City Loop

I'm finding this very difficult to write. After a few false starts I realise how hard it is to properly convey the unusual badness of "City Loop". It's not that it's VERY bad - "insufferably bad" is the strongest phrase I'd use - but it is, unlike many bad things, INDISPUTABLY bad. Moreover (and this is a different thing again) I don't see how anyone could take pleasure in watching it.

It's a multi-story ensemble pic in which the stories aren't really stories (they're CALLED stories - "Dom's Story", "Misha's Story", etc., but nothing to speak of happens in them), and the ensemble consists entirely of characters I found it impossible, and I mean IMPOSSIBLE, to take any interest in. (What I wanted to happen was ALWAYS whatever would bring the film to a merciful end.) All characters are amoral and inarticulate, they all move through the world at random, none of them have redeeming qualities (few of them even have qualities). Chayko tries to swindle us into caring by leaving crucial matters unexplained (an excuse to make us watch some scenes TWICE, as if once weren't bad enough), but it doesn't work.

I haven't exhausted the film's weaknesses. Photography is unattractive - although I get the feeling it probably wasn't the cinematographer's fault; it feels rather as if Chayko took the poor man (or woman - I fled as soon as the credits began, so I wouldn't know) to some ugly, bare location, asked him to film the ugliest part of it, and then tied his (/her) hands by firing the lighting technician. The music is also pretty drab. The best thing going for it is the fact that, although it seems as though it will never end, it really doesn't last very long.

I saw "city loop" at Toronto a couple of years ago and more recently on Cable here in Australia. The script is generally too smart by half and tries to be very sassy but the director just didn't pull it off.

It probably needed some flesh to be exposed for it to have any credibility as a teen flick of any worth. Nice try folks and it's a valiant effort for a low budget film but in the end you have to ask - WHY BOTHER?

A group of teenage workers in Speedy's Anytime pizza delivery parlor have different evenings that intertwine with each other round work. However each are bored and a little disillusioned with their lives. The evening sees some dramatic events in their young lives.

I didn't have high hopes for this film – I assumed it was going to be the usual teen angst stuff set in Australia featuring a bunch of characters I could care less about. And in a way I was right, the basic plot(s) are the usual run of mill things. However the stories are quite cool and are aided by a clever quirk. Each characters story is told fully and separately (not original I know- but still effective), and they intertwine. This means we see events that happen later in other stories but they aren't explained till then.

The downside is that this is a gimmick and gets old before the film ends. The other downside is that the plots are sometimes too daft and other times too ponderous and navel-contemplating. This isn't helped by the characters being mostly selfish teenagers who think their lives are the be all and end all of everything. The actors don't help this much – they're OK, but they allow their roles to become stereotypes too easily. It has some comedy but mostly this is a teen drama that deals with things like `being a virgin', `cuming too early', `breaking up with girlfriend' etc etc.

Overall it passed the time. The story telling gimmick helped for the most part, but it started to drag before the end and wasn't much fun to watch. Teen angst dramas have been done much better than this.

It's been like 1,5 year ago that I've seen the movie, but I frequently think back about it. And when I read the previous comment, I realized what specific detail made me like this movie so much: the emptiness! The previous person on this board didn't like the fact that there were no cars or extra to be seen, and he supposed that Miss Chayko did it on purpose to give a sphere of loneliness. That's a possibility, but even when the reason is simply that there was no money for extras, I don't care: it gave the movie its unique atmosphere.

And I also agree that Miss Chayko will, one day, certainly make a great movie!

When I watch a film for the first time I tend to go in with an open mind, block all pre-conceptions. Teen movies are often sneered at by critics as simply being boring, cliched tales of adolescent love and insecurity - indeed some teen films fit this description, but City Loop (or Bored Olives as I prefer) does not. I caught Bored Olives at 1.50 AM on Channel 4 a while back and was thoroughly entertained. Despite its low-budget the direction and acting are excellent. Set against the amazingly atmospheric and tranquil backdrop of late-night, inner-city Brisbane the film focusses on the lives of a group of young takeaway workers who are, as-per-usual in teen films, bored with their lives and apprehensive regarding their futures. Filmed as a set of intertwining short stories (each character is given their own story), the films main and most endearing characters are Ryan Stapleton who stars as Dom, and Stacey, played by the stunning Megan Dorman in grunge mode. The worst thing about some film critics are their pre-conceptions regarding certain genres, and reviews of Bored Olives have, in my humble opinion, suffered from this. Very similar to the American flick, 'Empire Records', Bored Olives is good entertainment with no pretensions - i.e. it does not pretend to be what it isn't. The characters might be slightly shallow and skin-deep, but thats not what we want in a film like this. Go into Bored Olives with an open mind and you will enjoy.