Blind Company
Encyclopedia
Blind Company is a 2009 feature film directed by Melbourne auteur Alkinos Tsilimidos
and starring Colin Friels
. It premiered at the 2009 Melbourne International Film Festival.
Director Alkinos Tsilimidos saw the production in Melbourne and became interested in writing the adaptation. Tsilimidos had worked with both Nick Barkla and Colin Friels on previous films, such as Tom White and Em4Jay
. Tsilimidos states his interest in the film is due to its exploration of people "who have given up on the world,"
in September 2008. The shoot took three weeks.
The film was shot in a dark, deliberately obscuring style on the red camera by cinematographer Adam Arkapaw. Colin Friels and Nick Barkla lived in the house during the shoot period. The rest of the crew lived in Bicheno in hotels.
noted that the unraveling of the character's secrets was more confusing than compelling. Critics applauded the performances of the film, and the cinematography by Adam Arkapaw who has gone on to shoot the widely acclaimed Animal Kingdom.
Margaret Pomeranz
awarded the film three and a half stars and David Stratton
awarded the film two and a half stars on ABC's At the Movies. Stratton noted the film was slow, particularly at the beginning.
Alkinos Tsilimidos
Alkinos Tsilimidos is an Australian film director. Raised in comfortable circumstances in middle-class Doncaster, Tsilimidos won the Montréal First Film Prize at the Montréal World Film Festival for his 1994 film Everynight ... Everynight...
and starring Colin Friels
Colin Friels
-Background and training:Friels was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, Scotland. His mother was a mill worker and his father a joiner. He lived in Kilbirnie until 1963, when his family moved to Australia, arriving in Darwin, Northern Territory before settling in the Melbourne suburb of Broadmeadows...
. It premiered at the 2009 Melbourne International Film Festival.
Development
Blind Company is adapted from Austin Pendleton's stage production Uncle Bob. Nick Barkla who plays Josh in Blind Company met Austin Pendleton while studying acting at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, an ensemble-based film company of actors, writers and directors. Barkla won the 2007 AFI fellowship of $20,000 to observe their collaborative method of working – an approach that led directly to the making of this film. When Barkla returned to Australia he produced the play and acted in it for Red Stitch Theatre Company.Director Alkinos Tsilimidos saw the production in Melbourne and became interested in writing the adaptation. Tsilimidos had worked with both Nick Barkla and Colin Friels on previous films, such as Tom White and Em4Jay
Em4Jay
Em4Jay is a 2006 Australian drama film directed by Alkinos Tsilimidos. Starring Laura Gordon and Nick Barkla, the story follows the lives of two heroin addicts living in Melbourne's inner suburbs.-Cast:*Chloe Armstrong as Bianca...
. Tsilimidos states his interest in the film is due to its exploration of people "who have given up on the world,"
Plot
Geoff Brewster is seeing out his final days at the family's isolated coastal shack - walking the beach and leaving tape-recorded confessions for his estranged wife, Sally. Geoff, we learn, is dying, and will soon begin to lose his sight. But the peace of the coastal shack is shattered when his nephew, Josh (Nick Barkla, Em 4 Jay) arrives at the house, volatile and apparently hostile, at the wheel of a Porsche, announcing that he has come to stay. It's not clear at first why he has come or what he wants from Geoff. But his presence will spark a deadly game between both men that will threaten to destroy them both.Production
Blind Company was shot in Bicheno, TasmaniaBicheno, Tasmania
Bicheno is a town on the east coast of Tasmania, Australia, 185 km north-east of Hobart on the Tasman Highway, with a population of 640. It is part of the municipality of Glamorgan/Spring Bay...
in September 2008. The shoot took three weeks.
The film was shot in a dark, deliberately obscuring style on the red camera by cinematographer Adam Arkapaw. Colin Friels and Nick Barkla lived in the house during the shoot period. The rest of the crew lived in Bicheno in hotels.
Budget
Blind Company was privately financed on a micro budget. Nick Barkla identified the Porsche as one of the most expensive components of the film, estimating the car at $350,000.Reception
Blind Company premiered at the 2009 Melbourne International Film Festival. It polarised critics, some applauding it for its challenging characters and story, while others found the film slow and suffering from a weak script. VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
noted that the unraveling of the character's secrets was more confusing than compelling. Critics applauded the performances of the film, and the cinematography by Adam Arkapaw who has gone on to shoot the widely acclaimed Animal Kingdom.
Margaret Pomeranz
Margaret Pomeranz
Margaret Pomeranz AM is an Australian film critic and television personality.-Early life:Pomeranz was born in 1944 in Waverley, a suburb of Sydney, and was educated at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, Sydney in Croydon, the then newly opened Macquarie University, and the Playwright's Studio at...
awarded the film three and a half stars and David Stratton
David Stratton
David James Stratton is an English- Australian film critic and television personality.-Life and career:Born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England in 1939, Stratton was sent to Hampshire to see out the war years with his grandmother, an avid filmgoer, where he was taken to the local cinemas regularly...
awarded the film two and a half stars on ABC's At the Movies. Stratton noted the film was slow, particularly at the beginning.
Festivals
- Official Selection World Film Festival Montreal - 2009
- Official Selection Melbourne International Film Festival - 2009