looking for alibrandi movie review

Looking for Alibrandi (2000)

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Looking for Alibrandi review – a moving stage show of a beloved novel

Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne Chanella Macri is bolshy and brash as Josie Alibrandi – one of several excellent performances in this adaptation of Melina Marchetta’s young adult novel

I t’s no easy task to adapt a beloved text, especially when it’s the first new version in over two decades; audiences will doubtlessly come in with preconceived expectations of characters and scenes they’ve known and loved for years. Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo, the Malthouse Theatre’s take on Melina Marchetta’s seminal 1992 coming-of-age novel Looking for Alibrandi (also a 2000 cult film) has pushed through countless Covid complications to make it to the main stage. It retains many of the beats of the original, but is best approached as its own beast.

Set in 1990s Sydney, the story follows the final schooling year of scholarship student Josephine Alibrandi (Chanella Macri) as she wrestles with her Italian heritage, and the struggles of her mother, Christina, (Lucia Mastrantone) and Nonna Katia (Jennifer Vuletic). Writer Vidya Rajan centres the exploration of intergenerational trauma, and the disparities of class, in this adaptation. Her balance of humour and empathy, light and shadow, draws out the threads that make this such a timeless story.

Focusing more on the three Alibrandi women does mean, however, that some other subplots and characters, including Josie’s estranged father Michael Andretti (Ashley Lyons), fall by the wayside slightly. As a result the pacing can be a little choppy and, perhaps due to the rehearsal period being cut short, the cast seems at times to still be finding its groove.

Still, there are excellent performances here. Macri brings a new dimension to Josie – western Sydney accent layered on thick, she is bolshie, brash and very, very funny. Frequently breaking the fourth wall, the actor has the crowd howling with just a slight turn of the head, a subtle facial expression or a killer one-liner. But she commands reverent silence in more serious scenes, holding the audience with grace. Indeed, silence is used to great impact in this production: some of the most emotional moments are when Vuletic is spotlighted stirring a pot, or simply staring into the middle distance.

John Marc Desengano as bad boy Jacob Coote.

Making bad boy love interest Jacob Coote a person of colour (played charmingly by Filipino-Australian actor John Marc Desengano) is a particularly inspired choice, bringing more depth to the character’s underdog story, as well as his bond with Josie. Macri and Desengano together are a delight to watch: Josie and Jacob’s first kiss, and a steamy bedroom scene soundtracked by Savage Garden’s I Want You, draw the biggest cheers of the night.

Most of the actors play multiple roles – Mastrantone is a hoot as Josie’s chaotic friend Sera, as is the production’s interpretation of the “Nonna spy ring”, with actors popping up in disguise. This is less effective with the dual casting of Josie’s private school boy crush John Barton and her nemesis Ivy, both played by Hannah Monson; though Monson performs both roles well, portraying John in this way is distracting, visually recalling Amanda Bynes in She’s the Man.

The production is also let down somewhat by the staging, which doesn’t change throughout. Over a mottled floral carpet, stacked crates filled with tomatoes line the stage in a semicircle, with a kitchen table in the foreground – this effectively bookends the show with the Alibrandi tradition of Tomato Day, with passata being made live on stage. For every other scene, these props are still visible – and while it does highlight the omnipresence of the domestic setting, it doesn’t quite cohere for the entire show. The passata is used to great comic effect, though, during the iconic broken nose scene (if you know, you know).

The dexterity of Rajan’s writing hits its stride in the show’s second half, dialing down the first act’s constant laughter for heavy revelations. One scene, where all three women argue with one another, bristles with the kind of tension you can only really understand if you have been a daughter in an ethnic family. It’s achingly raw, a visual representation of the myriad ways in which trauma trickles through generations. Another, in which grandmother and granddaughter come to understand one another, is painfully, beautifully rendered. Vuletic’s Katia shines in these scenes, showing the weight of years of secrets and the impossibility of expunging shame. It’s especially moving here to hear the characters speak in Italian, untranslated for the audience.

“I’ll run one day. Run for my life. To be free and think for myself … I’ll run to be emancipated,” Josie says in Marchetta’s original text. That emancipation is at the heart of Looking for Alibrandi – the complexities of learning to be true to yourself while also understanding all it took to get you there. Each version of this classic story has something different to offer, and Rajan’s play probes deeply into the generational triptych at the centre: three women, three lives, one heartbeat.

Looking for Alibrandi is on until 31 July at Malthouse’s Merlyn theatre in Melbourne, then heads to Belvoir St theatre in Sydney from 1 October

Australian theatre

Looking for Alibrandi Review

A fantastic australian film., looking for alibrandi.

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Looking for Alibrandi Reviews

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Oct 26, 2001

"a remarkably fresh, energetic celebration of youth and culture."

Full Review | Jul 16, 2001

It may be a little film, but it speaks from the heart.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 22, 2001

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Looking for Alibrandi

Though the theme --- a teenage girl chafes against a clinging Italian family --- is a familiar one, "Looking for Alibrandi" is a breath of fresh air. This accomplished adaptation of a popular 1992 novel by Melina Marchetta, built around a glowing central performance from newcomer Pia Miranda, stands every chance of clicking with Aussie audiences, teens as well as older viewers. Offshore chances are less predictable, though presence of Greta Scacchi and Anthony LaPaglia, as the protagonist's estranged parents, may assist.

By David Stratton

David Stratton

Finding Joy 21 years ago
Twist 21 years ago
The Python 21 years ago

Though the theme — a teenage girl chafes against a clinging Italian family — is a familiar one, “Looking for Alibrandi” is a breath of fresh air. This accomplished adaptation of a popular 1992 novel by Melina Marchetta, built around a glowing central performance from newcomer Pia Miranda, stands every chance of clicking with Aussie audiences, teens as well as older viewers. Offshore chances are less predictable, though presence of Greta Scacchi and Anthony LaPaglia , as the protagonist’s estranged parents, may assist.

Since its publication eight years ago, Marchetta’s heartfelt tome has been mandatory reading in high schools Down Under; because the novelist has adapted the material for the screen, it’s no surprise that the original’s realism, humor and sentiment remain.

At the outset, 17-year-old Josie Alibrandi (Miranda), who lives in the inner suburbs of Sydney with her single mom, Christina (Scacchi), yearns to “get out of here.” She feels hemmed in by the demands of her Sicilian family, especially by her kind but strict grandmother, Nonna Katia (Elena Cotta), who has never forgiven her mother for having a child out of wedlock. The tightly knit, colorful but restrictive world in which Josie has grown up is neatly encapsulated in the opening sequence in which she escapes her extended family’s celebration of what she derisively calls “National Wog Day” by going to the beach with her Italian-born girlfriends.

Popular on Variety

The intelligent Josie has won a scholarship to an exclusive private school, where she has fallen foul of racist snob Carly (Leeanna Walsman). On the romantic front, she’s torn between two boys — handsome WASP John (Matthew Newton) and scruffy, fun-loving Jacob (Kick Gurry), who goes to a lowly state school.

Meanwhile, Nonna is excited because Michael Andretti (Anthony LaPaglia), a former neighbor who has made good as a lawyer, is returning to Sydney; Christina is less excited — unbeknownst to her mother and daughter, Michael is Josie’s father, and Christina is nervous about a reunion with her former lover.

While coping with all these personal pressures, plus school finals, Josie is profoundly affected by an out-of-left-field tragedy involving the death of someone close to her. But the common sense and resilience of this well-balanced and immensely likable youngster see her through.

“Alibrandi” is beautifully written by Marchetta and is directed with skill and precision by first-time feature filmmaker Kate Woods, who has a solid background in TV drama. The project would not have worked as well as it does, however, if the central casting had not been on the mark: Miranda, onscreen in almost every scene, gives an immensely subtle performance. She conveys not only the spiritedness of a girl who loves and respects her family yet is determined to carve her own path in life, but also the qualities of a shy lover, dedicated student and bereaved friend.

Scacchi gives a mature and intelligent portrayal of the girl’s loving, at times exasperated mother, and LaPaglia charmingly conveys the hesitation and awkwardness of a man getting to know his grown daughter. Newton is fine as the conventionally handsome but strangely remote John, while Gurry, as the raffish Jacob, looks as though he could have a big future. Cotta is lovely as the grandmother who has her own secret, and Kerry Walker is terrific as a stern but caring teacher.

Production values are all on the button, with excellent use made of prime Sydney locations, and the inevitable music track filled with songs by local groups can only enhance the film’s appeal to the youth audience.

(AUSTRALIA)

Production: A Roadshow release of an Australian Film Finance Corp. presentation of a Miall & Kershaw production, in association with Showtime Australia, NSW Film & TV Office, Beyond Films. (International sales: Beyond Films, Sydney.) Produced by Robyn Kershaw. Executive producer, Tristram Miall. Directed by Kate Woods. Screenplay, Melina Marchetta, based on her novel.
Crew: Camera (Atlab color), Toby Oliver; editor, Martin Connor; music, Alan John; production designer, Stephen Curtis; art director, Michael Iacono; costume designer, Michael Wilkinson; sound (Dolby digital), Paul Charlier, Peter Grace; assistant director, James McTeague; casting, Robyn Kershaw, Woods. Reviewed at Village Roadshow screening room, Sydney, April 4, 2000. (In Cannes Film Festival --- market.) Running time: 102 MIN.
With: Josephine Alibrandi ..... Pia Miranda Christina Alibrandi ..... Greta Scacchi Michael Andretti ..... Anthony LaPaglia Katia Alibrandi ..... Elena Cotta Sister Louise ..... Kerry Walker Jacob Coote ..... Kick Gurry John Barton ..... Matthew Newton Sera Conti ..... Leanne Carlow Anna Selicic ..... Diane Viduka Carly Bishop ..... Leeanna Walsman Mr. Barton ..... Geoff Morrell Ron Bishop ..... Graeme Blundell Mr. Coote ..... Ned Manning

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Theatre Review: Looking for Alibrandi at Belvoir is heartfelt and courageous

October 8, 2022
Looking for Alibrandi

An older woman shows a younger woman photographs in an album.

Based on the 1992 novel by Melina Marchetta and adapted for the stage by Vidya Rajan , Looking for Alibrandi follows the trials and tribulations of 17 year old Josephine Alibrandi, a third generation Italian migrant, as she navigates life over the course of her final year of high school.

Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo , the play opens with three generations of Alibrandi women and the traditional Italian custom of making passata. This scene, so steeped in culture and tradition, perfectly sets the stage for what is to come. We are given insight into the family dynamic which underpins everything that is to follow. Nonna ( Jennifer Vuletic ), who cares so deeply for the opinions of others, her daughter Cristina ( Lucia Mastrantone ), whose life has been shaped by stigma, and granddaughter Josie ( Chanella Macri ), a young woman trying desperately to feel like she belongs.

A mother and daughter share a laugh together.

Throughout the play these women return, time and time again, to making passata. It is a subtle and clever way to remind us that there is strength in tradition, and it is this deep connection to her culture and the other women in her family that makes Josie the formidable character she is, even if she is not aware of it at first.

When Josie’s father Michael ( Ashley Lyons ) returns unexpectedly to her life it sets off a series of events that threatens to disrupt all three women’s lives. Secrets are revealed, old wounds are exposed and Josie finds herself one step closer to knowing who she is.

A father and daughter have a conversation.

Chanella Macri is perfectly cast as Josie, bringing to the performance passion and teenage angst that was startling relatable. Her relationship with Jacob Coote ( John Marc Desengano ) was awkward, endearing and very believable. Macri walked the line between comedy and drama with skilful precision which made her a delight to watch.

A young woman and man share a laugh together.

The dynamic created by Jennifer Vuletic and Lucia Mastrantone as mother and daughter was both loving and heart wrenching. The pain of old wounds, trauma and the ability to forgive are masterfully depicted by these two incredible performers.

Other highlights include the depiction of Nonna’s ‘spy network’ as they follow Josie around, the hilarious antics of Josie’s best friend Sera (also played by Lucia Mastrantone) and Josie’s engaging and heartfelt monologue at the end of the play where she comments, “We were surviving and that’s all any of us can do.”

Hannah Monson delivered an admirable performance as both Josie’s school nemesis Ivy and her crush John Barton, despite the terrible wigs that formed part of her costume. Unfortunately, these wigs, which became like characters in themselves, were very distracting and sometimes added humour where it should not have been. Even with this impediment, Monson’s delivery of racially laden insults to Josie during one particular scene was chilling. Her anger and aggression reminded me of every high school bully I’d encountered in my youth, making the moment Josie punched her in the face very rewarding to watch.

Two young women in school uniform have an argument.

Looking for Alibrandi is a story about family, the generational impact of trauma and about the strength of women. The play ends as it began – with three generations of Alibrandi women coming together in tradition and love but with a deeper understanding of one another and of themselves.

Sitting in that theatre I was taken back to the very first time I heard the story of Josephine Alibrandi. It was high school, I was 17 and it was part of our school curriculum. Suddenly I was that awkward teenager again, and that is what makes great story telling. The ability to transport you to another place and time. To engulf you in a world that is not your own and yet feels so familiar. That is the magic of Looking for Alibrandi . A magic that continues to warm people’s hearts thirty years after Marchetta’s pen first touched the page.

FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)

Looking for Alibrandi runs at Belvoir’s Upstairs Theatre in Sydney until 6th November ’22. For more information and to buy tickets head to the Belvoir website .

Reviewer attended on 5 th October 2022. Photos: Daniel Boud

Looking for Alibrandi

(Note: this listing contains spoilers).

The domestic Roadshow VHS release went with “Sometimes what you’re looking for is closer than you think…” on the front of the slick.

On the rear, a reviewer blurb was at the top: “Smart, fast, funny personal and perceptive, the new Australian film ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ is one of the year’s best. 8/10.” - Rob Lowing, The Sun Herald.

There was also a short synopsis:

Josie Alibrandi has a lot to deal with right now. She’s 17, got the dreaded H.S.C. in front of her and the boy of her dreams seems completely out of reach. Then there’s that other problem. She’s a wog. Sure it’s where Josie comes from but it’s not where she feels she belongs. In fact, Josie doesn’t know where she belongs. With her Nonna in one ear talking about the old country and the stuck-up girls at her school telling her she’s an outsider, it’s no wonder. This year, however, everything is going to change. Josie will let loose, face her fears, uncover secrets - even discover the true identity of her father. It’s going to be a year when Josie finally finds out where she belongs.

From the bestselling novel by Melina Marchetta, comes the surprise hit of the year starring Greta Scacchi, Anthony La Paglia, Pia Miranda, Kick Gurry and Matthew Newton.

There was also a little breakout box, noting four and a half stars from Margaret Pomeranz at the SBS Movie Show and another box “With a hip soundtrack featuring Killing Heidi, Spiderbait and Lo-tel.”

(For a summary of the opening and closing 'Tomato Day' scenes, with spoilers, see this site’s ‘about the film’ section. For an extended summary with cast details regarding what happens in between these scenes, see the very bottom of that page).

Key Details
About the Movie
The Downunder Club
full head credits
full tail credits
full music credits

Production Details

Production company: The Australian Film Finance Corporation presents in association with Beyond Films, Showtime Australia and the New South Wales Film and Television Office, a Miall and Kershaw production; financed by the Australian Film Finance Corporation Limited; developed and produced with the assistance of New South Wales Film and Television Office; produced in association with the Premium Movie Partnership for Showtime Australia; tail credit copyrights to Australian Film Finance Corporation Limited, The Premium Movie Partnership, New South Wales Film and Television Office, Australian Asset Securities Limited and Belle Ragazze Limited

Budget: $4.5 million (producer Robyn Kershaw, Cinema Papers , May 2000)

Locations: Tail credit “shot on location in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.” No studio filming. There’s a wide variety of Sydney locations on view, ranging from the Opera House, to the eastern suburbs rail line to Central station, to George street at night (with authentic period Scientology volcano on view), to the Anzac bridge, to Sydney Harbour bridge, to a real Catholic school above Rose Bay, to a home in Glebe, to a home in Five Dock (in the writer’s family), to the main street in the suburb of Haberfield. For more details, see the ‘about the film’ section.

Filmed: the December 1998 Cinema Papers’ production survey lists the film as in production. In the DVD commentary track, director Kate Woods reveals they shot around the Christmas season, but didn’t want to make it a Christmas show - as a result, a planned Martin Place location for a school debate was shifted to the Opera House to avoid showing a large Christmas tree. 7 week shoot, with one extra day for a football scene pick up, November-December 1998 shoot.

Australian distributor: Village Roadshow (Beyond was the international sales agent)

Theatrical release: the film opened in the key Sydney and Melbourne markets on 4th May 2000

Video release: Roadshow Entertainment/Reel

Rating: M 15+ adult themes, low level coarse languge

35mm colour

Kodak motion picture film

Filmed with Panavision cameras and lenses

Dolby digital in selected theatres

In English, with Italian/Sicilian dialect, hard-coded subtitles.

Running time: 102 mins ( Variety ); 103 mins, 9,270 feet, 6 spools (old Beyond website)

DVD time: 1;38”51

Box office:

The film did boffo domestic box office business. According to the Film Victoria report on Australian grosses, it did a total of $8,280,335, equivalent to $10,847,239 in A$ 2009.

This put it in third position for box office in the year 2000, behind only The Dish (released over two years, in 2000 $16,880,862) and The Wogboy ($11,448,547) (Screen Australia data here ).

However, looking for the film in Screen Australia data for box office performances in major international territories for Australian product, such as the USA, the UK and Germany, will produce a blank. The film simply didn’t travel internationally, resulting in much agonising in certain quarters of the Australian industry.

Catriona Hughes, then head of federal investment body the FFC, tried to explain in a generalist way in the Sydney Morning Herald on 2nd November 2000:

“The United States and Germany have substantially declined as markets for our feature films. In the US it’s just that our films can’t fit into that extraordinarily crowded and sophisticated marketplace. And in Germany the broadcasters are no longer providing the comfort for the theatrical all-rights deals, so that has declined as well.”

That said, there was probably also something about the coming-of-age genre in which Alibrandi sat, and its almost fierce dedication to Italian-Australian culture and the western suburbs of Sydney that might have made the film parochial to international buyers, already saturated with coming-of-age shows more relevant to their markets.

By way of contrast, Paul Cox’s Innocence , downplayed in the 2000 AFI Awards where Alibrandi won best picture, managed a respectable arthouse release in the United States, despite being a sentimental tale about two elderly lovers renewing an old passion. Box Office Mojo had it in 52 theatres, picking up US$2,202,382 on a much lower budget (Data here ).

Clearly some films could attract international distributors and viewers; Alibrandi just wasn't one of them, and so while fondly remembered in the domestic market, it isn't well known elsewhere - an interesting dilemma for a film AFI voters considered the best in the first year of the new millennium.

Sinead Stubbins felt so moved by her memories of the film that she wrote for The Guardian Tim Tams and panel vans: Looking for Alibrandi, Australia's best teen movie 15 years on from its domestic release. ( WM here ).

The film did well at the 2000 AFI awards, winning 'Best Picture'. This shocked some in the industry as Chopper had been the hot favourite. As usual, in what Bruce Beresford knew as "Driving Miss Daisy syndrome" , this left the 'Best Picture' directed by not the 'Best Director', while Chopper , not the 'Best Picture,' had been directed by the 'Best Director.

Garry Maddox called the result a ‘surprise’ in the Sydney Morning Herald on 20th November 2000, and managed to extract some humour from the folly:

“…then there was a prediction about the best film award that showed Read, apparently watching the ceremony from his Tasmanian home, has psychic powers as well.

Clasping the trophy, Alibrandi’s producer Robyn Kershaw related how Chopper’s producer Michele Bennett had called that morning to say Read had foreseen Dominik would win for direction but Alibrandi would take the main prize.

The R-rated black comedy even snuck into the picture when Pia Miranda accepted the best actress award for the warm-hearted Alibrandi. She accidentally thanked Mushroom Pictures - the production company behind Chopper . “It was a moment of glory and I just went nuts,” she said later of missing out some key contributors to her award. She’d been so convinced that Julia Blake would win for Innocence, she said, that she hadn’t bothered writing a speech.

There’s no truth to the rumour that after the awards, Chopper Read is now looking for Alibrandi.

In what turned out to be a Shakespeare in Love year - with the feel-good outsider beating the favourite - the awards showed that different constituencies had contrasting views of the main contenders.

Industry practitioners gave the best direction award to Dominik but the general AFI members who vote for best film plumped for Alibrandi. The split decision rewarded both films but it robbed them too: understating director Kate Woods’ talents on Alibrandi, and the cinematic impact of Chopper …”

Some might have thought that Chopper's fate proved that the AFI general membership were an “On Golden Pond/Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” sort of demographic with middle-brow tastes, and there was no way that a hard-edged black comedy film about a psychopathic killer was going to win up against a cheerful fairytale celebration of multiculturalism and acceptance down under.

But Andrew Rule ruined the speculation about Chopper's psychic powers by revealing that a journalist in Tasmania had broken the results embargo - Chopper Read lived in Tasmania, and Rule joked “Not psychic, after all. Just psycho” - The Age , 23rd November 2000.

And now, the envelope please:

2000 AFI Awards:

Winner, Emirates AFI Award for Best Film (Robyn Kershaw)

Winner, Fox Studios AFI Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Pia Miranda)

Winner, Scape AFI Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Greta Scacchi)

Winner, The Australian AFI Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (Melina Marchetta)

Winner, Digital Pictures AFI Award for Best Editing (Martin Connor)

Nominated, NewVision Films AFI Award for Best Direction (Kate Woods) (Andrew Dominik won for Chopper )

Nominated, Scape AFI Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Elena Cotta) (Cotta missed out to Greta Scacchi in the same film)

Nominated, Panavision Australia AFI Award for Best Cinematography (Toby Oliver) (Steve Mason won for Bootmen )

Nominated, GMD AFI Award for Best Production Design (Stephen Curtis) (Murray Picknett won for Bootmen )

Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards 2001:

Conversely, the film lost out in the Best Picture stakes amongst the critics but did pick up a couple of wins:

Winner, Best Supporting Female Actor (Greta Scacchi)

Winner, Best Adapted Screenplay (Melina Marchetta)

Nominated, Best Film ( Chopper won)

Nominated, Best Female Actor (Pia Miranda) (Julia Blake won for Innocence )

Nominated, Best Supporting Male Actor (Anthony LaPaglia) (Simon Lyndon in Chopper and Terry Norris in Innocence were joint winners)

Nominated, Best Supporting Female Actor (Elena Cotta) (Cotta was beaten by Greta Scacchi for her work in the same film)

Nominated, Best Director (Kate Woods) (Andrew Dominik won for Chopper )

Nominated, Best Editing (Martin Connor) (Jane Moran won for Bootmen )

IF Awards 2000:

The film picked up only one win and a number of nominations at the IF Awards, which distinguished itself from the AFI awards by favouring Innocence and Chopper :

Winner, Mushroom Pictures If Award for Best Script in a Feature Film (Melina Marchetta)

Nominated, Tribe If Award for Best Feature Film (Robyn Kershaw) (Paul Cox won for Innocence )

Nominated, Vogue Australia IF Award for Best Actress in a Feature Film (Pia Miranda) (Julia Blake won for Innocence )

Nominated, Kodak Australia If Award for Best Cinematography (Toby Oliver) (Geoffrey Hall and Kevin Hayward were named joint winners for Chopper )

Nominated, Screen Sound Australia If Award for Best Music in a Feature film (Alan John) (David Thrussell won for Angst )

NSW Premier’s Literary Awards 2000:

Winner, Script writing award for Looking for Alibrandi (Melina Marchetta)

The Screen Australia database here noted these festival appearances:

2000 London Australian Film Festival, St Louis Film Festival, Seattle IFF, Hawaii IFF

ACS 2000 awards:

The database also suggests Toby Oliver won an Australian Cinematographers’ Society award, but the ACS database doesn’t list it. DOP Toby Oliver’s resume at his eponymous site here , WM here , also doesn’t list it, but in his pdf CV here , he lists “Winner Silver Award for Cinematography, 2000 ACS Awards NSW”.

