New Waterford Girl: "Hit or miss?" New Waterford Girl is a 1999 Canadian comedy-drama film directed by Allan Moyle. The film is about a young awkward girl called Moonie, who is a big dreamer and aspires to move out of her small town when suddenly a family from New York City moves in next door. The film is shot and set in rural Canada and distributed by Odeon Films. My goal with this analysis is to explore what makes this film independent, and if such a film could be made in Northern Ireland, what would I change? The film’s story is that what we have seen in many films before; where the main character is stuck in a dead end town and wants to leave, and has aspirations of bigger dreams, before meeting a new character and facing a total change of personality and drive (Example: Footloose) This type of story isn’t unique, but New Waterford Girl attempts to put a twist to this type of storytelling. What we in New Waterford Girl (present in many indie comedy films such as Napoleon Dynamite and Sideways) is the development of characters. Although not hugely unique to indie comedies but prevalent, is where the main characters are often quite bland, and boring, especially in a sense of their drive and achievement, and New Waterford Girl’s protagonist, Moonie, fits this mold. What the director added to the character was a sense of quirkiness, almost the ability for the audience to grow to like the character as the plot progresses. Moonie’s progression throughout the film after meeting new neighbour Lou shows, in the sense that her confidence rises, and she goes against the status quo that is put in place for her. I think the setting of this film is also something seen in many indie films; it is set in a rural, run-down looking area, that has an old vintage feel to it. On my last blog, I reviewed Bad Day for the Cut, and, even though both are set in different countries, the atmosphere and setting of the environment are very similar. My theory for why indie films is set in rural areas is that there is an endless possibility of stories to be told, as well as the history that goes along with such places. Budgetary reasons are also another factor, as shooting in cities and big towns adds cost to hiring buildings, however in my research for the New Waterford Girl, I could not find the exact budget allocated to the film. A question poised about New Waterford Girl is if such a film can be made in Northern Ireland, and if so, what changes would or wouldn’t be made to it. I believe this film could have been made in Northern Ireland, and the big reason for this is the setting; it’s rural. In the film, it is set in a small, Canadian town, that looks very rough and has a vintage look to it. This type of setting is present hugely throughout Northern Ireland, so the setting issue is not a challenge. In terms of the acting representation and if the same quality can be achieved, I believe so. New Waterford Girl serves as the debut of many actors and actresses, and in Northern Ireland many up and coming actors would take advantage of this and showcase their potential. What would I keep? First, I would keep the main story theme; where Moonie’s character dreams big and wants to leave. Again, a simple story but one that can have an impact and stay with the audience if executed in a certain fashion. A change I would make to this film would be the addition of more dry humour, albeit, almost have the acting ‘drier’ like Peter Sellars acting in films such as Dr Strangelove and the Pink Panther series. I feel this would fit well with the character of Moonie, as she is, for the first two acts, mostly dry and quite honestly boring, and adding more humour to her acting would have fit the tone of the film better and make her stand out even more from the other supporting characters. To summarise, New Waterford Girl is one of those films that is marmite; you either like it or not. Many audience members may find it hard to connect with the main protagonist Moonie, be it through the characters arrogance, or in my opinion in what I would add to the character, a lack of comedic spark to her. However, in saying that, the films ‘quirky’ tone and ‘indie’ feel definitely is a draw for audience members into that sort of type of film.
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October 2019
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