The Monkey's Mask

Let me state first of all that I liked this film. It revolves around a female PI who is investigating the disappearance of young student poet who is later found murdered. She becomes involved in an affair with the student's teacher who may or may not be involved in the murder. It flows quite well maybe abit slowly for some but to me this is the right pace. The movie is delineated into sections much like a poem and in some ways the lead (admirably played by Susie Porter) seems to float through this world of poetry readings, steamy love trysts and threatening phone calls a player yet somehow disassociated from it all.

There were however some things that annoyed me a little about the whole film and while they didnt spoil it for me they nevertheless grated on me. Susie Porters character though solidly played nevertheless did not ring true to me. She is meant to be a working class ex-cop familar with the mean streets of Western Sydney now navigating her way through this bunch of artsy intellectual types. She didnt quite ring true to me - she almost seemed part of that crowd herself - her outsider status wasnt obvious to this viewer.

I found the some of the use of nudity and sexual profanity abit try hard. What I mean by this is that it was almost abit forced.To me It looked as though it was saying look how comfortable we are in showing nudity etc,I suspect it was almost there to spice things up rather than being integral to the plot (to be fair a pretty hard line to draw on many occasions).I also found the whole characterisation of the murdered girl and her parents abit annoying. The parents are cardboard carictures of what inner city intellectuals view the suburbanites (with money) as -dull boring and clueless , & the murdered girl is portrayed as some spoilt little brat from the leafy suburbs on a parent subsidised rebellion - another cliche. I find this more than a little ironic as the subject matter of this film is likely to draw an audience (in Australia anyway) that is largely the arthouse end of the market (ie monied and educated) Anyway these points though somewhat annoying to this viewer really are only minor distractions.Overall the film is worth seeing.

I did enjoy The Monkey's Mask but lets face it, this script needed some more re-writing. Porter is very good and her character is interesting but she's really not cut out to be a private investigator. When she announces to someone that she's a PI working on the case you expect some of the characters to brush her aside and say "Beat it"! The chapter element of the film is really not needed. This film has no chapters. It's not that long of a film and it flows nicely so it was pointless to have it at all. I did enjoy the sex scenes with Kelly McGillis who doesn't appear in films nearly enough and she's always had great beauty and even though she's probably nearing 50, she looks great. I'm not buying the attraction of the two for each other but the nudity is pretty daring and I enjoyed the audacity of that part of the film. The whole way that she solves the case is not convincing and it looks like anyone could have figured it out. Not a bad little independent film from Australia. I recommend it for Porter's performance and her scenes with McGillis.

An interesting film, since there are only a few of this kind. It seems that is hard to convince the viewer in the beginning but as it runs it gets better. Bear in mind that K.McGillis is older than the woman she's impersonating, same stands for S.Porter. The story has some unclear points, but the director has managed to cover them. In a few words, a nice try - next time better luck (or script). It is not a 'MUST' film to see, but I do recommend it (at least is far and away more interesting from many others of its kind).

McGillis really steals the show.Even in her former parts ,she was an ambiguous androgynous person (in "the accused" which gave Foster her first Oscar,she had something male in her).She literally explodes here,she mesmerizes the audience,in her part of a lit professor in love with a lesbian private investigator.The movie contains plenty of gay women sex scenes ,so be warned:it's not for all tastes .

As for the plot itself it's not really exciting.The characters are not very interesting,it's a pity that the victim's parents' parts should be so underwritten.The same goes for Nick.The soundtrack is good ,including excellent songs and haunting music.But it's not enough.Without Kelly McGillis,the movie would be completely undistinguished.

Caught this on cable last night and I've decided that I like Susie Porter very much - she's got an incredibly expressive face (along with her adorable body, which we get to see a LOT of) and she was thoroughly convincing as the p.i. trying to solve the murder of a teenage poet while falling in love with the poet's teacher (Kelly McGillis, not quite believable in her role but she still looked good with Porter in the bathtub). Not very well-written or directed either - it's too long, too self-conscious and too convoluted - but it does have a certain style. . .and it DOES have the very appealing and watchable Porter.