In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Blistering performances.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I found this movie boring, monotonous and quite uninteresting with a hurried, shallow "upbeat" ending that didn't ring true to the overall story. Following these characters through a weekend of awful events, unfriendly attitudes and bad news just isn't my idea of a watchable, interesting movie and I got very tired of its "one note" theme and couldn't wait for it to end--in fact I almost stopped about halfway through. The whole movie just seemed pointless and wandering, and the characters were for the most part depressing and unpleasant, though the acting was good. A small movie with small ambitions and small appeal--sorry, but it just didn't make it with me, and I love good, small films! This one just didn't jell, though I kept watching it hoping and trusting that it would. I was disappointed, especially after two local reviewers put it on their "Year's 10 Best" list. I'd strongly recommend watching "The House of Sand" instead--now there's a good, small film!

A shoot in our stomach. This movie is visceral, emotional and preserves a unique sense of humor...and also can make you feel very uncomfortable..a very human and touching story...believable. Most of all this a believable story... I watched this movie yesterday at the 30th International Movie Festival here in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and had a surprise to see such an interesting and touching Australian movie. By bonding creativity and humanity in a strong history it captivated me. The anguish is around and many lost souls try to find their way in life fighting all kinds of adversities. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Good actors too! They show us creativity in a in depth tragical and casual history. And the insertion of the girls thoughts in painting format inserted in the narrative was very clever. Great Movie!

The film had some likable aspects. Perhaps too many for my taste. It felt as though the writer/director was desperately trying to get us to feel the inner conflict of ALL of its characters. Not once, a few times...but all of the time. This is the job of television, not cinema. The location of the train station was well chosen and I enjoyed Sascha Horler's performance as the pregnant friend. I felt as though Justine Clarke's performance was wan. Her reactions to things felt forced, as though the director were trying to vocalise the themes of the film through her protagonist's expressions. I also can't believe that a director can make the wonderful Daniela Farinacci into an unbelievable presence. I cannot understand the choice of pop music slapped over entire sequences. This is a lazy device, especially where the pop music comes from no place diagetic to the film and/or where the lyrics of the song feel embarrassingly earnest. That said, there is a breezy quality about the film that evokes the Australian heat and local attitude with originality. It does create an atmosphere of heat and sunshine. Especially with the usage of wonderful animation sequences that rescue the film from complete mediocrity, infusing it with passion and hand-crafted charm. I am curious why the dialogue feels so overworked. "Who knows if there's a god? Like some guy sitting there up in the sky telling us what to do" or whatever the line was. Perhaps one of the more embarrassing moments was the friend returning home from cricket with a bunch of flowers to declare to his wife "I'm giving up smoking." An anti-smoking commercial? A TAC ad with some tasteful animation? I had to leave the cinema at the 50 minute mark -- it was all too much.

A terrible disappointment. Badly shot (flat lighting from Ray Argall), incredibly obvious set dressing and a pile of dull, ugly locations. The script seems to have been written by a women's co-op with revisions by members of the film-maker's family. Justine Clark tries hard and William McInnes is likable in his Seachange rehash as a snag with a big issue.The Big Train Smash story is off screen and that's part of the problem - there's no defining screen event to propel you into the film. Just a bunch of aimless souls wandering around in torment. The quirky cartoons from Mrs Director scream Art House with a big A. How did this get such good reviews ? It feels like a Film School graduating thesis. If this was one of the best films of 2005 , then Australian film-making is still in the desperate trouble.