Image: John Clarke and Anthony LaPaglia starring in A Month of Sundays; Courtesy of MadMan Entertainment.
Frank Mollard (Anthony LaPaglia) is a grumpy real estate agent, living alone and in the midst of getting a divorce. One night he receives a call from his mum. They talk for several minutes until she calls him Damian. Realising it’s a wrong number Frank then acknowledges that his mum’s been dead a year, though his mum sounded a lot like this mystery caller named Sarah (Julia Blake).
Lonely Frank pursues Sarah for friendship, popping around for cups of tea. Sarah understandably is a reluctant friend at first, in case, as her son Damian points out, Frank is an ‘ambulance chaser’. After the somewhat awkward start, Sarah and Frank eventually become friends.
Frank admits to Sarah early on that he doesn’t like telling people he’s in real estate, ‘Not because it’s evil, that’s a given, because they always ask you “what’s this place worth then?”’
At work Frank gets along well with his dry humored boss Philip (John Clarke), who’s dad’s in a nursing home suffering from what is probably dementia, though it’s never spelt out.
There is a scene late in the film where Frank inexplicably brings Sarah to see Philip’s dad, who emotionally frets constantly. Sarah is somehow able to do what no one else can; calm Philip’s dad. This scene and the one following feels oddly contrived — wrapping up an otherwise unneeded subplot.
In the very next scene Sarah tells Philip a never before revealed secret from his father’s wartime experience. Philip is astounded; only managing a ‘wow’ in response. The audience feels much the same way. How Sarah, a complete stranger to Philip and his father until that very morning knew this story is never divulged. Knowing that she’s a retired librarian perhaps the audience is supposed to infer that she researched this. But it’s a rather large leap and ruins any emotional connection the scene may otherwise have had.
The dialogue is dark, acerbic and often funny. The performances by LaPaglia and Blake add depth and poignancy. Many of the more dramatic moments are dealt with in a very matter-of-fact way.
Matthew Saville’s directing plays down the drama. Saville’s last two feature films Noise and Felony were darker in subject matter and delivery. A Month of Sundays by contrast is on the lighter side though with plenty of touches of dark humour. And without giving the end away, a little hope thrown in for good measure.
A Month of Sundays
Rating: 2 stars out of 5 stars
Director: Matthew Saville
Writer: Matthew Saville
Release date: 28 April 2016
Actors: Julia Blake, Justine Clarke, John Clarke, Anthony LaPaglia, Wayne Anthoney, Nick Batzias
Rated: PG
Distributed by: Madmen Distribution
A Month of Sundays
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