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Via Satellite (1998)

Director: Anthony McCarten

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From Time Out Film Guide

Swimmer Carol (Cormack) could well provide New Zealand with an Olympic gold medal, so, desperate to catch a satellite 'moment', a TV camera crew descends on her hapless family. Carol's twin Chrissy (Cormack again) is loath to join the circus, but in the ensuing chaos it's she who has most to learn. Set in the anti-cool, drab 1970s suburbs, this first feature, based on the director's own play, is a crude, raucous shadow of Mike Leigh's Secrets & Lies. Thanks to Cormack, though, who boasts beautiful, root-vegetable features reminiscent of Sandrine Bonnaire, you find yourself drawn in. Chrissy's sour rage, in particular, proves haunting.

Author: CO'Su

Time Out Film Guide


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