Celeste

2018, 1080hd

Johnny's comments:

After capping Odessa Young from Shirley the other day I went looking to see what was coming up for her and found today's movie which I remembered getting a small cinema release last year and wondered why it hasn't been released for home viewing except it had, 11 months ago. So, I've fallen asleep at the wheel and veered into oncoming traffic yet again. Look out...

Celeste is a drama where a famous opera singer Celeste (Radha Mitchell), who lives in a tropical paradise, has decided to come out of early retirement after the death of her husband 10 years previous. Jack (Thomas Cocquerel) is an apprentice carpenter in the city who gets bashed by thugs after he doesn't pay off his $50,000 gambling debt, so after wandering for a few days and getting dumped by his girlfriend, he escapes to the tropical paradise to visit his stepmother, Celeste. While in town, Jack meets local Rita (Odessa Young) and they sort of hit it off before he unexpectedly arrives at Celeste's place. She welcomes him but she is also busy getting ready for her comeback and doing endless interviews her manager Grace (Nadine Garner) has set up and Celeste is becoming anxious and prone to outbursts. Jack remembers various things that happened around his father's death such as his funeral, various moments with Celeste and his father's infidelity which will lead to why his father died. Jack attempts to help some carpenters build a stage at the property but becomes violent and scares them off but does promise Grace to build the stage himself. Jack starts seeing Rita although that hits an early pothole when Rita gets Jack to wear his father's jacket to a lunch and Celeste has another outburst because of it. Celeste and Jack share a moment which almost leads to something more and it causes Jack to abandon Rita. The thugs attempt to track down Jack but Celeste comes to the rescue by paying him for making the stage plus she gives him the money he owes the them. Celeste and Jack share another moment but before they go any further, Celeste tells Jack that she's dying. The big comeback arrives and Celeste become extremely anxious but manages to perform. Jack remembers how his father died and his involvement in it. While Celeste basks in a successful comeback, she collapses and dies.

OK drama that is not as arty as I expected from the director of the ultra-arthouse 2007 film Corroboree, making it over 10 years between that and making Celeste. Mostly driven by Mitchell and Cocquerel, there stories converge into an increasingly sad movie about new beginnings mixed with missed opportunities. Both characters are hard to warm to, both prone to wild outbursts, sometimes over the slightest things and all the supporting characters don't have much to do although Odessa Young adds some brightness to the tense mood. Celeste's property is utterly gorgeous, a literal tropical paradise that becomes a feature of the movie, it's sprawling forest mixed with architecture that never seems to end. To be honest, the plot isn't all that interesting and Celeste's death seems like it only exists to give the movie a proper ending the movie probably didn't need. Not a bad movie but will test the patience of most.

And I'll need to revise the nude debut status of Odessa Young as she shows her right breast in an open shirt.

Odessa Young film clip (collages below)