THE SUM OF US
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1995 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: David Stevens's stage play is adapted
for the screen. A father and his gay son live
alone together in a middle-class neighborhood in
Sydney, each looking for a mate. The minimal story
moves slowly, but the character development and the
unusual father-son relationship make this a
watchable and well-constructed film. Rating: +1
(-4 to +4)
David Stevens is probably most notable in this country for co- authoring BREAKER MORANT together with Bruce Beresford and Jonathan Hardy. That was a very political film. His SUM OF US, based on his own stage play, is a very different sort of story. At the center of this story are Harry Mitchell and his son Jeff (Jack Thompson of the excellent TURTLE BEACH and Russell Crowe of ROMPER STOMPER). We see them doing some very normal things like having dinner together. Jeff, as we quickly learn, is gay. Harry accepts his son's sexual orientation with a sort of stoicism. Most of the time he presents a face of complete toleration, but find him in the right mood and he will admit that he wishes his son would know the joy of "planting his seed and seeing it grow," as he puts it. And if you catch Harry drunk and with his defenses down, you can tell that his natural instincts are anti-gay. Still, he is a man of wit and intelligence who greatly loves his son and who, while in control, will make every effort to be supportive. Harry's determination to be not just tolerant but chummy with Jeff's boyfriend Greg (John Polson) ironically is more of a hindrance than a help in that relationship. But if Harry is disrupting Jeff's relationship, Jeff's being gay may impact Harry's romance with an attractive divorcee he has met through a dating service.
Jack Thompson is a familiar face in Australian cinema and has been in such films as MAD DOG MORGAN, BREAKER MORANT, and THE EARTHLING. Here he gives a likable and nicely understated performance. This really is his film and even in moments of minimalist repartee with his son, a natural charm and wit shine through. Crowe is fully credible as the son but somehow is not able to command the same audience empathy that Thompson does.
Stevens creates a real study in the degrees of tolerance among the families shown in this film. In Jeff's family the dominant emotion is love; in Greg's it is anger. Greg's father seems to have little use for his son, not even knowing that his son is gay. The one really unconventional touch in the style of this film is to have Harry and Jeff talk directly to the camera frequently. This technique is often used in films, but rarely to this degree. Curiously, this is not at all bothersome when it is first used, but toward the end of the film there are cases where it is awkwardly inappropriate.
This is a film with some comedy and some sadness that warmly explores an unusual father-son relationship. There are no thrills and no special effects, just a simple story. I wish this country would make more of this sort of film. It gets a laid-back +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mark.leeper@att.com
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