2. Strongly influenced by European art cinema and heavily condensed with dialogue,
Two Thousand Weeks provides a vivid picture of the 1960s' Melbourne artistic and literary community. The film was widely criticised on release, however, and, in fact, was booed by audiences at the Sydney Film Festival. Paul Byrnes (
Australian Screen) cites Tim Burstall as recalling that he'd been 'advised by a United Artists executive that the best bet for an Australian film was the international art-house market - the film festival audience. With the wisdom of hindsight, it's easy to see the advice was dead wrong and I should never have taken it.' Burstall took the exact opposite approach with his next films:
Stork (q.v.) and
Alvin Purple.
