For some reason, Jane Campion‘s debut film Sweetie just doesn’t connect for me. I think it’s extremely well put together, first feature film or not. It looks great, the music is right on the money (if not a bit dated now) and the actors seem well equipped to handle their roles. But there’s just something missing for me. Something in the theatricality of it all. Something false. Wantonly odd. Overblown. Like an Aki Kaurismaki film with prettier photography and clumsier edits. I think maybe the problem, for me, originates with the script and the production style. Though the characters are unique and grapple with compelling ‘real world’ issues, Campion diminishes their struggles by allowing her camera to linger too long on moments of gratuitous idiosyncrasy.

Issues aside, there’s still lots to love about Sweetie, most impressive of which is director of photography Sally Bongers‘ work, which looks like a million bucks on Criterion‘s recent Blu-ray. You can get a sense of it in their new Three Reasons trailer above. To really appreciate the cinematography, however, you’ll need to see the film in 1080p. Stunning.

“Though she went on to create a string of brilliant films, Jane Campion will always be remembered for her stunning debut feature, Sweetie, which focuses on the hazardous relationship between the buttoned-down, superstitious Kay and her rampaging, devil-may-care sister, Sweetie—and on their family’s profoundly rotten roots. A feast of colorful photography and captivating, idiosyncratic characters, the tough and tender Sweetie heralded the emergence of this gifted director, as well as a renaissance of Australian cinema, which would take the film world by storm in the nineties.“

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