Singles

Director: Karl McPhee

Institute History

  • 1986 Sundance Film Festival

Description

In mid-1985 Film Australia, the production division of the Australian Film Commission, initiated a new “cinema verite” series for television entitled “Real Life.” Singles is its first completed episode. Singles is an unusual foray into the world of the unattached, focusing in particular on Charles. He is recently divorced and now struggling to get his life together. Charles is a knot of neurotic, but very real emotions. He craves the love and attention of women but refuses commitment. He is self-absorbed, bitter, pompous, and at times, child-like. In short, he is human, all too human.

Under the controlled direction of Karl McPhee, Singles is an agonizing, vivacious and funny film, but honest to the point of pain. Here cinema verite functions as would a psychologist: probing, exposing and ultimately sympathizing with Charles’ extreme behavior. We become a privileged witness to a complex web of fact and fantasy, the impulses of insecurity and friendship, and the pain of emotional rejection. Singles is a window to a troubled, human soul.

Screening Details

Credits

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