It's refreshing to see home grown cinema like this gracing our screens, and "The Heartbreak Kid" is now yet another Aussie movie we can be proud of.

Michael Jenkins' film tells the story of forbidden love between 22 year old teacher Christina and her 17 year old student, Nick. Not only is their relationship socially unacceptable, but in the Greek community it is a disgrace to the family. Alex Dimitriades and Claudia Karvan are convincing in a simple movie about two people caught in a real life situation.

Melburnians are sure to enjoy this often funny film not only for the familiar locale but also for the characters that are so true to life. Very enjoyable.

Friday, July 23, 1993 - Hoyts Forest Hill Chase

Alex Dimitriades has been a fixture in Australian television and it is easy to see why. "Tall, dark and handsome" hardly does him justice! His only film of note in the States was the gay "Head On" which caught his Aussie audience off guard. In that film he plays a gay, Greek ("wog") teen in a vibrant Greek community parallel to but not quite part of Australian society, and as a gay kid into every sort of pleasure he was an outcast from his own. "The Heartbreak Kid" is similar in the Greek part but he is lustfully heterosexual and full of testosterone. That his teacher responds to his advances is the turning point of the film and where belief becomes difficult, but in the end you DO expect them to meet again in two years. Claudia Karvan who plays the teacher was a regular in the OZ TV series "The Secret Life of Us" and is really only a year older than Dimitriades, but she does manage the teacher role well.

Definitely not filmed in Sydney this one. Someone needs to update this