ozjosh03 This is an infuriatingly hackneyed entry in the idealistic-teacher-saves-disadvantaged-students sub-genre. It desperately wants to be hip and socially relevant, but is relentlessly and embarrassingly dull. It's a classic example of what happens when film funding bodies like Screen Australia become preoccupied with ticking all the politically correct boxes. Aboriginal content and cast. Tick. Female writer and director. Double tick. Lead character tailored for an American star (however awkwardly). Tick. Story geared to a younger demographic. Tick. But none of these elements ever comes together, and the result is a lame mish-mash that attempts to sell us Aboriginal students energised by Shakespeare, Christina Ricci battling racism and exploring her sexuality, and a morally confused criminal sub-plot that weirdly shifts the focus from the central characters. To make matters worse, the depiction of inner-Sydney's Redfern - which is given an LA ghetto makeover (complete with burnt-out cars and fires in the streets) - is dishonest and laughable to anyone who actually knows it.

Marlon Wallace The film depicts life down under in Spillane's birth city of Sydney. She focuses on a white American teacher, played by Christina Ricci whose character of Dino Chalmers is trying to make a difference in the inner-city suburb of Redfern. She gets a class of Aboriginal teenagers to perform Shakespeare's Hamlet with her lead being Liam Wood, a 16-year-old Aborigine who has a talent for dancing and acting. Unfortunately, his future is threatened when he gets in trouble with the law and police.Spillane was herself a teacher in Redfern from 2001 to 2005 at an Aboriginal arts college where she instructed students of all ages, including teenagers. She wrote the screenplay in 2004 after learning about a real-life Aboriginal teen who also got into trouble with the law and police.Spillane's film has this racial tension rippling in the background, or on the side. Her aim is more to take a step back and not focus on the specific incident, but rather examine the neighborhood and show the situation, which led to the racial tensions, or the needless death, much in the same way Spike Lee did in 'Do the Right Thing' (1989).

Stephan Lorenzen I'll admit I downloaded this based on the fact that Christina Ricci was the lead in it. To my surprise, it was the acting of the supporting cast that really led the way here. It is a very different character for Ricci, who has been sort of typecast as an oddball since her early Addams Family days. As a viewer, you are immediately taken in by the boy Liam who has secured the role of Hamlet in the school play. If you are a Shakespeare buff like I am, you will love the Hamlet plot lines and dynamics running throughout the film. You can see hints of that from the trailer but I didn't know just how central to the story Hamlet would be until I saw it for myself. It's a modern twist on an age-old tale, and with that, Around The Block is able to bring something new to the table.

adrossan I looked forward to watching an Australian film, about Australian problems, in our most-known Australian city.What a let down.I should have been warned by the inclusion of Cristina Ricci as a token American, who supposedly knows how to fix urban Aboriginal "at risk" (from what ?) kids' problems, laughably by teaching Hamlet.Written and directed by Sarah Spillane, who allegedly lived for years in Redfern & is now Los Angeles based, the film meanders around very clichéd subjects such as disaffected youth, a family member in prison, racial problems, and stereotypical police and teacher roles.No depth, no great character development or logical behaviour sequencing & progression, technically lukewarm to pass-mark for lighting & sound, weak dialogue and almost no use of real-life dilemmas.Even the title has a twee, American "did you see what we did with that double meaning in the title ?" about it. Very un-Australian, and very off-putting.Anyone brought up on a diet of American rebellious youth movies and TV could have written this tripe, which bears little to the reality of the subject matter. Gangsta rap and hand gestures have absolutely nothing to teach Aboriginal kids, other than "violence is the answer" and separatism cures race rifts.To round out how far the movie misses it's own point, a ridiculous lesbian scene with Australia's most useless, no-talent, celebrity lesbian, Ruby Rose, is tossed in for no apparent reason (and no sub-plot storyline introduction) and should have been left on the cutting room floor.It has no utility and is not germane to the poorly expressed storyline.There are enough real and important issues arising from Redfern to make several concise and insightful full-length features, and this is not one of them. It unfolds as a "US garbage morals and message" movie, superimposed on an Australian scene and for the most part ignoring Aboriginal reality.Australia has entirely different problems between indigenous and white settlement, than American "White" and "Negro" race problems. Using a US cookie-cutter outline on an Australian problem smacks of opportunism and only serves to further differences between Aboriginal and non Aboriginal people - useless at best and dangerous at worst, creating an American style sub-culture and ghetto mindset which will only repeat, not break, the cycle of loss and alienation.The standout acting in this film is from Mark Coles Smith, who has screen presence and a cheeky, engaging and charming smile, who could sell ice to Eskimos, and if utilised correctly will see great things for him in years to come.Stay in Los Angeles Sarah, and write American crap over there. Don't try to parasite from the back of troubled people to a comfortable life as a movie "director".Two stars for providing local employment. Try a LOT harder next time.