Availability

Roadshow probably did the best DVD releases of Australian films during the golden era of discs. While some will prefer to see the film in high def streaming format, the standard def image had a properly formatted image, with good colour and reasonable sharpness for the format.

In the usual Roadshow way, it also had good subtitles and a number of useful extras:

The most important one is the audio commentary track with writer Melina Marchetta, producer Robyn Kershaw and director Kate Woods. All three contribute, and what they say is summarised in this site’s ‘about the film’ section.

There’s also a deleted scene, much discussed in the commentary track. (A warning card notes that the following scenes were taken from the available low resolution film editing system, but considering this, the image and the sound are reasonable - there’s no time code, for example). This 3’58” scene is outlined in more detail in the ‘about the film’ section.

There were two bonus music videos: Weir by Killing Heidi and Lo-tel’s Teenager of the Year . Both songs are heard in the film’s soundtrack.

The Killing Heidi clip doesn’t feature images from the film but the Lo-tel track references the relationship between Josie and John Barton, including the footage where Josie throws John’s torn up testament out her window after his suicide. There’s more falling paper later in the clip. Josie also appears smiling as she looks at an image of the lead singer doing his business, before more images appear, of Jacob giving Josie a ride on his bike, Josie fighting with her dad, and bashing the school bully in the face with a weighty tome, The Decline of the Roman Empire . Towards the end of the clip, there’s more shots from the Josie-Jacob relationship - muck-up day - and Josie doing her HSC, and smiling amongst torn-up pages (which really doesn’t fit her grief at John’s suicide).

According to the band’s wiki, the song peaked on the Australia charts at #75, though it was also nominated in the 2000 ARIA Music Awards for 'Breakthrough Artist' single (wiki here ) It could later be found on YouTube here .

There was also a photo gallery, but unfortunately it was formatted in the fashionable way of the time, to show off the design rather than the photo.

There’s also a gallery of storyboards and working script excerpts. Again the formatting was unfortunate, but the content will interest devotees. Scenes featured were “Hiding the Note”, “The Funeral”, “Muck-up Day”, “Tomato Day”, “Common Room Fantasy” and “Bike Ride” . It ends with a plug for the screenplay, available through Currency Press.

There were also standard bios of the kind done in the golden disc age, now made largely irrelevant by the internet, for Pia Miranda, Greta Scacchi, Anthony LaPaglia, Kick Gurry Matthew Newton, director Kate Woods and author/screenwriter Melina Marchetta.

Finally there was a 2’07” theatrical trailer in 16:9 and in reasonable shape considering it’s in standard def. It included a plug for the soundtrack album and the website www.alibrandi.com. Unfortunately this site hasn’t been preserved in any useful way on the Wayback Machine .

As for the film itself, while the creators insist that everything is open at the end, it pretty much establishes itself as a fairy tale for teenage girls.

Long absent dad shows a fatherly interest in feisty daughter, is a successful lawyer with a flash car for driving lessons, and seems to have a renewed interest in a forgiving and flattered mum; daughter and mum and Nonna have achieved a reconciliation; daughter has achieved a reconciliation with her Italian heritage and even learned to enjoy Tomato Day as well as bad pop songs; and bright westie boyfriend has come to the party and pleaded to be given a second chance to make it work. No wonder Josie’s in a good dancing mood at the end, and the audience leaves pleased with the upbeat ending to the entertainment.

Some grumps didn’t buy it, but along the way there’s some pleasures to be found amongst the many contrivances, not least the work by first-timer Pia Miranda, who exudes charm and energy throughout. She’s on the screen almost all the time, but the other supporting cast are also fine. Anthony LaPaglia could play this sort of role in his sleep, but manages nuance and subtlety, while Greta Scacchi is also never required to get above second gear, but still is engaging as tortured single mum.

Elena Cotta makes a convincing hung-up, tortured Nonna (even if her resolution is pure Victorian melodrama), while Kick Gurry is amiable and makes a good case for westies.

Matthew Newton glows in a brief role, though the film never really explores his issues. Leanne Carlow and Diane Viduka do well as Josie’s sidekicks and Leeanna Walsman has fun as the school bully (she even has Graeme “Alvin Purple” Blundell as her bigoted shock jock radio dad). Kerry Walker makes a fine nun, and there’s even moments when the likes of Ned Manning and Salvatore Coco can be spotted.

The fantasy elements now show their age - speeded-up sequences and musical jollies look and sound dated - and as noted already, the thin veneer of social realism and social teen angst conceal a desire to cater to confused teens by reassuring them that things can work out.

The reliance on voice over to tell the story, and the cramming together of the wide-ranging social and personal issues is also over-done, though Pia Miranda does her best to make the voice over work through her sheer energy and enthusiasm in delivery.

It seems pro forma in Australian coming of age films that someone must die - witness the death in Puberty Blues by drugs, and the death of Ben Mendelsohn in The Year My Voice Broke - and here Matthew Barton’s John Barton is given the job of adding gravitas. He also makes it clear that life with conservative political ambitions is very trying, and in the end, he probably would have been better off making tomato paste with Josie in Sydney’s inner west.

The book, and the film, have had a long life in educational institutions, and nothing wrong with that, because the film is determined to hit key teen anxieties and add a little balm and a little entertainment. Its cultural specificity probably told against it in the international marketplace, but it does show off Sydney as a working town and it gives a good cast a chance to strut their stuff.

As might be expected, given its educational orientation, the ASO has three clips from the film here , but this sort of clip approach to this sort of film seems more like an educational nightmare of the YouTube kind than an educational experience.

Let schoolkids watch the show from beginning to end (and wonder about the complete absence of social media, like it's so yesterday).

The film's not that long, it’s an easy view, and hopefully it moves and involves younger viewers, even if in an historical way. Then they might be able to discuss the way a film is structured, and the way characters are built and explored, and their situations resolved over ninety minutes, instead of thinking life is about watching a few clips on a mobile phone.

The film is an adaptation of Melina Marchetta’s popular novel of the same name, with the writer doing the screenplay. Some 67 adaptations of the book are listed at Trove here , and many details about the author and her work are available online, starting with her wiki here .

Marchetta was also listed at Penguin Books here , WM here . She also had an eponymous website here , WM here .

There was also a Wordpress site here devoted to her work.

A film tie-in edition of the novel was released.

(Below: cover of the film tie-in edition of the novel).

(b) Screenplay:

Marchetta’s screenplay was also published and is listed at Trove here . The Trove listing noted these details:

Adapted for the screen by the author from her enormously successful novel about Josie Alibrandi and her relationship with her friends and family in her last year at school. Includes stills from the film and an introduction from the author.

"'Looking for Alibrandi', the novel was published to critical acclaim in 1993. It won CBC Book of the Year Award, the Multicultural Book of the Year Award, and the Kids Own Literature Award (KOALA)". "Winner, NSW Premier's Scriptwriting Award, 2000". -- facing page and back cover.

Executive producer Tristram Miall optioned the book almost immediately after its publication.

(Below: cover of the screenplay)

When writer Melina Marchetta wrote a second book, the Sydney Morning Herald published a profile of it and her, which looked back over her life and Looking at Albibrandi . It can be found here , saved to WM here , and this excerpt focusses on the writing of Alibrandi :

...When Looking For Alibrandi appeared in October 1992, it was an instant success: it sold out before Christmas and, by the following August, had been reprinted six times and had sold 36,500 copies.

Marchetta puts its success down to a universality of theme that was not immediately evident to those who could not see past the Italian-Australian identity dilemma, including herself. "I remember my younger sister reading the manuscript and she said: 'It's good but only people like us will relate to it.' And that's what I thought, too. But I didn't get a lot of feedback from people 'like us'. I got a lot of feedback from people that I thought were nothing like us. And it's got nothing to do with culture. You'll get a kid out in the country who'll say 'Josie [Alibrandi] is me', but culturally we have nothing in common.

"What it's about is identity and about a person searching for her place. And whether you're in a school or a staffroom or wherever, you're still trying to work out 'who am I in this place?' And I think that's what they kind of relate to."

Born in 1965 in Marrickville, Marchetta is a third-generation Italian/Australian girl who left school at 15, and worked in a bank (where she used its word processor to work on her manuscript) and a travel consultancy. She left work to study for a bachelor of education at the Australian Catholic University at the very moment her book became such a massive success.

Her first teaching job was at Killara High School, after she presented a talk there, and she has taught at St Mary's Cathedral boys' school in the city for the past seven years.

Between times, she has worked on a performance piece for a theatre group, a couple of short stories for anthologies and the Alibrandi film script - an experience she describes as a period of "wonderful" collaboration and a steep but enjoyable learning curve.

It was so enjoyable, in fact, that it almost derailed any future books. Although her publisher at Penguin had gently suggested she should think about expanding on the Francesca character in her short stories, Marchetta had decided her future lay in writing film scripts: "Through the whole Alibrandi thing I never had an agent, and when I started a new film script I thought I'd better get one. I went to see someone I met while doing the Alibrandi script and they introduced me to the person who deals with novels. I met her but I thought: 'I'm not going to need her because I'm never going to write another novel."'

Marchetta was so convinced of this that, even now, she sounds surprised when she talks about her second novel: "For someone who takes forever to do anything, it was almost as if it had been there for 10 years."

Whereas Alibrandi took five or six years of rewriting, demanded by the publisher, Saving Francescawas started in October 2001 and finished in January last year: "And little has changed from its early ... I mean, not little, but it hasn't changed much from the early drafts."

Then she touches the copy of Alibrandi on the table between us and adds: "The first drafts of Alibrandi were double the size. It was both first-person and third-person narrative. I had no idea what I was doing. It was all over the place."

It says a lot about the skills Marchetta has acquired since she first began to think about Alibrandi as a teenager that this second book, written so quickly, retains the simplicity, sensitivity to family relationships and sympathetic characterisation of the first.

Not that she wasn't tempted to put all her new-found education to work: "I didn't go to uni until I was 25 and I wrote this book," and she touches it again, "when I was 21, right? Nothing much was going on in my head. I can't even find, in this book ... I wish I could ... um, I want to find figurative language, I want to find imagery. I had no idea. I never read Shakespeare until I was 25, you know?

"I didn't know what I was doing with Alibrandi but I knew what I was doing to a certain degree with Francesca because of learning how to write a script, and learning about structure and learning about character and whatever. But I kept on thinking: 'I want to write; I want to kind of grow up and I wanna write beautiful prose, you know, thick with imagery and whatever.'

"And I remember reading another book around the time I started writing Francesca, and I remember thinking: 'This is similar to Alibrandi" - not in a bad way - but I thought: 'This kind of reminds me of, you know, my writing, except I do it better.' And it just came to me: 'I do this good so why, why am I reluctant to do it?'

"Without sounding big-headed, I think I do good dialogue, I think I've got good characterisation, so why do I want to be someone else? It's almost like you'll get a different acceptance and maybe the literati will go: 'Oh, she's quite brilliant, look."'

And, while she tried to keep the same simplicity in the writing, Marchetta was well aware of "not visiting the same themes".

And so, while Saving Francesca also features a teenage girl of Italian descent, Marchetta avoids the issue of cultural confusion that pervades Alibrandi and, instead, deals with teenage identity and the problems that arise when a family member - Francesca's normally go-getting mother, Mia - is struck down with severe depression.

Another important difference, says Marchetta, is the characterisation of the men. They were somewhat romanticised in Alibrandi, she admits. "I felt that the boys were just aliens. They were just the love interest. The father, even, was a bit of a love interest. I wanted the boys in Francescato be real.

"In the last seven years [of teaching], my view of boys has completely changed. The stereotypes drive me insane because they care, and they are the most sensitive, crazy little characters I've ever come across. And they give me the shits a lot of the time, too. I wanted that to come across."...

...As sanguine as she sounds, Marchetta later confesses she wouldn't like to see “Saving Francesca" compared to Alibrandi for the rest of its life".

She is, in fact, thoroughly fed up with Alibrandi. "I do have an affection for both books but, oh, I'm over Alibrandi. I mean, it's been 11 years. I've spoken about this book ... it's bigger than me, the book's bigger than me. I can't compete with that. I knew, as soon as Alibrandi came out and started getting the recognition it did, that my competition for the rest of my life was not going to be any other writer, any other whatever; it was just going to be this novel.

"No exaggeration, I would have been asked an Alibrandi question every week of my life for the past 11 years. And I've been asked if there's going to be a sequel every second week. People want to talk about it but I just don't want to talk about it any more ... I love it but I've got nothing else to say...

(d) DVD notes on the Screenplay:

The trio of producer, writer and director made assorted comments on the screenplay in their DVD commentary, including:

Writer Marchetta says she trimmed the opening voice over, which originally ran much longer and contained a quote from Macbeth, and talked of tomatoes and blood “and the life blood and whatever”;

According to director Woods, the fantasy sequences were a way of addressing the ‘stream of consciousness’ nature of the book. They called them ‘magic moments’ “that were snapshots of Josie’s impressions of people, that also showed her sense of humour and sense of place in the world … you know, Carly as the movie star, the model, that is adored at the school, while she stands back amongst the crowd”;

Woods notes that there are a significant number of fantasies, and it took time to whittle them down. They spent some time before setting on the fantasy of Josie being a shadow minister interviewed by the press, being interviewed by her nun teacher and students, whith Matthew Newton’s character beside her as another heavyweight politician;

Woods: “I think one of the things that is so beautiful about this script is the way that there’s so many issues that are raised and many ideas that are thought about, but nothing is ever … Melina’s never hammered anything, it’s just placed there. I mean, the kind of feelings that this scene evokes (Nonna in bed with Josie talking of her past) is extraordinary, and without really saying a word about it, you just feel her pain, and why …”;

Marchetta then chips in to joke that her director and producer wouldn’t allow her to hammer anything, “which is why things aren’t hammered, which is good guidance”;

Around the time of the film's University of Sydney scene, Woods notes three different films, involving a distinct change of pace: “The structure of the script changed many times … ( Marchetta: “It changed again in the editing” ) …in the editing … it seems a universal thing about making any kind of film … is that it is one thing before you start filming it, it’s another thing as you film, and it’s certainly another thing, again!, in the editing process, and it is really essential to be able to move with it organically, and not be rigid”;

Woods notes that travelling was an important thing in the way they structured the script - that Josie has to go a long way to get to her new life, that she has to cross the city, from where she considers the wrong end of town, where she considers herself to be, and she has to move in a very pedestrian way, by bus and train, over to the school, which is where she feels she’s destined to be … “so the idea of constantly coming back to public transport was an important thing”;

Woods recalls going through earlier drafts of the script and discovering the scene where Josie tears up John’s note and tosses it out the window, scattering it to the wind. The scene had been cut out. Woods couldn’t believe it, and reinstated the scene. Marchetta notes that some readers of the book and viewers of the film are unforgiving of Josie, not understanding why she tears up the dead teen’s testament. Woods counters that the scene's so strong, she couldn’t resist it, seeing it as a sign that Josie is strong and will not follow him;

Woods notes that after John Barton’s death the whole tone of the film shifts. There are no more fantasy sequences. Josie isn’t indulging in dreams so much, and is now trying to steer her life. The last use of POV ‘magic moments’ comes about 63 minutes into the DVD, when a triumphant Josie walks down the stairs and asks her dad how court was, and, as she walks past the stained glass window, it turns golden. Thereafter, she says, things shift;

One of the aspects that pleased Woods is the way that Josie and her father are complete strangers, and so she forms a crush on her father. She thinks Miranda conveyed this with subtlety, while LaPaglia balanced it by showing an awareness of what his daughter might be feeling, and how he handled that as a father. Marchetta chips in to say she was interested in exploring in her book/screenplay what it might be like to know your father as a human first before knowing him as a father, and the attraction that might arise because of that;

Regarding the ending, Marchetta says “when I was writing this scene, I wanted to make sure that everything didn’t seem as if it were perfect at the end, that it was actually quite ordinary, and it was kind of in that ordinariness that everything was so perfect in that way…”;

Producer Kershaw notes that things aren’t resolved, viewers don’t know what is going to happen. Woods points out that Josie doesn’t know what she wants out of her relationship with Jacob, nor do Christina and Michael know what they want out of their relationship, “and that’s the way it is… all she knows now is that she’s going to make up her own mind about it”;

Woods notes that while the end scene is very similar to the opening scene, there’s not the cynicism, even in the way it’s set up;

Marchetta says that the dancing was important. They couldn’t find a way visually in the novel of saying that Josie finally understood, but getting her to ask her Nonna to dance was a way of saying it visually;

Kershaw adds that it’s also done with the sound: “… that the music was actually a way of owning that world and that life, rather than disowning it, which is what she wanted to do, or replace it, which is what she wanted to do at the start …”;

As a wrap up, Marchetta says she learned so much that less is more when it comes to writing screenplays … “when it comes to words that is …”;

Kershaw consoles Woods - she would have liked to cut out a little earlier from the crane shot, as it cranes up over the dancers in the backyard. It's the final shot in the film, and is held long enough for Scacchi to make a small move away from LaPaglia. Woods would have liked viewers, for that last moment, to see Scacchi and LaPaglia staying together in the background.

(e) Other information:

For anyone interested, director Kate Woods and star Pia Miranda did a short interview with the SBS Movie Show , available here until the end of December 2030.

The film’s wiki here , also references a Murdoch University essay on the film available now on the Wayback Machine here .

2. Deletions, alterations and variations:

The trio of producer, writer and director also spent a considerable amount of time discussing various changes made to the film on the way through to the final cut, including:

About 47 minutes into the DVD, Woods notes that there’s a huge sequence cut out at this point (after Josie has washed her hair and before Jacob arrives to see her) that showed Josie going through all her clothes. Woods really loved it, but realised it was absolutely not necessary, and never thought about it after it went in the editing;

After the fast food scene, about 52 and a half minutes into the film, with a fade to black, and a fade up on Josie on public transport, the creative team note that they had a whole another story going after that point, but a very large sequence was deleted in the final edit. Woods doesn’t feel they made the wrong decision cutting out that “huge sequence” , but does wish she could have reclaimed the two days it took to shoot it. There was a moment they were sad to lose in the scene when Josie and Jacob get together. It was the moment when they used the graffiti in the background, echoing the designs used in the head titles; (* see below)

A reference to “wiping your nose with your sleeve” in Jacob’s dialogue at the end of the girlfriend/boyfriend tiff, comes from “the scene that we all wish was there but know shouldn’t be …” Marchetta notes that at least those who’ve read the book knows that the line comes from the book, if not from the internal echo of what became a deleted scene;

Woods says the scenes in the journey leading to John Barton’s death were changed many times. It was difficult to find the balance - not to give the game away that he was going to “take this terrible step … but also it could not come out of the blue, and not make sense… and that took a little bit of re-working”;

Another scene that was extensively re-cut came with an attempt to find the right balance between montage and the arrival of Josie’s father at the school to deal with the aftermath of her assaulting the school bully with a weighty tome, “The Decline of the Roman Empire”;

Marchetta notes that the father-daughter scene in the volcanic coffee shop combined dialogue from scenes at the start and near the end of her novel. She found that she frequently had to combine scenes, because otherwise they came across as being too repetitive if she constantly had Michael and Josie sitting around having coffees all the time;

Another combined scene comes when Josie and Jacob have a love scene, and go quickly from making love (if only by way of kissing) to having a big fight. The scenes originally happened in quite different parts of the script. Marchetta recalls being warned, once she’d signed away the film rights, that the characters would be made to have sex in the scene, but she didn’t see any way that would happen;

Yet another doubling up comes when Cotta’s Nonna confesses to Josie about her married life. It originally came as two different scenes. The scene where Josie accuses her, and the resolution scene were completely different and originally Marchetta had something in between, but to avoid Josie coming back and forth to the house, they combined the scenes. Marchetta thinks the compression worked. (Woods adds that she can’t believe Cotta doing the resolution scene after three days in the country, with English totally foreign to her as a language. Woods also confesses her shame at having to lay camera tracks in the scene’s small lounge room space, so she could get the camera close to Cotta, which then required Cotta to take a high step over the tracks without looking as if she was doing it, a difficult feat. She managed it with aplomb, and earned applause from the crew).

* Major Deleted Scene:

The 3’58” minutes of footage of this scene is shown as an extra in the film’s DVD release.

It carries a commentary track which explains that the scene at night in the carpark follows on from the scene of Josie and Anna at work in the Oporto’s takeaway.

Josie and Anna are attacked by two boys who are seen in the queue in the takeway. One snatches away Josie’s keys and when she spits in his face, he carries out a hinted-at rape by lying her down on the car and getting between her legs. Jacob turns up to rescue her and punches the youth out, and when he says that Josie is a slut just like her mother, Josie races over to begin punching him. Jacob drags her off the youth.

A shaken Anna is taken home by Jacob’s friend, Anton, while Jacob goes to a tap to wash his hands.

Jacob and Josie end up in front of a sign which reads “On the wings of True Love, My Heart Flies Free to You!” Jacob offers Josie help with her runny nose. She initially backs away, and uses her sleeve, but as he asks if that’s what they teach her in private schools, she takes his proffered hankie, saying she hopes he hasn’t blown his nose on it. “My old man taught me never to leave home without a clean hankie,” Jacob says, reaching over to move her hair off her face. He wipes away a tear, and then holds her face before moving in to kiss her. He kisses her again, with more force, and she responds. After the kiss, he says he’s got to do that mother thing again, and she jokes “at the moment, you’re ’that boy!’”

“The next time I’ll wow her,” Jacob replies. “You haven’t seen me when I’m charming.”

He leans in agin and gives her a full mouth kiss, and this time she puts her arms around him. The scene ends with a wide shot of the pair kissing in the car park.

The commentary:

In the final cut, Josie’s reaction inside the Oporto is used as a beat, as she watches Jacob departing, but it was originally intended to set up the carpark scene.

There were originally other scenes setting up the tension between Josie and the boy 'Greg Simms' (now uncredited), but they bit the dust when the assault on top of a car bonnet bit the dust.

Kate Woods says that the the problem with the scene was that tonally it didn’t fit in the film. There was a level of violence and aggression that didn’t match the rest. The important element in the scene was the way that Josie and Jacob came together - that he rescued her - but as producer Kershaw notes, it raised other questions. Because it’s so violent, it leaves the viewer wondering why Josie and her friend didn’t go to the police, and why those boys would behave to her like that.

