The feature debut by brothers Dan and Bramwell Noah, Little Black Dress is a notable Melbourne production with an interesting take on the intermingling of love, fate and the ruthless proliferation of reality TV trends.
When Ebony Mason’s (Sandy Greenwood) morning jog leads to an impulsive stroll into an apartment building advertising a vacancy, a chain of fateful events begins to take shape which will lead to unlikely stardom. Though she can’t afford it, Ebony wistfully entertains the thought of moving into a place beyond her economic means. A little black dress the sole garment left behind by the previous tenant or a gift from manipulative higher forces? will soon alter the course of her life and the perceptions of those around her.
Running parallel to her story is that of Laurence Carver (Kane Baigent) a former hot-shot producer who rode the crest of a wave into the side of a very tall building where his career was reduced to painful nostalgic memories of a former greatness. When his path fortuitously crosses Ebony’s one night, a revelatory inspiration appears to him and the first germ of a brilliant idea takes shape. He proposes a new reality program to enthrall the masses, one capable of exploiting a rich vein of marketing potentialities at the same time.
Hiring effervescent Tarni Sabine (Anna Choy) to host the show with the winsome Ebony as its central focus, Carver has stumbled upon a winning concept and within three months the show, Little Black Dress, becomes a phenomenon across the globe through syndication.
Spirited competition in the form of ‘Women Talking Sex’ later inspires a necessary revamp to maintain the status quo of high ratings, such as injecting an old high school flame into an episode in an effort to re-ignite a spark, on air, for Ebony. It turns into a disastrous misadventure at a swanky restaurant however and seems an effort by Carver to mask his true feelings for Ebony anyway.
This independent production, a labour of love for the Noah brothers, proves to be an entertaining ride. It never really gels in terms of the romantic angle bringing Ebony and Carver together, but both Baigent and Greenwood provide solid performances. At first Carver is a hardened, cynical executive living off the fumes of his past glories and difficult to access, but over time I warmed to him even if a streak of venality is still recognizable behind the tainted attraction to his star. Just maybe there’s a beating heart beneath his arrogant armour after all?
Ebony has the wholesome appeal of a girl next door you’d gladly introduce to your parents and Greenwood does a fine job of conveying her reluctance to be sullied by the adoration her overnight fame inspires. The bubbly Choy is the real standout however as the uninhibited host who’ll go to any extreme to sustain the show’s dynamic success.
Technical credentials prove to be solid all round with the sleek, resourceful direction of the brothers ensuring a seamless switch to video footage of the ‘live to air’ episodes from the central, ‘off-camera’ narrative without sacrificing any momentum. An excellent score from composer Terrance Huang provides able assistance too, mastering a diversity of moods whilst providing a couple of very catchy themes.
Though lacking the complexity to make its love story more credible and hindered a little by some less than sterling work from the support cast, Little Black Dress cleverly manipulates audience expectation. Definite advantages are the film’s visual proficiency and offbeat sense of humour whilst playfully satirising the perceived vapidity of the swath of reality television programs invading our screens with incessant cheap ploys for higher ratings.
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