Starstruck (1982)

Craig & 'Becca'lise would like to formally introduce you to a new guest contributor. Everyone say hi to Andi! 'Becca'lise first came across this little lady via her vintage blog Andi B. Goode. Admiration for her blog lead to Facebook/Twitter friendship which has in turn evolved into a mutual admiration between blogs and bloggers. Seeing as Andi is from Adelaide, Australia, her first piece (will there be more?) is an appreciation of her favorite Australian film Starstruck! For more of her film writing please check out her film blog, The Sofa Cinephile. And now without further ado...

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I can't really say what most people outside of Australia think of when they think 'Australian cinema'. Drag queens driving through the desert in a converted bus? Crazed serial killers? Young girls mysteriously disappearing? (Which, and it tickles me, some people still think is a true story. Too funny). I know a lot of my Australian cinema-loving friends will quote The Castle as a favourite, though it doesn't seem to have done so well in America? Perhaps it's 'too' Australian? (I know a lot of the jokes were changed to 'translate' for American audiences. But maybe something on that another time...)

Well, one of my own personal favourites is Gillian Armstrong's 1982 offering, Starstruck. It combines so many things that I love: the '80s, great new wave music, fun costumes and an homage to Busby Berkeley. And yet there is still, somehow, that understated quality that I love about Australian cinema. (There are exceptions, of course, like Baz Luhrman's Australia...which I don't actually like very much.) Well, understated is a matter of opinion, of course...

It's referred to by at least one IMDB user as a 'cult film' in the US but I'm not sure it's much more well known in Australia, to be honest.

Starstruck is the story of Jackie (Jo Kennedy), an aspiring singer, and her cousin Angus, her manager and songwriter, and their quest to raise Jackie to star status including the adventures and mishaps along the way that culminate in a New Year's Eve performance at the Sydney Opera House.

It's directed by Gillian Armstrong who has directed a lot of period movies (like Little Women and Charlotte Gray) including My Brilliant Career, a film I found slightly dry but very important (a word that is well open to interpretation). Starstruck is a surprising follow-up to My Brilliant Career in some ways, yet both are about young women struggling to overcome their situations in life to 'make it'.

Starstruck is hardly a masterpiece of cinema, but I think it illustrates Australia's affinity for the underdog just as well as so many of our other films. And it does it with appearances from The Swingers, great new wave music (including a cover of a Split Enz song), creative use of locations, colourful costumes and genuinely likeable characters. It's just a really fun movie!

I could be wrong: maybe Starstruck is a lot better known than I think it is – I tend to be a fairly isolated/insulated movie watcher at times. Either way, it's one of my all-time favourites (not just of Australian cinema) and one I come back to time and time again.