He Died With A Felafel In His Hand

Synopsis: Would-be writer Danny (Noah Taylor) is living in his 47th shared house. His flatmates, tomboy Sam (Emily Hamilton), the mysterious Anya (Romane Bohringer), neurotic Nina (Sophie Lee), Flip (Brett Stewart) and latent homosexual Dirk (Francis McMahon) complicate his already-shambolic life.

Based on the successful book by John Birmingham about share house hell for twenty-somethings, Lowenstein's adaptation deals more with share house purgatory. The action, characters and plot seem to be floating in limbo, accidentally colliding from time to time, a commentary on the transient nature of share house living 

OK, the book was successful, it appealed with quick-fix laughs at ludicrous and outrageous situations gleaned from Birmingham's own share house history. No eye-opening stuff here. Even in the most outrageous situation most of us share house stalwarts could relate to someone/something. After the book came the stage play that toured the east coast of Australia, also successful. The play, utilising the immediate humour and sometimes dramatic value of the anecdotes, earned its success by performing in pubs. Style?  Raucous and accessible.

Lowenstein is a genuine voice in Australia and deserves to be heard and I so wanted to love this film. The struggles he endured to get the film financed are horrible, worthy of a movie in itself. Lowenstein has bravely tried to give the 'story' of Felafel something the book never had - substance and emotional depth. I'd imagine it was a hard task to adapt, for the book isn't a novel with storyline and protagonists. Birmingham is a journalist and the book is written as a collection of his own personal memories and quoted anecdotes from the hundreds of people he interviewed. Stand up comedy doesn't need big issues and complex characters driving the action. For this reason, Felafel, the film, fails. The characters in it feel incomplete. We don't get enough information about them to understand how they came to be in such deranged situations. There is a sadness and poignancy and great acting (especially the inimitable Noah Taylor) and toward the end of the film there were occasional stunning moments but there is no one to connect with. . Unfortunately, by the film's end you're so exhausted from trying to find reasons to care, that you can't. This sense of frustration is perhaps intentional but that doesn't make it any less disappointing.

Felafel is a stylish film and narrative shortcomings aside, there are some laugh and you might even recognise a few ex-housemates up on the screen.

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