The Thousands

Three Blind Mice follows three Royal Australian Navy officers on one night’s shore leave. Despite John Foreman’s jazzy score, On The Town this ain’t. Harry (Matthew Newton) is their fast-talking, whore-booking leader. Dean (Toby Schmitz) wants to have dinner with his fiancée (Pia Miranda) and her parents. And Sam (Ewen Leslie) is planning to go AWOL after six months of horrifying shipboard abuse – until he meets Emma (Gracie Otto).

While Otto’s role is somewhat underwritten, most performances are terrific – this is clearly an actor’s film. Actors crafted it, too: Newton wrote and directed, and his co-star girlfriend Otto edited. But don’t mistake it for one of those laconic Aussie caper flicks; Three Blind Mice is way more episodic, talky and observational – like a cross between Big Brother and the telemovie version of Secret Bridesmaids’ Business.**Visually it’s not that dynamic. Newton uses long takes and seemingly encouraged his actors to improvise, while Otto’s editing doesn’t so much create a narrative rhythm as shift the characters to new locations. But Newton’s approach does build an almost unbearable tension in some scenes, and if you roll with it, you’ll appreciate the script’s poignant and mordant moments.