Separation City: Movie Review

Separation City: Movie Review

Rating 7/10
Cast: Joel Edgerton, Rhona Mitra, Danielle Cormack, Les Hill, Thomas Kretschmann, Jodie Rimmer, Alan Lovell
Director: Paul Middleditch
"A film about falling out of love for the first time."
In this Kiwi film from renowned writer Tom Scott, all aspects of relationships are pored over - good and bad.
Political speech writer Simon (Joel Edgerton) and Pam (Danielle Cormack) are in suburban hell - their marriage is suffering because of their stifling lifestyles.
Elsewhere Berliner Katrien (Rhona Mitra) has followed her husband Klaus (Thomas Kretschmann) to New Zealand but has quickly discovered he has a wondering eye.
When Katrien's introduced into Pam's social circle, she soon takes Simon's eye - and the sexual tension in the room could cause an explosion...
But will Simon turn his back on his marriage for, what he believes, is his last chance at happiness?
It's of note that despite being a Kiwi venture, Separation City has a rather international cast - its male lead is Australian, its lead actress is English - in fact Tom Scott has made no secret of the fact they cast the net far and wide for people to be involved. And it's great to see.
Mind you the whole film has a distinctive Wellington feel - as it's shot around parts of the capital and in Parliament - it's a real ode to the beauty of the city.
There's a lot to admire in Separation City - it has some genuinely funny laugh out loud lines - most of them courtesy of Les Hill's journalist Harry whose sardonic - and realistic - approach to life is the perfect tonic for Joel Edgerton's dreaming would be stray Simon.
There's also much mockery of the touchy feely approach to life - a men's group consisting of a core group of dysfunctional guys provides a lot of the humour as they bemoan the fact that staying monogamous makes life so difficult (again Les Hill has the lion's share of the best moments during the groups)
But there's also a deeper analysis of the sometimes difficult nature of enduring relationships- Scott's perfected a frank and funny look at how long term lives together sometimes don't always work out and always need working on - it's this rare reflection of the truth of love which makes Separation City so recognisable - and not just on a New Zealand canvas; this truly has an international story.
It's great to see a New Zealand production which has a global approach with universal themes woven into a promotion of the best of Wellington.

Separation City is a fresh, breezy comedy - which some of us may find is a bit close to the mark on the relationship front - be careful though, if you do see it with a loved one - you may see a little more of yourself on the screen than you'd like.