No. 35. (2020) UNDER THE COVER OF CLOUD June 27th.

Film No. 35 (2020)  June 27th.  9:10 PM.  SBS On DEMAND, In Bed, Mt. Hawthorn. W.A. 

"The timing was right to take a break and visit my family in Hobart. I decided I wanted to write something beautiful about cricket". (Ted's voice-over introduces us to the uncomplicated journey he is about to take his audience on over the next ninety minutes).

Now and again I get caught in front of a film and become mesmerized by its nuances. A wanky word is nuance, I know, but this film is all about nuance but you need to watch it to get my meaning, and yet I could never recommend Under The Cover of Cloud to anyone.

Me!, well I loved it for the pure naturalistic, unpretentious qualities played out in every elongated scene. It captures everyday middle class Australians (Hobart) to a tee. There is not a nasty word spoken by or about anyone in the easiest of family interchanges; so where's the drama? It's a good question but there is a cotton thread of tension, and when I say cotton thread, I mean a fine thread.

Ted Wilson is a Tasmanian actor and filmmaker who had an idea. The idea could easily have had its origins in the COVID-19 lock down experience, but it was shot 18 months prior. We meet Ted, who plays himself, he is a Melbourne columnist who has lost his job and decides to travel, by ferry, home (Hobart) to be with family. He has this idea to write a book, a book of quality writing about Tasmania's legendary upper order batsmen (cricket). While the content of what's going through his mind is from the world of fiction, the characters around him are his real family. There is not one sign of inhibition about how Ted and his family interact. The fly on the wall style is immaculate. 

So where is the hint of tension I hear you ask? A key to making his book is to get an introduction to Tasmania's legendary batsman David Boon. Boon resides in Hobart, not far from where Ted is hanging out. How does Ted get to chat with one of Australia's, let alone, Tasmania's iconic batsman? There is the tension. I loved Under The Cloud .... but I stumbled across it, pushed play on a whim and got hooked. I've half a mind to go on a vigil, as he did  with Boon, to track Wilson down and ask him a plethora of questions about this unique film. 10GUMS.