TL;DR – A film full of awful people being awful to each other   

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Marital Problems Review –

Some films have a very grand scope darting from place to place, or even planet to planet. Then there is those film that are more intimate, sometimes staying in the same location for the entire runtime. Both of these approaches can work for your narrative if you structure them well. Today we look at a film that follows the later, in a world that may not be what it first seems.

So to set the scene, we open in on Ian (Callum Gault) as he lies in bed nursing one hell of a hangover when a bang on the front door wakes him from his stupor. At the front door, is McManus (Neil Goldsmith) a handyman who is here to fix the place up for the landlord Devon (Jonathan Hearns). Why is the home being fixed up, well, Ian has not been playing the rent, and he is about to get kicked out. It is at this moment of despair when an agent of chaos appears in the form of Clarke (Nick Capper).

While we will get into the story in a moment, I did want to take a moment to talk about how well this is filmed. Everything is staged and lit well, there is good foreshadowing in the structure if you know what to look for, and it links everything up nicely. This is important, because the story does get quite obtuse, so it needs all the support it can get.

Where the film is going to work for you, or not, is the characters, if you gel with them, this will be a great film, if you don’t, it will be a struggle. Unfortunately for me, it was the later. All the actors are giving their all in their roles. Ian is living in self-doubt after losing all the crucial things in his life, but he lost them through his own actions. Janey (Aleis Duffy) is trying to find her artistic muse and find meaning with her life. McManus is this odd element throughout the film but is also probably the most likable person in the movie.

And … Clarke is uncomfortable on his first introduction, and nothing changes all that much though the run time. Unfortunately, as Clarke is the main force of action in this film, it takes up a lot of the thrust of the narrative.  This does make it difficult to watch at times, though the ending makes up for it a little.

In the end, do we recommend Marital Problems? No, we can’t. However, this is a very personal thing about the characters, so your mileage might be very different. If you liked Marital Problems, I would also recommend Dirt Music.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Marital Problems
Directed by – Dia Taylor
Written by – Julian Barbor
Based on – Characters created by Chris Akers & Julian Barbor
Cinematography by – Mark Kenfield
Edited by – Mark Smithwick
Production/Distribution Companies – Leomark Studios & Reel Merit Films
Starring – Nick Capper, Callum Gault, Aleis Duffy, Neil Goldsmith & Jonathan Hearns
Rating – Australia: MA15+;