Woods says that the violence and the contrivance of Jacob appearing at just the right time outweighed any benefit to be derived from seeing Jacob and Josie’s first kiss. While she loved the first kiss, it was impossible to have the one without the other, and so the entire scene went. Kershaw thinks the re-editing puts much more emotional weight on Jacob’s arrival after the funeral.

The dropped scene means the graffiti in the main titles has no echo in the body of the film, and a joke about nose-blowing later in the film isn't set up earlier.

(a) Casting:

The DVD commentary track had these thoughts on the cast assembled for the film, and the process of casting:

According to Woods, the creative team saw about 3,000 actors trying out for the role of Josie, over a six month period. Everybody else was cast before Josie, so they couldn’t actually finalise anything until that role was cast. For a while, as the search went on, they thought she wasn’t ever going to appear, but when Pia Miranda auditioned for the first time, they realised the search was over. Miranda did an improvisational scene which showed she could handle the required range of emotions, and Woods realised they didn’t need to think about the role any more;

All the young characters in the film came from this audition process, which involved a national search through secondary and drama schools, using newspapers to help;

According to Kershaw, LaPaglia had been attached for many years to the film, but when it was financed, life was complicated by his winning of a Tony for his performance in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge , at the same time as Greta Scacchi had become pregnant. “ So it was very touch and go for about nine months before we finally locked down the four days that we needed both of them in the same scenes in the same city.” By then, Woods notes, Scacchi had a two month old baby, and yet managed to maintain energy and nuance in her performance (in an argument with Nonna/Katia about 64 minutes in, Scacchi stopped one take because she could hear her baby crying, but according to Woods, stayed and finished the scene before going out to him);

Around the 72 minute mark, Woods notes that there is only one scene where LaPaglia and Scacchi are alone together in the entire film, and that comes when he’s on the doorstep, thanking her, “and it says so much”;

So far as Greta Scacchi’s involvement in the film, the creative team saw an article in Tempo detailing her three generations, and they also saw her in a Sam Shepard play at the STC. Woods also thought that the threesome of Scacchi, Miranda and LaPaglia worked as a family, with the ‘little coconut’ finally realising where she came from when she sees her long-absent father;

The first scene in the classroom between Miranda and Kerry Walker as the teaching nun, was also one of the scenes used in the auditioning of Miranda;

According to Woods, they were lucky Matthew Newton had just graduated from NIDA, and they offered him the role at 6 pm on his last day at NIDA;

Leanne Carlow, who played Josie’s schoolfriend Sera, had never done any acting before scoring the role, but according to Woods was a natural, knowing who her character was immediately, while also in reality doing her HSC exams at the same time;

Woods notes another perfect find in Diane Viduka, who played Anna Selicic, another who had limited acting experience, but who Woods recalls had a brother who was a well-known soccer player ( “the most thrilling thing” for some of the other young actors in the film);

Other actors also had no experience, as with maried Rosa and Domenico Dimarte, who played Josie's relatives, Patrizia and Riccardo;

Woods recalls that after going to Italy to cast the role of Katia Alibrandi, Josie’s ‘Nonna’, Elena Cotta was the first person they met. Cotta told them that she knew the character - an iron fist in a velvet glove - and with the help of dictionaries, they got through an hour’s conversation with Cotta, who spoke no English;

At various points in the commentary track, it becomes clear that Cotta faced a difficult task. She arrived mid-shoot, a day before she was required to do big emotional scenes with only an hour’s rehearsal (and doubled up to a 12 minute shooting day). She didn’t know English and had to learn her English lines phonetically. She had also been cast only two weeks before the shoot began. Woods and Kershaw took a quick trip to Italy with a list of interesting older actresses to consider and after they met her, Cotta was always the one;

Woods says she thought Leeanna Walsman’s performance as school bully Carly was very brave. “She walked the fine line of a caricature without actually falling into the trap of being cliched in any way, but she was very content to be the absolute villain … but we all recognised her, we all knew Carlys at school.”

(b) Key Cast:

Greta Scacchi as Josie’s mother, Christina Alibrandi: Scacchi has a detailed wiki listing here .

An thony LaPaglia as Josie’s long lost father and barrister lawyer, Michael Andretti: LaPaglia has a detailed wiki listing here .

Elena Cotta as Christina’s Sicilian mother and Josie’s ‘Nonna’, Katia Alibrandi: Elena Cotta has a short wiki listing here .

Kerry Walker as Josie’s Catholic nun teacher Sister Louise: Walker currently doesn’t have a wiki listing but the NPG has a portrait of her here , which links to resources about her at the National Library here . She has a short listing at the Wheeler Centre here , WM here , and there is a useful pdf about her relationship with Patrick White here , WM here (direct downloads).

Pia Miranda as Josephine ‘Josie’ Alibrandi, in her HSC year twelve: Miranda was 27 years old at the time of filming, and had already had a continuing role in the soap Neighbours , but credibly aged down to a 17 year old. She couldn’t speak Italian, and had to be coached in the Sicilian dialect, but then so did Italian speakers such as Scacchi. Miranda has a reasonably detailed wiki listing here .

Kick Gurry as ‘westie’ aspiring Josie boyfriend Jacob Coote: Gurry has a mainly filmographic wiki here which doesn’t go into his subsequent battle against serious illness. For an interview with Gurry looking back at the movie, see the Wayback Machine here .

Matthew Newton as possible upmarket eastern suburbs Josie boyfriend: Newton, who became branded by the media as a ‘bad boy’, has a detailed wiki here .

Leanne Carlow as Josie’s friend Sera Conti: though she did good work, this was Carlow’s only film or TV credit.

Diane Viduka as Josie’s friend Anna Selicic: Viduka had a minor part in the TV soap Neighbours, and a couple of minor credits thereafter in TV series, but Alibrandi was her main claim to acting fame.

Leeanna Walsman as school bully Carly Bishop: Walsman did work before and after her successful role in the film, and has a detailed wiki listing here .

Graeme “Alvin Purple” Blundell as Carly’s shock jock radio father Ron Bishop: Blundell has a reasonably detailed wiki here .

As noted in the DVD commentary, some of the cast weren’t professional actors. However a few with wiki listings can be spotted in minor roles, including:

Geoff Morrell as Mr Barton, wiki listing here (only a few scenes as John's politician father);

Linden Wilkinson as Mrs Barton, wiki listing here (her role was cut to little more than an extra at John's funeral);

Ned Manning as Mr Coote, wiki listing here (only one scene as Jacob's father);

Salvatore Coco as Angelo Pezzini, wiki listing here (a kissing scene, and a comedy driving scene, before being dumped offscreen by girlfriend Sera).

4. Locations:

The film’s locations are covered in some detail in the DVD commentary.

Producer Robyn Kershaw recalls that the film shot on over forty something locations in 35 days, and as a result, a fair amount of Sydney is packed into the exteriors. While noting the difficulty of driving between many locations, director Kate Woods is pleased that they didn’t use a studio for any of the shoot. She claims every location in the film is where it should be, within Sydney’s Italian community. She thinks viewers don’t really notice the difference, but as an accumulation, it’s important.

Writer Melina Marchetta notes that in the film Sydney is shown as being a functional city, rather than the sort of ‘show pony’ image featured in other films, with many different areas of the city featured. Woods adds that she and the DOP Toby Oliver purposively turned their backs on any ‘pretty’ shots in favour of showing Sydney as a place where people lived.

Marchetta adds that even when the occasional pretty shot crept into the film, it was there for a reason, as a way of signifying Josie’s dream of having the right life.

The main home base for Josie’s Nonna’s home was the family home for Marchetta’s grandmother in Five Dock (the back yard was used for the tomato bottling scene, the interiors for Josie’s battles with her Nonna);

According to Woods, the Scacchi/Miranda home was a tiny terrace, the smallest location she’d ever worked in, with the crew giving her a hard time by asking her where she wanted to swing the cat. The bathroom was another room, dressed up by the designer to be a bathroom which offered a little more space for crew. Woods put up with the “interestingly squishy” work space because it felt right for the characters, and it allowed them to look out over the city. The tail credits thank “the residents of Cardigan street Glebe” . The house was on the corner of Cardigan and Bellevue streets, and was still there with a new paint job in 2019;

Kershaw recalls that the house was in a quite dense residential area, and so they only had a certain number of hours in which they could film the night scenes, as when Jacob brings Josie home on his motorbike after the school dance. It resulted in short nights, as being summer, the sun set very late (and Woods moans that it would then start raining very early into the evening). As a result, they only had a couple of hours of night for filming, and it took them a couple of nights to complete the night scenes. Even then Woods thinks the location worth it;

The school was an operating school, still at work during filming, with year 12 facing exams (as Josie does in the film). Many of the school’s drama students participated in the filming, and all the extras for the school scenes came from the school. Woods notes that the experience was a demystifying one, with some who started keen on the idea of an acting career, but by end of filming, not so sure;

The featured school, dressed as St Martha's Catholic school for girls was in reality, Kincoppal School, on a hill above Rose Bay. It has its own website here , and a wiki listing here ;

The football scene was shot in two different locations, four months apart. The crowd was in one place, the football in another. The very last shot of the shoot was of the football being placed for a try over the goal line. Between halves of the real football match being filmed, Michael Gallina, who was playing Robert, was briefly placed on the field, before being chased off it. He ran up and down the field a number of times before one of the real players came up and shoved him off, creating some confusion in the film’s crowd of extras as to whether to laugh or applaud;

It was originally intended that Matthew Newtown’s character stand up on the bench and act in an exuberant fashion in response to the football, but the background was too different, “so we had to squish it all up a bit.” (Woods) (Newtown plays the scene mocking his politician father in an awkward, crouched position);

Originally the football crowd scene, and Newton talking with Josie, hadn’t been in the schedule (c. 35 minutes into the film). The film had to be shot in seven weeks, so it was pulled from the schedule, in the hope that Woods would be able to find savings to allow for the half day required. She did, and so they could keep the crew on for an extra day at the end of the shoot to pick up the scene. Marchetta is pleased they did, as a way of helping viewers understand John Barton’s angst, while Woods notes that it also showed a different tribe with different rituals, and so the scene showed that Josie and Barton in a way had the same problem: “tradition, tell me about it” ;

Woods notes that the shoot was plagued by bad weather, and one of the bad weather nights came as the teens left the dance party. They had planned to show the whole of the exterior, which was shot at the state library of NSW. They had searchlights and other glitter planned, but in the end, everything ended up on the library verandah, because only inches away, it was pouring with rain. It is possible, however, to see the distinctive state library doors as the teens emerge;

The scene then shifts to Josie and Jacob walking through George street to get to his motor bike (which makes no real location/time sense). Woods wanted to film the scene in what was then the heart of Sydney’s movie district, though it was a very busy place and required “a hell of a lot of organisation” , and she ended up with a couple of thousand gawkers watching the filming, kept at bay by the AD team;

Woods notes that they became somewhat obsessed with the image of the volcano in George street, which they repeated through the film (this is now a precious time warp artefact as it was when Scientology was at its boldest, and placed the volcano in the main drag as an advertisement for the cult);

Woods notes that it was quite an effort to get the volcano, as it only went off every twenty five minutes and they kept missing it. The volcano returns visually at a coffee shop. Bar Stromboli, where Josie does coffee with her father (about 68 minutes in), with the volcanic image painted on the shop window by the film’s designer;

After George street, the action then shifts to what became known as the Anzac bridge, as Jacob takes Josie back home to Glebe;

Woods notes that it was a difficult night’s filming because the stunt people looked nothing like the actors, and for the close-ups of the actors, they had an elaborate rig so that they could still see the wheels and not have the bike hanging off the back of a trailer. Woods says the result was a crane rig hanging off the back, that was the length of a semi-trailer, which made it complicated to film and to edit, “to try and make it look like it really was them all the time” ;

Around 46 minutes into the DVD, the University of Sydney and its original main quadrangle makes an appearance (Woods moans that it was another rainy day, as shown by the umbrellas on view);

After Josie has an argument with Jacob at the Village theatre in George Street (reflexively, Village was the film's domestic distributor), her long-absent father drives up beside her in the street. Woods had wanted to film the scene next to the greyhound track just down the road from Josie’s Glebe house, which would have been very specific to her situation, but the local residents declined the opportunity to let a film crew film outside in a night shoot, so instead the scene was shot in a very “generic” city street, found at the last moment;

The film’s emphasis on public transport meant that assorted scenes show off Sydney’s rail system - from Central station to the eastern suburbs railway line;

The underside of the Sydney Harbour Bridge also makes it into the film, with Josie and Jacob on a ferry, and director Woods suggests that she showed the underside to evoke the way that the scene was looking at the underside in Josie’s life. She’s now not sure it works, but that’s the reason it’s there;

Later Woods mentions another symbolic moment derived from the location. Michael Andretti’s upmarket apartment is in Milson’s Point, North Sydney, looking out at the bridge and Luna Park. She notes a roller coaster can be seen outside the window, “which indeed is what this film is about, that roller coaster of being 17 years old … another of those symbolic images that probably means nothing to anybody …but it might”;

Haberfield was the suburb used for some street scenes. For example, the Zanetti 5 Star Delicatessen was in 108 Ramsay St Haberfield, and continued to operate as of August 2019, though with a makeover from when filmed;

The main drag in Haberfield returns when Josie and Nonna walk down it after Josie has had a coffee with her father and Nonna has dragged her away. Woods thought the street terrific because it was the heart of the Italian community and there was no need for them to enhance it in anyway, which might have become a cliche. “It’s all there, without being overdone.” (See the suburb’s wiki here );

The interior of the office in which Scacchi’s character works was also located on Ramsay street;

When her dad tries to give Josie a driving lesson in his posh, 'difficult to change the gears' car, the creative team selected a location beneath the Anzac bridge, used in the film as a metaphor for the road from the west to the east, and to the CBD and the harbour bridge, where Josie aspires to go. They liked the location because it showed off these areas in the background. However just before they started filming, a large cargo ship docked and obliterated the view;

In a similar way, when the unit was at Bondi beach (briefly early in the fiim, then at c. 84 minutes in), Kershaw says it started as a blue sky Sydney day, but then the clouds came in within minutes. They just had to live with it. Woods thinks it took away the picture postcard quality away from the beach, so even though it was difficult to cut together, she liked the effect. They also agree that they like the grungy parts of Bondi featured in the background, joking that most of Bondi is grungy, though that’s not what’s seen overseas;

At about c. 85 minutes, there’s a jaunty shot of Josie walking up to Nonna’s house. It was taken about three months after filming, and Woods notes that “everything’s a completely different colour.”

The team had always planned to use what Marchetta describes as a “classic Italian twisting song. ” She recalls the Globos revived Tintarella Di Luna in the 1980s, and it can be seen on YouTube here , with the Globos performing it when they hosted Countdown in 1982 (the song became a top 20 hit in Australia).

Marchetta remembers describing to her Nonna the way they used to twist, to the original version, in her backyard.

Marchetta also recalls being asked in Sicily why the film used such traditional Italian music throughout its score, and she replied that the creative team wanted music that was also accessible to a non-Italian audience that they had heard before and that they could relate to.

Perhaps the most obvious example is the use of Volare at the start of the tomato bottling sequence which completes Josie’s year and ends the film by returning to where it began. Kershaw says she likes the song’s Italian-American lyrics, with “volare” meaning flying, evoking the sticking together of the family, and the resonance of an Italian-American situation with an Italian-Australian situation.

For the dance scene, the creative team knew they had to get the licenses for the featured music before they shot so they could show the crowd dancing in time to the music. According to Kershaw, Woods had done extensive research on school dances, and found out what they needed was very retro music, rather than contemporary. But then after they’d shot it all, and had the rough assembly with the retro, they decided it didn’t work, and they had to get contemporary music. So everything was re-edited to work around new music tracks, which at that point hadn’t been released.

Woods says she hung around school dances like an old school teacher, and the film reflects pretty well much what she saw.

For the bike ride over the Anzac bridge, Marchetta and Kershaw agree that it was important to have music by “powerful rock chicks” and the Magic Dirt track Supernova , with Adalita Srsen doing the vocals was one of them (band wiki here )

It was the creative team’s desire to have Matthew George sing the song that would run over his character’s funeral, and it was George himself who came up with the idea of singing “With or Without You”. However, George must have ruled himself out of performing it, with the end credits attributing the singing to Hamish Cowan of Cordrazine (wiki here ).

Kershaw notes that the music also came in handy when Josie visits her father’s apartment. Because they couldn’t do any back story on Michael Andretti, they needed a short-hand way to suggest that he might be an old rocker who used to hang around the pool halls in Leichhardt. One of the ways they did that was to use guitar-driven music while he’s driving around in his car, and in his apartment to use old Australian classics, such as The Church’s ‘Unguarded Moment.’ (Josie notes in one scene that her dad has nothing but Santana CDs).

For the love scene, about 77 minutes in, Robyn Kershaw recalls that she kept hearing about a new Silverchair album, and worked very hard to acquire the rights to the song Miss you Love . She kept asking if they could listen to it, and then added it to the already edited sequence, and thought it fitted perfectly. Then she had to spend a rather long time negotiating the rights.

As Josie runs away from her lover’s tiff with Jacob and a montage over the HSC begins, Teenager of the Year plays on the soundtrack. Kershaw thinks this was another perfect track for the film. It was a brand new track. Sony had only just signed up the band, and this was the first single, which the creative team thought was the perfect metaphor for the make or break life moment for Josie of the HSC exam. Marchetta says she likes watching this montage with an Italian audience, because the moment they see Nonna taking the evil eye off Josie (to help with her exam), they realise what’s happening and burst out laughing. Other audiences don’t necessarily get the reference.

A CD of the soundtrack was released, and there are several Italian language pop songs that run over the head and tail credits.

For more details on these, including lyrics, see this site’s pdf of music credits.

6. Release:

In relation to the dance scenes, the DVD commentary trio are keen to insist on the reality of the scene, with real kids dancing, and without the sort of choreographed numbers that might be found in an American teen film. Woods wanted to highlight awkwardness (as in choosing partners for the slow number), being keen that the movie’s audience would recognise themselves up on the screen.

Marchetta noted that there was a sense of ownership with the film when it came out, with young viewers seeing it as their city and their film. “They had been so used to watching a lot of American teen films that they love, and all of a sudden, there was this that really related to their lives and they were part of it.”

Kershaw adds that they didn’t want the dances to look slick, it had to look like the dances of year 12.

This ‘realist’ strategy certainly worked with the domestic audience on the film’s release, but also might help explain why the film didn’t really work that well with international audiences, who didn’t recognise themselves up on the screen, and who had a glut of American teen films available, and competing for audience attention.

The film is frequently dated to 2000, the year of its domestic release, but it actually carries a copyright notice for 1999 in the tail credits. It was shot at the end of 1998 and completed in 1999. This site dates films to year of production/completion, and/or copyright notice.

These are derived from the DVD commentary track:

The little insignias used in the title sequence (above the names) were, according to Marchetta, inspired by a photograph she took when she and director Kate Woods were in Italy casting Elena Cotta. The graffiti was on a wall that they whizzed past. According to Woods, it took them three and a half hours to wind their way back and find it again. The idea also appeared later in the film, but was in a scene that was cut (see above);

Woods says the intention in the opening bottling of sauce scene was to always want it to be one continuous shot. In post they coloured the scene to make it look like a garish home movie, as if someone was roaming around the yard with a camera. It was important not to show Tomato Day in a romantic way, because of Josie’s (negative) view of it as national bloody Wog Day. They also wanted to avoid creating an impression of a cliched Italian family, “so it was always a fine line” ;

The scene was filmed in Marchetta’s grandmother’s backyard and many of her family made up the extras, so Marchetta does feel like she’s watching a home movie when she looks at it;

According to the creative team, in editing, they spent a month on the opening sequences, establishing the characters’s relationships, with Woods recalling the voice over going through at least 8 iterations before being settled. Marchetta recalls Spielberg’s notion of a ‘super want’ - so from the very beginning audiences know ET wants to go home and in Saving Sergeant Ryan they want to find him, and “really what we were trying to establish was her ( Josie's) ‘super want’" ;

When Josie arrives at school, Robyn Kershaw notes a poster on the back of the bus, which shows ‘east’ and ‘west’, part of designer Stephen Curtis’s attempt to signal Josie’s ‘outsideness’ - alienation - from the world in which she finds herself. Later, posters seen at Central Station were designed to show what might be seen as the ‘perfect young person’, suggesting the elusive upmarket image of who Josie wants to be;

According to Woods, DOP Toby Oliver contrasted the warm look at Josie’s home with a chillier, colder look for her eastern suburbs toff school surroundings;

For the church singing scene, there were only about 15 girls wearing the proper school uniform. The others in the scene had little pieces of cloth around their neck to hide other school uniforms;

According to Woods, Kerry Walker spent hours each morning twisting her stockings to make sure she had the right ‘nunny’ look in class;

According to Woods, none of the women used in the spying sequences - designed to show how Josie felt about and related to her family - spoke English well;

Similarly Elena Cotta spoke not a word of English and so had to learn all of the English lines given to her phonetically. She and Pia Miranda were unable to communicate one to one, and an interpreter had to be on set to facilitate communication. While Miranda was half Italian, she spoke no Italian;

Woods notes that they had to be careful not to ask Cotta to do too many lines in English in a row, so she could remember what she was saying phonetically - instead allowing her to break back into Italian;

Woods notes that Cotta had an extremely long career as a theatre actress and was extremely beautiful, and so the photo she shows Josie while the pair are in bed together (c. 32 mins into the DVD version) was in fact a photo of her as a younger woman. (The photo is held up against shots of a younger Scacchi and Pia Miranda). While she was happy to show the vanity of beauty as a younger woman, Cotta was also insistent on showing herself as an ageing woman, and so she insisted on the curlers she’s wearing in the bed scene;

The extras in the Opera House debating scene were real kids who turned up for filming as part of a ‘school excursion’. Kershaw notes that they had a lot of good will and support from a number of schools, offering students who wanted to experience the film-making process. They were helped with the book already being popular with school-aged readers. Woods notes that as the day wore on the kids started to get restless, and Kick Gurry kept on changing his speech to keep the kids amused. The scene changed locations a number of times. It was supposed to be in the Town Hall, and then in Martin Place, but as it was Christmas, the unit couldn’t work around the sixteen foot high Christmas tree. However while pleased with the Opera House location, Woods says she wanted to avoid showing it in ‘picture book’ style, rather showing it as a place where people went to attend events like the debate in the movie;

The school dance sequence also involved a number of extras from a variety of schools. The idea was to show a diversity of faces, ethnic groups, size and types, with touches of geekiness and awkwardness adding to the reality of the scene;

Marchetta claims that intergenerational hands were a significant theme in the book (as with hands in the sink, preparing ingredients for a meal). One sequence involving hands in the dirt was cut from the film, but she thinks there’s still a significant emphasis on hands in the film, as there was in the book;

The Easter scenes were a significant part of the attempt to establish the chronology for Josie's HSC year, rather than using cards or other devices to establish the timeline;

Woods remembers that the slow track across the extended family at table in the back yard required 17 takes before they got it right, with time and light running out (about 28 mins into the DVD version). Rosa Dimarte, who played Patrizia, wasn’t a professional actor. She and her husband Domenico Dimarte (Riccardo) were actually a couple they found in a cafe. So while they looked perfect for their roles, they sometimes found it difficult to coordinate their moves with the camera. Most of the people around the table were in fact writer Melina Marchetta’s family and Woods tried to give them all a little presence on camera;

