Review of Age of Consent (1969) by Matt H — 26 Apr 2013

Its worth a watch just to see a young Helen Mirren...and I actually thought the story of an artist looking for inspiration on an island was an interesting concept. it's not quite the story I expected of him finding his model in this washed up island girl.

.but it was good to watch overall if a little slow and meandering..i have to say- my biggest complaint about this relatively mediocre island movie was the character of the girl's grandmother/Ma- she was just so badly written and one dimensional.

I get she was an alcoholic and severely delusional but why was she so overly protective and watchful of this every girl's moves? It just didn't all add up for me...she seemed like a caricature of the paranoid religious mother who doesn't want to give up her virgin daughter to animalistic impure men.

.. also as funny as Jack MacGowran was to watch- the nat kelly subplot seemed really thrown in and didn't pose much threat or foreseeable element to the overall plot. it was just a minor nuisance for the james mason character and so he was setback $300 bucks a few paintings and loses a supposed friend from the beginning.

the script could've been a heck of alot better too- but I do like the visuals and particularly the piano music sequences are very pretty that reflect the romantic nature atmosphere on the island and art sessions.

and a NOTE about flixter site: i'm really disliking the synopsis writers giving away blatant plot elements...sometimes the viewers would like to SEE the movie themselves instead of getting fed the plot in the synopsis before they even see it.

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