Garage Days (DVD)

...age comedy'. So, I bought Garage Days expecting it to be mildly funny in the lamest of ways, without relying heavily on the use of sex and drugs or indeed a brain in which to watch it with. My expectation of this was because the age certificate was a 15, so it would move away from some of the less complicated issues of youth and into the more hardcore stuff.

However, as I will elaborate on in a few moments, this expectation was more ...
...masterpieces by the creatively named Garage Days Band. Sprimp, the protagonist's rival band, also indulge the viewer in two heavier rock tracks; 'Less Than One' and 'After Us'. They are of a slightly better quality than the other two but nothing ground breaking or spectacular. Let's put it this way; rock giants Metallica and The White Stripes shouldn't be losing any sleep in worrying about a Sprimp invasion!

To save some amount of ... more

Music and movies should seem like a winning combination; both at the heart of the modern day entertainment industry, you only have to look as far back as the 1960's when the Beatles released five films, each centred around their own creations, it shows that sometimes it just works. Well, perhaps not for the Magical Mystery Tour but still...

Yet, where it can be a winning formula for a great film, it can also be a disastrous black pit; if one element isn't quite up to scratch, the rest of it can fall apart at the seams and make for an excessively boring watch.

'Garage Days' narrowly misses this black pit by a millimetre. Whilst it strictly isn't all about the relationship between music and cinematic artistry, its main plot focuses around a post grunge, punkish, wannabe rock group out in Australia, who are desperate to get their big break. Along the way, there are tales of sex, drugs and rock and rock in this averagely ok teen movie which relies heavily on bad innuendo that is so blatant that even my Granny would get it, as well as the regular hopes and far out dreams of many who want to succeed in the music industry.

WHY DID YOU BUY IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Whilst in Choices one day, I was hunting around for extras movies to get as part of a ridiculously cheap offer - it was something like 5 DVD's for £10. Anyway, after picking a whole host of - for the most part - serious movies, involving deceit and crime, I stumbled across a DVD that promised to be a 'coming of age comedy'. So, I bought Garage Days expecting it to be mildly funny in the lamest of ways, without relying heavily on the use of sex and drugs or indeed a brain in which to watch it with. My expectation of this was because the age certificate was a 15, so it would move away from some of the less complicated issues of youth and into the more hardcore stuff.

However, as I will elaborate on in a few moments, this expectation was more or less shattered within the first few minutes of the film...

CHARACTERS
For the bulk of the film, we follow the life and times of a struggling band, consisting of three blokes, one tough women and a hapless manager who seems to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Along the way to 'rock superstardom', there are several hitches. For example, what happens when you fall in love with your life long best friend's girl who suddenly finds out she's pregnant? Or how do you cope living in the knowledge that you band are indeed utter rubbish that will never make it in the cut throat music business?

This group of hopeless youngsters have to live through a whole host of typical problems like this that are better suited to a younger audience as opposed to a film that circulates around the darker principals of rock n roll. None the less, the characters have to be a bit edgy and a bit more hardcore to translate this to a slightly older audience, right?

Well, for the most part, yes.

The central character, Freddy, is the lead singer of the band who is a good guy at heart but surrounded by absolute lunatics who happen to constitute as his fellow band members and mates. On the surface, he does seem to be the most unexciting of all of the characters; he's the practical one who does hold the band together in a less than crazy way. However, as his relationship with the groups bassist crumbles within the first thirty minutes of the movie, his eyes wander elsewhere to a girl who is more evenly matched to himself but who just so happens to be his best mate's woman.

Oh dear.

Little known Australian actor, Kick Gurry's portrayal of Freddy is rather clichéd but to be fair that is mainly as a result of the somewhat predictable plot. However, I do think that he served his purpose in the film; to be the pretty boy lead singer that would make the fictional group seem more realistic to fan-girls. He does look scarily like Australian pop star Darren Hayes in 'Garage Days' with his gelled up, blondish locks and I thought that the wardrobe he was provided with during the movie left few questions in my mind as to who Freddy was modelled on...