Marchetta recalls having experienced the bed pan under the bed, as shown in the movie, “and the underpants coming off at night, and just wanting to be dead, don’t get into the bed with me” . Kershaw recalls she thought the anecdote perfect, just what they should have in the film, but Marchetta first had to go off and ask her Nonna for permission;

The photo on Nonna’s dressing table is in reality a photo of Marchetta’s father;

Kick Gurry improvised the line “Bye John” as an echo to Josie’s line “Bye John” as John Barton leaves the dance party, and leaves Josie high and dry after giving her a peck on the cheek and walking off. Director Woods notes it resulted in a moment which always works with audiences. She thought that Gurry managed to walk a fine line between the audience liking and not liking his character, with Gurry eventually winning them over;

One scene in which Gurry acts in an unlikeable fashion comes at the Village theatre in George street, which Woods says was the very first scene that was shot. Woods says she was terrified and she forced writer Melina to come to set at some un-Godly hour because she just needed her there to kick off the film;

Woods says the scene between Matthew George and Pia Miranda in which they exchange notes with their deepest thoughts written down, was cut some six times, though it was only two shots… “…but each time it meant something completely different just by the changing of …by maybe just a word, er managed to convey a completely different message. It was quite extraordinary” ;

Just after 51 minutes into the film, there is rain on Josie’s window to evoke a melancholic mood, It was fake rain, with the unit hosing down the window. While the film experienced numerous rainy moments, this wasn’t one of them. Woods decided, “well, seeing it was in every other scene …” ;

In the fast food scene, Josie limps because Miranda had fallen and hurt her ankle that day of the shoot, and had also been stung by a bee. She limped for a couple of days but mostly managed to hide it from the camera. She did in her ankle while walking with Jacob in the car park (about 67 minutes into the film);

According to Woods, the funeral scene, and the ‘spy ring’ scene (Josie’s relatives spying on her) were the only two sequences that conformed exactly to the original storyboarding for the film;

Woods says that the scene where post John's suicide, Miranda bursts into tears on a train and is hugged by Kick Gurry was done at the end of a very long day, and she found astonishing the ability of the young actor to come up with the emotional intensity and honesty required;

Towards the end of the shoot, Woods found herself running behind, with some scenes not complete. She had to find some time to do pick-ups, so she had to cram two days into one, and instead of doing the usual average of 5-6 minutes in a day, she had to do closer to twelve. The major scene done this way comes about 65 minutes in, where Josie and Nonna are looking at photos of the old days in Nonna’s lounge room. This meant there were a lot of words for Cotta to remember phonetically in one day. There was another big scene done the same day - the scene between Nonna and Josie which begins just after 85 minutes into the DVD version, in which they argue and Nonna confesses to Josie about her relationship with her husband and an Australian lover;

Woods notes that Cotta could only come out mid-shoot, and so she and Miranda only had a day together before they had to do these big emotional scenes. The whole second scene, Woods says, was done with maybe an hour’s rehearsal;

Robyn Kershaw remembers this doubling up also created complications in post-production, especially for the first scene, with Scacchi going back to the UK, LaPaglia to the US, and Cotta to Italy. They recorded many tracks of everybody’s dialogue, but in the meantime, they changed some of the storytelling for the Josie-Nonna photo scene. They had to get the details to Cotta who was on location in the UK, but she only received half the lines and recorded only half of what they needed. They then tried to get someone else to do the remaining lines for the new storytelling, but they couldn’t find anyone capable of matching Cotta’s voice. In the end, the cut consisted of some of the old material and some of Cotta’s new lines, stealing bits of words and sometimes even syllables from other speeches to make the new cut. The newly constructed lines comes when Cotta tells Josie that every Christmas Francesco would go away into the bush. They needed the line to set up crucial information for later, concerning who’s father was who;

According to the creative team, costume designer Michael Wilkinson raided Pia Miranda’s collection of photos to get an idea of costumes for a young Italian girl. Being an Italian family, there were plenty of photographs;

The scene of the school muck-up day near the end of the film was actually shot the same day as the funeral, which turned out to be a good way for the cast to let the morning’s funeral tension go in an afternoon riot. Kershaw notes it was quite an organisational feat to get 400 students bussed in for the action that day, with the outermost ones being returned earliest in the day, while at the same time having on a micro level a couple of students on set being supervised for their HSC exams;

When it comes to the love scene between Jacob and Josie, Woods notes that the two actors were “more worldly” than their characters, as played in the scene, but that they did a good job of keeping that worldliness in check to play the two innocents experimenting with their sexuality. Marchetta recalls watching the scene with a bunch of teenage girls and they were squealing through it, ‘oh my God’ ;

The location for the love scene was a tiny little room found very much at the last minute, and the creative team recall that the set had been dressed overnight, but the person who owned the bedroom just moved back in and slept the night on the set. Woods was a little disconcerted to hear about it, and to ask the cast to do a love scene on someone else’s slept-in sheets, so they changed them;

For the love-making scene, Miranda was concerned that the video split monitor was out of range of anyone else’s view, but Woods forgot about the sound recordist monitor that was down on the street. There were about sixty people crowded around that monitor just as Miranda walked out the door, but Woods hastily adds it was just for the moment, and they quickly moved it;

John Barton’s reappearance at Central station was, according to Woods, a late-breaking idea to remind the audience that Barton would stay as a memory in Josie’s life, and it was decided her mistakenly seeing him in the image of another boy was a simple way to do it;

The scene of the three women together on the verandah, after Cotta’s Nonna’s emotional confession of having a child with an Australian, was shot as for daylight, on the basis that the next scene would be night. They ran out of time, and had to shoot the daylight scene using artificial light, which explains the tight grouping of the threesome. Wood still thinks that, despite the obvious lighting of the daylight scene, that this was the right call, that the scene had to play in the light;

The night scene that follows, “which should have been day” , shows Josie and Christina arriving back home to be greeted by Michael. Marchetta jokes that they should presume that Josie and Christina went out for dinner to discuss how they were going to deal with this new information before arriving back for the showdown with Michael;

Originally the end tomato bottling scene was to be shot on Steadicam, but after seeing the first day of Steadicam filming, Kershaw says they decided to revert to Toby Oliver doing handheld. Woods jokes it was much cheaper, but adds it was much better handheld, with Oliver doing a good job.

9. Head and tail narration and action:

The film relies heavily on voice-over narration by Josie to help structure the narrative and give insights into character.

Here are examples from the opening and closing of the film (with spoilers).

Head narration and action:

The opening credits feature the pop song Tintarella Di Luna and the activities of a family backyard tomato sauce bottling. As a plane flies overhead and head credits finish, Josie - Pia Miranda as Josephine Alibrandi - begins:

Josie (v/o) : “Oh, in case you’re wondering, this is Tomato Day. (Josie comes into frame and looks directly to camera). Or as I like to refer to it - National Wog Day. (On the various sauce-making and bottling activities). You might think this is all quirky and cute, but I actually find this really embarrassing. I mean, you’d think they’d never left Sicily, except that it was like, 50 years ago …This might be where I come from, but do I really belong here? That’s the past and you can’t let the past run your life. (Josie has washed her hands and headed over to put a new rockier sound on the record player. The family react negatively, and Josie’s Nonna - Elena Cotta as Katia Alibrandi - says in Italian, “Josie! Put the music back on, we have to finish.” )

Josie (v/o , as she changes the record): “I have got to get out of here!!” ( Tintarella di Luna resumes, and as the family returns to the groove, Joise walks away)

Josie (v/o): “You probably can’t tell by looking at me, but, actually, I’m cursed. So’s my momma … and my Nonna … (Josie has walked around the pair, sits down on a chair and is given a tomato by her Nonna, who shows her what to do) … well, that’s Nonna’s theory anyway … It kind of sets us apart from the rest of the family… The three Alibrandi women …(as Nonna speaks in Italian) … outcasts …”

Josie (dialogue to her momma - Greta Scacchi as Christina Alibrandi - and Nonna): “Why can’t we just buy Latina like the rest of the world?”

Nonna (in Italian, subtitled): “ She’s going to marry an Australian, and they’ll feed their children fish and chips.” (Others in the family laugh).

Josie (v/o , as Robert - Michael Gallina - hovers into view with a hankie tied over his head): “My cousin Robert, the treasured grandson! (Robert kisses Patrizia - Rosa Dimarte - and gives her a taste of the sauce with a wooden spoon) Nonna says we’re lucky to be included because, being cursed means we have no right to belong."

Nonna: “You are very fortunate, Patrizia.” (Patrizia smiles as her partner Riccardo - Domenico Dimarte - holds up a grandchild)

Josie (v/o): “Nonna goes on and on about a lot of things …and momma always lets her, just for peace.

As Nonna gets up and walks away, Josie’s mum Christina holds out a tomato to her: “Come on Josie, you’ve hardly done anything.”

(Josie takes the tomato, and then we see Nonna talking to a neighbour over the fence, and beckoning, calling “Christina! Christina!” )

Josie (v/o): “Uh oh, I wonder what the gossip is this time.”

(Christina gets up to head over to Nonna, as a car horn beeps).

Josie (excited at the sound of the car horn, getting up and taking off her apron): “Yes, finally! This is the last year I’m gunna have to do this. I’m moving out of Little Sicily and it’s not a moment too soon.”

(Nonna, Riccardo and Patrizia begin to dance).

Josie looks at them with a beat of dismay and moves off: “Give me a few years and I’ll be running things… and it won’t be a small Italian family either …” (as Josie gets tangled with a pack of kids, but then escapes and heads off with her bag) … I’m not going to be trapped like them …”

(Josie is intercepted by her mother)

Christina: “Josie, where do you think you’re going? You promised you’d help."

Josie: “I have! Anyway, you guys aren’t doing anything but talking.”

Josie (v/o, walking away from her mother with a smile): “I’m going places …”

Robert, nerd hankie now off head, tries to intercept her with a “Hey Josie” , but she brushes him off with a “Forget it, bello di nonna.”

Josie (v/o): “… starting with the beach,”

Nonna races after her with a “Josie!”

Christina: “Josie?”

Josie, walking fast, looking back: “Ciao, Nonna.”

Nonna: “Christina! (then in Italian) Are you going to let your daughter run around like a gypsy?”

Christina : “Mamma, don’t start.”

(On a P-plated Merc parked outside the house)

Josie (v/o): “These are my friends Sera (Leanne Carlow as Sera Conti) and Anna (Diane Viduka as Anna Selicic). We kind of happened by default. (Josie gets through the front gate) When everyone was choosing their friends in Year 7, we were the only ones left in the playground . (Anna gets out of the front seat, creating room for Josie to slide in to it).

Sera (as Josie takes her seat in the Merc): “I can’t believe you still do National bloody Wog Day!”

Anna (leaning in from the back, as Sera takes off her top to reveal a bikini): “I need to be back by 6. My cousin’s brother-in-law’s sister’s baby’s being christened!”

Josie ( putting on sunglasses): “ Your family’s worse than mine. Let’s just get out of here.”

The car drives off, as a pop song begins and the Tomato Day sequence ends ...

Tail Narration and Action:

Despite what she says at the beginning, Josie’s HSC year turns full circle, and the film ends with her back at the Tomato Day, surrounded by family and friends, and with a few additions arriving from the story told in the film.

Dean Martin is singing Volare as we spot Josie’s long-lost dad Michael Andretti (Anthony LaPaglia). He’s talking to Riccardo (Domenico Dimarte), and stirring the sauce.

Michael: “Oh she’ll definitely do Law.”

(The hand held camera heads over to Christina at work)

Christina: “Oh she’s not going to make any decisions until, you know, until she’s got her results.”

Woman: “That’s probably a good idea.”

(Nonna joins them)

Christina: “Oh mamma" (then in Italian, as she wipes a speck from her mother’s cheek, and then as the camera picks up on Josie carrying a milk bottle crate)

Josie (v/o): “I can’t tell you whether Mamma will ever really forgive Nonna… or whether Michael’s going to stay.”

(Josie pauses. She sees Jacob - Kick Gurry - ambling up the driveway to the backyard)

Josie (v/o): “Or if Jacob and I are destined to be together.”

(As Volare continues, Josie has a slightly self-satisfied smile and heads over to see Jacob, as both her father and mother notice, and say together “A motorbike?!” )

Josie (hearing, and turning back to say to them): “What would you prefer he has? A Charger?”

(Mother and father exchange a look, and then it’s back with the teens):

Jacob: “Hey, I really want this to work, you know, more than, more than anything I’ve ever wanted. Well, except for my mum not to die.”

(With a “come on” , Josie leads him into the bottling).

Josie (v/o): “We both know you don’t always get what you want. But, God, I love your faith.”

(Jacob comes up to Michael, who’s stirring the sauce, and holds out his hand for a handshake)

Jacob: “How are you Michael?”

Michael: “Nice to see you again.”

Jacob: “Yeah, good to see you.”

(Nonna arrives and Josie does the honours)

Josie: “Nonna, this is Jacob.”

Jacob (holding out his hand): “Ah”.

Nonna (taking it): “Hello.”

Jacob: “I’ve heard so much about you.”

(A car horn beeps and Josie races out the front. Michael offers Jacob the wooden stirrer).

Michael: “Here you go mate, welcome to the family.”

Nonna : “Josie, where are you going?” (She turns) Christina!” (Christina just shrugs and smiles, as Josie makes it to the front gate.)

Sera (from inside her car): “Hi!”

Josie: “Come on in.”

Anna (taking off her seatbelt): “Come on, let’s go.”

( Volare is still playing as Josie’s friends get out of the car to join her. At the bottling, her mother and father briefly pass each other, as Josie arrives with her friends)

Josie (v/o): “I’d always dreamt of being someone really impressive and famous - you know, someone people could sit back and envy. I wonder what it would have been like growing up an Andretti, who never was an Alibrandi and who should have been a Sandford, and maybe never be a Coote …but I know now that what’s important is who I feel I am…”

(A plane roars over dangerously low, as they do every day of the year in the western suburbs of Sydney).

Josie (v/o): “I’m Christina and Michael’s daughter, and I’m Katia’s granddaughter … and we’re not cursed, we’re blessed …”

(Josephine cranks up a 45 on the record player)

The opening song returns, Josie takes a basket from Nonna and persuades her to dance, and soon everyone is dancing.

The camera cranes up over the dancers, as in the distance we see Christina offer Michael something to eat, the image fades to black, credits start to roll and a speeded up version of “Tintarella di luna” begins.

For a detailed synopsis, with cast, of what happens in between these scenes, see below, underneath the Beyond press kit.

10. Cinema Papers’ interview with the film’s producer:

Cinema Papers, May 2000 edition #132 contained an interview under the header Everyone’s looking for Alibrandi , which had a short introduction:

“Looking for Alibrandi" is Robyn Kershaw’s first feature film credit as producer but as she tells Michaela Boland it’s the culmination of many years hard work in the business of entertainment.

A longer introduction then followed which focussed on director Kate Woods:

When director Kate Woods discovered Looking for Alibrandi was the ‘most stolen’ book from school libraries she knew she wanted to direct the film.

That was two and a half years ago. Now Alibrandi is ready for release and Wood's feature film directorial debut is garnering strong critical accolades.  Set in Sydney's eastern suburbs the story portrays three generations of Italian Australian women  as they struggle to accept events long-affecting their lives. 

Helmed (sic) by experienced actors Anthony LaPaglia and Greta Scacchi as the maladjusted parents of a teenage schoolgirl, Alibrandi showcases a trio fresh young talent. 

Pia Miranda is Josie, a third generation Australian carrying the Catholic burden of her forbears' tragedies. Matthew Newton (son of Bert and Pattie) portrays John Barton who is labouring beneath the expectations of a high achieving father. And Kick Gurry is Josie’s love interest, Jacob Coote who encourages her teen rebellion.

Another cast stand out is Rome based actor Elena Cotta who portrays Josie's grandmother Nonna Katia. Cotta was cast just two weeks before pre-production after producer Robyn Kershaw hatched a madcap plan which involved travelling to Italy in search of their woman.

The scheme more than paid off. Kate Woods says, "I was determined Nonna was going to be Italian. There is a group of fabulous ethnic (Australian] older women actors but they are not necessarily Italian and I didn't think it was fair on them or on the story. “We went away to Italy just blindly, knowing we were going to come back with Nonna and we did." But the madness didn't stop there. Cotta doesn't speak any English, so once cast, she had to learn her role phonetically.

With Scacchi and LaPaglia on board, Woods and Kershaw opted for an open call in their quest for the younger actors. Three thousand auditions later Gurry and Miranda were secured, with Newton joining the cast literally the day he completed NIDA. Though the casting was arduous, Woods says the freedom to search for new actors was liberating.

The feature then turned to the interview with producer Robyn Kershaw:

Robyn Kershaw is at home in beachside Bronte with her two-year-old daughter pulling focus in the background. Lydia was just four months old when mum hit the ground running with Alibrandi.

Robyn Kershaw: I was doing the little pre-bibles that we gave to investors with her in a baby capsule underneath the desk. I had someone who would come and look after her when we were doing the auditions and I would pump off (breast milk) while we were working out... "Yes I think we should see this group again and that group”.... laughs

Cinema Papers: As general manager of Sydney’s Belvoir Street Theatre you orchestrated tours to exotic destinations including the USSR and facilitated the world premieres of stage plays which were subsequently made into feature films including Radiance, Cosi and the SBS teleseries Aftershocks, but this is your first film with a full producer’s credit. How did you come to co-found a production company in 1997 with Tristram Miall ( Strictly Ballroom , A Little Bit of Soul ).

RK: When I left Belvoir I went to film school (AFTRS) to do the one-year extension course. I was there with a very large group because the previous year a lot had fallen out, so within a very short space of time I understood that I wanted to be out on attachment. I found out through my friend that Tris had a film up, Children of the Revolution. She'd been saying for quite some time, “You and Tris would get on really well”. So I went on attachment with him on Children of the Revolution and he was incredible. Because of my friendship with Baz (Luhrmann) and Catherine (Martin) and because I’d worked with Catherine on Diary of a Madman (starring Geoffrey Rush) he knew about my work. He very quickly passed on a huge amount of responsibility and really early on Tris said to me, “Look I've been working with this project (Alibrandi) that I optioned a few years ago and it doesn't seem to be coming together, would you like to produce it?"

CP: So he actually optioned the book in the early 90s, was it already an HSC text?

RK: It was optioned before then but very quickly it won a huge amount of prizes. Young boys and young girls relate strongly to it because it is the story of the outsider and at that age I think we're all feeling like we're the outsider.

CP: How did the book come to Miall’s attention?

RK: Through Andy Loyd James.

CP: When he was at SBS.

RK: Yes, they'd known each other for a long time and Tris had two young daughters so his audience was in his family circle. He was able to get instant feedback from them.

CP: And the budget was about $4.5 million?

RK: We did the bulk of our casting in October 1997 but we were not financed by the FFC until February.

CP: Isn’t it unusual for projects to be financed closer to script stage before the cast is brought in.

RK: We didn't want to be pushed into a situation where we got the paperwork done and then raced into pre-production. We wanted to have the comfort of knowing we'd searched Australia for all the actors needed and then go into total financing. Obviously were in dialogue with the FFC and with other financiers but we didn't want to have to rush decisions that would compromise the final vision.

CP: What are the advantages of having the key cast place before you apply for financing?

RK: For us it was a case of our adult leads (Great Scacchi and Anthony LaPaglia) being in place in order to secure our finance in part. (Then) it was necessary to secure the kids (Kick Gurry, Matthew Newton, Pia Miranda) who would actually carry the film.

 CP: You needed confidence in them. 

RK: That's exactly right. The character of what you are working on really determines the way you approach what process you engage in. 

CP: The budget was $4.5 million. 

RK: But I don't publicise that because I think we pulled off a pretty amazing looking film. 

CP: How did you secure co-opertion from so many schools including Kincoppal Rose Bay where Looking for Alibrandi was filmed? 

RK: That was all personal approaches and a huge amount of support from companies to actually assist in making it possible to feed, bus and support those kids on set. 

CP: It’s somewhat unusual to see big group scenes in Australian cinema. 

RK : They were very effective for what we were trying to put across which was the gallery of fabulous faces that Australia has. 

CP: You called Alibrandi a chick flick? 

RK: (laughs) Probably that's 'cause Kate and I are chicks and Melina. A lot of the energy around it was very chicky and because Pia's the lead. It’s about three generations of Italian Australian women but I think its primary audience is women, young women and older women. 

CP: What was it about director Kate Woods that inspired your confidence? 

RK: She has an incredible vocabulary with actors. She is a gifted actor’s director so on set she is able to fine tune and crate (sic, create) nuance that absolutely refines performance. She changes with whoever she is with, whether it was the less experienced actors or the more experienced actors. 

CP: How did you know that before working with her?

RK: I did my research and it was a very long courtship. Kate didn't come on officially until just before we started casting in October '97. Kate is very hard on herself, she strives for getting it right and I love that tenacity and ambition. Making films is serial monogamy and you need to know that under the most extreme duress you can trust one another.

• This conversation has been edited for publication.

11. Beyond Press Kit:

The Beyond press kit contained details of the production, and CVs for key cast and crew up to the point of the film’s release:

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Conclusive - and unique - proof of the enormous popularity of MELINA MARCHETTA’S novel LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI, it is the most stolen library book in Australian schools.

With such a resounding endorsement from its audience, adapting LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI for the screen presented an irresistible opportunity to producer ROBYN KERSHAW and director KATE WOODS.

“I first came across LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI when Robyn brought me the book, which I immediately fell in love with. It’s a beautiful story. The book has a fantastic heart. I think the most important thing about it is that it is so unpatronising to the people it’s aimed at. I really wanted to capture that heart and that spirit so that every teenager who watches it can own it.”

Kate says that when younger actors were auditioning “they lined up for Melina to sign their books. They wanted to meet the writer because everyone could identify with it so much. They used to come up to her and say, ‘I’m Anna’ or ‘I’m Josie’ or ‘I’m Anton or Jacob’ or whoever. It is very rare for a piece of work about teenage life not to be ridiculed somewhere - this book is universally loved. “

Kershaw acknowledges the responsibilities that come with adapting such a well-loved work.

“It can be a plus and a minus. The negative is that there is a huge expectation to fulfil on our part - people do come up to you and ask, ‘who is playing Jacob? And who is playing John?’ The plus is obviously that you know you are dealing with a story that has worked, that has touched people.”

Bringing the book to the screen has been a long process for Kershaw, whose unflagging commitment to the story carried through three years of script development, six months of national auditioning for the younger roles, and coordinating the schedules of the movie’s two major stars GRETA SCACCHI and ANTHONY LAPAGLIA.

Executive Producer TRISTRAM MIALL, who produced the international hit STRICTLY BALLROOM , originally optioned LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI and his two daughters both are fans of the book. He says

“It’s been a long journey. Getting the script right took an awfully long time, because so much of what happens in the book is inside Josie’s head, and making that work without having acres of voice over was a challenge.”

Author Melina Marchetta agrees.

