THE LITTLE DEATH

Staying well and truly clear of Christian Grey-itis, the beauty of ‘The Little Death’ is that the couples of choice are so ordinary. All middle class, suburban people of varying success professionally and personally - there's long-term, unmarried couple Paul and Maeve unveiling total honesty and wanting to add a little spice to their sex life. Dan and Evie who are told to explore the word of roleplaying, maybe a little too literally. Phil falls in love with his bitter and mean wife Maureen all over again, but only when she’s asleep. Rowena and Richard; struggling to conceive, Rowena discovers a sexual arousal in seeing her husband cry. And finally Monica and Sam; total strangers who find a connection during a late-night phone conversation that turns into an unlikely three-way.

Funny, heartbreaking, provocative, beautiful and gloriously embarrassing in all the right ways, this film hits all the right buttons. Lawson has shown great talent in the past as a comedic writer, but now he’s showing his heart, and his cards in long-form storytelling.

Genuinely sweet and possibly offensive in parts, leave your judgmental hats at the door and relish the ordinary and extraordinary married beautifully here; just try to deny that you see yourself somewhere on screen. Scattered with a few monocle-dropping, pearl-clutching moments, you can’t brush off the continued laughs, in the same way you can't deny that a new triple-threat talent has emerged from the vast Australian pool.