Griff the Invisible is an Australian comedy-drama written and directed by Canberra native Leon Ford. The story is about Griff (Ryan Kwanten) a socially-awkward office worker by day and superhero by night. Griff has his world turned upside down when he meets Melody (Maeve Dermody).
The film was recently released in Australia. Ben and I had the privilege of viewing its debut at Toronto International Film Festival last October.
Surprisingly it opens with an interesting action adventure theme - something we’re not used to in Aussie flicks. Without knowing anything about it, I settled into the small but populated 9am session and was unexpectantly surprised by initial feelings of excitement about the film.
I must admit, I truly buckled in for the ride early on, as some neatly directed action sequences rolled into the first act. But warning bells started to ring as the mystery and intrigue pushed through the first act, into the second, and before long I was wondering “what on earth is this film about?”
That wasn’t the worst part. By half way through the flick we had gone from an action adventure to some odd Aussie half-wit love drama and by the end of the second act I was wondering what had happened to the movie I had buckled in for?
It’s not that the love story wasn’t somewhat compelling either - it was quaint and endearing in part. But it’s just that like an old vinyl changing tracks - I had to shift my expectations of the film mid-stream. The casting of the good’ol Australian (or Kiwi) faithfuls annoyed me - who resurrected Marshall Napier?
By the time the initial premise finally dawned, appeasing my caffeine cravings were easily the greater priority. I can’t help but wonder why they didn’t just start with the love story from the beginning or else just stick to the action flick which was in the end relegated to a minor subplot.
To be honest, in the mix of a few Aussie flicks at the festival it wasn’t the most disappointing – which is to say we didn’t walk out of the theatre - but we couldn’t help but exclaim “why?”.
What had so much potential was unfortunately destined to be yet another Australian casualty. Why do filmmakers get it so wrong in this country? Why does it feel like this script didn't see a second draft?
Kudos for the stab, Leon Ford - I hope it’s not the last for this team.
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