Sunday 22 July - Aussie Movie Matinee at Landmark Theatres - West Los Angeles
Our collective bums winded the leather sofas as we made ourselves comfortable - Air whistling from cushion seems. Wafts of popcorn drizzled with cheddar made its way up our nostrils and gourmet pizza tapped along our taste buds. The darkness soon swallowed us whole.
Thick Australian accents engulfed our ear drums making us giggle. Do we sound like that?
Soon, the lives of a typical atypical quirky Australian family unfolded before us. A British mother with a love for the spotlight, a teen in love, torn between his emotionally needy mother who wont let go, and the needs of his intellectually challenged brother, Mark, who was also falling in love.
Then there were those recognisable faces. Like a best friend, a father, a long lost relative. What were their names? Rebecca Gibney! Lead scrubba. Frankie J Holden! The divorced father of the teen boys, and security guard at Franklins supermarket.
A whisper floated into my ear "This must be old! Franklins doesn't exist anymore!" Then another "That's Sydney!"
Tangled with phrases we hadn't heard in years, this Aussie family's 'coming of age' story came together with darkness, reality, and sprinkle of comedy, ending with a surprisingly squeaky clean conclusion one wouldn't expect for such a tumultuous family.
As the credits rolled and the sofas filled their lungs once more, our own Aussie family made its way out of the darkness, and back into the LA groove.
