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All of us, so the saying goes, can choose our friends but not our family. Australian director Cherie Nowlan taps into that universal grievance in Clubland, a warts-and-all picture of the weird and wonderful Dwights: a bunch of kooky Sydney-siders who you might want to meet but wouldn't want to share the bloodline with. A hit at this year's Sundance Film Fesival, where it was picked up for international distribution by Warner Independant, Nowlan's burbs comedy/drama tells a coming-of-age story, although that description applies equally to young and old. And it applies especially to Jeannie (Brenda Blethyn).
Jeannie is the overbearing mother of Tim (Khan Chittenden) and Mark (Richard Wilson). Before Tim introduces his girlfriend Jill (Emma Booth) to the family he solemnly announces that there is something he simply must tell her about his folks. By the tone of his voice you'd swear he was about to confess that Jeannie and John (Frankie J. Holden) burn flags and recite esoteric racist chants on the weekend, but instead he confesses that they are simply "entertainers."
© In Film Australia
