The Coolangatta Gold

Belonging to the most patently formulaic genre. the "sports drama",  The Coolangatta Gold is technically a well-enough made film from Igor Auzins, a director with a good handle on action scenes but a deadly inclination for the hyperbolically stereotypical in every other respect (compare his High Rolling).

A pointedly commercial film, produced by concert promoter Michael Edgley and Hoyts Theatres, it offers an against-all-odds story of a put-upon nineteen year old (Joss McWilliam) living in the shadow of his older brother (Colin Friels) and ignored by his father (played with mega-machismo by Nick Tate) as he prepares for the Coolangatta Gold Tri-Aquathon. This main thread is balanced for its youthful audience with the parallel story of his girlfriend (Josephine Smulders) who aspires to be a ballet dancer.

There's lots of running and muscle-flexing activity to the accompaniment of a rousing score by Bill Conti, some ballet to the accompaniment of Sibelius, and a goodly helping of dire pop kitsch (the pretext being that the hero is also an aspiring band-manager) as only the 1980s could manage (one-time Splt Enz member, Phil Judd, is credited as "sound supervisor") and yes, leg warmers do make an appearance.

Colin Friels, an actor more commonly associated with edgier material (he played a drug addict in Monkey Grip in 1982 and has since gone on to be one of Australia's leading screen actors), is an anomalous presence as the older brother. He plays his part well and is nicely buffed-up but his presence is not enough to lift the film above the predictable although its local colour has earned it quite a fan base in its home state of Queensland.

DVD Features: A making-of featurette; a report on the climactic race taken from Good Morning Australia; Photo Gallery.

Available from: Umbrella Entertainment

 

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