Title: The Illustrated Family Doctor
Director: Kriv Stenders
Actors: Jessica Napier, Samuel Johnson. Colin Friels, Sacha Horler.
Run Time: 90 Mins.

I just had to write a review about a crazy Aussie comedy. So I picked the Illustrated Family Doctor. It is a very black comedy and I think a lot of people do not appreaciate this type of movie. A lot of people have not even seen this, because this is the best kept Aussie secret.

The movie is very slow-paced and it works very wel for the story. Gary, the main character, is rather slow in the uptake of things around him. The slow-pacedness gives the movie a very surreal feel and so does the lighting. It often is too bright, but, again, that really works for this movie.

Gary works at a book condensing company. They make books thinner, by deleting entire passages and subplots/subcharacters. One day he has to condense The Illustrated Family Doctor. It is a medical book filled with pictures of infections, swollen body parts and skin diseases. The pictures are pretty graphic.

Gary's father has just passed away and so he is in a very existential state. He asks himself the old questions: 'why are we here?' and 'where do we go when we die?' And so working on this book does not really do him well. And then he starts to develop all kinds of symptoms that are written about in the IFD...

There are also a few sub-plots: Christine, the daughter of his co-worker, is in domestic trouble. His girlfriend leaves him for an old friend of his. His mother and sister are dealing with the death of his father in their own way. His co-worker used to be an amazing storyteler but he is throwing away his abilities with the book condensing. These are all interesting sub-stories that make the main story movie a bit faster.

Samuel Johnson is great as the gloomy Gary. He has the perfect empty stare and he really looks weaker and sicker every minute. He also has a certain sadness in his voice that fits this role perfectly. All the supportive cast members, including Jessica Napier, are great as well. This is a great movie considering they only had a small amount of time to film this. I give it a 8.3, because it is so refreshing and so different from comedies like American Pie, that are not even that funny. SEE THIS MOVIE!!! IT'S THE BEST MOVIE NO ONE HAS SEEN!