Separation City: DVD Review

Separation City: DVD Review

Separation City
Released by Sony Home Entertainment
Rating: M
"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. 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&
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. 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. It does however, fall slightly short and ends up being simply a reasonable piece of the state of relationships later on in life.
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)
Separation City has some fresh moments and will end up being rabidly loved by some - it's a grown up comedy which may not hit all the right notes but certainly has a good go.

Rating: 6/10