”I remember when I got the opportunity (to write the screenplay for ALIBRANDI) I thought it would be a lot easier. I thought it would be a case of taking out the ‘he saids’ and ‘she saids’ and basically that would be about it! I had to find a way of capturing moments with an image and sometimes a whole chapter went on just one image, that’s one of the things I had to learn about, the difference between film and prose writing. In novels you can flick back and think “Okay this is what is happening” but with a film you have to sit there and you have to be able to let the story travel forward”

Robyn Kershaw says of the process,

“Melina and I always felt, let’s just go around another corner... just another corner, just another corner... and I’m glad we did because every time we saw this new world and it added a new dimension to the script.”

Josie Alibrandi, played by newcomer PIA MIRANDA, is a young woman poised at the edge of the most important changes in her life. Like most 18 year olds, she views the world in absolute and extreme terms. Life is either fabulous or disastrous.

Fabulous and disastrous are two terms that certainly apply to her home life. Josie has been raised by her mother Christina, a first generation Italian Australian played by GRETA SCACCHI, and Nonna Katia, played by Italian actress ELENA COTTA.

Says Greta of Christina,

“Christina’s a very strong and brave woman, because she’s a single mother but not in the victim sense. She wasn’t abandoned, she found herself pregnant at a very young age and she sort of kept the baby in defiance. It was more because of her rebellious spirit that she kept the child, and being proud and intelligent she was not going to give in to feelings of self-pity.

“Then of course life as a single mother was difficult and trying, but carried out with great courage and conviction. Josie is such a spirited and bright, sparky character, very like her mother and grandmother - so we see the parallels of the spirit in three generations. But times have changed and Josie the 17 year old woman of today is much freer to express herself and do as she wants to.”

With three generations of strong willed women, life is never dull around the Alibrandi household. Inter-generational conflict, the sometimes uneasy adaptation of cultural traditions to new environments, changing boundaries for women, love, maturity and self identity are all explored through Josie, Christina and Katia’s volatile and complex relationships.

“Josie believes that one day, she will grow up and be free of all the traditions and culture that seem to suffocate her,” says Kate Woods. “This film tracks the year when she comes to understand what ‘one day’ means.”

Josie’s world is split between her home and family in Inner Western Sydney and her school, a prestigious private Catholic girls’ school in the Eastern suburbs. Here, under the watchful eye of headmistress Sister Louise (KERRY WALKER) she and her friends from the wrong side of town negotiate the taunts of the ruling in-group, led by Carly Bishop (LEEANNA WALSMAN), the Anglo Australian princess. Josie’s desire to be a part of the privileged world of middle class Australia is at odds with her chaotic, unconventional home life - and with her own strong and individualistic spirit.

Her confusion is heightened by her first experiences of love, in which she finds herself torn between the handsome, high achieving private school boy John Barton (MATHEW NEWTON) and the scruffy, non conformist Jacob Coote (KICK GURRY).

And then she suddenly has to negotiate a relationship with a third man - Michael Andretti, the father who she has never met, played by Anthony LaPaglia.

Anthony LaPaglia:

“I’m the father who actually doesn’t realise he has a daughter, so it’s quite shocking to come back and find that not only do I have a daughter but an adult daughter almost, a teenager about to blossom into womanhood. It’s on a multi-layered level - there are just so many things you have to deal with. Firstly, being a parent. Secondly, the feelings that you have on how much time you’ve missed out on, and if it’s worth trying to find out if you can make this person fit back into your life again... or whether they will accept you into their life! It’s very richly written, it’s beautiful.”

Pia Miranda’s performance is fuelled by a strong connection to the role. She says,

“I meet people all the time who go ‘Wow, you’re playing Josie, she’s my favourite character.’ Josie is so real, she is so human and she is someone everyone can relate to... she is so fearless and yet so flawed! I think everybody feels at a certain time in their life, whether it’s because of heritage or other things, that they don’t belong. It’s the story of a young girl who feels like she doesn’t belong, and then learns how to cope with that - and learns the fact that everyone feels like that in a certain way. It’s all about growing up and accepting the fact that everyone is different.”

A primary concern for Kate and Robyn was the authenticity of the characters. Casting the roles became something of a quest.

Robyn Kershaw:

“We wanted to have a mix of experienced adults and inexperienced, fresh and authentic young actors. We saw this as providing tension between the formal world of the adults and the anarchic roller coaster of the young people. It reinforces the thematic coming of age core of the script.

“Anthony LaPaglia was always going to be Michael Andretti and Greta Scacchi was always going to be Christina. Elena Cotta came along very late because we cast Katia from the Old Country and that meant a visit to Italy.

“We did a series of auditions over a six month period and saw over three thousand kids for the various roles we have for 18 year olds. We saw kids from Victoria, New South Wales, we saw some kids in South Australia and we did some investigating in Western Australia and Queensland. It was a very long haul in terms of making it authentic with the qualities that we wanted to have in those roles and the actors or non actors who played the roles. I think we succeeded. I think we have some extraordinary young actors in there.”

Kate Woods agrees.

“We found some of the young cast very quickly and others didn’t show up so quickly. Josie was one of the last to appear. I am just so delighted with the cast. They are all absolutely perfect. It is a joy to watch them blossom every day into better actors and embracing these roles so much. They haven’t had a lot of experience but their focus and their passion is just fantastic.”

Says Kick Gurry,

“The rehearsal process for this film and the auditioning process in my case was actually quite a lengthy one and through that whole thing I’ve actually learnt a heap.”

Fuelled by the collective energy of Pia, Matthew, Kick and Leeanna as well as TYRONE LARA (Anton), DIANE VIDUKA (Anna), LEANNE CARLOW (Sera) and MICHAEL GALLINA (Josie’s cousin Robert) – the ensemble performances by the young cast members leap from the screen, transmitting the dizzying highs and lows of late adolescence. As Kick puts it,

“I think the reason the book rings true to everybody who reads it is because all the characters are after what they don’t have, not what they do have. And that’s really true when you are 17 or 18 you can have everything in the world except one thing and that’s what you want you know, you cry on your bed “I just want that!”

LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI is a distinctively Australian story, and Kate Woods was adamant that the film would avoid adopting an overly self conscious or parodying approach to contemporary Australian culture.

Kate explains,

“I wanted to have an urban Australia, but I wanted a working urban Australia. I really didn’t want to have the pretty picture postcard. The most important thing in this film is its authenticity. We all have moments in our lives that are pretty extreme no matter what kind of background you come from. But you can easily send that up, and I really don’t want to do that. These are real people’s lives and that’s how I want to depict them.”

As Costume Designer MICHAEL WILKINSON observes,

“There are a lot of scripts you read that are very self conscious about being Australian, or slip into jokey sorts of ways of looking at Australians. I think this is a very complex and sophisticated way of looking at what it’s like to be an Australian today.”

Kate’s determination that the story would ring true is beautifully brought to life by the varied life experiences brought to the film by the actors, many of whom are first or second generation Australians. Multicultural Australia is constantly evolving, and perceptions and experiences of it vary with age and generation.

Of his upbringing in Adelaide, Anthony says

“It was difficult. It was 20 years ago, there was a lot of residual stuff from the 50s and 60s - the whole dago/wog routine. In the high schools that I went to it was pretty dominant, it even came from teachers. It’s something that has very much changed, I really don’t see it very much any more which is healthy. It’s good.”

Pia describes her experience twenty years on.

“In Australia everyone seems to be embracing the fact that we are a multicultural society. So as I was growing up I became more and more comfortable with it, the more I saw that there are so many people with different cultures out there. It’s what makes Australia beautiful.”

Greta Scacchi:

“The Italian aspect has been very interesting for me because I am half Italian and so I speak Italian and have a lot of experience with Italy and Italians. But in this film I have a chance to be Sicilian, to be quite different. I’ve had to learn a bit of Sicilian dialect, which is almost like a different language. It was quite a challenge.”

Elements of the production design and soundtrack were also crucial in creating the appealing and authentic world of the film.

To begin with, the control of the colour palette both reinforced notions of characters and generational differences, as well as underlining the difference between the warmth and emotional intensity of Josie’s home life and her experiences beyond.

Says Production Designer STEPHEN CURTIS,

“The whole of Josie’s family life revolves around red and different kinds of red. So Nonna’s became a type of magnolia shade on the red scale. Throughout Christina’s house there were lots of pinks and reds, and Josie’s bedroom - there was a lot of red in that room. I suppose the other side of it is, having established the warmth of Josie’s family life, the opposite of that was the school world. As soon as we went out to ‘St. Martha’s’, Kate and I loved it, and all the cold colours were already there. The halls were all carpeted in different shades of blue/green, the stark ivory coloured walls and the very dark wood - I worked around those. The same with Michael Wilkinson - that’s what motivated the teal blue school uniforms. So we could feel a very definite shift from the cool privilege of the Eastern suburbs and the warmth of the Western suburbs.”

Michael Wilkinson adds,

“I guess the most important thing for me was that we were treading a line between ‘real’ costumes - that didn’t feel like they had been super designed and had a bit of real soul, and a gritty reality to them - but also to slightly push things so they made attractive screen images.”

Shooting and editing style and even choice of location heightened emotions. Stephen Curtis:

“For me I think the biggest breakthrough with the script was starting to chart Josie’s journey as a roller coaster ride, a series of peaks and troughs - it literally goes from her being the happiest person in the world to the saddest person in the space of a scene. For me that allowed for a whole lot of design choices - I was trying to find ways of physically elevating Josie when she was happy, throwing her down, literally down, when she was depressed. The scene where Josie and Jacob ride off on the motorbike is an extremely up, positive sexual moment. In the initial script, they just drove out of the city along Parramatta Road. I spoke to Kate about the potential of them driving out of the city over the Glebe Island Bridge, then they would be literally going up into the sky at that moment. So we were able to follow ideas like that through into our location choices...”

Cinematographer TOBY OLIVER says that an early reference point for the films’ visual style is the work of legendary Italian film maker Federico Fellini.

“We talked about basing some of the stylistic elements on Fellini’s work, and Italian films of Fellini’s era. The Tomato Day scenes exemplify that Italian style of filmmaking, neo realist too, in that you almost think parts of it are semi-documentary but at the same time deliberate and controlled, with the long shots that move from one group of people to another...

“Some of the shots we did with Josie and her Nonna inside the house are also long shots that follow her from room to room picking up different compositional elements. That was again an attempt to maintain a link with that Felliniesque kind of style of shooting.

“Other scenes in the film ended up being a different kind of style. Certainly things at the school, in town – you’ve got much faster cutting kind of shot v shot style. So I think the Felliniesque elements are much more apparent in the Italian side of the story which is good because those two sides of the city were supposed to be quite distinct.”

Martin Connor cites some teen films as an original inspiration, although he went on to develop the editing style as the different moods and feelings of the film emerged through the performances.

“In pre production we looked at a number of films that were relevant, especially at the teen film genre. Films that encapsulated the balance between comedy and drama. There’s a different type of pacing for those films, a slightly punchier momentary use of shots, not so lingering, tending to cut more on the line and more directly on the reaction. Then when the footage came in I think the tone of the film was a bit more serious than some of our touchstone films, a little bit more reflective. So I changed as we went along just reacting to what was on the screen...

The soundtrack has also been designed to underscore the different emotions and experiences of the three generations of Alibrandi women.

Kershaw says,

“It was essential for us to create a soundtrack that reflected and resonated with Josie’s world. So we were drawn to female voices and the energy, drive and music of Janet (from both Spiderbait and Happyland), Adalita (from Magic Dirt), Chrissie Amphlett (in collaboration with Dave Faulkner) and Cerys (from Catatonia)”.

Says Alan John of the composed score,

“The script seemed to need 3 things – irony, Italian flavours and emotional punch and that to me seemed to be evoked in Nino Rota compositions. The added bonus in drawing from the music of Italy in the 50’s was that it matches Josie’s ironic take on things in the present...it links those two worlds in a comic and emotional way”.

LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI is a film of firsts. To begin with, it is Kate Woods’ debut as a feature film director.

An established television director, whose credits include the award winning SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR’S BABIES, Kate says

“Telling a story on film is completely different from television. It’s much more intricate on film - the frame is obviously much bigger so there’s more detail in every frame. You don’t cover it in quite the same way. Television is more about recording dialogue between actors, whereas in film that is actually the least important thing. It’s a much more visual event.”

Says Executive Producer TRISTRAM MIALL on the search for the ideal director:

“We felt very much that it needed to be directed by a woman. So it became a process of working through the sensibilities of different women directors to see who fitted best - who loved this story, who wanted to do it, who was available, who was busting to prove something... because that’s always a good ingredient to have.”

The cast and crew are full of praise for Kate.

“Kate is very open,’ says Anthony LaPaglia. ‘She has a really strong vision of what she wants to do. She is very approachable and has a great sense of humour - that combination is fantastic.”

Greta Scacchi agrees, noting that it is actually quite rare to work with a director such as Kate who really knows what they want.

“You can hear in her tone of voice when she says ‘cut’ whether she’s satisfied or not. It’s very reassuring for an actor to feel that what you are putting in is appreciated - and with such conviction.”

Production Designer Stephen Curtis:

“She is very, very precise about the craft of directing so it was always a pleasure.”

It is also Robyn Kershaw’s first experience as Producer of a feature film, having spent a number of years producing live performing arts.

Anthony LaPaglia says,

“Robyn Kershaw is probably one of the best producers I’ve ever worked with in terms of understanding actors”

Tristram Miall says

“Robyn came to me as an attachment from the film school (AFTRS) on CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION and I just thought she was so marvellous and her taste and her casting ideas were so good... so I quickly talked her into staying with me and not going back to the film school. Robyn is producing it and I’m Executive producing. So it’s a joy for me because I just get to come along and see the rushes and think, ‘that looks great’.”

That Kate, Robyn, many of the actors and other key members of the team behind this movie are first timers in feature films seems appropriate given that, at heart, this is a coming of stage story told with freshness, authenticity and true enthusiasm.

“I like the resonance of all of us coming of age in that sense,” says Robyn. “Kate will most certainly come of age as a feature film director with this film. She is an extraordinary director, amazing. And fantastic with actors. I’ve been friends with many actors who have raved about her over the years before we actually worked together. I feel really thrilled for her that she’s got this opportunity and she’s doing it so brilliantly.”

Martin Connor, as a first time feature film Editor, says

“There were so many first timers on the film that I think we all really wanted to make a splash with it. So that was our intent as a group, to try and make that happen. The camaraderie came out of our desire to realise this really good screenplay.”

ALIBRANDI BIOGS

GRETA SCACCHI Christina Alibrandi

One of Australia’s best known actresses, Greta Scacchi was the first choice for the role of Christina.

Her international career to date includes acclaimed performances in film and television as well as on the stage. She has worked with directors such as James Ivory, Robert Altman and Gillian Armstrong and has won several awards, including an Emmy in 1996 and the Italian Visconti Award for contributions to European Film and Theatre.

Greta’s performance is enriched by her strong connection to her character, Christina.

She says, “I was drawn to the part of the story that is about family life – Christina’s relationship with her mother and her daughter. Those three women really love each other yet they treat each other so badly. I think that is very human and I think it is very rare to find a script that is so true to life on day to day issues.

“It all seems very familiar to me - I have a daughter who is very strong and loves to criticise me, and yet I know she also admires me. You wouldn’t think it, the way she gives me a mouthful sometimes!”

Greta’s film roles include WHITE MISCHIEF, EMMA, JEFFERSON IN PARIS, THE PLAYER, FIRES WITHIN and PRESUMED INNOCENT. She has also appeared in several Italian films including PAURA E AMORE directed by Margarethe von Trotta, LA DONNA DELLA LUNA directed by Vito Zagarrio and GOOD MORNING BABYLON directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.

She is a seasoned stage performer, having appeared in numerous plays throughout Australia and the UK. Her roles include Yelena in Chekov’s UNCLE VANYA in the West End, the title role in MISS JULIE and Cecilia in SIMPATICO for Sydney Theatre Company, and Nora in A DOLL’S HOUSE for Hole in the Wall Theatre Company, Perth.

ANTHONY LAPAGLIA Michael Andretti

Anthony LaPaglia returned to his native Australia for the first time in four years to play the role of Michael.

“About two or three years ago, I reached the point in my career when I started making decisions based on what I liked as opposed to what would be good for my career, and they are two completely different things,” he says.

“As soon as I started doing that ‘surprise!’ things got a lot better because you can actually commit yourself and put your heart into your work more when you choose the things that you really respond to.

“This is a beautiful story. I related to a lot of it growing up in Adelaide in an ethnic family. Even though the main character is a girl, I really related to the kinds of things she was going through. I just thought that it was one of those rare scripts where you really cared about everyone in the movie.”

Anthony commenced his career on the Australian stage, and since relocating to the US has enjoyed a phenomenally successful career in film and television as well as in theatre.

In 1998, he won a Tony Award for his performance in VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, directed by Michael Mayer. Other stage roles include ON THE OPEN ROAD on Broadway, ROSE TATTOO at NYC’s Lincoln Center, and CHRISTIE IN LOVE for LA Theater Works.

He has appeared in some of the best known TV shows of recent times, including THE TWILIGHT ZONE, MAGNUM PI, MURDER ONE, THE A TEAM and TRAPPER JOHN MD as well as his role as Leonard Hill in NITTI: THE ENFORCER.

His film career is equally distinguished, having worked with noted directors including Alan Alda in BETSY’S WEDDING, James Ivory in SLAVES OF NEW YORK, John Landis in INNOCENT MURDERER, Joel Schumacher in THE CLIENT and Spike Lee’s latest feature SUMMER OF SAM.

Immediately before performing in LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI, Anthony appeared in Woody Allen’s forthcoming new feature, SWEET AND LOWDOWN.

ELENA COTTA Nonna Katia

Elena Cotta lives in Rome, where she is a highly regarded and critically acclaimed actor in theatre and television.

“As soon as Kate and Robyn offered me the part in Rome, even before that when I read the script, I thought ‘I’m going to do this part.’ I felt deeply inside that I was going to perform this role, a role that I think is fantastic because this woman, apart from having a lot of pain, has strength and a sense of humour. She is beautiful to interpret and to perform.

“The role of superstition is very strong in this woman. It’s also very strong in most people although few would acknowledge that. In Katia, it is a strong factor and is obviously linked to her tradition. She wants the grand daughter to be able to break this curse, or what she thinks is a curse.

“This role is very challenging in a dramatic sense because of the gamut of emotions it goes through and the importance of revealing this secret after such a long time, after years and years of denial.”

PIA MIRANDA Josephine Alibrandi

One of director Kate Woods’ primary concerns with casting the film was to find fresh new talent for the young roles. Josie Alibrandi is Pia Miranda’s first major role in film, but is likely to be the first of many.

Says producer Robyn Kershaw, “Pia displays a great maturity and focus about the work that goes way beyond her experience, and way beyond her years. I feel that we really needed a miracle like her in order to pull off this extraordinary story.”

Pia gained her Bachelor of Arts majoring in Performance Studies from Victoria University of Technology in 1995 before commencing her career as an actress.

She is perhaps best known for her ongoing role as Karen Oldman in televisions’ NEIGHBOURS, and her CV also includes appearances on AUSTRALIA’S MOST WANTED, THE SNOW SHOW and CATWALK. In addition, she has appeared in and provided voice overs for a number of advertisements. She has most recently appeared as Hedwig in THE WILD DUCK, a State Theatre Company of South Australia/Glen Street Theatre production directed by Jeremy Sims.

Sharing an Italian Australian heritage with the character Josie, Pia has brought a great vitality, warmth and immediacy to the role.

“I went to all the real Italian functions with my father’s family - I had a Nonna as well, the same as Josie - and then I had the really Australian things on my mother’s side. When you are young, it can be quite confusing and then as you get older you learn to embrace it, and that’s why it relates back to this story.”

Despite this being her first role in a feature film, Pia says ‘when I started, everyone was aware that it was my first film so they were really helped me out. Everyone was so supportive that I felt quite at ease with it when I thought I’d be much more panicy!’

KICK GURRY Jacob Coote

“The really good thing about playing a role from a book is to actually meet the writer. I just so wanted to meet Melina who wrote the book,” says Kick Gurry. “I don’t read a great deal, but I picked up LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI at 11 o’clock at night and I couldn’t put it down, I read until 4 in the morning. I thought it was fantastic. I think there is a trait in Josie that everyone can relate to. And everyone’s got their own character they relate to when they are reading it”.

Kick has appeared in the feature films BOOTMEN, directed by Dein Perry (creator of the international hit stage production TAP DOGS) and in THE THIN RED LINE, directed by Terence Mallick, as well as in numerous short student films produced at the Victorian College of the Arts.

On working for the legendarily reclusive Mallick, Kick says

“I got in as an extra and then, I don’t know what happened, I ended up doing a scene for Terence, he was directing me and stuff. It was really exciting meeting him and being directed by him, but if my name is in the credits it will probably be on the screen for longer than I will!”

His television credits include WILDSIDE, HALIFAX FP, STATE CORONER, RAW FM and THE WORST DAY OF MY LIFE.

MATTHEW NEWTON John Barton

Matthew Newton graduated from NIDA in 1998 and has performed in a wide variety of roles in theatre, television, film and musical theatre.

He has appeared in a number of popular television shows including FLYING DOCTORS, THE MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER and CHANCES and has played the role of David Kennedy in the film MY MOTHER FRANK .

His stage credits include LE DISPUTE for Sydney Theatre Company, INTO THE WOODS for Elston Hocking and Woods and the lead role in NODDY: A TOYLAND MUSICAL. He received a nomination for Best New Talent in the 1996 Mo Awards.

“John Barton is the school captain of a large private boys’ school in Sydney,” Matthew says of his role in LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI. “ I think the pressure that he places on himself manifests itself in outward cool, the outward “I’m together” and “I’m Mr Wholesome” but not all is as it seems in the state of Denmark. He has this really strange relationship with Josie where they both have an affection for each other but nothing ever develops because of stuff that blocks him and the insecurity that blocks her. I think essentially he’s the kind of person who tries to hide the demons with this air of calm and security.”

LEEANNA WALSMAN Carly Bishop

Leeanna Walsman says of her character, Carly Bishop,

“Carly’s one of the girls who’s got everything money can buy, and she uses it! So she’s a bitch, but I think she’s one of those people who’s really afraid that someone else might have an edge on her, so she’s always got to try and get everyone down to size. You have to like her because she is just so over the top...but she’s cool and she’s bad but she’s fun to play!”

This is Leeanna’s second appearance in a feature, following her role as Shana in BLACKROCK . She attended the Australian Theatre for Young People and workshops at NIDA, and has since appeared in numerous television productions including roles in HEARTBREAK HIGH, WILDSIDE, BIG SKY and POLICE RESCUE.

Her stage credits include CHASING THE DRAGON, LE DISPUTE and ATTEMPTS ON HER LIFE for Sydney Theatre Company and CLOSER for the State Theatre Company of South Australia.

KATE WOODS Director

Following on from a distinguished career in television spanning nearly 20 years, directing her first feature film was a natural progression for Kate Woods.

