Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger (2008)

Nutzer-Bewertung:

6.3/10   

Regisseur:

Cathy Randall

Drehbuchautor:

Cathy Randall (writer)

Premierendatum:

20. März 2008 (Australia)

Genre:

Komödie | Drama

Werbezeile:

Sometimes to fit in you need to stand out.

Plot:

A coming-of-age story about a 13-year-old girl trying to fit into both a posh private school and an ordinary public school.

Plot Keywords:

Teenage | Break Dance | Acting | Impersonation | Rabbi

Nutzerkommentare:

Kosher comic Alibrandi

Besetzung

Nikita Adams	...	Piper
Tisha Adey	...	Prudence
Paul Blackwell	...	Mr. Duke
Christian Byers	...	Jacob Blueburger
Lucy Carey	...	Sienna
Keisha Castle-Hughes	...	Sunni
Danielle Catanzariti	...	Esther Blueburger
Elise Champion	...	Helen
Toni Collette	...	Mary
Essie Davis	...	Grace Blueburger
Alex DeGaris-Boot	...	Braces Boy
Vanessa Downing	...	Music teacher
Russell Dykstra	...	Osmond Blueburger
Patrick Frost	...	Sunni's Grandfather
Daniela Ganter	...	Alex
Mark Gaweda	...	Psychiatrist
Edwin Hodgeman	...	Rabbi
Cassandra Jinman	...	The Slug
Joey Kennedy	...	Policewoman
Laura Kettle	...	Demi
Tony Mack	...	Science Teacher
Caitlin McDougall	...	Miss Koolkats
Leticia Monaghan	...	Cynthia
Talia Monaghan	...	Missy
Jonny Pasvolsky	...	Mr. Hooper
Lyn Pike	...	Sunii's Grandmother
Esme Proudman	...	Mrs. Silverman
Deidre Rubenstein	...	Mrs. Fleisher
Jonathan Segat	...	Jacob's Friend
Yen Yen Stender	...	Lissy
Bridget Walters	...	Mrs Rosen
Ling Yeow	...	Sales Assistant

Alternativ:

Hey Hey, hier Esther Blueburger (Deutschland) [de]

Länge:

Germany:103 Min (Berlin International Film Festival)

Land:

Australia

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe

Seitenverhältnis:

2.35 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Dolby Digital

Altersfreigabe:

Australia:M

Drehorte:

Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Firma:

120db Film Finance

Dies und das:

Keisha Castle-Hughes was pregnant during filming.

Kosher comic Alibrandi

This film could be described as the Jewish slapstick comic version of "Looking for Alibrandi", the archetypal Australian girl growing up story. Esther, a tiny but bright 14 year old Jewish girl, is shunned by the other girls at her posh Adelaide school. Sunni, a girl from the nearby state school, takes her under her wing, as it were, and Esther starts attending Sunni's school unofficially as a Swedish exchange student. Plenty of pratfalls follow, but the story turns serious towards the finish.

Danielle Catanzareti is brilliant as Esther and just about carries the film. Keisha Castel-Hughes is convincing as Sunni, as is Essi Davis as Ester's mother Grace (who seems to be channeling Bree from "Desperate Housewives" right down to her dress sense.) Tony Collette, in her brief appearance as Sunni's striptease artist mother, is OK but seems to be in the wrong movie, and the other girls at St Posh are, like the girls of St Trinians, too old and too depraved to be authentic.

About half-way through Esther and her pals go nightclubbing. There are a couple of problems with this. First, no bouncer would let someone of Esther's size and youth in to a strip club, even in Adelaide. Second, Esther giving head to a teenage boy who is no more than an acquaintance, in a dingy alleyway as her friends look on, while it fits in with her attempts to be accepted, proved a bit much for some of the audience with 10-12 year old children who walked out at that stage (the film is rated "M" in Australia). This is a pity because otherwise the film is suitable for kids of about 10 years and up.

There are some good comic moments, such as the massed choir of the posh school singing a heavily over-written version of the Yardbirds' "House of the Rising Sun", Esther and her geek brother Jacob's send-up of genteel family dining, and the "Esther cam" view of the Bar-Mitzvah reception. There is also a "magic realism" element which emerges occasionally such as when we are told about the school's tribes. But the ending is a bit unsatisfactory. One again a first-time writer –director has been let loose with some taxpayer's money and the result is an interesting but patchy piece. There is imagination at work here and freshness, but the film doesn't draw the viewer in the way "Looking for Alibrandi" did.