WillFull Review

Rebel Penfold-Russell has made her mark as a producer or executive producer of films like The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Frauds and Paws. She`s also directed short dramas. WillFull is her debut feature. This supernatural coming of age story has Catherine, Anna Lise Phillips, returning to Australia just after the death of her mother Katya, Anne Looby. There`s a complex family history between mother and daughter involving Katya`s extravagant lifestyle and the death of Catherine`s father. But Catherine is hardly prepared for her mother turning up as a ghost to try to sort things out between them. In fact it`s downright intrusive when Catherine is one of the key performers in a motivational show being put on by her boyfriend Nat Wolff, C. Thomas Howell. Life`s a bit chaotic really with Katya`s husband Martin, Bud Tingwall, having his own agenda, with Nat`s business partner Cynthia, Nicki Wendt, wanting Catherine out and of course with Katya hanging around. There are a lot of terrific ingredients in WillFull, the main one being Anne Looby`s stellar performance as Katya. Steve Arnold`s cinematography is lush and warm, Anthony Partos` music highlights the whimsy of the film. But the film itself suffers from a bit of an identity crisis, it`s not really a comedy although there are funny bits, it`s not a romance despite C. Thomas Howell`s presence as Nat, it has elements of mystery underlying the core of the film which is really about the relationship between a mother and daughter. Rebel Penfold-Russell has a sure visual hand with the material but there are elements of the screenplay that are unconvincing. However there are also touching moments in this film`s journey that maybe quite a few daughters and mothers can relate to.