by Erin Free
Worth: $18.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Tim Pocock, Sacha Horler, Paul Capsis, Tom Rodgers, Chris Haywood
Intro:
Wonderfully deranged, darkly romantic, howlingly funny...
Who knew that what we really needed in Australia right now was an in-your-face, balls-out, neon-tinted gay-themed film noir? The kinky, supremely salacious new thriller Body Blow defies all expectations, and hits pretty much all its targets, metaphorically (and occasionally literally too) spraying the screen with all manner of bodily fluids as it indulges in a wonderfully prurient cinematic love affair with Sydney’s gay scene, its beautiful young characters, the crime genre, the act of cheeky transgression, and the art of film itself. It’s a heady mix, but it works like a smutty, foul-mouthed charm.
Adept at both on-screen thrills (2010’s Duel-style horror flick Road Train) and gay anxiety (2015’s impressive drama Drown), Aussie writer/director Dean Francis melds the two ingeniously with the entertainingly garish Body Blow, which tracks the downward spiral of muscled-up, sex-addicted cop Aiden Hardwick (a moving, uninhibited turn from TV vet Tim Pocock), who is assigned to a special squad investigating gay-related crimes. Under the watch of hardened lesbian cop Constable Steele (the ever-brilliant Sacha Horler is absolutely sensational), Aiden is soon involved in a grimy, sleazy criminal conspiracy involving drag queen mobster Fat Frankie (master stage performer Paul Capsis is a bizarro, David Lynch-level revelation), alluring twink Cody (star-in-the-making Tom Rodgers), and Constable Steele’s legendarily corrupt cop father (Chris Haywood is profanely perfect).
Though it occasionally crosses over into lurid, cartoonish, John Waters-style excess, the real strength of Body Blow lies in the admirable seriousness with which it treats itself. Sure, there are cock cages, prosthetic breasts, literal, chained-up sex slaves, and several tours through some decidedly dark sexual corners of Sydney’s gay scene, but at its heavily-beating heart, Body Blow is a rock-solid, well-scripted crime thriller. The dialogue is inventively indecent, and the sex and violence are all-out, but the unusual cast of well-drawn characters feels real, and you genuinely care about them.
Wonderfully deranged, darkly romantic, howlingly funny, and somehow bitterly cynical and curiously hopeful at the same time, Body Blow is a sweaty, knowing, propulsive walk on the cinematic wild side that absolutely luxuriates in its own sense of outlaw abandon while never losing sight of narrative essentials like rich characterisation, clever plotting and the creation of an emotional connection.
Body Blow screens at The Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 9. For all ticketing and venue information, click here.
