cinema it
was playing (the now
defunct Lumiere Cinema)
on the Monday after it
was released and it was
already pulled. Then the
movie disappeared off
the face of the Earth,
no videos or DVD release
anywhere, not even here
in Australia. Last year
I came across a
widescreen VHS of the
movie (which must be one
of last VHS of an
Australian film seeing
as though everything was
pretty much DVD by
2003-2004) and finally
got around to watching
it, and well, as I
explain above, hardly
worth it. Ah well, I can
at least tick it off the
list of Australian films
I watched.
Olivia Pigeot
is also naked in
another VHS rarity
Powderburn that I
picked up about 6 or
7 years ago after
looking for years
and converted a
while back and is
just sitting there
waiting for me to
get to it. I'd
probably would have
done it by now, but
Blazey Best spends
the entire movie
sweating it up in a
low cut singlet top
that I just have to
cap and will take
forever to do. One
day soon...
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