REVIEW FROM VARIETY

By Russel Edwards

Auds are invited to sit in with a collection of soul-searching males in the gritty Australian indie "Men's Group." Stimulating yarn about diverse blokes coming to terms with their issues at a self-help gathering can occasionally seem futile, but as with therapy itself, perseverance is rewarding. Solid thesps support each other and an intermittently awkward though always engaging script. Subject has lost fashionable '90s cachet, but if distrib repeats its savvy handling of 2007 low-budgeter "The Jammed," pic should garner respectable niche biz Down Under. Elsewhere, fests will provide satisfying encounters, with durable ancillary.

Pic begins with chronic gambler and ineffectual parent Alex (Grant Dodwell) arriving at his first session with a weekly male encounter group in a Sydney suburb. Along with Alex, aud is introduced to brutish, bearded Moses (Paul Tassone); homophobic salesman Lucas (Steve Le Marquand); compulsive funster Freddy (Steve Rodgers); and refined widower Cecil (Don Reid). Group is lead by ever-calm facilitator Paul (Paul Gleeson) who carries a slightly superior air as he suggests points for group discussion. Narrative follows the men's emotional progress over a number of weeks.

Given the artificiality of such assemblies in real life, it's not surprising that pic initially feels forced. However, narrative gathers momentum as it unfurls, depicting outside dilemmas each man brings to (and sometimes conceals from) the group.

Story hits its stride when newcomer Anthony (William Zappa) briefly joins the group and drops emotional bombshells. Impact on the narrative and protags' lives is palpable, as their responses to Anthony's disclosures brings them fully to life and offer a bonding experience to strip away the group's cool veneer of bravado. A dramatic postscript is both satisfying and conclusive, while simultaneously suggesting the group and its issues are far from over.

Ensemble is strong throughout, and each thesp manages to breathe life into a potential stereotype. Not surprisingly, while women remain a central issue for the men, the few female characters that do fleetingly appear are merely background material. Helmer used a three-camera setup to shoot the encounter meetings and only used single takes. While an outline (developed in collaboration with producer and co-scribe John L. Simpson) existed, thesps were not shown a script except on a day-to-day, page-by-page basis, and were encouraged to improvise dialogue.

One stylistic gamble -- a twitchy camera designed to create a docu feel and emphasize the nervousness of the participants -- does pic a serious disservice and is a major irritant; only upon reaching Zappa's big scene does Joy seem to trust his material enough to relax his directing gimmickry. Visuals are much more settled from this point onward, but camera's every subsequent faux-docu move brings an uncomfortable recollection of earlier visual hyperactivity. At fest screening caught, digital lensing appeared to lack sharpness, though as per requirements of such a dialogue-intensive pic, sound was impeccably precise.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936054.html?categoryid=31&cs=1