Joyful film is all about family connections
TOP END WEDDING
MIRANDA Tapsell has been busy since the success of The Sapphires in 2012, busy as an actress and also busy developing her screenplay for Top End Wedding which she co-wrote with Joshua Tyler and in which she stars.
She’s tapped into her Tiwi Island roots to tell the story of Lauren, a lawyer working in Adelaide with hopes for promotion from her formidable boss Ms Hampton (Kerry Fox).
She lives with Ned (British actor Gwilym Lee).
When he proposes they decide to get married in Darwin where her parents live, but when they arrive they find only her depressed father Trevor (Huw Higginson), her mother Daffy (Ursula Yovich) has gone AWOL.
Lauren refuses to get married without her mother present so while she carouses at her hen’s party with her bridesmaids (Shari Sebbens, Dalara Williams and Elaine Crombie), Ned takes matters into his own hands and organizes a search for Daffy in dad’s car, at the same time arranging for Ms Hampton to fly north to make the wedding arrangements during their absence.
The calamity-filled journey will take them, and us the audience, into the splendour of the landscape of the Northern Territory, its rugged beauty is truly awe-inspiring.
The film ultimately leads them all to the Tiwi Islands, to family and connections with traditions and culture that are meaningful for all, but especially for mother and daughter.
Tapsell reunites with her Sapphires director Wayne Blair to tell this warm-hearted rom-com.
She is a delight on screen, there is something about her that is alive and happy.
Maybe the fact that she is seeing her creation come to fruition adds to her obvious enjoyment.
Gwylim Lee has a pleasing presence also and it’s always good to see Kerry Fox and Tracey Mann, who plays Ned’s snooty mother, on screen.
This is not a film about differences, it’s about connections and it’s a joyful one.