No. 96. (2019) Promised. October 27th.

Film No. 96 (2019) October 27th.  3:40 PM  PALACE CINEMAS  Northbridge. 

"I can't make you happy Robert. Marriage isn't some sort of business arrangement" (Angela pleads with Robert to see reason as to why an arranged marriage is a ridiculous notion).

No pun intended, but for a film that promised so much (trailer and promotions) Promised is a pretty lame contribution to the Australian drama/romance genre of cinema. 

It's as though the film has been financed by an Italian connection, no strings, for a group of young film-makers to tell a story, a one layered legendary story handed down through the Melbourne Italian community. The story is of Robert (Daniel Berini) and Angela (Antoniette Iessue) who at a young age are promised in marriage to one another by their fathers. Fast forward to the 1970's and life is not quite that simple, especially for Angela, who is in-love with Tony (Santo Tripodi). So what happens? Well, if you really want to know, try to catch a screening. Firstly, you may need to reside in Australia because there seems to be a distinct lack of international distribution interest.

The performances are okay. The script  is second level soap standard and the soundtrack is either lift background sounds or a supermarket playlist. The soundtrack is extremely distracting. I can only think that the U.S. Hallmark channel will pick it up cheaply for international television viewing in a few months. 4GUMS.