Charlie (Vince Colosimo), Anna, (Maria Theodorakis) and Charlie`s boyfriend Frank, (Nicholas Bishop) have had a stressful eighteen months looking after their friend Gavin, (David Bonney) who`s been heading towards an AIDS-related death.
When the film opens the final moment has come. Gavin`s family arrives from South Australia - his mother (Judi Farr), his brother Simon, (Nathanial Dean) to be informed that Gavin has asked to die with dignity. And there`s anguish for family and friends as a result of this request. Gavin`s death is dealt with in a variety of ways - Anna becomes a control freak and Charlie starts dulling his pain with leftover morphine. It`s a household in crisis.
There`s much to admire in Walking on Water, it`s been excellently shot by Robert Humphreys and the sound design by Liam Egan working with Antony Partos` music once again shows how fine Australian sound craftspeople really are.
Director Tony Ayres, working from a screenplay by Roger Monk, has worked against any mawkish sentimentality in the film, making the film emotionally rather distanced.
Performances vary but Colosimo is a solid centre in this ensemble piece, in which, to the actors credit some of the key characters are determinedly unsympathetic.
Comments from David Stratton: This superb film about loss could have been unbearably sad, but it's leavened with a strong sense of very Australian humour. The story and the handling of it, by Tony Ayres, are simple enough, but this is a quite haunting piece of work and the performances are uniformly excellent, with Maria Theodorakis and Vince Colosimo outstanding.
