With dialogue as snappy and fast as a fireworks display, writer-director Matthew Newton plunges us into twenty-four testosterone-packed hours of action and emotional revelation.
Three young Australian naval officers have been at sea for six months, and have twenty-four hours shore leave in Sydney before shipping out to Iraq. Each has a personal agenda: Dean (Toby Schmitz) wants to see his fiancée and cement their future plans, Harry (played by Newton himself) is hell-bent on a night of excess and Sam (Ewen Leslie) just wants to stay out of trouble. With the glittering, sophisticated city of Sydney at their feet, these very different men are propelled into an adventure that holds unexpected outcomes for all.
The boys careen through the night like balls in a pinball machine: they drink, fight, play poker, fall in love, charm, get laid, puke, get lost, get found and finally meet the morning as different men than they were the day before. Capitalizing on rapid-fire dialogue and a splendidly talented cast, Newton presents us with an ensemble seamlessly enmeshed in their stories and each other.
While rightfully billed as a psychological drama, the unexpected delight of Three Blind Mice is its humour. From all manner of clever, ribald asides to the utter failure of Dean's dinner with his soon-to-be in-laws, Newton deftly orchestrates the drama and the laughter for maximum effect. Still, while comedy is injected into every possible scenario, it only serves to remind us that we are witnessing three bright, strong but frightened young men on the brink of being plunged into a war they don't understand.
Having assembled a cast well-balanced between the newcomers and the experienced, Newton has accomplished that rare thing: a dark, sweet, funny film about that nanosecond when a man becomes a man.
Jane Schoettle
Matthew Newton was born in Melbourne, Australia, and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. He has performed in Australia and abroad both on stage and in television and film. He made his writing and directing debut in 2004 with Right Here Right Now. Three Blind Mice (08) is his second feature film.