The Castle

At The Cinema                            The Castle (1997) “ The blue collar Kerrigan home is filled with love as well as pride in their modest lifestyle, but their happiness is threatened when developers attempt the compulsory acquisition of their house to expand the neighbouring Melbourne Airport. The Kerrigan house is built in a largely undeveloped housing tract, on a toxic landfill, beneath power lines, and directly adjacent to an airport runway. Despite all this, sweet-natured family patriarch Darryl (Michael Caton) believes that he lives in the lap of luxury. Blissfully unaware of his family's lack of style or sophistication, he busies himself by driving a tow truck, racing greyhounds, and constantly adding tacky renovations to the house. The rest of the Kerrigan clan shares and supports his enthusiasm in every way. One day, a property valuer arrives to inspect the house. Though he has no wish to sell, Darryl points out all the faults of the house, believing that the valuer is there to appraise the house for council rates. A few weeks later, he receives a letter informing him of the compulsory acquisition of his house for the sum of A$70,000. The Castle is an  up-beat movie, and a jewel. The film took five weeks from original inception to final cut. The movie was written in two weeks, shot in ten days and taken to rough cut in two weeks. The name Kerrigan was chosen for the family so that tow trucks for the film could be borrowed from an existing Melbourne tow truck company with that name.  Clap Clap Clap (I watched on NetFlix.  Some F-Word Language. ”