Pia Miranda stars as the co-female lead, playing Freddy's first on screen girlfriend, Tanya. She's portrayed as the hard-hitting, aggressive female who knows her own mind. She was a very difficult character I felt from a female perspective to appreciate; although she was written as being the only daughter of a well to do family who simply wanted her to finish her education and get a 'proper' job instead of pursuing music, her rebellion towards her family and others in general came across as a bit exhausted and self explanatory, meaning that this character was futile for the most part of the movie.

Brett Stiller's guitarist character was the most confusing out of the bunch. Joe, acting as Freddy's best mate, was very awkward and tepid to the point where it was difficult to feel any emotions towards him other than bewilderment. Having said that, the storyline compensated for this to a significant degree but even then it was all a bit vague and bemusing. In that respect, Stiller did well to portray this and I would put it down to the storyline for this confusion as opposed to his acting ability.

The group's drummer, Lucy, is played by Chris Sadrinna and is surprisingly a guy. Lucy's main function in the film is to be the male version of Tanya as well as the band's drummer. I'm not kidding, the only worthwhile thing he did in this whole movie was to give the others drugs which he apparently made himself! As it is one of those movies where it is very easy to lose concentration, his home made drugs den wasn't altogether that obvious whilst watching the first time round. Still, he was mildly entertaining in some scenes like when he was getting mugged towards the end - oh how macho!

The other key female character within the film is Kate, played by Maya Stange. Again, she was dealt some pretty predictable and tepid storylines and worked averagely within those boundaries. Russell Dykstra played the slightly lovable but dim-witted manager to the group who did manage to come up trumps in the end, especially for Freddy. He was by far my favourite character of the movie; although I felt that was the whole purpose of the character, I did think that he played well against the sticky situations the character faced and was believable yet still outrageously funny in doing so.

BASIC PLOT (Warning: May contain a few spoilers!)
'Garage Days' primary function as a movie was to encapsulate many youngsters ultimate fantasies of strapping a guitar to their back and heading out into the big wide world, making beautiful music whilst facing many of life's obstacles which would ultimately influence their music. Whilst it was easy to get a good sense of the character's own individual aspirations in creating one of the biggest rock bands in Australian music history, it never really came together as a whole and it seemed as if the characters were all just living parallel lives that failed to connect on so many levels throughout the movie.

Whilst the films focus should be about the art of crafting music and the performance stage, on many occasions the characters and plotline did drift elsewhere to create a motion picture that became less and less about music with each passing scene. Really, the notion of the musical process came in brief mentions that amounted to very little. In my view, if Alex Proyas (creator of Dark City and The Crow) and the other writers wanted to create a movie in praise of rock n roll, then this certainly wasn't the intentions created here.

Instead, because of the lack of musical imagination on the behalf of the producers, the whole thing became far too bogged down in the love - or rather sex - side of things. I know the past few generations 'Holy Trilogy' seems to be sex, drugs and rock n roll and that the other two seem naked without the third but in any case, the rock group idea was just an excuse to make another romcom. A very bad one at that.

But before the surfacing of 'true love', the viewer is expected to sit through some rather deranged scenes that I really don't think are appropriate for a movie awarded an age 15 certificate. Within the first five minutes, Tanya pulls out a vibrator after a rather uneventful few moments of lacklustre love making with lead singer come boyfriend Freddy. At that point, I did kind of do a double take in searching for the age certificate; the rough language may not be suitable for some people of that age either as it did get a bit graphic in some places. It was all used fairly humorously but didn't make for believable action or characters.

The 'true love' portion of the movie between Freddy and Kate was simply included as a way to keep the storyline moving whilst adding another dimension to it. However, this romance - for the most part - was a bit naff over all. In many ways, whilst it kept stalling and starting for various, improbable reasons throughout, it felt to me as if it never really gained much momentum. Typical of most romantic comedies, you had the obligatory 'will they won't they?' moments that just came across as a way to stick to that genre's typical structure. However, by the end of it, it just became a bit dull and predictable with the end result of their love hardly coming as the shock of the century. Instead, I think it diverted the movie too far away from the idea of a struggling group to it just being another teen movie that relied heavily on a poorly acted and scripted romance.

