Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

2freensel I saw this movie before reading any reviews, and I thought it was very funny. I was very surprised to see the overwhelmingly negative reviews this film received from critics.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

kenjha This drama about a teen runaway rarely moves beyond clichés. Cornish is good if somewhat bland as the runaway who desperately seeks a man who'll take of her. Worthington is disappointing as a man Cornish meets. Not only does it seem like he's simply reading his lines, but his delivery is so rapid that it's hard to understand him, given his Australian accent. His character here is confusing. Although he's cool to Cornish's overtures, he gets angry when she shacks up with other guys. He's also confused about his sexual orientation. This is the first feature film of writer-director Shortland, and she seems unsure of herself.

Robert J. Maxwell Not a bad film, an unpretentious leisurely examination of just how tough it is to find someone able to show you love -- in case we didn't already know. If Heidi, Abbie Cornish, a toothsome teen ager, so gloriously blond that even her eyebrows seem bleached, has such trouble, the rest of us must have gone through absolute hell. She's sweet, shy, submissive, and aching to be touched.How she manages to run into so many male nincompoops is hard to understand -- a lecherous Mom's boyfriend, a guy who's worried he might be gay, two rich kids who pick her up drunk and take her home for a threesome, the father of a tentative girl friend who lies in order to dishonor her. A regular line-up of losers. Any normal man would immediately comply when she begs to have her hand held, cuddle her like a tiny gerbil, then squeeze and bite her and have done with it.It isn't impossible for men to follow this movie, given that the male viewers are of normal character. It's that men are less interested than woman, and perhaps a little embarrassed, by films whose interpretations depend on emotional nuances. Men tend to ask themselves questions like, "What would John Wayne do?" However, it's an interesting effort, this minor film about a lonely, narcissistic young girl. "Narcissistic" in the Freudian sense of needing to be loved, not in the everyday sense of self-loving. The performances are fine, and the blue photography takes us out of the urban setting and away from the more common outback into a cold and snowy universe that most non-Australians are likely to be unfamiliar with. It also provides us with a glimpse into the lower-prole life of those who are barely making it in this setting, the people who drive rusted pickup trucks and live in shabby motel rooms and gurgle beer.It might have used a bit of humor, something to relieve the heavy volume of dreariness. Nobody ever seems happy or amused. At best, Heidi shows hope, which -- twice -- is dashed.However, a somersault is when you fall forward, roll over, and wind up standing erect, and that, basically, is the trajectory of the plot. Heidi takes off from home with a backpack, victimized, falls in with flawed company, and is rescued by a forgiving mother at the end. Heidi may or may not have learned anything from this escapade but perhaps her mother has.

mario_c It's a sad and melancholic story about a teenage girl, HEIDI (played by Abbie Cornish), that after run away from her mother's place goes to a distant town to meet again a guy she once met in Canberra. But when she arrives there he doesn't remember her anymore. She feels lost, disoriented, but even so she will try to live by herself, going into the unknown, meeting new people, from place to place… HEIDI is courageous but also a bit reckless too, because she "gives herself" to other people without knowing who's on the other side… For a few times we hear her asking "- Can I go with you?" to guys she already met! But this character is strong, very strong indeed, because she resisted for several times to very bad incidents without looking back, without even think to return to her mother's home… This story is sad and melancholic but it also reveals the strength, the irreverence, the anger and the unconsciousness of the teenage years… It's a very touching story because of that. On one side it's slow, melancholic, almost depressing, but on the other we feel rage and unconformity.I really liked the plot, the characters and the settings, but I would like to give a special mention to the soundtrack. I think it's great! It combines very well those opposite feelings I did refer before, because it has very sad and melancholic tracks combined with rock and dance music tracks. And they're very well integrated in the plot as well.A good surprise from Australia!

AshLlewellyn Somersault heralds a turning point in Australian cinema. It is a lone voice amongst a jaded cacophony of authoritarian overtures which, since the introduction of celluloid to this island nation, have bullied more interesting and engaging topics into submission.This is a story of a girl's sexual awakening. Although a common European theme, it is anathema to heavy-handed antipodeans who are as comfortable with the sexuality of adolescent women as they are with their own esoteric sexual proclivities.Almost as if she were a blind woman, the central character Heidi, moves sensually through her world, a libidinal, though naïve, Haetera, causing disorder where the cool hand of repression had previously established a façade of normalcy.The disruption to the repressive environment of rural Australia causes a whirlwind of angst and violence to surround her.A fascinating, sensual, quintessentially Australian film that is the first, and only, to begin to acknowledge our sexuality. How fitting, then, that the central character is an ingénue! We have a long way to go. But, kudos, Cate Shortland. The only Australian film that represents anything like an authentic Australian experience. Bravo!