Hugo Weaving, Web Weaving: Strange Planet
 
Hugo Weaving, Strange Planet, car smash

n.  Hugo Weaving ~Strange Planet 

AU Movie 1998:     Hugo content: approx  13%   (89 mins )
Character: Steven ~ charming, powerful, adulterous Older Man
Cast: Cast: Claudia Karvan    Judy,   Naomi Watts   Alice,   Alice Garner   Sally, Tom Long     Ewan, Aaron Jeffery    Joel, Felix Williamson    Neil, Hugo Weaving   Steven,  Rebecca Frith   Amanda
Dir: Emma-Kate Croghan Wri: Emma-Kate Croghan &  Stavros Kazantzidis/Efthymiou
Availablity: Video available in UK and AU. DVD now availbale in US.

Hugo Weaving: Strange Planet Plot/Comments:

Billed as a grittier Friends by acclaimed (then) Golden Couple of young ozzie cinema , director Emma-Kate Croghan and  writer Stavros Kazantzidis/Efthymiou, Strange Plane t has its many moments but doesn't quite grip as a finished product.

The story follows two separate groups (one male, one female) of thirtysomething friends from one New Years Eve to the next, showing their unsuccessful attempts  to find love. Of these groupings, the female characters are the most clearly defined: Judy, a career-driven, older-man addicted daughter of a brain-mushed rocker;  Alice, a sensitive prude; and Sally, a leftfield slacker.
   The problem with this two-storyline structure is that although they have some good early lines, the male leads completely fail to interest, especially the main male protagonist, lawyer turned DeNiro-esque taxi driver Ewan (Tom Long). The other two male parts are sketchy at best: Aaron Jeffery (Joel) has little to go on; and Felix Williamson  shows comedic promise as the unpullable Neil but his character is shunted off early in the proceedings: It feels like Croghan and Kazantzidis just weren't as interested in them.
Hugo Weaving, Strange Planet, car smash 2

Perhaps luckily, the focus is on the female characters. There are strong performances by most of the actresses, especially Claudia Karvan as main character Judy, and also from Hugo Weaving as Steven, the man she falls for against despite her New Years resolution to swear off older guys.  Weaving gives an understated and particularly good performance, making an otherwise unsympathetic and villainous character so apparently charming and sincere that you believe that  intelligent and uber-cynical Judy really has found her exception to the rule.
           Feisty Judy, assistant to radio relationship advisor/sexpert Amanda (Rebecca Frith), follows and purposefully crashes into her boss' estranged, soon-to-be-divorced husband, TV power producer, Steven. Dinner, followed by informal date, followed by drinks, slow dancing and the inevitable bed follow. She falls in love with him.

  Strange Planet Gallery
Back: The Matrix
Next: Russian Doll
Web Weaving

     As the story unfolds, Steven is finally sent packing at  a Christmas fancy dress party (naturally as Dracula), only to be found later on (still married), drooling blond bimbette clambering over him in his BMW Z3. 
    This last addition seems rather trite and too stereotypical; reducing what was a potentially interesting character (the married man who wants his grass from both sides of the fence, is a lying cheat, but still has soul) to an 'all men are bastards' cliche which the film could do without.
Hugo Weaving, Strange Planet, Claudia Karvan, Kiss

Typical Hugo Weaving Quotes:

  • "Me and Amanda...we're doing fine. But I want a divorce"
  • "We'll be in separate bedrooms...we have to think of the children"


Comments and Queries:

  • In the 2nd bedroom scene (pic below), Weaving  shows a thin, 2-3 inch purple scar on his left hip, possibly from the oedema operation during The Matrix .
  • Claudia Karvan was in Exilewith Weaving. Aaron Jeffrey also worked  with Weaving on The Interview .  Rebel Penfold Russell (here as producer) pops up all over the place on Weaving's resume. Rebecca Frith worked with Weaving on Russian Doll . Kazantzidis/Efthymiou is a regular Weaving co-conspirator, working on Road to Alice , True Love and Chaos , Russian Doll   and Horseplay together.  See The Usual Suspects for a huge list of recurring Weaving co-workers.


 

      The film is at its best when concentrating on the women and in the way it often seems like a visual love letter to Sydney (the women get all the glitz and sunsets, while Ewan trawls the 'mean streets' of suburbia). However, the ending ~ though always a foregone conclusion ~ doesn't convince in the pairing of the two group 'leads', which seems forced and completely at odds with the characters.
  Strange Planet works for much of the time, but when it doesn't, the mind is definitely elsewhere.
Hugo Weaving, Strange Planet, Claudia Karvan, Hotel

Hugo Weaving  content: 

Steven is the archetypal 'married older man' who is used to getting what he wants with a fair degree of charm, persuasion and power, has constantly sticky fingers, but  never quite leaves or gets permanently thrown out of the family home.

He's well cast, combining masculinity with boyish appeal: precisely what gets Steven out of (or perhaps into) his extra-marital scrapes. There's very good chemistry between him and Karvan (a stark contrast to the damp squibs between her and Tom Long at the end of the film) and based on Russian Doll , it would have also been great to see a scene between him and Steven's long-suffering wife, played by Rebecca Frith (great again here).

Key scenes:

  • Realising that the idiot who has crashed into his Z3 is actually a very attractive young female and not someone to be shouted at
  • Realising that said young attractive female actually did it on purpose: flattered and intrigued
  • The Ideal Date (drinks, dancing, romance, sex) between them contrasting with disastrous ones for her friends (too many drinks, clubs, coke in the bogs, stoned 3-ways)
  • Languidly lying on a hotel bed, comforting Judy for spilling the beans that she loves him while being careful not to say it back.
  • Getting dumped as Dracula, fangs and all, after too many excuses and an eventual, but self-defensive, "but I love you".