The idea of drugs and their consequences was a bit more impactful second time round whilst watching 'Garage Days'. Having said that, this was about the only part of the age certificate I did agree with; whilst none of the characters were sat with needles hanging out of their arms (thankfully) it did show the side effects in a comical, light hearted way that showed the consequences of rejection resulting in the characters failing to get what they ultimately wanted. I don't mean to sound stereotypical but perhaps it is because 'Garage Days' is an Australian movie but it all came together to me in a very laid back, lazy way that supported the slovenliness of the rest of the plotlines.

Although again succumbing to bouts of cheesiness, guitarists Joe's dilemma was definitely the most intriguing sub-plot of the whole movie. Whilst on the surface it seemed like he was cheating on his then girlfriend, Kate, the outcome is rather surprising, if not a little improbable. It didn't really explain itself all that well either but considering the age group the movie was intended for, it fitted fairly well within those boundaries and went as far as it could go. However, the disturbed nature of the storyline did feel very out of place in this comedy type setting and, dare I say it, but I think if a British director and scriptwriter had produced the piece, it would have definitely made more of an impact in more of a dark comedy style setting rather than a teen romcom.

Despite being set in suburban Australia, the scenes primarily take place in the characters flats and in various pubs and clubs throughout the city. In that respect, the homes of the characters did reflect their personalities well, particularly with Joe as the purple and black walls depicted a very depressive, anti-life attitude which he slowly adopted throughout the movie.

Besides Joe however, the setting didn't really scream 'rock n roll' to me, making the majority of the scenes lack any real sense of the stereotypical struggling musician angst. That anger, I think, would have made more of an impact in the overall presentation and given the film a more realistic feel which it seriously lacked compared to other representations in the past.

However, one thing that I did think the producers did particularly well on was the stadium rock moments. They really worked hard I felt to make sure that they captured a mosher type atmosphere, particularly within the scenes with rival rock band, Sprimp. They play a big part in displaying the struggle of the music industry and are also a classic example of how things can soon turn sour between supposed friends within the tight bubble of show business.

From a media perspective, the film was shot extremely well and made sense. There were some scenes that relied heavily on the use of computer graphics, to add to the idea of drugs taking and comedy that would no doubt interest the age group 'Garage Days' was aiming for. The drugs nature and many of the emotions the characters were trying to express came out much stronger because of this; particularly with a confused Kate sat in the rain whilst contemplating her pregnancy woes and choices.

EXTRAS
I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the selection of extras on this one disk set. I was expecting the very ordinary DVD special features but here I do think that the producers put the time in to making sure there was a good variety.

The 'Goofs' section is a collection of outtakes. I have to say that they are always my favourite extras so that I can be rest assured that even professionals get it wrong at the most crucial of times. Kick Gurry seems to be the main offender here but even then, the cast and crew looked to be having a great time whilst filming 'Garage Days', a feeling that does slip through across the movie with its very laid back attitude.

The deleted scenes I think were essential as extras; whilst some of them were more jocular exchanges between some of the characters, if some scenes had been included, I think there would have been a greater depth added to the film. The most prolific of these has to be the meeting between Tanya and Kate in the supermarket. Their last meeting hadn't been very successful so by portraying Tanya as a slightly more sensitive woman, it would have made her character seem much more approachable to the audience.

This can also seem to be the case with the 'There are rules, Freddy' part in which the groups lead singer nearly misses out on the chance of a lifetime to hand the bands demo tape in to a cunning yet world renowned music producer. This scene, I think refers heavily back to the more realistic yet stereotypical idea that the entertainment business is ruthless in its nature and would have added a much more authentic feel to the movie, if it had been included.

Also included are four music video which are extended versions of some of the songs on offer throughout the movie. 'Squeeze Me' and 'Master Plan' are two, uh, masterpieces by the creatively named Garage Days Band. Sprimp, the protagonist's rival band, also indulge the viewer in two heavier rock tracks; 'Less Than One' and 'After Us'. They are of a slightly better quality than the other two but nothing ground breaking or spectacular. Let's put it this way; rock giants Metallica and The White Stripes shouldn't be losing any sleep in worrying about a Sprimp invasion!

