Tim - review

Mel Gibson in only his 4^th role plays Tim Melville, a 20 something loveable labourer who’s described by his family as ‘not being the full quid’. Despite being simple, Tim enjoys working outside and is keen to get help people.

When Tim meets Mary, an older single lady, she employs Tim to help her around the house and garden and in returns offers him friendship and the opportunity to learn to read. 

As the two of them strike up a close friendship, Tim’s parents are happy that Tim has independence and someone he can spend time without outside the family, but when his sister Dawny learns of the age gap between them, she’s not shy in making her feelings known.

While some people may feel Mary is taking advantage of Tim, they enjoy each other’s company spending time at her beach house and getting to know each other and when his parents come to rely on her to help look after Tim, Mary believes she’s falling in love with him.

This adorable drama was a lovely movie to watch which I thoroughly enjoyed. With Mel Gibson giving an impressive performance as Tim which would make anyone fall in love with his kind & simple nature, Tim shows that love knows no boundaries and provided me with a sweet and easy to watch movie which I would have no trouble recommending. 

The Spare Room by Helen Garner

As Helen awaits the arrival of her friend Nicola to stay, she prepares her spare room to be as comfortable as possible. 

When Nicola arrives in Melbourne, Helen is shocked to see her friend looking so frail in their first meeting since Nicola’s cancer diagnosis and knows that her 4 week stay with her will be a long one.

While she’s in Melbourne, Nicola has a treatment plan booked at an Institute specialising in alternative therapy in the hope of pro-longing the inevitable, but when Helen learns what she has to go through prior to her arriving home looking worse for wear, she doesn’t hold back when trying to persuade Nicola that it’s a fraud.

With Nicola convinced the doctors know what they’re doing, Helen leaves her to do it, but she begins to struggle herself with the constant bed changing and lack of sleep to the point where she resents Nicola being there.

While she tries to remain supportive, Helen agrees to join Nicola at her treatment sessions, but when Nicola’s health takes a turn for the worse, she soon realises that no matter good a friend you are, where illness is involved, even the strongest friendships can suffer.

This novel was a brutally honest account of how someone can struggle with an illness even though they’re not the one with the diagnosis.

Despite the subject of the story, I didn’t become overly involved in it and found myself siding with Helen, the put upon friend which made me question how I would cope in a similar situation – hopefully I’ll never have to find out.

Irresistable - review

Susan Sarandon stars as Sophie Hartley, a wife and mother who is convinced her husband’s work colleague Mara is stalking her. 

With the grief of losing her mother still raw, Sophie tries to focus on her art and family, but when things start to go missing and Mara becomes too close for comfort, Sophie is determined to prove she is being targeted.

As she turns stalker herself to prove her point, her family begin to worry about her state of mind to the point where her husband welcomes Mara’s input and help, but with Sophie still convinced she is trying to take over, is Mara really that much of a stranger?

Set in Australia and starring Emily Blunt with an Australian accent, I really wanted to see how this movie would turn out and was satisfied with the ending, but I wouldn’t rush to watch it again.