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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Wasted On The Young (Film)

by Annette Basile | February 28, 2011 12:34 | Edited February 28, 2011 12:35

Stylistically striking and featuring a clutch of stunning performances from emerging local talent, this is a remarkable achievement sure to generate discussion.

A teenage girl is lying near the ocean. Is she dead? Unconscious? What happened? It's early in the film, and already this disturbing, almost surreal thriller commands your attention.

 

Set in an elite Australian high school and centred on an incident that shouldn't be discussed here, it charts the lives of a group of high school kids on the verge of adulthood. Darren (Oliver Ackland) is shy and geeky. His newly acquired stepbrother, Zack (Alex Russell), is his polar opposite. Zack is confident, and set for a shiny future. Not only are the stepbrothers living in the same upmarket house, they're now schoolmates as well. But when Xandrie (Adelaide Clemens) comes into the picture, Darren and Zack become enemies.

The three leads are stunning, and their performances have real subtlety. Wasted On The Young is also visually appealing, with debut writer/director Ben C. Lucas performing a sort of miracle - crafting a film that, in other hands, could have come off as contrived. Lucas used a set of "rules" to achieve his film's striking milieu - like having no adults appear on camera, and using a visual palette that avoids warm colours. But you can't see the seams.

Lucas also has a handle on the emotions. You feel a sense of dread, you care about Xandrie and Darren, and you're repelled by the bully Zack, even though he remains fascinating. Lucas' work could be read as a comment about youth, or as a metaphor for adult society. It might be about power, and the use and abuse thereof. But the beauty of Wasted On The Young is that you can pick it up, turn it around to see it from a different angle, and something you hadn't noticed before will emerge. It's a film for the mind, the eyes, and the heart.