# Music From Another Room (1998)

### reviewed by
Nikki Lesley

    Music From Another Room

    Director: Charlie Peters.

Starring: Jude Law, Gretchen Mol, Brenda Blethyn, Jennifer Tilly.

Once you've seen the first ten minutes of this movie (or even the preview), you know exactly what's going to happen. This seems to be the curse of the romantic-comedy. Of course, this doesn't always have to be a bad thing - sometimes getting to a known end can be heaps of fun - but a movie has to work a lot harder to overcome this.

First, if I know that Danny (Jude Law) and Anna (Gretchen Mol) are going to end up happily ever after from the get-go, why will I keep watching? Since it's at the very beginning, we're not at a point yet where I really care about these characters. The only possibility is that the journey is going to be novel in some way, filled with interesting characters and strange events.

Charlie Peters seems to have understood this point and filled Music From Another Room with a cast of zany characters who have eccentric hobbies/careers. Danny is a restorer of mosaics, Anna's sister-in-law regularly draws a gun on the family at the dinner table, Anna's father continually talks about the mating habits of different animals, the wisdom dispensing Austrian family that takes Danny in, the people at the night club, Anna's mother with her magically reappearing and disappearing disease - the film is filled with a plethora of quaint or just plain strange characters.

Unfortunately turning a room full of odd beings into an interesting, amusing movie rather than into a room full of lunatics is a fine line to tread and the director seems to be wearing Doc Martens. To take just one point, what is the story with the sister-in-law and the gun? Her gun wielding antics start out mildly amusing but quickly become psychopathic: and there's not much humour in that.

Music From Another Room isn't a bad movie. In fact, there are quite a few amusing moments and almost all of the performances are good enough. It's just another predictable romantic comedy with not much to recommend it, especially not it's "I'm-so-hip" self-referential dialogue. Throughout the movie, people make references to the fact that things are happening just as if they were in a movie such as when Anna talks about the typical romantic comedy where the interesting foreigner comes to enlighten the up-tight female lead. Being a predictable, cliched movie is bad enough but admitting it doesn't make it any better!

Some sort of change of direction would have made this a more interesting movie: perhaps have Danny, in trying to woo Anna, fall in love with Nina (Jennifer Tilly) or have Anna realise that she has been up-tight till now but now she needs to go off to experience life, not settle down with Danny. Something, anything to get Music From Another Room out of the predictability rut.

Pleasant storyline, amusing moments, attractive people: clearly a fine choice as a rainy afternoon video. Just be warned that you'll have the song Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden on your brain for the rest of the day.

    Rating: PRatings System

    HD: High Distinction
     D: Distinction
    CR: Credit
     P: Pass
    CP: Conceded Pass
     F: Failreview page: http://www.cs.usyd.edu.au/~nikki/m_r/Intro.html
    --
    Nicole Lesley      email: nikki@cs.usyd.edu.au
    "The world won't end in darkness,
              it'll end in family fun"
                     The Beautiful South, One God.

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