THE MOVIE

Author John Birmingham has lived in numerous share houses in Brisbane and Melbourne and has had close to a hundred different flatmates. He kept notes on all of them and this is what formed the basis of his first novel He Died With A Felafel In His Hand. This novel is finally brought to the screen by writer/director Richard Lowenstein.

It starts ominously with struggling writer Danny (Noah Taylor) finding the Flipster (Brett Stewart) dead, parked in front of the idiot box with a felafel in his hand. Nine months earlier, Danny is living in share house number 47 in Brisbane. He is sharing a run down Queenslander with Sammy (Emily Hamilton) Flip, Derek the bank clerk, who lives in a tent in the lounge room, and Jabber, the guy in charge of the remote, amongst others. Soon they are joined by Anya (Romane Bohringer) and Satomi Tiger. However, when the pagan worshippers and the Nazi skinheads show up, Danny decides it’s time to move on, so he heads to Melbourne. Different location, but similar problems, a definite lack of money and strange flatmates. Things quickly turn awry here as well and he moves again, this time to Sydney, where he shares a flat with Nina (Sophie Lee) and Dirk (Francis McMahon). Things are going as well as could be expected, but the law is on his tail, and Sammy and Anya have just moved in, so things are about to get complicated.

Richard Lowenstein has done a reasonable job, especially given that the novel is little more than a series of short stories about different share house experiences, along with numerous flatmate profiles and humorous anecdotes about brown couches, bucket bongs, milk crates and fish fingers. Still, I think this film could have been a lot better. It seems to get stuck in a rut, with too much time devoted to Danny’s relationship with Sammy and Anya, and not enough mayhem. If you’ve read the novel, then it’s easy to see how many potential laughs have been overlooked. If you haven’t read the book though, then this film makes for some light entertainment.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

This DVD is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen and is 16:9 enhanced. Detail is very good. This is evident in chapter 3 (16.08 minutes) when you seen one of the debt collectors up close to the camera. Shadow detail is also good and the darker night time scenes hold up well. Grain and film artefacts are not overly apparent until we get to Sydney, the stark whiteness of this flat shows up just about every imaginable speck of grit. Colours are also very good, and probably look the best under the bright lights in the Sydney flat, despite some minor over saturation during certain scenes. Skin tones look realistic in all three locations. This is only a single layer disc so there is no annoying layer change.

Audio:

He Died With A Felafel In His Hand comes with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack, which is surprisingly good. It has plenty of nice surround effects and bass. For example, in chapter 1 (2.49 minutes and 4.33 minutes) when the poor old cane toads are getting smacked around the backyard with the nine iron. There are also some nice effects in chapter 5 (31.00 minutes) when the cigarette hits the floor and in chapter 7 (43.23 minutes) when the motorbike lands in the hallway.

Along with the very noticeable surround effects such as those above, there are a number of ultra subtle surround sounds to be heard in this film, such as the cicada’s in the background in the opening scenes at the Brisbane share house. It gives you the feeling that you’re actually there, as though it’s a warm summer day in the suburbs. And then there is the musical soundtrack which is quite good, despite the thorough helping of Moby and Nick Cave. Other bands who get a look in include Spiderbait, Sonic Animation and The Stranglers.

THE EXTRAS

This is a pretty basic DVD. There is no animation to speak of and no audio even. The main menu and scene selection menu are static. The only extra feature on this DVD is a theatrical trailer and even it is pretty ordinary. It is presented in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound and it I must say that it sounds incredibly flat after watching the film itself. Running time is 2.05 minutes.

SUMMARY

He Died With A Felafel In His Hand is based on the novel by John Birmingham. It has received some less than glowing reviews, but this isn’t a bad film. If you haven’t read the book, then it would be really quite enjoyable. Personally I would have preferred to seen his second novel, The Tasmanian Babes Fiasco, made into a film. Still, this makes for some light entertainment and Noah Taylor does an excellent job as Danny. The DVD has a pretty good visual and audio transfer but there are no extras to speak of apart from a theatrical trailer.