Director/s
Nick Conidi and Tony Ferrieri

Starring
Daniel Berini, Antoniette Iesue, Paul Mercurio and Tina Arena

Set in 1970’s Melbourne, Promised is the story of two young Italian-Australian’s, Robert and Angela, who have had their fate decided by their fathers some 20 years earlier when they were promised to each other in marriage. What follows is a rather beige detailing of their separate approaches to the arranged situation.

What’s frustrating about the film is that the premise had a lot of promise, and it wouldn’t have taken much effort to make it work. One only has to look at last year’s Ladies in Black to know how enjoyable a film like this can be if done right, but in this case, the only appeal lies in period details and none in the execution of the story itself, and even then it’s grossly underdone.

There are too many things to nitpick here; the chemistry (or lack thereof) between the two leads, the fact that not one member of the two extended migrant families has even a hint of an Italian accent, and the complete and utter predictability of the story.

Perhaps an appealing reason to watch the film is to see the feature acting debut of Tina Arena, who plays Angela’s mother, but given she has little to work with in terms of script or direction, even this novelty factor leaves you feeling a little ‘meh’.  That’s the overwhelming feeling here; it’s not that the film is terrible, it’s just that it’s not particularly good and creates nothing more than a sense of apathy in the viewer.  Given the film has two directors (neither of which had directed a feature film before) it’s ironic that the film has such a blatant lack of direction. I don’t think the actors in the film are bad (particularly Daniel Berini and Antoniette Iesue as Robert and Angela), but they clearly didn’t get the opportunity to showcase what they’re capable of. With a wooden script and a story line with no significant purpose, they did what they could but nothing more. What could have been a real feature of the film fell short without enough utilisation of the period features of the film. Why not take us on a journey down Lygon Street and show us more of the history of the cities ‘Little Italy’? Explore that rich culture of our post-war migrant families, which the movie almost anglicises. This film lacked a significant amount of heart and authenticity that could have easily been added.

I really wanted to enjoy this movie. I love Australian stories and want to see more of them. Unfortunately films like Promised make it so much more difficult for local films to find their audiences.

1.5 Stars

Moviedoc thanks Umbrella Entertainment for the opportunity to review this film.

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