Topless Women Talk About Their Lives video

Topless Women Talk still


Topless Women Talk About Their Lives - 1997


John Swimmer Ltd. - 88 min.
DVD UPC # 5050582084849

Cast: Danielle Cormack, Joel Tobeck, Ian Hughes, Willa O'Neill, Shimpal Lelisi, Andrew Binns.
Writer: Harry Sinclair; Production Design; Directors of Photography: Dale McCready; Editor; Music: Various Flying Nun artists; Producers: Fiona Copland, Harry Sinclair; Director: Harry Sinclair.
A budding, if a bit loony, young screenwriter Ant, is told, by his women friends, that his latest effort is worthless, and is tossed onto the beach at Piha. It is picked up by a visiting German who takes it back to a German screenwriter, and it becomes 'Topless Women Talk About Their Lives'. Liz is pregnant, but she has split up with the father whom she doesn't love (and vice versa) and is now with cute but vapid Geoff. This is a film with characters mostly in their late twenties, zany and fumbling - mostly when it comes to sex. The ending will have you wondering if the plot is turning dark, but I will only say that it doesn't. Recommended.

Censor Rating: R16 - Review rating: B-

AVAILABILITY OF VHS OR DVD COPIES

New PAL VHS copies are available from Aro Video for $40nz. Used NTSC VHS copies can occationally be seen at ebay for under $10us. Used R2 PAL DVDs can be found for about 6eur. Expect new DVDs to be under 10# or over 10 eur. The film is presented 1.33:1 with 2.0 dolby digital sound. There is a German language (default) track as well as the original English track. Subtitles are offered in: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Danish, Dutch and Turkisch. Additional extras include: a 12 minute short, 'The Lounge Bar', in English with German subtitles; a 12 minute interview with the director; 4 trailers - Topless + 3 other German language films; text bios of 7 actors plus major crew members.


SOUNDTRACK ON AUDIO CD

Click for Topless Women Talk About Their Lives CD Details


REVIEWS

New Zealand Film Archive Info and Reviews

North & South Review

Movie Review Query - 9 articles

Steve Baker Review

Brian Webster's Apollo Movie Review

Queer View Review (German)

Nikki Lesley rec.arts.movies.reviews

New Zealand Film Commission Synopsis

IMDB User Comments

"There was no grand plan or important message that needed to be imparted so I don't think it's a big film, it's supposed to be small, small but hopefully perfectly formed, well I don't know... It's about relationships and at its core it's about love - certainly that's - I hope so, and Danielle Cormack who just happened to be pregnant at the time and very, very generously agreed to make that pregnancy part of the story which was an incredible gift to the film and really gives the film its heart" - (Harry Sinclair interviewed by Jonathan Dennis, Film Show, National Radio,6 July, 1997)

"Writer / Director Harry Sinclair has nailed the 20-something experience in this shoestring production, shot all over Auckland and in Niue. Incredibly, each day's script was written the night before it was shot, lending every scene an immediacy one rarely finds on the big screen. The hand held camera seems to be spying on real lives, not filming actors practising their craft [...] No, Topless Women is not perfect. Geoff's repeated promises to remain faithful quickly wear thin, and the ending seems a bit contrived. But this flick is an absolute must- see, destined to become a New Zealand classic" - (Veronica McLaughlin, Real Groove, August 1997)

OFFLINE REVIEW SOURCES

Listener, v.161no.2985(July 19 1997)
Waikato times, Sept.6, 1997


TRAILER & AWARDS

Opening credits video clip in German

1997 - Thessaloniki Film Festival - Special Mention.
1997 - New Zealand Film Awards - Best Film; Director; Best Actor: Joel Tobeck; Supporting Actor: Andrew Binns; Best Actress; Danielle Cormack; Supporting Actress: Willa O'Neill; Screenplay, Editing.
1998 - Fantasporto - Audience Jury Award.


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