Play It Safe

This is the first feature by Australian director Chris Pahlow. Play It Safe follows the story of Jamie (Nicholas Kato), a jaded, directionless musician living in Melbourne with no money, no girlfriend and a tradie/unionist dad on his case 24/7 about getting a real job, to his rock bottom. Definitely don't see this film if you're an impressionable aspiring musician.

This film is earnest, homegrown, relatively low budget and in some ways is similar to Frances Ha. They're both shot in black and white and document the hopeless story of a talented, insecure young professional. Alisdair Tremblay-Birchall plays the cliched Jewish accountant and best friend, who is actually the saving grace of the film. His song, Girl, I May Be Your Accountant, But I'm Also A Man, is so endearingly funny you'll weep.

A puzzling low point is a band scene where the lead singer is a white rapper wearing a fedora. Jamie's character also seems a bit underdeveloped: he begins as the awkward, surly, uncomfortable, shy keyboard player and by the end, his interactions with women, his friends and family aren't that much better. There is definitely room for more development of his character and it's a shame that couldn't be seen.

The redeeming feature is the music, featuring Big Scary, Mantra & Nathan Liow, Lower Spectrum, Speed Painters, Brothers Hand Mirror, Ron Rude, Aaron Choulai and stacks more. They've done their homework on music and it shows. Especially moving is a classical piano piece played at the height of Jamie's neuroses.