I didn't have much hope from it when I started so I started watching it on my phone. The plot line is quite simple and revolves around a small town marching band and the regional competition of brass bands. It's not a suspense story and you can practically guess how it will go but the small twists on the way keep you entertained and the film moves fast. The characters are real life rather than larger than life. For a simple story it's important to keep the pace fast and this it does very well. Everything builds up to the final scenes in the regional competition and by then it had built up enough that I stopped watching it on the phone and kept it for the big TV. It was worth it! The climax has twists and turns of its own and it well worth watching carefully. The whole film is predicated mostly on the music both guitar and brass band but the final scenes, predictably, much more so. The music is very good, even the brass band music is very moving and inspiring. Along with the music the cinematography is also very good, especially in the final scenes where it shines. I would recommend this film.

I watched A Heartbeat Away on Thursday night and came away feeling so uplifted. Unfortunately there were only four others watching, a family of teenage older sister and her three younger brothers and sisters, who all came away smiling. It is a true Australian movie - set in a small Australian town depicting the challenges of, not only the people fending off development but the coming and working together of the different generations to a good outcome for all. Just the most beautiful movie I have seen in a long time - I agree with one of the reviews that it is full of typical clichéd characters but feel this only adds to the charm rather than taking away from it - real life personalities that we can all see someone we know in. With the first half of 2011 being a very turbulent path of destruction it was nice to sit and watch something that gave you hope (and yes I am from Qld). This movie should have had a greater publication lead up I feel.

This crowd-pleasing Australian production is set in the small sleepy fishing village of Montague. Kevin Flack (Sebastian Gregory) is a guitar obsessed teen who dreams of playing in a rock band. His ambitions run counter to his father (William Zappa0, who is the leader of the town's municipal marching band and believes that Kevin's interest in rock music is wasting his potential. The town's wily mayor Riddick (Colin Friels) is in bed with a major developer who wants to build a massive $50 million beach front resort in the town. The only stumbling block to the ambitious development is the existence of the town's marching band, which has a life long lease on the community hall. Riddick wants to bulldoze the community hall, but he can't do that unless he can somehow get the band to disband. Riddick sees his chance when Kevin's dad is struck by a bus and winds up in hospital. But Kevin, feeling guilty over his role in the accident, reluctantly steps up to take charge of the band. He tries to get this bunch of old fogies ready for the major competition, a mere four weeks away, by injecting some youthful energy into their stale routine. If he fails, it will be a repeat of the humiliation the band suffered twenty years ago, when a downpour disastrously cost them the title. Ever since then the band has been a perennial runner up in the annual marching band competition. Can young Kevin turn an iconic pop song into a marching tune and give the town some inspiration and hope? There's also a romance with Mandy (Isabel Lucas), who happens to be the mayor's daughter, who also runs a local music store. A Heartbeat Away is a relatively lightweight feel good musical comedy that seems like a home grown variation of Brassed Off, although some of the plot details also remind us of Baz Luhrmann's classic Strictly Ballroom. The film deals with a number of big and potentially interesting themes, including the clash between generations and the redemptive and healing power of music. The film features a gallery of quirky characters, played by an ensemble cast that includes veteran Roy Billing (from Underbelly, etc). Gregory has a likable screen presence, but he seems drawn towards roles in films that explore the darker nature beneath the surface of suburbia (Acolytes, Beautiful, etc). His role here is a nice change of pace and he acquits himself well. Lucas seems bored here and is little more than eye candy. Tammy MacIntosh does a nice job as Kevin's supportive mother, herself a gifted musician whose talents have previously been ignored. A Heartbeat Away is the first film from Gale Edwards (acclaimed director of stage musicals such as The Boy from Oz and Sweeney Todd). Her efforts are let down slightly by the under developed and clichéd script from first time writer Julie Kincade. There are a number of internal logic problems with the story that had many critics at the preview screening chortling in disbelief and wincing in embarrassment in equal measure. Some of the dialogue is banal and unintentionally laughable, and woodenly delivered. A Heartbeat Away will cop some very negative reviews, but it's not as bad as some reviewers will have you believe. If you've ever wanted to hear what Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit or the '60s classic Macarthur Park ever sounded like when played by a brass band, then this is the movie for you!

A young indie rocker is forced to become the leader of his father's marching band just weeks before their major competition. With some help from the leotard-wearing Isabel Lucas, he must rearrange an iconic rock song and make sure the geriatric band members aren't brassed off. This falls largely into that lazy category that Australian films do so often. A simple plot line, set in a sleepy town with a bunch of clichéd Aussie characters that are meant to carry the film with their charm. This may work with classics such as Strictly Ballroom or the Castle, but in this film, the characters have no charisma, no spark, they get by purely on their musical talents. Isabel Lucas looks asleep during her performance, more so than usual and the lead role played by Sebastian Gregory provides a luckless character who an audience would fail to believe is capable of catching a fish, let alone a girl. The destructive weather that frames the story is a visual delight, however given the timing, I'm not sure that Australia is ready to see another quaint Queensland town swept away by storms.