A Wreck, a Tangle

This isn't a film that is easily classified, junkie/psycho drama is as close as I can come to it but it is both less and more than this. The story is definitely engaging, moving along in fits and starts which could be distracting but in this case seemed quite real - it would be easy to draw some comparisons to Go and Trainspotting in style but this is by no means a derivative film.

Essentially a charming and educated junkie couple ("we prefer chemically dependant") run into a nice well to do 30 something couple and end up staying with them - first for a night, then a week and then for too long.

Everyone has an agenda and these are presented realistically - sometimes people do things that make you wonder why but thats like life really.

The script is tight and literate and the performances of the main characters are mostly believable as their lives intertwine and all affect each other.

Nicely shot, well cut and directed, this is a confident film which makes good use of scientific themes and stock footage.

Unreleased in cinemas this film is both a wreck and a tangle. Irritating in that the idea, the acting and the actors promise more than it all ultimately delivers, I can only put my disappointment down to the script that runs out of good ideas and the steadily annoying realization that this film had nowhere to go but squabbles ville. Young actors Anna Lise Phillips, so radiant later in the mother daughter comedy WILLFULL and the excellent and menacing Damien Walshe-Howling (!), hardly seen in anything interesting, are two examples of strong 30 something actors in this country without proper acting roles in 2005. This film has a premise you might not buy from the start: well heeled couple have a minor car prang and decide to take home the slightly crazy couple from the other car. Now if it developed into a sex fest I would understand, but it doesn't and tried to head in WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRIGINIA WOLF territory and fails completely. If you think the wealthy couple are asking for trouble and are stupid for their invitation, well the film is over for you.....like 99% of Australians who saw the limited preview screenings did too. Phillips and Walshe-Howling are excellent. The pic however is "a waste, a bore".............and was shelved.