The Dinner Party

Written and directed by Scott Murden, this 2009 Australian thriller is told entirely in flashback by a group of people in police custody. You know quite early on that something went badly wrong that evening and that at least one guest didn't make it to custody and that's the reason why they're there. It's just a question figuring out who and why.

The whole film centres around Angela King, a beautiful and wealthy young woman who has decided to end it all but wants to go out following a pleasant final meal so she spreads the word and a group of friends (and friends of friends) arrive at her apartment in Canberra which she shares with boyfriend Joel. Unbeknownst to him, she and her best friend Sky have procured a lethal dose of heroin (and, known only to Sky, one syringe filled with sugar water).

As the various guests tell the police officer what happened, you get a flashback to how they came to be invited to the evening, what happened in the soirée and what exactly led to one of the guest's unfortunate demise. If this all sounds a bit like The Usual Suspects to you, then that's probably no surprise as it comes across very much like that on screen and it's clear that Bryan Singer's breakthrough hit was a major influence on Scott Murden.

Although the cast isn't exactly brimming with big names, I recognised Lara Cox (who plays Angela) from somewhere, but I'm not exactly sure where. It could be that she looks quite a lot like her compatriot Radha Mitchell, who I last saw in Greg McLean's superb monster movie Rogue. In any case, Cox is a reassuringly icy screen presence who can be extremely determined, almost steely, one minute and extremely emotional the next with each seeming to work and fit the moment perfectly.


The Dinner Party plays out very nicely as a character dominated drama/thriller and, as the pieces fall into place, you become increasingly involved in the action as you're almost an uninvited guest, a fly on the wall observer who wanted to remain detached and uninvolved but, much to their dismay, found themselves becoming increasingly emotionally attached. Although this is far from The Usual Suspects, a film generally considered as one of the finest of the 1990s, it works on a very domestic level as, unlike Bryan Singer's movie, it does not involve international drug trafficking nor mysterious hitmen. It is a film about a slightly unbalanced young woman and her desire to commit suicide and how this decision impacts those around her on one evening where she hosts a dinner party.

It is a film that certainly kept me involved from beginning to end, thanks to the taut script and fine performances by all involved. I found it to be a very well-made thriller with some superb acting, particularly by Lara Cox, that marks out Stuart Murden as a name to watch and a man with a very bright future.

The Disc

Extra Features
The sole extra feature, aside from the trailer, is a commentary with writer/director Scott Murden and producer Brendan Sloane (who also appears in the film as an actor) which is a pretty good listen as they go through the shooting process, casting and other such related anecdotes as well as each character and how they were written and how they imagined their backgrounds and personalities to turn out. Brendan Sloane says at the outset how this is a bit of an ego trip and they take full advantage of the opportunity to talk about their film at great length.


The Picture
This looks as if it was shot on high definition digital and looks very good for it with crisp edges and bright colours. As there are none of the scenes that generally make digital suffer (characters against very bright backgrounds or low light situations), it all looks extremely good and is very well lit with excellent work by cinematographer Brett Murphy.

The Sound
This isn't a film that needs a 5.1 mix but it has one which unfortunately just takes the stereo sound and duplicates it through the surround speakers. Fortunately, as the film is entirely dialogue dominated with no scenes that require a surround mix, the stereo soundtrack is crystal clear and does a great job with the dialogue making subtitles unnecessary to everyone but the hard of hearing. Unfortunately for them, there aren't any subtitles!


Final Thoughts
The Dinner Party is a really interesting and well orchestrated thriller in which the flashback structure works very well and the characters are extremely well rounded and terrifically acted by the entire cast. Although the extras package only includes a trailer and feature length commentary, it isn't a film that needs a great deal of supplementary material so this is well worth a look.