Search - Maslin Beach on DVD

If you're on a tight budget, don't bother with this one

A. Burchfield | Conway, Missouri USA | 01/10/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"About the best that I can say about this movie is that the nudity on the beach is treated as no big deal, in fact if that's the reason you're thinking about buying it- better go buy something from Playboy.
I "get" the plotline- sort of- but the story is presented in a disjointed manner with several segments split apart by bits of other stories put in between. I found the people to generally be a bunch of losers that I had a hard time caring about and so boring that a viewer might want to fast forward (don't do that- you might miss some of whatever you consider to be the "good" bits).
It appears to have been filmed with one camera held in a stationary position, not a lot of movement, with just one small microphone- the sound could've been better, many times you'll know a person is undoubtedly nude but the camera is held above the level you'd need to see any of it. I'm not sure how clear the original film was, the DVD seems soft focused to me with the color maybe a little bit off.
The subject matter is treated respectfully (the nudity part is fairly well so anyway, you never really get a good look at most of the beach itself or most of the nudity for that matter) but the romance/life part is just so BORING!
Unlike some I found the cast to be generally attractive enough but I pretty much wish I hadn't bought the DVD, try looking for it in used/good condition at a cheaper price."

Gratuitous

D. James | Melbourne, Australia | 08/04/2004

(1 out of 5 stars)

"A film that attempts to make an interesting story of 'a day in the life' of a nudist beach in South Australia. It comes off like a half-hearted soap opera and the actors would best have left their swimming suits on for as much titillation as there is! There are many better examples of good Australian drama films from recent years, suggest 'Lantana'."

Naked people say it better

B. Pohnan | IL, USA | 02/24/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Maslin Beach can be best described as a movie depicting a typical day at an Australian nudist beach.

It opens with a guy and his girlfriend driving to the beach in the morning. As they walk onto the beach, the narration begins. It is the guy, Simon, he wants someone to tell him how one knows if he or she are in love. He is having doubts about his relationship with his girl Marcie. This provides a thread that links the various vignettes throughout the movie together.

As the film progresses, it focuses on various male/female couples and a group of three girls. Soon the viewer relalizes that these people did not come to the beach to tan those bits that rarely see the sun, but to explore and evaluate their relationships. Being naked merely makes the process easier because, as the old saying goes, "Naked people don't have anything to hide!"

Maslin Beach features more than a few stark naked and semi-naked people. It is a credit to the director that the cast is not made up of only "beautiful people," as the film features dorky-looking guys, saggy gals, and very physically unfit people of both sexes.

It doesn't take long for the bushy deltas and dangling penises to take a backseat as the dialogue begins to assert itself. This is where the movie both succeeds and fails. The writer seems to lack confidence as he gives the viewer far too many discussions to follow. I found some to be almost profound, while others were absurd. All were too short. The viewer would have been better served by two or three long conversations rather than the banal chatter of six or seven. For my money, I would have picked the three girls, Simon and Marcie, and the couple discussing the lying daughter.

Nonetheless, this is a nice, quirky little movie that is not deep, but does cause one to think.


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Tawdry and Disturbing

C. Waid | Sydney, NSW Australia | 11/28/2004

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This appears to be little more than a student film or low budget indie film by some well meaning nudist, but there is little to be gained other than the gratuitous use of nudity. Several disparate stories are linked loosely by the location-the boring guy who gets dumped by his girlfriend for a wordless magician who proceeds to pull a rabbit out of a hat(literally!). The guy on a dating service fix-up(on a nude beach-yeah!) who gets fixed up with his current girlfriend that he has been having problems with. The fat chick who has break-up sex with her boyfried only to discover he's superglued them together(really!) and have to be carted off to hospital to be separated. But the most disturbing vignette, is the ignored wife who is conducting illicit affairs with not one but two men, both at the beach vying for her. She then meets her therapist and he informs her in his best Ludwig von Drake accent that she should come behind the "wocks" for some" "wevolutionawy serapy" After which she meets her father who tells her that no love is greater than that between a father and daughter and that they should explore that-and off she goes again!

Combined with the flatulent ice-cream vendor who hurtles up and down the beach in his van seemingly oblivious to any body and almost running bathers over, the naked opera singer on the cliff top (haven't we all seen that?), and the pubic grooming, this film is to be avoided by serious nudists and titillation seekers alike. Zero stars"