Rating: MA 15+
Running Time: 97 minutes
Release Date: 3 March 2011
Australian film made in WA, the story centres around disaffected youth with the age old premise of high school popularity, social structure and geeks fuelled by attraction to the opposite sex. It is a contemporary take on those popularity norms with new technology and social networking more than ever in the past fuelling the bullying and social divide. Think Gossip Girl on feral overdrive with lots of bloody broken noses and “stealing lunch money” behaviour where the wealthy elitist rather than the “fittest” survive. Darren’s (Oliver Ackland) moves in with newly “step” brother to Zack (Alex Russell) and embarks on a change of school and social stratosphere. However despite being a star swimmer, true to his nerdy ways he is on the outer with grudging acceptance due to his immensely popular brother Zack. In spite of his social awkwardness he attracts the affection of pretty new comer, Xandrie (Adelaide Clements) which comes to their undoing as Zack, use to getting what he wants, vies for her attention regardless of cost.
It’s the typical disaffected teen youth story with a modern and dark twist highlighting the use of sms and social networking sites, the mainstay of youth communication to punctuate the current online ways of bullying and driving the social divide. It introduces cyber bullying however most of this still takes places physically in person in this film which makes it a bit gratuitous. It also touches on the wave of high school massacres from those marginalised youth who wish to make a deadly statement on this.
The film is pitched at the current high school generation and appears to hit that market and should generate some interest there. Director/writer Ben C. Lucas has based some of this on the Dukes University rowing massacre but the acting out of this fantasy delivered in a dream like sequences only sensationalises this modern day phenomena, rather than provide in depth comment. The visuals are fantastic, such as the swimming scenes and lend itself well to this now generation and their embracing of technology. It also illustrates quite well the mass mobilisation and mingling that can occur through current technology and how this can be used for good and evil depending on which way the message is manipulated. Absence of adults in the scenes effectively highlights the distance and lack of understanding between the generations. No interference from others will be tolerated, particularly adults in their world. Oliver Ackland and Alex Russell tend to look a bit too old to be playing high school students with Adelaide Clements emerging as the star act of this trio.
If you are over 26 I wouldn’t bother, but for the under 26’s I would give it 3/5 stars
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