Rating: D+
Dir: Kitty Green
Star: Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick, Hugo Weaving, Daniel Henshall
This is a blandly misanthropic Australian drama with aspirations to be a thriller. Or social commentary. Or something, dammit. It probably works best as a demonstration of the idiocy some American tourists exhibit overseas. I tend not to have much sympathy when the consequences of their behavior and/or poor choices catch up with them. The culprits here are Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Henwick), who run out of money while in Sydney, and decide to take a job as bar staff in a remote mining-town. Yeah, nothing else is available, Australia’s biggest city having apparently reached 100% employment. What could possibly go wrong? Well, I know everything in the outback wants to kill you. Why should the human inhabitants be any more well-intentioned?
Mind you, this pair of sheilas might have “naive” tattooed on their little foreheads. They’re shocked when bar owner Billy (Weaving) calls them “smart cunts”. I’m sorry, how long have they been in Australia? 30 minutes? Locals there almost rival us Scots in unashamed use of the c-bomb. Things degenerate thereafter. The pair both have the kind of issues which might suggest against barmaid as a career choice. Yet they opt to ignore all warning signs (such as the fraught state of their predecessors), which would favour catching the first bus back to Sydney. Through a combination of unfortunate events, these n00bs end up running the place by themselves. Things end up going as well as you would expect.
It’s clear the makers are depicting the threats of toxic masculinity, in an environment where it’s allowed to grow uncontrolled. But the stupidity of the heroines is what stands out far more, from the moment they suddenly run out of money, ten thousand miles from home. When I backpacked for months around Europe, I knew to the centime how much money I had left. Then again, when I worked in a pub, I knew not to take shit from customers, because that only leads to more shit [I think it’s a bit like teaching]. Basic common sense would render this entire plot impossible, every bit as much as teens at summer camp being stalked by a masked killer. Given the “realism” aimed for, that’s a problem.
Certainly, this feels like it’s preaching to the choir, those who already see a threat lurking in every pair of trousers (in reality, men are more likely to be victims of violent crime). Subtlety is a foreign land here, located somewhere beyond “Here be dragons” on Green’s cinematic map. There’s one scene which works, when bar patron Dolly (Henshall) becomes increasingly more belligerent and obnoxious. This offers a well-crafted sense of escalating dread, though it’s more testament to the perils of alcohol abuse, and Hanna’s lack of conflict resolution skills – another necessary talent for bar workers, which she lacks completely. The film then goes from 60 to end-credits in about thirty seconds, with the pair literally just walking away. I hope we’ve all learned a valuable lesson here. Mine? Avoid this director’s work.