Director/ Writer:
Lee Galea
Country and Year:
Australia, 2013
Viewing:
West Hollywood (Melbourne Queer Film Festival), Sun Theatre
Running Time: 90
mins (approx)
So about two weeks ago I volunteered at the West Hollywood event for the Melbourne Queer Film Festival. Various films were shown over the three day screening, but the one I want to talk about (and was lucky enough to finally see) is Monster Pies.
Directed by Lee Galea and filmed in the western suburbs of Melbourne, in its simplest form monster pies can be described as a story of teen love and its journey. But frankly, that would be over simplifying this wonderfully crafted story, which is a testament to Galeas’ talent.
Going deeper, the story is about the two lead characters having to perform their own take on the immortal work Romeo and Juliet. And going into the movie, a viewer can have a rough idea of what road the movie plans on taking; however it's an enjoyable journey seeing the details.
A
lot of the success in my
mind of this movie is based on the fact that there isn’t one particular element
that is more effective then another, rather it’s the sum effort that ensures
that the audience connects to both will and mike. the acting itself by both
leads are brilliant, with both lead actors (Tristan Barr as Mike and Lucas
Linehan as William) emoting
their characters feelings in more than just words, including facial movement
and hand gestures.
Tristan
Barr as Mike and Lucas
Linehan as William
There’s a scene in
it where it’s so moving, it makes
you go AWW, which is then juxtaposed with the shocking scene afterwards that
will either make you cry or if it doesn't it will leave a big impact on you. At
the screening I was at, the sold out session literally gasped with shock at the
surprise twist.
One thing that I found interesting was the interesting choice
of cinematography that was used. For a movie whose ending is (spoilers); well
less than happy ever after, the entire movie was primarily shot with a pallet
consisting of bright colours, primarily of blues. Occasionally darker hues were
used, but ironically it was used to highlight the happier scenes rather than
the darker scenes.
Normally my issues with gay themed movies are the same; that
is they are either poorly written, full of clichés or rely on the old favourite
of full frontal nudity (I’m looking at you Eating
Out series). Admittedly while in certain parts I did think that Monster Pies was clichéd, I would still
see it and I have to admit this would have to be one of my favourite movies of
2013 and also one of my favourite Queer movies of all time.
The DVD is scheduled for a November 12 release date through
TLA Releases (date correct as of going to publish).
Rating: 4
stars