Review: Aussie film Promised fails to fire
This sloppy outing tackling the Italian immigrant experience could be the worst Australian film of the year, writes Leigh Paatsch.
Leigh Paatsch
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No joy to report that the inept romantic drama Promised is likely to be the worst Australian movie to snaffle a release in 2019.
While the movie’s desire to represent the Italian immigrant experience in this country with a little heart and a lot of authentic period detail is sincerely heartfelt, it is undercut by scripting and direction choices haplessly under-par.
A sloppily constructed tale takes place in 1970s Melbourne, where aspiring writer Angela (Antoniette Iesue) and ambitious lawyer Robert (Daniel Berini) must honour a marriage pact concocted by their dads twenty years prior.
Amidst the many face-palming complications and baffling mood swings that follow, an out-of-their-depth cast are continually dunked by the thankless tasks befallen them.
A majority of the actors deliver their lines as if reading them aloud for the first time, giving their characters a robotic quality that can get comically awkward in some scenes.
A connected-to-the-Mafioso sub-plot leaves the lasting chill of a frozen brick of lasagne.
Seriously, the fella they have playing the supposed string-pulling don of the local Italian community comes across about as mobbed-up and intimidating as a part-time public transport ticket inspector.
As for screen chemistry, newcomers Iesue and Berini give off all the potential heat of a wet box of matches.
Playing Angela’s conflicted parents, singer Tina Arena (in her first feature film role) and Paul Mercurio at least have us believing in their characters and their relationship. What a pity no-one followed their lead.
Consider this a Promised broken.
PROMISED (PG)
Director: Nick Conidi (feature debut)
Starring: Antoniette Iesue, Daniel Berini, Paul Mercurio, Tina Arena.
Rating: *
Unpromising