Violet's Visit

I think this movie was intended to be a 'progay' movie, There is a difference between knowledge and belief, and this movie fails in its effort to move the belief that gaylife is as beneficial (or even beneficial at all) as traditional family life for kids. Every society ever discovered knew that children thrive best with a mother and a father working together to raise the children to social maturity. This movie, unintentionally, reinforces that knowledge.They have to have Violet come from a totally dysfunctional, self-centered mother to even have a chance at making her 'inverted' (as Havelock Ellis or Krafft-Ebing would have described him in the late 19th & early 20th Centuries) father's ad hoc union look better. However, instead of finding herself in any better of a situation, Violet becomes even more confused and disoriented. Her father's situation doesn't make sense to her. Also, living in a largely Sodomenesque district of the city, Violet is even frustrated when the boy she develops a crush on does not respond because he is convinced he identifies with the people in this subculture. In short, although they try to make Violet's father and his partner seem like any normal married couple, to Violet, and to most viewers, it just seems grotesque and something to which she does not wish to be exposed.In the end, Violet chooses to stay with her father. However, this is due much more to psychological reasons than an acceptance of his lifestyle. While boys naturally separate from their mothers in terms of self identity when they are still preschool age, this separation is delayed in normal girls until early adolescence. That is why mother's have so much trouble with girls that age. At fifteen, Violet was experiencing this need to separate from her mother. That she insisted on calling Alec 'Dad,' is indication of another psychological drive common to girls in that there is an innate need for girls to have an active father in their lives. How many dozens or even hundreds of movies have been made expressing a young girl's pain from experiencing an absent father? Finally, to a lesser extent, Violet's mother was asking her to enter still another new situation, so she chose the known bad situation with her father than suffer adjusting to a new, unknown situation.In short, this movie does a great, though unintended, job of showing how a selfish, aberrant mother and a selfish, aberrant father cause confusion and pain in the lives of their children.

VIOLET'S VISIT may retrace old ground covered by other successful movies, but as written by Andrew Creagh and Barry Lowe based on a story by Richard Tarner and directed by Richard Turner this take on the joys and trials of surprise gay parenting is fresh and as unprejudiced a look as has come along in a long time.Violet aka Scooter (Rebecca Smart) at fifteen tires of her small town life living with a mother who repeatedly introduces new 'Dads' (Scooter was a love child) and strikes out to Sydney to seek her biologic father, having been informed of his identity by her grandfather. She enters Sydney, backpack in place, and finds the address of the father whom she has never met. A knock on the door produces Pete (David Franklin) a lawyer who has been partnered with gym owner Alec (Graham Harvey) for eight years, living an openly gay life complete with extended family and successful careers. Scooter naturally thinks Pete is her father, but soon discovers on Alec's return home that Alec is her biologic father and has denied her existence to everyone, including clueless Pete.Scooter is chagrined at her father's lifestyle as much as Alec is perplexed at having to face a fifteen-year-old daughter, a simple girl who seeks to be a designer (of kitschy objects) instead of attending school. With Pete's intervention and big heart the trio grow into a comfort zone and Scooter moves in with Alec and Pete. Gradually the roles of father impact both Alec and Pete, and Scooter grows frustrated when she is unable to find friends and feels as outsider. She becomes infatuated with a friend of her fathers - Wayne (Caleb Packham)- only to discover that he, too, is a happily adjusted gay man.When Alec and Pete are caught up in a disagreement about their new living situation, Scooter takes to the streets. Her extended absence only serves to bring the couple together in a new appreciation for the importance of family and their mutual love for Scooter. The way in which the story is resolved is predictable but genuinely warm and tender.Not only is the film well paced, it never makes the error of going over the top in its depiction of either Scooter's plight or in the manner in which gay people are realized. All of the male actors are handsome, buff late 30s/early 40s and are so comfortable in their roles that their sexuality is simply an aside. Graham, Franklin, and Smart are excellent actors and their screen presence engenders an audience response of credible warmth. The one aspect of the film that may present a problem for non-Australian viewers is the fact that the Aussie accents are so thick that the script at times is indecipherable! But that also adds to the flavor of this small but significantly impactful film. Well Done! Grady Harp, April 05

This is a great Aussie independent film with an outstanding script and cast. It concerns a teenage girl who turns up on her long-lost father's doorstep to find him living with his male lover. Her arrival causes all three to come to terms with redefining a family and establishing a relationship.Well done on a small budget, this film tells a touching story with a lot of heart. It's definitely worth a look.

Two out and proud gay men are "living in sin in Sidney" and have been for 7 years. Alec (Graham Harvey) is the owner of a gym and Pete (David Franklin) is an attorney. When Alec's 15-year-old daughter Scooter (Rebecca Smart) shows up after running away from her small town life and her mother's constant stream of boyfriends, Alec and Pete's well ordered life is thrown into chaos.The boys are faced with the problem of two 40ish gay men adjusting to the mess left in the wake of an adolescent girl. The daughter is faced with sorting out her romantic feelings amid the good-looking and unavailable men who are more attracted to her dad than to her. And we are faced with a refreshing, upbeat look at some of the newer problems of "modern family life."Best line in the movie...Daughter: Fathers don't kiss their daughter's boyfriends in the street. Daughter's Boyfriend: Not often...enough.