Under the Lighthouse Dancing Review

Under The Lighthouse Dancing is a first feature from an unlikely source - writer/director Graeme Rattigan is no graduate of film school, he`s not making the leap to feature films after a series of shorts - he`s a lawyer who decided that writing and directing films was what he wanted to do. His story of a couple, Harry - Jack Thompson - and Emma - Jacqueline McKenzie - who invite four friends to their island holiday home for the weekend, where they intend to get married, is underlaid by tragedy...it`s no accident that one of the friends is Emma`s doctor... Harry might have thought the idea of getting married that weekend is great, but he`s done nothing to organise it; it`s the friends who band together and work like mad to create a magic moment for Harry and Emma. Rattigan says he wanted to make a film about the power of love; unfortunately the film`s a bit `Seventies New Age`, too much feelgood, too little solid drama - and unfortunately Rattigan hasn`t given much depth to any of his characters. We hardly know anything about them and we don`t learn all that much during the film. Jack Thompson and Jacqueline McKenzie give two of the more mannered performances in the film, but they`re hampered by their characters; more natural are Aiden Gillet and Naomi Watts, who play two single friends who discover something together on the island. On the technical side, the film looks wonderful - it was mostly shot on Rottnest Island, and Larry Eastwood`s design with Paul Murphy`s cinematography makes you wish for more oomph in the screenplay. Under The Lighthouse Dancing is a film that obviously wants to have an emotional impact, it just hasn`t done it very successfully.