With "Milla meets Moses" director Shannon Murphy presents her first feature film.
Now the heavily played drama has also started in Germany.
Our criticism:
Sometimes an insect reveals whether a film succeeds or fails.
In “Milla meets Moses” we see the two title characters splashing around in the pool when the camera, as if by chance, films an animal that has plunged into the glittering water - and tries to save itself.
Yes, the picture is a strong symbol, because everyone in this drama is somehow fighting for their lives and struggling to get (again) firm.
“Milla meets Moses” is a fun film - despite its theme
However, if the film debut of director Shannon Murphy were just average, the Australian would have exposed this scene garishly.
She might have shown the audience how the little creature was saved (drowning in such productions would be inconceivable).
Since "Milla meets Moses" is a remarkable, powerful, heartbreaking and yet kitsch-free, cheerful film, Murphy lets her cameraman Andrew Commis slip over this moment, as uninvolved as life itself. After all, that can be a really bad traitor.
Milla will die without really having lived.
The only thing that's unclear is how much time the cancer will give her.
When we meet the young woman for the first time, she is standing on the platform, the train rushing up: Is she just exhausted - or is she considering ending her life on her own?
It is impressive how Eliza Scanlen shows this desperate conflict in her character.
At this moment someone else jumps - to the edge of the platform: Moses pulls Milla out of her thoughts to let the wind of the speeding train blow around her bare stomach.
The guy is a few years older than her and pretty shabby: kicked out at home, drug addict, petty criminal.
He pokes at Milla, they start chatting, he shows her the scar on the back of the head - and has no inkling of the scars on the girl's soul.
Shannon Murphy breaks all clichés
Whatever Milla sees in Moses - she takes him with her to her parents: On the outside, everything in this family is in perfect order.
But with the arrival of her daughter's chance acquaintance, it becomes clear how much the parents also suffer from the child's disease.
The mother, a former concert pianist, numbs the pain with alcohol and tablets;
the father, a psychiatrist, is so involved that he haphazardly smooches the pregnant neighbor.
Both want the best for Milla - but she wants Moses, whose "shit don't care" attitude is visibly good for her.
Yes, "Milla meets Moses" is a cancer drama.
And yes, the film tells of the first, tender love between two outsiders.
Nevertheless, the director Shannon Murphy and her writer Rita Kalnejais have succeeded in undermining all the clichés and expectations that are commonly associated with these subjects - or in bringing them onto the screen in such an unusual and fresh way, as if they were actually new.
This is due to the script and its extremely lively characters.
They all have flaws and quirks, and yet their decisions can be understood: Every outbreak of desperation, every act, no matter how stupid, is understandable here.
For the implementation, Murphy relied on a wonderfully coordinated ensemble.
Essie Davis and Ben Mendelsohn reveal the desperate silence that has lain on the marriage of Milla's parents.
But both succeed in making the liberation of their characters credible.
Toby Wallace and Eliza Scanlen convince in their interaction
Toby Wallace shows Moses as a mangy street dog between egoism and cheeky lust for life, who surprises with, yes, charity.
Playing with Eliza Scanlen creates a crackling sound that creates tension.
Their Milla is not only a cancer patient, but also a young woman who wants to pack as much life as possible into her remaining time.
In doing so, she allies herself with us viewers through cleverly placed looks directly into the camera.
It is complicity that makes you happy.