To save some amount of musical dignity, Katie Noonan's music video for the movies theme song was included. This is aimed at the more romantic side of the movie but in itself is a gentle and pure number that in contrast to many of the so-called prevailing storylines of sex and drugs just doesn't fit. Shame really because it is a good little song. There could have been a different song as the theme though as throughout there was new and older rock songs alike from an array of bands such as Travis and The Cure which, I feel, may have fitted slightly better than this ballad.

As you would expect, there is an interview section with the cast and crew entitled 'Backstage Pass'. It was mildly interesting but, inevitably, it tried to make the movie sound much better and more ground breaking than it really was. As an extension to this, there was an on screen commentary part with the writer and director Alex Proyas. So, there is a good mix of extras that relate heavily back to the movie and many genres that just weren't dominant within 'Garage Days'.

PACKAGING AND ON SCREEN PRESENTATION
The cover design, to be fair, is extremely tacky. It looks like someone with a very limited amount of photo editing did it in about five minutes. It is rather puzzling as to why the rather androgynous looking Pia Miranda is the main focus on the front cover; she is - to me - the bands bassist and little more than the tough chick that tries to make women look more powerful than they perhaps are in some cases.

Like the rest of the movie, the menu page was well presented with the ideas of drugs coming through again much more strongly than on the actual movie. It is all very easy to use and there is a movie type selection page which I always like as it makes the DVD presentation appear to have a great amount of effort put into it. Also, there are little pill - or knife - type cursors that I think are a nice touch and bring out more of the sex, drugs and rock n roll theme.

PRICE AND AVAILABILIY
Although I managed to get my brand new copy much cheaper in comparison, these are the prices you can get 'Garage Days' from online stores:

Amazon.co.uk: £3.97 (eligible for free Super Saver delivery)
Play.com: £3.99 (free delivery)
HMV.co.uk: £4.99 (free delivery)
CDwow.co.uk: £11.75 (free delivery)

OVERALL
Overall, whilst 'Garage Days' isn't the worst film you'll ever see, it's hardly going to go down as an all time classic. There are several issues that I think the producers could have done better in ensuring a much more enjoyable film that couldn't just solely be enjoyed for the age 15 certificate. There was a real lack of any real plot development which actually linked back to the hazards and triumphs of the music industry. Having said that, some of the characters did go through some significant changes throughout the movie, in particular Joe, Kate and Freddy but because of the age certificate and primary genre of romcom, there development was fiercely limited and was reflected in the plot.

Other characters like Tanya and Lucy, although minor, were too minor to actually make any impact what-so-ever on the storyline. Whilst this was the case, I think that if the writers really had concentrated on Freddy and Kate's relationship, then it would have made for very bland viewing. Plus, being as it was made for a teenage audience, it was good to have an array of characters to appeal to a wider range of people but, again, there really wasn't that much difference I didn't feel between both couples of Kate and Freddy and Tanya with Lucy. In fact, they all came across more like brothers and sisters than anything else!

I do think that the age certificate was a bit generous too. For the most part, it all seemed very innocent but there were moments like the rather abrupt sex scenes which might be too graphic for younger teenagers to be watching although the comedy style setting my compensate for this.

If you do want a film that is quite light hearted with edgier moments, than 'Garage Days' is perhaps for you. It's definitely a film that you can watch again and again but only if you are in a not too thoughtful mood. If you wanted a grittier drama though, with a great cast and a strong set of characters, this one certainly isn't in that category. Instead, if you want a film that is really all about the relationship between sex, drugs and music than I would recommend Trainspotting and Human Traffic as they are both well written dramas with comedy elements and bleak moments that balance each other out well throughout.

QUICK STATS
Number of disks: One
Number of chapters: 28
Run time: Approx. 100 minutes
Age certificate: 15 years
Genres: Romantic comedy, music
Language: English
Subtitles: English 

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