A HEARTBEAT AWAY

A young indie rocker is forced to become the leader of his father’s marching band just weeks before their major competition. With some help from the leotard-wearing Isabel Lucas, he must rearrange an iconic rock song and make sure the geriatric band members aren’t brassed off. This falls largely into that lazy category that Australian films do so often. A simple plotline, set in a sleepy town with a bunch of clichéd Aussie characters that are meant to carry the film with their charm. This may work with classics such as Strictly Ballroom or The Castle, but in this film, the characters have no charisma, no spark, they get by purely on their musical talents. Isabel Lucas looks asleep during her performance, more so than usual and the lead role played by Sebastian Gregory provides a luckless character who an audience would fail to believe is capable of catching a fish, let alone a girl. The destructive weather that frames the story is a visual delight, however given the timing, I’m not sure that Australia is ready to see another quaint Queensland town swept away by storms. (AH) **