The ‘Top End Wedding’ Trailer Promises A Great New Aussie Rom-Com
Miranda Tapsell stars in it, and it looks delightful.
If there’s one thing that Australian filmmakers do well, it’s a good old fashioned rom-com.
Think Muriel’s Wedding; think John Curran’s decidedly grotty and distinctly underrated Praise; think the overstuffed and elegant Strictly Ballroom; and now think Top End Wedding, a hilarious new film starring Australia’s own Miranda Tapsell and Gwilym Lee.
Directed by Wayne Blair of The Sapphires fame, Top End Wedding charts the ups and downs of some nearly-disastrous nuptials.
Tapsell plays Lauren, a successful lawyer from Darwin who now calls Sydney home. When her partner, Ned (Lee) pops the question, the two longterm lovebirds decide to decamp back to Lauren’s hometown for the wedding.
But before long they encounter a massive problem: Lauren’s mysterious mum has gone missing somewhere in the Northern Territory, and the young bride-to-be refuses to get hitched before she finds her first.
So begins a road trip across state, as Lauren and Ned fight off crocodiles, bougie helicopter pilots, and narky relatives, all while trying to locate the missing mum in time for the wedding.
TOP END WEDDING was a delightful surprise ! a sweet, fun, absurd romp thru northern australia that slaps you in the face with a deeply honest portrayal of the eternal internal struggle w being mixed race. also gwilyn lee i am available to hang out #Sundance19
— aya lehman (@ayalhmn) January 26, 2019
Although the plot might sound like a gentle frolic, Blair’s involvement implies that Top End Wedding is going to be something special.
The acclaimed director hasn’t made a feature film since 2015’s underseen Septembers Of Shiraz, a U.S.-mounted production about the Iranian revolution, so it’s a genuine pleasure to have him back in the country, and returning to his filmmaking roots.
Even better still, if the trailer is anything to go by, it looks like Top End Wedding is going to bristle with some genuinely intelligent, nuanced social satire.
us: *sees the top end wedding trailer*
gwil: https://t.co/BHtkBlCOQN
— c (@hoop_diddydoo) January 30, 2019
With its scenes of Ned’s parents, sheltered white boomers, immersing themselves first stiffly, then whole-heartedly in Indigenous culture, the trailer calls to mind classics like Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. And anything that reminds us of Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner wins some major anticipation points.
Top End Wedding hits Australian cinemas on Thursday May 2, and to be honest, we can’t wait. Watch the trailer below!