Review by Steve Bennett

Mind you, this is one show that’s not all that dependent on punters being there. In fact, it’s not all that dependent on the performers being there, either. Their NAFF film festival is pretty much what it says on the tin: a collection of three short films punctuated with brief sketches and introductions.

As such, it’s quite an unsatisfying live experience, reducing the theatre to a cinema where the Noels can showcase their potential for the screen, rather than creating something for a live audience. When the internet is awash with short films - of admittedly varying quality – it seems more than a little cheeky to charge $20 to watch these three.

The first of them is a Spinal Tap style mockumentary about a Californian artists’ collective; a trio of clueless acid-casualty hippies bickering as they create meaningless abstract ‘installations’ and avoid contact with reality. The vanities of modern art and the dippiness of stoners are hardly the trickiest of targets, which means that however offbeat the quirks the Noels add to the story, and however nice the performances, you can’t escape the feeling this is familiar territory.

Second is a cutsy tale of Dennis Ball, the tennis ball, who absconds from court for a series of adventures. It’s winsomely sweet, with an innocence that transcends some of the more adult escapades our hero gets up to, and includes some appealing visual gags. But it’s also a little too long, and limited by the fact that an inanimate, featureless tennis ball doesn’t offer much potential for expression.

Best, and longest, of the three is Shane’s Big Swim, a deadpan story of an unathletic Melbournite planning a long-distance swim – to the nearby town of Geelong. He inevitably fails, but that only serves to give the story an unexpected twist as Shane finds an unlikely saviour – and soul mate – to the disgust of his family. This is a great little film – not laugh-out-loud funny, admittedly – but rich in pathos, understated humour and great, nuanced performances. James Pratt even plays the mum, without a touch of drag queen histrionics, but fellow Noels Jesse Wilson and John Forman also put in great work in their multiple roles.

Yet however good this film is, it’s still hampered by the inescapable fact it’s a film, not a live show, which can’t help but seem out of place in a live venue.

Reviewed by Steve Bennett
Melbourne, May 2006

Review date: 1 Jan 2007
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett