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List Price: $19.95 | | Label: Vanguard Cinema
Salesrank: 144180
Released: March 6, 2001 |
| Our Price: $12.47 |
| Used Price: $12.46 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Dr. Richard shorkinghorn is on the berge of discovering the key that will unlock the aging process but is running out of money for research. Funding may come from grace michael of the michael foundation an aging beauty queen. She invites richard to spend a weekend at her country estate to discuss the proposal. Studio: Vanguard Cinema Release Date: 04/29/2003 Starring: Geoffrey Rush David Wenham Run time: 86 minutes Rating: R Director: Peter Duncan
Description of A Little Bit of Soul:
Geoffrey Rush is wry, sly, and deviously funny in A Little Bit of Soul, writer-director Peter Duncan's follow-up to his offbeat black comedy Children of the Revolution. Rush plays the smooth-talking Australian finance minister (who, as it turns out, is confounded by the simplest economic theory) and husband of a philanthropist (Heather Mitchell). They play host to a pair of rival scientists and former lovers (David Wenham and Mansfield Park's Frances O'Connor) competing for the same grant. Sound like the weekend from hell? That should come as no surprise, for the hosts just happen to be Satanists. Well, it's really more of a hobby, they insist, but when a mysterious third guest paints the bathroom with her blood in a supposed suicide attempt, suspicions bubble to the surface. Duncan has a light touch with actors and a deft way with underplayed comedy, but he lets his script wander into absurdity, and his characters follow. The sardonic humor transforms into a series of outrageous gags in which Rush comes unleashed with manic energy, but while scenes entertain on their own terms, the story never recovers from the cartoonish turn. The upbeat score features a wonderful collection of toe-tapping Louis Jordan tunes. --Sean Axmaker
A Little Bit of Soul Reviews:
Yet another interesting Australian film. 
2005-04-29 - Although the script somewhat concerns discovering a method for controlling the aging process of humans, this low-budget film is most notable for top-flight satirical writing and exceptional acting. Heather Mitchell, a stage trained actress Down Under, is remarkable with her acutely accurate sense of comic syntactic timing. She, along with Geoffrey Rush, much lauded for his performance in "Shine", thoroughly enjoy creating their roles. Australian politics, hardly different from any other, are broadly pastiched. The director, Peter Duncan, also scripted and nicely plays a barrister. The plot is wildly improbable but each scene presents something of interest. This little known work deserves a wider audience than it has had.
Cluck, cluck, cluck 
2000-10-09 - Great swing or "soul" music, you don't hear that often in movies now. This is a hilarious, somewhat slap-stick, somewhat rude farce comedy. It is a romantic comedy also with revenge (more broad but less vicious though than War of the Roses). It is also agreat commentary on politicians. Geoffrey Rush is superb. Researchers working on the aging process try to get funding and run into Satanists! They use chickens to experiment on, one of the jokes is, he makes a typo on his report and puts "Winding back the cluck." If you aren't laughing, maybe you have to be there. It is set in Australia (bad politicians are worldwide evidently), but I didn't find any humor I couldn't relate to or understand. It is an intelligent comedy that you have to pay attention to in order to get the ending which is great.
