By Erin Free
Worth: $18.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Jacob Harvey, Madison Hull, Leighton Mason, Luke Scholes
Intro:
...wears its heart admirably on its sleeve and wraps the audience in a huge bear-hug of an embrace.
Music has long been identified as a healing tonic, an aural potion able to salve psychological wounds and heal societal rifts with its power to unite people with little else in common. The act of creating music can be often more life-changing, with the art of collaboration one able to lift people out of just about anything. This has been beautifully elucidated in films as richly varied as Once, Hearts Beat Loud, Eight Mile, The Commitments and many, many more. Australia now has its own heartwarming entry into the subgenre with Under Streetlights, which mounts a staggeringly effective charm offensive while never losing sight of the grief and societal tension that form the harder, tougher parts of its cinematic physicality. It’s sweet but never sentimental, and optimistic without being saccharine…and that’s no mean feat.
Set amongst the red dirt and stunning natural landscapes of Alice Springs, Under Streetlights tracks new friends Ella (debutante Madison Hull, a truly sweet and engaging screen presence), an American-Australian grappling with her mother’s recent passing, and Izak (the incredibly likeable and very impressive Jacob Harvey), an aspiring indigenous hip-hop artist. Though optimistic and committed to their dreams of making their music happen, these two young people are surrounded by familial grief, racism, cultural disadvantage and alcoholism, while a past event could eventually end up placing them at odds with each other. But Jacob and Ella have their music, and the joy of collaboration, and what they share together…and that might just be enough.
Directed with a real sense of assurance by first timer Danielle Loy, and enlivened by gifted cinematographer Andre Sawenko’s glistening imagery, Under Streetlights comes pealing out of Central Australia like a breath of sweet, soothing fresh air. Made by and cast with exciting new talent, this is a film that wears its heart admirably on its sleeve and wraps the audience in a huge bear-hug of an embrace. Like the one so unforgettably depicted in John Carney’s magical Once, the relationship in Under Streetlights is a largely platonic one, and there’s something incredibly warm and inspiring about that.
Newcomers Jacob Harvey and Madison Hull (both talented musical performers) have a real chemistry together, while the rest of the largely untried cast (Leighton Mason and Luke Scholes are terrific as the respective, equally damaged fathers of Jacob and Ella, while Ian Martin and Lynette Ellis provide much comic relief) acquit themselves beautifully. It’s a great ensemble, and the film kicks along at a lively pace, going deep into the music and also the pain that it grows out of with welcome jolts of humour. A sweet, affecting, deeply thoughtful celebration of music and friendship, Under Streetlights hits all the right notes.