She has directed some of Australia’s most popular and acclaimed television shows, and is especially known for her long and productive association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

For the ABC, she has directed episodes of WILDSIDE, RAW FM, CORELLI, JANUS, HEARTLAND, POLICE RESCUE and GP. In 1996, she directed the mini series SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR’S BABIES which received an Australian Film Institute award nomination for Best Mini Series, as well as winning awards in the Best Television Actor and Actress categories.

Other awards include an AFI for Best Episode in a Drama Series for PHOENIX, an ATOM Awards Children’s Audience Vote for Best Children’s Television Drama for ESCAPE FROM JUPITER (a Film Australia/NHK Japan co production), and a Human Rights Award in 1995 for the ‘Fit to Plead’ episode of JANUS.

ROBYN KERSHAW Producer

Robyn Kershaw has worked extensively in live performing arts throughout Australia, producing the work of Australia’s most prominent composers, designers, directors and actors, including Geoffrey Rush, Toni Collette, Lindy Davies, Carl Vine, Catherine Martin, Brian Thomson, Barrie Kosky, Neil Armfield, Louis Nowra, Jack Davis and Katherine Thomson.

While General Manager of Belvoir Street Theatre, she produced a number of original theatre works including the nationally successful DIARY OF A MADMAN starring Geoffrey Rush, and the internationally acclaimed director and writer Mike Leigh’s only Australian production, GREEK TRAGEDY, which toured to the Edinburgh Festival.

She has also produced some world premieres of stage plays which have since been developed into feature films including DEAD HEART by Nicholas Parsons, AFTERSHOCKS by Paul Brown and NWCAC, and RADIANCE and COSI, both by Louis Nowra. Robyn also mounted Belvoir Street Theatre’s tour to the USSR - the only Australian theatre company to have performed there.

In 1997, Robyn and Tristram Miall created Miall and Kershaw Productions and formed a joint venture with Beyond International to develop feature films.

MELINA MARCHETTA Writer

Melina is the author of the novel and the screenplay “Looking for Alibrandi”.

The novel “Looking for Alibrandi” was first published in Australia by Penguin in 1992 and is now to be published in Denmark, Italy, Germany, Spain Norway and Canada. The novel has picked up numerous awards including in 1993 Children’s book of the year (Older readers); the Australian Multicultural Literature Award (senior award); the Koala Award (Kids Own Australia Literature Award – Secondary Reader’s section) and the Variety Club Young People’s 3M Talking Book of the Year Award. In 1994 the book won the WAYRA (Western Australian Young Readers Award and was also commended for the NSW and Victorian Family Therapy Associations Annual Family Awards for children’s books.

Melina has presented various papers at Writer’s Festivals including the International Year of Tolerance (touring exhibition) and Festivals throughout Australia. Her writing for the stage includes a commission for Doppio Testra. She currently teaches at a secondary school in Sydney.

TRISTRAM MIALL Executive Producer

Since joining ABC Television as a staging assistant in 1970, Tristram Miall has become one of the Australian film industry’s most influential figures.

In addition to his own career as a TV and documentary director, Tristram has produced many films - including the international hit STRICTLY BALLROOM - and has worked for various industry bodies including Film Australia, SBS Independent and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) where he is currently Chairman of Council.

Tristram has been Producer or Executive Producer on numerous films including A LITTLE BIT OF SOUL and CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION , both directed by Peter Duncan, and BILLY’S HOLIDAY , directed by Richard Wherrett.

While Executive Producer at Film Australia, he oversaw production of many films including the documentary CANE TOADS , CUSTODY, PREJUDICE and he produced MALPRACTICE, which was selected for the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. Other credits as a producer include the documentaries SEARCHING, directed by Nicola Woolmington, and GUMSHOE.

His 1992 hit production STRICTLY BALLROOM , which propelled director Baz Luhrmann to international fame, received several awards including the Cannes

Film Festival ‘Prix de Jeunesse’ the Sydney Film Festival People’s Choice Award, the Film Critics’ Circle Award, various international film awards and eight Australian Film Institute Awards.

TOBY OLIVER Cinematographer

Toby Oliver started his career in cinematography in 1986, shooting student films at Swinburne Film and TV School in Melbourne. After graduating in 1988, he continued to work in many low budget short films as well as television programs, corporate videos, music clips and commercials. He has also worked on projects combining film with live theatre for Pork Chop Productions.

LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI is his third feature film credit as cinematographer, following EVERYNIGHT... EVERYNIGHT in 1994 and FRESH AIR in 1998. He also shot Gregor Jordan’s award winning short film STITCHED.

Toby has won awards including a Gold Award from the Australian Cinematographers Society Awards NSW for STITCHED in 1997 and THE FLUTEMAKER in 1995, and a Silver in 1994 for EVERYNIGHT...EVERYNIGHT.

MARTIN CONNOR Editor

This is Martin Connor’s first credit as Editor of a feature film. His extensive background in picture editing for television includes 26 episodes of the television series BIG SKY and the documentaries ACCESS ALL AREAS and POLICE RESCUE IN ACTION.

He has also edited many short films including FINAL CUT, BOY, CRIMES OF FASHION and WHAT’S THE DEAL, which was directed by Robert Mac and selected for screening at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. In addition, he has been Assistant Picture Editor on the features CHILDREN OF THE REVOLUTION directed by Paul Duncan, and LITTLE WOMEN, directed by Gillian Armstrong.

Credits as Sound Designer include POLICE RESCUE IN ACTION, THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN COMEDY and A BIG COUNTRY.

STEPHEN CURTIS Production Designer

Stephen Curtis graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1978, and has gone on to become one of Australia’s most prolific designers for stage and screen.

He was production designer on the features BEDEVIL directed by Tracey Moffatt, BREATHING UNDER WATER directed by Susan Dermody and TWELFTH NIGHT , directed by Neil Armfield, as well as short films SMALL ROOM CONFESSIONS directed by Belinda Chayko and NIGHT CRIES directed by Tracey Moffatt.

Stephen has also designed over 60 productions for most of Australia’s leading theatre companies and organisations. The breadth of his experience encompasses everything from PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE, written by Steve Martin and directed by Neil Armfield, to BANANAS IN PYJAMAS LIVE ON STAGE for the Gordon Frost Organisation. Other notable credits for the stage include TAMING OF THE SHREW, KAFKA DANCES, FURIOUS and THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR for Sydney Theatre Company, THE VENETIAN TWINS for Queensland Theatre Company and THE POPULAR MECHANICALS 1 & 2, directed by Geoffrey Rush, for Belvoir Street Theatre.

He was also Production Designer on WHITSUNDAY and THE TURN OF THE SCREW for The Australian Opera, and NEARLY BELOVED for Sydney Dance Company.

In addition to his applied design experience, Stephen Curtis has lectured in design at NIDA, University of Technology Sydney, and Mitchell College Bathurst.

MICHAEL WILKINSON Costume Designer

Michael Wilkinson graduated from NIDA in 1993, and has already worked for some of Australia’ leading companies including The Australian Opera, Sydney Theatre Company and Australian Dance Theatre.

In addition, he has been Costume Designer on the feature film TRUE LOVE & CHAOS, directed by Stavros Efthymiou, and Costume Design Assistant on PASSION directed by Peter Duncan.

Michael designed set and costumes for the Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre production of POSSESSED, which has toured widely, and costumes for Dein Perry’s STEEL CITY, the follow up to the enormously successful TAP DOGS.

His costume design credits include ARIADNE AUF NAXOS and RINALDO for The Australian Opera, MONGRELS, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? and MIRACLE CITY for Sydney Theatre Company, and set and costumes for Bell Shakespeare Company’s production of THE TEMPEST, and SPLENDID’S for Belvoir Street Theatre.

ALAN JOHN Composer

Alan John gained his Bachelor of Arts with first class honours in music from Sydney University in 1980. In the following year, he abandoned his proposed MA thesis on the operas of Benjamin Britten to take up the position of part time

dramaturg at Sydney’s Nimrod theatre. Ever since, he has been in constant demand in theatre, film and television.

His recent screen projects include the ABC TV series CLOSE-UPS, the telemovie ‘Naked’ as part of the CORAL ISLAND as part of the NAKED series, EDENS LOST and a documentary on the life of Patrick White. Feature film credits include selection and arrangement of music for TRAVELLING NORTH and composition of original music for TWELFTH NIGHT.

Recent theatre credits include Composer on THE ALCHEMIST and THE GOVENOR’S FAMILY, both directed by Neil Armfield, and TWELFTH NIGHT directed by Adam Cook.

Alan has also created several musical theatre works: with writer John Romeril, the musical JONAH JONES; with Nick Enright ORLANDO ROURKE; and with Dennis Watkins the opera THE EIGHTH WONDER.

Alan’s original soundtrack score for LOOKING FOR ALIBRANDI is complimented by a selection of popular songs which have been chosen to underscore the generational differences between Josie, Christina and Katia.

PAUL CHARLIER Sound Designer

Paul Charlier has an extensive career in sound design and original music composition for film, television, radio, theatre and exhibitions.

Recent sound design credits include THE JUDAS KISS for Belvoir Street Theatre, which was directed by Neil Armfield and toured nationally, as well as BLACK MARY, THE GOVERNOR’S FAMILY and NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN.

He composed original music for television features such as AFTERSHOCKS, ONE AUSTRALIA and PIECES IN THE PUZZLE, and for the film FRIENDS AND ENEMIES, which received AFI nominations for Best Documentary and Best Non Feature Sound in 1987. Recent original music credits in theatre include KILLING AND CHILLING MY ANNABEL LEE for Griffin Theatre Company, THE SEAGULL for Belvoir Street Theatre and Stalker Theatre’s BLOOD VESSEL, which received its world premiere performance at the 1998 Adelaide International Arts Festival ahead of further national and international touring during 1999.

He also composed original music and was sound designer for a trio of audio visual installations produced by Dennis Del Favero and the Federation of Italian Migrant Workers and their Families, LINEA DI FUOCO, MONDI DIVERSI and QUEGLI ULTIMI MOMENTI.

12. Urban Cinefile Location Report:

Urban Cinefile did a location report, available here , backed up to the WM here :

Andrew L. Urban talks to the filmmakers during the shooting of Looking for Alibrandi, in the very house where Josie Alibrandi's 'Nonna' used to live.

Set in a suburban Sydney house, Looking for Alibrandi explores how three generations of Italian-Australian women - mother, daughter, grandmother - live together in a hothouse atmosphere of love, support and dramas on an operatic scale. Greta Scacchi plays Christina Alibrandi, mother to the teenage Josie (Pia Miranda), who meets her estranged father Michael Andretti (Anthony La Paglia) for the first time. Greta Scacchi is at her new, mature and confident best; Pia Miranda is remarkably fluent and nuanced; Anthony LaPaglia is superbly controlled; and Kick Gurry is an absolute standout as Jacob Coote, the irreverent, more-to-him-than-meets-the-eye captain of the local high school.

The novel is dedicated to grandmother 'Nonna' Alibrandi (played by Elena Cotta) whose house in Sydney's Fivedock was used as the set for much of the film's action.

"After looking at several other places," says producer Robyn Kershaw, "we found this was perfect, complete with a back yard that has fruit and vegetables growing and it's double fronted, it's been renovated very specifically by Sicilian migrants - plus it's right under the flightpath to Sydney airport," which generates some of the dramatic 'atmos' for the lives within.

Josie is 17, in her final year at a Catholic college, and strong headed; her life is turned upside down at this crucial stage, meeting her father and discovering some shattering and astonishing things about her family heritage. She also falls in love (with Mr Wrong) and for the first time, encounters grief.

Looking for Alibrandi is expected to reap the harvest of the best selling book on which it is based - and which has had numerous translated versions published. Executive Producer Tristram Miall ( Strictly Ballroom ) first optioned the rights to the book in 1992, convinced it was ideal material for a film. "It's a story told with such freshness," he says, "everybody has remarked on how well they connect with it."

Melina Marchetta's award winning novel sold over 200,000 copies in Australia (blockbuster figures), and is also published in Canada, the US and Germany, among others. "It seems to especially connect with the 14 to 19 year olds," says Miall.

There are aspects of Italian culture depicted in the film that may seem quaint to today's urbanised Italians but these are the migrants who brought with them those aspects of their culture and have retained them. For the characters in the film (and many others like them), they are the remains of their 'old country' culture. For example, the family ritual of tomato squashing is recognised as a part of older traditions and no Australian (nor anyone else) would regard this as a typical event in today's Italian households around the cities.

As one of our critics, Lee Gough, says: "Looking For Alibrandi beautifully explores multiculturalism, family, class, and adolescence in Australia. First time feature film director Kate Woods has successfully avoided the trap that a great many Australian directors fall into: the easy lure of caricature and parody. Instead, thanks largely to novelist Melina Marchetta's tight screenplay, she has delivered fully rounded characters in situations brimming with reality. Producing a film such as this is fraught with danger as it aims directly at teenagers, many of whom have read and loved the book. Judging by the tears rolling down the faces and knowing smiles of the teens in the audience at this screening, Woods and Marchetta have satisfied a most critical audience. Which is not to say it doesn't speak to adults or those who have not read the book. It does."

The adaptation process was long and complex, fraught with the difficulties of translating internal issues and private thoughts from the written word. "It took a long time to get it right," says Miall. Miall invited Robyn Kershaw to produce (they had worked together on Children of the Revolution ) and agreed that narration was the key to a successful adaptation. "Narration with attitude . . .and Clueless played a big part in pointing the way," says Kershaw.

"It's a comedy with attitude," she says. "And it'll make you cry as well," adds Miall.

But easy it isn't, as director Kate Woods points out. "The pictures are as big as the wall - it's not a box in the corner of the room...television is representation, but film is evocation. So it's a very different approach, even if the process is similar." Woods says she sees the film as drama with comedic moments. "The whole story comes out the head of this teenage girl - exaggerated a view as it is, of course."

13. Urban Cinefile - interview with Greta Scacchi:

As well as the location report, Urban Cinefile did an interview with Greta Scacchi, under the header Looking for Identity , available here , backed up to the WM here .

 She was born in Italy, brought up in England, made to feel at home in Australia: Greta Scacchi, who plays an Italian-Australian in Looking for Alibrandi, tells Andrew L. Urban why she feels that way.

Ushered into the Sydney hotel room where Greta Scacchi is spending a few hours receiving the press, I am greeted by a surprised smile: "I remember you!" she exclaims, clearly not having remembered my name, but recognising my face. Considering ten years have passed between meetings, I am surprised: it's one thing me remembering a midnight interview with Greta Scacchi on the island of Phuket while she was filming Turtle Beach , but it's quite another for her to remember it. "Was I moaning and complaining?" she asks, still smiling at the memory.

Perhaps that was it; she had been having a bad day and bad night shoot, and it - rather than me - stuck in her memory, and was jogged by my face. Maybe I have a jogging face. In any event, it broke the ice and Scacchi - in blue jeans and a casual top - plonked herself on the floor on her knees, legs apart and elbows leaning on the posh little glass coffee table for support. I sat on the two seater opposite her, Sydney's Hyde Park going autumnal through the windows behind me.

It is nearly lunch time, and soon she would order room service (Thai tom yum soup to start . . .) before packing up and heading off to start rehearsals for the ABC TV mini series, The Farm (playing an Australian farmer's wife) with director Kate Woods, who had directed her in Looking for Alibrandi, Scacchi's first Australian film for a while. But the professional reunification was a coincidence - although Scacchi says she was prompted to take the job when she heard Woods was to direct. "She's very ambitious to have the highest standards and get the best results. Working with her on Alibrandi, she had so much detail, with such planning. It's rare to find directors who've visualised so much and worked out the way to tell the story."

Looking for Alibrandi first attracted Scacchi on its publication as a book. "I should have read the book," she says, "I had bought it when it was published and was carrying round with me all over the place. Of course I'd been interested because it is an Italian - Australian story."

Although it struck a chord with her, it was not those personal issues that prompted her to buy the book. "I am always fascinated by these transmutations of culture . . . I was so intrigued when we were researching for the show, Waterfront, and working with all those actors who are from the Italian community in Melbourne. Their grandparents came from Italy - and they were still speaking Italian. Here in Australia, people can keep their national identity, they don't have ditch it."

Her own circumstances are very different, she hastens to point out. "My family connection is North Italian, these were Sicilians and although I shot a film in Sicily once I still probably wouldn't connect so closely with that. And they make their tomato sauce in a completely different way," she says smiling, in a reference to the tomato squashing scene in Looking for Alibrandi.

As we talk about nationality and culture - subjects which fascinate her for personal reasons - Scacchi reveals her thoughtful side, and also something of her curious cross-cultural background. "I carry an Italian passport and an Australian passport. I don't have a British one… " She feels more "comfortable" since getting her Australian passport, which she did six years ago, "as soon as Italy and Australia had an agreement about dual nationality." She had always had an Italian passport - her father was Italian, mother English - and had always assumed she would get a British passport when she turned 18, "because I'd been on my mother's British passport."

But while her application for British citizenship was being processed at the Home Office, Margaret Thatcher came to power, "and she decided that all females born abroad of a foreign father could never become British," she explains in her quiet, neutral-English voice, calmly, but clearly with some feeling. "I was sooooo pissed off! I appealed and all they were interest in was the nationality of my father's father and his father . . .and if there was nay sign of Englishness on my paternal side, to merit me getting a British passport. The fact that my mother was English of Viking stock going back generations, made no difference to Thatcher England! So when I snatched my passport back from them and thought, bugger you, who wants to be British anyway….I found that I liked that status. And I've never applied again. I'm not interested." That said, Scacchi is based in England, although she comes to Australia "a lot." And the irony is that with the EEC, her Italian passport gives her free access to Britain - more so than her Australian passport, which, if she used it for travel to Britain, would require a visa.

But all of this talk of a passport is nothing more than Scacchi's perception of the usefulness of having as many travel documents as possible. They have little to do with the feeling of belonging or a sense of national patriotism. She was four when her mother took young Greta to England, but she finished her schooling, from age 15, in Perth. "Most of my growing identity was in England, so that's probably the biggest part of me. But I feel I can disown it at a whim, and I like that."

My mother influenced me - it was summer holidays with my dad, who was a cad and a bounder, so his influence was very transient. But when I'm in Italy I feel like a foreigner; and when I'm in England I feel like a foreigner. Partly when it's convenient for me - like 'Thatcher's not mine…I'm Italian, you can't blame me for her!' And all those childhood years I always felt . . . different. That's probably quite a snobbish thing to feel…."

And as early as eight, Scacchi recognised that cultures were more than just different languages. "I noticed then that when I was in Italy on a visit, it wasn't just the words that were different - it was the thoughts that were different, the mentality. I didn't just say things differently in Italian, I was expressing myself in a different way, and it was a different part of me. I identified that a different part of me came to the surface…"

But when she arrived in Australia at 15, Scacchi for the first time didn't feel like a foreigner - yet she was in the strangest land in her life to that point. "I feel it's full of variety and slip into that. There's such a range of cultural identities that I no longer feel I'm an outsider; I can be one of them."

14. Extended synopsis with cast details and spoilers:

The film looks at a year in the life of Josephine ‘Josie’ Alibrandi (Pia Miranda) as she’s studying for her HSC in year twelve on a scholarship at an elite Catholic school in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

After the opening “Tomato Day” sequence in which we meet Josie’s family and friends (see above), Josie heads off to Bondi with Sera Conti (Leanne Carlow) and Anna Selicic (Diane Viduka), which enrages her mother Christina (Greta Scacchi), though she eventually calms down.

Then it’s off to St Martha’s Catholic girls’ school where Josie sees friend Sera arrive with her boyfriend Angelo Pezzini (Salvatore Cocco), and as they exchange a passionate kiss, Josie jokes Sera's dad thinks his daughter's the Virgin Mary.

Next Anna arrives with her father in a tow truck, followed by Carly Bishop (Leeanna Walsman), who Josie imagines arriving as a teen magazine front page fashion model with bodyguards and admiring fans. Sera thinks Carly's father is a fucking racist.

In the school chapel, Sister Louise (Kerry Walker) leads the girls in a hymn, as Josie explains in voice over that she’s vice-captain, “which is kind of like being runner-up at the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant." She gets to take over if Carly gets ill or becomes involved in a sex scandal.

Josie gets a religious card and imagines St Barbara having her head chopped off in animated style.

In class, Sister Louise pings Josie for having a teen magazine, and justifies it as featuring everything that insults her intelligence (including Carly on the cover). Later in her office, Sister Louise gives her a dressing down and warns her she might lose her scholarship. She should make sure her priorities are right.

Later a school bus pulls up, and as the girls prepare food to welcome the boys, from it emerges the ethereal looking John Barton (Matthew Newton). As Sister Louise drones on, John comes up alongside Josie and explains he’s not debating this year, he’s joining the Young Libs. Josie goes into a fantasy where he’s the Prime Minister and she’s the Shadow Attorney-General, while Sister Louise and Carly are reduced to being members of the press.

Carly wakes her by offering her a tidbit, and when she remarks it’s ironical who she has to serve, Josie jokes to John that they should be impressed she knows the meaning of ironical.

Later Sera wants to know why Josie doesn’t just fuck the guy and get it over and done with.

John’s politician father Mr Barton (Geoff Morrell) is waiting to give him a lift. Cruelly, the dad offers Carly a lift.

Josie and her friends have to rely on the train to get home to the west, where Josie explains that the ritual of going to her Nonna’s every afternoon drives her insane. Her Nonna (Elena Cotta) has a spy ring which tracks her every move and reports by phone.

As usual Josie bickers with her Nonna, who complains she talks to her like a dog in the street. She deserves respect, then tells her that her mother is cursed and so is Josie. So it’s all the fault of Nonna, Josie says, and her grandmother tells her to go home, she doesn’t want her there.

As she leaves, Josie bumps into Michael Andretti (Anthony LaPaglia) at the door, and by the pauses, recognises a family resemblance. She races away.

At home Christina wonders what Josie did to Nonna - she’s hysterical. Josie races to the bathroom, and Christina realises he - Josie's long-absent father - was there.

Later at Central, Anna and Josie are wondering how he found out. Angelo and Sera pick them up in a hoon grunt car, and drop them at a school debate in the rear vestibule at the Opera House.

Josie speaks, and then she’s followed by the crass Jacob Coote (Kick Gurry), captain of westie Cook High, who jokes to Josie about how he rooted for years without a condom, and suggests he’ll follow her lead talking about risk, by showing the assembled horde of students how to put on a condom. Instead he talks about voting, and a man wearing a Nick Cave T-shirt being shot while protesting, and maybe not getting shot while doing politics isn't such a bad thing.

John thinks he’s not too bad, but Josie says he didn’t do anything for her.

Outside, John’s with his dad, Carly and the Premier. Jacob jokes it’s a pity she’s just a vice captain, it could have been great between them, as Josie goes into a fantasy about Carly and John getting married on the Opera House steps, confetti flying.

Cut to Nonna’s home and Nonna and mother preparing an Easter feast, with Patrizia, (Rosa Dimarte), Riccardo (Domenico Dimarte) and others arriving. Feathers are ruffled when Michael arrives and kisses Christina on both cheeks. Josie refuses to shake his hand, saying she’s a scholar because she takes after her mother.

Outside the banquet proceeds and a plane flies overhead and Josie remains indignant at her father’s presence.

