I saw this as part of the World Tour sidebar of the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival. It starts with some pretty compelling mix of plot elements: the last shore leave, the rascal who wants to have as much wine, women and song as possible, the soon to be married mate who wants dinner with the in-laws and the sailor who's obviously come up against some debatable military "discipline".

Unfortunately, the director chose not to have subtitles turned on for this.

I became more and more lost as the movie progressed. Scenes around a card table with three Aussies yelling, one talking and one sub-vocalizing left me with little to go on for critical plot points.

I expect to rent this if possible and re-rate it. But if you have trouble with this sort of dialect at all do check to see if sub-titles are available. This movie had more than enough promise to give it another chance.

Rented this on DVD in Canada, was enticed by the numerous festival designations on the box. What I found was a surprisingly engaging independent film. As has been mentioned, the plot involves three young naval officers on a last night of leave at home before returning to duty in the Persian Gulf. There is the expected camaraderie, misadventure and a certain amount of conflict, but also a surprisingly rich palette of emotions and open-ended subplots. Slowly the details of an earlier incident at sea are revealed as we come to learn more about each of the sailors. The dialogue is complex, smart and realistic, and drives the film. You may want to turn on the captions, as the Aussie accents are thick and the lines sometimes tossed on top of each other in the style of Cassavetes and Altman. Defects include a certain lack of focus and an uncertainty as to how to end the story, characteristics shared with many independent films. However, there is an underlying intelligence and understanding of human character that raises it well above average and makes it worth seeking out. Writer/director Matthew Newton, who also plays one of the sailors, has made a worthy second effort.

Saw this at the Dublin film festival. The set-up is basically this: 3 navy guys are given shore-leave and what we are presented with is a drama through one night where we see their (mis)adventures as they wander the streets and bars in search of a good time. Except there's a bit more to it than that....details of an incident aboard their ship is slowly revealed throughout the film and is weaved beautifully into this premise. Its the sort of thing which would also work as a play, but I've always liked filmed plays like Glengarry Glen Ross anyway. Thats not to say that this isn't an original work (I'm pretty sure this is an original screenplay and all the more impressive for it). There is also the (in)famous Australian sense of humour at play in this film. For me this is an unquestionably positive ingredient in this work but I found that at my screening of the film most people weren't laughing at the same time as me. Either... 1: I was out of touch with the film's sensibility completely or....2: It was one these audiences which failed to click with the whole thrust of the movie. I am convinced it was the latter.