Love and other catastrophes

Australia 1996

Dir: Emma-Kate Croghan

79 mins (ends 8:49pm)

Cast: Frances O'Connor, Alice Garner, Matt Day

Rating: M

This low-budget directorial debut for Croghan takes a breezily wacky look at the daily life and love dilemmas of a group of Melbourne university students. Avoiding pat Hollywood romantic comedy formulas, the film takes some of its inspiration from the rule-breaking informality of the early 1960s French nouvelle vague while retaining an Australian cheekiness.

A tremendously engaging low-budget first feature by 23-year-old Emma-Kate Croghan, Love and Other Catastrophes– which has been picked up for several key territories including North America and the U.K. by Fox Searchlight — is a fast, funny excursion into the world of college students in the mid-’90s. Boosted by a terrific ensemble of five engaging young thesps, pic is forthright, frank and freewheeling in its approach to sex, love and cinema. With careful handling, this should click with the young crowd in most territories.

Former film-school student Croghan is keenly aware of the ups and downs of contempo life on a college campus, and is totally unself-conscious in her depiction of her often confused and lovesick characters. She also has an infectious sense of humor, and obviously is able to elicit the confidence of her talented young cast. Visually, pic is rough at the edges and looks as though it was made on the run, but it makes up in sheer likability what it lacks in production values. ...

David Straton, Variety