Inside an angry Michael confronts Christina about having Josie, and Josie joins in the argument, saying he makes her puke. Be angry or rude, but don’t pretend she’s not there.

Nonna arrives in the awkward silence, and later Nonna goes into a rant about Christina disgracing her by sleeping with Michael.

That night, Josie is forced to share Nonna’s double bed, with chamber pot and rosary, and then a photo album, which sets Nonna off about the old days, showing Josie a photo of Nonna at 17, and Christina and Josie at the same age. “Triplets” . Her mother called her a gypsy out of control, and five men came to ask her for her hand in marriage. It was her father who chose Francesco, and she was very lonely in Australia. She was in a place where she did not belong.

Cut to a game of rugby. John and his father are in the crowd, and John asks her what she’s doing around these insane fanatics. Her cousin Robert (Michael Gallina) manages to score a try.

John’s dad comes up and remembers Josie as third speaker in the winning team, before heading off to a meeting. John jokes that was Senator Barton in an emotional mood.

John reveals he’s a realist, destined for a career in politics - even his great-grandfather was the backer of the first Liberal PM. It’s called tradition. “Yeah, tell me about it,” Josie says, with John apologising for being in a shit mood because his dad went through his mail.

John makes a little speech mocking the expectations of his father for his son leading the country back to glory.

Josie asks him if he’s going to the Red Hill dance, as Robert scores a field goal.

Josie gets Nonna to make her a dress for the school social (actually entered at the NSW State Library).

Josie promises to God to say the rosary five times with Nonna if He’ll just get John to ask her for the first dance.

Jacob’s hunky friend Anton Valavic (Tyrone Lara) asks Anna to dance, and then Jacob gets Josie on to the dance floor.

A techno number is followed by a sentimental slow dance, “make hay not war” , and Josie and Jacob get close, while John sits at a table watching.

In the toilets, Carly is bitchy to Josie. After the dance, John regrets not asking her for a dance. Anton offers to drive everyone, but Josie tries for a lift with John. Instead John gives her an affectionate peck and Jacob offers to take her home.

As they walk down George Street, Josie is indignant Jacob has danced with her for seven and a half songs and rubbed his body up against hers, and still has to ask her name. She’s going home with the wrong guy… in a panel van?! Guess again, says Jacob, as he shows off his motor bike.

Josie points out her dress is made from material in her Glory Box. How does he expect her to sit on his bike in a Family Heirloom? Jacob gives her a leather jacket and a helmet, and after she denies him the honour of seeing her undies as she awkwardly gets on the bike, they hoon off across the Anzac bridge, with Josie terrified and exhilarated.

When they arrive, Jacob confesses his mum is dead. Josie says she’d die if her mum died. Jacob says you don’t die, you just get really angry, and then after you get angry, you hurt a lot, and then one day you remember something she did or said, and all of a sudden you laugh instead of cry.

Jacob looks at her home and realises she’s not rich, even though she goes to a snob school. If it wasn’t for the scholarship, she’d be at the Catholic equivalent of Cook High.

He begins to lean in on her, but then says she’s not his type, not as an insult or anything. Then as he walks away, he asks if she’d go out. Josie says he’d have to meet her mother. He doesn’t meet mothers. She doesn’t go out with guys who don’t meet mothers. Jacob thinks it was a dumb idea anyway.

Josie calls him back in a flirty way to give him his leather jacket, and he says he was being a dickhead. He’ll meet her mother.

Cut to the University of Sydney’s old main quadrangle, as Josie reassures viewers she isn’t losing sight of what she’s always wanted …she can’t wait to be there with John.

John asks about his competition at Cook High. Josie says she can’t make up her mind, she doesn’t think he’s her type. John jokes it’s boring if you stick to your own type; Josie calls him a dickhead. He tells her to stop flattering him and races her to the arch.

Cut to Christina doing Josie’s hair and asking her if Jacob has a car.

Josie and Christina are both startled when westie singleted Jacob presents at the door.

Josie cuts mum off by saying Jacob’s mum’s dead and he’s got no-one to sew for him.

George street and they’re off to Village Roadshow. Josie suggests ' La Dolce Vita' at the Dendy.

Jacob doesn’t want to see a film with subtitles. What do you want to see, Mr Bill Collins? Josie snipes.

Jacob wants to see a normal movie with cops and robbers, good guys and bad guys, and people he can relate to. Josie snipes that ‘Morons from Outer Space’ is no longer showing.

Jacob protests this is the way he dresses when he goes to the movies, and pardon his ignorance about the mother thing. He’s never had to go out with an ethnic girl before.

‘“Had to”? Well, if we’re slumming it, I’ve never HAD TO go out with an Anglo before!’

“What the hell is an Anglo?”

“You people should go back to your own country if you’re so confused!”

Josie storms off, boasting to herself and Guinness that she’s been out on a record ten minute date. As she strides away, her dad turns up and tracks alongside her in his classy car.

Josie leans in, suggesting he offered Christina money and she told him to fuck off. Michael says she was a bit more eloquent than that.

Josie says she never imagined meeting him would be so boring - she thought they’d be Sicilian and scream the place down.

She walks off, but Michael catches up, saying till recently he had no idea she existed, so she’ll have to pardon him if he’s not good at this.

“So the best you can offer us is a token gesture,” Josie snaps.

Michael asks for a little time, but Josie walks off, wondering on the train when something might go right, pleading with God not to make her a loser.

At Central, she spots John and as they walk she proposes a deal. They should write down what they feel at the moment and then read it to each other after the exams. Catholic answer to therapy, John suggests.

They decide they both pass the trust test, write down their thoughts and exchange the folded papers.

Later in her room Josie says in voice over she can’t believe she’s got John Barton’s soul and he’s got hers, “and I wonder if he’s as scared as I am about what we wrote.”

Josie puts John’s note in a box under her bed, wondering if she can wait until the end of the year.

Cut to an Oporto takeaway. Josie and Anna are working, as Jacob and Anton watch them.

Instead of a deleted scene involving an attempted rape, Jacob saving Josie, and the pair having their first kiss, cut to Josie on a bus wondering what sort of lawyer she’ll make if she keeps letting a guy like Jacob Coote get the better of her.

Cut to the school overlooking the harbour and Josie resolving no more distractions, back to being a saint.

As she goes to her locker, a teary Sera and Anna tell her that John has killed himself, slashed his wrists.

Devastation, and Sister Louise offers to phone Josie's mother so she can pick her up.

Josie races away, and the other sobbing girls pick up her spilled things.

Cut to the funeral, and John’s coffin being carried out to the sounds of a U2 number. Josie broods in voice over about the blood on the sheets, and whether they’ll burn them or scrub and scrub them, then sleep on them for the rest of their lives.

Josie reaches under her bed for the box and reads John’s note, which she hears John read: “If I could be anything other than what I am, I’d want a tomorrow. If I could be what my father wants me to be, then maybe I could stay for that too. If I could be what you want me to be, I’d want to stay. But I am what I am and all I want is freedom.”

Josie tears up the note and tosses the pieces out the window, and they scatter and whirl in the night air.

A sad Josie is on the train, and then she sees Jacob, offering her a consoling look of sorrow. Josie bursts into tears and she sobs in his enfolding arms.

Jacob and Josie are on a ferry travelling under the harbour bridge. Jacob says if he’d asked her mum, she’d have told him to take Josie here. “We used to come here all the time … she had this way of making us feel safe.”

Jacob puts his jacket around Josie, telling her it’s going to be alright, kissing her on the forehead and holding her close.

But in voice over Josie isn’t convinced: “Why can’t anyone see? If John Barton couldn’t be alright, no-one’s going to be alright.”

Cut to Josie at confession, as she confesses in voice over she always wanted to be part of John’s world, bur realises she didn’t belong there. “God, he didn’t even belong there. I don’t belong anywhere, and I hate it.”

Josie heads out of confession, and as they pass Carly, she asks ‘what is it with wogs?’ “Stupid bitch,” Josie snarls.

“At least I’m not a bastard,” Carly says, and whomp, Josie nails her nose with a tome, “The Decline of the Roman Empire.”

Cut to Sister Louise’s office, where Carly’s shock jock radio dad Ron Bishop (Graeme Blundell) demands Josie leave the school for breaking her daughter’s nose. But then Josie plucks up the nerve to call her barrister dad.

Outside in the corridor, Sera tells Anna her mother says the family is cursed, and Josie will have to do her HSC at state school.

Finally after a time montage, Michael arrives, has an argument with his daughter about why she did it - she’s still brooding about John and his father - and then her dad wipes away a tear, and sorts the radio blowhard out. Carly thinks Michael should be impressed he’s on 2XY. But Michael notes he’s been in trouble for his views on immigration, and Josie puts down Carly - as if her father would listen to talk-back radio.

As she walks down the stairs, asking dad how court was, the stained glass window behind Josie glows a triumphant golden colour.

Cut to Nonna’s house, where Christina is getting ready to go out with her boss, Paul Presilio (David Lucas).

Nonna and Christina argue, and Christina leaves, saying it’s got nothing to do with Nonna.

Josie races after her, telling her to get married to him and have a thousand kids. She’ll go live with her father. “I hope I die during the night and you feel guilty for the rest of your life.”

“When you say things like that, I wonder what I did to deserve you.”

Back inside, Nonna has dropped her photo album.

Josie helps her pick things up, and when she sees a photo of an Australian man, Nonna seizes the moment to reminisce over the photo of Marcus Sandford. Every Christmas Francesco would go away to work, and leave her all by herself in the bush. She was in danger, snakes on the floor, no tiles, just dirt. She met Marcus in the post office. She got a letter from Patrizia, who was still in Sicily, telling her that her mamma and papa were dead. The Mafia? Josie asks.

Influenza, Nonna replies, confessing that only Marcus picked her up and helped her. He spoke to her in English and she cried to him in Italian, “but we understood each other, I never stopped being sad that I lost this Australian friend.”

Nonna tells Josie it was destiny for her Australian friend to die this way. “But it’s not mine,” Josie replies.

Nonna tells her that when Josie was born, Francesco banned her from seeing Christina or Josie, but nothing would stop her seeing her bambola, thinking that Josie would be the one to stop the curse.

A mollified Josie offers to do her hair.

Cut to the Oporto car park and Jacob joking it’s no wonder Italians have so many operas, asking for part 12 of the Alibrandi-Andretti saga.

They go through a joking part 11 as Michael turns up in his sporty car. Josie leans against the driver’s door, telling him Nonna thinks he’s the devil incarnate and she’s not allowed to get in the car with him.

Michael offers her a job three afternoons a week.

First they drop off Jacob, and then they have a coffee in Bar Stromboli, with volcano decor. Josie reckons her dad and mum did it in a car. Michael confesses it was a Charger, saying he was in awe of Christina, she wasn’t like the other girls around here. She was smarter than him, she was going to go to university and study poetry. He had to use his brain to get her interested.

Josie jokes men peak at 17, Christina is the right age at 34, but Michael’s over the hill.

Michael confesses that if Katia had any idea what they were getting up to, she would have killed him.

He liked that Josie called him to the school, but as for what he’d planned with Christina, he didn’t think she’d have the guts to stand up to her father, the old bastard.

Nonna raps on the cafe window and calls Josie away.

As they walk home, Josie confesses some sympathy for Nonna’s bush life.

At her work, Christina is angry. She tells Josie Michael has to come to her first, especially with any propositions of work.

Josie soft soaps her about choice and relationships, holding up Michael as a possible alternative to boss Paul.

Christina confesses what she dreamed of at the age of 17, which included four daughters and Michael, but now when she sees him, she thinks of being spat at and not allowed to see her mother, and feeling scared and alone.

Why can’t you look at him and think of me? Josie wonders. Christina doesn’t answer.

Cut to Michael arriving to collect Josie for a sleep over. The couple exchange an intimate look, and Michael thanks Christina.

Josie taunts Michael by saying Christina has a doctor after her. Michael jokes that should come in handy the next time she breaks somebody’s nose.

At Michael’s apartment, Josie sees her dad’s a Santana fan, and looks out the view from his posh north shore apartment.

A montage to music of her in her dad’s world, smiling as he snores.

At school, it’s muck-up day, and Josie and Jacob exchange a flour-sodden kiss.

In the school library, Josie anguishes with Anna and Sera about getting marks high enough for law.

They discuss career options. Sera offers a home truth about one uncontrollable destiny: “The poor marry the poor, the wogs marry the wogs, the westies marry the westies, and the north shore marry the north shore. Sometimes they cross-breed, then they marry into the eastern suburbs … ”

Sera says she can’t be with Jacob for five minutes without having a fight. Three months and it’ll be over, whereas she and Angelo have been together for almost a year because they come from the same stock.

“I hope you have retarded children,” Josie says as she leaves.

Cut to Josie arriving at Jacob’s house. He greets her with ‘it’s only the HSC’, as she meets his dad, Mr Coote (Ned Manning), who awkwardly offers her a cup of tea.

In Jacob’s room, they almost have sex, but after some heavy petting, Josie decides she wants to take things slowly. His dad’s in the next room making tea.

Jacob wants to go further, and they fight. Not now, not here, she says, and he says he always thinks she’s looking for something better. She tells him he’s lucky, living without culture or religion. He just has to obey the law.

An indignant Jacob says he hates the way she simplifies his life. He thought they’d got over that bullshit. She’s a snob, and that’s why she liked that Barton guy.

Josie tells him not to be sacrilegious, he hasn’t even been dead for three months. “Haven’t you heard of mourning periods?”

Jacob says he knows more about mourning than she’ll ever know. Josie says she’s sorry, but an angry Jacob says she’s not, she just says what she thinks people want to hear.

Josie leaves, but Jacob catches up with her, saying she gets into fights with models and wipes her nose with her sleeve (a reference to the deleted scene). “You’re my kind of chick… why are we such a disaster together?”

A teary Josie walks away, then runs through the street, as music and a HSC exa, montage begins, with Josie doing all sorts of exams in subjects ranging from chemistry to ancient history. To help, Nonna tries a ritual to lift the curse off her.

Montage over, cut to Central, and Josie thinks she sees John walking on another platform, but it’s a look-alike boy.

Cut to beneath the Anzac bridge, and Michael giving her a driving lesson in his fancy car, telling her to go easy on the clutch.

They argue and he reveals he’s going back to Adelaide in a couple of weeks. She gets angry and tells him to fuck his driving lesson. He tells her not to speak to him that way again, but she asks what he’s going to do, get all fatherly and discipline her. That’ll be hard when he’s in Adelaide.

She walks away, and lies in bed, thinking Nonna’s right. They are all cursed, why did she think she could change anything. She tells Nonna she’s not the one to stop the curse, as she climbs into her mother’s bed for a cuddle.

At a Bondi skateboard ramp, Josie tells her friends they’ve analysed her failures with men enough.

Sera has a new boyfriend, and joking about when her grandparents did it - being Libran and all. The idle chatter makes Josie suddenly realise that her grandfather wasn’t around, especially at New Year.

Josie races off to see Nonna, and when she opens the door, she tells her grandmother she’s a liar.

She accuses her of hypocrisy, and Nonna drags her inside, telling her to stop.

Josie says she’s going to tell her mother that what Nonna did was worse than her, but Katia tells her she doesn’t understand what it was like, to live with a man who treated you like farm animals. She did her duty, she stayed with him. “That was my penance.”

He knew, and he knew he couldn’t give her children. He told her that 17 years after she married him. She put up with his disgusting ways, thinking it was her all the time her, her failing. So she hit him, she despised him.

With her lover, it was not like being with Francesco, who used her for two minutes. The Australian undressed her carefully, as if she was special. They did it in her marriage bed and he loved her.

Josie kneels in front of her and asks why Nonna didn’t stay with him forever? Katia says she couldn’t disgrace the family. What would happen to her daughter? “Do you think the Italians would let her play with their children… or the Australians would accept her?”

Josie must believe her … every single thing she did was for Christina. She did everything to protect her, to keep her safe from the devil. But the devil lived next door, and got in through a hole in the fence.

“He’s my father,” J osie says, touching her hand. “If you love me, you’ll accept that.”

A teary Nonna says “I see Marcus every time I look at Christina. In my heart, I’ve had only one husband …who I left behind in Queensland when I was pregnant. If I didn’t … my daughter’s life would be worth nothing …Oh God … let my daughter understand that my sin was her curse …”

Josie says she has to tell her. “No, never, never tell Christina,” Katia replies.

“No more lies,” Josie says, but Katia starts her “mea culpa” thing.

Stopping her, Josie says “No more curses. You have to tell mamma!”

At that moment, Christina arrives with a “tell her what?”

Josie sits on the verandah and we hear her in voice over: “I’m loved by two of the strongest women I’ll ever know, and they’ve been kept apart by a man who couldn’t love either of them.”

Christina emerges, sits down beside her, wipes away a tear and says she thinks she’s always known.

As Katia joins them on the verandah, Josie asks “Wouldn’t it make Francesco happy to know that we’re all miserable?”

Christina puts a hand tenderly on her jaw and walks off. Josie hugs her Nonna and says goodbye. Katia looks after them.

Christina and Josie arrive back at their home at night, to find Michael sitting on the steps.

Christina invites him in, Michael calls Josie back, saying it’s like he started reading a book in the middle, but doesn’t know what happened at the beginning.

“If I go back to Adelaide, you could come and visit every holiday.”

Josie: “If you stay, I’ll come and visit you every day.”

Michael hugs her …

Cut to the sounds of Volare and the final Tomato Day which ends the movie … (see above for this scene).

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Looking for Alibrandi

Theatre, Drama
3 out of 5 stars
Recommended

Time Out says

The much-loved Sydney-set tale of immigration and self-discovery gets a fresh faced modern update at Belvoir. But how does it stack up against the original?

If you grew up in Sydney, more likely than not, you know this story already. For many of us, Looking for Alibrandi is both a time capsule – rich with the sundrenched haze of Sydney in the ‘90s (John Howard, hairspray, grunge fashion nods) – and also a holy relic; being the first time young Aussie girls with migrant parents were told that they were allowed to belong to Sydney too. I know this, because I am one of them.

The cult status we have given Looking for Alibrandi (whether it be due to a ravenous adoration for the paperback and/or Pia Miranda as Josie in the 2000 film version directed by Kate Woods) makes it a bloody hard act for anyone to try and replicate – a fact that did not escape the cast and crew of Belvoir Street Theatre and Malthouse Theatre co-production Looking for Alibrandi , a two-hour and 20 minute play that makes it Sydney debut this month.

Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo ( Loaded ), written by Vidya Rajan, and starring half-Samonan, half-Italian actor Chanella Macri as the irrepressible Josie Alibrandi, this theatrical version of the Sydney classic is the very first that author Melina Marchetta has allowed to pass through the proverbial thespian gates.

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Nicolazzo’s rendition of Alibrandi is soaked in nostalgia, but with a distinctly 2022-shaped kick. From the red and white gingham tablecloths in Belvoir’s foyer bar, to the red-lit stage heaped with plastic crates overflowing with rosy plastic tomatoes, we are led into a cosy Italianate womb, courtesy of set designer Kate Davis. With the first act occasionally tending on the chaotic, the second half comes through with intimate lighting, bringing the audience into a tiny family living room, all of us there together, surrounded by Nonna’s photo albums and stray bottles of San Pellegrino.

With a cast of just six, this take on Alibrandi relies on the audience suspending belief, with Lucia Mastrantone playing the two divergent roles of Josie’s tender mother Christina and her brazen mate, Sera. Hannah Monson follows suit, taking on Josie’s private school dream-boy John Barton, as well as her big-time nemesis, Ivy. This decision doesn’t always work, with Mastrantone far more believable while wearing the thoughtful shoes of Josie’s multifaceted mother than the sex-crazed Sera (although there is something to be said for teenagers with the energy of a 40-year-old woman who smokes a pack a day). Monson is underused as John Barton, whose storyline fails to pack the punch that all of us who loved the book were waiting for. The script is at its most naturalistic when Josie, Christina and Nonna (played by Jennifer Vuletic) get into heated spats in Italian, with the delivery otherwise occasionally faltering.

Chanella Macri, on the other hand, is an excellent Josie, with her quality eye-rolling and ability to deliver cheeky wisecracks injecting a vibrancy to the heart of the show that made this reviewer cackle more than once. Macri is a Josie for all of us in 2022, a world that has undeniably changed since the ‘90s, when high schools (nay, the world) were divided along hard lines of “skips versus wogs”. She brings her own intersections of identity to the role. Being both a woman in a bigger body and a woman of colour with a complex cultural mix, Macri is a perfect representation of what ‘otherness’ means for us today. She brings the essence of Josie’s experience in the ‘90s straight into the heart of a Sydney in 2022, where being skinny and Italian no longer means the same thing it did when Marchetta was writing back in the late 1990s.

At the end of the day, Looking for Alibrandi is a story for anyone who has felt othered – whether that be in a racist Sydney private school or not – with Nicolazzo’s updated rendition a warm show sprinkled with the bright and universally recognised moments of teen love, family tenderness and intergenerational trauma. At its essence, the heart of Alibrandi remains strong, with Josie continuing to work her power as the patron saint of Sydney misfits, her fire continuing to burn a rich tomato red, a whole 30 years on. It’s just good to have her back.

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Suzy Goes See

Sydney theatre reviews | australian theatre, review: looking for alibrandi (belvoir st theatre).

Venue: Belvoir St Theatre (Surry Hills NSW), Oct 1 – Nov 6, 2022 Playwright: Vidya Rajan (based on the book by Melina Marchetta) Director: Stephen Nicolazzo Cast: John Marc Desengano, Ashley Lyons, Chanella Macri, Lucia Mastrantone, Hannah Monson, Jennifer Vuletic Images by Daniel Boud

Theatre review It is the 1990s, and Josie is about to graduate from high school. We find out that the bright, young woman is determined to become a lawyer, which seems an aspiration not out of the ordinary, for many a modern Australian. Looking closer however, we see that she comes from a legacy of shattered dreams, with her mother and her grandmother, both feeling let down by life’s promises. A lot of Melina Marchett’s 1992 novel Looking for Alibrandi , is concerned with the immigrant experience, bringing particular focus to the post-war Italian diaspora. In this stage adaptation by Vidya Rajan, we see the emotional toll taken by three generations of Alibrandi women, and along with Josie, wonder if she will be the one who breaks the cycle of unfulfilled potential.

Thirty years on, Looking for Alibrandi can feel slightly old-fashioned in its rendering of marginalisation, as a daily reality for those who are considered lesser Australians. Its perspective places emphasis on the minutia of its characters, without sufficiently tackling the systemic factors that influence outcomes, or to put it more bluntly, it neglects to reveal the social structures that aid and abet prevailing inequities that privilege a certain class. The Alibrandi women have a tendency to blame only themselves for their woes, but we understand that things are never completely of their own doing.

Nonetheless, the writing is wonderfully humorous, and as a a work of entertainment, Looking for Alibrandi is certainly satisfying. Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo, the production is suffused with heart and soul, using a theme of tradition, to create a theatrical experience memorable for its atmosphere. The fragrance of Italian food stewing in an oversized pot for the entire duration, firmly establishes a sense that a subculture is occupying space, resolute in speaking on its own terms.

