Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Jordan Dulieu, Freyja Benjamin, Gigi Edgley, Martin Crewes
Intro:
... poignant, involving and rewarding ...
It opens with gorgeous cinematography and a bunch of hippies in nature. One of the hippies, Liz Myers (Freyja Benjamin), wanders away from the group to a cliff top. She sees amazing, drug-fuelled images, flashbacks of her life, a sky brimming with stars that fold into a kaleidoscope… and is then confronted by the image of her own dead body, lying on a stretcher.
Cut to Sydney, in one of the city’s wealthier suburbs. Uni student Jason Knight (Jordan Dulieu) is on another cliff top, about to be saved from a suicide attempt by an Uber driver. Soon, he’ll be taken to hospital where he’ll cross paths with the slightly older Liz. He’s withdrawn and depressed. She’s full of vitality. And while their odd couple relationship is off slow to start, this Australian independent film isn’t.
The first feature-length film from writer/director Nadi Sha – co-written by Sha and Grant Osborn (Once Upon A Time In Serbia) – captures your interest immediately and maintains the pace throughout.
Everything In Between is about two young people navigating serious mental and physical health issues. Dulieu is excellent as Jason, while Benjamin’s performance as Liz lifts the character out of the hippy cliche.
A dash of subtle humour comes in the form of Jason’s unhappily married mum and dad. Once you meet the apparently nouveau riche parents, you understand why Jason is so despondent.
“You never wanted him in the first place!” yells Jason’s mother, Meredith.
“All you wanted was a fashion accessory,” counters her husband Dave, “a baby in a designer pram.”
It’s a conversation that Jason, lying in his bedroom, can probably hear.
To say the Knights have more money than taste is only a slight exaggeration. Gigi Edgley is excellent as the fretting mum, while Martin Crewes is equally good as the blokey, philandering dad. Like the feral/hippy character of Liz, Meredith and Dave may have been cliches in the hands of lesser actors, but they bring experience and craft to their roles
It’s not perfect, but ultimately, Everything In Between is poignant, involving and rewarding viewing.
