Growing up Italian in Australia can be pretty hard going. For 17 year old Josie Alibrandi it's even complicated when your plate is full of problems. Apart from surviving the hard studies at a private Catholic school, she also has to put up with the Queen beauty snob and her racist attitudes. On top of that there is the boy thing. To make things a little complicated, her long lost father, (who she never met before), shows up on the front door step. Plus there's more! Hidden secrets in the family tree. Wow! I wonder if this girl will ever survive this teenage angst thingy?
Yes, it's all part of the growing up pain as Josie welcomes Adulthood. Pia puts on a lovable performance as Josie. You can't help but fall prisoner for that cheeky smile of hers. She has plenty of faults and that is what makes her so human. Even the surrounding family and friends are not 100% perfect, giving them the emotional space to work in. And with a strong supportive cast in the Adult department meant that they were never stereotypical in another teenage film.
The main strong focal point of the film is Melina's script, which plays with certain important teenage issues. From teenage suicide, to parents neglecting their children and racial issues. This all created through a tone of verbal dialogue and Josie's narration. Converting the popular teenage Australian novel to the screen by Melina was a brave and acceptable effort. It was something that Australian teenagers needed since the Yanks had theirs 15 years ago with John Hughes' Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club and most notably, Pretty in Pink. Only nagging problem that seemed to bother the ear was the overabundance of smartalec one-liners Josie normally threw around when competing in verbal wars. One tends to feel that those lines belong in sitcoms, not feature films.
To help tell the story was Kate Woods' direction. She knew when to get playful and knew when it was time to pull back on the serious issues. It all felt like an emotional roller coaster ride through the heart and mind Josie was carrying around. And yes, I admit to certain times being close to tears. I believe with a strong script, Woods may be the next Gillian Armstrong or Jocelyn Moorehouse.
My only concern is that this film came out 15 years too late. Anytime before the mid-Eighties, this film would have been far more interesting. Being from an Italian background, the events in the film that deal with the Italian culture in Australia seemed a little outdated. But at last I got to see how it really was when I was growing up. And it meant a lot to me in the most silliest and simple ways!