Almost half the stage, designed by Kate Davis, is taken up by crates filled with bulbous red tomatoes, against velvety crimson drapes indicating something classic, and desirous of an old-way extravagance. Sumptuous lights by Katie Sfetkidis are brash when necessary, to make effective the many witty punchlines, but also persuasively sentimental, for sections when we delve into the more rapturous aspects of the Alibrandi story. Daniel Nixon’s sound design incorporates curious background noise throughout the piece, occasionally distracting but an interesting commentary perhaps, on our obsession with silence in colonised forms of theatre audienceship.

In the role of Josie is Chanella Macri, who proves herself an accomplished comedian, flawless with her delivery of the many delightful jokes, that make Looking for Alibrandi a thoroughly amusing time. Paired with her ability to embody a consistent sense of truth, not only for her character but also for the deeper meanings inherent in the narrative, the compelling Macri impresses by telling the story with great integrity.

Lucia Mastrantone plays Josie’s mother Christina and schoolmate Sera, with a marvellous flamboyance layered over an intimate affiliation, that the actor clearly feels for the material. Jennifer Vuletic is a strong presence as Nonna and as archetypal nun Sister Bernadette, effortless in conveying authority for both matriarchs. Supporting cast members John Marc Desengano, Ashley Lyons and Hannah Monson are all endearing, and convincing with their contributions, in a show remarkable with its taut proficiencies and irresistible charm.

Josie’s talent and self-belief are the best ingredients for a success story, but they are still only just half the story. No matter how dedicated and hardworking, Josie still has forces working against her, in a world that remains racist and sexist, and Josie’s seeming obliviousness to those factors can only serve to make things even worse. Significant time has past since the original publication of Marchett’s book, making Josie close to 50 years of age today. We can only wonder if she has attained all her wishes, if the grit she demonstrates has taken her far, and if our society has allowed all that promise to flourish.

www.belvoir.com.au

Theatre review: Looking for Alibrandi

Performing Arts

Lucia Mastrantone, Chanella Macri, and Jennifer Vuletic. Photo by Jeff Busby.

Looking for Alibrandi is a stone-cold Aussie classic. Since the publication of Melina Marchetta’s seminal young adult novel in 1992, and the subsequent film adaptation in 2000, the story of Italian teenager Josie Alibrandi’s tumultuous final year of high school has become part of our country’s collective consciousness and the central character became a hero for a generation.

Set in the Sydney suburbs in the early 90s, Josie (Chanella Macri) is a feisty, intelligent, and determined 17-year-old who lives with her single mother Christina (Lucia Mastrantone) and regularly visits her ultra-traditional grandmother Katia (Jennifer Vuletic). As the year unfolds Josie grapples with her family’s dramatic history and her future education as well as dealing with systemic racism and her romantic feelings for two very different boys.

This comical and beautifully honest look at cultural identity, class and trauma is brought to vivid life in director Stephen Nicolazzo and writer Vidya Rajan’s ridiculously enjoyable sunbeam of a production.

The cast shine so bright in Looking for Alibrandi you should bring some sunglasses along to the Merlyn Theatre. Nicolazzo and his production team know this, and they smartly keep the focus squarely on the story and characters by stripping away the usual trappings of a stage adaptation of a beloved property. The set design is minimal, featuring a garish carpeted floor and towers of tomato-filled crates, and the lighting and costumes are similarly economical. This talented team know that the magic comes from the sensational actors and their passionate interpretation of the material. The director keeps the vibe absurdly playful and comical throughout the first act before pulling the rug out from under the audience in the second half with a series of devastating revelations that generate a profound emotional response.

Read: Three state operas unite for feminist La Traviata

We care about these characters so much and we deeply feel everything they’re feeling. It’s been a long time since I’ve found myself both laughing and weeping in equal measure during a show; it’s a remarkable achievement that will have you feeling all the feels. Macri owns the stage as Josie in what is the definition of a star-making performance. She’s on stage the whole time and you cannot take your eyes off her. She has the audience in the palm of her hand from the first of her many asides, and her hilarious eyerolls and knowing winks seal the deal. Macri’s performance feels effortlessly personal; it’s like Josie’s talking directly to you. In addition to playing the mum with extraordinary honesty and heart, Mastrantone also portrays Josie’s loudmouth best friend Sera in a bravura comic turn. Also playing dual roles is Hannah Monson as Josie’s friend/crush John and blonde nemesis Carly. Monson switches between characters at a dizzying pace and demonstrates what a talented and versatile performer she is.

Read: Exhibition review: Annette Blair and Kate Nixon, Canberra Glassworks

The entire cast have such delightful chemistry together it’s a testament to all involved that after pandemic delays and shortened rehearsal time due to illnesses they have forged such a palpable connection.

The crowd leapt to their feet for a rapturous standing ovation the moment the lights faded on opening night because we couldn’t wait to show our gratitude for having been part of such a joyous and poignant experience. This production of Looking for Alibrandi achieves what most stage adaptations can only dream of; it remains true to the heart of the original while teasing out fresh elements and mining the depth and breadth of the human experience to bring the story to a whole new audience.

Get ready to fall in love with the Alibrandis all over again.

Looking for Alibrandi Based on book by Melina Marchetta Presented by Malthouse Theatre and Belvoir Written by Vidya Rajan Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo The Merlyn Theatre, Malthouse Set and costume designer: Kate Davis Composer and sound designer: Daniel Nixon Lighting designer: Katie Sfetkidis Choreographer: Rosa Voto Stage manager: Cecily Rabey Assistant stage manager: Harry Dowling Cast: Chanella Macri. Lucia Mastrantone. Hannah Monson, John Marc Desengano, Ashley Lyons, Jennifer Vuletic Price: $50-$90 Looking for Alibrandi will be performed until 31 July 202 2

Reuben Liversidge

Reuben Liversidge is based in Melbourne. He has trained in music theatre at the VCA, film and theatre at LaTrobe University, and currently works as Head Talent Agent for the Talent Company of Australia.

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Looking for alibrandi.

2000 Directed by Kate Woods

Sometimes what you're looking for is closer than you think...

Josie Alibrandi has a lot to deal with right now. She’s 17, got the dreaded H.S.C. in front of her, and the boy of her dreams seems completely out of reach. Then there’s that other problem. She’s a wog. Sure, it’s where Josie comes from, but it’s not where she feels she belongs. In fact, Josie doesn’t know where she belongs. With her Nonna in one ear talking about the old country and the stuck-up girls at her school telling her she’s an outsider, it’s no wonder. This year, however, everything is going to change. Josie will let loose, face her fears, uncover secrets - even discover the true identity of her father. It’s going to be a year when Josie finally finds out where she belongs.

Greta Scacchi Anthony LaPaglia Elena Cotta Kerry Walker Pia Miranda Kick Gurry Matthew Newton Leanne Carlow Diane Viduka Leeanna Walsman Michael Gallina Rosa DiMarte Domenico DiMarte Tyrone Lara Geoff Morrell

Director Director

Producer producer.

Robyn Kershaw

Writer Writer

Melina Marchetta

Editor Editor

Martin Connor

Cinematography Cinematography

Toby Oliver

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

James McTeigue Deborah Antoniou

Executive Producer Exec. Producer

Tristram Miall

Lighting Lighting

Camera operators camera operators.

Kathryn Milliss Campbell Drummond

Stunts Stunts

Lawrence Woodward Brett Praed Bernadette Winthers

Composer Composer

Costume design costume design.

Michael Wilkinson

Robyn Kershaw Productions

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Italian

Alternative Titles

Vem är Alibrandi?, Terza generazione

Romance Drama Comedy

Moving relationship stories Underdogs and coming of age Touching and sentimental family stories Emotional teen coming-of-age stories Emotional and touching family dramas Student coming-of-age challenges Quirky and endearing relationships Show All…

Releases by Date

04 may 2000, releases by country.

103 mins More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by sol ★★★½ 1

the australian lady bird

Review by Alexei Toliopoulos ★★★★★ 1

I met Pia Miranda and got her to sign my copy of the book I stole from my high school library. I almost fricking cried.

Review by monster on the hill ★★★★

john barton is the only young lib i have ever cared about

Review by Kylo ★★★½

So sweet and so damn Australian. The dialogue was hysterical. Sydney also looked so beautiful and quirky. I did find it seemed to drag as it went on though. A fun teen Aussie flick.

Review by Sas ★★½ 2

italians and young libs; the two most oppressed minorities in society 😔✋

Review by Ruth Scouller ★★★½

Trivia from IMDB: The novel "Looking for Alibrandi" is the most stolen book from Australian high school libraries.

In the midst of financial omens with the current Australian film industry, it's absurd to think back to 2000, a year when numerous local films were rocking the box office. The likes of The Dish, The Wog Boy and Chopper were all doing big business. Even the likes of Bootmen, Better Than Sex, The Magic Pudding and Mr. Accident were solid financially, if not doing outstanding business. But the film that took out the Best Film award that year was everywhere, or at least for a short while; Looking For Alibrandi . Riding on the back of a zeitgeist novel and a signature…

Review by crushingscenes

Sad that our choice of heartthrobs in the year 2000 was between a Young Liberal and a soulpatched Nick Cave fan, but this movie is still completely perfect.

Kate Woods documents the life and events leading up to the disappearance of Josie Alibrandi; a bright, feisty high school student who attended St Mary's College in Sydney and was well loved by her family and friends. Based on true events, the majority of the film gives us a clear insight into who Josie was; an individual whose Italian ethnicity caused her great conflict, as well as someone who wouldn't shy away from life's real conflicts. Some suspect that an unexpected tragedy involving of one of her closest friends had pushed her over the edge. Others suspect that her estranged father or delinquent new boyfriend may have been involved. Though the vast majority would agree that this is all a bunch of bull and Wasabi only watched this cute local Aussie comedy to draw attention to the poster they just uploaded😝 * Wasabi also can't believe Pia was 26 when she played the role. What the what??

Review by Bea Barbeau-Scurla ★★★★½

This movie is beautiful and horny and wish there were more films that showed this side of Australian adolescence 😪😪😪😪

Review by Alexei Toliopoulos ★★★★★ 2

To me, this is an undeniably iconic film. The three women at the heart of this film absolutely authentically inhabit the wog experience to perfection. In each of them I see every woman I've ever known. All perfectly capturing the generation of strong women they represent.

PS It makes me so happy to see how sexy Lapaglia is in this film. A stocky little wog boy is a fucking hunk out of ten, mama!

Review by jacky 🥀 ★★★★

The 15 year old version of me is shaking her head right now. I would have gained so much from this film growing up. Like I related to everything, except for the grim thing that happens in the middle. Growing up as an only child to a single mother who is also ethnic. Dealing with boys, while studying for the HSC. Sure I've charted these waters a long time ago but Christ, it would have been nice to know that other people understood how I felt growing up.

Mandatory viewing for all Australian teenagers in my opinion.

Review by ashleigh ★★★½ 1

Did you really grow up in australia if you didn't watch this film in english at one point during high school?

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Produced by, released by, looking for alibrandi (2000), directed by kate woods.

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Synopsis by Mark Deming

Characteristics, related movies.

Book vs. Movie: Looking For Alibrandi

After writing and posting my review on Melina Marchetta’s first novel, Looking For Alibrandi , and reading the comments that were coming in, I couldn’t help myself. I watched the movie. Maybe it was a little bit of Alibrandi overload but I’m a glutton in all things, so I have a pretty high tolerance.* And boy am I glad I did. Because now I get to sit here and compare the two. Similar to Meghan’s smackdown post , I will compare the book and movie to make a highly scientific assessment of which is better.

* Maybe I originally watched Veronica Mars Season 1 in a single sitting. MAYBE. Maybe not. But maybe .

Meet the Contestants

Title: Looking for Alibrandi Author: Melina Marchetta Published: 1992

Title: Looking for Alibrandi Released: 2000

17 year old Josie is finishing her senior year and biding time with the hope that she’ll go to college to study law. She has a complicated relationship with her grandmother and extended family. Her grandmother was an Italian immigrant to Australia and some of her outdated ideas and moral clash with Josie’s modern Australian upbringing. And her senior year because exponentially more interesting with the return of her long lost father and her introduction to Jacob Coote, public school bad boy. Very little is changed to the plot between the book and the movie. The changes are minor, but interesting when you consider that Marchetta wrote the script herself.

Note: From here on out, there will be spoilers.

The Characters

Now, I don’t often feel this way about movie adaptations, but the casting of Looking for Alibrandi was nearly perfect. Pia Miranda was absolutely delightful. Her portrayal of Josie was feistier than I had read the character and I found myself immediately liking her (whereas that took a bit more time while reading.) I can’t remember the last time I watched such a likable teen lead in a movie.

A-freakin-dorable.

I also liked Jacob Coote much more in the movie version that I did in the book. I just couldn’t quiiite feel the swoon in the novel. The actor playing Jacob, however, was able to show that adorable cockiness and the chemistry between him and Pia was undeniable. John Barton was charming and looked just how I could have pictured him, down to him dorky Zack Morris hair.* Anthony LaPaglia was great as Michael Andretti. While the woman who played Christina was excellent (and actually is native Italian), she looked so different from her family that I had a hard time believing they could have kept her parentage a secret for 35 years. I mean, really?

My chief complaint would be have to have been Nonna Katie. I found her much funnier and (ultimately) likable in the book. The woman who played her was all right, but the combination of Italian accent and Australian accent really did me in. She’d switch back and forth between Italian and English and i could barely pick up any of that she was saying and was basically all huuuuuh? for most of her scenes (but then, this is a personal problem.)

*Okay, so I’ve completely convinced myself that John Barton is gay. I kiiiinda thought so in my reading of the book and felt more confident of that feeling during the movie. I Googled and found a few other people questioning that as well. But then of course there is the He is SO not gay crowd. One person was so offended, saying “But he told Josie how into her he was in the book!” Which, since I just read it, I know it was something along the lines of “I was really into you in year ten.” Ummm, having a crush on a girl doesn’t make you not gay. I had this one friend in college who told me later how much he was into me at one point. Do you know where he is now? Gay-engaged to a man. So, there’s that…

Miscellaneous

The movie had some whimsical elements to it (Josie’s fantasies) not present in the book and I preferred the more realistic approach of the book. Also, the movie definitely less major points from me by PLAYING U2 FOR THE FUNERAL SCENE . I just… whhhy? After their disastrous first date, I had a hard time buying how movie-version Josie and Jacob feel into each others arms. The book’s build up seemed more natural, but I forgive the movie because those actors are just too cute together. I wasn’t really into the “ Let’s all be Italian and dance ” ending of the movie, but I didn’t feel like the book’s ending wowed me either. I was pretty surprised that Josie and Jacob ended up together at the end of the movie, but then I remember I DON’T LIKE SAD THINGS and preferred it.*

*Though, the book’s whole “ I’m dumping you because you’re too good for me ” was totally classic. Who hasn’t had someone dump them and act like they’re so damn noble and doing you a favor? Maybe some of you have pulled that move yourselves, I’d wager.

The Results?

Both the book and the movie are excellent and this is the kind of comparison that could really go either way. Personally, I’m going to have to go with the movie. My reasoning is that there are dozens of really excellent YA books that come out every year. How many good YA movies do we get? And of those, how many are even remotely realistic? Don’t get me wrong, I love my Bring It On s and my Mean Girls and my 17 Again s (yes really ), but they don’t have real characters. Looking For Alibrandi is the kind of movie that hardly ever gets made. And for that, I dub it the winner.

So what are your thoughts, Alibrandi fans? Agree or disagree? And what did you like best about the movie?

Forever Fans,
Pass the Remote
adapted for screen,
this vs. that

Megan is an unabashed fangirl who is often in a state of panic about her inability to watch, read and play all the things.

Looking for Alibrandi (2000)

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Where does Looking for Alibrandi rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Streaming charts last updated: 5:17:19 pm, 10/04/2024

Looking for Alibrandi is 1783 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 877 places since yesterday. In Australia, it is currently more popular than The Peanut Butter Falcon but less popular than First Daughter.

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Streaming Charts The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

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COMMENTS

Looking for Alibrandi
Movie Info. Josie (Pia Miranda) is struggling to cope with her teenage existence. She lives with her single mother, Christina (Greta Scacchi), and attends a prestigious private school, where her ...
The making of Looking for Alibrandi: 'If we didn't get it right, we'd
Written, directed and produced by three women on their first feature film, Looking for Alibrandi was a critical and commercial hit, winning best film at the Australian Film Institute awards in 2000.
Looking for Alibrandi (2000)
Permalink. 9/10. One of the best Australian films. rudi-15 8 May 2000. "Looking For Alibrandi" is a great film. It shows what impact culture and family background can have on an Australian girl learning about the world. The movie also points out how important family values are to children growing up in todays society.
Looking for Alibrandi review
Directed by Stephen Nicolazzo, the Malthouse Theatre's take on Melina Marchetta's seminal 1992 coming-of-age novel Looking for Alibrandi (also a 2000 cult film) has pushed through countless ...
Looking for Alibrandi Review
Looking for Alibrandi Review. A fantastic Australian film. Josie (Pia Miranda) is in her final year of high school, a scholarship student at a posh private school. Josie's the illegitemate child ...
Looking for Alibrandi (film)
Looking for Alibrandi is a 2000 Australian coming-of-age film directed by Kate Woods and written by Melina Marchetta (which she adapted from her 1992 novel of the same name).The film is set in 1990s Sydney, New South Wales and features a cast of Australian actors, including Pia Miranda as Josephine Alibrandi, the film's main character; Anthony LaPaglia as her father, Michael Andretti, who left ...
Looking for Alibrandi
Looking for Alibrandi Reviews. Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Oct 26, 2001. "a remarkably fresh, energetic celebration of youth and culture." Full Review | Jul 16, 2001. It may be a little ...
Looking for Alibrandi
Though the theme --- a teenage girl chafes against a clinging Italian family --- is a familiar one, "Looking for Alibrandi" is a breath of fresh air. This accomplished adaptation of a popular 1992 ...
Theatre Review: Looking for Alibrandi at Belvoir is heartfelt and
(L-R) Jennifer Vuletic and Nonna and Chanella Macri as Josie. Photo: Daniel Boud. Based on the 1992 novel by Melina Marchetta and adapted for the stage by Vidya Rajan, Looking for Alibrandi follows the trials and tribulations of 17 year old Josephine Alibrandi, a third generation Italian migrant, as she navigates life over the course of her final year of high school.
Looking for Alibrandi
On the rear, a reviewer blurb was at the top: "Smart, fast, funny personal and perceptive, the new Australian film 'Looking for Alibrandi' is one of the year's best. 8/10.". - Rob Lowing, The Sun Herald. There was also a short synopsis: Josie Alibrandi has a lot to deal with right now.
Read our review of 'Looking for Alibrandi' at Belvoir St Theatre
The cult status we have given Looking for Alibrandi (whether it be due to a ravenous adoration for the paperback and/or Pia Miranda as Josie in the 2000 film version directed by Kate Woods) makes ...
Review: Looking For Alibrandi (Belvoir St Theatre)
Theatre review It is the 1990s, and Josie is about to graduate from high school. We find out that the bright, young woman is determined to become a lawyer, which seems an aspiration not out of the ordinary, for many a modern Australian. ... A lot of Melina Marchett's 1992 novel Looking for Alibrandi, is concerned with the immigrant experience ...
Theatre review: Looking for Alibrandi
Looking for Alibrandi is a stone-cold Aussie classic. Since the publication of Melina Marchetta's seminal young adult novel in 1992, and the subsequent film adaptation in 2000, the story of Italian teenager Josie Alibrandi's tumultuous final year of high school has become part of our country's collective consciousness and the central character became a hero for a generation.
Looking for Alibrandi
Looking for Alibrandi is a loving re-telling of a loved story that continues to ask why Australian culture continues to drift to a culture of sameness. Image: Chanella Macri and Lucia Mastrantone feature in Looking for Alibrandi - photo by Jeff Busby. Review: Anne-Marie Peard. Anne-Marie Peard takes a look at Malthouse Theatre's production of ...
Looking for Alibrandi
Looking for Alibrandi. Merlyn Theatre - The Malthouse, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank. Season: 13 - 31 July 2022 (previews: 9 - 12 July) Information and Bookings: www.malthousetheatre.com.au. Upstairs Theatre - Belvoir Theatre, 25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills. Season: 1 October - 6 November 2022.
‎Looking for Alibrandi (2000) directed by Kate Woods • Reviews, film
Synopsis. Sometimes what you're looking for is closer than you think…. Josie Alibrandi has a lot to deal with right now. She's 17, got the dreaded H.S.C. in front of her, and the boy of her dreams seems completely out of reach. Then there's that other problem. She's a wog. Sure, it's where Josie comes from, but it's not where she ...
Looking for Alibrandi (2000)
Josie Alibrandi has a lot to deal with right now. She's 17, got the dreaded H.S.C. in front of her, and the boy of her dreams seems completely out of reach. Then there's that other problem. She's a wog. Sure, it's where Josie comes from, but it's not where she feels she belongs. In fact, Josie doesn't know where she belongs. With her Nonna in one ear talking about the old country ...
Looking for Alibrandi
Looking for Alibrandi is a coming-of-age Australian film, released in 2000, that explores the life of Josephine Alibrandi, a high school teenager who is struggling to find her place in the world. The film is based on a novel of the same name by Melina Marchetta and has become a classic of Australian cinema, lauded for its portrayal of multiculturalism and the complexities of family relationships.
Looking for Alibrandi
Find trailers, reviews, synopsis, awards and cast information for Looking for Alibrandi (2000) - Kate Woods on AllMovie - A teenage girl confronts the crises of growing up…
Book vs. Movie: Looking For Alibrandi
After writing and posting my review on Melina Marchetta's first novel, Looking For Alibrandi, and reading the comments that were coming in, I couldn't help myself.I watched the movie. Maybe it was a little bit of Alibrandi overload but I'm a glutton in all things, so I have a pretty high tolerance.*And boy am I glad I did. Because now I get to sit here and compare the two.
Looking for Alibrandi Movie Reviews
Buy Pixar movie tix to unlock Buy 2, Get 2 deal And bring the whole family to Inside Out 2; Save $10 on 4-film movie collection When you buy a ticket to Ordinary Angels; ... Looking for Alibrandi Critic Reviews and Ratings Powered by Rotten Tomatoes Rate Movie. Close Audience Score. The percentage of users who made a verified movie ticket ...
Looking for Alibrandi
Show all movies in the JustWatch Streaming Charts. Streaming charts last updated: 5:17:19 pm, 10/04/2024. Looking for Alibrandi is 1783 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 877 places since yesterday. In Australia, it is currently more popular than Annie but less popular than Blonde.
Review: Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
25 Nov 2014. Growing up is hard. In Looking for Alibrandi, 17-year-old Josephine Alibrandi struggles to accept her culture, abandonment by her father and her social displacement at a wealthy girls' high school. In her final year she begins to accept herself for who she is. In letting go of rigid expectations, Josie learns that the best things ...

Looking for Alibrandi (2000)

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Theatre Review: Looking for Alibrandi at Belvoir is heartfelt and courageous

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Lighting Lighting

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Synopsis by Mark Deming

Book vs. Movie: Looking For Alibrandi

Meet the Contestants

The Characters

Miscellaneous

The Results?

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Looking for Alibrandi (2000)

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