The Portable Door
dir. Jeffrey Walker (Stan, 2023)
A remarkably lush feature-length adaptation of the eponymous novel (though Benjamin Speed’s score is a little too overt in pushing the quirky fantasy angle). Leon Ford’s screenplay captures the spirit. Patrick Gibson and Sophie Wilde turn their everyman characters into genuine protagonists.
Jack Irish: Dead Point
by Matt Cameron; dir. Jeffrey Walker (ABC, 2014)
The plot makes little sense (particularly with regards provenance of the red book). The performances, however, are generally very good. Barry Humphries has a minor roll and adds a touch of class. Jack Irish still doesn’t fully convince as a lead character.
Jack Irish: Black Tide
by Matt Cameron; dir. Jeffrey Walker (ABC, 2012)
New film, same plot. The support characters do more or less what they did in ‘Bad Debts’—as does Jack Irish himself, wandering about like a mildly concussed soccer parent, untangling deadly conspiracies. Guy Pearce straddles the line between world-weary and cardboard.
Jack Irish: Bad Debts
by Andrew Knight; dir. Jeffrey Walker (ABC, 2012)
A telemovie crime drama steeped in the seedier aspects of Australian city life (lent verisimilitude by accents and cultural quirks). Guy Pearce is competent but understated in the lead role. Two of the world’s great Colins—Hay and Friels—play bad guys.