Looking for Alibrandi

Looking for Alibrandi is a coming of age film set in Sydney in 1999 that tells the story of Josie Alibrandi - a 17 year old Australian of Italian descent.

Unlike most coming of age films it is not heavy handed. It avoids the constant bed hopping and zit horrors that are usually substituted for drama. First time director, Kate Woods has translated Melina Marchetta’s 1992 book to the screen with compassion and insight. This is an intelligent film that shows Josie coming to terms with the complexities of adulthood. Looking for Alibrandi has just the right mix of humour and drama to keep ... the cliches happy.

Josie lives with her Mum, Christina in a terrace in Leichhardt. She attends a private Catholic school, where she is just entering year 12. Josie wants to take control of her life. She is intelligent. Her aim is to turn over a new leaf this year and to get the right grades to go on to Sydney Uni to study law. But It definitely isn’t easy being a ‘wog’, illegitimate and a scholarship student. School life isn’t a total write-off - Josie has a few friends. She gets on very well with John, the school captain of the neighbouring St Anthony’s on whom she has a crush. And if all that wasn’t enough to cope with, Josie has to contend with the bigotry of her rich classmates, an interfering grandmother and as icing on the cake - Josie’s father moves to Sydney.

He has always been under the impression that his then girlfriend had had the pregnancy terminated. Now Josie has something else to cope with. By the end of the film, all the Alibrandi women will have to face the secrets they have long kept from each other.

One of the more noticeable scenes in the movie is the bike ride. Starting from the volcano in George street we get to follow Josie and her partner around the city and across the Anzac bridge in Glebe.

Looking for Alibrandi is a delightful film.

The star is newcomer Pia Miranda who handles the role of Josie beautifully. Actors Greta Scacchi and Anthony La Paglia shine in their supporting roles as Josie’s parents.

Coming out of the cinema in George Street gave me a feeling of deja vu. I actually looked for the motor bike. A very weird experience - to leave the theatre and walk into a set. Something Americans must have grown used to over the years.

Looking for Alibrandi is a good evening’s entertainment. I have to state that it is a ‘chick flick’, though, the males in the audience did laugh and cry too.

Highly recommended. 7/10

(C)opyright Christina Brooks, 2000.