Mountain FogLAST RIDE: PART OF A FRESH WAVE
July 7th 2009 07:21
Road movie but perhaps not as you know it in Last Ride
With all the recent talk regarding the sorry state of Australian cinema, 2009 is now turning out to be a bumper year for down under filmmakers. Samson and Delilah and Disgrace have both garnered strong reviews, and the latest local production to sail softly into cinemas on the good word of pre-screenings is Last Ride.
The first feature film by director Glendyn Ivin - who won the Cannes Palme d’Or for Best Short Film with Cracker Bag in 2003 - Last Ride is a dusty and dark road movie following the journey of Kev (Hugo Weaving) and his ten-year old son, Chook (Tom Russell). Kev is on the run from the authorities after a violent incident at home, and he’s dragged his young son along with him as he flees across South Australia.
But while it’s Kev’s actions that have kicked off the narrative, this is really Chook’s story, and in that sense Last Ride is also a coming of age tale as the young boy begins to not only learn from the lessons of his father, but from the mistakes as well.
Last Ride therefore plays a two man gag, and as father and son escape further into the wilderness Kev’s crime is played out in small semi-silent flashbacks remembered by Chook. Their trip away from civilisation takes them through all sorts of stunning locations, from the bracken ridges of Arkaroo National Park and the foothills of the Flinders Ranges right through to a seemingly limitless salt lake, just a few centimetres deep, over which they must traverse.
Indeed, Greig Fraser’s amazing cinematography manages to help make the sprawling landscape a third character in the struggle of father and son, tying the protagonists to the geography through an interesting theme of identity, illustrated by revelations regarding Kev and Chook’s distant and almost forgotten part Afghan and Indigenous ancestry juxtaposed with the likewise decrepit Afghan museum the two stumble upon and the near communion they seem to have with the outback towards the end of the film.
Hugo Weaving and Tom Russell are compelling as father and son in Last Ride
But where Last Ride is strong thematically and subtexturally, it’s perhaps slightly weak in its narrative and character development. Mac Gudgeon’s screenplay is brilliant at drawing the characters under such intimate circumstances, but sometimes lacks the strong occasional outside influences needed in a road movie to further define Kev and Chook. In any film the plot is simply what causes the characters to change, and in Last Ride the sparse plot doesn’t provide quite enough for the protagonists to work with.
That’s to take nothing away from the players, with Weaving dominating the screen as Kev, his performance selling the short-tempered father as sympathetic despite the character’s often-brutal nature. The young Tom Russell is fantastic also as Chook – a credit that almost certainly needs to be shared with Ivin – while John Brumpton beautifully highlights the boy’s flashbacks of a more innocent life as the duo’s former housemate, Max.
It all adds up to a film that is highly impressive. Despite the narrative drawbacks of Last Ride, the filmmakers still manage to effectively convey the changes taking place within Chook – a loss of innocence and a growing sense of responsibility – and that makes the final emotional payoff a logical and effective one. It’s bracing stuff, and although not faultless, Last Ride is another compelling Australian feature to add to an already strong 2009 list.
Check out the trailer for Last Ride Below:
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Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
I've actually seen a couple of reviews bagging Weaving - some clown in a paper down here labeled it one of the worst performances of his career - but can't for the life of me understand that at all.
Let's hope the crowds flock to the limited screenings of this (only 4 or 5 cinemas down here) and push it along for a while instead of going to see The Hangover for the 4th time!
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight