Mum in the limelight

by LES EVERETT

In Cherie Nowlan's film 'Clubland' 21-year-old Tim (Khan Chittenden) has a dark secret - both his parents are entertainers.

Mum Jean (Brenda Blethyn) was successful in Britain - well successful enough to have her photo taken with Benny Hill - while dad (Frankie J Holden) had a song at number one on the Australian country music charts for three weeks in the 1970s.

Jean's day job is in a factory while she performs her truly awful nudge-nudge comedy routine at social clubs and awaits her big Oz break. John works as a security guard and has high hopes about his latest project - a self funded Conway Twitty tribute album.

The entertaining parents can't stand one-another and live apart. Tim lives at home with his mum and brother Mark (Richard Wilson), who has been disabled since birth.

When Tim meets and begins to go out with Jill (Emma Booth) he finds he has more problems to contend with. There's the matter of his sexual anxiety and the even more taxing fact that Jean is not ready to let him go.

What develops is a brilliant film set off by fine performances by the veteran Blethyn and the inexperienced kids from Perth Chittenden and Booth while the support cast is equally strong.

The seesawing battle between Jean and Jill and Tim's battles with both of them as well as himself are feisty and funny and others who step into the fray need to have their wits about them.

'Clubland' straddles comedy and drama with great success and there are some very funny moments. While things seem to be neatly tied in the end there's something about Jean as the mum who likes the limelight that will have you walking away thinking Jill's troubles might not be over.

17 June 2007

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