Retrospective: Futile Attraction (2004)
Andrew Staker
from internet donations, Futile Attraction is a cute NZ send-up of
reality TV and documentaries. We have a crew, including a bored
director and washed up anchorman, supposedly sent to shoot a date they
set up between the telephile (a telephone collector) and a new-age
socio-environmental activist.
The other active agent is the off-screen money-man who is funding the
entire project. It doesn't help that his daughter is the flaky boom-
operator who is more than just a bit of a princess. There is the
awkward meet up, the more awkward dinner, with quite hilarious table
buffoonery, and the follow-up to see what became of it all.
None of the actors is particularly outstanding but as a group they
work. There is a jovial sense throughout, but one gets the feeling too
little is being stretched too far. It would have made a cracker
shorter film, instead of a feature. Rhythm starts to wane and the
viewer starts looking for distractions.
It is odd that this 2004 is only now finding wider distribution. Four
years on the shelf is too long. The best aspect of Futile Attraction
is the endless sense of play and genre-subversion. If only there had
been a bit more conviction and less run-time. The NZ accent isn't at
all difficult on my Australian ears and I would be curious how it
sounds to a pair of US or UK ones. NZ is a beautiful country
geographically and we see some of that. Overall though, the film is
urban and full of interiors.
A low budget spoof of low budget documentaries gets away with being
low-budget and this certainly is the case in Futile Attraction. I
found it watchable and pleasant, if over-long. It is sure to crack a
few LOLs.
Andrew Staker