A heartfelt, tonal mishmash of a film.
Wayne Blair’s the Sapphires is a charming yet tonally inconsistent real life telling of the aboriginal girl group during the 60’70’s. The group consists of Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell), Gail (Deborah Mailman), Julie (Jessica Mauboy) and Kay (Shari Sebbens). They begin as a low key country band but with the help of the always charismatic and slightly mad Chris O’Dowd, they find their niche in soul music, touring US military bases during the Vietnam war. On the surface, this may fit perfectly into the musical comedy genre, but it has an ensemble of comedy, drama, War and romance, which although ambitious and entertaining, ultimately ends up hindering the films quality and viewing experience.
Director Wayne Blair is mostly known for his two previous short films, The Djarns Djarns and Black Talk. He has a personal connection to the story, as his mother used to entertain the troops in Vietnam. Which makes the film reliably authentic. He once featured in the play version of the true story in 2005, which then provoked him to direct this feature; perhaps he was the best choice to direct this picture. His aesthetic choice is one full of bright colors along with uplifting music, which is at the heart and core of soul music. Its opening scene starts off strong, as it’s a combination of both style and substance. The style of this scene, refers to the always popular and iconic, run through the Jungle by the Rolling Stones, its substance is both character driven and gives context to the civil rights movement and post-colonization period during the 1960’s, which gives us an insight of the family’s troubled past. Its thematic messages are very accessible and universal. The film makes a heartfelt case for the importance of family, race and heritage, a sense of equal collectiveness and belonging in society. It’s representation of racial issues between the black and white is handled with respect. These messages have a clear moral consensus and can be seen at numerous points in the film, such as the flashback of Gail’s troubled past, which has an emotional pull at the heartstrings. By the film’s finale, it reiterates the theme of a unified belonging, as it finishes on a positive high.
The film has the perfect introductory scene to the character Dave Lovelace, played by the undeniably charming Chris O’Dowd, who’s most notable for his comedic role in Bridesmaids, which has furthered his Hollywood status. He’s really the highlight of this picture, bringing the needed comedic elements to a film, where the cast may be unknown to most mainstream movie goers. The relationship he has with the group blossoms during the rehearsal scenes. It’s a combination of well written comedy and entertaining vocal performances. It’s these scenes between him and the group that shine the most. Even the cliché romance, which we have seen fall apart in many films, works for the most part, as both characters Dave and Gail come together through wrestling with their emotions and conflicted pasts, which makes their romance feel more believable and pure.
However, this film is not perfect. Its genres of musical comedy, romance, drama and war, don’t always gel swiftly. For example; we go from a scene of Dave and Gail bonding with each other romantically, to an explosive attack on the US troopers within a space of a few seconds. These two tones don’t work together and it feels too fragmented. The film has already established a tone of a musical comedy with elements of drama and romance, with the inclusion of a light visual aesthetic and Chris O’Dowd’s comedic performance. So when we get to the war sequence of Chris O’Dowd running from explosions, it feels detached and too unexpected. The character development here is disappointingly weak, we don’t get a clear protagonist, which is often an overlooked criticism for group character performances in musical comedies. It would have been more satisfactory if these characters were developed further, which would have given a sharper dynamic to the group vocalists, which would have given more weight to these great feel-good songs. It lacks that needed fully fleshed out emotional substance to the characters. It shows it in glimpses, but never in full deep exploration. Although, I do believe the film’s main purpose is to tell this story to true heart and to portray history accurately, however translating true stories to film can come with difficulty. This true story isn’t consistent in its tonality, creating at times an unbalanced viewing experience.
Rating- 3/5
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