Event

ALL MEN ARE LIARS

Dir. Gerard Lee, 1995.
Australia, 91 mins.

The titular thesis of Gerard Lees 1995 Australian screwball - that all men are, in fact, liars - could be comfortably applied to most of Lees work with his lifelong friend and collaborator Jane Campion. Most recently Lee co-wrote both series of Campions TOP OF THE LAKE, which plumbs the depths of repugnant misogyny to its limits. ALL MEN ARE LIARS, produced six years after Campion and Lees breakthrough SWEETIE and just two years after Campions THE PIANO, has a considerably lighter touch.

Rarely ever screened in the US, this film also concerns a piano and an Australian teen boys desperate attempt to earn it back by cross-dressing and joining an all-girl band. It is entirely possible that this film is some sort of weird rebuttal to Campions Oscar-winner. A great deal of sexual confusion and musical performances follow as the leader of the group (musician Toni Pearen) begins to fall for their newest member, unaware of his charade and with the caveat that she recently vowed to kill the next man who lies to her.