I will admit that being a film critic isn’t a dangerous profession – like operating a forklift or fighting fires – but there are some occupational hazards that instil the fear of God in me. One is the epistolary voiceover, whereby a heart-rending letter becomes a form of narration, recited aloud by the character who’s writing or reading it. When I first heard this often dreadfully cheesy device (looking at you, The Notebook) deployed in Australian prison drama Inside, the hairs on my back rose, and I feared another mawkish story about incarcerated men starting again – and so soon after How to Make Gravy.
But to my great surprise, the device – used multiple times by writer-director Charles Williams – works strangely well, adding an interesting, additional layer to a very captivating production.
