Themes: Fish Out of Water, Date from Hell, Small-Town Life
Main Cast: Miranda Otto, Rebecca Frith, George Shevtsov, John Alansu, Jessica Napier
Release Year: 1996
Country: AU
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A middle-aged disc jockey becomes romantically entangled with a pair of sisters in this quirky Australian comedy. Vicki-Ann Hurley (Rebecca Frith) and her younger sister Dimity (Miranda Otto) are both feeling stagnant in the tiny outback town of Sunray, and they welcome the distraction provided by the arrival of Ken Sherry (George Shevtsov), a formerly popular radio personality fallen on hard times. Despite his present circumstance, the burnt-out Sherry retains an aura of faded prestige that attracts both sisters. Vicki-Ann sets out to seduce the disc jockey, but it is Dimity who first draws Sherry's attention, setting the stage for a conflict between the sisters. First-time filmmaker Shirley Barrett plays this conflict not for romantic melodrama but for comedy, focusing on how Vicki-Ann and Dimity adapt to their experiences with the mysterious Sherry, whose enigmatic demeanor may hide a deeper secret. Barrett plays out this triangle against a detailed portrait of a failing town, emphasizing the distinctive local color and oddball characters in a manner that should appeal most to those with a taste for the unusual. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Love Serenade is a 1996 Australianfeature film directed by Shirley Barrett. It is a comedy film which has the tagline: "Two sisters will do anything to hook the right man."[1]
There are not many characters in Love Serenade, which is set in an almost-deserted town located by the Murray River called Sunray. We're introduced to a pair of sisters, Dimity (Miranda Otto) and Vicki-Ann (Rebecca Firth), who share a house. Dimity, the shy and insecure sibling, is a waitress at a local Chinese restaurant. Vicki-Ann, the brash one, is a hair stylist. Both are looking for love, although the prospects in Sunray seem bleak, at best. That is, until Ken Sherry (George Shetsov), a thrice divorced Brisbane DJ personality, moves into the house next door.[2]
During the filming of the Silo Scene where Dimity pushes Ken off, Stuntman Collin Dragsbaek died when he fell onto a faulty airbag.[3]
