DON'T be fooled by the rather glossy, well-framed promo for the movie that posits that it is akin to "Looking for Alibrandi" or perhaps "Welcome to the Dollhouse" or "Mean Girls". This was a vile experience.
A coming-of-age drama with an a under-age girl fellating a fairly confused and random under-age teenage boy in an alleyway, as some kind of an aggressive dare to fellow teen girls? Esther finishes 'her turn' and asks 'who's next?'
This bleak act was followed by some bizarre "sexy" fantasy tap-dance routine to indicate the lead character's embrace of... well, we're not entirely sure? Esther's new sense of "legitimacy" as a modern teenager? A rejection of her religious morals? Her opinion of public vs private school fees?
Perhaps this act of sexual aggression (imagine if it was a group of teen boys doing the same to one girl?) was meant to balance out the oddly PG "stripping career" of Toni Collette's character Mary, who comes across as scandalous as a suburban mum who takes a fun pole-dance class now and then. The plot can't figure out if it's gritty realism, absurdist fantasy or just plain daft.
It's understandable that Castle-Hughes' character Sonni seems to spend most of the film rolling her eyes at the goings-on. Clearly the actress couldn't keep in her emotions about the dregs she's found herself in.
By the end, it felt like the filmmakers just wanted to swing a chicken around on a string and see if anyone was noticing. Yes, we noticed the defiled corpse of what might have been a once-living thing of an idea. It just wasn't worth it.
Thankfully I never saw this in the cinemas as a school excursion and it's not on any school lists as a study resource. Best forgotten.
A coming-of-age drama with an a under-age girl fellating a fairly confused and random under-age teenage boy in an alleyway, as some kind of an aggressive dare to fellow teen girls? Esther finishes 'her turn' and asks 'who's next?'
This bleak act was followed by some bizarre "sexy" fantasy tap-dance routine to indicate the lead character's embrace of... well, we're not entirely sure? Esther's new sense of "legitimacy" as a modern teenager? A rejection of her religious morals? Her opinion of public vs private school fees?
Perhaps this act of sexual aggression (imagine if it was a group of teen boys doing the same to one girl?) was meant to balance out the oddly PG "stripping career" of Toni Collette's character Mary, who comes across as scandalous as a suburban mum who takes a fun pole-dance class now and then. The plot can't figure out if it's gritty realism, absurdist fantasy or just plain daft.
It's understandable that Castle-Hughes' character Sonni seems to spend most of the film rolling her eyes at the goings-on. Clearly the actress couldn't keep in her emotions about the dregs she's found herself in.
By the end, it felt like the filmmakers just wanted to swing a chicken around on a string and see if anyone was noticing. Yes, we noticed the defiled corpse of what might have been a once-living thing of an idea. It just wasn't worth it.
Thankfully I never saw this in the cinemas as a school excursion and it's not on any school lists as a study resource. Best forgotten.