ScreenWize

A delightful charmer of a film, Griff The Invisible is a small and touching romance between two of the most captivating space cadets you’ll ever see. Meet Griff (Ryan Kwanten), an awkward shipping clerk who believes himself a crime-fighting superhero, and Melody (Maeve Dermody) who spends most of her time in her bedroom studying physics, and who is quite sure she can walk through walls. From the very outset of the film these two fish-out-of-water seem destined to be together, and you know that it will only be a matter of time - or a trip to a parallel universe - before it happens.

Written and directed by Canberra native Leon Ford, Griff The Invisible is to the superhero flick what the Australian film industry is to Hollywood: understated and over talented. There are no special effects and no action sequences, just a great concept backed by uniformly strong performances.

Harassed at work by smarmy office bullyboy Tony (Toby Schmitz), client services clerk Griff keeps to himself by day, desperate to avoid attention. It’s only his brother Tim (Patrick Brammall) who seems to know Griff’s secret – that he dons a superhero suit at night to battle the crime wave in his neighbourhood. Or is it all in Griff’s mind? That’s the delicious angle that Ford plays with to make this film work – we are never quite sure whether Griff’s view of the world is real or not. And when Griff meets Melody - a similarly awkward soul – the possibility of other ways of being just get more likely.

Ford keeps proceedings simple, balancing the subtle humour with an emotional warmth that grows on you despite the film’s low level of energy. The real strength is the performances of the two leads – Kwanten and Dermody make Griff and Melody so absolutely adorable we can forgive the predictable arc of the narrative and the lack of action. Whenever the two are on screen together, it’s impossible not to enjoy the small moments that make up their quirky journey to somewhere we might like to be.

Supported by a fine soundtrack from Sydney indie band Kids At Risk, Griff The Invisible is an original and warm night out in the company of free spirits. Think the quirkiness of the Australian movie Malcolm from the 1980’s with the originality of that other recent (non) superhero movie, KickAss.

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Filed Under: Reviews by Simon