SAve your legs!
***
Director: Boyd Hicklin
Screenwriter: Brendan Cowell
Principal cast:
Stephen Curry
Brendan Cowell
Damon Gameau
Darshan V. Jariwala
Pavalli Sharda
David Lyons
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 92 mins.
Australian release date: 28 February 2013
If you are a cricket fan you will know what the title means but, thankfully, it’s not necessary to be an aficionado of the game to enjoy this Aussie film. Plus, it will give you a far more realistic impression of India than many other recent films set on the sub-continent. Save Your Legs!, directed by Boyd Hicklin from a script by the multi-talented Brendan Cowell, was inspired by a 2005 doco of the same name, also directed by Hicklin. It is based on a trip to India in 2001 by the Abbotsford Anglers, a D-grade cricket team from Victoria, that was comprised of a group of thirty-something men who loved the game and wanted to have a go at representing Australia on an international level.
Led by their president, Theodore ‘Ted’ Brown (Stephen Curry), the team, which includes two of his best mates, Stavros ‘Stav’ (Damon Gameau, the 2011 Tropfest winner) and Rick (Brendon Cowell), the team’s captain, sets off to India. They are reluctantly sponsored by Sanjeet (Darshan V. Jariwala), who owns a local sports shop and cricket training range in Melbourne. He happens to have a rather gorgeous daughter, Anjali (Pallavi Sharda), who knows some of the team members from when she studied in Melbourne and has joined the tour to be with her father. Cue romantic interest!
And what a tour it turns out to be. As the team starts to acclimatise to their surroundings, the delights of the Orient begin to affect them in different ways. There are some hilarious moments when Teddy gets the inevitable belly-ache and Rick and Stavros decide to get transcendental with the help of the local bhang lassi. They travel from Kolkata to Varanasi and then on to Mumbai by train which, judging by their appearance, are the real thing and haven’t been re-decorated for the benefit of a Western audience. It is refreshingly authentic.
Cowell’s script is one of the better ones to emerge from the Australian film industry this year. It plays with ideas that relate to mateship, and how important that is, and maturity. For the times they are changing and the boys are moving on with their lives. One of the celebrations they intend having while away is a buck’s party to celebrate Rick’s impending fatherhood. As things start to get out of hand and the tour looks like it will fall apart, it takes dedication to the game, and to each other, to bring the team in line. There is a scene when the film has its own Bollywood moment which is a lot of fun and done extremely well, as is the rest of the film’s soundtrack. All the performances are terrific, especially those mentioned, and the film confirms Cowell’s place as one of the most versatile talents in the industry.
Save Your Legs! is a really enjoyable 92 minutes in the cinema and, judging by the preview audience’s reaction, will provide a good night out for anyone looking for a few laughs from a movie with its heart in the right place. Howzat?
Screenwriter: Brendan Cowell
Principal cast:
Stephen Curry
Brendan Cowell
Damon Gameau
Darshan V. Jariwala
Pavalli Sharda
David Lyons
Country: Australia
Classification: M
Runtime: 92 mins.
Australian release date: 28 February 2013
If you are a cricket fan you will know what the title means but, thankfully, it’s not necessary to be an aficionado of the game to enjoy this Aussie film. Plus, it will give you a far more realistic impression of India than many other recent films set on the sub-continent. Save Your Legs!, directed by Boyd Hicklin from a script by the multi-talented Brendan Cowell, was inspired by a 2005 doco of the same name, also directed by Hicklin. It is based on a trip to India in 2001 by the Abbotsford Anglers, a D-grade cricket team from Victoria, that was comprised of a group of thirty-something men who loved the game and wanted to have a go at representing Australia on an international level.
Led by their president, Theodore ‘Ted’ Brown (Stephen Curry), the team, which includes two of his best mates, Stavros ‘Stav’ (Damon Gameau, the 2011 Tropfest winner) and Rick (Brendon Cowell), the team’s captain, sets off to India. They are reluctantly sponsored by Sanjeet (Darshan V. Jariwala), who owns a local sports shop and cricket training range in Melbourne. He happens to have a rather gorgeous daughter, Anjali (Pallavi Sharda), who knows some of the team members from when she studied in Melbourne and has joined the tour to be with her father. Cue romantic interest!
And what a tour it turns out to be. As the team starts to acclimatise to their surroundings, the delights of the Orient begin to affect them in different ways. There are some hilarious moments when Teddy gets the inevitable belly-ache and Rick and Stavros decide to get transcendental with the help of the local bhang lassi. They travel from Kolkata to Varanasi and then on to Mumbai by train which, judging by their appearance, are the real thing and haven’t been re-decorated for the benefit of a Western audience. It is refreshingly authentic.
Cowell’s script is one of the better ones to emerge from the Australian film industry this year. It plays with ideas that relate to mateship, and how important that is, and maturity. For the times they are changing and the boys are moving on with their lives. One of the celebrations they intend having while away is a buck’s party to celebrate Rick’s impending fatherhood. As things start to get out of hand and the tour looks like it will fall apart, it takes dedication to the game, and to each other, to bring the team in line. There is a scene when the film has its own Bollywood moment which is a lot of fun and done extremely well, as is the rest of the film’s soundtrack. All the performances are terrific, especially those mentioned, and the film confirms Cowell’s place as one of the most versatile talents in the industry.
Save Your Legs! is a really enjoyable 92 minutes in the cinema and, judging by the preview audience’s reaction, will provide a good night out for anyone looking for a few laughs from a movie with its heart in the right place. Howzat?