“[Around the Block] managed to take familiar topics and make them quite unique and original yet also offered us insight into bigotry and dissatisfaction that folk outside Australia might not even realize exists.”
by Martin Hafer
To Sir, With Love meets Hamlet…meets hip-hop!
Christina Ricci is a very difficult Hollywood actress to categorize. While she has been involved in quite a few projects that are very commercially oriented (such as the god-awful Sleepy Hollow), she also has chosen many odd projects with far less mass appeal (such as Pecker and Pumpkin) and has deliberately avoided the typical starlet persona. So, I wasn’t all too surprised to see her, of all things, in a micro-budgeted independent film from Australia…yes, Australia.
- Around the Block
- Written & Directed by
Sarah Spillane - Cast
Christina Ricci, Hunter Page-Lochard, Jack Thompson - Release Date
1 August 2014 - Martin’s Grade: A-
In many ways, Around the Block is a lot like the old Sidney Poitier film To Sir, With Love combined with Hamlet. I know this sounds strange–but the similarities become obvious as you watch the film. Like To Sir, With Love, the main character in the film is a well meaning and super-idealistic foreign teacher who has come to work with disadvantaged city kids. Some might find this sort of idea a bit paternalistic–like it takes some American-type to come save the poor children of the world. And, while this might be one interpretation of the film, there is far more to it than this. This is because the teacher herself is a bit lost–and the movie is bound to turn a few heads with Ricci and the subplot involving her struggle with bisexuality. Again, I see this as Ricci walking to her own drummer in playing this character–and her rather steamy sex scene with a woman she meets in a bar will probably offend a few folks and inspire others. I definitely do NOT remember this sort of plot element in To Sir, With Love!
*****
As far as the Hamlet element goes, you get it in double doses. First, this teacher wants to put on a production of this Shakespeare play using the inner city students from her school–and there is a widespread belief that these kids could never appreciate the play or rise to the occasion to successfully put on the play for the community. Second, the kid playing Hamlet, Liam (ably played by Hunter Page-Lochard) is in a position to recreate the play in his real life. This is because his father is in prison–and the jerk is pressuring his sons to avenge him by killing the man responsible for his incarceration. I liked this angle, as it made me realize for the first time that in the classic play, Hamlet’s dead father actually could be seen as THE villain in the play, as he destroys his son in order to achieve revenge. On top of these themes, you add a lot of hip-hop culture and discussions of lost Aboriginal youth and you have this film.
So is this melange about two characters searching for a sense of identity any good? Well, I liked it. It managed to take familiar topics and make them quite unique and original yet also offered us insight into bigotry and dissatisfaction that folk outside Australia might not even realize exists. It’s answer to all this might seem to be a bit simplistic, but at least it does address these problems and challenges the viewer. In other words, the film might offend you but at least it gets you to think and won’t bore you.
