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Introducing the Dwight

Written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

One on One interview with actress Brenda Blethyn and director Cherie Nowlan

TV director Cherie Nowlan takes a crack at her first feature film which is set against the backdrop of a low-rent night club in Sydney. An aging self-absorbed stage comedienne named Jean(Brenda Blethyn) is juggling three jobs to make ends meet these days. On the surface, she uses raunchy jokes as her best asset in trying to get her long-gone career back on track, even if it means sacrificing her two kids and ousting her ex-husband (Frankie J. Holden), a one-hit wonder singer.

It's a tough act, but it gradually pierces through the heart of their young and shy kid, Tim (Khan Chittenden). In  his mind, he knows that he can't lead a conventional life with these parents, particularly with his intellectually disabled young brother, Mark (Richard Wilson) who happened to be brain-damaged at birth.

But the mundane lives of this rather quirky family are shifted by an aggressive girlfriend, Jill(Emma Booth)who comes on to Tim as if there's no tomorrow. Even though he initially shoves her to the side due to having led a virginal life beforehand, soon their relationship begins to unexpectedly blossom, and gets so intense that a crisis slowly brews involving her domineering mother who weighs in on their romance by the fear of losing a son. So she consistently calls her by the wrong name, making fun of her in front of the girl's face. 

Tim is caught between those two emotional women that are fighting for his affection. It's only now that he gathers up all the courage to tell her. Throughout the film, all the cast are social misfits and outcasts, but somehow lovable. Each of the characters are forced to tackle their own issues: Kahn shows us a great range of vulnerability, and Richard provides lots of comic relief.

But ultimately the film belongs to Brenda who stands on the verge of a mid-life crisis, balancing out the high-maintenace mother/ outspoken stand-up comedienne, showing maternal instinct and giving the necessary edge as a mother, while cracking an extreme shtick as a performer.

Thanks to the script of Keith Thompson, whose own experience illuminates an adolescent life that is really poignant, Dwight's family becomes an everyday household name that we can all identify with, for we see they belong to the same chaotic world that we all inhabit.

Directed by Cherie Nowlan
Written by Keith Thompson
Director of photography: Mark Wareham
Edited by Scott Gray
Music by Martin Armiger
Production designer:Nell Hanson
Produced by Rosemary Blight
Released by Warner Independent Pictures.
Running time: 104 minutes.

Cast: Brenda Blethyn (Jean)
Khan Chittenden (Tim)
Emma Booth (Jill)
Richard Wilson (Mark)
Frankie J. Holden (John)
Rebecca Gibney (Lana)
Philip Quast (Ronnie Stubbs)
Katie Wall (Kelly),
and Russell Dykstra (Shane).