Mission of Flowers (Australia)

An earnest performance from Leof Kingsford-Smith is not enough to distract from the fact that the epic sweep of this castaway tale has no business being a one-man show. As a pitch for a potential film, the project has a good deal of merit. As a theatrical experience in its own right, it desperately calls for additional actors and less obvious writing. What could be expansive and historically evocative is reduced to a series of simplistic impersonations. What we get is a nostalgic piece of storytelling that rests lazily on top of the heart-wrenching tale it tries to embody.